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night by Takashi Ogino used under creative commons licence
you were dangerous and angry
red wrists and flashes of light
in the Hungarian bar
Jason Crane, Danger
"You must be indeed a brave man, Sir Priest," the peasant responded, "to lie down here. This place has a bad name - a very bad name. But, as the proverb has it, kunshi aya-yuki ni chikayorazu - the superior man does not needlessly expose himself to peril - and I must assure you, Sir, that it is very dangerous to sleep here."
Lafcadio Hearn, Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things
"Danger! What danger do you foresee?"
Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if we could define it," said he.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, The Adventure of the Copper Beeches
Danger knows full well
That Caesar is more dangerous than he.
We are two lions littered in one day,
And I the elder and more terrible,
And Caesar shall go forth.
William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar act 2 scene 2
The language of Kyōto, the ancient capital of the country, and until the restoration the residence of the Imperial Court and of literary men, has been considered the standard and of highest authority; but since the restoration and the removal of the capital to Tōkyō, the dialect of the latter has the precedence. Dialectical differences are numerous, and provincialisms and vulgarisms abound. The dialect of Satsuma is said to be so different as not to be intelligible in other parts of the country. ...More
pouring tea by Neko1998 used under creative commons licence
Green is the night and out of madness woven,
The self-same madness of the astronomer
Wallace Stevens, The Candle a Saint
All in green went my love riding
on a great horse of gold
into the silver dawn.
e e cummings, All in green went my love riding
He with cowslips pale,
Primrose, and purple lychnis, decked the green
Before my threshold
Mark Akenside, Inscription for a grotto
The art of tea symbolizes simplification, first of all, by an inconspicuous, solitary, thatched hut erected, perhaps, under an old pine tree, as if the hut were part of nature and not specially constructed by human hands.
D T Suzuki, Zen and Japanese Culture
In my column Indigo Blue I talked about how in Japan green is blue. But sometimes of course green is green.
Green tea and matcha powdered green tea products are very popular in Japan. You can buy matcha latte drinks and matcha ice cream and even matcha chocolate. I mentioned green tea and ichigo ichie 一期一会 before in my blog post Doumo. Arigatou. Gozaimashita.
If you are ever in Kyoto drop in at ran Hotei for some green tea. It's run by a martial artist. In the Daily Yomiuri interview below he talks about Bun Bu Ryo Do 文武両道 ぶんぶりょうどう the way of the pen and the way of the sword - follow them both. It's a nice coincidence because I talked about Bu
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Poppies by aj lopes used under creative commons licence
Mountain, river grass and tree grow more barren;
For ten miles winds smell of blood in the fresh battlefield.
Conquering horses do not advance nor do men talk;
Outside Jinzhou Castle I stand in the setting sun.
General Maresuke Nogi
Dead in the gas and smoke and roar of guns,
Dead in a row with the other broken ones
Robert Graves, Last Post
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie,
In Flanders fields.
John McCrae, In Flanders Fields
The tragic news touched us like the bitter wind which awakens the trees and the grass sleeping in the remotest corners of the countryside.
Soseki Natsume, Kokoro (on the death of General Nogi)
In Japan a samurai was supposed to be proficient in the arts of war and in the art of literature. Bun Bu Ryo Do ぶんぶりょうどう 文武両道 the way of the pen and the way of the sword - follow them both. The first epigraph at the top of this article is a kanshi Chinese poem by a famous general, Maresuke Nogi.
It is raining outside. I am writing this on 11 November. On the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month the armistice to end the First World War was signed. 11 November is Remembrance Day in the United Kingdom. Ceremonies are usually held on the nearest Sunday. When I was a boy at school in England there was a one
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There is an economic and there is a spiritual exile. There are those who left her to seek the bread by which men live and there are others, nay, her most favoured children, who left her to seek in other lands that food of the spirit by which a nation of human beings is sustained in life.
James Joyce, Exiles
The hearts that would have given their blood like water,
Beat heavily beyond the Atlantic roar.
Fair these broad meads - these hoary woods are grand:
But we are exiles from our fathers' land.
Canadian Boat Song
I am a Kentish man, born in a town called Gillingham, two English miles from Rochester, one mile from Chatham, where the King's ships do lie: from the age of twelve years old, I was brought up in Limehouse near London, being Apprentice twelve years to Master Nicholas Diggins; and myself have served for Master and Pilot in her Majesty's ships; and about eleven or twelve years have served the Worshipfull Company of the Barbary Merchants, until the Indish traffic from Holland began, in which Indish traffic I was desirous to make a little experience of the small knowledge which God had given me. So, in the year of our Lord 1598, I was hired for Pilot Major of a fleet of five sails, which was made ready by the Dutch Indish Company.
William Adams, the only foreign samurai
You can't go back home to your family, back home to your c...More