Plenty of Nothing

Mr Aoi's Chronicle of Charm

There's a nice copy of one volume of Kishi Enpu by Aoi Sokyu for sale on ebay, ending today. (Search on the words geisha and ehon.) These illustrations of geisha life were first published in 1806, and portray a world that is relaxed, curvilinear and slightly drunk.

Japanese Word of the Day: Tsundere

In manga, a character who starts out cold and forbidding but later reveals a warm heart. This visit to a maid cafe offers a demonstration of the difference between little sister and tsundere character types, and also proves that Japanese people are not always endlessly polite. This waitress actually never gets around to the warmhearted part. (BTW the cafe in Osaka is named Moe & Shandon, a nice Japanese/French pun.)

Pine Tree by Nukina Kaioku

The Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, in British Columbia, has a large searchable online collection of art images, including a fine collection of Japanese art. I've only just learned about the place by coming across a mention of it in Joan Stanley-Baker's volume Japanese Art in the black-spined Thames & Hudson World of Art series. She was once Curator there.

Pines have been represented in Japanese art since the beginning. They are strongly identified with winter, and their gnarliness and individuality appeal to the skills of the ink painter/calligrapher. I've liked their company ever since I first lived amongst them on Pine Ridge in Kingston, Nova Scotia. D

About Nukina Kaioku.

Miscellaneous Utensils

From Hokusai, Manga, volume 2 (1815). Online edition.

Japanese Word of the Day: Tetsudō

Do you love Japan? Do you love trains? Train stations? Train station signage? Departure boards? Tickets? Train tickets with a map of the route printed right on them? Pictures of train track? Then this site is the one for you.

(Tetsudō = railroad.) (Not to be confused with the Latin testudo = turtle.)

Japanese Word of the Day: Yunomi

Comiket Set Up

Tweeter yammar1972 has a nice set of photos of Tokyo Big Sight during the set up for Comiket 81. 

Release the Hounds

Having scoffed at the Duke of Hamilton's now-demolished palace in an earlier post, we turn our attention to the accompanying hunting lodge, built in 1734 and named Chatelherault after the Hamiltons' French estate, which they won and lost in the sixteenth century. I'd say the Hamiltons were fortunate to be Scottish and not French when 1789 rolled around.

Morton travel to nearby New Douglas Park today for an afternoon skirmish with the Academicals. The two clubs share the distinction of having led the division in the early part of the season, but now both are nervously eyeing the bottom of the table. Hamilton lost 6 - 1 to Dundee a couple of weeks ago, and manager Billy Reid has been getting it from the Accies fans, to which he has replied, in an oddly revealing choice of words, "I am going nowhere." Hamilton chairman Ronnie MacDonald is to meet the fans before today's kickoff to try to get them to lay off.

[Or not! The game is postponed. So it's back to Hamilton at some later date when I'll make fun of the Hamilton Mausoleum.]

In Greenock news, the Dutch container ship Encounter ran aground on the Tail of the Bank Monday.

Today is Round Four of the Emperor's Cup in Japan. There are sixteen teams remaining, eight from J1, seven from J2, and Matsumoto Yamaga from the JFL. My new sentimental favourites Mito Hollyhock play FC Tokyo. The match of the round is Match #73, featuring the top two clubs in the land, Kashiwa Reysol and Nagoya Grampus, but it has been postponed until Wednesday owing to Kashiwa Reysol's participation in the FIFA Club World Cup. [Winners: Urawa Red Diamonds, Kyoto Purple Sanga, Shonan Bellmare, FC Tokyo, Shimizu S-Pulse, Yokohama F. Marionos, Cerezo Osaka.] [And Nagoya Grampus.]

The FIFA Club World Cup is reputedly the supreme competition for club teams, pitting the best clubs of the various football federations in a playoff for the championship of the Earth. This is its eighth year and Japan is hosting for the fourth time. Seven clubs are participating: Barcelona, Santos from Brazil, Monterrey from Mexico, Al-Sadd of Qatar, Espérance of Tunisia, Auckland City of NZ, and host Kashiwa Reysol. No Scottish club has ever taken part, but the Mexicans have been there the past five years. [It's Barcelona versus Santos in the final, tomorrow.] [Barca win.]

How does the Dennis the Menace Red and Black group look now that those two Brazilian teams are in it?

[Raith beat Partick and move up to eighth. Morton are now only three points clear of tenth.]

