Japanese custom

It's one of the three traditional treasures in Japanese summer, the wind chime.

But how do wind chimes get rid of summer heat? In Japanese poetry, wind chimes are called "romantic poems of summer". In May, the temperature rose all over Japan. At this time, no matter in rural or urban areas, most people like to hang a small wind chime under the eaves or in a ventilated corridor. Ordinary wind chimes are like inverted teacups. There is a small stick hanging inside, and a thread is hung at the lower end of the stick. A slender piece of paper called "short book" is tied to the line. In the depressed and irritable summer days, the ears are full of noisy cicadas. Only the breeze blows, and the short book turns in the wind, driving the stick to hit the wind chimes constantly. The crisp jingle sometimes sounds like an oriole, and sometimes it sounds like a swallow whispering. In the hot summer, people are relaxed and happy, and the heat is unconsciously reduced. As Lu You, an ancient poet in China, said in his poem: "This year, the poison and summer heat have doubled, and cicadas want to go to bed. The old man doesn't shake the fan and listens to the wind chimes. "

It is said that wind chimes originated from Zhanfengduo in ancient China, and were mainly used for divination. Some people also used it to judge the wind direction. According to records, in the Tang Dynasty, Wang Qi, the son of Tang Ruizong, hung a lot of jade pieces in the bamboo forest of his palace, and listened to the sound of jade pieces colliding to judge the wind direction. These jade articles belong to Zhan Fengduo. Later, such wind chimes were brought back to China by Japanese monks studying in Datang. At first, wind chimes were hung in the front and back of the house as evil spirits. It is believed that no evil spirits and ghosts can get close to each other within the range of hearing the bell. There is a legend in Japan that there was a long steep slope near Tokyo's Jingqiao at the end of the reign, and ghosts haunted it from time to time, and no one dared to walk after dark. One day, a vendor selling wind chimes came home late. When he passed this barren mountain and slope, he saw a gentle and graceful woman standing on the side of the road, covering her face with long sleeves and crying. So the vendor asked, "Honey, why are you crying?" I asked again and again, but the woman didn't answer. The peddler couldn't help pulling at the woman's sleeve. The woman turned around slowly, but it turned out to be a face as smooth as an eggshell without mouth, nose and eyes. The peddler let out a yell and ran away. The wind chimes behind him are ringing loudly. The woman was going to catch up, but she suddenly disappeared as soon as she heard the bell.

The jingle of wind chimes is simple and ethereal. The Japanese believe that this is in line with their aesthetic psychology of advocating indifference and elegance. Very popular among the nobles, it is called the "organ" and has become the object of poets' chanting. At that time, the price of wind chimes was very high, which was hard to find, and most people could not afford it. In the Edo era, the production technology was advanced and mass production was possible, which made it popular among the people, became an indispensable fashion item in summer, and formed a unique bell culture in Japan.

At present, there are endless varieties of wind chimes, such as gold, silver, copper, stones, pottery, and shells strung together as wind chimes by the sea. Ordinary wind chimes are made of iron and glass. The most famous ones are "Southern Wind Chimes" and "Edo Wind Chimes". The southern wind chime is named after it is made of iron produced in the south. Its sound is long and soft, and its aftertaste is meaningful. Edo wind chimes are made of glass, so they are named after mass production in the Edo era. Nowadays, most Japanese people hang this kind of glass wind chime. On the inside of Edo wind chimes, most of them are painted with various patterns, with short rolls falling and poems engraved on them.