We have known Elizabeth and Atsunori Andoh for over 20 years; I have lost count. I took Elizabeth’s pickle workshop at A Taste of Culture in 2000, maybe? Shortly after that, Tod & I built her a website. And now we are all friends. Our wedding anniversaries are 20 years apart, and we celebrate the milestones together.
Atsunori wanted to give us a gift for the new house. On Saturday they drove out from Tokyo with their neighbors, the Nakatas, to deliver it. The weather was soggy, but we made the best of it with freshly squeezed mikan juice (thanks to Max) and hot tea in the doma, plus a muddy tromp into the rain to pick kumquats from our bush.
We were so in the moment on the day that I didn’t take a single photo of our visit. I am not sure that anyone did. We were enjoying each other’s company and looking around the property. I didn’t even unwrap the carefully swaddled gift until later in the day after they had returned to the city.
But when I did, I gasped with delight and appreciation. The gift is a pair of high-relief carved wooden ranma from the Andoh family home in Shikoku. They are perhaps a hundred year old, commissioned by Atsunori’s grandfather in the Taisho era (1912-1926).
The carvings feature auspicious designs. There are cranes for longevity flying among sho-shiku-bai – the Three Winter Friends of pine, bamboo and plum which I first learned about from Elizabeth. One of the panels has a turtle, too, for protection and longevity.
Normally, ranma are used as interior transoms and fit into the gap between the sliding doors and the ceiling, allowing airflow between traditional tatami rooms. They are carved specifically for each house, and these are 560 x 1870 mm (22 x 76 in), which is too big for 555. That means I will use these beauties as decoration. I’d like to put one in the doma above the front door so we can see it every time we leave the house or greet guests. The other one I will decide about after we move in; there are a few places where it will look good.
I love that we have a piece of Andoh family history for 555. We are blending old with new and celebrating a long friendship.
