Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Hanami in DC

A few days ago I got a nice email from Erik Braunitzer of the National Museum of Crime & Punishment asking if I could place a link on my web site to their page on the 2010 Washington DC Cherry Blossom festival. Well I don't do event links so I told him I'd mention it here.

If you are in DC for the festival do check out the museum it sounds like creepy fun.

Monday, January 25, 2010

Seimei jinja 晴明神社

More and more anime and manga fans are learning about the famous ommyōji of the old capital Heiankyō (modern day Kyōto) Abe no Seimei. However did you know that there are shinto shrines and buddhist temples either dedicated to him or where he is also enshrined?

This week's entry to the Anime Companion Supplement is on this.

Seimei jinja (Seimei shrine) 晴明神社

Saturday, January 23, 2010

The Mongol Invasions Of Japan 1274 And 1281



Yesterday I walked into the store at the Cartoon Art Museum in San Francisco and spotted a new book by Stephen Turnbull. The Mongol Invasions Of Japan 1274 And 1281 and bought a copy. Now why would the Cartoon Art Museum have a history book on samurai warfare? Well they have the Drawing the Sword: Samurai in Manga and Anime exhibit going on. I do have to confess playing a role in this book being in the store. I advise the store on things Japanese and when they wanted to get books on samurai to have on hand for sale during the exhibit I simply recommended everything in print by Dr Turnbull. I cannot recommend his works too strongly, if you want well researched and written works on samurai and Japanese military his are some of the best you can get. I did recommend plenty of books by other authors.

Sunday, January 17, 2010

All the Kannon for now

The last of my current series of posts on Kannon.

This one is on Maria Kannon マリア観音. This time it is not a Buddhist deity but a representation of the Virgin Mary.

If I find other forms of Kannon I'll add entries for those.

Hum, what to do next week?

Suggestions welcome.

Monday, January 11, 2010

And even more Kannon

Another Kannon entry. This one Fukūkenjaku Kannon Bosatsu 不空羂索観音菩薩.

I have another Kannon entry lined up for next week. After that I'll keep an eye out for others as there are several I have yet to see in anime or manga.

Monday, January 4, 2010

More Kannon

The first post of the new year continues a trend started last year, entries related to Kannon.

This one is specifically:

Senju Kannon (Thousand-Armed Kannon) 千手観音菩薩

Expect other Kannon related entries in the future as I find references to other forms of this popular bosatsu. I actually have two in the pipeline for release in the near future.


Seen something in an anime or manga you would like me to research and add to the Anime Companion Supplement? Drop me an email and I'll get on it.