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Where do I say

My heart is awake again?

Where do I say

I woke so engorged thinking of you

I had to go again?

Where do I say

I find myself through the day

Encouraging myself,

like the little engine that could

But instead of ‘I think I can’

It’s ‘he loves me, he loves me’

Over and over till I’m charging

Like a rocket through the sky

And I love you, so real and true

Corny as a Oaxaca field

Your heart, the origin

Of mine

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A lolita at a Sweet Garden meet wears Meta’s removable scallop collar polka dot jsk in sax.

Example image credit to Bunen on LM.

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A married woman saves an uninteresting Japanese high schooler from a truck crash, but dies in the process. She wakes up in a world of adventure and harems, clearly made for the boy.

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Anthropogenic Sun by Artem Chebokha

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Amour Profound or Un Amour Sous-Marin (An Underwater Love) ~ Paris Salon ~ 1909 ~ no artist found

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Salt

“The Nymph caught the Dryad in her arms.” The New World Fairy Book Howard Angus Kennedy Illus. by Harold Robert Millar London: J.M. Dent & Co., 1904.

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so i just watched the crimson kimono @ the castro theater today and i just gotta get this off my chest but

honestly an excellent movie about japanese americans???????

i mean, could you believe a movie made in the 1950′s has a non-white man get together with a white woman WITHOUT punching down on non-white women even once? i was floored

there’s also just a real good mix of japanese and english dialogue in the film (its even rather cleverly employed by having joe (shigeta) begin confessing his problem to a friend in japanese, only to be forced to switch to english because his friend is “trying to practice his english” in order so the english speaking audience will be able to follow)

ALSO ALL THE VILLAINS IN THIS MOVIE ARE WEEBS. IN THE 1950′S! THEY’RE ALL WHITE JAPAN ENTHUSIASTS LURKING AROUND LITTLE TOKYO. in fact the first victim that kicks off the case is also a weeb so may i coin the term “weeb-on-weeb violence”?  can that be a thing to describe 99% of the bullshit on this site?

finally, they don’t go for an ot3 BUT THEY SHOULD HAVE because joe and charlie are…. SUPER CLOSE.  at one point they deadass talk about how “a pint of joe’s blood is flowing through my (Charlie’s) veins” so like,,, nothing subtle.  another character (Mack, who is a lovely alcoholic artiste and one of the funniest parts of the movie) says “they’re like two paint colors mixed together, you can’t separate them” so ANYWAYS Chris (the white woman who gets mixed up in the weeb nonsense unfortunately) has some nice flirty banter with Charlie, then falls head-over-heels for joe talking to him about art and music (she’s an artist)

it was also super cool how they let the biggest part of the emotional drama be about joe’s conflict as a nisei man who is best friends with a white man, competing for the affection of a white woman??? like they really get into his insecurities and his struggles to not let that destroy his relationships and it’s so nice!!! 

also charlie and chris are both lawful whites™ whose interest in japanese culture is always linked to their love for joe and wanting to take part in things that are important to and a part of joe so basically what im saying is wow 2017 needs to do so much better

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Artist: Takahashi Hiroaki (Shotei) Title: Mount Fuji from Mizukubo Date: 1930–1939 Medium: Color woodblock print; oban Credit Line: Bruce Goff Archive, gift of Shin'enkan, Inc.

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Weekly Challenge: Summer

Obon Festival ☆ お盆

Obon is celebrated throughout most of Japan around August 15th (although the date varies each year between the 13th and 17th). Other celebrations are held around July 15th. Obon is the time during which ancestors’ spirits come back to their family homes to reunite with their family. Thus, it is an important family gathering time and many people return to their hometowns to meet with their extended family and await the return of their ancestors’ spirits.

Obon Traditions for Welcoming

Before the start of Obon, houses are cleaned and a variety of food offerings (like vegetables and fruits) for the ancestors’ spirits are placed in front of a butsudan (仏壇) or household Buddhist altar.

