HEAVY LITTLE OBJECTS

#225 :: 5-yen Coin

The hole is said to be lucky, the characters (identified by my good and knowledgeable friends on the WELL as spelling out the mint date (1988) and the words "go-en" which mean "5 yen" and also sound like the word "fate," according to this guide. The sheaf of rice curves over rippling water and around the hole, itself ringed by a gear. It's brass, and relentlessly pretty. I found it in a parking lot. People are said to keep this coin for luck, or offer it at temples for prayer. I'm not sure which route I'll take, being non-Buddhist and non-Shinto, and only vaguely superstitious. Meanwhile, my son has spirited it away to his "box of treasures."