#Kimon interprets

[demonslayedher]

Hi Buri-senpai! What legend or piece of folklore associated with kny would you call your favourite?

This is like being asked my favorite movie, it makes me suddenly feel like I have never seen any movies, ever. A big reason I got so sucked in to KnY is because I love so much of the folklore its playing with, I really appreciate that Gotouge works more with themes as opposed to direct interpretations of specific folklore characters. I find it so interesting how even though you can read deeply into specific legends, recurrent folklore and mythological themes tend to get more at the heart of common human experiences, and Gotouge's taken them and made a unique take, creating a new legend out of familiar material. This gator is clearly very knowledgeable and plays subtle homage to a lot of existing folklore, but I like that I can read KnY as its own thing instead of comparing its use of existing folklore characters to other iterations.

So that said, I have a really, really, really weak spot for tengu and oni. (Maybe interesting stuff to learn below, but mostly fangirling, I apologize for typos in advance.)

With tengu, it's the general idea of them and the crow-like imagery and how they can be both good or bad figures (from a human perspective) but ultimately will do as they capriciously please, but the fact that so many of them are mysterious teachers of young heroes? I never get tired of that. I love that we get tengu influence in everything from Urokodaki to a handful of Hantengu's designs. They're just so clever but have such clear personality flaws in how much they know their own cleverness.

One of my favorite Tengu legends is Kurama Tengu training Ushiwakamaru (young Minamoto no Yoshitsune), and in the Kimetsu-Kyoto collab I was thrilled to see Urokodaki hanging out with the new giant Tengu mask at the entrance to Kurama temple.

There is, of course, the mixing of Sabito (a kitsune figure, yay for more fun folklore) with a Nara legend of Tengu too, which is too close to be seen as anything but homage.

As for oni, while I stick with the official "demon" translation for them in the context of KnY (especially since their deeds are pretty clearly defined as evil), I've always had preference for the translation "ogre" instead. They're not always explicitly devilish, sometimes they're just oafs (like the story of the Red Oni and Blue Oni, in which the Red Oni wants to be friends with people but people are afraid of it, so his buddy the Blue Oni gets an idea to attack the people and have Red Oni stop him so that the people will befriend him, but this later means Blue Oni is all alone) or people who had an excess of passion of some kind (as you see in tons of Noh dramas--and yeah, it's usually a woman). Casting the oni out has been a constant in everything from Setsubun holiday customs to folklore like Momotaro setting out to defeat the barbarians (which, yes, can be read as non-Japanese people; and as I've heard, in at least one Okayama version of the legend Momotaro is the bully). Not very fun looking topics, and you could choose to read the above and be offended by the inherent misogyny and xenophobia, but I've always found it funny and owned it, like, "you got that right, be afraid" and been in touch with my own inner-oni since a really long time ago. : 3 I think the classic oni with tiger-striped clothes and ox-like horns is a really cute design (and the fact that this is associated with the "kimon" (oni-gate) direction to the northeast between the Ox and Tiger directions is something I find kind of hilarious) and I've borrowed it for myself long before drawing my "Fanfic Monster" persona that way, and have said things like "I'm being an ogre today" when in a bad mood. Someone at work introduced me to a new hire last week as "oni-kyoukan" (drill sargent) and I was like, ": D I've been recognized for my inner-oni! <3" even though it's just a common phrase. Since I've always had a really soft-spot for them it makes me very attune to any folklore about them, so even when studying Noh in college I wasn't one to think "clearly so many of them are women because these are written by men (plus the influences of tons of misogynistic Buddhist theology)!" so much as "awwwwww, its prop is a little mallet! It's gonna donk someone on the head with that, teeheehee!" Ahh, but hannya masks? Very cool, have always been a fan.

Despite that the Chinese origin of the character used for oni (鬼) can be used in a very wide context but generally for distasteful, devilish characters or for cursing something, and despite how it can also be used in Japan in a very wide context for either mythological creatures with a certain horned image or for evil more generally (especially evil stemming from an excess of passions, be it anything from lust to hate to even sloth), it's still something that stays kind of distinct from the more general cast of youkai (妖怪), Japan's rather colorful cast of homegrown folklore monsters.

I've had lots and lots and lots of conversations with other nerds about how best to translate these sorts of things, because you're likely to find all kinds of translations out there, and nothing ever quite fits every flavor of the nuances, especially in how any of these things may be anywhere on a scale of "horrendous, loathsome evil" to "big dumb oaf just minding his own business," but these are some translations I prefer: Tengu: a kind of goblin (but only to introduce what it is, Tengu should just be called Tengu whenever possible because of their uniqueness) Kitsune: fox (because the fox as a clever mythological figure is pretty accessible in many cultures) Tanuki: Tanuki (because it is a unique species and "Raccoon Dog" tells us nothing helpful whatsoever) Youkai: Ghouls/goblins (because "demon" seems too evil for a lot of the innocuous ones, and any specific Youkai should be introduced by name, unless it's something like Tsuchigumo being introduced in context as the single villain in a work of fiction instead of in the context of other youkai, in which case telling an audience this is "Ground Spider" at least in introducing it will be helpful. It's much easier to picture Minamoto no Raikou and his cohorts defeating a giant spider than some random monster. That said, some creatures from similar settings like Nue fall into the youkai category, and Nue can only be described as like a chimera, and if you're going to call it that you might as well as call dragons and Kirin chimera too (I'm okay with calling Kirin unicorns, even if they are only as similar to unicorns are as Eastern dragons are to Western dragons). Yuurei: Ghosts (because these are more specifically the left-behind souls of dead humans, as opposed to youkai whom don't really fit this description and whom I don't like to translate as "ghosts") Oni: Ogre (because it captures a certain oaf-ishness related to the term, even if they are indeed evil they perhaps aren't much trouble as long as you don't run into one, they'll probably pommel you if you do) Akuma: Demon (only because evil is right there in the name, 悪魔)

