瓶の森: A magical forest filled with bottles

Three years ago, a dear friend and I decided to go hiking in the mountains of Himeji. We got a late start, and lost interest in our epic plan to go hiking and got off the train in the middle of nowhere.  Unsure where to go next, we walked into a forest.

The underfooting of the grove was carpeted with dead leaves, and the glimmering blues, greens, and browns of antique bottles. We scooped up bottle after bottle; there were so many we had to decide to leave some behind.

My favorite find find from that afternoon is a tiny Shisedo bottle. Comestics, espcially Shisedo, must have been prized possesions. Once, many decades ago, someone cherished this bottle. Now I do.