Two days before the 31st, I realised I would be teaching papermaking to two classes of 5th graders on Halloween. If there’s a better excuse to create a costume, I don’t know it.
Since I’d be teaching, it needed to be something that was easy to move in and could be removed if necessary. And I liked the idea of something artful. So I used my botanical colors and painted a bunch of eyes. I thought I’d attach them to a headband like the “deely-boppers” I loved as a kid.
I drew waaay too many eyes for that and ended up with a crown of eyes. And I added a quickly made necklace to round out the outfit.
But I had a problem. What was this, exactly? People would ask and I needed an answer.
Argus Panoptes, the many eyed Greek giant? How many kids know Greek mythology? Not so many. I decided to look into Japanese culture.
Mokumokuren (目目連) was the answer. It’s a yokai made of eyes! It lives in old ripped shoji doors and terrifies people in the dark. Commonly found in haunted houses, it’s clearly common in this area, but generally obscure. I had to explain it to everyone, but they learned something and I looked great.
I was the only person among 200 to be wearing a costume but this was a Halloween win anyway.
