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! Ask me !
Feel free to ask me any question about Japanese food culture.
Join Japanese Food Culture Group
for regular updates, questions and more
Or about Haiku, Kigo and Saijiki almanachs.
Or about Daruma san,
the great companion in many aspects of Japanese culture.
Or anything else about Japan !
Please add your question as a comment to this entry below.
Thank you very much.
Gabi Greve
Daruma Museum Japan
The World Kigo Database
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66 comments:
Hello and thank you for propagating more information on Gibon Sengai.
I found in his Universe painting a straight forward and simplified geometrical metaphor for all that I have come to feel about life. However, to this day I haven't seen
a single interpretation of the characters written to the left of the shapes.
Does anyone have that iterpretation?
> Sincere thanks
Dear Friend,
please check for the answer here
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Darumasan-Japan/message/1722
Hello, I've travelled through Japan for six weeks (I'm Dutch by the way), and I found the food delicious. I learned to cook many Japanese dishes, but there are dishes I even don't know the name of. In restaurants I got several times a dish on a large leaf placed on an open grill. Could you please let me know what the name is of this dish? I have a picture, but I don't see how I can upload it here.
I also got many times a small Danobe on a fire (a fuel case with wax; can't find this tablet in Europe). I can find recipes for hot pots, but I'm not sure the content as a side dish is the same as a main dish. Could you please clear this up.
Last: what is the best English cookbook you know of for Japanese food? Thanks for your answers.
Dear Lieke san,
for the photos, join me here
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/foodculturejapan/
where you can upload photos.
Then I can answer you in more details.
Here is a page of books
http://washokufood.blogspot.com/2008/04/reference_29.html
Gabi
Does anyone here have a recipe for Kikuza squash?
Dear Mina,
you might try
http://japanesefood.about.com/
or
http://www.grouprecipes.com/tags/squash/recipe/1/rating
or google here
http://www.google.co.jp/search?hl=en&q=kikuza+squash+recipe+japan&aq=f&oq=
Gabi
Hello- I was given a Daurma Doll at New Years last year. I filled in one eye and made my wish. Shortly before the year was up I felt that my wish had indeed came to be and so I filled in the second eye. However, soon after that things related to my wish have gone badly. I still have my doll sitting in my bedroom. Should I have burned it? Should I keep it there? What if any are the beliefs of if you do not burn the doll? And if my "wish" is now no longer true- is there anything I can do? Would it benefit me to burn it now? Any feedback is appreciated. Thank you
Dear Susie,
well it all depends on how much you think this is a superstition or something real.
If you feel guilty about not burning your Daruma, better go ahead now, burn it and get a new one for a new wish according to the changed circumstances.
Or keep this one on your shelf, say your daily "thank you" prayer to it
and buy a new one for the new situation and wish.
Gabi
Let me begin by saying I am happy to have found your website, and delighted that you offer to answer questions about Japan. I have met people from Japan here in Lawrence KS, mostly students, however I have not yet met one interested in history, so my questions go unanswered. So my first question is, do you know anything about small celluloid figures that depict scenes from Japan? I have collected 14 or so, the most common seems to be a geisha in a ricksha pulled by a man, other common themes are boats containing geisha or the immortals, and I have one wonderful one showing a man walking on a waterwheel to turn it and a woman carrying a yoke over one shoulder with buckets hanging from it. Are these tourist items, I wonder, or do they have some function in Japanese culture, on girl's day, perhaps?
Dear Dorothy,
I am not so sure, what kind of dolls you are talking about. Could you send a picture?
Celluloid is a rather new material for dolls, so they seem not to have a long historical relevance, like dolls made from clay or washi paper or other native material.
The subjects you quote also sound rather "tourist"-like. They may have been made as tourist attractions to sell at train stations and airports ?
