The Ritual

In the ancient heart of Kyoto, where the Kamo River whispered secrets to the cherry blossoms lining its banks, Haruto Yamamoto lived a life etched in the precise strokes of tradition. At sixty-eight, his days unfolded like the careful unfurling of a scroll: dawn meditations in his modest tatami-floored home, the rhythmic brush of calligraphy on rice pap…