The Origin of Celebration

July begins.

Summer has not fully arrived.

The market came alive with abalone.

The noshi

attached to a gift—

its story

did not begin with paper.

It began

with a single abalone.

And the story

begins again.

Regulations for the Ise Ama and Long Noshi-Abalone

Illustrated by Toyokuni｜Published by Kakaya

1860 (Man’en 1)

From Ise no Ama Chō-Awabi Sei no Zu

Collection: National Diet Library, Japan

A Gift from the Sea

For centuries,

abalone has been cherished

as a symbol of

longevity, prosperity,

and celebration.

Thinly stretched

and carefully dried,

Noshi-awabi—

Dried abalone traditionally presented as a ceremonial gift,

from which the modern Japanese noshi originated.

Long before

it became the decorative emblem

found on Japanese gift envelopes,

it was

a gift from the sea.

The material has changed.

The meaning has not.

Every celebration

still carries

a memory of the sea.

Fish Note

Species

Awabi

(Japanese abalone)

Haliotis spp.

Family: Haliotidae

Rather than a single species,

“Awabi”

is the collective Japanese name

for several native abalones.