Sunday, January 12, 2003

Is this a sort of ... Coming-of-Age ceremony ? ?

Oh my ! I'll be at Coming-of-Age ceremony tomorrow !

That means, this morning was the very last morning for me as an "under age" in this country . . .

In such an impressive morning . . .

. . . I experienced kanashibari for the first time in my life.



face mark Bwa ha ha ! ! !

Now am I one of grown-ups by experiencing that ! (lol)

Some people kill a bear unarmed or do bungee jumping from the rocky mountain as a ritual of Coming-of-Age and for me it definitely seems like "experience kanashibari" ! (lol) Really Japan-ish ritual it is .. I don't know.

Well that was so horrible . . .
What was that !
The long, long arms of a monster were pressing me down from near the head of my bed ! ! Aaaaghh ! ! I can't move ! ! Nooo, I lost my voice too ! ! I found myself giving strange voices like "ghh, kh, khaw, ugh, gheh" and thought like "(Ah, I'm not dreaming, what's this, something like a fit of breathing difficulty ? ? HELP---)" but my husband was sleeping peacefully ! !

It took pretty long for me to notice that was what's called kanashibari !

Ahh . . . it was so terrific . . . awful . . .

Anywayz ! Tomorrow is truly Coming-of-Age Day !

I . . . hehehe . . .
. . . will take souvenir photos with my family, wearing furisode !
I'll upload them here - I hope everything's gonna be all right !
(and I hope furisode fits me well . . .)


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(NOTES by Nuuk)
"kanashibari" ... the word literally means to be "tightly bound" or "tied down" and it's an old Japanese folk expression for what in English is called "sleep paralysis." It usually happens when the sleeper is either entering or coming out of REM sleep.
"furisode" ... furisode is the most formal kimono for unmarried women. Usually married women wear tomesode but seems like Hikki doesn't care about it. lol.