Hito Hude Gake for a friend

I was invited to help a scouting friend celebrate his 60th birthday. I thought I would give him a Hito Hude Gake (HHG) temari that I made. This design represents an unbroken path around the 'globe', the temari ball, from pole to pole. "HHG takes its name from one stroke in brush painting - the brush is placed on the paper and not lifted until the entire design or calligraphy character is completed."

Hito Hude Gake temari

If you start at the purple star (the north pole, as it were, which in this photograph is on the lower left 'side') and then follow the purple path, it leads you in a globe-encompassing, wandering helix down to the 'south' pole. The south pole star is the off-white colour and the path from it leads back to the north pole. The design is done in two colours to show the path more clearly. If you could work with a long enough thread, you could complete the whole path unbroken there and back. More info here at Temarikai

In my mind there is something like that in scouting – how it and guiding have spread around the globe and how we are all connected.

So, wishing a Happy Birthday to the Welsh Dragon Scout!

Strobe disco lights and excessive noise don't agree with me though. Humdinger of a headache kept me awake most of the night. No it wasn't alcohol; I was driving. I wonder how my arrows will fly today?