Taking this back to Kimetsu no Yaiba, these are some reasons I really like the use of oni as a theme: 1. A danger lurking out in the unknown (always a good folklore backbone)

2. A concrete reason why they are dangerous (oni gotta eat!)

3. A clear power structure showing that weaker oni are scared into obeying authority figures, they aren't necessarily evil by choice

4. Anyone has it in them to be a demon, even if they've been turned against their will by Muzan, it allows their passions to run unabated (and reinforcing a recurrent theme among the heroes, self-mastery): Hunger (obvious) Fear (acting out and hurting people because they fear Muzan) Hatred (for example, Gyutaro resents other people who have life better than him) Sadism (for example, Enmu toying with his meals' minds) Nihilism (or rather, an unhealthy amount of giving in to that mindset and seeing the world as meaningless, like Douma) Self-pity (Hantengu) Pain from shattered dreams (Kyogai is such a writer, am I right) Pain from betrayal (for example, Rui) Desire for immortality (MUUUUUZAAAAAAAAN.) On that note, even Nezuko's passion to protect her family shows itself in violence, and self-mastery is the only reason she hasn't lost herself to the pure rush of passion. It reminds me of how in many philosophies, even an excess of positive emotions can be detrimental, and people who follow those philosophies are instead encouraged to not given into any emotion too strongly. Likewise, the lack of a virtue can be bad, but an excess of it becomes a vice.

I don't have evidence for this, but my sense is that some of the most powerful oni, or the ones who had the greatest potential as oni, were the ones who had the strongest emotions to get swept up in--even you, Douma, so swept up in your disregard for people and assuming that there is no such thing as goodness.

A N Y W A Y, back on topic: 5. I'm really partial to demons in this series who have horns as part of their character design, because that's classic, but it's interesting that it's not necessary. While there's not particular mythology regarding oni's eyes, that's the giveaway in KnY's version of oni. Even though like most dangerous creatures of the unknown it would make sense that they are found in darkness, the sunlight allergy is a KnY thing which makes a very strong world-building element.

6. They really can fall anywhere on the scale of evil, just like humans can (they're just more unfairly enslaved by their passions, as listed above). This is why its makes sense for Tanjiro tohave sympathy for them as he would for people. 7. Some of the throwaway ones just act like ogres, okay

And I think I've run my fingers mindlessly on the keyboard long enough to conclude this post here. ROAR.

[catboy-joyfriend]

talk about kimon to be blease hes my personal fav of ur ocs idk any prompts i just wanna hear u talk

GOD he's so tired and sad ok ok I decided earlier today that due to his magick, before he and Ariadne had to take shelter with the magistratum he worked as a therapist who, while he did normal non-magick services also did kinda dream interpreting therapy combos for witches and would help people with their nightmares and stuff. He still does this at the magistratum actually I think? maybe? anyway he literally just loves his daughter so much and hearing the way his ex-wife talked about her when her magick started showing broke his heart worse than anything he's ever felt (fuck Desdemona all my homies hate Desdemona). Nowadays he mostly helps out around the magistratum, takes care of Ariadne, etc. Also I think I mentioned it on here but I'm not 100% sure but when he and Ariadne were first looking for a place to stay after they were kicked out and before they made their way to the magistratum, Odera actually let them stay with them in the apartment above their shop for a few days before they could get residence with the magistratum organized

[wolfliving]

Thinking Through Interfaces, a syllabus

*That looks enlightening.

THINKING THROUGH INTERFACES

Co-taught by Zed Adams (Philosophy) and Shannon Mattern (Media Studies)

Tuesdays 4:00 - 5:50pm | 6 East 16th St #1003

Interfaces are everywhere and nowhere. They pervade our lives, mediating our interactions with one another, technology, and the world. But their very pervasiveness also makes them invisible. In this seminar, we expose the hidden lives of interfaces, illuminating not just what they are and how they work, but also how they shape our lives, for better and worse. We also discuss a number of pressing social and political issues, such as why we are quick to adopt some interfaces (e.g., smartphones and social media platforms), but reluctant to embrace others (e.g., new voting machines and Google Glass). 

(...)

RESOURCES

With a few exceptions, all readings will be made available on our class website, at http://www.wordsinspace.net/interfaces/2019/. We’ll provide everyone with a copy of Tom Mullaney’s The Chinese Typewriter and David Parisi’s Archaeologies of Touch.

