Kakizome

Today, I got myself back on track with doing my kakizome 書き初め by having family over to do it all together. I ended up using the same phrase as last year, as it felt like it hadn’t been fulfilled enough, so to speak – the work hadn’t been completed yet. Given that I never wrote it last year, and just had it with my bedtime routine stuff on my phone, this felt all the more fair to use it a second year in a row.

Though, it was already a challenge this past year. I’m hoping that my slowly adjusting mindset will help me to do even better by it this year.

My kakizome this year is 生やす hayasu, which means “to cultivate, to grow”.

Funnily, my brother and his wife had their baby do one for herself. My brother held her in the air across the table while she had her hands on the brush that my sister-in-law held over the paper and used to write. My niece’s kakizome for this year? (Keep in mind that she is not yet six months old.) たべる taberu, “to eat”.

My baby was passed out on her personal rug on the floor, and didn’t feel like we should wake her, so she didn’t end up doing one this year. Maybe next year, and she can actually pick one for herself then. That would be quite cool(!).

Post-a-day 2026