In the ancient time of Japan,  people among aristocrats enjoyed original music of Japan called Gagaku.  Especially in Heian Era ( late 8th century ), when was a prosperous time for aristocrats called Fujiwara Clan, it’s a luxury entertainment.

As you hear, this is a very strange music with super unique melody by amazingly old time musical instruments.

This music is still played on some special occasion such as wedding ceremony at shrines, or traditional festivals in old cities like Kyoto of Japan.

It’s unique and original but some say that Gagaku melody is somewhat similar to old melody of Persian.  Also they say it came to Japan through Silk Road from the area around Persian territory to far east land, Japan.

I once saw a TV program of Japan about Gagaku.  Gagaku players are still almost limited among the same clan of people ever since the time of it’s origin in Japan.  And some of those Gagaku players ,without hesitating, say ” our ancestors came to Japan from the West in the ancient time of Japan “.

Not only Gagaku but also more things in Japan are from the West.

Actually most of them were arranged into Japanese taste by original creativity of Japanese people, but still we can see shadows of influence from the West in some traditional heritages of Japan.

I often feel that I’m following the Japanese origin.  Just like when I hear Gagaku, my mind is as relaxed as it can be.  I also like rock, jazz or some modern music, and scarcely listen to Gagaku usually.  In spite of such life style of mine, Gagaku always takes me to cradle of time.

Some DNA investigations reported recently, although I don’t know if it’s true or not, one of them says that Japanese DNA structure has something in common with the people from far West.

Gagaku is one of the remaining similarity between Japanese people and the West… this might be true.

http://youtu.be/DmIgB22JevE

The Japanese don’t know much about EU. The name, EU,  is naturally famous and familiar to us, but how they work or what they aim at is not known to the Japanese. Actually, probably many of the Japanese don’t know even about the fact of existence of EU president.

Herman Van Rompuy is the president of EU now. Today he had a meeting with Japanese prime minister, Naoto Kan, and he gave us Japanese a word of consolation to the earthquake disaster by Haiku.

Haiku is a very traditional form of Japanese literature, which is not easy for us Japanese either because the usage of the words and sentences is very special, it’s a really old style of Japanese word art.  We don’t use the Haiku expression in usual conversation, and that  it’s hard to master how to compose Haiku sentences in the form it should be.

Herman Van Rompuy, though, likes Haiku and he showed his sympathy to Japan today with Haiku composition by himself.

Thank you !  It’s really heartwarming news for us.  It makes the distance of Japan and EU closer than ever.

It’s an update in this blog after a long time interval. Sorry about it.

Now we have, what we call, Obon time in Japan, which is one of traditional national events with consecutive national holidays.  Usually people of Japan enjoy holidays from 13th to 15th of August, and many go back to their hometown.  The reason for their retruning home is mainly the memorial service for the dead by the custom of Japan, which should be what Obon is.  Recently this vacation time tends to expand longer, consequently companies often give workers to have discretion for longer vacation time. Now the trains or highways are all crowded in rush.

Origin of this unique tradition of Japan is not known well as it’s not stated clearly in the history documents either.  As one of the analogies, it’s said Obon comes from custom of Buddhism.

In the genesis of historic time of Japan, or maybe before 8th centry or older time, in the sense of ancestor worship, spirits of ancestors are believed to fall down on the world of ours to visit their descendant twice a year. One of the visits became the ceremony of new years day and the other one became Obon we have now. It’s not known when the present formation was completed as such 2 spirit fall down times, New Years Day and Obon time.

Also the influence of Buddhism can’t explain all the origin and history stream of this national custom, some say that it’s also under the shadow of Shinto of Japan, which is also an original religion that was formed in ancient time of Japan.

It seems true that this Obon used to be held on July 15th each year on the lunar calender ( old calender ) before the solar calender or Western calender was adopted in Japan.

Tomorrow, August 15th, will be the last day of Obon vacation time.  People who went back to their hometown are now on their way to their life places and they need to prepare for their work again with refreshed mind.

As a footnote, around the Obon time, there are many firework events, old style festivals called Omatsuri, visiting graves called Hakamairi, and also memorial events of the 2nd world war.  Especially the last one includes the memorial evens for the termination of the war ended together with a prayer for peace in the atomic bomb city of Hiroshima.

If you try to remember a Japanese sport, what would it be ? Baseball or football are recently popular but I’m sure some of you remember SUMO wrestling first of all.

