At last we arrive at the origin of incense's presence in Japan: Buddhism.  I mentioned before that much of incense's introduction within Japanese culture owed to it being sent over by Buddhist monks, and likewise, it is used in many aspects of Buddhism.  Japan does have a unique relationship with it, however, which I will briefly go into today.  ( Read more... )

For today's entry, beginning a series on how incense (香, kō) is used in Japan, I think I should first give a bit of information on the history of incense.  A brief history, you will be pleased to know ( Read more... )

Fulfilling my first-ever request!  See, I do get around to them.  So I was asked to do my best to explain this:


( Read more... )

This entry marks the 100th edition of my journal!  While it is 100 entries, and not 100 years, perhaps it feels that way, and my journal will become a tsukumogami with a mind of its own, continuing to update by itself at random with wanton disregard for its readers and its own sanity.  As if it doesn't do that already.  But I've managed to time ( Read more... )

So it's a New Year, how is everybody enjoying it so far?  Though this entry was supposed to coincide with the beginning of the year, my overwhelming new schedule for school and the gym, paired with my chronic procrastination, brings this entry to you around the Chinese Lunar New Year instead of January 1, as originally planned.  Regardless, this is ( Read more... )

Continuing my theme on Hell (and the last installment on the subject for at least a little while), I'm going the opposite direction and enjoying the lighter fare of a movie review.  While my entries on Dante's Hell and his poem depicting it were obviously long and very involved, since the subject matter of the movie isn't as heavy and is much more ( Read more... )

Well, after the blatant affront to Japanese culture that was my last entry, I've decided to go in the other direction and write about the most cultural thing I can think of:

Kagrra,.

Well, sort of.

I guess it's no secret that Kagrra, is my favourite band.  (Their new album, Shu, comes out April 1!  =D)  But it is often a very hard decision for me to ( Read more... )

Hello, everybody.  As you may or may not know, the Chinese Lantern Festival (Koshōgatsu), is a celebration that takes place just after the Chinese New Year, bringing those festivities to a close.  It also happens to be tomorrow.  The festival involves, oddly enough, lanterns, and the carrying of them to shrines.  The style and size of the lantern ( Read more... )