Recreational research into Feudal Japan
Kihō
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Posts by Kihō
Mon of the Week: Bell
August 24, 2010 - 2:11 am
Tags: bell, Edo period, longevity, Ōsaka, provincial
Posted in Mon | No comments
Today we look at another mon from the same collection of provincial samurai mon from the 15th century.(KJ:7) Today’s mon uses an enclosure that didn’t become a common element in Japanese mon despite its simplicity and elegance. The enclosing shape appears to be a bell. Bells were associated with Buddhist temples, which used large bells [...]
On Making Kimono
One of the classes I enjoyed this week at Pennsic University was Lady Roxanne’s Guide to Sewing Kosode and “Kimono” (handout soon to be available online at Yama Kaminari). I learned how to make kimono many years ago from my friend Chisato, and have made some modifications along the way, so I thought I’d post [...]
Auspicious Days, a dissenting view
August 4, 2010 - 11:08 pm
Tags: Asakura Toshikage, daimyō, rokuyō, SCA, Sengoku period
Posted in Beliefs | No comments
A while back I talked about auspicious days and directions. I recently came upon a counterpoint reflecting the practical aspects of military thought. This is one of the seventeen testaments of Asakura Toshikage, one of the first Sengoku daimyō, the great lords of the Warring States period.(SoJT:429) It is extremely regrettable if a commander, when [...]
Period Award Scrolls
July 9, 2010 - 3:53 pm
Tags: Nara period, Nihon Shoki, SCA, Shōtoku
Posted in Literature | No comments
Just a quick one this week, since I’m off to the war. I was looking through translated excerpts of the Nihon Shoki(SoTJ:48), and I came across some imperial edicts very similar in style to the award scrolls used in the modern Society for Creative Anachronism. Since the Nihon Shoki, as an early Nara period work, [...]
Mon of the Week: Natagama
July 4, 2010 - 9:54 pm
Tags: Edo period, nata, natagama, Ōno Harufusa, Ōsaka, Sengoku period
Posted in Mon | No comments
Here we have an interesting mon. Unlike many of the mon we’ve discussed recently, this mon has died out, and is no longer in use. In fact, finding information about this mon at all is quite challenging! It was used by Ōno Harufusa in the Battle of Ōsaka.(SH:62) What do you think it is? My [...]
Element of the Week: Chestnuts, Rhombi, and Caltrops
June 28, 2010 - 12:24 am
Tags: diamond, Edo period, Ogasawara Tadazane
Posted in Mon | No comments
This week we have a simple element that has some interesting characteristics. Hishi (菱) can be translated as the rhombus/diamond shape, a type of water chestnut, or as a caltrop (the weapon). In mon, it is depicted as a geometrical rhombus. This is the same element used in the logo for the Mitsubishi corporation, which [...]
Motif of the Week: Folding Fans
June 14, 2010 - 12:00 am
Tags: Edo period, fans, Heian period, samurai, tengu
Posted in Mon | No comments
A while back we talked about one type of fan used in mon, but the type of fan everyone associates with Japan is the standard folding fan. This was a very popular motif in mon through the centuries. Its origins as a design motif date to the Heian period (794–1185).(Dower:110) Here are two folding fans [...]
