Finding my 'door' on note.

One of the creators whose room I always look forward to visiting is W.

W's posts usually consist of a few photos and a short sentence accompanying them.
It is more appropriate to say that you 'look' at their posts rather than 'read' them. It takes very little time to view them.
However, the fun part of W's posts comes afterward.
What is W trying to express with those few photos and short words?
What kind of feelings or situation were they in when they took these photos?
And what do I myself receive from them?
A time to think—no, to feel—begins.
I then take what I have gained, put it honestly into words, and leave it in the comment section.
For me, that whole process is part of W's post.

The photo of the blue pebble in the top image is one I borrowed from such a post by W.
On that day, they posted a total of three photos of pebbles, and this blue pebble was the second one. When it caught my eye—a wind blew through me.
The wind that blew was a sea breeze.
After all, the pebble looked just like a tiny ocean!

As I listened to the sea breeze and filled my chest with its scent... before I knew it, I was standing at the water's edge. A vast ocean stretched out before me.
(Wow...)
The sigh that escaped me was carried away by the sea.
Far beyond where the sigh drifted was a light blue horizon.
The sky and the sea were blue, but not too blue—a world of gentle colors.

I can hear the cries of seagulls.
And the sound of the waves crashing.
As if layering over that sound,
clatter, clatter, clatter, clatter...
A bright sound rang out.

When I shifted my gaze from the sky to my feet, it wasn't a sandy beach, but a shore made of pebbles.
Instead of sand, countless white stones covered the shoreline.
Clatter, clatter, clatter, clatter...
The bright sound I heard was the sound of those stones being swept away by the waves.
Clatter, clatter, clatter, clatter...
Clatter, clatter, clatter, clatter...
(Oh, is this Jodogahama...)
I thought vaguely.
Jodogahama.
Perhaps some of you know it.
It is a beautiful coast located straight east of Morioka.
It is a famous scenic spot known for its beach of rounded pebbles, and it was also a place I visited on a solo trip during my student days.
It seems to be crowded with people enjoying swimming in the summer, but when I visited in early spring, there was no one to be seen on the beautiful white beach.
I enjoyed the luxury of having a famous scenic spot all to myself.

It was a carefree trip where I didn't need to worry about the time, so I remember sitting alone on the pebble beach and immersing myself in that mysterious tone to my heart's content.
Even though it's the ocean, hearing the sound of pebbles rolling mixed in with the sound of the waves... it feels incredibly mysterious.

Whoosh... clatter, clatter, clatter, clatter... whoosh... clatter, clatter, clatter, clatter.
A duet of water and pebbles repeated in the same rhythm.
Whoosh... clatter, clatter, clatter, clatter... whoosh... clatter, clatter, clatter, clatter.

The sound of the pebbles inside my chest.
The sound of the waves outside my body.
They wash over me as they flow.
Whoosh... clatter, clatter, clatter, clatter... whoosh... clatter, clatter, clatter, clatter... whoosh... clatter, clatter, clatter, clatter...
From the inside, from the outside, I was dissolved by the sound.
(This really is a pure land...)
Thinking that, I buried my face in my knees—and slowly became the sound of the sea.
Whoosh... clatter, clatter, clatter, clatter... whoosh... clatter, clatter, clatter, clatter... whoosh... clatter, clatter, clatter, clatter... whoosh... clatter, clatter, clatter, clatter...

When I opened my eyes in front of the computer, I was still the sound of the sea.
Slowly, slowly... as I materialized my body, I stared at the blue pebble reflected on the screen.

A tiny, tiny Jodogahama for me.
It was an 'entrance' to a precious memory.
(Thank you for taking me there.)
To the pebble.
And to W.
I said a quiet thank you... and gently closed the screen.

Whenever I look at W's posts, I always encounter such an 'entrance'.
If I were to visualize it, it's like there is a door placed right in the middle of a soft, bright world.
It's a bit like a 'Dokodemo Door' (Anywhere Door).

Even if you don't open that door, you can still enjoy W's beautiful photos and words. That is wonderful enough.
But if you notice the mysterious door placed there and gently push it open—beyond it, there is surely a world you never expected.
That door exists in W's world, but what spreads out on the other side is not W's world, but my world, and your world, after opening the door.

W doesn't know that the photo of the pebble they took became an 'entrance' and that I visited a place from my memories.
They might not even know the place called Jodogahama itself.
It's mysterious.
A world that exists within W's world, yet W doesn't know it.
Every time I find such a mysterious door in W's posts, I think.
That's right, I should write a door too...
Although it is a world much more crowded with words than W's world, I will place one 'Dokodemo Door' right in the middle of that world.
To create a world I don't know within my own world.
I want to write articles like that.

And I shall name that door a 'Toko-demo Door'! (Because it's a post/toko-).

What are you talking about?

I am terribly sorry...
To everyone at the 'Nan no Hanashi Desu Ka' (What are you talking about) Department, and to Konishi Kinoko-sama.
Please kindly collect this.

The 'Nan no Hanashi Desu Ka' Department is a hot topic, but if there is anyone who doesn't know about it, please take a look here.

The following is an excerpt from the article.

And, as a reference for usage, it is written like this.

Hahahaha.

Borrowing this wonderful project, please let me add just a few of my own words.

'What is this story about?' is, just a little bit, similar to W's posts.
Only just a little bit, mind you.

The fun parts. The parts open to interpretation. The parts that are softly gentle to the heart. The parts that are a bit like a 'door'.

I also love the 'things in the middle of people's thoughts and ideas' found in Konishi Kinoko-san's writing.
When I read such writing, I can see a door there after all.
So, I don't mean that you shouldn't write conclusions or that it's better to leave things vague in the middle, of course.
From a slightly broader perspective, no matter how neatly summarized a piece of writing is, it is, in any case, nothing more than 'in the middle of thought'.
Personally, I would like to try 'writing with an explicit awareness of the door,' but even if that's not the case, a door is always born in any kind of writing or expression.

As a reader, I like to search for and open such doors.
Beyond the door I've pushed open lies 'my world.' And that door is something I was only able to find because of someone else's post.
I like that kind of world, which feels like a collaboration between someone else and me.

Lastly, with gratitude, please let me introduce one of W's posts.
I thought about the article with the photo of the pebble that I introduced in the main text, but since I've already shown one of the photos in the top image, I'll dare to choose a different article here.
I'm hesitant about which one to post, but here is one from a very recent post that has stayed in my heart.
'I like this place'.

I also like this place, the world of note.

I received a Congratulatory Board for this article. To everyone who cooperated with the article and everyone who gave it a 'like,' thank you so much!