A very good, longtime friend of mine came to offer some flowers to my late mother on her way home from an early-morning market.
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旧い友人が朝市帰りにお花を亡母に供えてくれました。
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Enjoyed choosing small potted/
Primroses/
At a morning bazaar/
Calligraphy and translation by Chio
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The season doesn’t seem to progress quickly. It is very cold and windy today and we had powdery snow early in the morning.
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季節はなかなか真っ直ぐに進みません。今日は寒い上に風も強いですし、朝のうちには粉雪が舞っていました。
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O spring snow/
Trace of sun/
Under my umbrella/
Calligraphy and translation by Chio
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The seasonal phrase for the middle of February is this, “fish jumps out of ice cracks”. I think it is a pleasurable image that reminds people of the spring season. I am not sure if something like this actually happens, though.
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2月中頃の七十二候の名称がこの「魚上氷」です。割れた氷の間から魚が飛び出る・・・春という季節の嬉しさを思わせる愉快なイメージだと思います。実際にそんなことが起こるかどうか分かりませんが。
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It has been raining pretty steadily since midnight.
This is “spring wind”, incidentally. I wish disasters and viruses would be blown away.
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真夜中ぐらいからしっかりとした雨が降っています。
ちなみにこれは「春風」ですが、災害もウィルスも吹き飛ばされてしまえばいいのに.
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A very good, longtime friend of mine sent me this amusing set of chocolates. How many people can guess what this box was supposed to model on, I wonder.
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旧い友人がこの愉快なチョコレートセットを送ってきてくれました。一体どれだけの人がこれが何だか覚えているでしょうか。
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Glossy February has arrived/
Oh, chocolates/
Calligraphy and translation by Chio
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I tried another copying practice of my teacher’s work, which means “to make maximum effort”. I did this thanking my great fortune to have had such a distinguished calligrapher as a teacher again. For, he practiced copying thoroughly and so hard not only ancient Chinese great works but calligraphy by excellent calligraphers in old times in Japan. Thus, his calligraphy has every essence of all kinds of calligraphic techniques. As a matter of fact, it is the best thing in my life.
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願ってもない先生に出会ったことに何度も感謝しつつ師の書の臨書をしました。先生は、中国の古典も日本の優れた先人の書も徹底的に臨書されているので、先生の書にはその全てのエッセンスが含まれています。それで実のところ、私はまことにラッキーなのです。
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Today marks the first day of the year according to the lunar calendar.
“Riding upon the wind, riding upon the wave.”
How far can we go?
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今日は旧暦の元日です。
「風に乗って 波に乗って」
どこまで行ける？
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Slowly, it is getting warmer. This is the seasonal phrase for the first half of February, which means “Japanese bush warblers begin singing in mountain hamlets”. It makes you feel full of hope. Now, I have a number of messages to send out.
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ゆっくりですが暖かくなってきました。2月前半の七十二候の名称は、「鶯が山里で囀り始める」です。何かしら希望を感じる言葉です。そういえば、いくつか連絡を取らないと。
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This is from an old folk tale of Iwate Prefecture in northern Japan.
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Once upon a time, there lived a beautiful girl in Kibushi, Morioka. Every day she went to the Kitakamigawa River in front of her house, and did a laundry under a tall willow tree.
It is said that one day after she got out of home as usual, she went missing.
Her family and the villagers searched everywhere talking to one another, “Where the deuce has she gone? It is as if she had got spirited away.” But they couldn’t find her anywhere.
However, a few days later, she was found, being entangled by many branches and held tightly to the trunk of the willow tree.
The villagers saved her and brought her back home.
After that, she was sick with a sense of malaise for a long time and had a pallid face.
After she recovered from the illness, she said, “When I was washing the clothes just as usual that afternoon, the most beautiful man I have ever seen appeared from somewhere and hugged me tight and wouldn’t let me go. In the meantime, I felt dizzy and didn’t know what was what.”
After this incident, the willow tree naturally withered and died.
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“Beautiful man of the willow treed”, a folk tale of Iwate.
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岩手県の民話「柳の美男」から書きました。
昔、盛岡の木伏（きぶし）に美しい娘があったと。
毎日家の前の北上川へ出て、勢（せい）よく伸びた柳の木の下で洗濯物をしていた。
あるとき、その娘がいつものとおり洗濯に出たまま行方がわからなくなったと。
家の人たちや村の人たちは、「いったいぜんたい、どこへ隠れてしまったんじゃ。神隠しみたいだ」と言いあいながら、方々をたずね歩いたけどどうしても探し出すことが出来なかったと。
ところが、二、三日経ってから娘がその柳の木の幹にたくさんの枝々で絡まれて、しっかりと抱かれているのが見つかった。村の人たちは娘を助けて家に連れ帰った。
そのあと娘は永らくぶらぶら病にとりつかれて青い顔をしていたが、快（よ）くなってからこう言うた。
あの日の夕方、いつものように柳の木の下で洗濯をしていると、どこからか、見たことのない美しい男が来て抱きついて放さない。そのうちに何が何だか気が遠くなって、何とも知らなくなった。
その後（のち）、柳の木は自然に枯れて死んだ。
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This is another one of “energy”. I learned that you shouldn’t put a seal on instruments you use with your hands such as round fans and folding fans because it is a breach of manners. And I learned in that event, instead, you can write something like a seal with your brush. However, I am afraid not many people will understand this thinking. For, a written seal is a little too technical.
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これはまた別の「波動」です。団扇や扇子など手に持って使う道具に印を押すのはマナー違反でよろしくないと教わりました。その代わりに書き印を入れるといいのだそうですが、書き印はマニアックですよね。
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