Netsuke in Shape of a Heart-Polishing Figure 心磨牙彫根付

Japanese follows English. 英語の後に日本語が続きます。

What do you think they're doing? Are they wiping the floor with a cloth? NOOOO! They're polishing their HEARTS! This is a 3 cm tall sculpture or "netsuke in the shape of a heart-polishing figure" on show at Tokyo National Museum. It's carved from ivory by Tomochika.

But to me, they look like wiping the floor. And speaking of wiping the floor, my paternal granddad often did that. It was natural for him to share household chores with his wife (i.e., my grandma). They ran a family business and Grandma worked from nine to five while raising three children and doing housework. And that's why he was cleaning the floor also when my mom visited his house for the first time. The thing was that because my mom had lost her dad when she was a teenager, has only three sisters, and went to junior and senior high schools and a college all of which were exclusively for women, just talking to a man made her nervous, and seeing a man wiping the floor shocked her😲! 

So, it's understandable that right after their marriage, she said to her husband (i.e., my dad) participating in household work without a single doubt, "Household chores aren't a male responsibility." Haha!😆

Many years have passed since then. My parents have been fighting over household chores in recent years. My mom believes that when he retired, she should've been able to also retire from her work, i.e., household chores, but she couldn't. So, again it's very understandable that I, who've heard this from her since my childhood, have never stopped my husband from cleaning, cooking, dishwashing or whatever (although he doesn't cook...). I want him to polish not only the floor but also his heart to do more chores😆. (Or should I polish my heart....?😁)

A netsuke is a small carved ornament, especially of ivory or wood, worn as part of Japanese traditional dress as a toggle by which an article may be attached to the sash of a kimono (Source: Lexico). If you love netsuke, see this list to see dozens of netsuke items!

Netsuke in shape of a heart-polishing figure 心磨牙彫根付

He's polishing his heart😁 心磨いてます！

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東京国立博物館に展示されていた「心磨牙彫根付」です。友親作です。ふ～ん、床じゃなくて心を磨いてるんですね｡｡｡😆

床磨きと言えば、父方の祖父は廊下をよく雑巾がけしてました。商売をやっていて祖母も働いていたので普通に家事を分担していたようです。母が初めて父の実家に遊びに行った時も雑巾がけしていて母はびっくり😲

というわけで当然その息子である私の父も新婚当時は部屋の掃除などを普通にやっていたのに母が言いました。「家事は男性のやることではない」😆

というわけで父は今、全く家事をしません。それでいっつも揉めています。しない父が悪いのか、そういう風に「しつけ」た母が悪いのか。ハハハな問題です。

根付にご興味ある方はこちらのリストもどうぞ。いろんな根付を掲載しています！

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