my dear 三つ藤巴 ('three wisterias')

皆さん、こんばんは！

today we went to nara- a place that, as somebody born in its sister city, I actually really connected to & felt strongly for; I felt my heart opening while I was strolling around between temples & shrines, as if I had made it back to an ancestral home. (alongside having the most wonderful lunch of my entire stay). at tōdaiji, I prayed for good luck at the aquarium; at kasuga-taisha shrine (shintō; I much prefer shintō shrines to buddhist temples. I connect more deeply with them) I prayed to become a 藤原. which appears to have fallen upon the right ears, as I later learned that kasuga-taisha uses the 藤 kamon (see below, there are a few famous varieties.):

& lead me to excitedly get in line for (& subsequently lose my group due to) the omamori 'store' at the shrine. I had been interested in buying omamori at other temples as well, but decided to hold out for one of the fuji lineage (it seems that each shrine uses different mon; seeing as we were in nara, the old capital of japan, & the royal family of this capital used the fuji mon, I knew there was no better time for it). this was before I'd happened upon the possibility of meeting a 藤原, mind you; it was simply derived from the interest in them I brought with me from australia. but now I was particularly excited about it, & it was the easiest 800¥ I've ever spent:

this is an 'en-musubi' omamori, intended to help you find your life partner/the person you're meant to marry. it's now tied to my phone, & there's nothing I love more than listening to its cute little jingle as I walk around- one of my friends bought the exact same type of omamori at itsukushima-shrine yesterday, though with a different pattern of course, & I've very much enjoyed listening to its bell as she walks around! they remind me of the bells in maiko-san's koppori (though I've always called them 'pokkuri'; their extra-tall geta shoes, with a bell in the sole with the idea that others in town could hear them coming &, say, help them if they've gotten lost.), so I am very glad to have something of my own that emulates that lovely sound.

on the way back from nara, we stopped once again at a station souvenir store we'd been to previously; I came upon this gacha machine, & immediately froze, a little like when I pulled my koi-omikuji, & asked my friend for some of her 100¥ coins, as I desperately wanted one of its pins...

those with a keen memory may remember that this pin is the 三つ藤巴, or 'three wisterias', from my first blog post about wisteria ! you really can't make this up !!!! I was extremely nervous when I turned the little dial to receive my gacha, as I worried that all of my 'trials' (such as being brave enough to go & ring the sadako sasaki bell on my own in hiroshima), my prayers, & my bowing, had been in vain, but lo & behold, on my first & only try-

I actually screamed in delight !!!! (in the middle of a fairly busy store... 恥ずかしい。)

I wanted to go & find the friend who kindly gave me her coins to let her know that that 'wish' of mine had come true after all; I'm taking this as a sign that I've received the blessing & acceptance of the 藤原 clan (though I can't promise that this kamon was ever used by somebody bearing the name 'fujiwara'.). the odds of this occurring- that I'd make it to nara, or even japan at all, while this specific gacha machine was being stocked, that I'd decide to go back into the shop again, that I'd be able to pull it with my limited time & money- are so incredibly small that I'm simply sitting quietly in awe over it. I'd resolved myself, until then, to never seeing any sort of fuji kamon at all while I was here; & to find the exact kamon I just so happened to mention in a blog post (which I almost didn't do! I kept doubting myself!) has left me with little to say on the matter out of sheer amazement.

I will leave you all here, with my omamori & my blessing from his family, & with any luck I'll have one of the most important events of my life to tell you all about by the time I see you again. 

今回も、よろしくお願いします。🙇‍♀️⤵️