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| Kanazawa District: samuaris, ninjas and geishas |
The family has visited this wonderful temple and have had enough time to revised the Second Conditional and talk about very interesting themes that affects the whole planet. Joaquín Jones have been talking about the smart green cities in Sweden and how this country is working in a sustainable model betting on renewable green energies. Marta Jones have explained the Spanish fraud with the renewable energies and how it has ruined hundreds of little investors and has affected the global public debt of this country.
More information: Second Conditional
Finally, the family has read another chapter of Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray and they received the visit of some Japanese friends and altogether, they have written some haikus and have made some origamis before talking about an interesting theme: dinosaurs and its difficult names.
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| Some Jones at Myōryū-ji |
Myoryuji is located in the Teramachi District in the south of the city. Populated by numerous temples, this area was originally located outside of the city limits as were the entertainment districts.
In 1585 Maeda Toshiie, the founding daimyō of Kaga Domain, built a chapel within Kanazawa Castle as a prayer place of Kaga Domain. In 1643, Maeda Toshitsune, the third daimyō of Kaga Domain, relocated the chapel to a new site in the Tera-machi district to the south of the castle, and ordered the construction of a full temple. The temple layout and location were part of the domain's defensive plans against a possible attack by the central government, Tokugawa shogunate.
More information: Myoryuji Temple
Since the Edo period Tokugawa shogunate imposed strict building restrictions as one way of weakening his regional lords, Myōryū-ji was designed to circumvent the restrictions and serve as a disguised military outpost. It was supplemented with considerable defensive features and escape routes, so that its defenders could alert the castle in the event of an attack. These iincluded hidden tunnels, secret rooms, traps, and a labyrinth of corridors and staircases.
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| Some Jones at Myōryū-ji |
The temple is built around a central water well which is approximately 25 m deep; the bottom of the well is said to connect to a tunnel to Kanazawa Castle. The main building has a complicated layout which includes a middle floor and middle-middle floor, and contains 23 rooms and 29 staircases. There are different contrivances to fool the enemy such as hidden chambers and stairs, completely unexpected and reversible trap-like doors and floors, secret tunnels, escape pits. The lookout on the top affords a view of the surrounding area. In addition, the temple walls and roof are very strong and durable enough to withstand typhoons and heavy snow.
More information: Taiken
Since the shogun imposed strict building restrictions as one way of weakening his regional lords, Myoryuji was designed to circumvent the restrictions and serve as a disguised military outpost. It was built with considerable defences and escape routes, so that its defenders could alert the castle in the event of an attack.
The temple's defences aimed to guard against intruders or attack, and include hidden tunnels, secret rooms, traps, and a labyrinth of corridors and staircases.
More information: Hub Japan
Fall down seven times, stand up eight.
Japanese Proverb
A ninja or shinobi was a covert agent or mercenary in feudal Japan. The functions of the ninja included espionage, sabotage, infiltration, assassination and guerrilla warfare.
Their covert methods of waging irregular warfare were deemed dishonorable and beneath the samurai, who observed strict rules about honor and combat. The shinobi proper, a specially trained group of spies and mercenaries, appeared in the 15th century during the Sengoku period, but antecedents may have existed as early as the 12th century.
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| Ninja warriors |
Following the unification of Japan under the Tokugawa shogunate (17th century), the ninja faded into obscurity. A number of shinobi manuals, often based on Chinese military philosophy, were written in the 17th and 18th centuries, most notably the Bansenshukai (1676).
By the time of the Meiji Restoration (1868), the tradition of the shinobi had become a topic of popular imagination and mystery in Japan. Ninja figured prominently in legend and folklore, where they were associated with legendary abilities such as invisibility, walking on water and control over the natural elements. As a consequence, their perception in popular culture is often based more on such legend and folklore than on the historically accurate spies of the Sengoku period.
More information: Thoughco
After the rain, earth hardens.
Ninja Proverb
Geisha are traditional Japanese female entertainers who act as hostesses. Their wide skills include performing various arts such as Japanese classical music and traditional dance, witty games and conversation, traditionally to entertain male customers, but also female customers today.
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| Some geishas |
Some of these saburuko girls sold sexual services, while others with a better education made a living by entertaining at high-class social gatherings.
After the imperial court moved the capital to Heian-kyō, Kyoto, in 794 the conditions that would form geisha culture began to emerge, as it became the home of a beauty-obsessed elite. Skilled female performers, such as Shirabyōshi dancers, thrived.
