On 'Open the Gate, Fallen Leaves'

mon wo hirakeba rakuyou ooshi — Open the Gate, Fallen Leaves.

On the origin

From a poem by the Tang poet-monk Muka, sent to his cousin Jia Dao: the couplet “Listening to rain, the cold night ends; opening the gate, the fallen leaves are many.” Recorded in the Complete Tang Poems (vol. 813) and later gathered into the Zenrin Kushū, the Zen phrase canon.

On the reading

Listening to the rain, the long cold night passed unnoticed. The gate opens onto leaves that fell while no one watched. Things change quietly, even through a single night. By the time one notices, the season has already moved on.

On the garment

The seal for this phrase was hand-carved in Tokyo by the artist Satake Hōsen. The front carries this phrase’s seal; the back and inside label carry the Hōsen seal (寳千), printed in vermilion.

The garment is Bella + Canvas 3001 (short sleeve) or Gildan 2400 (long sleeve). A vessel for the word, not the subject itself.

― hosen, tokyo