On the first day of Obon, chouchin or paper lanterns (提灯) are lit inside houses and brought to the family grave sites to call the ancestors’ spirits back home. This is called mukae-bon (迎え盆). In some regions, fires called mukae-bi (迎え火)  are lit at the entrances of houses to help guide the spirits to enter. Paper lanterns and flower arrangements are placed by the butsudan as another offering. Children stick disposable wooden chopsticks as legs into cucumbers and eggplants to make shouryou-uma (精霊馬) or “spirit horses.” The cucumbers represent horses while the eggplants represent cows. The cucumber horse (kyuuri no uma キュウリの馬) will help their ancestors’ spirits to quickly arrive home. The eggplant cow (nasu no ushi ナスの牛) will take the ancestors’ spirits back slowly after the family celebrations have ended.

On the second day of Obon, a traditional folk dance called Bon Odori (盆踊り) is held. The style of dance varies from region to region, but dancers wearing yukata (浴衣) are accompanied by taiko (太鼓) drums. The dancers gather around a platform stage called a yagura (櫓) and onlookers are welcome to join.

Obon Traditions for Sending Off

On the last day of Obon, families help their ancestors’ spirits return to the other side by hanging paper lanterns painted with the family crest to guide them back. This is called okuri-bon (送り盆)  or sending back the spirits. In some regions, fires called okuri-bi (送り火)  are lit at entrances of houses to help send off the ancestors’ spirits.

Floating lanterns called tourounagashi (灯篭流し) are another tradition to see the ancestors’ spirits home during Obon. Candles are lit inside the floating lanterns and they are set afloat down a river that runs to the ocean. The floating lanterns are the means by which family members can symbolically send their ancestors’ spirits into the sky. This practice is becoming less common as the Japanese become more conscious of the environment and the waste produced by sending lanterns downstream.

During or around Obon, a grave visit or ohakamairi (御墓参り) is common among Japanese households. The family grave is cleaned with water poured from ladles by each member of the family paying respects, fresh flowers are placed at the grave and incense or senko (線香) is burned. Often a Buddhist priest will recite a sutra over the graves.

Largest Obon Festivals

Daimonji Festival, Kyoto

Gujo Odori Festival, Gifu

Obon Vocabulary ☆ お盆の単語

お盆　おぼん　Obon

仏壇　ぶつだん　household Buddhist altar

提灯　ちょうちん　paper lantern

迎え盆　むかえぼん　the process of welcoming ancestors’ spirits home

迎え火　むかえび　fires to guide the ancestors to the family home

精霊馬　しょうりょううま　lit. spirit horse

キュウリの馬　キュウリのうま　cucumber horse

ナスの牛　ナスのうし　eggplant cow

盆踊り　ぼんおどり　folk dancing during Obon

浴衣　ゆかた　yukata; summer kimono

太鼓　たいこ　Japanese drum

櫓　やぐら　platform on which Bon Odori dancers dance

送り盆　おくりぼん　the process of sending the ancestors’ spirits back to the grave or other side after Obon

送り火　おくりび　fires to see off the ancestors after Obon

灯篭流し　とうろうながし　floating lanterns

御墓参り　おはかまいり　grave visit

線香　せんこう　incense sticks

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"Mama might be a good mama for my babies". Kimi, before drifting into her mermaid dream plans. And a spark happens...

What if she does become a mermaid, and every now and then she sends a foundling for me to look after. I will be walking along the beach and find a basket of reeds with a gift inside. I will look out to sea and see her waving, and I just have time to return her greeting before she flips her tail and is gone again.

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The Tiger's Eye

Sometimes my tongue gives the children bedtime stories, and I wonder where they came from…

There was once a prince who loved to hunt, who came to hear of a tiger in a far off forest, unmatched by any other with the brightest emerald on the forehead like a third eye. Convinced that this tiger must be his prize, he gathered his best men and rode off with great fanfare, leaving the kingdom to the care of a committee of advisors. After traveling many days, they found a trail of footprints which were so large and noble, that he was sure they must be the tiger’s. They led the party to a dark cave, which of all the party, only the prince was brave enough to enter.

