Japanese Colours

I think this is a bit hard to understand for those who haven’t done much travelling outside of their native sphere of civilization, but even the very basics of reality vary depending on one’s upbringing. To give an example, what colours one can perceive depends on where you were raised. In the West, blue and green are considered two different colours but in classical Japan they were seen a merely two shades of the same colour.  Of course with globalization, the various cultures of the world have increasingly come to adopt the “western reality” way of seeing things. All the same, when we study history we must be careful not to anachronistically assume that the ancients lived in the same perceived reality that we do. Here I’ve translated a page from a Japanese elementary school textbook from 1874. Japan was in the process of adopting many Western elements, while maintaining some of its more native traditions, so it is quite an interesting look at the changing conception of colours. While the Western idea of the seven colours of the rainbow (written in kanji as well as katakana English) form the framework of the colour chart, many of the shades retain their names based on the dyes they come from and are classified under shades a bit different from how similar colours are classified in English.

明治7年小学生徒必携　第九色画
Chapter 9: Colour Chart (Teaching College)

Sunlight Colours:
Yellow (黄 Erurou)
Red (赤 Reddo)
Blue (青 Buruyuu)
Orange (樺 Oorenchi)
Green (緑 Guriin)
Purple (紫 Poapuru)
Navy (紺 Inchigoo)

Reds: Madder 茜、Scarlet 緋、Crimson 紅、Cinnabar 朱、Peach-coloured 桃色
Yellows: Nightingale-tea 鶯茶、Tumeric 欝金、Gardenia 山梔子、Egg-coloured 卵色、Canary-coloured カナリヤ色
Blues: Lapis-Lazuli 瑠璃、Indigo 藍、Shallow-yellow 浅黄、Water-coloured 水色、Sky-coloured 空色
Oranges (Birch-coloured): Tea-coloured 茶色、Birch-coloured 樺色、Thin-birch 薄樺、Thin-tea 薄茶、White-tea 白茶
Greens: Fresh-wall 生壁、Sprouting-leek 萌黄、Hide-coloured 革色、Blue-bamboo 青竹、Grass-willlow 草柳
Purples: Deep-purple 濃紫、Purple 紫、Grape-coloured 葡萄色、Dovewing-coloured 鳩羽色、Wisteria-coloured 藤色
Browns (Kite-coloured): Chestnut-coloured 栗色、Kite-coloured 鳶色、Prawn-coloured 海老色、Smoked-bamboo 煤竹、Ash-coloured 灰色

Colour Mixing:
Green + Birch = Nightingale-Tea
Purple + Birch = Prawn
Purple + Green = Fresh-wall
Blue + Red = Purple
Purple + Blue = Navy
Blue + Yellow = Green
Yellow + Red = Birch

Postscript: You can also veiw a wide variety of colours from the traditional Japanese colour pallette at the 和色大辞典.

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To Bow Before

When I was a child, my favourite series of books by far was the Dragonlance Chronicles. As a middle schooler, I found the books deeply moving. I have reread them as an adult as well and noticed a lot of cultural meanings in the books that were beyond me as a child.

Recently, I got the Chronicles in their Japanese translation. While some of the deeper cultural meanings cannot but be lost in translation, the Japanese language throws emphasis on some other really interesting points. For example, the social distance between the characters is much more emphasized by the language used and discussions about the gods takes on a different sort of reverence than in the English version. Some day, I would like to give a deeper analysis of the English and Japanese language differences.

Today, however, I read a quote from one of the characters. It goes:

“All my life, I was my own person… Bow to others in reverence and respect, but never in slavery.”

Reflecting on this quote, etiquette, and Japanese culture in my usual fashion, I thought that this quote encaptured the Japanese thought behind bowing quite well. Let me explain.

In the West, bowing is often seen as something servile, or as a form of submission. Thus English has expressions like “I’m not just going to bow down to you and do whatever you want!” or “He was always kowtowing around his bosses”. In these cases, the action of bowing is used to indicate (metaphorically) a sort of servile submission to another person. With this sort of understanding of bowing popular in the West, it is not surprising that Westerners often interpret the exceedingly common act of bowing in Japan to indicate a slavish group mentality or a lack of individual will.

That interpretation is mistaken, however. Look at how Japanese people bow. The body is not collapsed or curled up at all. The head, in particular, is not bent: the back and neck remains straight and proud, even while the torso is moved forward. So the impression given by a (proper) Japanese bow is entirely different from that of a slave. A static energy is vital to maintaining this bowed position. Thus the bow is not a matter of passivity or submission. Rather the bow is an active sign of giving permission to the other person, the actor permits the receiver the honor of intruding upon his consciousness. So, when people in Japan bow, it is a sign of respect and acknowledgment of the virtues of that person, much the same as expressed in the above quote.

