I See Dead People

When Sherree and I were in Japan in 2001 visiting the southern island of Ishigaki-Jima, we happened across this little bass wood carving of several figures standing at a railing with their hands outstretched palms out. It was lying in a tangle of grass near a coastal walk to a southern lighthouse. We assumed it was a child's toy gone missing in the recent storm. We both thought it was a cool souvenir so packed it up and mailed it home where it stood on an upper shelf in the living room for some years.

One evening while watching Around the World in Eighty Treasures, Dan Cruickshank presented the Torajan TauTau, funerary effigies, as one of his treasures. My heart almost stopped for this treasure bore a striking resemblance our little Ishigaki-Jima find and I feared that Sherree and I had become inadvertent grave robbers!

This evening Sherree kindly emailed a photo of our "tau tau" so I could have something concrete to compare tomorrow when I visit the real deal. I checked the details closely and found an identical pattern to the Tongkonan wall panel that I bought today. 

I'll see what insight my guide can give tomorrow - is it just a toy souvenir or something more significant? Are we grave robbers or garbage collectors?

Stay tuned!