Currently watching

Just finished watching Samurai Vendetta. A great film from 1959 staring two greats of modern Japanese acting: Raizo Ichikawa and Shintaro Katsu.

This film belongs to the large number of films that take the Chushingura story as it's background. I believe this is the third such film AnimEigo has released in the US. Unlike most chanbara (sword fight) films this one has actual samurai as main characters. This means many elements of samurai custom play an important, if uncomfortable, role in the story.

At first I thought I was watching something I had seen before, the duel sequence in the beginning threw me off. I now realize I have seen the same sequence at the beginning of another film I own. This is due to the duel story being based on actual events.

Currently reading:

For fiction I'm re-reading The Tale of the Heike in the Kitagawa/Tsuchida translation from University of Tokyo Press. Great stuff, it has been years since I last read it and I'm picking up on all sorts of historical, cultural and religious (especially Buddhist) elements I missed in earlier readings.

For non-fiction I just started Louis Perez's Daily Life in Early Modern Japan, so far a great book on 18th century commoner life. There is much here I have not found a good source for in the past so I expect I'll be mining it for my The Anime Companion Supplement web pages.

For Your Head

This week I'm a little late due to holiday stuff but I have 4 related items this time.

Enjoy.

kanzashi (hair ornament) 簪

kogai (hairpin) 笄

kogai (sword "pin-blade") 笄

tsumami kanzashi (flowery hair ornament) つまみ簪

Another from history

This week I add another person from history. A man who sought to change the course of Japanese history.

Yui Shōsetsu 由井正雪

Snowy Boozy

We only get snow every few decades in the Oakland area. But if we do I'll grab some glasses, bundle up and head to the porch with some bottles and start inviting neighbors to join me.

This week I have a respected custom:

yukimi (snow viewing) 雪見

Fruity Boozy

This week I turn to a beverage for those of you of legal drinking age.

chûhai チューハイ or 酎ハイ

Not the highest class of drink but good for casual drinking with friends.

The holiday season is upon us and things are very busy so I'll stick with easy, likely food and drink entries until the new year is rolling.

As always I'll take requests.

Food and sports, two more recommended titles

I've been adding titles all too slowly to my recommended manga list.

The most recent I highly recommend:

Oishinbo A La Carte by Kariya Tetsu (story), Hanasaki Akira (art). This one is relatively short at 7 volumes.

Real by Inoue Takehiko. Real is a work on progress with 9 volumes out to date and I find it one of the most exciting dramatic manga in English.