Here is a link to Celluloid Daruma from Kobe
http://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/celluloid-kobe-charm-daruma-retracting-eyes
more photos, are these like your dolls?
http://blogimg.goo.ne.jp/user_image/3f/11/f7520b8b0334c04d93060fdc35c747b1.jpg
Here is another interesting link
Wooden Toys ＆ Celluloid Toys
http://tensyoudo.blog71.fc2.com/blog-entry-116.html
Do these look like your geisha?
http://blog-imgs-24-origin.fc2.com/t/e/n/tensyoudo/toy01.jpg
and the whole of
celluloid gangu toys
http://www.google.co.jp/images?um=1&hl=en&ndsp=20&tbs=isch%3A1&sa=3&q=%E2%80%9D%E3%82%BB%E3%83%AB%E3%83%AD%E3%82%A4%E3%83%89%E7%8E%A9%E5%85%B7%E3%80%80%E2%80%9D%E3%80%80%E6%97%A5%E6%9C%AC&btnG=Search+images
I will try and find more later.
Gabi
Dear Dorothy, here is a bit more
http://darumadollmuseum.blogspot.com/2010/05/celluloid-dolls.html
Please join the Daruma Forum to share your photos
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Darumasan-Japan/
Gabi
Dorothy from Kansas AKA Amy Hammer responds - no, my celluloid figurines don't look like toys, or dolls. They are figurines, depicting life in Japan. I've started the process of joining the Daruma site so I can post some pictures for your view. Thanks for the referral.
Thank you for your very interesting website. You said you are working on the realization of the Culinaria: Japan. Are you the author? Last year, I heard from the publisher that it would appear in the fall of 2010, is that true?
Many thanks.
Hi Charles,
I am one of the authors.
The texts are finished, but due to the circumstances of the publisher the book has been greatly delayed ... I just hope not for ever.
Thank you for your reply. I'm sorry to hear about the delay. You may be interested to know that there is a food blog with a recent--and still on-going--discussion of the Culinaria series: https://culinariaeugenius.wordpress.com
A few posters, myself included, have actually written the new publisher, H. F. Ullmann to let them know there is still great interest in the series.
https://culinariaeugenius.wordpress.com/2008/02/04/culinaria-cookbooks/
As a graduate student, I am poor. Not poor enough, however, to take advantage of a tremendous opportunity to buy some of the Culinaria series of world cuisine cookbooks, which are now on clearance at Borders for $9.99.
The German publisher Konemann started putting out the Culinaria series out about ten years ago, and most of the Culinaria cookbooks have gone through two editions.
the discussion is interesting !
greetings gabi,
on your (wonderful) website you posted that you have visited gogo-an, the hermitage used by the zen poet ryokan. i love his poetry and haikus, and even wrote a song about him on my last album titled "one robe one bowl." i will be visiting japan in october and plan on making a pilgrimage to izumozaki to see the museum there. i would also like to visit gogo-an. could you please tell me how to go about finding it? is it close to the museum? i live near san francisco, california, so this will be a big trek for me! any information you can provide about worthy sites related to ryokan would be greatly appreciated. thanks so much!
This will be quite a trip, if you have to rely on English language.
here
http://wikitravel.org/en/Izumozaki
Best go to the tourist office at the station and ask them for help.
(They are now at most stations in Japan, and quite friendly.)
Some famous spots provide volunteer guides for foreigners.
A taxi will bring you there most eaily, but expensive.
Within the temple compounds, the way toward Gogo-An is well marked, you cant miss it.
Take a lot of time to get lost on the way in Japan, it is beautiful anywhere up there !
Gabi
thank you so much for the information, gabi. i look forward to the pilgrimage (and adventure!) and will let you know how it goes...
peace.
Dear Gabi
Could you recommend a book in English about the history of Daruma please ?
Dear Friend, since you did not leave any mailing adress, I will answer to you here
McFarland, H. Neill.
Daruma: The Founder of Zen in Japanese Art and Popular Culture.
Gabi
Here are more
http://darumasan.blogspot.com/2006/12/daruma-encyclopedia.html
.
Gabi,
I am very happy to find your page!
This is an off-track question, but I guess I am taking you up on "ask me anything about Japan!"
I am looking for the history of a house 614 Nishiyama-cho Atami City Shizouka Prefecture. I saw the house online as a country estate for sale and fell in love. I have been studying about it and would like to know more history. Who owned it before the Furuwaka corporation and more particularly who was it was built for? I know a "feudal lord" in the early Showa period but that is it. I think it has been sold to a professor; it is a beautiful house that I hope to visit one day.
