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| 上り口説 Nubui Kuduchi | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Mar 24 2015, 01:10 AM (3,056 Views) | |
| Toranosuke | Mar 24 2015, 01:10 AM Post #1 |
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Tosa no kami
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My blog is called "上り口説 Nubui Kuduchi," after a classical (古典) Okinawan song about the journey to Kagoshima. In it, I write about a variety of subjects, mainly Japanese and Okinawan history and art history, reviews of art exhibits and theatre performances I attend, and so forth. I expect this summer to start posting a series of book reviews, as I'll be finishing my exams, and will have a huge list of books I've read in the last year or two to discuss. My latest post (https://chaari.wordpress.com/2015/03/18/resource-whats-going-on-in-okinawa/) introduces another blog, What's Going On in Okinawa?, which consists of English translations of Okinawan news articles. Though originally intended to focus on just this Resource, I ended up going on a bit about the basics of what is going on in Okinawa these days, specifically regarding protests against the construction of a new US military base at Henoko. Normally, I'm not nearly so political on my blog, I promise. But, my Recent Posts and Archives are available on the right, along with links to the newest Samurai-Archives Wiki articles, and my latest photo uploads on Flickr. Yoroshiku onegaishimasu. |
| 上り口説 Nubui Kuduchi – Musings on the arts of Japan and beyond | |
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| Toranosuke | May 23 2015, 04:55 AM Post #2 |
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Tosa no kami
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![]() I have just completed a new post, summarizing a recent talk by Hank Glassman on the origins of Gorintô stone grave markers. Edited by Toranosuke, May 23 2015, 05:00 AM.
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| 上り口説 Nubui Kuduchi – Musings on the arts of Japan and beyond | |
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| Toranosuke | May 25 2015, 08:23 PM Post #3 |
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Tosa no kami
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My next post is on the arrangement of Shuri castle. If it is so standard in both China and Japan to have palaces, and particularly audience halls, organized according to a north-south axis, with the ruler sitting in the north, facing south, then why does Shuri castle face west? In this post, based on little research, but just hypothesizing on the thought as it occurred to me, I offer some ideas as to possible answers.
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| 上り口説 Nubui Kuduchi – Musings on the arts of Japan and beyond | |
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| J. L. Badgley | May 26 2015, 12:09 AM Post #4 |
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Something to consider: In the northern hemisphere, the sun generally travels an arc that puts it slightly to the south at noon (modo, the further north you go), making south facing rooms get the most light and heat (also why moss grows on the north side of a tree). In a time before electricity it would make sense to have a south facing room be the most elite. I suspect Chinese ritual grew up to incorporate that feature with a philosophical reason. At Shuri, though, I wonder how this works, because court in the afternoon would be interesting, as the sun is setting. Also, do we have evidence of Ryukyuan maps being oriented with West as the top, like how Chinese maps often oriented to the south? |
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Sengoku Daimyo.com The Capital Area Budokai | |
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| Toranosuke | May 26 2015, 02:14 AM Post #5 |
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Tosa no kami
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Hm. A great thought. I knew, of course, that the sun would be to the south, but one thing I think we really need more of in history and art history - one thing I certainly never got much of in lectures and reading - is these kinds of natural practical concerns. In other words, I knew the sun would be to the south, but it hadn't occurred to me to think about how that would affect the amount of sun you'd get facing various directions, in this building or that building... So, yeah. Excellent point. I wonder. As for the maps... I'm not sure I've come across any Ryukyuan maps. I wonder if there are any that survive... |
| 上り口説 Nubui Kuduchi – Musings on the arts of Japan and beyond | |
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| Bethetsu | May 26 2015, 05:19 AM Post #6 |
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Tsushima no kami
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You have lived in Japan, haven't you? The rooms for living all face south if possible--the verandas, engawas, living rooms, bedrooms. The kitchens and bathrooms are on the north, though sometimes an extra room is also there. Apartment buildings preferably have the apartments entrances on the north so the verandras are on the south. Of course nowadays with the tight living space you have houses or apartments with the living quarters facing more east or west, but no one wants to have them facing north. You want sunlight. As for Okinawa if the king's seat was facing west, as you said, wouldn't he be facing China? And if he were facing west, the people would have to be west of him in order to bow to him, but that would not necessarily mean he was looking down on the west. I remember reading an Edo-period account that said someone ate facing the castle town when the lord was there, and facing Edo when the lord was in Edo. In your blog you said " one of the notions that may be connected into this is one mentioned in the Analects, attributed to Confucius himself, that the Emperor is like the North Star, sitting at the northernmost point of the cosmos, facing south towards all the other stars, and remaining still while all the other stars move about the North Star as central axis. " Do you know where it is in the Analects? Actually at the time of the Analects there was no clear-cut pole star and I was wondering when the North Star became important. (The earth's axis is slowly changing where it points--the precession equinox of the equinoxes 歳差。) |
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| Toranosuke | May 26 2015, 07:23 AM Post #7 |
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Tosa no kami
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I have, but I guess I just never noticed... pretty cool stuff.
