Baka Gaijin

Good morning Kunitaro san Thank you for the example of a Memento Mori (Remember that you will die). Vanitas raised it to quite a high art. Here's the operative quote from Ecclesiates 1:2;12:8 "Vanitas vanitatum omnia vanitas" - Vanity of vanities; all is vanity (King James Vulgate version) Here's some examples of the artist movement known as "Vanitas" by the Dutch Artist Pieter Claesz: http://www.pubhist.com/person/159/pieter-claesz http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pieter_Claesz The main elements of Vanitas would be a Skull, a lute or violin with a broken string, a candle with smoke twirling upwards from the wick as if the flame had just extinguished, a flower with fallen petal or a wine glass on its side as if its contents had spilled away. Cheers

Thanks Ed Amazing image Here is a translation of Nozarashi Kikō 野ざらし紀行 by Matsuo Bashō 松尾 芭蕉 http://www.sunypress.edu/pdf/61100.pdf Cheers

Good morning Henry "To be cut under the long sword is hell, to advance forward is paradise" I have a recollection somewhere of a Carpe Diem type Japanese saying which is anecdotally linked to something one of the founders of a famous Ryuha (Martial school) said like this regarding timing and distance and closing in rendering the use of the enemy's katana length sword useless. Cheers

Good morning Mike, Thank you for the Tsuba shown, at first I didn't understand the context of term nozarashi. 野ざらし weather beaten Is it this? Matsuo Basho - Nozarashi Kiko 　野ざらし紀行 Nozarashi Kikō 　 Record of a Weather-Exposed Skeleton Journal of the Bleached Bones Account of Exposure to the Fields Skeleton in the Fields Records of the Weather-Exposed Skeleton The Weatherbeaten Trip 貞亭元年 - 貞亭2年 - (1684 -1685) Leaving Edo in August, returning the next year on April 10 Via the Tokaido to Nagoya, Iga, Yoshino, Kyoto, Otsu and back on the Nakasendo. Cheers

Good morning Ford, Maybe the opening lines of Hojoki 方丈記 express something of the feeling also. "Ceaselessly the river flows and yet the water is never the same, while in the still pools the shifting foam gathers and is gone, never staying for a moment. Even so is man and his habitation............. http://www.washburn.edu/reference/bridge24/Hojoki.html Or the opening lines of Heike Monogatari 平家物語. (A.L. Sadler translation) The sound of the bell of Gionshoja echoes the impermanence of all things. The hue of the flowers of the teak tree declares that they who flourish must be brought low. Yea, the proud ones are but for a moment, like an evening dream in springtime. The mighty are destroyed at the last, they are but as the dust before the wind. http://library.uoregon.edu/ec/e-asia/re ... -whole.pdf http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7udqvSObOo4 Cheers

Good evening Tobias, You asked: "So this is what, some sort of mono no aware heroism thing?" I don't think this has to do with either heroism or what we in the West commonly associate with the term "mono no aware". It's way more subtle than that. A little like trying to grasp smoke. Maybe a way to get an inkling of this it is to relate it to Umami うまみ, umami is a kind of savoury taste, almost indefineable... yet when you taste it you know it, however it just defies classification and you cannot explain it to someone else. A bit like Giri ぎり, obligation, debt, the burden hardest to bear, even god, or none of those, it's just Giri; Don't worry about it. (Due homage to Takakura Ken and Sydney Pollack) Cheers

Morning all, I'm told the skull or bones is not exactly the same as the aesthetic of Vanitas or Memento Mori in western art. It may often be interpreted as a reference to the Matsuo Basho Haiku: 夏草や 兵どもが 夢の跡 Natsukusa ya Tsuwamonodomo ga Yume no ato The summer grasses— For many brave warriors The aftermath of dreams. (Professor Donald Keene's masterly translation) (I have a recollection of a similar topic on NMB some time back.) Cheers

Good evening all. I can recall in about 1970, a European based Japanese Budo Sensei using a Shin-gunto wrapped with white gauze bandage. He said this was in case the handle split. Cheers

Good evening all, Here is a link to a Tsuba on Tsuruta san's site. http://www.aoijapan.com/tsuba-mumei-uns ... a-zu-tsuba Cheers

Good afternoon Kunitaro san & Morita san, Having now read quite bit about Yoshida Shoin and his times, I have made an attempt to transliterate the poem. I hope I will not do it too much of an injustice. I know truly how this will end..... Yet I am bound resolutely to my course of action.... For the pure spirit of our Ancient Motherland pleads in my heart that I continue..... In the course of this research I came upon an essay about Yoshida Shoin (Yoshida Torajiro) by Robert Louis Stevenson, I share it here for those who might have an interest: http://archive.org/stream/worksofrobert ... 6/mode/2up Very best regards to you both and thank you for your help.

