#Bonbori

[tanuki-kimono]

Types of ôgi (folding fans), handy reference chart by Edo-era lover Nadeshico Rin. Please note this overview doesn’t cover all Japanese fan variations, for example also see maiôgi (舞扇 dance fan), tsunenoôgi  (常の扇 common fan), shizume (鎮扇 noh fan), rokkoku (六骨 Kamakura fan), gunsen (軍扇 war fan), etc etc.

Fans were first imported to Japan from China, and were used from the start as symbols of status and refinement. Chinese fans were originaly rigid ones (see modern uchiwa), and according to Rin, foldable ones appeared in Japan during Heian period free from Chinese influences.

In the past, word ôgi 扇 meant “sliding door” (today 戸板 toita), and overtime lost its original meaning to only designate folding fans.

From right to left, you can see on first picture the oldest known Japanese folding fans:

Hiôgi (檜扇 - ひおうぎ) - hinoki cypress fan, used by Heian nobles. Some theorise those were first made from shaku 笏 (a type of ritual wooden baton used in Shinto) hold together by threads. Hiôgi were symbol of power and formal ones were heavily decorated with painted sceneries and dangling colorful ribbons.

Kawahori (蝙蝠 - かわほり) - lit. «bat» fan, appeared around mid. Heian period. Those were simplified hiôgi meant to be used in Summer. The lighter frame had paper pasted on one side, somehow giving the aspect of a bat wing when seen from reverse.

From there, kawahori fans morphed during Muromachi period:

Ukeori (浮折 - うけおり) or «floating» types which had unmovable handles and looser top parts. Some examples are: - Suehiro (末広 - すえひろ) - spread out fan, with curving ribs - Chûkei (中啓 - ちゅうけい) - ceremonial fan, used by nobles, samurai and monks - Bonbori (ぼんぼり) - the little brother of the chûkei which appeared during Edo period (bonbori are paper covered lanterns I don’t know if those and this fan are linked).

Shizumeori (沈折 - しずめおり) or folding types, where whole structure can be collapsed, looking quite sleek and refined. Most known fan of this type is: - Sensu (扇子- せんす) - folding fan, which is the most spread nowadays. During Muromachi period, paper began to be put on both sides, hiding the ribs. Interestingly, Imperial court still favors one side paper only even today as a nod to the original design.

During Edo period, folding fans use spread among the whole population and their ribs started to get more and more decorated with sukashi (透かし openwork). Some popular designs included:

Hanabishi (花菱 - はなびし) - flowery diamond-shaped cut-out​

Nekomasukashi (猫間透し - ねこますかし) - «cat door» cut-out (sometimes also called nekome/猫目/cateye)

Kamatarisukashi (鎌足透し - かまたりすかし) - «heels apart» cut-out

Oosukashi (大透し - おおすかし) - big cut-out

Rokkotsusukashi (六骨透し - ろつこつすかし) - «six points» cut-out

Chôjisukashi (丁子透し - ちょうじすかし) - «clove» cut-out

Nagachôjisukashi (長丁子透し - ながちょうじすかし) -«long clove» cut-out

[annie-manga]

Redesigns I did of the main girls from Otome Youkai Zakuro 

Left to right: Zakuro, Bonbori/Hozuki, Susukihotaru 

Here are the sketches:

[vestal-spirit]

Colour 2

Y02 Canary yellow

[multimedia-maniac]

[kunoichi-of--destiny]

🌸 Pink Otome Youkai Zakuro manga cap~ 🌸

[nitewrighter]

Could you come up with any genji + mauga interactions? I always wonder what their intereraction would've been like in your 'second opinion' fic

Well, I think Genji's a bit too pissed off in that fic for it to really fit the more flippant tones of match setup interactions... but I could try.

---

Mauga: So... cyborg ninja, huh? Does that mean you have extra swords stored in your legs or something?

Genji: It has taken me a long time to value my body not as a weapon, but as a part of myself.

Mauga: ...the swords would make the legs too heavy.

Genji: *flatly* Yes. They would make my legs too heavy.

---

Mauga: Tch. Don't know why you make such a big deal about hiding your face. I know what you look like under there.

Genji: *scoff* I highly doubt that.

Mauga: You know your picture's still up on the 'Permanently Banned' wall at Izakaya Bonbori, right?

Genji: *clearly rattled* That... was a different life.

---

Genji: ...two hearts...

Mauga: More to love, I always say!

---

(And a special "Second Opinion" dialogue...)

Mauga: I mean, you get that it was nothing personal, right? We're all professionals, here!

Genji: *furious ragged, seething breathing*

Mauga: Oh shit, this is Venice crazy, I've heard about this. *laughs* Well, you know I wouldn't want you to hold out on me! Let's go!

[jimpluff]

Hideaki Anno's lantern at the Bonbori Festival in Kamakura

[kawaoneechan]

Reminder: the Ranma ½ manga does not end with Ranma accepting the curse, that was invented by the scanlators, EvilNabiki and Shade.

The very next chapter, the very epilogue of the entire series in fact, he hasn't accepted it at all! The moment he hears that the Guide sent a cask of Drowned Man water, he's all over that thing!

He'd merely forgotten about it at the time in his desire to save Akane.

By all means have your Ranma ½ fanfic be as trans as you want it to be. I cannot, should not, and will not try to stop you.

Just, please keep in mind that a lot of "canon" details about the story come from very early fan works with no basis in the actual anime or manga.

Ranma does not accept the curse in the end, Shampoo's name is not Xian Pu, Shampoo's maces are not paper lanterns, and Akane does not pull a hammer out of nowhere nearly as often as you might think.

Hell, she's not even the only one to do it.

Ranma ½ is an old story, first published in 1987. The Internet didn't hit it big until the mid-90s. It was quite hard for Western fans to acquire such media.

