I have been eying this foot tub made from the rare Formosan Hinoki for quiet some time already, and ever since I heard about the wonders of foot baths and how it can improve health I've been wanting to buy it for my mum clandestinely. The tub itself is around half a metre in diametre, and you can easily soak up to your knee in it. Mum and I saw it at a store a month or so ago, and I urged her to buy it. But it was kind of expensive, costing NT$5800 (around US$200). Part of the reason is because the Formosan Hinoki is now a protected national treasure, so it can no longer be cut down. It has a pungent scent that lingers in the wood, even after having been cut down for a long, long time. The scent can ward off insects, and they say even bad spirits. During the Japanese colonial period, the Japanese prized the Formosan Hinoki so much that they shipped a lot of the wood back to Japan to build wooden gates of national shrines and temples.
I walked into the store tonight, and looked at the tub with great interest. I didn't really say much, just touched it and smelt it numerous times. "So this is the price...?" I asked, and went on to explain how I wanted to buy it for my mum after hearing the health benefits of foot baths.
The storekeeper was touched. He cut the price down, initially by a few hundred (New Taiwan) dollars, but the longer I stood holding the tub and looking at it, the more he was willing to cut the price. In the end, I walked away happily with a great saving, and rushed home to give it to mum.
According to the lunar calendar, today is actually my real birthday, the one that my mum remembers and feels is more important than 21 February. Rushing home, I surprised mum with the gift, and joked that it was a gift from me to her on her birth-day (...day of giving birth!). Soon afterward, mum was reading a book while happily soaking her feet.
The scent of Hinoki filled our home, warming our hearts...
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