Probably Sumo is too strange for other countries people.  For us Japanese, it’s really hard to answer what SUMO really is.  When we are born in Japan, Sumo is regularly held 4 times ( 5 times ?) a year.  Each Sumo time has 15 days to decide the term champion, and everyday during the Sumo time,  sumo matches are on air on national TV of Japan.  We are not especially fond of Sumo for the first time, but sumo just goes on no matter what happens.

The right answer of ours, if we are asked ” do you like SUMO ?”  would be YES for many of Japanese. But it would not be a strongly positive YES, but it’s like saying ” yes, we like it in our custom “.

For me, Sumo was just such a national sport and not a special one for a long time.

Coincidentally I read a book about Sumo some years ago, and got surprised.  Sumo used to be ( and probably still is ) a tribute to our God.  That was not a sport when it started.

Sumo field is a circle with a rope made by straw. Field is surrounded by 4 wood poles. Before the sumo ritual, sumo players throw salt over the field to purify the place. On starting, they shout HaKeH YoHYi ( Hakke Yoi ).  Sometimes in the old sumo tradition, sumo wrestlers play it alone ( so it’s not a match, but a ritual with God).

This is the rough pick up of sumo play.

I’m not a specialist of Old Israel, but some say Sumo is from there in ancient Israel. If you familiar to Hebrew,please imagine  HaKeH YoHY like pronunciation. An expert said it means Throw, Attack ! in Hebrew language ( look at 6:30 place of the video at the bottom ). Also, placing salt over the sumo field to purify it is also a custom of old Israel. Tall poles and circled place means the place to reach God for old Jewish too. In addition, Sumo word is taken from SHEMO ( I don’t know the correct spell and pronunciation ) of Hebrew word.  The origin of SUMO was written in the testament as Jacob took battle ( or sumo ) with Angel and he was named Israel by the Angel then.

Above information might be wrong a little because my memory is not perfect, but roughly they are telling the survey of SUMO origin by some people in Japan.

Anyway, SUMO is a very old ritual for God. This is a true story.

There are so many similarity between Japanese old custom and Jewish custom, this seems to be true too.

Next video tells how it’s similar to Jewish origin, but it’s in Japanese.

This is not a public news but just a thought of mine. Today I saw a video of CHIUNE SUGIHARA, who save lots of Jewish people in the war time.  The video in the bottom is a digest of the long story.  It’s a beautiful story but we Japanese don’t know.   Recently this story was on air a few times, so some may know, but not much of us know this.

After seeing this video, of course I was moved and I think he is one of the nice Japanese we can be proud of.  If I’m allowed to say objectively, maybe what Sugihara did is just a natural act for us.  At least, in the bottom of the mentality of Japanese, we used to have this heart firmly in ourselves especially before the war.

After the war, new life concept covered Japanese people, and we lost basic humanity. Instead of that, we searched the money all the time. Which should be the human way ? The answer is easy.

This video is really nice story, but before I get proud of him as a Japanese, I lament the things we lost after the war. Some at least had the same heart as Sugihara did, but maybe not now in Japan.

This video in the bottom doesn’t have one beautiful story that should be told.  What I was impressed most was that a person who was saved his life by Sugihara’s VISA later became an ambassador to Japan from Israel. And he searched for Sugiraha for a long time, when he finally found Sugihara, he showed Sugihara  the VISA received from Sugihara 40 years ago. That paper was too rough but it surely showed how his life was saved.  Later, Sugihara was given an emblem from Israel, but when he was invited to Israel, he was sick in bed being about to die.

Sugihara’s act was wonderful but at the same time, the heart of Jewish people who remembered him for long is equally beautiful.

When I saw this, something I lost  in my heart told me that I must remember now.

Sugihara quit the Japanese government job soon after he got back because he disobeyed. After that, his life was not easy. To his biggest dismay, he and his wife lost one of their children ( he died) on their way back to Japan. Still, I know he didn’t regret what he did at all.

This book was very interesting for me. I’ve already read some books about history of Japanese religions and immigrants from other parts of the world. The Author, Ken Joseph and Ken Joseph Jr. explained how our history education has had a lot of lack in teaching religion of Japan, and the people of Japan.

We Japanese learn that Buddhism always was the only leading religion in Japan although Shinto has been an original Japanese religion since the country was formed. And the first Christianity in Japan was brought by Francisco Xavier from Portugal back in 1549.

But it’s not true at all.  As we search for the history, we almost knew that Christianity and some kind of Judaism had already arrived soon after the coutnry of Japan was formed by the people from Israel and Assyria called HATA clan.

Ken Joseph Jr. investigated the real history of Japan’s religion and he found many facts which have apparently been hidden for a long time in Japanese history study. And he gives us some hints to find the real history of ours.