Despite all that, fanfics happened. And those included fan inventions.

And if a popular fanfic has a bunch of things invented by its author, and the readers have no means to check for themselves yet... they write their own fanfics.

And use details originally from that first fanfic.

An English speaking fan wouldn't necessarily know that bonbori are Japanese paper lanterns, even less likely they know that chuí are Chinese maces.

And that popular early fanfic's author? They didn't know what Shampoo's weapons are called either and guessed wrong.

And since effectively nobody in the early days of the English-speaking Ranma ½ fandom knew what the fuck a chuí is, and didn't have Wikipedia to look it up, everyone and their pet pig called the damn thing the same that first author did.

And some still do this in 202X!

It gets even better when you do try to look these things up and find a handful of Ranma ½ fan sites with all sorts of information... and they also present these old fanons as fact! You gotta love it.

I mean, mistaking "bride" for Shampoo's surname? That's inspired.

...

Fun fact btw before I finally go to bed: in an earlier print of the official English translation, the flashback to when Ranma ate the Dragon Whisker porridge is stated to be several years ago, which makes zero sense. This at least was corrected in later prints.

[wildbeautifuldamned]

22 Pair of Japanese Vintage Lamp BONBORI 24cm for Hina Doll ebay oosora

[pix4japan]

Hiratsuka Hachimangu Shrine

Located in the coastal city of Hiratuksa along the Shonan coastline in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan, this Shinto shrine is one of the six major shrines built for the old Sagami province, which is now Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan.

Annual events include the Hamaori Festival, the Bonbori Festival, Shichi-go-san, Cherry Blossom Festival, and more. The courtyards are said to be especially beautiful when the cherry blossoms are out in spring and the roses are in bloom in early autumn.

Originally built under the direction of Emperor Nintoku in the year 380, this shrine was regarded as the protector of land for all of Sagami (modern-day Kanagawa).

The deities enshrined in the main shrine, and numerous subordinate shrines draw visitors wishing to improve company finances, get married, have safe a childbirth, raise healthy children, for physical beauty, for success in studies, for success in the entertainment industry, for good luck in life, for longevity in battle, for warding off evil, for a bountiful harvest, and more.

The shrine affords super easy to access with a flat approach from Hiratsuka Station on the JR Tokaido Main Line. If you have pets or a small family and prefer to drive, there are several coin parking lots in the neighborhood surrounding the shrine grounds including a huge underground parking garage behind the shrine.

Unlike Tokyo, parking is really cheap. I only paid 300 yen for parking during my photo shoot which was almost 6 hours long.

Driving from the direction of Shizuoka or Odawara, or from the direction of Tokyo or Yokohama, all you have to do is get on National Route #1 until you reach Hiratsuka. The highway runs right next to the shrine and if you check out the pictures in my blog there is no way you can miss the shrine! It is the only shrine on Route 1 between Tokyo and Odawara with a huge torii gate and a high wall of chochin lanterns that stretch along the highway.

https://www.pix4japan.com/blog/20221207-hiratsuka-hachimangu

Pentax K-1 II + DFA 28-105mm F3.5-5.6 34 mm ISO 100 for 20 sec. at ƒ/14

[maonichuan]

(Mod note: fanfic authors, this is your yearly reminder that these are called chuí, not bonbori. Chuí are a kind of Chinese hammer. Bonbori are a kind of Japanese lantern.)

[makinoyasuhisa]

#bonbori

#ぼんぼり

#omori

#大森

#architecture

#interiors

#内装設計

#建築

#yakiniku

#焼肉

[imwatchingatvshow]

Otome Yokai Zakuro

After finally rediscovering an anime-to-watch list a former coworker shared with me, I was able to add everything I could to CrunchyRoll and just went down the line. Up first! Otome Yokai Zakuro.

I'll be honest: it felt like the vibes were all over the place with this one. Is it a romance? All seven protagonists have chemistry with their respective counterpart, but nothing moves beyond chaste hugs or hand-holding. Is it a comedy? The art direction for a lot of Zakuro's more exasperated faces is downright hilarious at times. I guess I still don't quite understand how anime genres truly split; Otome is listed as a seinen... which is primarily for adult men. Interesting!

Regardless of genre, Otome Yokai Zakuro did not feel fully formed around one specific theme. We find out deep into the 13 episodes that Zakuro harbors this incredible power which she inherited from her mother, but we have no idea what power her mother had. Rangui the Black Widow was obsessed with Omodaka, but why did he even need her? And how did Daidai and Byakuroku end up in their service? As the only other half-spirits semi-functioning (it's implied that all the other shackled half-spirits are Tsukuhane's children, right?? They all look like Zakuro), are they also children of Tsukuhane? Why was Byakuroku loyal to Omodaka until the end? TOO MANY QUESTIONS FOR ONLY 13 EPISODES.

When the Ministry of Spirits first encounters the Black Widow and Bonbori almost dies in the effort, I wasn't sure if we were going full Madoka and killing off the twin. It was so hard to tell the tone!

Otome Yokai Zakuro is probably something I would've picked for myself, so I'm glad I ended up watching it (plus it was a lighter follow-up to this summer's insanity of Death Note) but it's probably not one I'll keep thinking back to in the same way I do for Flying Witch and Konohana Kitan.

... but I did really like the song that was sung when Zakuro goes HAM with the cherry blossom branch. I'll never learn the answer to the series' most important question: am I a butterfly or an ogre?!

[jonsonelen]

Looking for the Best Wagyu Steak in Orchard, contact Bonbori ぼんぼり. For more info:- https://goo.gl/maps/vt9yGpXVMhXFr1hMA

[takeitomo]

bonbori restaurant by Yasuhisa Makino Architect & Associates