okame

ume (梅) or Japanese apricot

2009-02-20T23:14:00.000-08:00

The history of cherry-blossm viewing,
one of the most important customs for Japanese,
dates back to the Nara Period (710～794) when nobility enjoyed
viewing Japanese apricot blossom.
During the Heian Period (794～1185) , cherry blossoms became more popular.
『NHK 英語でしゃべらナイトより』

Japanese White-eye (mejiro メジロ)

2009-02-20T23:07:00.000-08:00

Mejiro acts in a cute way.

Happy New Year 2009!

2009-01-02T14:13:00.001-08:00

Seems like every year I break my New Year's resolutions.
Here's to good health and happiness during the New Year.

buckwheat noodles eaten on New Year's Eve

2008-12-31T01:32:00.001-08:00

We eat toshikoshi soba (buckwheat noodles eaten on New Year's Eve).
We have to eat toshikoshi noodles before the New Year begins
hoping to live a long,frugal life like soba noodles.

今年はお世話になりました。来年もよろしくお願いします。よいお年を！
kotoshi wa osewa ni narimashita.
rainen mo yoroshiku onegai shimasu. yoi otoshi wo!

Noh　Gracia

2008-11-06T20:55:00.000-08:00

Rokuro　Umewaka

Noh Gracia is experimental direction.
The background music uses a musical accompaniment(traditional Japanese instruments)
and a pipe organ.
The stage does not use a traditional noh stage.

梅若六郎が1997年舞台生活45周年を記念して新作能「伽羅沙」をサントリーホールにて上演した映像です。

Noh Dojozi

2008-11-05T00:24:00.000-08:00

Buddhist priests fight against the ghost of the woman

thunderhead

2008-08-29T23:44:00.000-07:00

It rained heavily last night.
Thunder was rumbling.

MIKOSHI

2008-07-07T23:53:00.000-07:00

Festival music (Japanese: お囃子 ohayashi) made me feed good.

They carried about a portable shrine(Japanese:神輿　mikoshi).
The person who carry a portable shrine wasn't enough in my native town.

Asahi Flame

2008-07-06T17:48:00.000-07:00

Asahi Beer Hall with the "Asahi Flame" (1989), known locally as the "Golden Turd"(ウンコビル)
This art object is a design by Philippe Patrick Starck (born January 18, 1949).

Japanese doll

2008-06-11T15:57:00.000-07:00

I disliked play doll in early childhood.　
I disliked play house.
When my friend talked to a doll, I wanted to laugh.
Because the doll cannot talk.
I liked muddy play.
Therefore I was a muddy girl.
I seemed to be a boy.

Oto and Usofuki (kyogen mask)

2008-06-11T15:44:00.000-07:00

Oto

Oto mask is regarded as the archetype of okame mask

Usofuki

Usofuki mask is regarded as the archetype of hyotoko mask

Metropolitan Expressway

2008-05-18T15:17:00.000-07:00

Tokyo Tower

location/date : Tokyo /May 03 2008

I went out early Saturday morning.
I love quiet morning.
And so I dislike traffic jams and crowd.
Sometimes I get carsick.

I have driver's licence, But I don’t have to drive.
I ride a bicycle or get on a train.

mist

2008-04-22T03:19:00.000-07:00

location/date : Saitama Japan /March 2008
Background music is Tsugaru-yosarebushi of Takahashi Chikuzan.
Takahashi Chikuzan (高橋竹山) (1910～1998) is a renowned
Japanese Tsugaru-jamisen performer.
And visually impaired.

kyotei(boat race)

2008-04-18T04:48:00.000-07:00

I like watching a Lady's League.

We bet money on a boat race.
But we cannot foresee what will happen.
He lost money in gambling,
she lost money in gambling,
Such is life.
He won in gambling.
she won in gambling.
That is how the world goes.

ABC of kyotei

Sakura (cherry blossom)

2008-04-08T14:49:00.000-07:00

location/date : Saitama Japan /March 28th 2008
Early in the morning

Cherry blossoms are dancing in the breeze.
Cherry blossom petals flutter down to the ground.
Flutter down,
flutter down.

The wind is blowing.
I make a little dance of joy.
I like a shower of falling cherry blossom petals.
Flutter down,
flutter down.

