Wind bells are enjoyed all over Japan, but these simple, hand-blown, hand-painted, spherical glass wind bells have been a Tokyo specialty for hundreds of years. This YouTube video shows how they are made (Japanese).
After the Great Osaka-Kobe Earthquake of '95, many of the relocated elderly survivors simply lost their will to live. It had been snuffed out in part by loss of community ties and that which was familiar. The will to live is a mysterious thing. Sometimes fragile. Sometimes tenacious. Frequently tested. Always precious. Surviving the disaster itself is only the beginning.
The words that accompany the image in this etegami are a translation of a haiku by the poet Santoka (1882-1940).
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