[24Seasons]Rikka立夏 Standing Summer

Japanese people have a natural habit of anthropomorphizing all things.

Take the example of the Japanese pancake mix, which is also a true story.

If you look at the back of the package, you could find that the flour, eggs, and milk have been given smile expressions, arms, and legs, in other words, spirit, and are flying into the bowl with a whoop.

As reading this, you may be wondering to enter the beginning of a story but it is an simply explanation of “How to make” the pancake on the package.

“All of the objects are alive in Japan!”

It was my husband’s comment who pointed this out to me when he traveled to Japan for the first time.

I was born and raised in Japan, but and that’s why, I had never noticed that this was a particularly interesting distinction,because it was too common to me.

——

In Japan, there is a word for the eight million gods=八百万の神.

That means, in Shintoism, it is believed that a god exists for everything.

It is not a religion.

Rather, it is the culture and the spirit that the Japanese people have inherited.

I remember that my grandmother once left a note for a stray cat;” Please don't eat the fish in the cupboard”.

The fact that she treated the cat as a human being left a strong impression on my memory even though I was very young, and it was as if the world of Japanese folktales was right in front of me.

Not only animals and plants, but also pots and pans, furniture, and in modern times, even smartphones, 、、、、 all have life in them. We, Japanese people, are not taught by anyone in particular, but it is imprinted in our lives.

Oh okay,this is a bit too long preamble.

According to the 24 calendars, we have entered the Rikka[立夏] season. In literal translation, “Standing Summer”.

At the same time in Japan, it will be entering the rainy season called TSUYU[梅雨Ume plum rain] season, which brings the heat and the rain coexist.

And here we are, holding out umbrellas to the tomatoes to keep them from getting too wet from the rain.

Not only people but also all things should be cared for in the same way.

This is a Japanese scenery gives me a break from our busy lives.

A break between reality and illusion.