I’m more than two years late on this one but I guess better late than never? At least eventually the zodiacs will roll back around again in about 10 more years. I had a hard time coming up with a design for the year of the dog when I started two years ago, and got a lot of inspiration and a crash course in Japanese new year’s from one of the student interns at my school. Thanks to her I learned a lot more obscure (to non-Japanese eyes) new year’s culture and an interesting way of connecting the culture and zodiac in my annual New Year’s card. The two main Japanese dog breeds are the shiba and the akita, and since shibas are the better known of the two, I chose to go with that. I also included some traditional New Year’s artifacts like the giant shrine bell presented as a the dog’s ball, and a special rope called ‘shimenawa’ as the dog’s collar. People often go to shrines right at midnight on January first to do their first prayers of the new year, ringing a bell attached to a rope that calls on/wakes up the gods to listen to their prayer. The shimenawa is a special rope woven from rice straw. It marks a boundary between our world and the world of the gods. It’s usually hung on front doors during the New Year season to welcome the gods and keep out the evil. Tell me something you know about Japanese new year, or something you’d like to know! . . . . . #japan #gifu #collage #art #colors #maskingtape #washitape #MT #masté #saien #bgm #myart #originalpiece #dog #shiba #japanesenewyear #newyear#jspanese #culture #playful #色とりどり #自身のアート #アート #美術 #和紙テープ #マステ #サイエン #犬 #柴犬 #しば #お正月 #注連縄 #日本文化 #遊ぼう (at Tokiwacho, Gifu-shi) https://www.instagram.com/p/B3TalSYH14y/?igshid=1vz9g0hxc5nr7