Entering the cave with just a lantern and sword in hand, he came to a richly embroidered curtain, which he pulled gently aside, revealing an incredible palace, decorated with the most precious jewels. Just as he stepped inside however, he was grabbed by the palace guards, and brought before their sovereign. Sitting on the golden throne was a beautiful princess, with piercing eyes. She asked him what brought him to her kingdom, and he told her the story of the tiger that would be his quarry. Her smile gleamed, and she dismissed him with to the dungeons.

Meanwhile outside the cave, it had become night, and the prince’s party were so terrified, and fearing their prince had been devoured, ran the many miles back to his kingdom with their sorry tale. After punishing the men for their desertion, the committee in charge of the kingdom discussed loudly how things should be run, and failing to choose  a successor decreed that whosoever was able to capture the tiger should be the next King. Many men tried their luck, but those who returned did so empty handed. Their tarries in her forest did not go unnoticed by the princess, however, and she became frustrated with the damage that was being done to her forest, and the inhibition of her freedom that was being imposed by these fortune hunters. Hearing of the decree from one of the hunters, she called the prince up from the dungeons. His time in darkness had humbled the prince, and he had spent his hours thinking of the princess’ last look at him, with her piercing green eyes. He could not get out of his head the similarity between the princess’ eyes, and the tiger’s. He had come to believe that they were one and the same, and looking at her now, he saw the tiger circling him. He bowed his head. “You and your men have brought trouble to my kingdom", she said. “I am sorry, princess", he replied. “I sought victory, and found something instead that I can never own". “What is that?“, she asked. “Your indomitable spirit”, he said, looking up for a moment to catch her eye, and then down, as if pressed by her glare. She was touched by his words, and paused for a moment. “Your kingdom demands the capture of a beast", she said. “I shall give them what they ask". His silence was his consent, as she told him her plan.

Some days later, a procession arrived in the prince’s kingdom. The princess was carried in, and behind her, caged, was the prince. His loyal servants jumped to rescue him, but he raised his hand to stop them. The princess turned to the committee and declared, “you sought a beast, in exchange for the kingdom. I give you that beast, once blood-thirsty and self-serving, now a worthy king". She opened the cage door, which had all the time been unlocked. Out stepped the prince, in great finery. He took her hand, and asked her to be his queen. She raised her green eyes to his deep brown. “You were right in your observation, my spirit cannot be tamed - but you know where to find me, and I will welcome you there". And with that he saw the Tiger turn and run towards the wilderness that was her home. He ruled well for many years, but there were times that he would disappear, always returning renewed of spirit, and compassion for all living things.

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And there she was, a crumpled cloud unfolding

When she saw him, smoothing those crooked fold lines

Not to mend them, but to know her

In the stories those lines told

And she belongs to wind and ocean currents

Far out of reach, but she can feel the pulse of something living

Responding to the touch of his thoughts

Gentle as milkweed on the wind, begins

An untold story, small and smooth

With the weight of a skipping stone

A beginning

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Dream Heart

Can see the world now vividly somehow, yet still lost for words to describe what I see. Want to fly over it in a dream. Can I go where the sky drifts through my sleep and suddenly I can taste the air as my dream carries me over terrain I know only from the ground. Sometimes it rushes under me in a blur, other times I have a clarity of vision that goes deeper than the texture of what I see, divulging the secrets of each surface. Grains within solid stone, particles in the air, drops of water in the sea. I see his face, each millimetre as a landscape of its own, his smile the ten billionth variation of the original, the first windy smile he offered the world, warming the heart of his mother and making her hold him closer. I can imagine drifting through the pores of his skin, experiencing the ebb and flows of his body and finally entering his psyche and knowing him as he knows himself. I’m sure I’ve been here before, deep inside his heart where he has made a bed for me and we lie there in silence. Inside his pumping heart, listening to its beats, wrapped in each other’s naked arms as we look into each other’s eyes. And as I see his eyes I realise that though I am currently in his heart, he is also in mine, and I feel him inside my pounding heart, cradled in my naked arms, head resting upon my breast. I realise the unity of this dual vision and as our smile leans into a kiss I feel a wholeness and an eternity as the dream completes my reality in a single moment. Life will go on, and the world continues its battles, but I have known love, and in knowing wholeness, I cannot be broken. Leaving myself in that deep corner of his heart, I reach through his bones, his flesh, into the world again. I lose access to his thoughts, but the link between our hearts is unbroken. Landscapes become millimetres once more, and as I reach for his smooth, unbroken flesh I hear him sigh and feel it, inside my heart.

