Thursday, January 14, 2021

(2276) Holidays leftovers, part three: Not just at homes or stores

Nihon_arekore_02302_Construction_kadomatsu_100_cl

A pair of very impressive kadomatsu in front of a very impressive construction at Nihonbash -I didn't have a wide-angle lens so you can't see it is a skyscraper and the whole structure with the stairs is the temporary office for the engineers and architects. Of course here the kadomatsu have been set to wish that the construction will be completed without problems. Incidentally, the reason the bamboo of the kadomatsu are (often but not always) cut diagonally is allegedly the ire of Tokugawa Ieyasu (徳川家康, 1543–1616), founder of the dynasty of shogun who unified and ruled Japan from 1603 to 1868. When Ieyasu lost the battle of Mitagahara (三方ヶ原) on January 1573 to Takeda Shingen (武田信玄, 1521-1573), when he returned to his camp, saw the kadomatsu set there to celebrate the New Year and because bamboo in Japanese are called "take" (like the "take" in "Takeda" but with a different character) he cut them shouting that this was how he would cut Takeda's head in the next battle. There was no next battle because Takeda died four months later from a cause still unknown but the diagonally cut kadomatsu remain. 

(For a bigger version of this picture both in color and black and white, check my "Japan Arekore" set on Flickr).


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