Contemplations of a Closet Curmudgeon

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

Shot these today at Ethnic Arts on Tenth Street in Berkeley. They have beautiful things and I'll probably do a little Christmas shopping there.








While we're at it, here's an eye-roll for the members of the lj_photophile community who post positive comments (I put up the black and white shot of the baskets there) but can't be bothered to clicky a vote for a photo. (I don't get that. One can vote for as many photos as one likes.)  At least didjiman and karisu_sama still love me.

Woke up Friday morning with a hellacious knot in my left shoulder that would not quit, so I hit the Marketplace after work and had a massage with yet another young lady I hadn't previously gone to. I explained the issue, she worked on me for 15 minutes and I did feel better for a couple of hours when she was done with me. I went into the market to see if they had any bamboo combs in stock because I'd told G about them and she wanted one, then discovered they carried umeboshi and grabbed a package, then discovered that they had both hachiya (the sort of acorn shaped ones) and fuyu (the tomato shaped ones) persimmons. They had a sample tray with slices and the fuyu were lovely, so I bought a couple. When I got home, however, the idea of actually making umeboshi onigiri smacked of too much effort - I knew I was going to have enough crap to portage to Collegium that a potluck contribution by me would be unneccessary and more trouble than it was worth. I sliced up a fuyu and put it in my bento, pressed what I planned to wear and watched part of "Give me the banjo" on PBS. I need to catch the second half of this documentary at a later date as it was quite good, even if it was causing Gaius flashbacks.

The house was also cold - I attempted to turn on the heat, but the characteristic gas "whump" and burning dust smell of the first burn of the season did not result, so I just layered up and resolved to call Glenn on Sunday. (When I came home Sunday, however, the heat was cranking away so it may have been where I had the thermostat set.)

Woke up bright and early with the knot returned, so I took an uncharacteristically long (for me) shower, had a mug of tea, and got on the road. Collegium was held in a lovely Unitarian church in downtown San Jose. I used a paid parking lot about a block away - I figured the crap in the back of my truck would be relatively secure there. Got out my folding wagon and loaded up gear for my classes and trundled it down the street with plenty of time to set up for my first class.

Note to self, must test the hot pot in an outlet here today and see if it actually works, maybe I'd plugged it into one that didn't at the church. Fortunately, they'd put me in  room right off the kitchen, so I ended up using the kitchen kettle for water. Had a good turnout for the stitched-resist shibori class and an even better one for the tea class. I confess I'd been angsting about the tea class. It was the result of a conversation from several months ago that ended in "You oughta teach a class on that." Except the more I read the more questions I had and the more I realized how little I knew and how big the subject was. So, feeling woefully unprepared, I leaned on Sen Shoshitsu's The Japanese Way of Tea very heavily, made up pots of Lapsang Souchong and Sencha for people to taste, then whisked up some matcha, repeating the disclaimer that I Have Not Formally Studied Tea Ceremony. They seemed to enjoy it, I was able to answer questions and it went well enough. (That said, I declined to furnish an electronic version of my notes to be posted online as I feel this class is a work in progress and I would like to address the subject further at some point.) I suspect I get away with murder as a teacher simply by being enthusiastic about the subject.

I'd asked xrian to be spokesman for my Laurel ceremony and she had agreed. However, as is often the case with SCA friendships, details of how much folks know about one another can sometimes be sketchy. The solution was to have lunch together so she could "interview" me. Felt a bit odd and on-the-spot, but it should all work out.

Attended barone_antonio's class on Italian love poetry. Despite the peanut gallery over on the other side of the table, he tried to present an in depth survey of a wealth of material and left me needing to go back and read some Dante and Petrarch, which I haven't looked at in decades. (I hope he reads this, because I thought it was a terrific class.)  Also hung out at xrian's Good Books/Bad Books class for a bit, and had flashbacks of my review of Mitsuo Kure's Samurai.

Excellent event, liked the venue a lot, even if I spent most of my day down in the basement. Didn't get to socialize with as many folks as I would've liked, but that's OK. Kudos to trystbat and her staff for putting on a great event.

I close my eyes and
Drink its earthy scent as I
Wait for hot water.
At last, the blurred edges of
Sleep are banished for the day.

Sometimes you just need a cup of tea, you know?

