dream eaters

Baku (獏) are Japanese dream eating spirits, traditionally depicted with elephant trunks, tusks and the paws of a tiger, like in these amazing carvings on a tiny shrine in Nikko. I first came across them on a moonlit night, when I took a shortcut back from the corner store to the place where I was staying. It was like stepping into a Miyazaki film - the tall pines outlined against the sky, the silvery stone lions guarding the shrine entrance, the bizarre carvings overhead, and a deep silence broken only by the sound of the wind...

Baku also feature prominently in a rather luscious illustrated tale called The Dream Hunters written by Neil Gaiman, and illustrated by Yoshitaka Amano, where they appear alongside one of Gaiman's best-loved characters, the Sandman.

In this case, the baku seem curious about what's going on above their heads.

when i fall...

end of day(s)

because it's her job...

There is a Chinese story about the cowherd and the weaver maid, which begins with a princess weaving heavenly cloths for the Jade Emperor's wardrobe. It always reminded me of Yeats' 'He wishes for the cloths of heaven', and also -perhaps strangely - of the three fates whose endless job is to spin, measure and snip the thread of each human life. Sounds like a lonely job, weaving the whole damn sky...

The Chinese tale is a love story, which ends sadly. After offending the August Jade Emperor of Heaven, they are separated forever - two bright stars on either side of the Heavenly River. In his mercy, the Jade Emperor grants them this favour: For one day a year, on the seventh day of the seventh month, all the magpies fly up to form a bridge across the milky way, where the lovers are allowed to meet.

Or is she more of a knitter... With a penchant for lumpy wool?

atlas was a dude

calendrical observation: day^month=year (abbreviated) :)

the beginning and end of all things

(your universe goes from here, to here)

paddling

and so, to flood...

so over in the bottom corner, that's the river. and that big ol' lake there, that's the meadow. meadow? yes meadow. but where are all the cows then? indeed. that IS the question...

a tale of threatening sky

(yay! it didn't rain on my photo shoot today - well not much anyhow)

modern-day icarus

Phew! what a week! Finally got back to this one though - Pkewww! Pkewwww!
Stand by for a new installment of 'How to Catch a Cloud'....

laundry of eden

Ða com of more under misthleoþum...