The Continuance Institute

The Circles · C-20

Aomori Circle

A circle whose ordinary year is divided cleanly by snow.

Place
Aomori, Japan
Recognised
1998
Affiliated house
Cedar House
Assigned steward
Rie Katsuragawa
Convener
Haruki SasamotoOrchard cooperative clerk. Term began 2025; second and final consecutive year.
Ordinary meeting
Weekly, Friday evenings
Typical attendance
13 to 18
Access
Open to visitors

Local history

Recognised in 1998, the first circle in the Asia and Pacific register. It grew out of the volunteers who had helped re-roof Cedar House and did not want to stop meeting when the roof was finished.

The snow round is arranged with the neighbourhood association each November and closed each April. Between April and November the circle's outward hours are small and its returns say so.

The outward obligation

Transport and winter provision

Snow round, held with a neighbourhood welfare association.

Clearing roofs and paths for households that cannot, and a telephone round in heavy weeks. December to March.

The forms it carries

  • The Quiet Twelve

    Twelve minutes are kept before the reading. Nothing is assigned to the silence.

  • The Repair Table

    A table, a bench, or a marked shelf where ordinary objects wait to be mended.

  • The Weather Entry

    Before the first shared meal of the month, one person writes the weather in the house book.

Local variation. The weather entry is written twice a month rather than once, and in winter it is the most consulted page the circle keeps.

The shared forms, as they are kept in the houses

Also attached to Cedar House

Elsewhere in Asia and Pacific