The Ancient Japanese | History | Articles Jomon Period: 10,000 B.C. – 400 BC Stable living patterns began to appear in Japan with the arrival of the Jomon people around 10,000 B.C. People during this period began to make open-pit fired clay vessels and decorated them with patterns made by pressing wet clay with unbraided or braided sticks and plaited cord. The pottery techniques of the Jomon were very advanced and characteristic of Neolithic cultures although the Jomon were a Mesolithic, Middle Stone Age, people. The Jomon period is typically divided into six different eras; the Incipient, Initial, Early, Middle, Late, and Final periods. Incipient Jomon: 10,000 B.C. - 8,000 B.C.The only archaeological evidence found for the Incipient Jomon era is pottery fragments found in the Kanto plain. Initial Jomon: 8,000 B.C. - 5,000 B.C.Pots were produced for cooking and boiling food. Early Jomon: 5,000 B.C. - 2,500 B.C.During this period, the average global temperature was 4-6 degrees Fahrenheit higher than today's temperature.
Wabi Sabi: An Unusual Children’s Book Based on the Japanese Philosophy of Finding Beauty in Imperfection and Impermanence Wabi sabi is a beautiful Japanese concept that has no direct translation in English. Both an aesthetic and a worldview, it connotes a way of living that finds beauty in imperfection and accepts the natural cycle of growth and decay. Wabi Sabi is also the title of a fantastic 2008 picture-book by Mark Reibstein, with original artwork by acclaimed Chinese children’s book illustrator Ed Young, exploring this wonderful sensibility through the story of a cat who gets lost in her hometown of Kyoto only to find herself in the process. (For, lest we forget, we only find ourselves by getting lost.) The book reads like a scroll, from top to bottom, and features a haiku and a Japanese verse on each spread, adorned with Young’s beautifully textured artwork. Reibstein paints a historical backdrop: A true wabi sabi story lies behind the book: When Young first received the assignment, he created a series of beautifully simple images.
History of Celtic Music - Celtic Rings Ltd Celtic music is defined as music that originates from the countries of Ireland, Scotland and Wales. The people who live in these locations are known as Celts, which is how the music became known as Celtic music. Celtic music is best described as a type of folk music with a distinctive music and lyrics. And, today Celtic music is played and heard not only in Ireland, Scotland and Wales, but also on a worldwide stage. Celtic music has been traced back to the 1600's and is still a popular musical genre today. Celtic music can be defined also as music of the Celt people and has been around for several centuries. While Celtic music has been traced back to the 1600's, it is still one of the world's most popular musical genres. Music was so important to the ancient Celts that a group evolved called the Bards. Back to Celtic Resources
This 390-year-old bonsai tree survived an atomic bomb, and no one knew until 2001 Moses Weisberg was walking his bicycle through the National Arboretum in Northeast Washington when he stopped at a mushroom-shaped tree. The first thing he noticed was the thickness of the trunk, estimated at almost a foot and a half in diameter. And then there was the abundance of spindly leaves, a healthy head of hair for a botanical relic 390 years old. But it was only when he learned the full history of the tree, a Japanese white pine donated in 1976, that he was truly stunned. The tree, a part of the Arboretum’s National Bonsai and Penjing Museum, has not only navigated the perils of age to become the collection’s oldest, but it also survived the blast of an atomic bomb, Little Boy, dropped over Hiroshima, Japan, during World War II. “For one, it’s amazing to think that something could have survived an atomic blast,” said Weisberg, a 26-year-old student at the Georgetown University Law Center. In the winter, the tree is moved to the museum’s climate-controlled Chinese Pavilion.
In Praise of Shadows: Ancient Japanese Aesthetics and Why Every Technology Is a Technology of Thought – Brain Pickings By Maria Popova At least since Plato’s Allegory of the Cave, we’ve seen shadows as a metaphor for the illusory and wicked aspects of life, for that which we must eradicate in order to illuminate the truth and inherent goodness of existence. And yet we forget that the darkness they cast evidences the light — palpable proof without which we might not appreciate or even notice the radiance itself. The 1933 gem In Praise of Shadows (public library) by Japanese literary titan Junichiro Tanizaki (July 24, 1886–July 30, 1965) belongs to that special order of slim, enormously powerful books that enchant the lay reader with an esoteric subject, leaving a lifelong imprint on the imagination — rare masterpieces like Robin Wall Kimmerer’s love letter to moss and Glenn Kurtz’s paean to the pleasures of playing guitar. Tanizaki, translated here by Thomas J. At the heart of this philosophy is a fundamental cultural polarity. It would surely have had a tufted end like our writing brush.
