" It was winter in Doto, the Eastern side of Hokkaido. Everywhere on the land was wrapped with a white, faint, light, dimly illuminated by the fallen snow
and the slightly cloudy sky. Having arrived from Tokyo, where the sky was clear and blue, I soon wandered into this distant land. The tranquility in this place made me feel as if everything was asleep.
Embraced by the silence, I opened my ears and listened. On this white, tranquil land, it seemed as if I could hear the falling of the smallest pile of snow from the tree branches in a forest far, far away.
While I was travelling around the area in deep winter, I encountered a group of Yezo deers from a distance, walking across the frozen lake at dusk. Gazing at the herd, connected with the sky
and the forest on the same line, I fell in awe with the providence of nature. It felt as if I have witnessed something sacred. At the seaside, migratory birds were soaring on the air current from the cape.
It is said that tundra swans that pass through Hokkaido carry memories of the coastlines from hundreds of thousands of years ago. They continue to migrate with a route map inherited from their ancestors, year after year.
Looking back at the time in Doto, I was in union with the wilderness, experiencing a feeling of oneness
which I had never felt before. Embraced by soft light, I was connected on the same path with the deer and Mother Nature." – words by Chieko Shiraishi