SCHEDULE OF MEETINGS

WEEK 1: JANUARY 22: INTRODUCTIONS

What is an interface?

How are interfaces differentiated?

Can an interface become a part of our mind?

Do interfaces shape what we use them to do?

What are the limits of interfaces: what problems do they not help us solve?

WEEKS 2 AND 3: CONCEPTUALIZATION 

WEEK 2: JANUARY 29: CONCEPTUALIZATION I 

Nelson Goodman, “The Theory of Notation” (Chapter Four), Languages of Art (Hackett, 1976): 127-173.

Florian Cramer and Matthew Fuller, “Interface” in Software Studies, ed., Matthew Fuller (MIT Press, 2008): 149-53.

Johanna Drucker, “Interface and Interpretation” and “Designing Graphic Interpretation” in Graphesis: Visual Forms of Knowledge Production (Harvard University Press, 2014): 138-97.

WEEK 3: FEBRUARY 5: CONCEPTUALIZATION II

Shannon Mattern, “Mission Control: A History of the Urban Dashboard,” Places Journal (March 2015).

Shannon Mattern, “Things that Beep: A Brief History of Product Sound Design,” Avant (August 2018).

We encourage you to think, too, about how interfaces might embody different cultures and ideologies. Consider, for example, feminist interfaces or indigenous interfaces -- or interfaces that embody universal, accessible design. You'll find some relevant resources in the modules at the end of this syllabus, and we'll explore many of these themes as part of our case studies throughout the semester.

In-Class Workshop (second half of class): small-group interface critiques 

Supplemental: 

Christian Ulrich Andersen and Soren Bro Pold, eds., Interface Criticism: Aesthetics Beyond the Buttons (Aarhus University Press, 2011).

Martijn de Waal, The City as Interface: How New Media Are Changing the City (nai010, 2014).

Johanna Drucker, “Humanities Approach to Interface Theory,” Culture Machine 12 (2011).

Johanna Drucker, “Performative Materiality and Theoretical Approaches to Interface,” Digital Humanities Quarterly 7:1 (2013).

Florian Hadler and Joachim Haupt, “Towards a Critique of Interfaces” in Interface Critique, eds., Florian Hadler and Joachim Haupt (Berlin: Kulturverlag Kadmos, 2016): 7-16.

John Haugeland, “Representational Genera” in Having Thought: Essays in the Metaphysics of Mind, ed. Haugeland (Harvard Univ Press, 1992): 171-206.

Branden Hookway, Interface (MIT Press, 2014)

Interface Critique (journal).

Steven Johnson, Interface Culture (Basic Books, 1999)

Matthew Katz, “Analog Representations and Their Users,” Synthese 193: 3 (June 2015): 851-871.

Kimon Keramidas, The Interface Experience - A User’s Guide (Bard Graduate Center, 2015).

Shannon Mattern, “Interfacing Urban Intelligence,” Places Journal (April 2014).

Don Norman, The Design of Everyday Things (Basic Books, 2013).

Mitchell Whitelaw, “Generous Interfaces for Digital Cultural Collections,” Digital Humanities Quarterly 9:1 (2015).

Jeff Johnson, Designing with the Mind in Mind (Morgan Kauffmann, 2014).

WEEKS 4 AND 5: TYPEWRITER KEYBOARDS 

Our first case study is the QWERTY keyboard. This case raises fundamental questions about why interfaces are adopted in the first place, the extent to which their original designs constrain how they are subsequently used, and how particular linguistic politics and epistemologies are embodied in our interfaces. 

WEEK 4: FEBRUARY 12: KEYBOARDS & QWERTY

Andy Clark, Chapters One through Three, and Ten, Being There: Putting Brain, Body, and World Together Again (MIT Press, 1998): 11-69 and 193-218.

S. J. Liebowitz and Stephen E. Margolis, “The Fable of the Keys,” The Journal of Law & Economics 33:1 (1990): 1-25.

WEEK 5: FEBRUARY 19: OTHER KEYBOARDS

Thomas S. Mullaney, The Chinese Typewriter: A History (MIT Press, 2017): Chapter 1, 35-74; Chapter 4, 161-93; Chapter 6, 237-53 (up through “How Ancient China Missed…”; and Chapter 7, 283-8 (through “China’s First ‘Model Typist’”).

Kim Sterelny, “Minds: Extended or Scaffolded?” Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences 9:4 (2010): 465-481.

See Marcin Wichary’s forthcoming book about the global history of keyboards, as well as his research newsletters.

4-5pm: Skype TBD 

Supplemental: 

Louise Barrett, Beyond the Brain (Princeton University Press, 2015).

Andy Clark and David Chalmers, “The Extended Mind,” Analysis 58:1 (1998): 7-19.

Friedrich A. Kittler, Gramophone, Film, Typewriter, trans. Geoffrey Winthrop-Young and Michael Wutz (Stanford University Press, 1986).

Lisa Gitelman, Scripts, Grooves, and Writing Machines: Representing Technology in the Edison Era (Stanford University Press, 1999).

John Haugeland, “Mind Embodied and Embedded,” Having Thought (Harvard University Press, 1998): 207-237.