If you have any ideas where I could continue my search I would be grateful. I stumbled upon your site looking for the furigana of the Heart Sutra by the way. I came to know about that by stumbling upon the 88 Temple Pilgrimage and learning about Kobo Daishi a few weeks ago.
ありがとございました
はじめまして
ジェニファ
..............
Dear Jenifer
this seems the place in question
http://blogs.yahoo.co.jp/aihome_izu/364359.html
所在地：静岡県熱海市西山町６１４番２他、
元々長州出身の退役将軍鳥尾子爵の庵であり、
徳川光圀が晩年を過ごした「西山荘」の庭園を模して造園したと伝えられている。
It was the retreat of former Choshu Samurai Shishoku Torio Norimitsu (his wife was Torio Tsuruyo, daughter of the Mitsui Clan)
The garden is in the style as Seisanso, the villa from Tokugawa Mitsukuni (Mito Komon).
I hope this helps!
Gabi
Gabi,
I am very happy to find your page!
This is an off-track question, but I guess I am taking you up on "ask me anything about Japan!"
I am looking for the history of a house 614 Nishiyama-cho Atami City Shizouka Prefecture. I saw the house online as a country estate for sale and fell in love. I have been studying about it and would like to know more history. Who owned it before the Furuwaka corporation and more particularly who was it was built for? I know a "feudal lord" in the early Showa period but that is it. I think it has been sold to a professor; it is a beautiful house that I hope to visit one day.
If you have any ideas where I could continue my search I would be grateful. I stumbled upon your site looking for the furigana of the Heart Sutra by the way. I came to know about that by stumbling upon the 88 Temple Pilgrimage and learning about Kobo Daishi a few weeks ago.
ありがとございました
はじめまして
ジェニファ
..............
Dear Jenifer
this seems the place in question
http://blogs.yahoo.co.jp/aihome_izu/364359.html
所在地：静岡県熱海市西山町６１４番２他、
元々長州出身の退役将軍鳥尾子爵の庵であり、
徳川光圀が晩年を過ごした「西山荘」の庭園を模して造園したと伝えられている。
It was the retreat of former Choshu Samurai Shishoku Torio Norimitsu (his wife was Torio Tsuruyo, daughter of the Mitsui Clan)
The garden is in the style as Seisanso, the villa from Tokugawa Mitsukuni (Mito Komon).
I hope this helps!
Gabi
Hello Gabi-san,
I was wondering if you could know of any "haunted" locations in Tokyo. For example, temples, shrines, sculptures associated with a famous ghost story, curse, yokai, or onryo (malevolent spirit). I know most of the main ones: Oiwa, Masakado no kubizuka, Enma Daio of Taisouji etc. Headless Jizo in Hachioji. Have looked at the article on Ghosts here, which is excellent but focuses mainly on artwork. I am looking more for locations. Even haunted restaurants/bars where spirits are said to appear. Thank you!
This is a difficult question.
Maybe this will cheer you up ?
some are ghosts
http://www.koyagi.com/ACPages/ACmain.html
and the ghost detector ?
http://www.fuckedgaijin.com/forums/showthread.php?t=11271&page=2&highlight=ghost
I will check more later.
Read all you can get about
Mizuki Shigeru, he has all the ghosts of Japan.
Gabi
camphor wood statue: from Mary in Newberry Springs, California I have a Japanese camphor wood statue.I have had Him since 1965. He was a Wedding gift from my brother who was in the US Navy. He purchased Him in Tokyo as far as I know. He was told that He was an antique. He stands 2 feet tall and He is 1 foot wide. He is black on the outside. You can remove His coin-making mallet and smell the camphor wood scent. I have had Him for 45 years. I have been reasonably prosperous all these years. I want to know more about Him. Can you help me?
Dear Mary,
do you have a photo to share about your treasure?
Maybe it is a Daikoku, considering the mallet you mention?
http://darumamuseum.blogspot.com/2008/02/daikoku.html
To share a photo, join me here and I let you know how to proceed.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Darumasan-Japan/
Gabi
Thanks for getting in touch, Mary.
I hope we can figure this one out.
