Meet Ususama Myo-ou. He purifies the unclean. He hangs out in bathrooms. He's the guardian deity of the toilet. I'm thinking of inviting him to do a residency. Here's why.
As you may know, in the countryside in Japan many houses still have pit-style toilets. Almost all the houses on our small island do too. Little men in jumpsuits come around once a month to clean out the toilet in a celebrated event, repeatedly announced via the island PA system, called kumitori. This Japanese word is a combination of two verbs: kumu (to dip) and toru (to take out). So basically, "dip and take."
Every month the toilet cleaning guys come to dip and take. It's a bit of give and take.
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