Richard Heersmink, "A taxonomy of cognitive artifacts: function, information, and categories." Review of philosophy and psychology 4.3 (2013): 465-481.

Richard Heersmink, "The Metaphysics of Cognitive Artefacts," Philosophical Explorations 19.1 (2016): 78-93.

Neil M. Kay, “Rerun the Tape of History and QWERTY Always Wins,” Research Policy 42:6-7 (2013): 1175-85.

Prince McLean, “Inside the Multitouch FingerWorks Tech in Apple’s Tablet,” Apple Insider (January 23, 2010).

Jan Noyes, “QWERTY - The Immoral Keyboard,” Computing & Control Engineering Journal 9:3 (1998): 117-22.

Kim Sterelny, The Evolved Apprentice: How Evolution Made Humans Unique (MIT Press, 2012).

Cassie Werber, “The Future of Typing Doesn’t Involve a Keyboard,” Quartz (November 23, 2018).

Darren Wershler-Henry, The Iron Whim: A Fragmented History of Typewriting (Cornell University Press, 2007).

WEEKS 6 AND 7: HAPTICS 

WEEK 6: FEBRUARY 26: PUSHING BUTTONS 

H. P. Grice, “Some Remarks About the Senses,” in Analytical Philosophy, First Series, ed. R. J. Butler (OUP Press, 1962): 248-268. Reprinted in F. MacPherson (ed), The Senses (OUP Press, 2011): 83-101.

Matthew Fulkerson, “Rethinking the Senses and Their Interactions: The Case for Sensory Pluralism,” Frontiers in Psychology (December 10, 2014).

Rachel Plotnick, “Setting the Stage,” in Power Button: A History of Pleasure, Panic, and the Politics of Pushing (MIT Press, 2018): 3-16.

Rachel Plotnick, “Force, Flatness, and Touch Without Feeling: Thinking Historically About Haptics and Buttons,” New Media and Society 19:10 (2017): 1632-52.

WEEK 7: MARCH 5: HAPTICS II 

David Parisi, Archaeologies of Touch: Interfacing with Haptics from Electricity to Computing (University of Minnesota Press, 2017): Introduction, 1-40; Chapter 3, 151-212; and Chapter 4, 213-264.

4-5pm: Skype with Dave Parisi 

Supplemental: 

Sandy Isenstadt, “At the Flip of a Switch,” Places Journal (September 2018).

Mathias Fuchs, Moisés Mañas, and Georg Russegger, “Ludic Interfaces,” in Exploring Videogames: Culture, Design and Identity, eds., Nick Webber and Daniel Riha (Interdisciplinary-Net Press): 31-40.  

Matthew Fulkerson, The First Sense: A Philosophical Study of Human Touch (MIT Press, 2013).

Gerard Goggin, “Disability and Haptic Mobile Media,” New Media & Society 19:10 (2017): 1563-80.

Kim Knight, “Wearable Interfaces, Networked Bodies, and Feminist Interfaces,” MLA Commons (2018).

Brian Merchant, The One Device: The Secret History of the iPhone (Little, Brown, 2017).

Stephen Monteiro, The Fabric of Interface: Mobile Media, Design, and Gender (MIT Press, 2017).

David Parisi, “Games Interfaces as Bodily Techniques,” Handbook of Research on Effective Electronic Gaming in Education, ed. Richard Ferdig (IGI Global): 111-126.

David Parisi, Mark Paterson, and Jason Edward Arches, eds., “Haptic Media” Special Issue, New Media & Society 19:10 (October 2017).

Rachel Plotnick, “At the Interface: The Case of the Electric Push Button, 1880-1923,” Technology and Culture 53:4 (October 2012): 815-45.

MARCH 11 @ NOON 

Share your final project and presentation proposal with Zed and Shannon. See “Assignments” for more detail. 

WEEK 8: MARCH 12 

Individual meetings to discuss presentations and final projects

MARCH 19: NO CLASS: SPRING BREAK

WEEKS 9-10: VOICE 

WEEK 9: MARCH 26: History of Vocal Interfaces (Zed away)

Mara Mills, “Media and Prosthesis: The Vocoder, the Artificial Larynx, and the History of Signal Processing,” Qui Parle 21:1 (Fall/Winter 2012): 107-49.

Danielle Van Jaarsveld and Winifred Poster, “Call Centers: Emotional Labor Over the Phone,” in Emotional Labor in the 21st Century: Diverse Perspectives on Emotion Regulation at Work, ed. Alicia Grandey, Jim Diefendorff, and Deborah Rupp (LEA Press, 2012): 153-73.

Confirm the assigned text for your presentation: send to Shannon and Zed a complete Chicago-style citation and either a high-quality pdf or a link to the online resource before class today, so we can update our class website with everyone’s material.

WEEK 10: APRIL 2: Contemporary Vocal Interfaces 

Adelheid Voshkul, “Humans, Machines, and Conversations: An Ethnographic Study of the Making of Automatic Speech Recognition Technologies,” Social Studies of Science 34:3 (2004).

Andrea L. Guzman, “Voices in and of the Machine: Source Orientation Toward Mobile Virtual Assistants,” Computers in Human Behavior (2018).

