A little poem for my children’s Okuizome – a Japanese ceremony performed when children are 100 days old. They are given their first chopsticks and ‘eat’ their first piece of fish. I use inverted commas, as they only pretend to eat!
According to my wife, fish used in Japanese ceremonies must be very fresh, and served with their heads still on.
The ceremony dates back to the Heian period of Japanese history, 794 to 1185 CE.
Although the ritual
is a thousand winters old
the fish are still fresh!