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The Tiger River

There were once a city in the centre of a deep, dark forest. In the forest lived a ferocious tiger, so fearsome, that people were frightened to leave the city, and only brave hunters left the city walls to find food. The city went on this way for many years, and people were beginning to grow hungry. There was talk of an expedition to leave the city for a safer, more satisfying life, but fear kept people from taking action.  

Then one day, a small child went missing. The whole city was searched, but none could find her. Eyes turned fearfully to the outer walls, but none dared face the darkness of the night forest. None, but one. After the people had returned to their homes in despair, the girl’s older sister, Shanti, crept out of the city gates, and with only a torch to guide her, stepped into the deep, dark forest. Her heart pounded, but with each tentative step she felt the forest welcome her, and her feet felt their way more easily through the undergrowth.  

She followed her torchlight to a clearing in the forest, where she found the opening of a cave, and there in the mouth of the cave was the tiger, king of the forest, and curled up into his soft belly was her own sister, Akansha, fast asleep and dreaming. Petrified, she tiptoed towards them, and seeing the tiger in a deep slumber, gently raised her sister out of his clutches, and rushed out into the night, returning to the city before Dawn.  

The city dwellers were relieved to have the child safe, and set up guards on all the walls should the tiger return to find the child. That night the tiger came to the wall, but it did not attempt to enter. A guard called down to the Tiger, “What business have you with the children of this city?”, to which the Tiger replied, “Last night I felt the warmth of love for the first time in my long life, only to have it snatched away from me. If I am forced to live alone, who knows what will become of me?”   It settled down gently between the wall and the forest edge, and began to weep, moaning as the tears poured down its lonesome cheeks. Over time, the tiger’s tears became a river, which broke a path through the forest, out to the open lands, and finally to the sea. Isolated so long, the people of the city now had a way of access to lands beyond their own.  

Alerted by the Tiger’s moans, Shanti and her sister rushed to the top of the city wall, as the leader began to make an announcement. “Tiger”, said the leader, a tall woman, an elder of the city state, “Through your sorrow, you have given us our freedom. In appreciation, let us grant you the wish of your desire.” Looking up, the tiger’s tears faded for a moment as he said, “there is but one thing I desire, which is kept enclosed within the city walls. Only the warmth of unconditional love will ease my broken heart.”  “Then let it be known”, said the leader, “that our gates will now open, for any person in this city with the courage to love a beast to step out and offer that which we all hold dear to our hearts”. The gates were opened, and in hope, the tiger’s tears ceased. Only two people stepped out of the gates.  

Holding hands, Shanti and Akansha walked slowly and carefully towards the tiger, and as they got closer, Akansha ran to him and threw herself into his embrace. The two sisters and the tiger were friends ever after, and the city boomed with the new opportunities provided by the river created by the Tiger’s tears. Now the river is called the Tiger River, and the people of the city live without fear, knowing that in opening oneself to love, a beast can become a god.

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Tears of the Moon

She found him by a lake in the blue desert, a lake shaped like a tear which shivered silver in the light of the midnight moon. He was sitting with his back to her, watching the shining water with a dreamy eye, but he turned when she came to him. The hand that reached for her was pale and spindly, a fragile hand, but she knew its strength. His bright dark eyes danced like rabbits under the violet sky, and she knew by his smile that he welcomed her. Relief welled like glistening pools in her eyes as he pulled her closer.

‘We will always meet in this place’, he said. 'This is where I will be.’

'But where have you been?’ cried her aching heart, bursting red with longing from her lips.

'I’ve been here, love, waiting for you,’ and he kissed each moon-glistened tear from her cheek. On the blue dunes, where heartache and moonlight meet.