Listening Like a Child Again
I guided two first-time visitors through deep listening at a Kyoto temple. This short video shows what we found.
There’s a temple in Kyoto that doesn’t sound like the rest. It has a much richer sonic fingerprint than any I’ve visited. The monks are often found passionately praying their sutras in the main hall, their voices reverberating past the grand wooden eaves and out across the courtyard. The centuries-old wooden floorboards literally sing as you walk across them and the gardens can be utterly silent save for the trickling of water and the wind as it blows through the maples. This place positively erupts with sound (or not, in the case of the silent gardens).
This is Chion-in temple in the east of Kyoto. And it’s where I took two recent guests on a sound walk.
The guests on this occasion were both visiting Japan for the first time. An actor filming in Tokyo—someone whose profession has made him tune into the nuances of sound—and a ceramic artist drawn to Japan through her love of pottery and craftsmanship. As we climbed to the top of the temple’s grand gate, she immediately commented on the weathered wooden surfaces, focusing on the grain, paint and texture. They were both looking for something beyond the typical tourist experience and were eager to explore Kyoto through deep listening.
Above is a short video of our visit, to give you an idea of what might be found on one of these sound walks. Each walk is different, of course. I never truly know what we’ll find when entering a place with guests, but what I can do is provide the necessary tools along with a little bit of encouragement to listen with curiosity.
We use hand-held sound recorders and binaural microphones to explore our way through each place. The binaural microphones are worn in the ears, just like in-ear headphones, but because of this, they capture all the sound you can hear in a pleasing 360° field.
I like to encourage people to tune into everything around them, and not to think of certain sounds as unwanted. This is an exercise in appreciating sounds that are often overlooked: the voices and languages of the people around them (except mine, I do try to shut up!), the pleasing way wood creaks, the sound of a ringing bell, or the unique way a water fountain creates a rhythm. These ‘mundane’ sounds become so much more interesting, and of course louder and clearer, when amplified by the microphones worn in the ears.
Listening to sound in this way very much feels like being a kid again. Suddenly you’re in awe of the world and everything around you.
If any of this resonates and you’d like to book a sound walk, please head to kyotoinsound.com for all the information.
Thank you, as always, for noticing with me.
🍃 SJF
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