In the Labyrinth

Shank's Mare: Hoofing It Down the Tokaido Road

I love "road books" -- novels whose plot mostly rests on a pair or a troupe of travelers making their way down some famous road. Adventures abound, stories are shared, and the journey becomes more important than the final destination. One of my favorites, which I have picked up again after many years, is the early 19th century novel, Hizakurige , by Ikku Jippensha. The title, a word for "journeying by foot," has been translated into the English version: Shank's Mare -- our wonderful expression of the same. The book is now sadly out of print, but it appears that used copies of the book are available at an affordable price at Amazon. I have linked the title and the book cover to the listing on Amazon. 

The novel is hilarious, bawdy, and outrageous as it follows the misadventures of two lower-class workers on a trip (ala shank's mare) along the great Tokaido Road between the capital city of Edo and the temple-filled Kyoto. Yaji and Kita manage to embroil themselves in all kinds of lusty and disreputable doings as they rest at inns and way stations along their way. They are not alone, of course -- for the road is peopled with tradesmen, samurai, "lively dancing girls," itinerant actors, and scheming matrons -- all who are grist for the pair's irrepressible appetite for trouble. Who knew travel could be such an endless source of fun, trickery, one-night stands, good food, bad booze, and, in general, absurd observations about life from two brash, madcap punsters looking for a good time?

In the illustration below, Kita and Yaji have stopped at Hokwo Temple to ogle at a huge statue of Rushana in a sitting position. After making a few inappropriate comments about the August figure ("And he's got whayoumaycallems as big a badger"), the pair discover that pilgrims are engaging in a fun game with the substantial beams used to support the roof. They squeeze themselves through cut openings near the bottom of the beams. Kita has no trouble -- but when the plumper Yaji wriggles in, he discovers he is pretty stuck. What follows is a fast, comical dialog with every country pilgrim making outlandish and perilous suggestions for getting Yaji free.

The author Ikku Jippensha wrote the novel first as a serial, and it was wildly popular throughout Japan in the early 19th century. Later, the whole series was published as a book that included excellent illustrations -- some of which (like the one above)have been reproduced in the English edition published by Tuttle and translated very ably by Thomas Satchell (which is saying a lot as the puns themselves are a translator's nightmare -- look for the beneficial notes in the back.)

For travelers' convenience, the Tokaido Road was serviced by 53 well-known "way stations" where one could find inns, food, and animal shelter. The well-known Ukiyoe printmaker Hiroshige, created around 55 separate prints of the 53 stations, which are a fantastic visual record of the stations along the road. They are gorgeous -- some depicting the stations in winter, others in spring, some bustling with travelers, others more remote with only horses quietly grazing. I have included a selection below, but happily, you can see all of Hiroshige's Tokido Stations here. The photograph of the Tokaido Road above was taken in 1865 by Felice Beato.

The Company I Keep

Well, I am always surprised to find my name popping up in unexpected places...and usually not because I am an author so much as my Japanese name draws attention. I was named after my mother's best friend in college, and it has served me well. Especially considering that the BBC News Magazine thought it intriguing enough to write a little feature on the name in "Why Midori?".

And of course here's the best part:

"Midori crops up in Japanese placenames, and it is a relatively common girl's name. Here's where it becomes connotation-laden. Midori is a Japanese violinist, but another Midori is a "prominent human sexuality writer" and a third Midori is a porn actress. There is a Midori Snyder who writes fantasy novels, and a Midori Matsuo who is an aspirant underwear designer."

That would be me...right after the porn actress and before the aspirant underwear designer. This is why when I first started publishing, I was reluctant to let my children look up my name on the internet -- too often it brought up "Midori's House of Pain." Oy....

Samurai Armor: The Textile Quality of the Woven, Knotted, and Tied Armor Plates.

As a knitter and a weaver, I was so struck by how much handwork there was involving knotting, netting, and the interlacing of reeds, braided threads, slivers of metal, and leather in the making of the various armor plates covering the chest, back, top of the hips and arms. While relatively light to wear compared to the European armor forged in iron, it could still repel arrows (mostly) and sword thrusts. Anyone who has seen the final images of Kurosawa's Throne of Blood can never forget Toshiro Mifune as the Japanese MacBeth with twenty or more arrows dangling from the chest piece. These are close ups of that work -- exquisite in the dynamic designs and color choices. Every detail is a work of textile art combined with metal ornamentations, some of them in Sanskrit to call on the power of the Fudo, the God of War, for success. (All of these pieces were in an exhibit of  Samurai armor at the Phoenix Art Museum.)