11/3/11

Helplessly they wave
Leafy arms as if it would
Save them from torment.
Harsh gusts off the sea care not
For the plight of a few trees.

11/2/11:

Eyes, ears and mouth clasped
With frozen brass paws, they sit
Silent on their shelf.
Hear No Evil seems puzzled
By an eternal silence.

Nipponophiles, there's a nice article on Slate interviewing Dr. Donald Keene. I could've done with less description of the lunch and more conversation with the Professor, because this man has done so much over his career to bring Japanese literature and culture to those of us who can't read Japanese.

The Nice Young Samurai from An Tir made this for Halloween. I have no idea what he plans to wear for Twelfth Night, but I know it will be wonderful.

Got forwarded some email questions on how to make junihitoe today. (I dislike this term as it wasn't what they called in in period, but we're stuck with it). Timely, given that I'm working on a new kasane, though. Hopefully I've convinced her that doing it in stages is the smart way to keep from going insane and budget for that much fabric. It was about 5 years from my informal outfit to the complete karaginu mo for me.

Criterion Collection has released Kuroneko on DVD. My copy shipped today. A

And I just won this Taisho period book on medieval Japanese clothing on eBay. I have awesome shopping karma.

No trick or treaters though. I never get them because I don't think they know about the side door. Besides, if they did, they'd have to get past Shelob who continues suspending architectural projects from the porch light. Just as well - I've finally learned not to bother buying candy.

I should've known. The wedding industry has already jumped on "wishing trees." One can even buy the things online. (A cursory glance at Teh Intarwebz says it's been fashionable since at least 2007, along with the cupcake thing.)

http://www.herecomestheguide.com/blog/detail/wish-for-a-better-guest-book/  Dutch custom, eh? Take a wild guess who the Dutch got it from. Mutter mumble sneaky namban.

Fine. I hereby co-opt it BACK. Note to self, keep an eye out for suitable colored papers to make the tanzaku out of.

Jacquard No Flow resist. http://www.dharmatrading.com/html/eng/1901-AA.shtml?lnav=resists.html

If it works as advertised, I could conceivably use it to reserve the roundels on that silk jacquard in white while dyeing the rest of it, which would be awesome. Just fired off a note to Dharma Trading's customer service link to see what they recommend.

EDIT: and it's not worth the risk, leaving the whole thing white or dyeing it a pale pink overall would not be the worst thing in the world, given the color scheme of the rest of the kasane. May run over to Dharma tomorrow for a consultation. Besides, I'm all out of Lumiere paint anyway.

***************
To wig or not to wig. My old wig is old and it's a Halloween POS. My real hair is about 3' too short and I'd have to dye it even darker than it is....   With the popularity of cosplay, there are some decent looking long wigs out there. (sarcasm_hime, can you comment or recommend?) However, wigs are by nature heat traps, I will already be wearing a lot of clothing and the ceremony calls for the placement of a medallion and a cloak on me......

(Ooh, note to self, do not forget to order tooth black!)

***************
I'm liking the wish-tree idea the more I think about it. Bamboo is traditional for Tanabata, however, it will be January and the UnVigil theme is a moon viewing on a snowy evening. Fill the pottery vase I bought with pebbles, anchor some winter-bare branches in it and hope no one loses an eye. 'Cause it's all fun and games until someone loses an eye.

***************
Dear la_peregrina,
I know you want to come, but real life comes first! I will be much happier knowing you're taking care of yourself and have your priorities straight if you cannot - and so would Gaius and so would Wilhelm. Surely SOMEONE will get photos of all this nonsense in any event, quite possibly even bovil and moriven, who I actually trust to do it well. So there, nyah.

Random ideas often come to me while I'm standing over the copier and this may have to do with the fact that I was in a Barnes and Noble recently and didn't see a journal I quite liked to use as my Twelfth Night guestbook.....  Or not.

Anyway, ema are votive offerings (or wishes, if you like) made at Shinto shrines, while part of the Tanabata festival involves writing wishes and hanging them on trees. In fact, Yoko Ono adapted the idea to a Wish Tree in the garden of the Hirschorn Museum in DC. Here it is naked.  I shot this last month.

So should I have a tree for people to put guestbook notes on at my UnVigil?