Thank you so much to everyone for your kind words, I really do appreciate them so much. I apologise for not replying to each comment individually. 💙

curious ordinary@curiousordinary.bsky.social · 2w ago

Hello everyone. I want to thank you all for supporting me here on Bluesky and elsewhere. It has been seven and a half years now since I started sharing folklore online as curious ordinary. Unfortunately, life has thrown a lot at me over the past few years, and I have reached the point where I... 1/3

Hello everyone. I want to thank you all for supporting me here on Bluesky and elsewhere. It has been seven and a half years now since I started sharing folklore online as curious ordinary. Unfortunately, life has thrown a lot at me over the past few years, and I have reached the point where I... 1/3

Hello everyone. I want to thank you all for supporting me here on Bluesky and elsewhere. It has been seven and a half years now since I started sharing folklore online as curious ordinary. Unfortunately, life has thrown a lot at me over the past few years, and I have reached the point where I... 1/3

Magu (麻姑), goddess of longevity, is eternity wearing a human face. In Chinese mythology, she has watched the sea turn into mulberry fields three times, making her a witness to worlds rising, vanishing, and returning again. Legends say she crossed waters in wooden clogs and 1/2

Netsuke (Japan, 1701-1900). Hare grinding with a mortar and pestle. Refers to the ‘Hare in the Moon’, a messenger of the moon deity. The hare mixes the elixir of immortality with his mortar and pestle.

I'm on Australia's ABC Radio! I spoke to @natashamitchell.bsky.social about Japan’s unique approach to blending secular and sacred, and how it can help you navigate complicated times. It was recorded at the 2026 Melbourne Writers Festival; now you can listen here! www.abc.net.au/listen/progr...

8 Million Ways to Happiness with Hiroko Yoda — what we can all learn about life, love, and loss from Japan’s flexible spirituality - ABC listen

When writer Hiroko Yoda's mother died, she found herself unmoored. They'd argued a fair bit over the years — as daughters and their mothers can — some things were unresolved. So now what? She found he...

abc.net.au

✨CHIMAKI CHARMS🙏 One of the most important tasks in July for many households and businesses in Kyōto is the refreshing of the 'chimaki' (茅巻き). Sold exclusively during the Gion Matsuri, these broom-like charms hang by doorways to prevent misfortune entering the home or office.

Fangzhang Mountain (方丈山) is one of the three sacred isles said to rise from the East Sea, a square realm so vast that each side spans 5,000 li. In its golden palaces, jade springs nourish fields of immortal herbs, and dragons wheel through the shining air. 1/2 #art

Toshi Yoshida - Waterfall #ShinHanga #Woodblock #Print #JapaneseArt #Ukiyo-e

#PhantomsFriday #JapaneseFolklore

curious ordinary@curiousordinary.bsky.social · last yr.

In #JapaneseFolklore Oitekebori is a strange apparition that takes the form of a human ghost. One evening, two fishermen were fishing in a canal in Tokyo and they were catching more fish than usual. As they were preparing to go home they heard an eerie voice coming from the canal... #GhostMonth 1/3

'Spring Rain at Matsushima' - Tsuchiya Koitsu, 1936. #JapaneseArt #shinhanga

In #JapaneseFolklore there is a strange tale of a ghostly sake drinking binge. One day an antique dealer discovered a very realistic painting of a ghost. That very day a customer agreed to buy it for ten times what he had paid, saying he would return the next day with the money. #PhantomsFriday 1/6

‘Tanabata Festival’ - Ito Shinsui, 1931. #JapaneseArt #tanabata

‘The Tanabata Festival’ from the series ‘Precious Children’s Games of the Five Festivals’ - Torii Kiyonaga, 1794. #JapaneseArt #ukiyoe #tanabata

At Tanabata (七夕) people write wishes on colourful paper strips called 'tanzaku' (短冊) and hang them from decorated bamboo fronds. In ancient times people originally etched poems on the leaves of sacred kajinoki (梶の木 'paper mulberry') trees and offered them to the gods.

