Chomon Papermachee Dolls

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Chomon Papermachee Dolls 長門張り子 Choomon hariko Yamaguchi Prefecture was created by the merger of the provinces of Suo and Nagato. The Chinese characters 長門 can also be read Nagato. ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: They were first made around 1984 but are now out of production. Their maker, Tanaka Tsutomu 田中勉 run a small coffee shop where he sold them. He loved the carp on wheel toys from Niigata and collected all kinds of papermachee dolls, especially Uto dolls 宇土張り子. His repertoir was about 20 different dolls which showed the customs of the Meiji period. 田中勉, 萩市瓦町20 source : www.asahi-net.or.jp ................................................................................. kachikachi yama カチカチ山 (see below)　and mochitsuki usagi もちつきうさぎ rabit pounding rice ....................................................................... tora Kato トラ加藤 Kato Kiyomasa on a tiger source :　bingoya/garments-toys.htm . Kato Kiyomasa 加藤清正 (1562 - 1611) . ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: The Chomon gorge (Choomonkyoo 長門峡) is located in the middle region of the river Abugawa. It is about 12 kilometers long. It is famous for its waterfalls, deep cliffs and the changing colors during the four seasons. painting by Takashima: Chomonkyo A famous local painter is Takashima Hokkai 高島北海 (1850 - 1931). :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::　 A famous local poet is Nakahara Chuuya 中原中也 Nakahara Chuya (1907 - 1937). quote I give what love there is in loving what remains beyond my knowing source : www.nakaharachuya.com quote Nakahara Chūya was born in Yamaguchi Yamaguchi Prefecture in 1907, where his father was an army doctor. In his early life, his father was posted to Hiroshima and Kanazawa, returning to Yamaguchi in 1914. In 1915, his younger brother died, and in sorrow he turned to composing poetry. He submitted his first three verses to a local newspaper in 1920, when he was still in elementary school. In 1923, he moved to the Ritsumeikan Middle School in Kyoto. He later graduated from the Foreign Studies Department of Tokyo Imperial University. Initially, Chūya favored poetry in the Japanese traditional tanka format, but he was later (in his teens) attracted to the modern free verse styles advocated by Dadaist poet Takahashi Shinkichi and by Tominaga Tarō. After he moved to Tokyo, he met Kawakami Tetsutaro and Ooka Shohei, with whom he began publishing a poetry journal, Hakuchigun (Idiots). He was befriended by the influential literary critic Kobayashi Hideo, who introduced him to the French symbolist poets Arthur Rimbaud and Paul Verlaine, whose poems he translated into Japanese. The influence of Rimbaud went beyond just his poetry, and Nakahara came to be known for his "bohemian" lifestyle. ©　More in the WIKIPEDIA ! A BONE Look at this, it’s my bone, a tip of bone torn from its flesh, filthy, filled up with woes, it’s the days of our lives sticking out, a blunt bone bleached by the rain. More translations are here source : poemsandpoetics.blogspot.jp ................................................................................. 秋の象中原中也よりさびし aki no zoo Nakahara Chuuya yori sabishi an elephant in autumn - even more lonely than Nakahara Chuya Sakai Hiroshi 酒井弘司 during a visit to the local zoo . Names of Persons used in Haiku . ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Kachi-Kachi Yama かちかち山 The Crackling Mountain Story - quote kachi-kachi being an onomatopoeia of the sound a fire makes and yama meaning "mountain", roughly translates to "Fire-Crackle Mountain"), also known as Kachi-Kachi Mountain and The Farmer and the Badger, is a Japanese folktale in which a tanuki (Japanese raccoon dog) is the villain, rather than the more usual boisterous, well-endowed alcoholic. The trouble-making tanuki As the story goes, a man caught a troublesome tanuki in his fields, and tied it to a tree to kill and cook it later. When the man left for town, the tanuki cried and begged the man's wife who was making some mochi, a sweet rice dish, to set him free, promising he would help her. The wife freed the animal, only to have it turn on her and kill her. The tanuki then planned a foul trick. Using its shapeshifting abilities, the tanuki disguised itself as the wife and cooked a soup, using the dead woman's flesh. When the man came home, the tanuki served him the soup. After the meal, the tanuki reverted to its original appearance and revealed its treachery before running off and leaving the poor man in shock and grief. Enter the rabbit The couple had been good friends with a rabbit that lived nearby. The rabbit approached the man and told him that it would avenge his wife's death. Pretending to befriend the tanuki, the rabbit instead tortured it through various means, from dropping a bee's nest on it to 'treating' the stings with a peppery poultice that burned. The title of the story comes from the especially painful trick that the rabbit played. While the tanuki was carrying a heavy load of kindling on his back to make a campfire for the night, he was so burdened that he did not immediately notice when the rabbit set fire to the kindling. Soon, the crackling sound reached its ears and it asked the rabbit what the sound was. "It is Kachi-Kachi Yama" the rabbit replied. "We are not far from it, so it is no surprise that you can hear it!". Eventually, the fire reached the tanuki's back, burning it badly, but without killing it. Boat of mud The tanuki challenged the rabbit to a life or death contest to prove who was the better creature. They were each to build a boat and race across a lake in them. The rabbit carved its boat out of a fallen tree trunk, but the foolish tanuki made a boat of mud. The two competitors were evenly matched at first, but the tanuki's mud boat began dissolving in the middle of the lake. As the tanuki was failing in its struggle to stay afloat, the rabbit proclaimed its friendship with the human couple, and that this was the tanuki's punishment for its horrible deeds. Variations There are other versions that alter some details of the story, such as the severity of what the tanuki did to the woman and how the tanuki got the mud boat. Modern-day references Mt. Kachi Kachi and its Tenjō-Yama Park Mt. Kachi Kachi Ropeway refer to this story and have statues depicting portions of the story. Shikoku Tanuki Train Line railway station in Japan uses the slogan "Our trains aren't made of mud", a direct reference to the "Kachi-Kachi Yama" tale. In the video game Super Mario Sunshine, in the level "Noki Bay", Mario meets a "Tanooki" who gives free rides on mud boats, a clear reference to the boat that the tanuki in this tale used. While these boats can stay afloat, they will dissolve if they stay still for too long or if they bump into something. ©　More in the WIKIPEDIA ! CLICK to look at more children's books and illustrations of this famous story. source :　nendoillust.sblo.jp dolls made of kneaded clay (nendo 粘土) . . . CLICK here for doll Photos ! kachikachi yama かちかち山 clay bell . otogibanashi dorei おとぎ話の土鈴 clay bells with motives of legends . . Usagi and Tanuki 兎と狸 the rabbit and the tanuki - Legends . usagi-tanuki 兎狸 （うさぎたぬき / うさぎだぬき） Usagidanuki monsterlin ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Yamaguchi, Hagi town The Little Kyoto of the San'in region features storehouses that display unique architecture. A long history of cultural exchange with the Korean Peninsula. source : www.jnto.go.jp . Yamaguchi Folk Art - 山口県　 .

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. Regional Folk Toys from Japan .


. Yamaguchi - local dishes .


. Tohoku after the BIG earthquake March 11, 2011

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