last weekend Valerie and I visited Takehara's beautiful historic district for an interesting little festival. Men put on demon masks and people bring their children for them to scare and make them cry for health and good luck in the future. Apparently crying is healthy! It was very effective with some of the little ones, as you can see in the pictures. A few of the older boys made me think of my nephew who, at nearly 6, is probably too old already to get scared by something like that, even though It feels like he was a new-born just yesterday. They grow up so fast. Time really does fly, doesn't it!
After the festival, we went over to Horita-san's house. She is a calligraphy teacher we got to know by pure chance a few weeks ago. An incredibly kind and generous person, she even gave us a quick calligraphy lesson this time around. Calligraphy is so fascinating to me, it really helps calming you down and puts things into perspective. I'm grateful for the many beautfiful experiences here.
