A multitude of silhouettes stood upon Chidori Bridge

Many silhouettes on bridge in Rikugien garden — Rikugien Garden in Komagome

At the heart of Rikugien in Komagome, I followed a narrow path that traced the edge of the pond and found myself, once again, at a bridge. The garden has several of them, but this one is called Chidori Bridge. If you stop to think about the name, plovers fly and bridges do not. In any case, it wasn’t the bridge itself that interested me. I stepped back a little, hoping instead to watch the people crossing it.

The bridge was crowded with visitors who had stopped to peer down into the water. With the sun behind them, everything on the bridge became a silhouette: the people, the railing, even the surrounding trees. Only outlines remained, sharp and decisive, while details were stripped away with almost deliberate cruelty. Human figures usually carry too much information, but once reduced to shadows, they suddenly become well behaved.

Their gazes were fixed on the surface of the pond. Beneath the bridge, koi were probably gliding along in their unhurried way. The koi of Rikugien must have grown accustomed to this scene over generations. People leaning over, cameras raised, faces crowding the railing. None of it likely prompts any special reaction. If anything, the roles may be reversed. It is the humans who are being observed, while the koi, looking up through the wavering surface, may be counting them quietly and thinking, “Another busy day.”

Rikugien Garden on Google Map

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