The exhibition has been going on for a while, but I’ve been: depressed; busy with my forced relocation; depressed; busy with looking for a construction crew that can handle the repairing works in my house; depressed; busy with work; depressed; away on a journey. Said journey helped and I’m not depressed anymore (I know, that’s […]
10. Chapter 10 We ended last week with a victory of the Minamoto: Taira no Shigehira was captured and he’s paraded around the Capital – Aida style – alongside the severed head of his warriors. The idea of retired Emperor Go-Shirakawa is to offer him in exchange for the return of the Imperial Regalia, the […]
Last week, I left you with Chapter 5 of the Heike Monogatari, the grand epic our earless monk was singing to the very same ghosts of the disgraced clan. Let’s see how it continues, shall we? 6. Chapter 6 Upon the death of retired Emperor Takakura, it’s time for another general to join forces with […]
As I anticipated, I’m looking into Lafcadio Hearn’s Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things. The first story collected in the book revolves around a prominent figure in Japan’s folklore, Hōichi the Earless (耳なし芳一, Mimi-nashi Hōichi), a cursed bard. It is normally considered that Earn wrote his tale after reading Isseki Sanjin (一夕散人), and his 1782 […]