He seems to be a descendant of the lost country, Assyria.  But he says that Japan surely has the influence from Assyria and Israel in the old time of Japan because they came to Japan through  Silk Road in the ancient time.  So he is proud of himself as a Japanese .  He says Japanese people consist of various nations but it’s not taught now, and nobody in Japan knows that fact.

After reading this book, I again got sure image about old Japan and the origin of our blood.  Ken’s questions to Japan are all clear and simple. But they are all heavy questions with his straight attitude to the investigation. Indeed they are all taboo questions in Japan among Japanese looking Japanese people.  Ken’s questions are all very important and probably his answers for them are also nearly correct.

This book is written in Japanese language. If you are OK, I recommend this book for new awakening of the facts which have long been hidden by unknown reasons.

Seijin no hi, or New Adults’ Day is the day when we celebrate the new adult people in the year.  People who become 20 years old in the year are celebrated for the growth and future happiness in Japan.

The day was set on 15th of January some years ago, but nowadays, it’s on the 2nd Monday in January each year, and it’s a national holiday of Japan. This year’s New Adult’s Day is 11th of January.

New adults wear the traditional wear, Kimono, or suites. And they attend the ceremony at the city hall of their cities. 

20 years old should mean old enough for being called an adult, but these days many are not menntally matured enough, often tjhey spoil the celemony by drinking wine or Japanese beer and shout there.  20 years old means that they can drink alchohlic drinks in public, so many take it different and get mad !  They are reaclly crazy and it’s a kind of a social problem.

Anyway, the New Adults’ day is a symbolic time of Japanese people because we see young people in Japanese Kimono, and we remember when we did the same thing years ago.

HOW DID JAPANESE CALLIGRAPHY GROW ?

Calligraphy’s original birthplace is China in the history. Japan was influenced by China in its use of the character and also in Calligraphy, or Shodo in Japanese language. The Chinese had original character and it’s believed that Japan imported their character as Kanji. After that, Kanji grew Japanized together with life style and sense of Japanese people, which made a little difference in the style and the form between original Chinese character and Japanese Kanji. Also in Japan new character called Kana ( or Hiragana) was born, which had a totally new and different impression in form of the character in comparison with Chinese character or Japanese Kanji.

With the stream of the birth of new characters, Japanese calligraphy left unique progression in the history. In that point of view, Japanese calligraphy is rather progressive than conservertive. Japanese calligraphy style changed its forms together with rise and fall of people.

The character was used only in a practical way in the early time of the history. Later on, the character became a way of expression of heart. This way of thinking was, then, accepted as a form of art, since then, it’s called Sho, or Shodo.

Its beauty and originality began to be regarded also as expression of human personality, in that respect, calligraphy or Sho has long been a kind of an education for humanity in standard Japanese society.

In the history, there are two streamlines.

Original is, of course, Chinese.

And the sideline or newline of calligraphy history has been Japanese one.

Expanding on the Japanese calligraphy history, there were several calligraphy artsits in each era. Their works are still admired as excellent examples of Shodo art, or calligraphic masterpieces.

In Japanese history textbooks of schools, Kookai (Kukai), Emperor Saga, Tachibanano Hayanari, Onono Michikaze (Ono Tofu) and some more great calligraphy artists are still taught as the classic calligraphers.

CLASSICS OF CALLIGRAPHY TECHNIQUES

Learning calligraphy or Sho often requires hard and constant training. In the early stage of the learning, they often try to learn classics of calligraphy. The purpose of that includes not only mastering the technique of the great artists but also touching their soul and integrated humanity. As this aspect shows, calligraphy or Sho is still staying in the line of human education in Japan. After this process, calligraphyers of new generation start searching for their own world of expression to become an artist.

Typical examples of classic calligraphy techniques are as follws:

KAISHO; This is the formal writing of Kanji ( Chinese character ) in clear looking style.

GYOSHO; As opposed to KAISHO, this style has a little sense of flow in the form. Character is still clear for readers but apparently the form is more flexible and soft looking than KAISHO.

SOUSHO; This is for fast writing. So it often breaks the character form and they don’t stay in the right form. Writers and readers need to know the forms of Sousho character to understand correctly.

REISHOTAI; Both right side and left side have spreading form like waves, therefore it looks wide horizontally.

TENSHOTAI; It looks long vertically. Edge of the character is rounded and character’s lines are drawn in the same width.

KANA; Japanese character, Kana ( Hiragana ), is the theme in this classic way.

Also there is another way to learn calligraphy called RINSHO.

RINSHO means writing the calligraphy with looking at the example.

Rinsho has 3 types.

KEIRIN; Tryin to write character in familier shape to the example.