Emperor's Cup, Round Three

Today is the third round of the Emperor's Cup, and they're down to 32 teams. Of the 48 clubs that appeared in Round One, only Fukuoka University and Matsumoto Yamaga FC remain. I'm watching:

Match 62: Montedio Yamagata v Kyoto Sanga FC. As of last weekend Montedio Yamagata stand 17th in the 18-team J-League Division 1 and mathematically they cannot avoid relegation. Kyoto Sanga are 8th in Division 2, but they won the Emperor's Cup in 2002.

Match 65: Gamba Osaka v Mito Hollyhock. Gamba Osaka are 2nd in J1. They won the Emperor's Cup in 1990, 2008 and 2009, the first time as amateurs. Mito Hollyhock, whom I may just have decided have my favourite Japanese club name, sit 16th in J2. Both clubs wear blue and black stripes.

Match 67: Sanfrecce Hiroshima v Ehime FC. Sanfrecce Hiroshima were one of the eight original clubs of the JSL, playing under the corporate name Toyo Industries. They were JSL champions five of the league's first six years, and won the Emperor's Cup in 1965, 1967, and 1969. Ehime are 15th in J2.

Match 69: Cerezo Osaka v Fagiano Okayama. Cerezo Osaka were another original JSL club, known as Yanmar Diesel back then. They won the Emperor's Cup in 1968, 1970 and 1974. Currently they're 11th in J1. Fagiano Okayama stand 14th in J2.

Match 70: Vegalta Sendai v Avispa Fukuoka. It's North versus South. Vegalta Sendai from Tohoku are 8th in J1. Avispa Fukuoka from the island of Kyushu are 16th.

[Japan is 13 hours ahead of Nova Scotia, so the scores come in early. Mito Hollyhock, Matsumoto Yamaga FC, Kyoto Sanga, Vegalta Sendai, Cezero Osaka, Ehime FC advance. Mito Hollyhock 3, Gamba Osaka 2 (aet) is a major upset.]

The Emperor's Cup, Round Two

From Yata Garasu by Aihara Tsukasa.

It's Round Two of the Emperor's Cup. The 24 winners of the First, prefectural, Round now face the professionals: the 18 clubs of the top J1 Division, the 20 clubs of the J2 Division, plus 2 clubs from the amateur Japan Football League to bring the number up to 64. Many JFL teams are already in the competition as prefectural representatives.

I'm watching five games this round, all featuring teams (in bold) that won in the First Round, by the grace of Yatagarasu.

Match 35: Montedio Yamagata versus Blaublitz Akita. Third tier Blaublitz are in tough against top tier Montedio. Both clubs exhibit the Japanese fascination for foreign-sounding soccer club names. "Blaublitz" is a coinage made from the German words for blue and lightning. "Montedio" comes from the Spanish words for mountain and god. [Montedio Yamagata 2, Blaublitz Akita 0.]

Match 36: Kyoto Sanga FC versus Sagawa Printing. JFL club Sagawa Printing might have an easier time of it against Kyoto Sanga, who have just been relegated to J2. However, the Kyoto side should be moved by the memory of having won the Emperor's Cup in 2002. [Kyoto Sanga 3, Sagawa Printing 0.]

Match 45: Sanfrecce Hiroshima versus Zweigen Kanazawa. Again with the pseudo-European neologisms. "Sanfrecce" is a compound of the Japanese word for three and the Italian word for arrow, recalling the story about Mori Motonari, who counselled his three sons to stick together, because an individual arrow is easily broken, but a bundle of the three is not. There's a scene about that in Ran. "Zweigen" combines the German zwei (two) with the Japanese gen (advance) to make the German word for branches which is a pun on the Kanazawa expression tsuee gen (be strong). I don't get it either. Sanfrecce finished seventh in J1 last year, so Zweigen do have to be strong. [Sanfrecce Hiroshima 4, Zweigen Kanazawa 2.]

Match 49: Cerezo Osaka versus Hokkaido University of Education Iwamizawa Campus. Cerezo is Spanish for cherry tree. Cerezo finished third in J1 last year, so Hokkaido are really going to need to have Yatagarasu on their side in this one. [Cerezo Osaka 6, Hokkaido University of Education Iwamizawa Campus 0.]

Match 51: Vegalta Sendai versus Sony Sendai. A derby! Vegalta finished 14th in top division last year. Vegalta is a compression of the names of the stars Vega and Altair, which figure in local legend. [Vegalta Sendai 2, Sony Sendai 1, after extra time.]

[All of my first round winners are second round losers. For want of a better idea I'll follow the teams that beat them and see how they do in the third round in November.]