Today in Japan is Tanabata, also known as the Star Festival. Last year I wrote this article about Tanabata folklore, history and traditions, with plenty of art featuring Tanabata celebrations too. open.substack.com/pub/curiouso... #JapaneseArt #JapaneseFolklore

Tanabata

The Japanese Star Festival

open.substack.com

🥒THE MONTH WITHOUT CUCUMBERS🚫 The crest of Yasaka-jinja (八坂神社), home to the Gion Matsuri, resembles the cross-section of a cucumber, and thus the fruit has gained sacred status during the festival. One of the strangest customs in Kyōto is the giving up of cucumbers for July!

When cats live too long, they gain magical powers and transform. But what they transform into depends on the cat's personality. Are they monster? Trickster? Pillow sitter? What will YOUR cat become? Find out in KAIBYO: THE SUPERNATURAL CATS OF JAPAN Preorder for Nov 19 release! amzn.to/4b9cLTg

'Tanuki Moving House' from the album 'Playful Pictures' - Adachi Ginko, 1885. #JapaneseArt #ukiyoe #yokai

❤️A TALE OF LOVE💔 Orihime (織姫), represented by the star Vega, and her lover Hikoboshi (彦星), the star Altair, can meet only once a year. On the 7th day of the 7th month, if the weather is fine, a mischief of magpies form a bridge across the 'Heavenly River' (the Milky Way).

The 'go-sekku' (lunar calendar): 🎍1/1 Kochōhai (小朝拝 New Year) 🎎3/3 Kyokusui-no-en (曲水の宴 Feast of Drinking around a Meandering Stream) 🎏5/5 Tango-no-sekku (端午の節句 Boys' Festival) 🪡7/7 Kikkōden (乞功奠 Tanabata) 🍶9/9 Chōyō-no-en (重陽の宴 Feast of Chrysanthemums)

Tomorrow is Tanabata, the Star Festival. Even though I'm not in Japan, I still write my wishes on strips of coloured paper and hang them on the bamboo growing in my garden. It's a lovely ritual that makes me feel hopeful for the year ahead. The wonderful thread below is all about tanabata.

Camellia Tea Ceremony@camelliakyoto.bsky.social · last mo.

🌟THE STAR FESTIVAL🎋 chirr-chirr! insects also work their looms... stars of Tanabata しやんしやんと虫もはたおりて星迎 -Kobayashi Issa (小林一茶). Tanabata (七夕), also known as 'Hoshi-matsuri' (星祭り the 'Star Festival'), celebrates the reunion of Orihime and Hikoboshi on the 7th day of the 7th month.

'Tsukumojima in Shimabara' from the series 'Selected Views of Japan' - Hasui Kawase, 1922. From the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston collection. #JapaneseArt #shinhanga

👻THE ORIGINS OF THE GION MATSURI🙏 Simply put = 👹😱😫🤒🤮 🙏 👹➡️😇 💪🥳 In looking at the origins of the Gion Matsuri (祇園祭) we must start a few years prior to the plague of 869, to the first goryō-e (御霊会). Disease in those days was attributed to either gods or spirits.

Thanks to Christopher Harding for interviewing me on his newsletter! www.chrishardingjapan.com/p/eight-mill...

Eight Million Ways to Happiness

Hiroko Yoda and Japanese Approaches to Life

chrishardingjapan.com

Tsuchiya Koitsu - Araki Yokocho at Yotsuya #ShinHanga #Woodblock #Print #JapaneseArt #Ukiyo-e

The dragon motif comes from the Seated Portrait of Emperor Xizong (明熹宗, 1605–1627), a ruler whose image radiates imperial power even as his reign unraveled behind the throne. Remembered as the Ming “carpenter emperor,” Xizong preferred woodwork, hunting, and 1/2 #art

SAMURAI CATS who even knew these were a thing! Japanese artists Utagawa Yoshiiku (歌川 芳幾, 1833-1904) & Utagawa Kuniyoshi 歌川国芳 (1798-1861) depict stunning Samurai cats including a Samurai cat picnic #Caturday

Justly celebrated as one of the greatest illustrators ever, Gustave Dore's landscape painting is less well-known (at least to me). Here is his moody and dramatic depiction of Loch Lomond, dating from the 1870s. #painting #landscape #art #Dore #Scotland

In the Ming dynasty, cats were courtly art made alive. At the royal court, each feline received a name as elegant as a poem: a pure white cat was “A Piece of Jade,” a black cat with a white belly became “Black Clouds Covering Snow,” and a white cat 1/2 #caturday #history