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Towada Yabusame Clinic 2016

Horse Pasture at Towada Riding Club

This year was my first time to attend the Towada Yabusame Clinic. To be honest, it seemed aimed at people a bit better at Yabusame than myself, but I was still able to learn a lot. The clinic was divided into two days. The first day (Saturday) was the lecture session, held at the local community center. Over 60 people attended the lectures, but not all of them were active Yabusame practitioners. I imagine some of them were just interested in Japanese history while I suspect others, based on the elaborate drawings in their notebooks, were artists who wanted to learn how to correctly draw samurai on horseback.

The right way to ride during Yabusame

The first lecture was called “About the Taming and Training of Young Horses”. You can basically gather its contents from the title, but in particular, the lecturer hoped to explain how horses can be trained so that they can be ridden by anyone, not only the owner. If this is done, then it will be much easier for people to get interested and try out horseback riding and yabusame. I like horses, and I love yabusame, so I want to learn how to ride a horse and how to basically care for a horse. However, I wouldn’t say I am a horse person, that is someone who makes horses his life. I think it is pretty unlikely I will ever be in the position of seriously trying to train a horse. Despite this, the lecture was interesting. In particular, I was struck by the thought that training is a lot like teaching children, the main difference being that children can eventually learn to use language, while horses cannot.

Yabusame!

The second lecture was called “A Mede Vacum to a Safer, More Accurate Enjoyable Yabusame”. You may have noticed by now that Japanese lecturers prefer long names to their lectures and articles. Anyway, I should give a little context about Yabusame before explaining this lecture: Yabusame is historical Japanese horseback archery. But I should put the emphasis on historical Japanese. Recently, a lot of people having been using the term “yabusame” to refer to any sort of horseback archery, but that is just incorrect. With the aim of preserving the historical tradition of Yabusame accurately while allowing it to be accessible to all types of people, a lot of people have been working to form an umbrella sort of organization that sets basic standards for Yabusame. Thus this lecture was explaining what Yabusame is (and is not) and how we can practice Yabusame with historical accuracy.

The lecture divided horseback archery into three categories:

1. Shinji Yabusame: Yabusame demonstrations at shrines. Usually, Japanese saddles and other equipment is used, but the type of horse is unrestricted. Usually, only men can take part.
2. Kyougi Yabusame: Yabusame competitions. Japanese saddles and other equipment is used. Japanese breeds of horses are used. Women, children, and foreigners can participate and safety is placed at a premium.
3. Horseback Archery: Competitions involving archery from horseback. It can include horseback archery traditions from other countries as well.

In short, Yabusame is the reenactment of Japanese historical horseback archery and only that. The nature of yabusame being clarified, the lecture went into a lot of details about how to ride and shoot on Japanese equipment, based on both actual experience and historical manuals and illustrations. It is a bit difficult to explain using only words (the lecturer brought a wooden horse with him and had his students show us on that), but rather than sort of standing from the stirrups, one should have your feet forward almost in a hachi (八) shape, with the rear-end just resting on the top back of the saddle. The breast is thrown forward, but the back is almost arched so you don’t looked hunched over at all. The legs are in a bent position and my impression was that the knees can be more easily used to control the horse in this case. This position is collaborated by both pictures and written manuals. Furthermore, this position is a lot safer than standing up or leaning forward in the saddle as is sometimes seen done by Yabusame practitioners. I suppose that isn’t surprising that this historical position is safer, since falling off your horse probably had severe consequences (ie: death) for samurai than it does in modern times.

There was a lot more to the lecture than this, but that was the basic gist. After the lectures there was a sort of test, but since it is difficult for me to read and write Japanese quickly, I couldn’t finish it in the 10 minutes they gave us… 😦 That evening everyone went to dinner together at a Japanese yakiniku (grilled meat) place. It was good opportunity to meet everyone and chat, but I was really tired having gotten up at 4 in morning and a bit suffocated by all the smoke and the stench of meat, so my friends and I left early to take a bath at the bathhouse and then go to bed early.

Ninta (Kageryuu)

The second day (Sunday) was the “practicum” of yabusame. Those who participated in the practicum were less than 30 people, I think. The day was blazing hot (over 30 degrees) and we all felt like melting, but could still enjoy our time. Each horse was assigned two people. My horse, Kageryuu AKA Ninta, was the son of my friend’s horse in Hokkaido who was recently sold to Towada Horse Club. So not only was Kageryuu a dosanko horse which is what I am used to riding, but I had even ridden Kageryuu before in Hokkaido. My partner was also one of my friends, which was nice because I felt less embarrassed about asking her questions.

