Greetings from Osaka

[Chacal]

Last Nara texture:

cast iron roof decor Show Spoiler

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Several of those textures come from the temple of Todai-Ji which was first built between 724 and 749 AD, and then rebuilt around 1600 after fire destroyed it (a common occurence in Japan). The current temple, even though 33% smaller than the original, is the largest wooden building in the world. It is HUGE. Pictures can't begin to show how big the thing is. Look at the people in the doorways in this picture. Remember, the building is made entirely of wood. It houses an enormous Buddha statue. After seeing that in the shadows, you know exactly how it would feel to actually get near the Kadish statue in Ahnonay #4 for real.

Todai-Ji temple Show Spoiler

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[Jennifer_P]

I am going nuts over these gorgeous textures! They are absolutely perfect for Japanese gardens!
And you got to see sword-making too? That must have been really cool...I used to fence, and my teacher (who has done a bit of Japanese sword fighting) told me that the Japanese style of fencing places more emphasis on attacking and killing your enemy and less on defending yourself with parries and such. I thought that was an interesting observation.

[Chacal]

And now for something completely different:

awwwwww! Show Spoiler

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frightening warning Show Spoiler

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The japanese text says: "Little girl! Don't wear a hat when taking the train! The trainmaster will grab it with huge pincers and drive it through the floor and it will be lost forever. Also a bird will shit on your head."

[Chacal]

Your teacher was right, Jen. I practiced Kendo 20 years ago and I can tell you there is nothing subtle about it. It is all about speed and perfectly timed release of energy.

I also have a real sword and it is obvious that you can't really defend against it (I have cut trees that were 2 inches thick). The key to survival is to surprise your opponent by drawing first and cutting with a brutal release of energy. Ideally your sword is back in the scabbard and you are sitting again and finishing your tea before pieces of your opponent start falling off.

[Jojon]

Ooooh! Sharp and crispy and perfectly framed images and just the sort of vegetation-in-stonework-joints material I was contemplating for the seating terraces of that live performance age, should it ever get any creative attention... I just may contact you about a licensing deal at some point. :9

*tries to duck away from the shinai*

*CRACK!*

..owwwwie...

[pappou]

I agreeeee, with Jojon.
Your texture shots are very nice: Crispy, and very handsome Fuji style coloring (except your shots are digital, not film; maybe the colors come with the territory, not the medium?).

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Here is quick study on tiling one of your stone pics; i fear it will take more time to work out the symmetrical rings, but at least you can see one scheme for making the basic set of a paving array.

Edit: OOPs; i see here that it has become too grainy. Ah well.

[Chacal]

I travelled today to a different city. A place I have wanted to visit for a long time.
Too tired to write a post, and maybe I can't find the words.
Let's just say, being there, seeing, seeing with your own eyes, is not the same.
I'll just quickly post this raw video. Something I caught on a whim.

Life goes on

[Chacal]

One thing that did go through my mind though is, yesterday morning was a fine, sunny morning, and such was it on that fateful day 63 years ago at 8:15. There was no "Destruction is coming" announcement at all, the world just ended.

[pappou]

Then, that IS the Hiroshima monument in the background. I thought i caught a glimpse of it as you faded out.

But forgive me, Chacal, for stepping on the lines of your thinking with my poorly timed observation. You seem to be caught up in the pathos of that moment: “There was no "Destruction is coming" announcement at all, the world just ended.”

However, after thinking on it, my own thoughts go contrary to yours. Japan's, 'Destruction is Coming' ultimatum had been issued four years prior to the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima. It may even have been Yamamoto himself (who planned the Pearl Harbor attack and was chagrined at failing to sink America's aircraft carriers) – it may even have been himself who observed ruefully that in the end, all they had done was to wake the sleeping tiger.

In a much much broader sense than even the horrors at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, i do find meaning in your thinking, 'the world just ended'. What i think the atomic bomb ended (being itself the end of the two unspeakable World Wars) was the fantasy that nothing like 9/11 could ever happen. After 1945, we became aware that anything could happen – including the end of the world.

In fact, the whole world has already come about as close to that 'ending' as is possible, without actually falling over the precipice. It occurred about the time you were born, under the title, 'Cuban Missile Crisis'.

So far, that ending has not been written. But boy, it has come close.

[Chacal]

This is what hit me yesterday. I usually think the way you describe, in an objective way, pondering the greater issues.

But yesterday all I could see were the ordinary people of Hiroshima, the men, women and children who were just going about their business on that fine, sunny morning, unaware of what was going to happen to them.