African Music and Instruments Africa is a continent where a rich and diverse cultural heritage exists; hundreds of different languages are spoken in Africa. During the 7th century, Arabs reached North Africa and influenced the existing culture. This is why African and Arab music shares a certain degree of similarity and this extends to some musical instruments as well. Much of traditional African music has not been recorded through the generations and has been passed on to families orally or aurally. Music is especially meaningful to African families in rituals and religious ceremonies. Musical Instruments The drum, played either by hand or by using sticks, is an important musical instrument in African culture. The variety of musical instruments is as diverse as their culture. Singing and Dancing A singing technique called "call and response" is evident in African vocal music. Dancing requires the movement of various body parts in time to the rhythm. Popular African Music Styles
Japanese mythology Japanese myths, as generally recognized in the mainstream today, are based on the Kojiki, the Nihon Shoki, and some complementary books. The Kojiki, or "Record of Ancient Matters", is the oldest surviving account of Japan's myths, legends and history. The Shintōshū describes the origins of Japanese deities from a Buddhist perspective, while the Hotsuma Tsutae records a substantially different version of the mythology. One notable feature of Japanese mythology is its explanation of the origin of the imperial family which has been used historically to assign godhood to the imperial line. Note: Japanese is not transliterated consistently across all sources, see: #Spelling of proper nouns Creation myth[edit] In the Japanese creation myth, the first deities which came into existence, appearing at the time of the creation of the universe, are collectively called Kotoamatsukami. Kuniumi and Kamiumi[edit] From their union were born the Ōyashima, or the eight great islands of Japan:
Come scrivere un senryū, di Valeria Simonova-Cecon – CINQUESETTECINQUE Ecco alcuni consigli pratici per chi vuole provare a scrivere un senryū: 1. Cercate di descrivere le situazioni concrete, le persone reali e non generalizzate. Se dovete scegliere tra il plurale ed il singolare, tendete a scegliere il singolare. Non descrivete la situazione “in generale”, cercate di mostrare un esempio (evento, azione, situazione) concreto e distinto che rappresenterà meglio il pensiero/concetto generico. Magari anche di me ti ricordassi cosi, tutto il giorno! Nataly Levi Riunione familiare – un tuono rimbomba mentre cerco le parole giuste Metod Češek Una splendida metafora dei sentimenti che possono sorgere durante una riunione di famiglia. Ripetendole solo ora capisco bene le parole di mio padre Norman Darlington Solo dopo aver fatto i tuoi sbagli personali (e insegnando a tuo figlio) capisci veramente cosa intendeva tuo padre mentre cercava di darti gli stessi insegnamenti. In questi orecchini oggi non sono né mamma né moglie Yamamoto Kikuko 2. Luca Cenisi Vladislav Vassiliev
Music of Indonesia - Wikipedia The music of Indonesia demonstrates its cultural diversity, the local musical creativity, as well as subsequent foreign musical influences that shaped contemporary music scenes of Indonesia. Nearly thousands of Indonesian islands having its own cultural and artistic history and character.[1] This results in hundreds of different forms of music, which often accompanies by dance and theatre. Traditional regional musics and songs of Indonesia natively compromises of strong beat and harmony type musics with strong influence of California and Malay classical music. The influence is strongly visible in the traditional popular music genre of Dangdut. Musical instruments[edit] Balinese gamelan performance. SambaSunda music performance, featuring traditional Sundanese music instruments such as kecapi, suling, and kendang. Gamelan[edit] With the arrival of the Dutch colonisers, a number system called kepatihan was developed to record the music. Kecapi suling[edit] Angklung[edit] Kulintang[edit] Pop[edit]
6 WTF Japanese Trends (You Can Blame on White Guys) It's practically a meme in the West: The Japanese are insane. But, you know, loveably insane -- all squid-penises and liquor vending machines, not boring-old-crazy stuff like murder and cannibalism. What we don't realize, however, is that most of this madness is totally our fault. In the past, we've brushed up against the issue in a crowded train car -- discussing how Japanese manga was totally inspired by Donald Duck comics, for example -- but it goes beyond that. #6. Getty Connoisseurs of Japanese porn (hi, every single Cracked reader!) How It's Our Fault: Despite what the censored porn might imply, nudity has never been taboo in Japanese culture. WikipediaJust the way God intended. It was only in the 19th century, when Western morality came to Japan, that the Japanese government decided to crack down on such traditional practices as public nudity, in order to make the case to the West that Japan was totally a civilized country. SFW, apparently. #5. In 1853, U.S. #4.
Il kireji, di Hiroyuki Fukuda e Valeria Simonova-Cecon – CINQUESETTECINQUE Il kireji (切れ字), o “carattere che taglia”, si potrebbe definire uno speciale “strumento” letterario impiegato nello haiku. Un kireji è un termine che non possiede un significato vero e proprio, ma accompagna una parola, mettendola in particolare rilievo. Da un punto di vista stilistico, un kireji (usato solamente nella lingua poetica scritta e mai nel parlato) conferisce al componimento un certo tenore nobile, alto, propriamente poetico. Un kireji, posto all’interno di un verso, lo rende quasi automaticamente “gradevole” da un punto di vista letterario. Per esempio, è proprio dall’uso dei kireji che si differenziano gli haiku veri e propri dai cosiddetti bungei senryū, che a volte, sia dal punto di vista del contenuto che dello stile, possono avvicinarsi molto agli haiku. Dal punto di vista grammaticale e ritmico, un kireji crea una cesura (se si trova all’interno del verso) ossia una pausa (se posto alla fine di un verso, non tagliandolo). 松島や ああ松島や 松島や (松尾芭蕉) ah, Matsushima! Yosa Buson