Thursday, July 28, 2011

Climbing Mount Kagu

Among the 4,500 poems which make up the Manyōshū ('Collection of Ten Thousand Leaves'), there is one attributed to the Emperor Jomei (593-641), called 'Climbing Mount Kagu'.  It describes the view from the mountain down towards the land of Yamato: 'Over the wide plain the smoke-wreaths rise and rise, Over the wide lake the gulls are on the wing...'  This translation, like others I have seen, omits the poem's descriptive epithet for Yamato, 'island of the dragonfly'.  The phrase refers to the way a dragonfly's tail touches its mouth to form a ring, like the circle of mountains round the plain of Yamato.  It is an example of a pillow-word (makura kotoba), which Geoffrey Bownas calls in his introduction to The Penguin Book of Japanese Verse (1964) 'a qualifier describing, by tradition, certain nouns or concepts.'  Among other examples connected with actual places are 'rock running' for Ômi' (from the image of water gushing over rocks) and 'spring mist' used to modify Kasuga. Pillow-words are often likened to the Homeric stock epithet, although most of those describe people (ox-eyed Hera, swift-footed Achilles, laughter-loving Aphrodite) rather than places (Mycenae rich in gold).  According to Bownas the comparison fails to do ftll justice to the essence and purpose of pillow-words, whose 'alliterative or assonantal ring' ensure that the reader pauses on the word being qualified.  'Further, since many of the head-words are place names, it is argued that part of the purpose of the pillow-word in its early use in primitive society was to act as a talisman for the good fortune of the place in question.' He goes on to provide his own example poem in the form of a donnish joke about Oxford's 'Heaven-preserve-it Western By-Pass'.

 Pillow shot from Tokyo Story (Ozu-San.com)

The phrase 'pillow shot' has come to be used to describe the short transitional images of landscapes, interiors and objects that are such a distinctive feature of Yasujiro Ozu's cinema.  There are many examples on the excellent Ozu-San website and a montage on Youtube (embedded below).  The first scene of my favourite Ozu film, Tokyo Story (1953), shows an old couple, the Hirayamas, packing for their trip to Tokyo.  The second takes place in the house belonging to their son, a doctor in the capital.  We do not see the journey itself - instead the scenes are intercut with three pillow shots showing smokestacks (see above), a railway crossing and the sign outside their son's office.  These are more than just establishing shots - as David Desser writes in his handbook to the film, 'careful examination of the exterior shots in the rest of the film reveals that the smokestacks and train station are, in fact spaces "connected" to Dr. Hirayama's, but nothing so indicates that at the start.'  This connection resembles the way that particular words in early Japanese poetry were given associative pillow-words.    


The ear/OAR label specialise in avant garde sounds and environmental recordings; landscape-related examples include Kiyoshi Mizutani's Scenery Of The Border, Francisco López's Trilogy of the Americas and the Phonography series.  In 2007 they released a compilation of music inspired by Ozu's pillow-shots.  A review in The Wire concluded that 'despite the range of idioms on display, from delicate electroacoustic tapestries (Bernhard Gunter) and meditative drones (Keith Berry) to bucolic field recordings (Kiyoshi Mizutani) and frequent uses of silence (almost all), each perfectly serves their respective image. Highlights include Steve Roden's beautiful pairing of chiming guitar and hushed percussive patterns; label owner Dale Lloyd's gently shifting gamelan shapes; and Taku Sugimoto's 'Tengu In Linguistics', where he drops six strident piano notes into a reductive vacuum, reflecting another of Ozu's themes, the eschewal of action in favour of the contemplation of the surrounding space.'  Yasujiro Ozu - Hitokomakura followed an earlier compilation dedicated to Andrey Tarkovsky.  The sequence was completed last year with a tribute to Michelangelo Antonioni.

Take a Look

I've been painting in soft pastel for over 25 years. Long story short: no room to paint in pastels and an urge to move on. (God given!) I have a staggering pile of over 250 pastel paintings ~ credible, beautiful, fun artwork, bagged up and hidden away in the dark of my art cabinet. Take a look: Paintings for a Song


Corrales Acequia, 9" x 9"

Colorado Contrasts, 9" x 9"

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Dragonfly tattoos are one of the most popular tattoo styles available.

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Cool Dragonfly Tattoo Design. Download Full-Size Image | Main Gallery Page

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Dragonfly Tattoo Designs – Finding Quality Artwork Online » Dragonfly Tattoo

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Dragonfly tattoos have a quite mystical quality to them.



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Dragonfly Tattoo Designs

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dragonfly tattoo designs is often associated with creativity and imagination

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Dragonfly Tattoos and Tattoo Designs Pictures Gallery Dragonfly Tattoos

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Dragonflies Tattoos is regarded a symbol of stamina, as he goes all day long



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Dragonfly tattoos are perfect for just about any part of the body.



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 Dragonfly tattoo; ← Oldest photo

Dragonfly tattoo; ← Oldest photo

Dragonfly Tattoo Designs – Finding Quality Artwork Online » Dragonfly Tattoo

Dragonfly Tattoo Designs – Finding Quality Artwork Online » Dragonfly Tattoo

Dragonfly Tattoo Designs – Finding Quality Artwork Online » Dragonfly Tattoo

Dragonfly Tattoo Designs – Finding Quality Artwork Online » Dragonfly Tattoo

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Dragonfly Tattoo Designs



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For modern art tattoos an individual may choose from thousands of bespoke

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Tattoo 2001 ink on pigskin and fiberglass £12000 at Modern Art Inc.

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Back to Christian Art | Tattoo

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tattoo artists and the ban simply drove the art form

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Check out Amanda Wachob's Modern Art Tattoo. It is the tattoo with modern

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Matt (Modern Body Art in Birmingham). it's incredibly sore and did hurt

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modern art tattoos cool butterfly tattoo

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Tattooed pigs have been banned from a modern art exhibition in Shanghai.

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Tattoos are bagaian of art, modern dizaman Currently, the trend in body

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Creating a Graffiti Art Tattoos for Girls

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Tattoo 2001 ink on pigskin and fiberglass £12000 at Modern Art Inc.

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Modern art tribal tattoo is made up of abstract patterns, shapes and symbols

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Labels: Save Modern Tattoo Art With Your Body



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curated mag - Black Tattoo Art: Modern Expressions of the Tribal

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Amanda Wachob Modern Art Tattoo. [via Neatorama]



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I don't really know who this is, but they decided to get the Spartan

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Spartan Tattoo by ~Broly1337 on deviantART



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Not your average tattoo (Group)



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Halo 3 Spartan Tattoo Style Sticker 83-30. No reviews. Be the First!

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topshareware labs Creating animation reel sparta tattoo designer heroes

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Spartan Tattoo Ring Lee approach



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Chief tattoo that he's had on his forearm for a couple

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Spartan Tattoo by ~delbosque54 on deviantART



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Aspiring Tattoo Artists (share (Group)

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Commission- Spartan Tattoo by ~Obsolution on deviantART

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sparta tattoo study by ~konZ3pt on deviantART