The Best Gift Ever

My Sensei (Professor) and I were heading to Kyotango when he turned his car to Miketsukuni Wakasa Obama Food Cultural Center. "You need your own chopstick. I will give you as a graduation gift," said him. Obama city is famous as Japan's chopsticks capital, and Wakasa chopstick is one of the best chopsticks they ever have. 

The Wakasa lacquered method uses three main materials for decoration: eggshells, seashells, and leaves/seeds such as pine and cedar leaves. Chopsticks are covered with eggshells or seashells like bright stars in the clearest night sky. It is so beautiful and you will know immediately that this is Wakasa work. The shells are not pasted on the surface; instead, they are placed inside before being lacquered over and over. Then, the shells are revealed during resurfacing. The end result is a meticulously hand-crafted pair of chopsticks yet immensely durable due to the high-quality wood and all-natural varnish which has been used for hundreds of years. 

So, yes, we would make Wakasa lacquered chopsticks by ourselves. Sensei lead me to go straight to the 2nd floor where the workshop held. They had simple and plain chopstick in 3 colors: red, orange, and black. Both Sensei and I chose black ones. And then we start polishing the chopstick. Slowly but sure, the shells were revealed during resurfacing. It takes so much time and effort to make one set of chopsticks, so I kind of frustrated through halfway. I stopped polishing and just staring at Sensei. His chopstick turns out very shiny, colorful, and smooth. "Waah, beautiful. He works so hard to make it amazing," I kept thinking like that. When I saw my own chopstick, I can't help but though how ugly it was: still black, not colorful, no shiny eggshell, and rough. 

 Then Sensei said, "Don't just stare! Keep working!" 

 And then I realized that I just need to work harder. I must focus on polishing my own chopstick instead of looking for others. I must make it beautiful, kept polishing until I felt satisfied with my hard work. Just focus! I took a longer time than Sensei to finish my chopstick, but I didn't mind. I realize maybe I need more time to finish. When I got my polished Wakasa chopstick, I knew it was the best graduation gift ever. It will forever remind me that I need to work hard, focus, and the patient to achieve success. Arigatou gozaimasu, Sensei. (Kartika Restu Susilo)