The high roads to Edo

A busy weekend but I have a new entry for the Anime Companion Supplement.

This week I write about the Gokaidō (Five Highways) 五街道. Even today you can still see the marker at the Nihonbashi Bridge that was the starting point for measuring distances on the five roads.

Another yokai book is out.

While poking around in the iTunes store, rather than doing what I should be working on, I found a small book by Mizuki Shigeru. Specifically his Mujara: The Encyclopedia of Japanese Yokai Illustrations and Episodes published by Softgarage.

This is the only one of Mizuki's many yokai related works in this one page per entry format to be translated into English. While the book is limited to 40 yokai the illustrations are delightful and the text informative. The price is also very low at $4.99.

If you like yokai, or are just interested in things supernatural and folklore you should check this one out.

More kabuki

This week I have another kabuki play that I have seen referenced in an anime, this time from the Vampire Princess TV series and relates to Abe no Seimei.

This time it is:

Ashiya Dōman Ōuchi Kagami (Ashiya Dōman: A Mirror of the Imperial Court) 蘆屋道満大内鏡

Do you see this...?

OK I'm pretty much recovered from the vacation and unpacking etc.

So I have a new entry for the Anime Companion Supplement.

This week's entry is of a fellow you have seen in some anime, exposing a cherry blossom tattoo on his shoulder in TV dramas.

This week entry is:

Tōyama no Kinsan 遠山の金さん

Eye's back

Got back yesterday morning from 21 nights in Tokyo.

Made a phone call and went to bed after not having slept for over 24 hours. Tried to sleep on the flight but only occasionally dozed.

United Airlines earned some major criticism from our group for crappy movies with computer generated animals and showing sitcoms on a trans-Pacific flight.