Gabi
Dear Gabi:
At the top of your (/wkdfestivalsaijiki.blogspot.com/2007/09/rosary-juzu.html) page, there are two pictures - one of various styles of ojuzu and how they are customarily held, and one of the terminology of the component parts. All of these are of interest to me, but the resolutions are much too coarse for me to attempt to read. Would there be another source, where I could see them at higher resolution?
Lorne Henwood
Dear Lorne,
here is a bigger photo
http://www.yuuzensha.co.jp/faq/file/1229044043.jpg
googeling from here, you might find more
http://images.google.co.jp/images?q=%E6%95%B0%E7%8F%A0&hl=en&ndsp=18&tbs=isch:1&ei=d7RuTfzcHcnccLaosfsC&start=0&sa=N
I hope this helps.
Gabi
Hello,I found your information about Soga no kyoodai very helpful and interesting. Are there any descendants now?
I am sure there are still some living in the region or elsewhere in Japan.
gabi
Hi, we've been to Kyushu, Kagoshima and next to the Sakurajima 10 days ago.
On the island, there were many ViewPoints to the volcano and in front of one of them, there was a shop, with an old man who let us taste something ... It has the texture of honey, the first taste also sweet, but at last, a gently acid taste lies in mouth. The color is like amber.
The old man only said it was from sweet potato. He had proofs (pub and text, but all in japanese) showing how famous his product was.
My friend and me especially liked it and buy him a pot.
Do you have any idea of what this could be ?
There are two kanji above the pot, like an F and K.
If it can help, I could send you a photograph.
Thanks,
Florence
Few things about me :
I'm french, my initials are FK ;)and a convicted fan of azuki, satsumaimo and daruma. I "adopted" a second one for my second time in Japan. I really enjoyed japanese food, and tasted all I Could taste.
I've just discovered your site, looking for answers but I think I'm gonna often come back.
Dear Florence,
check the images here,
http://www.google.co.jp/images?hl=ja&q=%E9%B9%BF%E5%85%90%E5%B3%B6%E3%80%80%E3%82%B5%E3%83%84%E3%83%9E%E3%82%A4%E3%83%A2&um=1&ie=UTF-8&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&biw=1251&bih=815
if not, send me a photo.
Contact me via the group.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Darumasan-Japan/
Gabi
Dear Gabi Greve,
I am a composer from the Isle of Wight (UK) and am currently making settings of haiku for soprano voice and piano. I am looking for the romaji of the Japanese text of the following poem by Chiyo-ni:
moon viewing
after coming home
nothing to say
I wonder if you can help me?
Your site is marvellous, by the way. Thank you.
James
Hi James,
this seems more difficult that I thought. Nothing at first glance.
Give me some time.
Do you have a link to the page where you found this translation?
Gabi
Here is the online version
http://haikukan.city.hakusan.ishikawa.jp/english/chiyojo/autumn/detail_57.html
and the email of the museum
chiyojonosato@city.hakusan.ishikawa.jp
.
Gabi
Thank you Gabi. I will contact the museum. Best wishes, James.
I received a rather unhelpful reply from Chiyo-ni museum! However, in the meantime, after a futher rummage on the internet, I was able to find a romaji version of the poem I wanted, which is as follows:
meigetsu ni
kaerite hanasu
koto wa nashi
Thanks for the good news, James!
Gabi,
I'm currently researching two questions about Japanese food.
The first has to do with the making of tofu. I'm curious about the evolution of the technique. Specifically I'm trying to find out if at any time in history, soybeans were soaked for long periods, like 24 hours, prior to liquification. And if so, was any knowledge or importance placed on developing a culture during the soaking?
The second question has to do with the wide spread adoption of polished rice and the beri beri outbreak that ensued. Polished rice was probably introduced when rice itself was introduced to Japan. But the impression I get from the research I have done is that it was initially only available to the upper classes. The reasons for this are not entirely clear, but I assume it had more to do with labor than nutrition. (Rich people can pay someone to mill their rice, peasants only had so many hours in a day and milling rice was too labor intensive). But I could be wrong on this. Perhaps there was a strong desire to eat unpolished rice for health reasons that was ignored once polished rice became widely available to all classes. This is what happened in Europe for example when milling technology made white flour generally available.