Point well taken. That piece of the blog was, admittedly, more random ideas - throw it against the wall, see if it sticks - than what really will stick. I wrote that part before thinking of the Tedako explanation. I now think that, and Nirai Kanai, make more sense...
Hm. An interesting point. That certainly was long enough ago that the axis would have been tilted in a slightly different direction... And yet, in the Analects, 2:1, it says: "The Master said, 'One who governs through virtue may be compared to the polestar, which occupies its place while the host of other stars pay homage to it.'" (Sources of Chinese Tradition, p46). 子曰:「為政以德,譬如北辰,居其所而眾星共之。」 Doesn't mean it's exactly the same star, the same yellow supergiant α UMi Aa that we identify as "Polaris" today, but, still, there was some north polestar to which the Analects seems to be referring... According to Mark Schumacher, "The Pole Star and the Big Dipper were important elements in Chinese Taoist cosmology well before Buddhism arrived in China in the 1st-2nd centuries AD. The Japanese imported the practice of star worship from China during the Nara Period (710-794 AD)" (http://www.onmarkproductions.com/html/28-moon-stations.html#seven), but I dunno. This is something I'm interested in, but really haven't gotten around to looking into any more deeply just yet... Edited by Toranosuke, May 26 2015, 08:59 AM.
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| 上り口説 Nubui Kuduchi – Musings on the arts of Japan and beyond | |
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| J. L. Badgley | May 26 2015, 04:08 PM Post #8 |
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pole_star - As much as I hate pointing to Wikipedia, in this case it matches up with tidbits I'm seeing elsewhere. It seems that there was usually *a* "North Star" whether or not it was the same one we see tonight or not. That said, for the past 1000 years or so (possibly longer) it was probably Polaris. Certainly the Big Dipper has long been an important constellation, rotating around the pole position. -Josh |
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Sengoku Daimyo.com The Capital Area Budokai | |
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| Bethetsu | May 26 2015, 11:55 PM Post #9 |
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Tsushima no kami
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But Confucius was 2500 years ago so it is not likely to have been Polaris. Of course, he wasn't an astronomer, and they probsbly did not have many people checking on the exact position of the stars, so a star could have been considered unmoving even if it did move some. But I wonder which it was. 北辰 can also refer to the Big Dipper, but that seems less likely here. |
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| J. L. Badgley | May 27 2015, 12:01 AM Post #10 |
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Right, my point being more that a description of "the star in the north" would refer to whatever star was in the north and didn't move much, and as different starts moved into that position, they would take the name, too. |
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| chingwa | May 27 2015, 07:23 PM Post #11 |
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Priest
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This is an interesting subject. It may be worth noting more than just cardinal directions, and also look at geological situations as well. Many japanese cities were laid out according to Chinese Geomancy principles, Kyoto being the most notable for this. The general rules, so far as I'm aware, equate directions and geological landmarks together and in some cases (as in Edo) if the exact directions don't match then, well, exceptions can be made apparently. Kyoto: Mountain-->North -->Mt. Funaoka Lake-->South-->Lake Ogura River-->East-->Kamo River Road-->West-->Sanyodo Highway Edo: Mountain-->"North" -->Mt. Fuji Lake-->"South"-->Hibiya Cove River-->"East"-->Hirakawa River Road-->"West"-->Tokaido Highway The Edo example fits the required geo relationships only if the directional basis is skewed westward. Instead of a near perfect north-south orientation (like Kyoto) Edo is actually on a north-west/south-east axis. I'm not sure how this applies to Shuri, which seems to have a general west to east orientation. I haven't found any historical maps of the city to lend extra credence to this hypothesis either, but it's something to keep in mind. |
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| Toranosuke | Jun 9 2015, 08:18 AM Post #12 |
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Tosa no kami