Halcyon M. Lawrence and Lauren Neefe, “When I Talk to Siri,” Flash Readings 4 (September 6, 2017) {podcast: 10:14}.

Halcyon M. Lawrence, “Inauthentically Speaking: Speech Technology, Accent Bias and Digital Imperialism,” SIGCIS, Computer History Museum, March 2017 {video: 1:26 > 17:16}

Lauren McCarthy, LAUREN. A human smart home intelligence (review press, too).

4-5pm: Skype with Halcyon M. Lawrence

Supplemental: 

Meryl Alper, Giving Voice: Mobile Communication, Disability, and Inequality (MIT Press, 2017).

Michel Chion, Sound: An Acoulogical Treatise (Duke, 2016).

Karin Bijsterveld, “Dissecting Sound: Speaker Identification at the Stasi and Sonic Ways of Knowing,” Hearing Modernity (2018).

Trevor Cox, Now You’re Talking: The Story of Human Communication from the Neanderthals to Artificial Intelligence (Counterpoint, 2018).

Brian Dumaine, “It Might Get Loud: Inside Silicon Valley’s Battle to Own Voice Tech,” Fortune (October 24, 2018).

Larry Greenemeier, “Alexa, How Do We Take Our Relationship to the Next Level?” Scientific American (April 26, 2018).

Jason Kincaid, “A Brief History of ASR,” descript (July 12, 2018).

Halcyon M. Lawrence, “Siri Disciplines,” in Your Computer is on Fire, eds., Marie Hicks, Ben Peters, Kavita Philips and Tom Mullaney (MIT Press, forthcoming 2019).

Halcyon Lawrence and Lauren Neefe, “Siri’s Progeny: Voice and the Future of Interaction Design,” Georgia Tech, Fall 2016.

Xiaochang Li and Mara Mills, “Vocal Features: From Voice Identification to Speech Recognition by Machine,” Technology and Culture (forthcoming 2019).

Luke Munn, “Alexa and the Intersectional Interface,” _Angles (June 2018).

Quynh N. Nguyen, Ahn Ta, and Victor Prybutok, “An Integrated Model of Voice-User Interface Continuance Intention: The Gender Effect,” International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction (2018).

Winifred Poster, “Sound Bites, Sentiments, and Accents: Digitizing Communicative Labor in the Era of Global Outsourcing,” in digitalSTS: A Field Guide for Science & Technology Studies, eds., David Ribes and Janet Vertesi (Princeton University Press, forthcoming April 2019).

Winifred Poster, “The Virtual Receptionist with a Human Touch: Opposing Pressures of Digital Automation and Outsourcing in Interactive Services” in Invisible Labor: Hidden Work in the Contemporary World, eds. Marion G. Crain, Winifred R. Poster, and Miriam A. Cherry (University of California Press, 2016): 87-111.

Thom Scott-Phillips, Speaking our Minds: Why Human Communication is Different, and How Language Evolved to Make it Special (Palgrave Macmillan, 2015).

Craig S. Smith, “Alexa and Siri Can Hear This Hidden Command. You Can’t,” New York Times (May 10, 2018).

Dave Tompkins, How to Wreck a Nice Beach: The Vocoder from World War II to Hip-Hop, The Machine Speaks (Stop Smiling Books, 2011).

Mickey Vallee, “Biometrics, Affect, Autoaffection and the Phenomenological Voice,” Subjectivity 11:2 (2018): 161-76.

Bruce N. Walker and Michael A. Nees, “Theory of Sonification” in The Sonification Handbook, eds. Thomas Hermann, Andy Hunt, and John G. Neuhoff (Logos Publishing, 2011).

[dijeh]

Remember those mythology articles released back when SMT 4 FINAL wasn’t already old news? I figured  two years is perhaps a tad too long even for my levels of procrastination, so I decided to get them done once and for all. This is also a pretty interesting article, so let’s hope it’s a good sign...Anyway!

FIFTEENTH TOPIC: TENKAI AND THE EDO MANDALA

If you were wondering what’s up with all the spooky stuff going on in Tokyo or are into conspiracy theories about Akechi Mitsuhide, then this is the perfect article for you. If not...well, it’s still an interesting insight into some Buddhist protection rituals and a conspiracy theory about Akechi Mitsuhide.

Previous topic: Adramelech and pagan demons. More translations here.  (ko-fi)

How real historical people became part of legend

stories that were turned into legend have been passed down since immemorial times, whether people had the knowledge of writing or not;

there were a lot of legends that were written down once writing was mastered (Japan: Kojiki, Nihon shoki);

Kojiki was completed in about 712 AD, corresponding to the Nara period (ancient capital Nara);

Japan calls the period until these times 上代 (joudai, ancient times), more of a literary term: until then gods were considered to have been real and dwelt on earth;*

the terms 神代 (jindai, age of the gods) or 神世 (kamiyo) basically denote the period before the 天孫降臨 (tensonkourin, descent on earth of Amaterasu's grandson, Ninigi no mikoto);**

the further we descend into ancient history, the rarer the records are, and we end up with vague stories resembling legends more than anything;