The beri beri epidemic appears to have been brought about by European millers, introducing high capacity rice milling machines. These machines drove down the price of polished rice until everyone could afford it.
What I still don't understand is why industrial milling of rice did not occur until Europeans introduced the technology. While it is possible that the European technology was simply more advanced, I'm skeptical that the Japanese couldn't solve this problem as they had centuries to work on it. They industrialized lots of processes without European technology. I'm curious if there where health related reasons for sticking with brown that eventually were ignored.
Thanks,
Paul
Dear Paul,
you are pursuing some interesting questions here.
I will be waiting for your results!
Please share them!
Gabi
Gabi Greve様
日本語での質問もよろしいでしょうか･･･？
宜しくお願いします。
ぜひ、どうぞ
ガビ
。
ガビさん
返信遅くなってしまい、すみません。
ブログにも書いてあるのかも知れませんが、私は英語が不出来で見つけられませんでした。
恐れ入りますが、お手隙の際にご返信をお願いいたします。
ガビさんから見て、「日本の魅力的な点」と、「そうではない改める点」は、どのようなものでしょうか･･･？
私は残念ながら、海外にほとんど行ったことが無く、外国の方から見た日本にとても興味があります。
どうぞよろしくお願い致します。Maki
Hi Maki san,
この和食のBLOGにいろいろ返事があるます。
日本の魅力は食べ物だけではありません。
ガビ
ガビさん
ご返信ありがとうございます。
ガビさんのおっしゃるように、もう少し時間を掛けまして、ブログを拝読させていただきます。
また、魅力につきましても、自分なりに母国を見つめ直してみます。
どうもありがとうございました。 Maki
Hello
Thank you so much for your kind words on my blog. I really appreciate it. I have not yet created my FB and Twitter accounts, for I haven't had enough spare time due to my tight schedule. If I create mine, I'll visit "Joys of Japan" as soon as possible.
I so enjoyed reading your blogs, especially about haiku and Daruma-san. And I've learned a lot of interesting things from your blogposts. I'm not good at writing haiku but sometimes I try to write haiku-like stuff! Thank you again, Gabi-san!!
Hashioki question
I have a food culture related question. I recently read in an English language book (A Dictionary of Japanese Food by Richard Hosking) that many Japanese "don't even possess chopstick rests, let alone use them." Do you think this is true?
I collect hashioki, and have seen them for sale in many places in Japan in great quantities and varieties. Somebody in Japan must be using them!
Thanks!
Dear anonymous hashioki,
they are sold everywhere, in all souvenir shops and homewear shops . . .
If they are used, I can only guess ... my friends use them when inviting guests.
People often fold the paper cover of throw-away chopsticks in a restaurant to use it as a hashioki, so it seems they are missing something on the table . . .
I keep observing this for you.
Gabi
Hi Gabi,
In your research on the compilation of the first Japanese saijikis, did you find that they were put together as a list of seasonal references-- "kigo" and "kidai" (I know those words were not used then)-- with poems being added to exemplify the entries, or were the entries of seasonal terms determined from the accumulation of poems that used a
seasonal reference in a certain manner? in other words, did the saijiki develop from the poetry or
the poetry develop from the saijiki entries (in reference to the Chineses almanacs)?
thanks so much for your time,
Eve Luckring
Los Angeles
Dear Eve, this is hard to speculate.
In the days before googeling . . .
It had to be in your head, books were not easily available to everybody in the times of Basho.
I guess it worked both ways, the more haiku with the same season word (a kind of honkadori) he collected, the better his mental saijiki.
.
If you find an answer to your quest, please share it with me!
Gabi
I found your page about Otake Dainichi Nyorai very helpful. I have 8 prints on this subject and I wonder if you have any idea why this subject would have been popular around the late 1840s? Apparently there was a play about Otake - do you know the name or when it was produced? Thank you for your help.
--Lois Gilder, San Francisco
unfortunately I could not get any more information.
I keep an eye open on O-Take Nyorai.
Gabi
Dear Dr Greve ,
I am searching for any information on the poet ,writer and early
writer of film scripts Sato Koroku .