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In the aftermath of my comprehensive exams, for which I had to read a fair-sized pile of books, I am now posting reviews or responses to each book, or each set of books. I've arbitrarily decided to start with the Pacific History books, so things more directly pertaining to Japan won't be coming back to the blog for a little while. But, I think these things are plenty interesting in and of themselves, and have relevance to Japan considerations, by parallel and comparison. *The Arts of Kingship discusses how King Kalakaua in the 1870s-1880s worked to construct a distinctly Hawaiian form of modernity, and to assert to the world Hawaii's modernity and its being deserving of respect as an independent, sovereign, member of the world community of nations. Offers an interesting comparison to what was going on in Meiji Japan right around the same time. *The debate between Marshall Sahlins and Gananath Obeyesekere over whether the Native Hawaiians thought Captain Cook was a god has broad-ranging relevance for historiography (how we write about history) in general. Obeyesekere accuses Sahlins of being an Orientalist, racist, for denying the Hawaiians (Western/universal) rationality; Sahlins counters, calling Obeyesekere Orientalist and racist for asserting that Western rationality is the only valid means of understanding the world, and for denying the validity of Hawaiian modes of knowledge. There's also a major element here of the question of how we do history, when sources are limited. Given that the only sources on the subject of Cook's arrival, and later death, are (a) Hawaiian oral histories, (b) Hawaiian written histories written several decades later by Hawaiians deeply influenced by missionary modes of seeing the world, and (c) Cook's crew's diaries and such, we might never know what Hawaiian people actually thought or believed at that time... *My latest post simply involves links and brief summaries of a few other treatments of Cook, and of the Sahlins-Obeyesekere debate. |
| 上り口説 Nubui Kuduchi – Musings on the arts of Japan and beyond | |
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| Toranosuke | Jun 23 2015, 12:27 PM Post #13 |
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Tosa no kami
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While I expect to return to the Pacific history books soon, for a moment I have deviated from that and posted a bit about Japan. My newest post is a discussion of the book Bonds of Civility, by Eiko Ikegami. Ikegami makes a really interesting conceptual/analytical argument about the role of artistic circles in constituting a sort of "public sphere" within Tokugawa Japan. While people were (at least ostensibly) restricted in their public lives to their status and station, and while political speech was (in some ways) strictly curtailed, within poetry circles, shamisen lessons, ikebana groups, and so on, people spoke more freely, developed social networks with people from different class statuses, and so on. This is really interesting, and really important, I think, for how we think about early modern Japan (and to a certain extent this may have been taking place in some of the major cities, esp. Kyoto, earlier, too). But I also love this book for her discussion of those circles themselves, just giving us a fuller impression of just what that cultural life was - what was going on in these cities? How did the arts become popularized and commercialized in the 18th-19th centuries? I have also posted recently: *A book review of Deep Kyoto Walks, a new book which falls somewhere in between being a travel guide, and a book /about/ the city - it consists chiefly of individual anecdotes, travelogues, by people who have either lived in Kyoto for a long time, or visited extensively. *A post on the Myth of Ryukyuan Pacifism. It is convenient for activists today to assert that the Okinawan people have always been pacifists, a position which amplifies in a sense the wrongness of their exploitation. However, inconveniently for them, this is simply not the case - the Ryukyu Kingdom absolutely did have a military, and not only that, it violently conquered the other Ryukyu Islands, both north and south, expanding out from Okinawa. So, as a white, non-native (non-Okinawan) historian, how to navigate this issue? *A book review/response on Remembrance of Pacific Pasts, a book which addresses related issues - who has the right to speak? Who has the right to say what Hawaiian, or Tongan, or Fijian history is, in the aftermath of a long legacy of white people ignoring Native understandings of their own identity, their own history, and speaking /for/ the Native people, asserting their own colonialist version of the history? |
| 上り口説 Nubui Kuduchi – Musings on the arts of Japan and beyond | |
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| Toranosuke | Jul 14 2015, 09:27 AM Post #14 |
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Tosa no kami
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My newest blog post is my 700th since I started the blog way back in 2008. I kind of can't believe it... especially given the, at times, month-long or more gaps in my posting activity... I mark this occasion with a post about the documentary film Kabukiza: Final Curtain, a nostalgic look at the old post-war Kabukiza as it was about to be closed and demolished in 2010. I'd been meaning to watch this movie for ages, and finally got around to doing so. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and heartily recommend it to anyone interested in kabuki. And for those not so familiar, I think it gives a good strong sense of the emotion and history involved, though there will surely be a lot left unexplained, if you don't have some familiarity to begin with... Edited by Toranosuke, Jul 14 2015, 09:28 AM.