Shoutoku Taishi, for example, who lived during the Asuka period, earlier than the Nara period, was more of a real person than gods like Amaterasu or Susanoo and had his portrait on the 10000 yen bill, but tales about him also had mythical elements, and nowadays Shoutoku Taishi tends to be considered more of a fictional character;

it is believed that mythical people like the onmyouji lived during the Heian period, following the Nara period, and they can be found in fiction like taiga drama even nowadays (Taira no Kiyomori);

we have Abe no Seimei as a famous onmyouji, but claiming even Taira no Kiyomori was one is an exaggeration; there aren't any reasons to deny his very existence though;

his parents, date of birth and life have been recorded, but legend exaggerated his abilities ('He was actually a child of gods, so he had supernatural powers’)***;

there were also historical figures of the Middle Ages who became legendary characters;

their popularity among people thanks to tales and plays was translated into additional mythical episodes;

historical records aren't perfect either and there are many cases of unknown birth dates, places or parent names, so they were supplemented by guesses, speculation and broad interpretations, giving birth to these so-called mysterious superheroes;

The mysterious Buddhist priest Tenkai

lived at the end of the Sengoku period - beginning of the Edo period;

was a Tendai priest and worked for Tokugawa Ieyasu;

known as the one who did the town planning for Edo, adopting the feng shui technique;

it is said that he constructed a spiritual barrier, placing Kaneiji in Ueno (north-east) and moving Zoujouji to its current location (south-west), as seen from from the Edo Castle;****

Tenkai's birth is one of the mysteries surrounding him;

it is said he left home when he was only 13 or 14, but nothing had been recorded before that;

he was chief priest in a temple now known as Kita-in from the city of Kawagoe, Saitama Prefecture, but back then it is seems he was already a confidant of Tokugawa Ieyasu and had also participated in the planning of the battle of Sekigahara;

it is believed that Ieyasu's decision to install the shogunate was also done at the suggestion of Tenkai;

the native Tendai Mikkyou rituals for the protection of the country were implemented on all sides of the Edo Castle, but the four directions of Edo were protected by the four Chinese gods (Genbu in the north, Seiryuu in the east, Suzaku in the south and Byakko in the west), while the conception of the guardian Goshiki Fudou (five-coloured Fudou) was based on the ancient Chinese wu xing, showing that, like Nara's capital Heijoukyou and Kyoto's Heiankyou, Edo had also adopted the Chinese city planning;

evil entering through the kimon (north-east) and urakimon (south-west) was also adopted from China, same as feng shui;

most of these spiritual defenses were built during the time of the third Tokugawa shogun, Iemitsu, when Ieyasu had already died;

Tenkai's birth year had been unknown from the very beginning, but it is assumed he lived much longer than the usual lifespan of his times, surpassing 100 years of age at the time of his death in 1643;

the spiritual defenses surrounding the Edo Castle are also called the Edo magic square, but it is actually the Shijokobuccho mandala, a circular mandala, transmitted by Ennin, the disciple of the founder of the Tendai sect, the monk Saichou;

this mandala used during prayers and austerities for country defence and disaster prevention is formed of many Buddha arranged in several concentric circles and can also be found in Rinnouji, the Nikkou temple where Tenkai was chief priest;

we can therefore presume that the spiral-shaped moat of the Edo Castle resembles this mandala;

The Akechi Mitsuhide Theory

Tenkai’s unknown origin, as well as other details of his life, also led to the theory that he was Akechi Mitsuhide (明智光秀), the general who betrayed Oda Nobunaga at Honnouji;

after Tokugawa Ieyasu’s death, he received his posthumous name, Toushou Daigongen, and was enshrined at Nikkou Toushouguu; the scenery that can be viewed from the temple was named Akechidaira (明智平) by Tenkai;

the wet nurse of the third shogun,Tokugawa Iemitsu, was Lady Kasuga, the daughter of Saitou Toshimitsu, a chief vassal of Akechi Mitsuhide; for Iemitsu’s mother, Oda Nobunaga’s niece Okou, she was basically the equivalent of a bitter enemy, and it is presumed her rise in ranks took place thanks to Tenkai;

Tenkai received the posthumous name of Jigen Daishi (慈眼大師); there is a Kyoto temple named Jigenji containing Mitsuhide’s mortuary tablet and wooden statue;

even though Mitsuhide is known to posterity as a traitor, there are opposing views, not only due to his devotion to his wife, serious and kind personality, but also because the reason of his betrayal has remained a mystery for centuries;

it has been however speculated, due to the discovery of some letters, that his friendship with Chosokabe Motochika caused him to prevent Nobunaga’s attack on the Shikoku island, Chosokabe’s domain.

*上代 (joudai) is basically the period when gods used to rule the earth, until Emperor Kanmu's reign; 上 (ue, up) can be read as both kami and jou, while 代 (yo, world, age) can be read as shiro or yo -> the homonym 神代 (kamishiro, age of gods) with 神 (kami) meaning god. 上代 can also be read as kamiyo and has the homonym 神世 (kamiyo), with 世 (yo) meaning world or age.

