Tsutomu Yamaguchi

It always makes me feel bad when I find out about great people simply because they die.

I'm going to make a crane in his honor. I'll post a picture soon.

3 hours later.

Because I'm a little on the crazy side, I made a lotus instead out of Hell's Bank Notes. These patterns and rituals are taken from Chinese culture, but I have used them in tribute to Tsutomu because they are the tools I have. It hopefully won't be an insult to his Japanese birth right.



According to an origami book I own, the lotus grows in the mud, but blossoms in the light. For this reason the lotus has come to symbolize triumph over adversity.

The lotus I made has 28 leaves, so I shall list the people I thought of while making this lotus, though I may not reach 28. (Don't think I'm some meditation guru, my mind did a lot of wandering too.) All of these people have over come some adversity. Some are still involved in it.

Tsutomu Yamaguchi
Me
James Renn
Beverly Ramstrom Manning
Richard Manning
Jeff Skinner
Lou TwoHearts
Kola TwoHearts
Lahanah TwoHearts
Norman Skinner
Heather Brown
Katie Grochmal
Kris Bowden
Dorinda Wegener
Tarren Renn
Kelly Dane
Michael Mead
KelliAnn Johnson Mead
Carter Mead
Chase Mead
Hope Gunther
Mary Renn
Thomas Deery
Gertrude Ramstrom
Michelle Graziano
Richard Skinner


I'm sure there are more; are far more people than the 28 leaves of my lotus can ever account for. (Please excuse any spelling and grammar mistakes, it's a few hours past my bed time.)

As a tribute to Tsutomu, I burned an origami yuen bao made out of a Hell's Bank Note. (Not to worry sweetie, I was uber safe in my pyrotechnics.) Traditionally the yuen bao is burned at funerals in honor of family ancestors.

The pictures aren't all that great. But here they are.





I like how the burned yuen bao looks a bit like a lotus itself.

Now I am thoroughly tired, and will probably miss working out at the gym because I will only get a few hours of sleep.