Komorebi: In Search of Sun Through Trees

Often, feelings arrive before we actually have the words for them. Picture this: you step off the forest path into the trees... trees for as far as the eyes can see. You feel your shoulders relax, your jaw unclenches, and then light breaks through the canopy and slowly lands at your feet. Most of us have felt it.

Komorebi: light that leaks through leaves

In Japanese, komorebi (木漏れ日), quite literally translates to sunlight that filters through the leaves of trees. It's made of three parts: ko (tree), more (to leak or escape), and bi (sun). 

What we love about komorebi is that it puts a name to something we can’t physically hold. It isn’t the sun, and it isn’t the trees - it's the meeting point between the two - the shifting pattern of light and shadows that exists only for a moment. 

Werifesteria: wandering in search of something

If komorebi is the moment of light, werifesteria is the journey that leads you there.

Werifesteria is a modern invented word, (known as neologism) often said to mean wandering longingly through a forest in search of mystery, magic or meaning. It has an old-world sound, but it belongs to now, to those of us who feel a pull towards the trees without always knowing why. It describes the walk with no destination in mind, the detour, the unmarked forest trail. It's the urge to go a little deeper, simply to see what’s there. 

Where the two words meet

Put the two words together and you have something close to a philosophy: wander without hurry, and you will be met with light. Werifesteria is the searching and komorebi is the finding. One is about following your curiosity into the unknown; the other is the small, golden reward that waits there, if you’re paying attention.

As the days shorten and the air turns crisp, this feels especially worth holding on to. The autumn and winter months invite us inward, but even on the greyest days, a walk through bare branches can still offer a flicker of sun, a reminder that light finds its way through, given the chance.

A small invitation

This week, we’d encourage you to practise a little werifesteria of your own. Find a park, a woodland, or even just a tree-lined street. Leave your phone in your bag and walk slowly, without a destination, and look up. Wait for the light to come through...

Bringing the forest home

The forest has always been at the heart of MIRROR WATER, and it’s the feeling of komorebi that inspired our signature Candle, Sun Through Trees.

We wanted to capture that exact moment of sunlight breaking through a canopy of trees overhead. A deep, grounding base of pine, cedarwood and sandalwood sits beneath warm notes of sweet balsam and amber, lifted by a bright, sparkling top note of bergamot: the light coming through the trees.

Sun Through Trees brings that feeling indoors. Hand-poured in East London with soy wax, it has a 60-hour burn time and comes in a reusable glass jar. We like to light it in the evenings, when a forest walk isn’t possible, after a long day, with a good book.

Images: Unknown via Pinterest

Written by
Team MW

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  SUN THROUGH TREES

  Forest-scent soy wax candle

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