Me, failing at Yabusame

We first combed down the horses, saddled them, and took them up to the teppou baba (yabusame runway). Then we alternated trying to shoot at the targets while the horse was walking. This was not difficult. We then basically tried the same thing several times keeping the horses as a canter or run. I basically failed miserably at this, but it was learning experience. By this time, it was nearly noon and everyone was extremely hot and sweaty, so we breaked for lunch.

After lunch, about 10 of the people were asked to practice yabusame using proper Japanese saddle and stirrups. The teachers then marked them in a sort of mock exam. I was a little bit sad about not getting to try to use a Japanese style saddle, but I was happy to overhear some of the teachers saying that one of my friends was the best looking of everybody using the Japanese saddle. By the way, the saddle used was a gunjin-kura (軍陣鞍 military saddle), as opposed to the more common shikan-kura (士官鞍 officials saddle). It is a bit wider and apparently more comfortable than the saddle more commonly seen.

After that, the clinic came to a close. Many people stayed another night, but I had to catch the overnight ferry back that day in order to be back in Sapporo for work on Monday. It was a really nice trip, not only to learn about Yabusame, but also spending time with my friends and meeting many people who love Yabusame. I could chat with a lot of people about Hawaii and the Yabusame Joshi-bu (Girl’s Club) said I could the President of the club’s Hawaii Chapter. Of course, I am pretty sure I am only person from Hawaii in the club, so that doesn’t really say much…. However, if you love yabusame you can become a supporter!

The beautiful Gunjin-kura saddle

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Conflict and Misunderstanding

In works comparing the east and west, it is often said that Westerners love conflict. A typical example is Fujiwara Masahiko, who when criticizing the Western notion of equality writes, “There is nothing more odious or shameful than discrimination, but to press-gang equality into serving as the opposing axis to discrimination is the typical behavior of conflict-loving Westerners.” (p 127-9) These sorts of works are often ridiculed as being too simplistic and they can be. But there is some truth to statements like this. Let me explain.

Both Japan and Western countries have conflicts, obviously. I don’t think anyone would deny that. But it is a matter of how these conflicts are viewed. In the West, people tend to take a Manichean view of history. Manicheanism is a Persian religion that was very popular in ancient Rome and greatly influenced the development of Christianity and other religions in that region. In Manicheanism, there are two great Gods: one of Good and one of Evil. Human existence is a struggle between these opposing Gods until the final Judgment day when the God of Good will at last completely destroy evil. Western thought was greatly influenced by this idea of this struggle between good and evil.

This is obvious in the ancient world, but this idea still maintains its hold into modern day. Take the Western rhetoric that occurred (occurs) around WWII. That war was an epic battle between the forces of Good (the Allies) and the forces of Evil (the Axis). This Manichean idea of conflict extends into everyday life too. The workplace is an arena for competition: may the best man win. School is a competition too: who can get the best grades, who can be the most popular. Thus those of us in the West grow up learning to love conflict, to be motivated by it, and it consider it in moderation a healthy thing.

But in Japan (and many other Eastern countries), this idea of competition and conflict are not favoured. Rather than a Manichean world view, the East is influenced by the theory of Inyo-Gogyo (Yin-Yang/Five Elements), which emphasizes that all aspects–white and black, earth and water and fire and metal and air–are necessary to maintain the balance. To take WWII as an example again, most of the Japanese propaganda issued during the war did not talk about “forces of Evil”, but instead focused on the importance of building a harmonious “East Asian Co-prosperity Sphere”. One can find many examples of this Eastern way of thinking in Japanese history. When there is a war or battle in Japanese history, it is rarely depicted as a force of “good vs. evil”. Rather, it is depicted as a “misunderstanding”. Here, I think is a key to understanding the difference between these two views of conflict.

In the West, we have a sort of dualistic good vs. evil, hero vs. villain sort of mind set. In the East, both parties are “heroes”. The cause of the conflict is not because one of them is evil or wrong, but because they misunderstand each other. Both parties want prosperity and peace. But the same, both parties cannot accept the other one’s way of enacting that peace. The reason for this might be due to a misunderstanding, or it might be for another reason such as being bound by loyalty or honour.

