2023年3月24日金曜日

Sushi story

Sushi has a long history, more than 1000 years in Japan. it was a fermented sour fish ปลาส้ม and rice, prepared for days, months or even years. a revolution took place some 200 years ago at a metropolis with more than a million people, now called Tokyo. it was a rebellion to the old tradition. sushi are now prepared in front of the customers and eaten immediately.


modern sushi started as street food in the days of shogunate. sushi preparing in front of customers today reflect the early days of ordering at roadside stands แผงลอย ร้านอาหารตามสั่ง   

some shops came to cater very expensive sushi to daimyos and rich merchants.

they are the origins of sushi masters today. their skills were handed down to next generations mainly by On-the-Job-Training to pupils. they were something like sushi academies. few shops were hereditary.

there is a fish market place in Kanazawa. Oh-mi choh.

owners of some stores are traders of precious fishes. a store master trades billions of yens per year in local and national auctions. they are providing best fishes used for sushi in Kanazawa area from all over the country. best Japan sea fishes to Tokyo market.

They provide better income for fish hunters and sushi masters.

there is a nationally famous sushi master in Kanazawa. he is over 90 years old now, but still providing sushi face to face, for his longtime customers and their guests only.

there is the Tukiji (now moved to Toyosu) auctions market in Tokyo. They are at the top among thousands of auctions nationwide. a system producing wealth on fishes.


Mt.Fuji at distance.  many sailing ships anchored in Tokyo bay.  
appeared in some foreign blogs. copyrights unknown.
this picture depicts Tokyo seaside in early 19th century.
a stall providing sushi.



2023年3月13日月曜日

7 lucky gods 七福神 are Japanese folk belief.


the deities are 3 from India and  3 from China. 

only one born in Japan kobe pref Awaji island - Ebisu. the name means foreigner for his parents came to Japan from somewhere unknown named Takamagahara according to the legends of ancient Japan.  

He is an elder brother of the queen goddess Amaterasu who is believed to be a remote ancestor of Japanese imperial family. Their mothers are different.

historical analysis of folk belief is difficult for there are few reliable records and they are often contradictory.   I was born in Nishinomiya, location of the Home shrine of Ebisu. a central figure of the major Japanese mercantile folk belief.  

one thing certain.  he has been supported by merchants,  especially those from Osaka and by fishing industry.  

7 lucky gods to ensure happiness.

พระสุรัสวดี 弁財天 Hindu for artistic skill, protecting waterway, wealth, success  

ท้าวเวสวัณ (คือท้าวกุเวร ในศาสนาฮินดู) 毘沙門天 Hindu  for military power  

พระศิวะ 大黒天 Daikoku Hindu  for power  

ゑびす Ebisu Japan Shinto  for mercantilism  

布袋尊 Buddhists folk belief in China. bodhisattva  

福禄寿 Daoism   deity for longevity, prosperity having many children  

寿老人 Daoism   deity for longevity  


all of them transformed to oriental figures. characters changed to peaceful nature in Tokugawa era, for peace 泰平 was the supreme value of the shogunate.

as for popularity of each hindu god / goddess, Tokyo, Kobe and Hiroshima are cities for พระสุรัสวดี 弁財天

Tokyo has more than 20 courses for 7 lucky gods.  Hyogo pref more than 10, but Osaka has very few.  Osaka is a city for พระศิวะ 大黒天 and Ebisu  




2022年8月9日火曜日

siege of Oshi 1590

Oshi domain in Saitama pref has always been a key to dominate Tokyo plain (Kanto) since ancient times.

after this battle in 1590 Tokugawa  established the lordship of the area.

later since 17th century Oshi had a detached territory at western part of Akashi.




2022年3月10日木曜日

Short history Ukraine ウクライナ小史

Ukraine today was called "Sarmatia" at the time of Roman empire.  Sarmatians were horse men clad in armour.  the core of Sarmatism is said to be "the golden liberty" i.d. freedom and equality.  it sounds close to the ideals of french revolution.  

Their language probably close to Persian.  it is not clear how slavonic language developed over time. 



