Dice

When people hear the word dice, they usually think of the board games they played as children.
The moment the dice are thrown, everybody's eyes follow their movement, althoughthey only last the briefest period of time.
Looking back, now that we are grown, it seems that these simple moments possessed a feeling of absolute peace.
We may have thrown a one or a six, resulting in disappointment or joy, but today these memories seem to provide a strange relief from the exhaustion of everyday life.
If we look at old Japanese literature, we can discover a unique fact.
During the Edo period, in addition to dolls, copper coins, human hair, and the five cereals, dice were also placed on the altar of a ship to protect it and repel bad luck.
When people were unable to reach a settlement after long discussions, they wouldalso use dice as a way of receiving guidance from the gods or sublime beings.
This shows that when something surpassed their ability to foresee the future, the Japanese would simply resign themselves to whatever fate held.
This humble recognition of one's smallness in the world combined with a positivity is apparent even in the history of dice.