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moon in the water Blog Tools Rating: Rate This Blog
Creation Date: 04-26-2010 10:46 PM
niall
Offline
rss2
the water does not try
to reflect the moon
and the moon has no desire
to be reflected
but when the clouds clear
there is the moon in the water
Blog Info
Status: Public
Entries: 155
Comments: 1,111
Views: 1,866,761

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In General Behind the Glass Entry Tools Rating: 5 Stars!
  #41 New 02-04-2011 07:00 AM
Behind the Glass Once too meeting by the Seine
The waters a moving floor of stars,
He had vanished when I reached the door,
But there on the pavement burning
Lay one of his familiar black cigars.

from Je es un autre, by Lawrence Durrell


I keep coming back to the idea of mask and truth. Someone makes a thoughtful comment and the train goes on to yet another station.

I started the first mask article by talking about the Tiger Mask manga. That was a comic about a sports hero. There is another kind of manga called shojo manga ostensibly aimed at younger women. The story is usually much more sophisticated than a simple sports story. There is one famous manga called The Glass Mask (Garasu no Kamen). It's about a young woman who wants to become an actress. With the help of a mentor she develops her own method acting and gradually becomes an accomplished actress. The glass mask is the fragile mask of an actor. If it breaks it reveals the actor's real face and real feelings.

As well as your face another part of your identity is your name. I used to get my hair cut by a Japanese guy who had lived in London. He liked speaking English. When I first called up I gave my full name but somehow it got mixed up and when I arrived the stylist called me Matthew. I corrected him but it happened the next time too. So after a couple of times I gave up correcting him and just accepted it. And so once every few weeks I became Matthew. It felt very freeing! In Japan in the past it was not uncommon to change your name - sometimes just slightly - at different phases of your life. There are also pen names and stage names and professional names. My first aikido teacher used different variations of his name and so did Morihei Ueshiba the founder of aikido. In martial arts the head of a school often has a special name. O Sensei, or great teacher, might sound like hyperbole to people who don't do aikido.

In Japan 3rd February is the last day of winter. It used to be the last day of the year. It's called setsubun. People throw beans and shout a traditional shout. Sometimes someone even wears a devil's mask. So we come full circle. Back to the mask.

Devils out! Happiness in!



wikipedia articles
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glass_mask

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Setsubun

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oni_(Japanese_folklore)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_name

link to the poem by Lawrence Durrell
http://wordsmith.org/board/ubbthread...63906&page=all


cool photo of broken glass: radiate by Sally/My aim is true http://www.flickr.com/photos/sallypics/89905757/ photostream http://www.flickr.com/photos/sallypics/with/89905757/ used under creative commons licence

© niall matthews 2011
Views: 6035 | Comments: 18


RSS Feed 18 Responses to "Behind the Glass"
#18 08-15-2011 04:15 AM
niall Says:
Thanks Carina. Let my books be then the eloquence...
#17 02-19-2011 10:08 AM
guest1234567 Says:
Thanks very much Niall for the two movies, very interesting and intrigued Cara a cara and Angels heart's --- And here a nice poem As an unperfect actor on the stage by William Shakespeare
#16 02-14-2011 07:48 AM
niall Says:
Dustin Hoffmann was a student of Lee Strasberg's method acting. When he deprived himself of sleep for two days to prepare for a part the great British actor Laurence Olivier said, "Try acting - it's much easier."
#15 02-13-2011 11:39 AM
guest1234567 Says:
Thanks for the movies Niall, Yume is from 1990 and is ecological, it is interesting how foreseeing Akira Kurosawa thought at that time. I'd like to add about actors, it must be very difficult to express all the emotions of a roll in a movie, sometimes to cry or to laugh or to express love or hate. To change your whole personality is that makes a great actor. There are actors who have just one roll always, but some of them like Dustin Hoffman or Tom Hanks who manage every roll in a great form
#14 02-11-2011 08:44 AM
niall Says:
Thanks, Carina. Sorry you had to break your comments up. There's a movie by Akira Kurosawa called Yume - Dreams. It has that theme of kitsune. It's not a great movie like some of his others but it's interesting from that Japanese culture point. I like nearly all of his old ones. And Ran I liked of his modern ones. It's based on Shakespeare's King Lear. But The Seven Samurai is a great movie.
#13 02-09-2011 01:32 AM
guest1234567 Says:
continued-Stories depict them as intelligent beings and as possessing magical abilities that increase with their age and wisdom. Foremost among these is the ability to assume human form. While some folktales speak of kitsune employing this ability to trick others—as foxes in folklore often do—other stories portray them as faithful guardians, friends, lovers, and wives.
#12 02-09-2011 01:31 AM
guest1234567 Says:
Remembering my posts about japanese folklore in my blog I found Kitsune, japanese believe that they assume human form, another form of wearing a mask. Wikipedia says Kitsune (狐?, is the Japanese word for fox. Foxes are a common subject of Japanese folklore
#11 02-09-2011 01:06 AM
guest1234567 Says:
continued-Recalling the past, illuminated papier-mache dummies representing historical figures or Kabuki characters are pulled through the street on carriages. People dressed in traditional Nebuta costumes and playing tunes on flutes and drums, dance around them as they parade
#10 02-09-2011 01:05 AM
guest1234567 Says:
Thanks Niall for the movies, I downloaded them and will watch them soon. Talking about carnival I looked for Carnival in Japan and found that:August is Carnival month in Japan with a procession of papier-mache dummies. Nebuta Matsuri, Aomori:in the early 9th century, a General Tamuramaro devised the idea of creating large creatures called "Nebuta" to frighten off the enemy, and this is the excuse for the first festival of August, The Nebuta (August 2nd -- 7th).
#9 02-08-2011 07:51 AM
niall Says:
And check out this forum post for the amazing synchronicity on the Seido link below! http://www.aikiweb.com/forums/showth...944#post275944
#8 02-08-2011 05:41 AM
niall Says:
Thanks, Billy. Looking for that original quote nana korobi ya oki - fall down seven times, get up eight times I found this pretty nice and simple article in a karate blog explaining it: seidoindia. Say hi to everyone, Niall
#7 02-07-2011 09:12 AM
Makochan Says:
Nice blog Niall, it brings back lots of memories some difficult ones as well, but we should always take the good with the bad. Nine down ten up as the Japanese say. I liked last week's blog as well. Best as always, Billy
#6 02-05-2011 08:17 PM
niall Says:
Thanks for your comment, Lan. I didn't think of that song but you're right! It's really appropriate - as well as the faces and masks it is very like the Durrell poem: Why were you so surprised that you never saw the stranger...
#5 02-05-2011 08:13 PM
niall Says:
Gracias, Carina. Happy oriental new year to you too. Lan's comment also reminded me of the movie with Nicolas Cage and John Travolta Face/Off (Cara a Cara in Spain and Contracara in South America and Contra/cara in Mexico). It's an action movie but it's very interesting because they are both had to act as each other playing their parts. IMDB link, local titles: IMDB link. Angel Heart's good too.
#4 02-05-2011 08:07 PM
niall Says:
Thank you, Francis! Mysteries - 秘伝 - 'hiden' in pane sight, maybe!
 




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