Growing up as a little girl I LOVED going to antique stores with my Grandmother. I know I was the odd 8 year old eyeing old photos, books, clothes, knick knacks and evening furniture. Anything unique really. It was like they drew me in and transported you to another time and place. Literal living history that deserved to be preserved and passed on; not thrown into a junk drawer. I thought to my young self- I must try to preserves little snippets of history and hopefully others will too. Like I said... I was a little odd.
AND that hasn't changed..... Now in my mid -20's and in Japan I went to my first Shrine Sale. I'm assuming some are at actual shrines but this one however was not. I know very misleading. I went to one of the largest- Yamato. I'd equally like to go to the smaller ones in the future because even though the mass amount of vendors is nice it can also be overwhelming quantity of product and descent amount of repeats. That being said there were a lot of wonderful items and interesting treasures to be found. In reality there were a few specific items I was on the hunt for and perhaps anything else that would catch my eye. You can haggle but that's assuming either you speak Japanese, they speak English( or admit it) or a bit of both.
In the end I walked away with : a Japanese book (of who knows what- I can't read it), 2 family portraits (black & white with traditional garb), 2 sake cups, 1 sake decanter, a mini wooden horse (because we arrived in the year of the horse), 5 little ceramic plates with hand drawn imagery, 4 mini wooden kokeshi dolls, a woodblock print that's at least 40 years old from the styling and a lightweight kimono - ALL for roughly $80 . So yes I'd say it's a successfulday. Why does any of this matter to the artist. Simple. I believe in preserving the past and giving value to the items that once meant something to someone. They have a story of its one time owner. In a way if someone doesn't give it value it's like that part of history is forgotten or erased from the outside world. In my art I talk about preserving nature in it's purity. This is just another nostalgic aspect of me and my loves.
