Sublime

komono, a Japanese term that the dictionary defines variously as “small articles; miscellaneous items; accessories; gadgets or small tools, parts, or attachments; an insignificant person; small fry.”

In medieval Japan, under the patronage of the Zen monasteries and the Kamakura shogunate, the prevailing preference for simplicity and modesty were slowly introduced into the styles of the ceramics produced.

the pontiff dispatched “an undistinguished Dominican” friar named Johann Tetzel to Germany to sell indulgences to support construction work on the imposingly ornate St. Peter’s Basilica. Tetzel’s pithy sales pitch became famous: “as soon as the coin in the coffer rings, the soul from purgatory springs.”

EVERY EVENING, at dusk, we began burning our things: old bank statements and diaries, Buddhist family altars, wooden