**wiki tells us this is used in Japanese mythology in particular, the period ending in about 660 BCE.

***the original wording is kami no otoshidane, which basically means 'a god's bastard child' (well, actually it means ‘god’s fallen seed’, but, you know...); why this? one theory has it that Kiyomori was actually Emperor Shirakawa's son and since all emperors were Amaterasu's descendants, that would have made him one too.

****the terms for north-east and south-west are 鬼門 (kimon) and 裏鬼門 (urakimon), which mean 'demon gate' and 'rear demon gate' and are used to denote unlucky directions; more details here; have a silly map too.

[iopanic]

The Action: The Relationship Between God and Man

From, The Saviors of God: Spiritual Exercises, By Nikos Kazantzakis (Trans. Kimon Friar)

5. That you might reach the point from which you began - the ephemeral, palpitating, mysterious point of your existence - with new eyes, with new ears, with a new sense of taste, smell, touch, with new brains.

6. Our profound human duty is not to interpret or cast light on the rhythm of God’s march, but to adjust, as much as we can, the rhythm of our small fleeting life to his.

7. Only thus may we mortals succeed in achieving something immortal, because then we collaborate with one who is deathless. 

8. Only thus may we conquer mortal sin, the concentration on details, the narrowness of our brains; only thus may we transubstantiate into freedom the slavery of earthen matter given us to mold

Telemachus - Jan Styka

[alexandraratiu]

Wondering around Larnaca

If you are the type of tourist that wants to discover the place where he spends his vacations and not only to relax at the beach, this post is perfect for you. In this post we will wander around the beautiful city of Larnaca and we will discover some interesting places.

When you do a quick research on the Internet at the website   www.visitcyprus.com (some of the infos from this post are from their site) which is the official portal for Cyprus tourism, you can see that in Larnaca you have a lot of things to do and a lot of places to discover.

But first let’s start with some historical background information about Larnaca. Larnaca has a history of 10 000 years and is considered to be the oldest town in Cyprus. The town was built over the ancient city-kingdom of Kition and because of this we can find in this town a lot of historical monuments. Kition was the birthplace of Zeno, who was a Greek philosopher and is known as the founder of the Stoic school of thought. Kition was also the second home of Lazarus after he was resurrected by Jesus.

Agion Lazaros Church 

We start discovering Larnaca with let’s say one of the most popular and best known place, which is promoted in every brochure, the magnificent 9th century church of Agios Lazaros.

The church was built by the Byzantine Emperor Leo VI in the 9th century and was restored in the 17th century. In this church we can see one of the most remarkable examples of Byzantine architecture in Cyprus.

The name of the church comes from Saint Lazarus who came to Cyprus after being resurrected by Jesus. The Saint was named Bishop of Kition and lived here for 30 years. His tomb in found here at this church under the sanctuary and can be visited.

Visiting the church is free, the church it’s open every day and entering in the church required decent outfit. Taking pictures inside the church is also allowed but without flash.

Near the church there are some shops from where you can buy some religious souvenirs and there is also a jewelry shop with some incredible classical but also modern interpretations of religious pieces with Swarovski elements in Gold or Silver.

Larnaca Fort District Medieval Museum 

Larnaca Fort, also known as Larnaca Castle, is located on the Finikoudes Promenade, along the beach. The Fort was originally built during the Middle Ages, but under the Ottoman rule was consolidated at the form that it is today.

When the Ottoman rule in Cyprus ended, the Fort was converted into a prison by the British. Today the Fort houses the District Medieval Museum with a collection that covers 15 centuries of history.

To visit the Fort you need to buy a ticket and most likely you can discover the beautiful hidden corners of this place without being disturbed by many other tourists. 

The view from the Fort walls is amazing, you can see the beach along the Promenade and of course you can take amazing pictures or just relax and imagine the all the moments from the past that this Fort was witness at.

The museum from the Fort can be visited using the same ticket, but don’t expect a big museum, rather a small one, but with very interesting pieces.

The interior courtyard is very beautiful with many vegetation and flowers as well as a lot of artifacts.

Larnaca Municipal Cultural Centre

Located near the Tourism Info Centre on the way to the beach we find the Municipal Cultural Centre. This Cultural Centre is composed from 5 old British colonial style warehouses that were part of the old Larnaca Customs houses and now are renovated.

Larnaca Municipal Cultural Centre houses the Municipal Gallery and the Municipal Historical Archives-Museum of Larnaca.

This place is the venue of some of the most important cultural events in Larnaca like Kataklysmos Fair. It is also perfect if you want to take a walk in the afternoon or to discover some parts of history.

The Pierides Foundation Archeological Museum

Not far away from the Cultural Centre is located the Pierides Museum. This is a private museum and is housed in a colonial style building which belongs to the Pierides family.

The price to visit this museum is 3 euro and you can find it open every day except on Mondays. 

This museum is the oldest private museum in Cyprus.The collection of the museum was assembled by the Pierides family and includes some amazing items from the island's civilization.

The museum is composed from several rooms with artifacts, it includes a museum shop from where you can buy something to remind you of this beautiful island.

There is also a courtyard with a lot of palm trees, perfect to stop for a moment and reflect at the amazing civilization that lived on this island.

The busts of Kimon and Zenon

These are not really a place to visit, but I’m sure you will see them eventually because they are located on the seaside on Finikoudes Promenade.