Thatched roof (Jidayubori Park) 2

2008-03-18T15:52:00.000-07:00

Thatched roof (Jidayubori Park) 2 from tomoe on Vimeo.

Background music is Zipangu of Dragon Quest Ⅲ

Cast: tomoe

Thatched roof (Jidayubori Park)

2008-03-12T00:16:00.001-07:00

I rode a bicycle to the Jidayubori Park.
The Japanese apricot(Ume) was in magnificent bloom.
I felt relaxed at this Jidayubori Park.

doll(hinamaturi)

2008-03-01T01:48:00.000-08:00

March 3 is the girls' day in Japan.
We celebrate the girls' day by displaying doll.
Jidayubori park(setagaya Tokyo)

At birth

2008-02-25T03:46:00.000-08:00

................................

This is my diary. 2000

The joys and sorrows of life

2008-01-24T14:55:00.000-08:00

Hijikata Hosotan part 1

I knew Hijikata(1928-1986).
But it was only his photographs.
We can watch Hijikata in youtube now.
I was fortunate in my choice.
Hijikata in youtube reminded me that SHINICHI SAITO painted in oils of GOZE.

GOZE (Japanese 瞽女)Wikipedia
visually impaired Japanese women, most of whom worked as musicians.
They was itinerant entertainer.
Photographs(quotation from GEIJUTU-SHINCHO Octber 1977).

Hannya Noh Mask

2008-01-20T22:06:00.000-08:00

Hannya mask expresses the fury of a woman.

Onibaba (鬼婆) (1964) (video)
Kaneto Shindo(April 28, 1912 (age 95) Film director)
I like his works.

dojoji(Noh)

Hannya mask is used in plays of "Dojoji" and " Aoi" (Noh)

Shinto shrine

2008-01-12T01:44:00.000-08:00

I went to shrine near my house

The first sunrise of a new year

2008-01-04T19:35:00.000-08:00

A Happy New Year 2008(video)

We have a custom of eating noodles on New Year's Eve.
When 108 gongs are sounded, the old year is over and the new year begins.
Very early on New Year's Day, many people pray the first visit to temple or shrine.
Many people watch the first sunrise of a new year with reverence.

Shinto and Buddhism are the two major religions in Japan.
Some people say Shinto is not a religion in a strict sense.

bird watching

2008-01-04T19:05:00.000-08:00

Anas penelope from tomoe on Vimeo.

Cast: tomoe

Larus rudibundus

2007-12-14T13:02:00.000-08:00

yurikamome

The Larus rudibundus(yurikamome) is the prefectural bird of Tokyo.

I bought a digital video camera.
I tried the digital video camera to see if it would work.
I didn't hold the camera steady in the cold wind.

Many homeless people spend the night in the flood plain.

Japanese old house (thatched roof)

2007-12-04T13:37:00.000-08:00

I found the acorn.

I look back on the good old days with nostalgia.

Kagura mask

2007-12-02T12:52:00.000-08:00

Kagura is a Japanese word.
The kagura mask is a tool for Shinto dance.

okame and hyottoko

Various kinds of kagura masks

参考・・・書籍{神楽面の彫り方中村延寿｝より・・・・

Walking is in

2007-12-01T17:19:00.000-08:00

morning mist on a river

The morning sun beamed

Nip juvenile delinquency in the bud

aku no te ni
noruna!
somaruna!
kugikeruna!

I went to the driving range.
I had lost interest in golf as soon as I played.

temple

2007-11-26T14:07:00.000-08:00

I strolled the temple.

Clouds are drifting across the sky.
Fallen leaves are dancing about in the wind.
Its shadow over the ground.

I think.
I want to lead a quiet life.

"Bijinga"(painting of beatiful women)

2007-11-05T13:21:00.000-08:00

Takehisa Yumeji(1884～1934)
He was active illustration ,painting, poety
and doll making from the end of Meiji period
and all through the taisho and at the beginning
of Showa period.

The deadline for nagatanien ochazuke present card is
December, 1997.
It closed ten years ago.