Morita san, Kunitaro san, Thank you so much for replying so swiftly. I think there is a question here about literal translation and transliteration. I will try some variation on the theme and see what evolves. どうもありがとうございます

I think this is a poem by Yoshida Shoin かくすれば 　かくなるものと知りながら 　　　　やむにやまれぬ大和魂 　　　　　　　　 　　　　　　　　 吉田松陰 I've had a go at translating it half way, can someone take it the full mile? Kakusureba Kakunarumono to Chiri nagara Yamu ni yamarenu Yamato damashi Yoshida Shoin Cheers

Thanks Chris, Very interesting site, particularly the Calligraphy and Painting page. Cheers

Hi Veli, Try these as a starting point: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wabi-sabi http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shibui One word of caution........when you think you understand it, you don't!!!! Cheers

Thank you Guido. Cheers

Good Morning all, Thank you Guido, using Kawari 変わり in the sense of "strange", as in Kawari Kabuto; or literally to take the place of? Cheers

Good morning Tony, Ian B or Dave T will probably know the answer to this. The lacquer surface looks as though there is something mixed in it to raise the edges, as if a crumpled material was pressed onto it during the curing. It reminds me of the Tetsu Sabiji process used on armour to get the effect of rusty iron. I believe powdered dry Tofu is mixed in the Urushi to give it body. Cheers

Good morning Vaughn, I think image 3 is upside down and 2 needs flipping 90 degrees. You may get a better response if you could flip them and down size them so that they show as a picture not a link. (My 2 sen is that it is not a signature but a pastiche of a makimono hand scroll with an edict which often begins with "Hitotsu" which is a kind of emphasis and means something like "One thing" or "Point", the statement then follows. A modern example would be the Dojo Kun which many Budoka recite before or after training. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dojo_kun Here's an example in Kanji: http://www.iskf.com/dojo%20kun.html Cheers

Good afternoon all, There are some threads about this on the site: viewtopic.php?f=3&t=5340&hilit=Menuki+position viewtopic.php?f=50&t=5486&hilit=menuki+position Cheers

Morning all, I believe this Kamon is commonly referred to as Maruni Tachibana, there is a varient with a Chrysanthemum embodied with the form called Maruni Kikuza Tachibana, a further variant without the three lobes at the top is known as Maruni Hitotsu Chanomi. Cheers

Good morning Vaughn, It might be an idea to leave it as it is, often the blade is set in with pitch. It's rare to find a good blade in these mountings (though not unknown). On the plus side, the quality of the carving is better than most examples of these items which were made primarily for the tourist industry. Cheers

Hi Bazza, Usual terms and conditions apply to Steel blades, all reputable dealers will fill your friend in on this. (All dealers are reputable ) The situation with Zinc/Duralumin blade Iai-To is straight forward. You can buy it straight off the shelf and carry it away there and then. The fun comes when you go to airport, (So be polite and smile a lot) they can freak out on a scale of 1 - a number closely approaching the Nikkei, (So be polite and smile a lot) They will get a magnet, (So be polite and smile a lot) They will then pass it a few times across blade, (So be polite and smile a lot), have a discussion, (So be polite and smile a lot), finally the senior will ok it, you may get a smile but it's not mandatory (So be polite and smile a lot one last time). Job Done! Same thing applies taking Zinc/Duralumin Iai-To into Japan. That's it really

Morning all Hi Bazza, Chris knows the situation really well, in Japan, if it's steel it's got to be licenced, but outside Japan the situation is entirely different. Some Japanese based Budogu-ya have steel bladed options for non Japan based sales, but these are usually marketed by an intermediary outside of Japan. Most if not all of these options are Chinese made to their spec and really good for the job at hand. Tozando are Kyoto based: https://www.tozandoshop.com/ They are quite easy to deal with and have English speaking staff. Nine Circles in U.K. is one of the best web based suppliers http://www.ninecircles.co.uk/Swords_and ... Iaito.aspx Cheers

Morning all, This is quite a famous image and has been known by a number of names: 雪中相合傘 - "Lovers under an Umbrella in the Snow" 相合傘 - "Sharing an Umbrella" (this simpler title has a whole load of subtle romantic resonances). 烏と白鷺 - "Crow and White Heron" (this also has a whole load of subtle romantic resonances). There are a number of known states of this design. A popular theory has it that that the original design was a private commission for a New Years calendar by a high rank Samurai called Okubo Jinshiro Tadanobu (Kyosen). The story goes that a publisher saw the calendar and persuaded Suzuki to redraw it for mass distribution. Unfortunately we don't know who the publisher was (not uncommon for prints of this period). The original for mass distribution was published in the 3rd or 4th years of Meiwa c. 1766 - 67 The original size was 26.6 x 19.8 cm (10 1/2 x 7 13/16 in.) which is referred to as Chuban (vertical) (my favourite state has a mid grey background with snowflakes) Not a lot is known about Suzuki Harunobu, but this link may help: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suzuki_Harunobu Cheers

Morning all, George said: I had heard that returning servicemen to U.K. were sometimes subject to U.K. Customs charges on souvenirs that did not fit in the duffel kit bag, so ever pragmatic in his approach, the soldier simply took the sword apart, cut the tang with a "borrowed" hacksaw and wrapped in up along with his troubles.... Cheers