2013 the year of Snake, Eto (Chinese zodiac)

Do you know your own Eto (Chinese zodiac)?
Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey,  Rooster, Dog, Pig (or Boar in Japan)
This year is snake! It is my year!! :D
If you are born in … 1923, 1941, 1953, 1965, 1977, 1989, 2001, 2013
You are a snake too :)

Your own zodiac animal is your lucky charm, so you should have one of your animals!!
This page explain about the zodiac very very well.
http://www.onmarkproductions.com/html/12-zodiac.shtml 

< 2013 Year of Snake, Japanese talisman pottery bell >

 I got this lovely snake ornament from Japan and now it's available in my shop Zakka81!!
This ornamental talisman pottery bell has a "uchide no kozuchi"under the snake.
"Uchide no kozuchi" A small mallet.  It is said that one can attain anything if one shakes it saying whatever you want.　
Japanese folktail from "Issun boushi"  
(Wiki -> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Issun-b%C5%8Dshi )

 This double lucky charm ceramic bell surely bring good luck to you!!

http://www.zakka81.com.au
* Japanese online gift shop *

Children's Day - Musya ningyo & Kabuto

 I wrote about Children's day last time, but let me explain again for new visitor's :)

Children's Day is a Japanese holiday which takes place annually on May 5th, It is a day set aside to respect children's personalities and to celebrate their happiness.
But also known as "Tango no sekku", Families with young boys put up "Koi-nobori" (carp stream) in their yard and display dolls called "Musya ningyo" patterned after historical warriors and heroes to pray for their health and success in life.

Today, I show you little bit about more "Musya ningyo"

Musha ningyo (武者人形：Warrior dolls) also called "Gogatsu ningyo" (五月人形：May doll).

A set of Armour, helmet and other things the samurai warrior of old carried during wartime are displayed.

Parents display the dolls wishing for their boys to grow into strong and powerful man like a samurai!!

But, whole "Musha ningyo" is pretty big, we just display samurai warrior helmet instead of whole doll these days.

Now, we have an another doll, called "Kintaro" , Kintarō is the childhood name of "Sakata no Kintoki" who was a hero in the Heian period. He having been famous for his strength when he was a child. It is said that Kintarō rode a bear, instead of a horse(!!) and played with animals in the mountains when he was a young boy. So, that's why we display "Kintaro" it represents strength and  healthy boy!

Why not make Samurai helmet by news paper?? 

Here is how... 

http://samuraikids.com.au/funstuff%20samurai%20hat.html

Don't forget to cut the news paper into the square!

I found a geeky one, it's Darth Vader Musha doll!!!!!! also Storm trooper!!!! OMG really?!

It's in Japanese, but you can buy these at here...

http://www.yoshitoku.co.jp/sw/musha_ningyou.html
http://www.yoshitoku.co.jp/sw/index.html
http://www.yoshitoku.co.jp/sw/S_trooper.html

I have small "Kintaro" decoration in my shop★

Kintaro and carp stream and origami helmet! All in one, very cute set!!

http://www.zakka81.com.au/?p=1237&preview=true

The return of the Crane (Tsuru no ongaeshi)

We have a old folktales about the crane....
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Once upon a time, there lived an old man and an old women. One day, the old mad saved a crane that had been suffering in a trap.

That night, a young women visited their house in a blizzard and said "I'm lost, Please let me stay tonight..." They felt sorry for the women and put her up for the night.

The blizzard continued day after day, and the young women had to stay for several days.
One night, she said " I'm going to weave. Please promise me never to look into my room while I am working."

The next morning, she handed a roll of beautiful cloth he ever seen. he went out to sell the cloth and it was sold at a high price.

Yhe old women was eager to look into the room while the young women was working. One night, she finally peeked into the room and saw a crane was weaving its own feathers.

While the old man and old women were astonished, the crane said "As you can see, I'm the crane that you saved the other day. Thank you very much for your kindness." and flew away.
********

People, Never break the promise!
>The art of Kimono -vintage silk crane 10cm x 10cm canvas