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| 上り口説 Nubui Kuduchi – Musings on the arts of Japan and beyond | |
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| kitsuno | Jul 14 2015, 09:30 AM Post #15 |
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The Shogun
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Wow, good job. I know it's not easy cranking out blog posts from experience. Unless you are JapanThis, anyway. |
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| Toranosuke | Sep 25 2015, 01:13 PM Post #16 |
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Tosa no kami
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Hi everyone. I can't believe I haven't posted in this thread since July. I guess I've been really slacking. Yikes. Sorry. I have not been slacking on posting on the blog, though. Having finished a whole series of reviews on books & articles on Hawaiian & Pacific history, I have now moved on to reviews of books & articles on Chinese history, from my exam prep reading from last year. I begin with a few posts about the Tribute System / Chinese Sino-centric world order: *Zhang Feng on the Tribute System *David Kang & Angela Schottenhammer on the Tribute System I have also done a few posts about a Wahon Literacies workshop I attended: *On the subject of Wahon Literacies *On Calligraphy Appreciation *On the structure and priority of our "expert" training in graduate school As always, eager to hear your thoughts! Edited by Toranosuke, Sep 25 2015, 01:16 PM.
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| 上り口説 Nubui Kuduchi – Musings on the arts of Japan and beyond | |
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| Toranosuke | Nov 20 2015, 09:09 PM Post #17 |
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Tosa no kami
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Oops. Didn't update here in a while. I have now completed my run of book reviews of books on Chinese history, including reviews of: *Yingkit Chan's MA thesis "A Bridge Between Myriad Lands" - on Ming-Ryukyu relations *The New Qing History *Ray Huang's 1587: A Year of No Significance - on the Ming court, and imperial bureaucracy & administration *James Hevia's Cherishing Men from Afar - on the 1793 British embassy to the Qing court *Adam Bohnet's journal article "Ming Loyalism and Foreign Lineages in Late Choson Korea" |
| 上り口説 Nubui Kuduchi – Musings on the arts of Japan and beyond | |
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| Toranosuke | Dec 17 2015, 04:09 AM Post #18 |
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Tosa no kami
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And I've begun a run of book reviews on Japanese history, with: *Takashi Fujitani's Splendid Monarchy - on the construction of Imperial ideology in the 1860s-1890s, with a particular focus on parades & pageantry *Catherine Bell's Ritual Theory, Ritual Practice - one of the most-cited books on ritual, and also one of the most useless academic books I've ever read *Amy Stanley's Selling Women - on prostitution in the Edo period. |
| 上り口説 Nubui Kuduchi – Musings on the arts of Japan and beyond | |
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| Toranosuke | Mar 19 2017, 07:19 PM Post #19 |
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Tosa no kami
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Wow. It's been over a year since I've updated here. Sorry!! For those interested, I did finish up my book review articles from that time, with a few tens of articles (I think, I haven't counted) on Chinese, Japanese, and Pacific Island history. Since then, I spent the last six months (Sept 2016 to March 2017) at the University of the Ryukyus in Okinawa, and some of my latest posts relate to that experience: *A post reflecting back on these last six months in Okinawa *A review of a fascinating book entitled Fudai daimyô Ii ke no girei ("Ceremonies of the Ii family of fudai daimyo") put out by the Hikone Castle Museum *A series of several posts 1, 2, 3 about 20th century Okinawan art I am now based at the University of Tokyo for the next five months. I feel as though I may find myself too busy to update the blog too regularly, but I guess we'll see. |
| 上り口説 Nubui Kuduchi – Musings on the arts of Japan and beyond | |
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| Toranosuke | Jun 22 2017, 01:26 AM Post #20 |
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Tosa no kami
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For those interested, since moving to Tokyo, I have posted a few more posts on the blog, including: *One on the Nihon Mingeikan, or Japan Folk Crafts Museum, in Komaba (just two stops west of Shibuya) *One on seeing Ise Ondo at the Kabuki-za *One on The Daimyo Clock Museum *One thinking back on my time in Okinawa *And, my most recent post, a brief review of two books on Ryukyuan painting Hope you enjoy. If you have any thoughts, please do leave a comment! |
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4:35 AM Jul 11