Bugaku court dance attire
Featured is Kocho (butterfly)
Ono no Komachi Washing a Manuscript (Soshiarai-Komachi) / Masanobu
草子洗小町 奥村政信画 1711～1736年頃
"Soon I shall cease to be.
When I am beyond this world,
can I have the memory
of just one more meeting?"
Izumi Shikibu (via cadaverlovesong)
Detached segment of a poem anthology. Known as “Masu shikishi”. Attributed to Fujiwara no Kozei. Heian Period, 11th century. (TOKYO NATIONAL MUSEUM)
Sei Shonagon
No 134 Letters are Commonplace
Letters are commonplace enough, yet what splendid things they are! When someone is in a distant province and one is worried about him, and then a letter suddenly arrives, one feels as though one were seeing him face to face. Again, it is a great comfort to have expressed one’s feelings in a letter even though one knows it cannot yet have arrived. If letters did not exist, what dark depressions would come over one! When one has been worrying about something and wants to tell a certain person about it, what a relief it is to put it all down in a letter! Still greater is one’s joy when a reply arrives. At that moment a letter really seems like an elixir of life.
(Source: mfoody)
pictures of the actors for the upcoming Tale of Genji movie, as announced in the last post
editor’s note: Hmm…actually, I find the actor for Abe no Seimei more handsome than the one for Genji! o_o (Please don’t kill me, Ikuta Toma fans…)
More cast members announced for Ikuta Toma’s “The Tales of Genji”
As reported, Ikuta Toma will star in upcoming movie “Genji Monogatari (The Tales of Genji)” as Hikaru Genji, set for release sometime in 2011. “Genji Monogatari” is a classic work of Japanese literature attributed to Murasaki Shikibu from the early eleventh century.
Unlike the many “Genji Monogatari” movies and dramas made in the past, this new “Genji Monogatari” will be a little different in that it features actual historical figures, such as Murasaki Shikibu, Fujiwara no Michinaga, and Abe no Seimei.
The cast members for these historical figures have been revealed recently: Nakatani Miki as Murasaki Shikibu, Higashiyama Noriyuki as Fujiwara no Michinaga, and Kubozuka Yosuke as Abe no Seimei. Interestingly enough, Higashiyama Noriyuki is a senior of Toma’s in Johnny’s Entertainment, and he has also played the role of Hikaru Genji approximately 20 years ago.
Seimei-i well with pentagram motif at the Seimei shrine in Kyoto.
The Seimei Shrine was founded on the 4th year of the Kankō era (1007) by Emperor Ichijō, who ordered the shrine built in memory of the onmyōji Abe no Seimei, after his death in 1005. It was constructed on the site of Abe no Seimei’s house.A famous well (Seimei-i) is located on the shrine grounds, and the water drawn from it is considered somewhat magical. Tea master Sen no Rikyū was known to have brewed tea with the water from this well.
The pentacle, known locally as a Seimei-star, is an important symbol found on many parts of the shrine. Abe no Seimei reputedly came up with the arcane insignia in the 10th century, symbolizing the Five Chinese Elements. Japanese bellflower (Platycodon grandiflorus) ornamentation are found in decorative tiles and lanterns. The five petal tips of the flower are thought to represent the same ideal as the pentagram.
Ono No Tofu by Kobayashi Kiyochika.
Ono no Michikaze or Ono no Tōfū (小野の道風 b. in 894 AD; d. in 966 AD) is a prominent shodoka (Japanese calligrapher) who lived in the Heian period (794-1185). One of the so-called Sanseki 三跡 (Three Brush Traces), along with Fujiwara no Sukemasa and Fujiwara no Yukinari. Tōfū is considered the founder of Japanese style calligraphy or wayoshodo 和様書道.
