Grey Monday and the Power of Will

"The lioness pushes her young over the cliff and watches it climb slowly back from the valley without one sign of pity, though her heart aches for the little creature" 

  -- Sugimoto, From Daughter of the Samurai 

                                                     

It is very grey today. Sometimes I can be delighted with whatever the day chooses to be. But then there are days when I just need to see the sun. We had delicious weather on the weekend though. And some duck sighting in the "pond." 

        I've been waiting to post on self-control since I read the first few chapters of Daughter of

 the Samurai. That was Thursday I think. I haven't read any farther in it because I don't want to get to far ahead of myself. I've picked three things to comment on today. 

The first two concern hair.  I must admit, of all my outward features, my hair takes up the most thought. It is longish, thick, and crinkly. I've never really liked it. Somedays I love it, and somedays I know that I wouldn't be happy with any other kind, but most days I ignore it. As a child I really think I despised it. When I reached chapter two of Daughter of the Samurai I had too smile. Curly hair. That was the title. Estu-bo, the 'daughter' and author of the story, has wavy hair - everyone else, straight. On the days when the hairdresser comes Estu-bo gets to go first, because her hair needs the most attention. To get her hair straight they boiled it in hot tea and pulled it tight. Ouch! But more painful was the nasty comments the poor child had to hear about her "ugly, twisty hair." I was blessed to grow up with much wiser adults, and the only person who I ever heard criticize my hair was myself.* 

             While we're on the subject of hair I must relate one of the strange accounts Estu-bo gives. She tells of a time when the women were giving some of their hair to Buddha and one girl cut so much off that she had to post pone her wedding for three years. Apparently short hair was associated with widowhood; thus, being married with short hair would be a bad omen.  

               And now I can talk a little about about will power. Estu-bo was raised in a society that put high emphasis on the spirit. There seems to be an understanding that the less material  you are stronger your spirit will be. This emphasis on self-control is illustrated in the story Estu-bo tells of the coldest, harshest day of the year. On this day, day nine out of the thirty days alloted to midwinter, all of the household was employed with their most challenging work. For Estu-bo this meant practicing her writing in a room so cold her fingers were frozen by the time she was done. Another example of the her culture's love of discipline, she once shifted position during her lessons and was sent home in disgrace. They said her mind must've been wandering. The other book I'm reading, The Chrysanthemum and the Sword, also mentioned the Japanese' mind-over-matter mentality. The chapter I read was explaining how the Japanese had viewed WWII. I wonder if this ideal of "the spirit of control" is as prevalent in Japanese society today ( I also wonder what it means to sleep in the Kinoji position). I guess I really won't know until I get there. 

* Okay, I do remember receiving one insult about my hair as a child, but it was from a strange little boy. I, even as a little girl, was more amused by it than offended.