Buckwheat Pillow

The buckwheat pillow is for those of us who love pillows (and sleeping and beds altogether) like a psycho chocolate triple cheesecake mousse fudge decadence dessert is for those who love chocolate.  Although I am a great believer in and inhabitant of beds (thinking I am reincarnated royalty and therefore living in, entertaining from, and working in my bed, with its 30+ pillows),I had never seen, heard of, or read about the buckwheat pillow until a few years ago.

Three of us were going on a road trip, having met in a writing class I was teaching at the community college.  As we loaded the car, we two women proudly admitted the added bulk was due to our having to bring our own pillows—for the car and then for the hotels.  My new friend, Lyndsey, showed me her pillow: a buckwheat pillow she said, handing it to me to feel, listen to, and smell.

The buckwheat pillow is stuffed with a carefully processed hull mass, the grain (buckwheat, of course) specially harvested and treated so that it contains no mold or mildew.  The buckwheat pillow is conventionally used by the Japanese people, who have been assigning healing and preventative characteristics to this unique sleeper for over 600 years: they—and my friends and many others—claim that the buckwheat pillow helps prevent stiff necks, disarms the sleeper’s allergies, and assuages other possible ailments. 

The buckwheat pillow is also unique for the senses and sensibilities.  Because the grain is loosely packed, not stuffed, into the pillow casing, it keeps the sleeper’s temperature down…to cool, even.  Because it is loosely packed and because it is composed of individual bead-shaped contents (like a bean bag chair is), and not stuffed with one solid material, it conforms to the sleeper’s shape as well as to his or her sleep movements (which are very typically many movements a night).  And because the buckwheat pillow is lightweight, it is modular: is great for moving around the house, the car, or the world, even.

I mentioned the senses.  The buckwheat pillow is an interesting thing, to me, as it sounds like paper bbs when you squish it or move it.  It also feels really unique, almost as if it were composed of tiny little knowing masseurs who intuit the exact spots on your head that need soothing or stimulating.  And, as some buckwheat pillows are made with fragrant herbs, they can smell lovely, as well, with their added lavender (which is a relaxant) or other soothing, aromatic and/or spicy smells.