shashasha

There was a time in my late 20's when I had a desire to disappear from the plane of worldly affairs. Kumogakure has no direct translation into English. It means to be hidden by clouds, shrouded, invisible. No longer able to endure my world and the affairs that surrounded it, I spent two years wandering blindly through fog-draped Hokkaido and Tohoku...As I traveled, I dreamt of a transcendental self beyond my own identity. Flooded with memories of experiences I had never had, encompassed by all emotions, I felt a tremendous longing for a self from unknown times that was without gender or age, raised and nurtured in and among these unknown mountain settlements and seaside towns.

• exceprt from Kumogakure Onsen: Reclusive Travels