Unwrapping the Gift
The Japanese art of fabric wrapping and a meditation on the gift of awareness
Furoshiki: the Japanese art of gift wrapping
Furoshiki is a square-shaped Japanese traditional wrapping cloth that is eco-friendly and mostly used for wrapping gifts or carrying things. It originated in Japan around 710 B.C. and was initially referred to as tsutsumi, meaning “package” or “present”. Later, during the Muromachi period (1136 to 1573) the term furoshiki came into use. Literally translated as "bath spread", guests at bathhouse would wrap their kimonos in furoshiki cloth while they bathed to stop them from getting dirty or lost and would also stand on the fabrics while getting dry.
Furoshiki has recently become popular in the West. You can make your own furoshiki, but there are also many places to buy it.
You can wrap things of awkward sizes too, with a little guidance.
Unwrapping the gift of awareness
The reason I am talking about this is because I recently came across yet another wonderful meditation by Gil Fronsdal from the Insight Meditation Society on AudioDharma called Unwrapping the Gift.
What I love about it is about how he equates settling in to the awareness of the body, spaciousness of mind and tenderness of heart to unwrapping a precious gift. These kinds of images can be very helpful to becoming aware of our direct experience. It’s hard to describe so why not take 30 minutes and try the meditation yourself?
Gil Fronsdal is a very experienced teacher. He has practiced Zen and Vipassana since 1975 and has a Ph.D. in Buddhist Studies from Stanford. Trained by Jack Kornfield, he is the founder and primary teacher of the Insight Meditation Center (sic) in Redwood City, California.
Japan House London
Just to return to all things Japanese for a moment. Japan House London have just released their archive or recorded events from manga to AI, tea ceremony to design. If all things Japanese float your origami boat do go and explore.
Wabi Sabi Life Reading Group
We have our own Wabi Sabi Reading Group on Threadable. In Feburary we are reading The Buddha in the Attic by Julie Otsuka.
Between the first and second world wars a group of young, non-English-speaking Japanese women travelled by boat to America. They were picture brides, clutching photos of husbands-to-be whom they had yet to meet. Julie Otsuka tells their extraordinary, heartbreaking story in this spellbinding and poetic account of strangers lost and alone in a new and deeply foreign land.
To join in download the Threadbable app a new social reading platform (only available on iPhone at present) and use this invite code: 45281.
I would love to hear your thoughts on this book.
Gratitude
Thanks for reading. Writing Wabi Sabi Life takes time. If you want to support my work you could buy me a coffee or become a paid subscriber.
I have hit 100 subscribers and I have my first paid subscriber! I have no idea how many subscribers other columns have; I am just so delighted that so many of you want to read my work. When I started writing this column in the middle of last year it was a place for me to gather my thoughts on my eclectic interests centred around the beauty of ordinary life, blending a fascination for Japanese culture and aesthetics and my long practised Buddhism. I don’t publicise my writing anywhere - not being on social media- so thanks to all of you who share my writing, it’s good to be connected and know these words don’t go into the ether unread.
Huge congratulations on reaching 100 subscribers!