Deep in Tokushima-ken (and an hour from my home) you will find Miyoshi City and the Oboke Valley. It is a gorgeous area determined to woo any and every nature lover on the planet. With turquoise blue rapids, jagged gorges clinging to mountains, forests that light up with the signs of passing seasons, and long suspension bridges that overlook supreme sights– the Oboke area is simply breathtaking.
This particular area of Shikoku is well known as a hotbed of yokai activity. In nearby Mount Tsurugi there is said to be a giant snake and that local villages host hunts for it on occasion. Miyoshi itself claims, on their English web site, that the area is the ancient birthplace of the yokai mythos.
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This past weekend the Oscar’s were held in the United States. I admit I enjoy looking at the photographs afterwards to see what people were wearing as the world of fashion and expressing oneself through clothing is something that intrigues me. I also enjoy looking at some of the more obscure categories because sometimes they bring to light a film or two that I managed to miss.
However, most of the time I find the Oscar’s to be laughable. They tend to ignore Science Fiction and performances that are truly wonderful if they are not pushed to them by the movie studios. It is my very simplified thinking that one cannot be the “Best Picture” of a English movie if all deserving candidates are not reviewed. This along with some bizarre choices in the past (Inglorious Bastereds nominated for best picture, really? Really? Half the “basterds” disappear halfway through the movie with no explanation and the main villain does a complete about face from a cold calculated man to a giggling buffoon without the aid of any brain damage of psychedelic narcotics) gives me the opinion that the Academy Awards is really a circle jerk for the studios.
At least they get people talking. And talking about movies is always a good thing– especially when it brings movies you may have missed to light.
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I am now taking pre-orders for geisha odori programs for the March/April/May dance season of the Kyoto geisha districts.
I am also accepting orders for the district posters and furoshiki (a piece of cloth with district logo on it; signed ones are thrown by the geisha during the performance, I will get you an unsigned version).
I can get programs, posters, and furishiki for Miyagawa-cho, Gion Kobu, Pontocho, and Kamishichiken.
I am accepting orders for Kamishichiken and Miyagawa-cho until March 31st, Gion Kobu through April 15th, and Pontocho through April 30th.
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As I mentioned yesterday, I am doing a yokai theme this weekend for the weekend photographs from Japan.
This particular photograph is an older style tanuki figure (to read more about tanuki please see yesterday’s post).
This work was created from the fur of a tanuki and I found him at the Tokushima Museum at an exhibit on tanuki and foxes.
I have only ever seen two other tanuki figures like him, so I would like to say he is rare (skinning an animal to make a rather humourus looking figure is not high on my things I enjoy).
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In keeping with the yokai theme I have for this month’s Japan Blog Matsuri I am keeping my weekend photographs to a yokai theme this week.
This is a picture of some tanuki sculptures at one of the temples up the street form me.
These particular tanuki sculptures are the most common forms you will see in Japan but there are other styles as well. The large one is over five feet tall, where most sculptures are usually a few feet tall.
The tanuki is a raccoon dog and has unusually large testicles. The Japanes like to humorously exaggerate this feature and tell tales of tanuki using their testicles as backpacks, drums, and even weapons.
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A few months ago the McDonald’s in Japan began an American Burgers promotion. They debuted four different burgers tied to four locations in the USA. One burger was available at a time and only for a limited time.
I happened to be in Kyoto for the start of the promotion. As a bonus the Kyoto McDonald’s were serving all four burgers, but the catch was you had to go to different McDonald’s to get each one.
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I grew up with the ocean. As a child my summers were spent at the shore, the waves crashing over my feet. I adore the ocean. It inspires a great deal of awe in me. But, awe is not always a good thing. For as beautiful as I find the water (and as much as I wanted to be a mermaid when I grew up) it also frightens me.
I love looking at the various octopus, the squids, the crabs, and the fish. Yet when it comes to whales and sharks you can bet there will be a shiver up my spine and flames of fear in my eyes. I cannot really say how I developed either fear, and even I admit it is a tad humorous to be afraid of whales– but there you have it.
Unfortunately for me, my husband loves sharks (as well as manta rays which also give me the willies) and I have an adventurous streak.
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At the start of the year I found myself continuing the eighty-eight temple pilgrimage of Shikoku. It was a unique time to see the temples as it had just snowed in Tokushima-ken.
On January 1st, 2010 we made the choice to go to Ikeda-cho in Tokushima-ken. We were going to take a cable car up 3,000 feet to Upenji (the Temple of Hovering Clouds, the 66th temple of the eighty-eight temple pilgrimage).
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As with many things when trying to translate from both different languages and different cultures it is difficult to properly explain certain subjects. Trying to translate the word yokai with a single one word translation does not give yokai proper justice.
As I have a yokai post lined up for next Tuesday and do not wish to bog it down with explanations regarding the yokai (the post shall be long enough on its own) I will make an attempt to give a very brief overview with this entry.
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For the month of January (2010) I ran a contest where the available prizes had a Gloomy Bear theme.
I did a raffle for the winner in the Tokushima Museum.
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Posted by: Maz on 9th March 2010 in