Cherry Blossoms, Yoshuku, and Ima Iwai
I developed a custom that I call Ima Iwai out of Yoshuku. Ima means now, and Iwai means celebration. Ima Iwai means celebrating the present moment, appreciating here and now.
I developed a custom that I call Ima Iwai out of Yoshuku. Ima means now, and Iwai means celebration. Ima Iwai means celebrating the present moment, appreciating here and now.
My son and I had small Hanami, a cherry blossom viewing party yesterday.
In the past, people had cherry blossom viewing parties not just to celebrate the blooming, but also to celebrate the rice harvest in Autumn in advance. The cherry blossom was a symbol of a good harvest and prosperity. By celebrating the good harvest in advance, people thought they would manifest that reality.
Yesterday, I attended a symposium in our town, and Kazumasa Sashide, the editor in chief of a famous magazine called Sotokoto spoke there.
Sotokoto features many projects happening in small rural towns and villages across Japan. Kazumasa Sashide is the author of a book called Bokura Wa Chiho De Shiawase Wo Mitsukeru, We Find Our Happiness in the Countryside. He depicts many cases of young people moving to the countryside and finding their Ikigais.
We have a festival called Hinamatsuri on March 3rd in Japan, but we don’t do anything special in our house since it is more for girls.
Since it was Sunday today I had a break from regular intermittent fasting and exercises, and yet I ended up doing HIIT, High-Intensity Interval Training.
I told you that I practiced intermittent fasting just during the week and rested on the weekend. It is to do with the Japanese concept of Hare and Ke in the Ikigai Diet.
We cycled along Omi-Hino-Merchant Street today because Hinamatsuri Kiko was taking place. On March 3rd we have a festival called Hinamatsuri in Japan.
Intermittent fasting was a common practice in Japan in the past.
It was Rishun in Japan yesterday, new year’s day in the lunar calendar, and the beginning of Spring. We had a special dinner to celebrate it.