As Ino rounded the counter with a pair of shears, Sakura thought 
about the
slick-haired boy. She wondered how calm _she'd_ be, if she were in 
his
place. She'd probably be a nervous wreck. That Hidden Sand girl was
_dangerous,_ and it was no big secret that the Kagemane had a few
limitations.

Just wanted to comment on this scene. That was a nice bit of working 
real world culture into the fic.

I try, though in this case there seems to have been a case of 
serendipity ^_^;...

For those who didn't catch it, certain actions are considered 
destructive toward spiritual cleanliness in the japanese mindset, 
among them are butchery (cleaning meat, killing animals), leather 
work, night soil (sewage) collection, and historically were done by 
the Burakumen (the "untouchables" in Japanese society). Flower 
cutting, while not as "dirtying" as these other tasks, is something 
that is considered "lower class" and left for the florist to do 
because in many cases it is considered to be an act that "kills" the 
plant.

You learn something new every day; i was aware of the way many cultures 
(japanese included) assign certain tasks the quality of being 'unclean,' 
but flower cutting... this, i did not know ^_^;. Here we have a case of 
knowing _how_ something is done, but not _why_ it is done that way...

For me, this is a pretty interesting subject. Ikebana "flower 
aranging" is considered a high artform alongside Chanoyu (tea 
ceremony), but the acts required of others to practice it are 
considered a spiritually "dirtying" act.

This also explains why flowering tree limbs are commonly used in 
Ikebana arangements, because taking a tree limb doesn't kill or harm 
the tree itself, and in fact the limb can be set in water to grow new 
roots and grow another tree...the flowers are seen as something 
seperate from the tree.

Having her ask Ino to cut the flowers for her is a nice little touch 
that really maintains the setting for me. It also shows that you 
recognized that it's not a western style florist shop with precut 
flowers, since in japan many flowershops keep their flowers with the 
plant attached and therefore alive until purchase, or sell the 
complete plant to the customer with appropriate ikebana vases.

Very nice touch... very nice indeed.

Thanks, though you give me more credit than i deserve. I was _actually_ 
leaning on the tradition of bringing sick people cut flowers rather than 
potted ones. A cut flower is transitory, and will soon die, while a 
potted one could potentially live for quite some time; it's considered 
inappropriate to bring a convalescing person potted plants, because this 
sort of implies that they'll be ill for some time. There's- that's my 
erudite moment for the day! <_<;...

~Eimii 


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