Temari Ball (An embroidery ball)

2007-10-31T16:58:00.000-07:00

When I put a room in order , I found temari.
This combination of pale colors in the temari is very attractive.
Those temari was made by my grandmother.

i'm an early riser

2007-09-18T13:48:00.000-07:00

I sometimes go to the Tama River to breathe the refreshing air of
the early morning.
I take a deep breath.
I do stretching for 10-15 minutes.

Taijiquan has changed my life.

A rainbow appeared in the west sky this morning.

A work of art which a typhoon made

Obon Festival

2007-08-26T21:32:00.000-07:00

This summer was hot.
I took two weeks holiday.
I went to my hometown.
Around the 15 th of August,everyone rushes back to their hometown.

Obon Festival
Obon is a traditional Buddhist festival which takes place throughout Japan around August 15 (July 15 in the lunar calendar). At this time, people visit their ancestors' graves, welcome the ancestors' spirits home with food and offerings and then see the spirits off.

I visited my ancestors' graves with my brother.
We had a lantern.
We set fire to a candle in a grave.
And we met an ancestors' spirits.

Family's Buddhist altar

Alcatrazz Hiroshima Mon Amour

2007-08-05T17:06:00.000-07:00

I liked DEEP PURPLE.
I got the tape of the band of Alcatrazz from my cousin.
And I came to like this band, too.

On August 6, it is the day of the 62nd atom bomb.
I remembered "Hiroshima Mon Amour" of Alcatrazz.

August 9 is a day of the Nagasaki atom bomb. (1945),
the U.S. forces followed Hiroshima of 6th in 1945
and dropped the second atom bomb on Nagasaki. It is 11:02 a.m.

The atom bomb of Hiroshima was called "little boy",
but the atom bomb of Nagasaki is called " fat man".
The atom bomb of Hiroshima was an uranium bomb,
but it is stronger than Hiroshima,
and this is sentenced to power for trinitrotoluene 21,000t
with a plutonium bomb. However, in Nagasaki of the valley,
the topography prevented expansion of the damage of the atom bomb
in comparison with Hiroshima of the level ground.

Early in the morning

2007-07-10T14:44:00.000-07:00

2007.06.23....The morning glow

2007.06.23....RoppongiHills

2007.06.23....Tokyo Tower

2007.06.24....The morning glow

2007.06.24....The morning glow

OKAME ＭＡＳＫ Making

2007-07-08T15:32:00.000-07:00

This is not yet completion

by tomoe

process

Wood is a hinoki

backside

Take it easy!

2007-05-13T15:33:00.000-07:00

We should'nt be afraid to think out of the box

Rice field

2007-05-13T04:05:00.000-07:00

One mist morning

2007-05-13T03:47:00.000-07:00

I'm a morning person.
One mist morning,
I took a walk.

An old monochrome picture.

2007-04-11T14:26:00.000-07:00

I like Monochrome world.

Farmclothes of a woman

The women of a Japanese farm village were hard workers.

the 1960s

･･･････････････････････････････････････････

summer festival

*Festival article*
Happi coat {法被はっぴ)}
Festival short coat{ 祭り半纏}
Sarashist (cloth ){並巾晒し反}
Tabi(socks ){足袋}

･･･････････････････････････････････････････

Imagine

the 1950s

kimono

2007-04-09T04:26:00.000-07:00

the 1940s
・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・

Monpe (Women's Work Pants)
covers a lower half of the body
when a woman works outside a house

the 1930s

Kamiya Chateau
・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・

Grandmother is okame face

the early 1930s
・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・

A Man's Kimono - Haori and hakama.

the early 1930s
・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・

SAKURA

2007-04-03T17:07:00.000-07:00

70 percent of the cherry blossoms are in bloom

morning walk

2007-03-15T16:28:00.000-07:00

eve of the beginning of spring

2007-02-06T15:11:00.000-08:00

February 3 is the eve of the beginning of spring.
We throw beans toward outside by saying
'Evils (devils) out,good luck coming in !’
at the house, shrines and temples

New year 2007

2007-01-08T14:27:00.000-08:00

Hyotoko and Okame

2006-10-17T16:46:00.000-07:00

by tomoe

Lotus

2006-10-07T16:17:00.000-07:00

Cluster amaryllis

2006-10-07T16:12:00.000-07:00

Lenticular cloud

2006-09-18T16:35:00.000-07:00

2006.09.19