What could be a better holiday present than a Kai-Awase clam shell game set with Heian poets and their particular poems hand painted on the inner shells? This evening, while feasting with friends and family or watching television, spare a moment to have an inner feeling of melancholic regret – you could have given or received THIS.
Better luck next year.
How to Be Heian Japanese 
Thank you very much for posting this especially about the clam shells. We recently visited Japan where my husband is from and his Kyoto royal mother gave us three commenorative albacore shells (unpainted by hey, it is 2010!) from her home Samurai fishing village!
I’m glad you enjoyed it. I plan to write about kai-awase in greater detail soon.
There is some really great information at this site. I spent quite a bit of time reading these tidbits of knowledge and came away enlightened.