Spring Equinox Day: Ohigan (updating on March 21)

Yesterday was Ohigan, which is a day that marks the changing of seasons (cerebration of spring), but also to pay our respects to our deceased family members. So my family visited the cemetary first thing in the morning. My mom makes this very tasty edamame (soybean) mochi (sticky rice) on ohigan, and although I wanted to help her, I am such a loser, I could not do so, cause I did not wake up early enough to help her, dang-it. LOL Here is the photos for you guys to drool on:

My family and I went to the Gekkoji (moon light temple) where our ancestor's gravestones exist, and gave fresh flowers, burned some incents and prayed for our ancestors. This ohigan has Buddhist origins. It means the "other side of the river of death." This side of the river is the world where we live, and the other side is the realm where the souls of those who have passed away dwell. To pray for therepose of deceased ancestors, visits are made to the family grave....

We then went to visit my grandma (my mom's) cemetary, my grandma's family's cemetary (watanabe family) and came home. Since we were expecting hell a lot of customers on the next day, the rest of my morning was spent cleaning the restaurant rooms and preparing the table as well as setting the dishes etc. By the way, I enjoy cleaning the traditional Japanese house, cause it requires special care to clean, and it is like a meditative act to me. For instance, if you have an uneasy mind (frustration for example), it can be clearly shown in your work. So if I let my negative thought stay within and continued cleaning, I often end up feeling as if I created more troubles in the air. So I personally try to let go all the negative thoughts that I may have, and just let the mind of zen arrive within, and clean the house properly (so that there will be no need to re-do afterwords). This sort of act is seen in other activities we have in Japan. A few of them include Japanese caligraphy and tea ceremony. Speaking of Japanese caligraphy, I used to attend a weekly caligraphy class every Sunday morning from the age 7 until 15 for (9 years). Back then, I did not know much of philosophical aspect of the caligraphy itself, but after years of practice, I had learned how to obtain the perfect mind to write great piece. I also think that I was able to gain self-disciplineness and appreciation towards Japanese art and language. I wish I could give my future offsprings the opportunities to learn Japanese art (like caligraphy, tea ceremony, karate etc).... (LOL).

Back to the story..so once I thought I finished cleaning and preparation for the next day customers, drop in customers came one after another without making any reservations (we highly request our customers to make reservation so that we can provide better service and care), so my dad, my grandma, one employee who were here to help me with the preparation and myself worked our ass off running around the kitchen to the rooms until 4pm (my mom had a flower arrangement lecture to attend). While working, I gave this little boy an opportunity to feed the koi (carp fish) from the ozashiki (customer's private room). He was full of joy and happiness! and I felt so happy seeing him so aswell (I love kid customers, as I get to play with them too..lol).

While the entrance of the restaurant was open, warm and fine breeze came into the house notifying us of the arrived spring weather. At the end of the day, my grandma and I shipped on some green tea and said to each other that our ancestors brought all these customers on this fine day and we have much more reasons to appreciate our ancestors for the history and current lives that we have with much love and peace. I want to thank my ancestors for their lives, because I believe my life won't be here without their past existence. So my deep arigatogozaimasu to my ancestors here. :)