I am surely in the toils.

a small interesting thing: yesterday, while taking a sunday walk through the neighbouring mountains, I've stumbled upon a shrine - a standard sight in carpathian forests, of course - but this one was very new. freshly erected, clean, stunning - with a little sign explaining why it was erected.

and as so many such shrines, the reason was one of the most classic reasons for them to be created:

to commemorate the town's survival. from plague.

the great plague of anno domini 2020, no less.

The Sacred Tree of Takeo Shrine (Takeo’s Okusu Tree)                         Location: Outside Mifuneyama Rakuen Garden

Over 3000 years old, this camphor tree is the 7th largest tree in Japan. It is 30m tall with a trunk circumference of 20m, its branches span 30m wide from east to west, and 33m wide from north to south. This is the sacred tree of Takeo Shrine, which was built in the Nara period (735 CE). The roots of the tree resemble the feet of elephants and are wrapped in rough bark, with their central section split open near the surface of the ground. Inside is a gaping cavity with an area of 12 tatami mats, which houses a stone shrine deep within.