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THE FAMILY BUSINESS
The Temple on the Moat
Martin reflects on being bullied
Near our house in Itami is a Shinto shrine on a small island on a hill surrounded by a moat.
This is my secret fishing spot. It is not hidden, or I am the only one who knows about it. Instead, it is the spot I come to when I need to think and stew in solitude.
I approach the temple from the street and pedal around the perimeter, scouting to see who else is fishing. Two figures with long poles quietly sit on the far side.
Seeing that my usual spot is unoccupied, I glide to a stop and lean my bicycle against a cherry tree, untie the cloth case for my pole, retrieve the three long skinny bamboo pieces, and carefully fit them together to form a long, flexible pole.
I take the small box of tackle, remove a coiled loop of fishing line, and tie the end to a small loop at the tip of the pole.
Checking the line length, I affix a rig of a dozen small hooks on short segments of line tied together with a metal coil hanging between them.
The coil will hold a dough ball mixed with ground bait, usually dried insects of various kinds.
I quickly pour a small amount of the bait powder and mix it to form the dough. Then, I break up a…