February 8th. If you follow this account long enough, this is a kind reminder. If you are new, please remember (learn) today as Koto-Youka (事八日), the day for Hari Kuyou (針供養) in which a shrine/temple offer a ritual (ceremony) to farewell broken, unusable, or bent needles.
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In Hari-Kuyou, we say good-by to the hard-worked needles while letting them rest in something soft like Tofu. Japanese believe(d) in a type of Animism, and each item, such as a needle, has its own spirit in it. To properly appreciate the spirit, they had a ceremony on Feb.8th to “pray” for the next stage for the spirit while resting our own hands by not-stitching (so I won’t do Sashiko today).
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Why Feb.8th? How do we do it? Where do we do it? I have several articles including my friend visiting a shrine for their own Hari-Kuyou on Patreon (https://ift.tt/RJbEvr4). I made those specific articles public for a limited time, so please search for them.
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Kuyou (供養). We use this word for a deceased person as well – in my own elaborated translation (not by dictionary), Kuyou means “Sustain Our Care To” in our ordinary. Do I expect everyone to believe there is a spirit in a needle? No, but “caring for needles” for a day would be a great way to take care of what we do, and also ourselves as who we are & what we look for. We are all here thanks to something/someone. We all have preference, so like or dislike, agree & disagree are okay – but “care” as opposite of ignorance will better define who we are. Our Sashiko doesn’t exist without (specific) needles, and our Sashiko won’t be “alive” if you aren’t here. It isn’t really difficult to “sustain our care to”. We just need a fixed day to remember it – like an anniversary. Feb.8th is a day for the needle from stitchers.
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2回の大きな出張と4月の日本旅行。5月に入るまでは目まぐるしく忙しい日々が続きます。ただ、忙しいからと言って刺し子が進まないかというと寧ろ逆で、忙しい時に「今日ぐらい大丈夫だろ（いや、大丈夫かな）」という状況で進める刺し子のヒシヒシ感が好きだったりします。全く精神が落ち着かない刺し子です（笑）仕事したくなくて針持ってるっていうだけの話かもしれませんが（笑）ただ今日は事八日なので針は持ちません。自分なりの形で針に感謝をしつつ、最近ふと思う「供養」の意味に考えを巡らせてみようと思うのです。
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#Sashiko #JapaneseSashiko #刺し子 #日本人の刺し子
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