Khazar empire (650-850) came next.  it was a mercantile power with national religion Judaism.



Kyiv Rus (882-1240) is regarded as the source of eastern Slavic states.  

after the Mongol invasion the area was under Polish/Lithuanian rule.

Ukraine Zaporozhian Cossacks (1648-1775)  seek Russian help for the independence from Poland.

1775 Russia annexed Ukraine.

Ukraine independent for a short time after WW1.

1917-1921 Soviet Ukrainian War

1932-1933  Stalin behaved like Pol Pot.   drastic decrease of Ukrainian population. 

1921-1991 Ukraine as a part of Soviet Union

1991-  Ukraine today



2022年2月19日土曜日

Tanshihuai 檀石槐 and Wa people

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Just before Himiko, queen of Wa in 3rd century, there was a hero called Tanshihuai 檀石槐 (130–182) in Manchuria and Mongolia.  

He inherited the power of Xiongnu at the Mongolian plateau.

There is a record that he brought Wa people and started fishery. The location is the Xar Moron、西拉木倫河 River or the lower Liaohe River. To the east is the Liaodong Peninsula, where Wa people lived. This also overlaps with the origin of Japanese language defined by Martine Robbeets.

卑弥呼の時代の直前、倭国大乱の頃 満蒙で活躍した人物に鮮卑族の檀石槐がいる。モンゴル高原の覇者として匈奴の勢力を継承した。

彼には倭人をつれてきて漁業を起こしたとの記録が残る。その場所はシラムレン川または遼河下流。その東となると遼東半島で、そこに倭人がいたことになる。これは Martine Robbeets が比定する日本語の源流地域とも重なる


種眾日多,田畜射獵不足給食,檀石槐乃自徇行,見烏集秦水廣從數百里,水停不流,其中有魚,不能得之。聞倭人善網捕,於是東擊倭人國,得千餘家,徙置秦水上。令捕魚以助糧食。

東征倭人之說 見於 後漢書 卷九十 烏桓鮮卑列傳

 


2022年2月1日火曜日

Happy lunar new year 2022

 I checked the traditional lunar calendar. Today is 1/1.  Mutsuki Tsuitachi. 



今日は旧暦の睦月ついたち 旧正月 春節 三島暦 

Middle point between Vernal Equinox and Winter solstice 

冬至と春分の中間地点が立春、その付近の新月の日が春節

 


 


2021年12月16日木曜日

日仏関係 France and Japan

フランス国立図書館 略称 BnF の紹介 

BnF Bibliothèque nationale de France

ここに明治日本とフランスの関係の簡潔な説明がある

Coopération scientifique, technique et juridique.  La France a joué au XIXe siècle un rôle clé dans l'introduction des techniques modernes au Japon.

https://gallica.bnf.fr/html/und/asie/cooperation-scientifique-technique-et-juridique

フランスと東アジアの歴史的関係は全般的にはあまりよいものとは言えない。

特にタイ王国などはメコン川流域に保有していた広大な領土をフランスのインドシナ植民地に併合されたことから反仏感情は今でも底流にあるかもしれない。

それに比べるとフランスは幕末から明治にかけての日本の近代化に産業技術と軍事技術を注ぎ込んだ存在で、同盟にまで進んだことはないにせよ それに準ずる関係を続けてきた。フランスが最初に主導したヴェルサイユ体制やG7でも日本は優遇されてきたと言える。

 


 写真は幕末の第一次軍事顧問団 Wikipedia

 

In mid 19th century Japan, Britain supported the revolutionary imperial forces and France supported the old regime Tokugawa shogunate. In spite of this fact, the new imperial government chose France to receive a military assistance. 
 
in 20th century, there was the Anglo-Japanese alliance during Russo-Japanese war and World War One. the alliance with Germany in WW2. But as for 19th century, Japan was on french side. Italy also was a major supplier of military technology. 
 
Britain and Germany came later.
 
the new government established in Kyoto (1868) destroyed many old things domestically. But they maintained the same relations abroad. inherited from the shogunate. 
 