 

 

 

 

    

Drunken Tengu: Masters of the Sword and Drink

Among the more celebrated Japanese tricksters are the Tengu. These peculiar half-human, half-bird (sometimes hawk-like, sometimes more vulture) creatures are famous for their love of sake and their abilities with the sword. In fact, part of their mythology is that the tengu created the unique Japanese style of kendo, and were responsible for teaching it to Japan's greatest epic heroes. Minamoto no Yoshistune, the very handsome (and historical) hero of the Heike Monogatari was alleged to have been instructed in the art of the sword by tengu teachers.

The tengu are also wonderful mischief makers. They are known to shapesift into yamabushi (Japanese monks) in order to travel among human beings (and also to play tricks on impious monks at times). They have carted off naughty children and either educated them into something more heroic, or made them pay the consequences for their behavior. They have arrived in the nick of time to rescue floundering heroes, and they have gotten ridiculously drunk in various inns.

The art surrounding them is terrific -- sometimes they appear in the lavish epic style of Kuniyoshi's richly colored prints and other times in the hilarious pen and inks of Hokusai. They are also depicted with absurdly long noses with which they produce calligraphy, balance bowls, and carry bundles. 

Art: Top is by Kawanabe Kyosai, middle is by Utagawa Kuniyoshi, and the bottom is by Hokusai.

Ukiyo-e Heroes by Jed Henry and Dave Bull

I love this project by illustrator Jed Henry to take contemporary, iconic video game figures and render them in the traditional Ukiyo-e style of woodblock prints. They are beautiful -- combining the exquisite technique of Japanese printmaking and modern fantasy images. The worlds are not so far apart according to Henry -- who notes the similarity between the dynamic art of early Japanese video games and their predecessors in the pop culture of Ukiyo-e. Henry partnered with artist Dave Bull, who has spent the last 25 years in Japan working as a traditional woodblock printer and the results are a seamless mix of 18th century Japanese art and the unexpected modern hero. It's an amazing video and an amazing project -- and apparently, everyone else thought so too for the project was overfunded on Kickstarter by around $290,000. Stop by the website to see the woodblock prints and giclee prints and learn more about Henry, Bell, and watch videos on how the prints are created.

The Lively Brush

 love calligraphy that serves to do more than to write words -- but rather, playfully suggests visual puns and curious designs. Letters can be either re-constructed to resemble an object (and a sentiment suggested by the object) as in the lovely piece of Arabic calligraphy below creating a coffee pot out of the Arabic phrase, "O Lord, keep us from the heat of fire"...

Or in this wonderful Japanese print by Utagawa Kuniyoshi of calligraphy strokes shaped by figures of entertwining cats to create the word for "catfish"...

The Arabic calligraphy is a scanned image from a lovely little chapbook, Islamic Calligraphics, published by The Merrion Press, London (1976). The Kuniyoshi print is from a terrific and comprehensive site of Kuniyoshi's work, The Kuniyoshi Project maintained by William Pearl.

Japanese Monster Scrolls: Something to Creep Out Almost Everyone

Really, I think the Japanese are hands down the best illustrators of weird and wonderful monsters. Pink Tentacle -- one of my favorite sites for all things Japanese-bizarre -- continues to offer smashing posts on Monster Scrolls from the 18th and 19th century. Many of the monsters are not just part of traditional folk lore, but more urban myths created after sitings of these unique and creepy creatures. The first two images here are from the Kaikidan Ekotoba Monster Scroll (Kyushu) and the bottom two are examples from the Bakemono Zukushi Scroll (Edo). Do stop by and have a look at the whole scrolls. Every image has a little note of explanation which is really helpful. They really boggle the imagination which is kind of fun, though you may need a nightlight in the future.

And since we're talking ghosts and monsters and nightlights here...I couldn't resist adding this hilarious video of a Thai Light Bulb commercial. Wickedly good use of ghosts as an inducement to keep your lights on all the time!