Letters from Hio

A gentle journey through Japan's heart and healing.

  • Hikawa jinja – where the divine love hides

    Dear friends,If you know me, you know that I am a desperated fan of love and divine love. I might say that I’m a die hard romantic person. I love love and I love finding the divine love that hidden among us. Nestled amidst the tranquil landscapes of Japan, numerous Shinto shrines stand as testaments Read more

  • a pause

    Dear friends,How have you been lately? I guess everything is working out for you. As, I hope everything will soon work out for me. Life often feels like a relentless forward march. We’re constantly chasing goals, responding to demands, and planning for the next big thing. Life is always moving forward, isn’t it? But what Read more

  • mono no aware is more than just sadness

    Dear friends,I’m back. The last 2 weeks I was lost in the feeling of “What if”. It’s a mix of sadness, regret and definitely maybe something could happen instead of those things that happened. 世界は残酷だ それでも君を愛すよThis world is so cruel and yet I still love you. If your were in Tokyo last Autumn, you know Read more

  • my fated journey started with en-縁

    Dear friends, A journey that is meant to be will be. As long as I remember, I was born with spiritual gifts. But, nothing is free, so there was a time when I was struggling everyday to make sure that I was not paranoid and I was born for a reason. These are the textures Read more

  • the sacred knot

    Dear friends, We are living in a world that often feels shallow and disconnected. We are craving and looking for something that reminds us of who we are. We are looking for love, from someone else. But there is a profound human need for Musubi—the sacred act of weaving connections. In Japan, this concept is Read more

  • The path to satori

    Dear friends, Let’s talk about 悟り- Satori, the enlightenment. In Zen Buddhism of Japan, Satori is the inner intuitive experience of Enlightenment. Satori is said to be unexplainable, indescribable, and unintelligible by reason and logic. It can be compared to the experience undergone by Gautama Buddha when he sat under the Bo tree and, as such, Read more

  • The mappo

    Dear friends, I have the urge to write about Mappo – The Dharma ending age, the longest period of fall knowings. The doom. The concept of the Dharma Ending Age, or Mappo in Japanese Buddhism is a fascinating and complex idea that speaks to the cyclical nature of time and the decline of spiritual truth. Read more

  • Karma is a cat

    Dear friends, It’s a rainy day in Tokyo. I’ve been suffering the worst kind of headache for more than a week. Rain always brings me memories, which I thought I lost during my time that has been used to just survive. The song “Renaissance” by Paolo Buonvino suddenly hits hard. “Sometimes I justify the words Read more

  • 信 – Shin

    Dear friends, Not the 誠 – Makoto in the flag of Shinsengumi we talk about today, but this 信 – Shin, the trust, the faith and the belief. This kanji is beautiful because it’s a combination of 人 (hito), meaning “person,” and 言 (gen), meaning “word”. The kanji stands for a person who stands by Read more

  • 108 reasons why you feel guilty? Or not?

    Dear friends, You know, I’ve been so burnt out lately. Maybe it’s just an excuse for my laziness. Or not? All at once it seems like a bad excuse because I’m not productive at all. I do feel guilty. May be? You know that feeling when you’re already running late, but you keep delaying because Read more