Records in french national library (BnF) on the continuation of military cooperation say it is "une marque d'amitié" by the imperial government of Japan. 
 
Relations avec le Japon de Meiji 
 
La défaite française de 1870 contre la Prusse ne dissuade pas le jeune gouvernement de Meiji de se tourner à nouveau vers la France pour la modernisation de son armée.
 
Chanoine explique plus largement ce choix comme une "preuve chevaleresque de confiance dans l'armée [française] qui avait fourni à l'armée japonaise ses premières instructions" et également comme "une marque d'amitié" du gouvernement japonais
A la demande du Japon, une deuxième mission militaire est envoyée en 1872
 
 
 

2021年9月20日月曜日

Shakushain's battles

a major conflict between Tokugawa shogunate and native powers in Hokkaido

natives were overwhelmed by firearms of the shogunate.

Shakushain (1606-1669) was a leader of Ainu tribes.  


 

Ainu tribes were divided by Russia and Japan later in 19th century.  


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shakushain's_revolt


CC BY-SA 4.0




2021年9月6日月曜日

village on a mountain

ashiya hyogo pref was one of the many villages going up on mountains for defense in civil  wars  of  2000 years ago.

archaeology says the period extended from 100 B.C. to 200 A.D. 


the building was restored recently on the mountain approx 200 m above sea level.

photo with permission to post on the net.   credit : ashiya city.

2021年8月22日日曜日

Differences -- Yahoo Search & Yahoo Japan Search

There is a big difference.  

 


Yahoo Japan uses Google and Yahoo.com in California uses Bing as their search engine.


Result is sometimes quite different.

 

 

ヤフー ジャパンの検索はグーグル、アメリカのグーグル本社の検索エンジンはBingです

検索結果はかなり違います
 

 

Yahoo! JAPAN



2021年8月21日土曜日

How to stop Instagram DM auto reply

インスタDMで自動返信が止まらない問題。それが英語となるとさらに当惑する。InstagramがFacebook傘下で統合されつつある。Facebook pageとInstagramを連動させるとInstagramDMはFacebookのコントロール下に入り、自動返信が始まる。


Facebookのビジネスマネージャーにアクセスし、メニュー(ホーム・お知らせ・受信箱)のなかから受信箱を選び、さらに上段の「自動返信」メニューボタンを押して、インスタント返信がオフになっていることを確かめよう。

When connected to Facebook page, Instagram DM begins to respond with instant response.  


"Hi, thanks for contacting us. We've received your message and appreciate you reaching out."


Access to Facebook business manager and turn off instant response.







2021年8月18日水曜日

an old mansion destined to break down survived

十数年前、取り壊しが心配されていた頃の旧ジェームス邸(望淡閣)の記事がありました

James family's estate, overlooking awaji island and akashi channel, was one of the most luxurious mansions in the former ampoe akashi.  it is now a space for marriage ceremony.   Ernest William James built the house in 1934. its original land had occupied  57 acres.

建物は現在、結婚式場として営業しているようです。

d.hatena.ne.jp

 photo from wikipedia


 




 

2021年8月5日木曜日

Devanagari and Thai alphabet

I made a transliteration table between the ancient Indian Sanskrit and Thai alphabet. sounds in Roman alphabet representations by Harvard-Kyoto method too. it shows extremely close relationships between an ancient Indian language and Thai language today. massive amount of words from Sanskrit are used in Thailand now.

Sanskrit was also used in Japanese buddhism at its early stage for deeper study.





क ख ग घ ङ Velar
k kh g gh G
ก ข ค ฆ ง
च छ ज झ ञ Palatal
c ch j jh J
จ ฉ ซ ฌ ญ
ट ठ ड ढ ण Retroflex
T Th D Dh N
ฏ ฐ ฑ ฒ ณ
त थ द ध न Dental
t th d dh n
ต ถ ท ธ น
प फ ब भ म Labial
p ph b bh m
ป ผ พ ภ ม
य र ल व Semi-vowel
y r l v
ย ร ล ว
श ष स ह Fricative
z S s h
ศ ษ ส ห