About the legend of eccentrics again
Once again, let's talk about the legend of eccentrics. In a city full of history, there are always well-known eccentrics. In Kyoto, for example, there are the three eccentrics of Rengetsu Valley, the three eccentrics of Yoshida, the eccentrics of Shimogamo, and the three eccentrics of the old gate. Legends of eccentrics can be found everywhere, so much so that you can't count them on both hands. The criteria for being an eccentric is to engage in actions that are disconnected from "rationality" such as utility and significance. They do things that they know will result in loss, pour all their assets into meaningless endeavors, and ruin their lives with things that bring them no benefit. They deviate from the norms of life, but their lives have a clear sense of purpose.
They always stick to their principles, even if they know they will suffer losses. They dedicate themselves to righteousness, fall in love with someone, are drawn to beautiful things, and sometimes even wander or become outlaws. They persist to the extreme, even if it means destroying themselves. People may be amazed and call them fools, but they accept that they are eccentrics who go beyond being just strange because they are somehow attracted to the path they follow. They show us what would happen if we were to follow that path to its end.
In a sense, this is an external perspective directed towards an ordinary life. By firmly rejecting a conventional life, they question whether the lives that ordinary people cherish so dearly are truly worth rejecting. Eccentrics, unlike strange people, are those who have gone even further.
A city with eccentrics is livable. It shows the visible limits of life. It can be said that it is a city where milestones of life are clearly marked. In other words, within those limits, no matter what you do, you can somehow manage. It provides a guarantee that cannot be called a guarantee. In this sense, a city with eccentrics is free.
It is also a sign of maturity. While keeping foreign elements at a distance, there is a depth of acceptance for their existence. Rather than being suspicious of them, there is room to continue to have an unreliable feeling that their existence might become a catalyst for revitalizing the city when it reaches a dead end.
Perhaps this maturity was visible from the outside. In the past twenty or thirty years, eccentric individuals from all over the country have flocked to this city. Dropouts and eccentric young people have gathered one after another. Avant-garde artists have performed incomprehensible performances, and former architects have created eccentric architecture that pushes aside the old-fashioned. And there were still many eccentric individuals in the city who found it interesting.
They pretend not to see, but they tolerate their existence. This is the spirit of tolerance that a mature city has nurtured. It is in such a modern city that the legend of eccentrics can survive. The unconscious calculation that noise is the source of vitality may be the condition for modern urban residents.