Tanka challenge 11/7/11

Moon and sun face off
Across the afternoon sky
Matching stare for stare.
All too soon the sun retreats
Before the advance of night.

Book binge

Continuing from yesterday, it appears someone (or multiple someones) brought in a whole bunch of titles on Japanese subjects to Moe's Books. I had to stop at myself three because I could've easily spent a bundle, but I threw myself on a hardcover copy of Eric Rath's Food and Fantasy in Early Modern Japan (read a bit of it at lunch time and it looks like it should be interesting).

I also grabbed a Japanese exhibition catalog on Emaki (picture scrolls) circa 1974. All the plates are in B&W, but they include things I'd never seen before and part of the catalogue, including the important bit listing what each plate is, are actually in English. The image of poetess Ono no Komachi in deshabille as a corpse is certainly one I've never seen anywhere else. A vain attempt at an internet search for more turned up only two mentions of the particular picture scroll in English, one a JSTOR article that tantalizingly indicated that it's part of a genre of Buddhist art. Who knew?

Lastly, I pounced upon Bugaku Treasures from the Kasuga Shrine, another exhibition catalogue, this one in lavish color, featuring masks, costumes and musical instruments used in classical Japanese dance. Published in 1984, the exhibition was on display in LA during the summer Olympics at the Japanese American Cultural Center