X is a Swedish girl who I met some time ago and whose life took an unexpected turn. She is an archetypal Swede, bronzed skin, blonde hair, athletic physique, overall of vital appearance. Norse mythology and all that. A few summers back, gee it must be ten years already, that unusually warm summer, she was visiting here. One day X was walking through a lovely park. It was an extremely hot day, 40 degrees Celsius, and X was dressed as one would imagine a Scandinavian would on such a day, sandals, flowing white linen pants and a similarly airy white top whose fabric hung loosely behind her, draping between her shoulder blades describing a U so that a large portion of her back was visible. On her back was a tattoo of a Japanese dragon in pale blues, oranges, greens and reds, a fabulous tattoo, a work of art. I later asked why she had decided to get such a tattoo. She simply shrugged and said that she thought it looked cool. Anyway, as she walked along the path, lined by elm trees, such vibrant green leaves, deep blue sky, nature, a thick set young man with shoulder length black hair wearing black jeans and a buttoned up flannel shirt overtook her. I'll call him Y. He walked briskly past and once sufficiently ahead of X he unbuttoned and removed his shirt to reveal exactly the same tattoo on his own back, in the same orientation except reflected through the axis of the spine. Although Y is not Japanese he gives the impression of a real Yakuza, there is something at once wreckless and intelligent in his demeanor. I found him to be a most interesting man. So Y walks ahead of X displaying his dragon for a way until the path interescts with another at right angles, a crossroads, at which point he stops and waits until X arrives. The two face each other in the middle of the intersection, sweat beading on their brows. As you might imagine X is shocked by Y's tattoo, dismayed. It turns out that both had their tattoos done in Osaka by the same artist around the same time. Their visits to the tattooist, which spanned weeks owing to the intricacy, the detail, must have overlapped. Both claimed to have made special requests of the artist, to have asked that the dragon's head be tilted inquisitively to the side. Their tattoos were signed. Two Japanese characters are printed at the bottom beside the dragon's tail along with a red stamp. Eventually X has interrogated Y enough and she falls silent. Y then whispers to X, almost inaudibly, "marry me". Neither knew what the characters on their backs meant. The first character translates as 'young rice plant'. The second character translates as 'mirror' and can be found in various Zen koans that describe the still surface of mountain lakes upon which images of the moon are reflected. I have seen the second character rendered as 'prism' before too, incorrectly I think.
