The Spooky Night Episode 6: The Love Letters
My colleague Gina grew up in Okinawa islands, Japan. She told me a popular jest back to her hometown.
“Oh, I am in love. I love her/him.”
“Are you sure? Make sure you are not in love with a Kodama.”
Kodama is a Japanese tree spirit. They are warm and loving in their hearts but, depicted as Sadako (a female ghost), ghastly in appearance.
It all came from a story.
In a little village, the little boy Yamato fell in love with his teacher, Kyoushi Akari.
He was ten or eleven. She was in her early twenties, assigned to the little school after graduation. With a baby face, little eyes, and everlasting smile, she was charming for everyone in the village.
She lived next to the school, which was next to a large Banyan tree. The elders said the tree had got hundreds of years old. It must have got its Kodama.
Yamato had that feeling for the first time. He couldn’t tell anyone. He wrote a love letter to Akari every day. They were most like the short notes:
“Kyoushi, you wore a pink kimono today. You look beautiful.”
“I was so excited when you came to talk to me…