IRIN; Focusing on understanding the meaning of the example.

HAIRIN; Writing without looking at the example after remembering the example.

CALLIGRAPHY TOOLS

Brush

For making calligraphy brushes, horse hair, sheep hair, racoon dog hair, or some other animals’ hair is used.

Sumi (Ink )

This is the ink for calligraphy. There are liquid type ( Chinese ink )and solid type ( Ink stick). For use of the ink stick, you need to rub it on Suzuri ( palette ) then the ink becomes liquid type.

Suzuri (Palette)

This is similar to the art palette. As above explained, this is also used for making liquid ink from ink stick

Paper

Recently factory-manufactured papers are used often, however there still are people using traditional handmade Japanese papers.

This topic is totally from my personal taste.  It’s not a news topic but my thought about Poland.

Without any reasons,I often think Poland may be close to Japan in human nature or nationality.  That’s because I have a friend from Poland and she has a similar emotional character as we Japanese have.  She doesn’t know anything about Japan, but in speaking with her, I often see a little similarity with us.

About the similarity, I can’t explain here, it’s just because ! If I try to explain it here, maybe misunderstnadig will happen. Words can’t explain well about human’s hearts.

I once saw Andrzej Wajda story on Japanese TV. It was just after the serious movie, Katyn ( correct spell ?), he talked about his own upbringing and his thought to international relationship, or war. That proved his honorable humanity and his spirit moved me so much.  He seems to be interested in old Japanese arts and that became his big motive to start creative works. As he has the common feeling with Japanese arts,Ukiyoe, maybe we Japanese would feel the common heart with him. I thought so when I saw the TV program.

In 1987, he got KYOTO PRIZE from Japan and he set up Japan Art Center in Poland for his repayment of Japanese kindness.

Also, I read about the story of Polish boys and girls during Warld War 2. They were forced to stay in Russia then but many got to get out there for illness or starving situation. They asked some countires for help but no good answers.  Finally they asked Japan without expectation because they thought Japan was too strange country for Poland and too far. Against their expectation,  Japanese government allowed them to come to Japan and started taking care of them. They recovered well and left Japan with endless tears and grattitude to host parents and Japan.

Detailed story about this is too long, so I can’t write here all.

As a fact, maybe there hardly are Japanese people who know this history between 2 countries. But Poland remembered the history even after the war, and again for their repayment to Japan, they invited orphans of KOBE earth quake victims in Japan many years later after the war.

I nearly cried when I read it.

This mentality is really what both nations have for each other, I think. If I explain this example more, my words may sound simple and doubtful. If you are Japanese, please check this story. I think you too will feel the same as I do.

Other than Poland, I also feel the same heart with some other people in the world.  I can’t tell exactly about it, but maybe the blood or DNA inside me tells me ” you are friends for each other !”

I once saw a Polish studnet on TV saying he loves a moive, Princess Mononoke by Hayao Miyazaki.  I was really surprised that far distant country’s young student knew such a complicated movie with heavy Japanese cultural background. 

As my repayment, here I need to say I really love Chopin.

This year is 400th anniversary of Japan-Mexico friendship. It means Japan and Mexico have been in friendship since 1609.  It’s such a long time !

I still remember that Japanese football team won the bronzemedal in Mexico Olympic and a weight-lifting player of Japan, Yoshinobu Miyake got a gold medal then.

Just recently, I met with an Mexican, surprisingly,he speaks fluent Japanese. I asked him where and how he learnt it.  He answered he studied by himself and textbook was animation and manga of Japan. I met a lot of Mexicans in LA or wherever in the USA, he was the first Japanese speaking Mexican in my life.

I was really glad to know it. I thought Japan was a far away land for Mexicans and nobody in Mexico could tell the location of Japan on the world map.  But he knew Japan and Japanese culture.  It was a nice surprise.

 Some years ago, a Beatles fan in Mexico gave me an email as I had a Beatles web site as a fan,  She found my site and asked about Japan, not about the Beatles.  She said John Lennon’s wife, Yoko Ono, is Japanese, she wanted to know why John liked Yoko that much. She added, she understand why Geroge Harrison loves Mexican woman, Olivia, because she knows Mexican girl’s good points well.  So she often asked me about Yoko, or Japanese.

To be honest, Yoko Ono can’t be a typical Japanese woman, that’s why she could be wife of John.  Anyway, that was also a nice surprise to know how foreigners got interested in Japan. 

Mexico has been my favourite country for me since I knew Mexico. Now Japanese festival seems being held in Mixico city for each other’s friendship. I hope this relation will last long, or forever.

Congratulations, Mexico and Japan !