To be clear, conflicts occur both in the East and West. But there is a difference in how the conflicts are normally viewed. Furthermore, both these views are valid and have their place. Conceiving of life as an epic struggle against evil can be a source of comfort and courage to do the right thing. But I can’t help but think that the Eastern view is on the whole more conducive to peace and happiness.

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What is Culture?

Culturally-appropriated Beef Stew

A bit ago, I went to a lecture. The guest was a respected American scholar focusing on Japan. One of the things she discussed was difficulties the Ainu (indigenous people in Hokkaido) have faced after centuries of increasing Japanese (wajin) influence in Hokkaido and the eventual incorporation of Hokkaido into the Japanese nation state. After Hokkaido had been incorporated into Japan, the central government had a policy of buiku (“compassionate care”) which aimed to assimilate Ainu into the normal Japanese populace to prevent discrimination against them. It should be pointed out that this policy, despite its kind sounding name, erased Ainu culture while not really doing much to honestly prevent the discrimination. The lecturer rightly critisized the narratives still common today that disadvantage the Ainu.

One of the books she criticized was the manga “Shumari” by the famous manga artist Tezuka Osamu. I haven’t read this manga, so I can’t really comment on it. But one thing the lecturer said stood out. She derided the fact that the main character was a wajin Japanese “cross-dressing” as Ainu. This phrase struck me as racist, actually. I don’t think we should use the term racist lightly. But I think that is the best description of the impression I got. As you know from this blog, I wear kimono fairly often. Am I cross-dressing as “Japanese”?! Not at all. I follow a lot of Japanese customs, but I am not trying to be Japanese by this. I follow them because they useful and appropriate for me as an individual. I do a lot of things that I think are very American, too. And you can reverse that question too. Are Japanese people “cross-dressing” as Americans when they wear jeans? I doubt many people, Japanese or Western, would answer that question in the affirmative.

Even thinking about the situation specifically in relation to the Ainu, what is Ainu culture and what is Japanese culture? The Ainu and the Japanese (Wajin) come from some of the same ancestors. Both cultures developed from some of the same basis. Although Ainu and Wajin culture quickly diverged into very different forms, they still borrowed from each other throughout history. For example, the Ainu prominently used sake and lacquerware–gotten in trade from the Wajin–in rituals. When do these items start being a part of Ainu culture? Do the Ainu not have a right to use them, because the items are “Japanese”? Of course not. Culture is not static. Culture is not the strict property of a certain race, and only that race forever. Japanese people are allowed to eat beef stew, even changing it up until it resembles a mockery of “real” beef stew, just as much as Europeans are allowed to eat sushi and change it up so it, too, becomes only a mockery of real sushi. That is the nature of culture.

It is of course still terribly bad taste dress like a “sexy indian princess” or whatever for Halloween. It is also bad taste to dress like a “hooker”. But if you want to (and have the ability) to dress accurately like a decadent Oiran, then I think there is nothing wrong with that.

I am reminded of that Hollywood movie, “The Last Samurai”. I like this movie a lot, because it says a great deal more about America than it does about Japan. But in it, the sort of scummy colonel says to the main character Algren, “What is it that you hate so much about your own people?” Here, I think the colonel makes the same narrow minded mistake so many people still make today. Algren doesn’t hate his own people. The film specifically reminds us that Algren “is not Japanese”. Merely the Japanese customs he adopted were better for him at that time.

I think this is true for the actual historical Frenchman who adopted Japanese dress and habits and on whom Algren was based. He wasn’t “cross-dressing” as Japanese. Culture is more ambiguous than that. I really wish people could see how these modern boundaries of race and culture are artificially constructed. But I suppose that is too much to ask.

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Shinto and Ainu Culture

Ohnusa are used in Shinto rituals while Inau are used in Ainu rituals. Can you see the similarity?

Recently, I bought the book “An Introduction to Ainu Studies” by SEGAWA Takurou, the head of Asahikawa City Museum. Ainu are an indigenous people of Japan, mainly concentrated in Hokkaido. The book is mainly a chronological history of Ainu culture and includes interviews and so on with some of the many Ainu people still living in Hokkaido today. Many Westerners were surprised when they first met some Ainu people in the 1800s because their features are more Western than Asian looking. Sadly, Ainu have suffered a lot of discrimination in the past for basically “not being Japanese”. On the other hand, we have Shinto, which is often called “the indigenous religion of Japan”. What would this have to do with Ainu?