Traditional Japan embraced sexual delights, it is not a Shinto taboo, and men were not constrained to be faithful to their wives. The ideal wife was a modest mother and manager of the home; by Confucian custom love had secondary importance.
More information: Toki Tojyo
For sexual enjoyment and romantic attachment, men did not go to their wives, but to courtesans. Walled-in pleasure quarters known as yūkaku were built in the 16th century, and in 1617 the shogunate designated pleasure quarters, outside of which prostitution would be illegal, and within which yūjo, play women, would be classified and licensed.
The highest yūjo class was the geisha's predecessor, called tayuu, a combination of actress and prostitute, originally playing on stages set in the dry Kamo riverbed in Kyoto. They performed erotic dances and skits, and this new art was dubbed kabuku, meaning to be wild and outrageous. The dances were called kabuki, and this was the beginning of kabuki theater.
More information: Historical Honey
Martial arts is just practice. Being a geisha requires complete control.
Michelle Yeoh
Origami, from ori meaning folding, and kami meaning paper is the art of paper folding, which is often associated with Japanese culture. In modern usage, the word origami is used as an inclusive term for all folding practices, regardless of their culture of origin.
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| The Jones & Kokeshis ready to make origamis |
Origami folders often use the Japanese word kirigami to refer to designs which use cuts, although cutting is more characteristic of Chinese papercrafts.
The small number of basic origami folds can be combined in a variety of ways to make intricate designs. The best-known origami model is the Japanese paper crane. In general, these designs begin with a square sheet of paper whose sides may be of different colors, prints, or patterns.
Traditional Japanese origami, which has been practiced since the Edo period (1603–1867), has often been less strict about these conventions, sometimes cutting the paper or using nonsquare shapes to start with. The principles of origami are also used in stents, packaging and other engineering applications.
More information: My Modern MET
Distinct paperfolding traditions arose in Europe, China, and Japan which have been well-documented by historians. These seem to have been mostly separate traditions, until the 20th century.
In Japan, the earliest unambiguous reference to a paper model is in a short poem by Ihara Saikaku in 1680 which mentions a traditional butterfly design used during Shinto weddings. Folding filled some ceremonial functions in Edo period Japanese culture; noshi were attached to gifts, much like greeting cards are used today. This developed into a form of entertainment; the first two instructional books published in Japan are clearly recreational.
More information: Smithsonian
My origami creations, in accordance with the laws of nature, require the use of geometry, science, and physics. They also encompass religion, philosophy, and biochemistry. Overall, I want you to discover
the joy of creation by your own handthe possibility of creation
from paper is infinite.
Akira Yoshizawa
The Jones have written some haikus dedicated to some members of the family for Ana Bean-Jones to wish a soon recovering; Silvia Jones to wish a great success in her exams; and Félix Jones and Rubén Jones to congratulate them for their successes in athletics and gymnastics.
To Ana Bean Jones:
Ana's very strong
She overcomes all bad things
She is our winner
Haiku is a very short form of Japanese poetry.In Japanese haiku a kireji, or cutting word, typically appears at the end of one of the verse's three phrases. A kireji fills a role somewhat analogous to a caesura in classical western poetry or to a volta in sonnets.
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| The Jones have written some dedicated haikus |
To Silvia Jones:
Silvia works hard
Tomorrow a great proof has
Good luck she will have
The fundamental aesthetic quality of both hokku and haiku is that it is internally sufficient, independent of context, and will bear consideration as a complete work. The kireji lends the verse structural support, allowing it to stand as an independent poem.
The use of kireji distinguishes haiku and hokku from second and subsequent verses of renku; which may employ semantic and syntactic disjuncture, even to the point of occasionally end-stopping a phrase with a sentence-ending particle. However, renku typically employ kireji.
To Félix Jones:
He is the winner
Félix the happy boy is
The best runner is
In English, since kireji have no direct equivalent, poets sometimes use punctuation such as a dash or ellipsis, or an implied break to create a juxtaposition intended to prompt the reader to reflect on the relationship between the two parts.
To Rubén Jones:
Rubén was training
to be a great champion
Now he is the best
to be a great champion
Now he is the best
The first haiku written in English was by Ezra Pound, In a Station of the Metro, published in 1913. Since then, the haiku has become a fairly popular form among English-speaking poets. English haiku can follow the traditional Japanese rules, but are frequently less strict, particularly concerning the number of syllables and subject matter.
More information: Web Exhibits
In eternity
We live. Come from.
Life is one Series of footprints.
We live. Come from.
Life is one Series of footprints.
Shashi