It seems information is very hard to
come by , and I was delighted to
find mention of his work on your
haiku blog ! I should very much
like to find a source , which contains some of his poetry (Nihongo
demo mondai nashi !) Can you help ?
Best regards ,
Friederike Maeda
Dear Frederike
I will try and update the page about him soon.
Meanwhile if you google with
https://www.google.co.jp/
and
佐藤紅緑
you get a lot.
Gabi
Just coming upon your website
SO many sparrows
around the corner chirping
in the smallest bush
Is the following free or open haiku or haiku-like in your opinion:
It must be
like the taste
of crane
-Japanese elder
to her gay offspring
It must be like the taste of crane.
.
does not look haiku-like to me, but others may have other opinions.
Greetings from a hot day in Japan
gabi
Hi! I was wondering if there are any consequences to not burning a Daruma after the wish comes true and both eyes have been filled in. Thanks for your help!
Dear Juan
the "consequence" would be that you can not make a new wish.
(And the temple can not make business by not selling you another one.)
Gabi
Dear Gabi,
this is such an impressive website thank yu for all this hard work. I wondered if you can help me, I am looking for specifically Kyoto vegetables and there seasons.
Can you recommend a book? Does not matter if it is japanese as long as it has pictures.
Or if you have any information please let me know.
I am trying to study all vegetables from Kyoto for my personal research.
Thank you
Ni
Dear Ni san
Here is the page with all regional vegetables ...
Dentoo yasai 伝統野菜 Traditional Vegetables
http://washokufood.blogspot.jp/2009/12/dentoo-yasai-traditional-vegetables.html
From here you find the Kyoto Vegetables
Kyooyasai, kyoyasai, kyosai 京野菜 / 京菜 Vegetables from Kyoto.
http://washokufood.blogspot.jp/2008/07/goboo.html
.
I hope this helps.
You an also google with 京野菜
and get here for example
http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki%E4%BA%AC%E9%87%8E%E8%8F%9C
おいしい京野菜おばんざい160
http://www.amazon.co.jp/%E3%81%8A%E3%81%84%E3%81%97%E3%81%84%E4%BA%AC%E9%87%8E%E8%8F%9C%E3%81%8A%E3%81%B0%E3%82%93%E3%81%96%E3%81%84160-%E5%B2%A9%E5%9F%8E-%E7%94%B1%E5%AD%90/dp/4888480923
Gabi
Dear Gabi, thank you so much for posting so many interesting things with good information.
I'm working about the Japanese kesa and other Buddhist textiles. Some of these kesa and textiles have chrests (mon). I could find out, that these mon are called jimon and are connected with temples (sometimes Buddhist figures or even Shrines). It is hard to find information about these jimon, even in Japanese. If you have an idea, where I could find something, I would be very grateful. With kind regards. Walter Bruno Brix
Here are some crests from temples and shrines
Hope it helps.
http://x181.secure.ne.jp/~x181007/kamon/goodslist.cgi?in_kate=75
All the best
Gabi
Liebe Gabi Greve, hier ist Ihre Namenskollegin in Kanagawa, Gabriele Kubo. Ich ergaenze gerade meine Greengabes Seiten mit Informationen ueber Kyogi und bin bei der Recherche auf Sie gestossen. Sie waren so nett, aus meiner hp zu zitieren und diese auch anzugeben. Vielen Dank dafuer! Darf ich von Ihrem Blog Informationen ueber Kyogi benuetzen und vielleicht auch Bilder ( kyogifune, kyoginatto, kyogi decoration)? Ich werde Sie natuerlich als Quelle nennen.
Herzlichen Dank von Gabriele Kubo
Hallo liebe Gabi namensvetterin !!
Selbstverstaendlich keonnen Sie meinen Blog zitieren, vielen Dank.
Ich freue mich immer, wenn meine Recherchen nuetzlich sind.
Gruesse aus Okayama
Gabi
.
Hallo Gabi, ich arbeite an einem neuen Buch und durch Recherche über Matarajin bin ich auf Deinen Blog gestossen. Vielen Dank fuur die Inspiration. Bist Du immer noch in Japan? Herzliche Grüsse, Hans
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