Kimon was an Athenian general who led to free Cyprus from Persian rule and Zenon of Kition was a philosopher.

Beside discovering all these amazing places and especially discovering the history of Larnaca, you can spend an afternoon walking around the streets of the city and discovering some great buildings, nice hidden places and cozy bars and pubs.

You can also take a walk in the harbor to see all the boats. You can go on a cruise without making an advanced booking, in the harbor there are a lot of people that offer a cruise in the clean waters of the Mediterranean sea.

Larnaca is a city that has a lot to offer and it’s perfect for everyone. 

This amazing city will definitely remain in my heart. 

[the-banks-of-lethe]

literally dreamt this tonight and im so confused

It was as if i was going through a casual weekend but the time just didn't feel right,i started in my bed waking up and the light from my windows just felt non-fitting..i then heard a muffled convo of my parents talking about something including my grandparents and the hour 6,then i actually woke up and it was so hard to tell if im still dreaming or not

Hey there Nonnie! I'm sorry I didn't get to this earlier; but here is my attempt at decoding your dream - if that's what you sent it in for ofc, if not, then feel free to ignore this.

Okay, so I have a feeling that the '6' is the central crux of the dream.

Meaning of the number 6: - unconditioal love + heart - harmonious family <- heavy emphasis on this one - healing - maternal love - family, friends, relationships, etc.

It also makes sense that the sixth tarot card is 'The Lovers'

"Aristotle informs us that some Pythagoreans believed that numbers generation, as well as the cosmos itself, can be explained by the Table of opposites, which consists of the following pairs: [ ... ] (6) rest and motion, [ ... ]"

- The number and its symbolism in ancient Greece - Doc. dr Milena Bogdanovi�� ^ this feels like a nice little allusion to Hypnos- a lil off topic :D

Time in dreams:

"Depending the time shown it will contain a hidden message relating to the past, present and future moment, decoded by using numerology. However it can be seen as a symbol of passing time in your life, or wasting time regarding a particular situation." - dreamdictionary

Seeing as though time didn't feel right in your dream, nor did the lighting, which can help emphasise my next point; it may be telling you that you're not spending your time wisely? Or a nudge to start focusing more time on a specific thing. The faulty lighting being you not realising / a light not being shine properly on what you need.

Branching off the last point; that 'specifc thing' could be your relationships, I'd say familial relationships more than anything based on both your parents and grandparents being mentioned in the dream. Maybe you need to recconect with some family, spend some more time with them, or talk about issues that are surrounding them or your relationship with them.

I hope this, or some of this, resonates! If not, that's totally fine too. Thank you for the ask Nonnie, I love getting to interpret stuff! (/gen)

!! Note, not all dreams have 'meanings' or secret messages for you. If one does, then that's amazing, but not all of them will! Sometimes we just - dream. And that's okay! I am by no means an expert in any of this; simply passionate and a lover of research! Take all things I say with a grain of salt, and I encourage you to find your own meanings in my words! I am not an authority by any means, nor am I a spokesperson for any deity. !!

^ a note I'll be adding to all future dream interpretations I do! this isn't reflective of you personally at all, just something to keep in mind for everyone.

Have a lovely day, and sweet dreams 💙

[the-banks-of-lethe]

so,i had a dream where it was Kinda like in ancient biblical times i saw this old man holding a plushie and some fabric so i stopped to ask him what the fabric is for and he said he cant decide between making it a scarf or a shawl so i tore the fabric in two and made it both,then i met some of my friends and we started walking,i saw a lot of pet rabbits but they all had lots of lice to the point where i remember one lice climbing onto my hand as i tried petting one rabbit..so i stopped reaching out to pet the rabbits and then i saw three corvids in a tree and i tried to hold out my hand for one of them to climb onto it but it bit me really hard so i shook my hand to get it away but it only started attacking me even more until i had realised i need to k!ll it,and just when i was about to k!ll it i woke up

Needless to say i am horrified and confused af since corvids and rabbits are some of my favourite animals

I am so sorry for the late response my friend!

Well that's definitely an interesting dream you had - but I'd be more than happy to interpret it if you'd like! It may be irrelevant now that some time has passed, however.

I'm happy for people to use my inbox as a place to write down their dreams, a place to simply talk about their dreams, or asking for help interpreting; just let me know what you'd like! Of course my inbox is for anything, this is simply in relation to dreams.

[the-banks-of-lethe]

just a general question,what do dreams that have very different characters from very different medias with unrelated plots to said characters mean ?

Like usually

I'm pretty sure this ask is quite old, so again, apologies for the delayed response!

I'd say if their two different media's that you watch frequently / characters that you engage with a lot, no matter how different their respective media or storylines are, that's just your brain using what it visually intakes frequently to create images for your dream. I'd say that's the more common answer.

But if you are sure that it's not the above, then it potentially could be two opposing forces in your life - like your brain is struggling to balance two very different things. Maybe think about what characters they are and what their arks / stories revolve around and see if there's any overlap with your life at the moment.

However, I would say that the first option is generally more common. Hope this helped a bit!

Sweet dreams... 💙