Tentakelaertje
Omono
That's talent man! If my paintings are ever gonna be half as nice as yours I'm going to be really happy
Are you a professional painter?
Random stuff you enjoy from Japanese culture?
- Thread starter mattspinniken
- Start date
That's talent man! If my paintings are ever gonna be half as nice as yours I'm going to be really happy
Are you a professional painter?
penumbra
Imperial Masterpiece
I draw the line here personally. I am certainly no prude and I enjoy artistic erotica from nearly any culture, but I find Shunga to be pretty repulsive. I own a couple hundred woodblock prints and have handled thousands and I have never seen a Shunga print that I liked. But it is art and as such subjective.
Starfox
Masterpiece
The only version of this show worth watching.
If you go to the youtube channel page there are 200 videos. Everyone of them worth a watch.
If you go to the youtube channel page there are 200 videos. Everyone of them worth a watch.
wireme
Masterpiece
From smallest to largest. A modern 1.5 jiari shakuhachi from Japan, maker unknown but plays like a professional instrument. Next a 1.8 jiari made by Yokoyama Ranpo considered by many to be among the all time top makers. He was also the father of my teachers teacher. The tone color in this video strikes me as very similar to the sound of my Ranpo on the rare occasions that I manage to play it well. A kind of darker almost gritty kind of timbre that I really like.
Next, pro model 1.8 cast bore jiari by Monty Levenson from California.
Next one a jiari 2.2 takeharu from Japan.
2.55 wide bore jinashi in G by Ken Lacosse from San Francisco. Ken very recently passed away and his flutes are in very high demand. He specialized in wide bore jinashi shakuhachi “taimu”.
One of Ken’s flutes in action here...
Lastly another wide bore jinashi, hotchikku style currently under construction by myself, 3.1 in Eb bamboo from France.
I don’t suppose anyone here lives near a grove of Madake bamboo? Good blanks are difficult to come by.
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leatherback
The Treedeemer
Drums!
shinmai
Chumono
On my list...
the Toyota 2000 from the James Bond movie
the actress who starred in The Last Samurai
hand made, left-handed chef’s knives
Japanese whiskey, most especially anything from Yamazaki
Asahi beer
sake
old, black and white samurai movies
Godzilla and his many playmates, the cheesier the better
Akitas
the Toyota 2000 from the James Bond movie
the actress who starred in The Last Samurai
hand made, left-handed chef’s knives
Japanese whiskey, most especially anything from Yamazaki
Asahi beer
sake
old, black and white samurai movies
Godzilla and his many playmates, the cheesier the better
Akitas
shinmai
Chumono
And this—a gift from my late wife in 1994, purchased from an antiques dealer in Paris. She made me swear to never look at the subsequent Amex bill.
And yes, it’s ivory, and very old, and yes I know it would be on the CITES list.
And yes, it’s ivory, and very old, and yes I know it would be on the CITES list.
shinmai
Chumono
Sure. If there is a Total Wine in your neck of the woods, they’ll have several. Akashi is a great value at around $35, as is the Mars Iwai. A step up at around $50 is the Iwai Tradition. Most bang for the buck, IMO, is Kaiyo, which is aged in Mizunara oak. It’s usually around $60, and I love it neat. Above that is Hibiki ‘Japanese Harmony’ at $80, which is delightfully smooth, reminds me of great Irish whisky like the Bushmill’s 16. If you aren’t price-conscious, Mars has a single-malt bottling called ‘Komagatake’, at $130. I bought a bottle at Christmas as a present from me to me. I won’t share it, it’s that good.
As is also true with Scotch and Irish, the old stuff has gotten very expensive. I ran into a friend at a sushi restaurant one night last summer, and he bought me a double of the Yamasaki 21 year old, and it was probably the finest whiskey I have ever tasted. I thought, I need to get some of this, so as soon as we got home I jumped on the net to find some. [cue sound of screeching brakes] it should be good, at nine hundred dollars a bottle.
penumbra
Imperial Masterpiece
That is awesome. The Shakuhachi is one of my all time favorite instruments. Kitaro is my favorite living composer.
Leo in N E Illinois
The Professor
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@Boscology
I only have one Neo at the moment. You are lucky to live near Orchids Limited, in Plymouth. Jason Fisher really did a lot to make Neo's popular in the USA. That is one fine pot you have there. Neo's are their own cult, much like bonsai. Love them
I only have one Neo at the moment. You are lucky to live near Orchids Limited, in Plymouth. Jason Fisher really did a lot to make Neo's popular in the USA. That is one fine pot you have there. Neo's are their own cult, much like bonsai. Love them
Shima
Omono
Yes! Mochi!
You have to really search for soba that isn't mostly wheat. the first ingredient is the most, and it's always wheat. I get mine from amazon. All buckwheat.
Shima
Omono
Yes to all of it.
Shima
Omono
Katana are or were, the soul of a samurai. It is magical just to hold one. Here is a family blade from around 1850. The tsuba depicts an ume tree. There are collectors of tsuba. Japanese culture caught on in the hip sixties in the Northern California. Eating with chopsticks, shoes left outside. The simplicity and logic just made sense to us revolutionaries. Still does. Now, when someone enters the house they say, "how long did you live in Japan? 
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Shima
Omono
Really? Repulsive? Not a prude? If you say so.
penumbra
Imperial Masterpiece
I find them coarse and crude, completely unrealistic and rather cartoonish. You can't compare these to erotica from India, or many many other cultures and locations. A beautiful act should be seen in a way that embraces its beauty. Just one man's opinion.
Shima
Omono
Agreed.
Boscology
Mame
Yes Jason is great, Ive been longtime friends with his dad Jerry who started the nursery in the 70s
Heres a picture of my bay window currently followed by two pics of his corpse flower the night that it bloomed, a very interesting experience. Within an hour of this photo it had opened completely and the methane in the greenhouse was to me intoxicating and a little bit overwhelming.
Attachments
Shima
Omono
Why compare?
wireme
Masterpiece
Katana are or were, the soul of a samurai. It is magical just to hold one. Here is a family blade from around 1850. The tsuba depicts an ume tree. There are collectors of tsuba. Japanese culture caught on in the hip sixties in the Northern California. Eating with chopsticks, shoes left outside. The simplicity and logic just made sense to us revolutionaries. Still does. Now, when someone enters the house they say, "how long did you live in Japan?
When the samurai were disbanded and the carrying of katana outlawed a lot of them became komuso monks wandering around playing shakuhachi and wearing a basket over their heads. That was the same period of time when the shakuhachi started being constructed with thicker bamboo including the root end. There are acoustical reasons for using bamboo that has a tapered bore like you get with root end pieces but it’s also said that many komuso were spies for the government and changed the shakuhachi to become a more effective weapon. I certainly wouldn’t want to face off with and ex samurai wielding a club like this!
