Of Teeth and Fairies, 歯と妖精のため

Tides and Sunrises
Passing moments here and gone
Voices on the wind

The way to have come
For following these stars
So perilous indeed

















 Something of the Lion's Teeth

     During my last trip I had a bit of a struggle trying to stay interested as I passed through the temple after temple.  I actually had to tell myself, "You will go into that temple and look at it."  This after marching for miles every day was far more difficult that you can imagine.  My routes seemed to take me past countless temples dotted along my path whatever my destination might be.  Shinto and Buddhist Temples have fantastic and detailed ornamentation, buildings, and gardens.  I felt guilty for not having the desire to stop in and see them.  There are just so many of them!  Like many things, after a while... they all started to look the same.  But drag myself into them I did, and photograph the heck out of them I did!
     These Lions stand guard outside Hirota Jinja (see previous post here).  I learned a little something about these lions while I was at Amagasaki Jinja.  I had met a Nisou (尼僧) or priestess at a dinner and she invited me to have a tour of the temple.
     While I was there we walked between the Lions together and we talked about their significance as symbols of the Jin (Yin) and Yang.  She mentioned to me that the lion with his mouth open had a special power.
     If you place your hand inside the lions mouth it will close on you if you are a liar.
     Not above a challenge I placed my fingers inside the mouth of the hungry beast...  Fortunatley mere moments later I was able to withdraw my hand, all fingers accounted for.
     WHEW!

The lie detector

A little on the tooth Fairy

     So the other day I was visiting Spokane's Japanese Cultural Center.  Yes, Spokane is an odd place for a Japanese Cultural Center...  But not only do we have one... We have a nice one!  It just happens to be one of my daughter's favorite places to visit and play.
     While we were there my daughters started talking to a Japanese college student of about 20.  The students find my daughters quite intriguing and enjoy their antics.
     Regardless....  Both of my daughters are losing teeth like they just walked out of bar-room brawl.  So a discussion about the Tooth Fairy was imminent.  Not only was it imminent... it was bound for cross cultural disaster.
     Recipe for disaster

              Little Girls with limited explanation skills + Older Girl with limited Vocabulary + Tooth Fairy
                                                   = Total Failure of Communication

     I entered the conversation as the Exchange student was repeating, "You have fairy in teeth?"  And my daughters were jumping up and down repeating, 'Tooth Fairy Tooth Fairy!"
      I was amused....

The Japanese don't have a tooth fairy?

     So after clearing the air on Tooth Fairies and explaining that my Daughters don't actually believe in fairies living in their teeth, (No, they believe one visits them at night and drops off money... much more reasonable...)  I learned a little about Japanese Traditions.
      I love that feeling when find out there is still more to discover!  So apparently the Japanese will take the teeth that have fallen out of the top row and throw them under the house.  The teeth that fall out from the lower jaw will be thrown up onto the roof of the house.

家の上　　うちのうえ      uchi no ue       Above the house
家の下　　うちのした　　uchi no shita    Below the house

      As you throw your teeth above the house you encourage the lower teeth to grow up.
      As you throw your teeth below the house you encourage the upper teeth to grow down.

     (Too bad for the kid in the high rise apartment building, ne?)


     So I thought those were a couple interesting bits of information surrounding teeth I hadn't known before.  I thought it was a little bit obscure but maybe you had already heard of it?

     Maybe you know some more quirky Japanese traditions?







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