In fact, a great deal. Apparently around the 9th century, there were immigrants from around Hinomoto (a polity in mainland Japan), who moved up to Hokkaido. With them, they of course brought the beliefs in mountain kami and other rituals. Thus many Ainu words related to rituals come from old Japanese:

• Ainu <–> Japanese (English)
• Kamui <–> Kami (Deity)
• Nusa <–> Ohnusa (Ritual Tool)
• Tama <–> Tama (Soul)
• Nomi <–> Nomu (Pray)
• Onkami <–> Ogami (Worship)

But it does not stop with mere vocabulary borrowing. There are many similarities between Ainu rituals and Shinto rituals. For example, chinowa kuguri is a ritual in which people walk through a circle made of leaves and branches several times to purifying themselves. In modern times, this is a common ritual at shrines in June. In Ainu culture, too, there is a similar ritual done to heal illness that likewise involves repeating walking under an arch made of leaves and grass. Yudate (a type of trial by water) is another tradition shared by Shinto and Ainu culture. Another well-known Ainu custom is the use of “inau”, or sticks with a bundle of shavings on one side. These look quite similar to the ohnusa used in Shinto rituals today and if you trace both of these tools back, they had similar origins. The book offers many deeper examples than this as well.

Finally, the book compared Wajin (ie: mainland Japan) and Ainu culture to an extended family. The Ainu are the main family, for they have retained more truly the original character of the ancient Jomon Japanese, while the Wajin are the branch family, as mainland Japan was influenced strongly by Yayoi and Chinese customs. As time passed, the main and branch family grew and developed differently. But the roots of both families can be traced back to the same source.

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Sports Culture 1

My other Wednesday class is about sports culture. Actually, I don’t know if I will continue this class, as it is (of course) in Japanese and rather outside my area of expertise. I mean, I spent my whole life feeling sports were the creation of the devil, so it is still rather shocking to me that would even consider taking a sports related class. But now I’ve become interested in some aspects of sports culture, I thought I would attend the first few classes and see how it is. Especially, I am interested in two aspects:

1. The line between “sport” and “(martial) art”. For example, a question on my kyudo (Japanese Archery) exam for 2-dan was something like, “What makes Kyudo different from other sports?” I wrote a brilliant essay, if I may say so myself, about the meaning of Kyudo being in the kai. Not only that, but recently I’ve started to learn yabusame (Japanese horseback archery). Yabusame has not been standardized and largely exists as a hounou (offering) held at Shinto shrines. But there has been a lot of debate right now about whether or not we should move towards standardizing and holding ranking for tests, as well as sport-like yabusame tournaments. I feel like there is a lot of opposition against this movement to “sports-ify” yabusame because–while sports-ifying it would make it more popular–the meaning or the heart of yabusame would be lost.

2. The connection between sports and nationalism. I read Kristin Surak’s book which suggested that Tea Ceremony was a type of nationwork (banal nationalism), and she compared it to nationalist sports movement of Tunerism in Germany. So, I think it might be interesting to explore that more.

Again, I don’t know if I will continue this class, but it is interesting all the same.

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Japanese At the Table

I wanted to wear a hat like Eugène Collache, but decided on Western dress.

Visiting a friend in America, I went to dinner with some acquaintances at a nice French restaurant. In the shallow way that plagues girls, I felt a little intimidated because I have learned most of my table manners in Japan and wasn’t certain how I should behave. How could I, in my thrift store dress and odd unplaceable accent compare to these stylish modern women? But everyone was very friendly and we chatted, having a lovely dinner. But all through dinner, I felt an echo of what it must have felt like to be one of the Meiji intellectuals.

In the Meiji Period, Japan was forcibly opened and the intellectuals and elites of the period entered into the society of the West. Of course this included fine dinners and parties, and history leaves record that westerners found the Japanese to be charming and odd, exotic in their careful manners. It was almost as if they weren’t yellow savages! But how did the Japanese guests themselves feel at these parties– half zoo exhibit, half respected guest? There are plenty of eloquent Japanese authors (Nitobe comes to mind as the most well-known), so we do have some idea.

At my dinner in America, I felt somewhat ashamed. My manners, which were refined in Japan, seemed odd and childish in America. My way of speaking was too soft; I felt overwhelmed at the rapid, forceful opinions crossing the table. Not wanting to shout, I was left to smiling and nodding. And then the realization that they and I live in different worlds. I know nothing of the TV shows or even books popular in America now. I can’t appreciate wine nor beer. I am not even sure what sort of information qualifies as a “fun fact”. I feel so different. Although I am not Japanese, it seems that I am indeed the friend “from Japan”.

I only felt an echo of these feelings, but I can now understand, if only a little bit more, what those Meiji gentlemen must have felt thrust into the West.

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