Things Japanese Part I: Traditional Culture

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shatteredsouls
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Re: Things Japanese Part I: Traditional Culture

Post by shatteredsouls »

Origami! If I'm not wrong, cranes are folded to make wishes. At least, that is what I saw in dramas.

Let's see...Okay. In Japan, people fold a thousand paper cranes. Traditionally, they are given as wedding gift by father to wish the couple a thousand years of happiness and prosperity. They can also be given to a new baby for long life and good luck. Hanging them in one's home is thought to be a powerfully lucky and benevolent charm.

Paper cranes are also used for peace. They can be found in some temples and these cranes are left exposed to the wind, sun, rain etc, slowly dissolving and becoming tattered as the wish is released.
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Kassandra
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Re: Things Japanese Part I: Traditional Culture

Post by Kassandra »

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Thanks for your observations, shatteredsouls, and good to see you again.

One could actually kind of look at origami as a type of spellwork, really, along the lines of the intention-setting aspects as you've described, in this case setting good intentions for a person or situation. In this context, it could compliment a witchcraft practice, such as hoodoo, which traditionally has utilized "petition papers," again, for the purpose of setting intentions, making those intentions become reality in one's outer world. In hoodoo, they go the extra mile of "fixing" the papers with spell powders (called "satchet powders"), as well as writing words or names on the papers.

So, in the case of these peace cranes, to combine the traditional Japanese practice with the hoodoo practice (which blends both my cultures since Mom was from Japan and Dad was from the southern United States), one might fix the papers with some kind of "Peace powder" before folding them. One might lay them all in a box with the peace powder still affixed, and place the box on or before an ancestral altar (honoring ancestors is a practice both cultures have in common), and request the souls of the entire family line bless the intended efforts of the practitioner/petitioner. Then, the next day, one might dust off the powder from the papers and commence folding. You know, something like that.

I don't know, that just came off the top of my head, thinking out loud, haha. :wink:

Thanks, shatteredsouls.




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shatteredsouls
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Re: Things Japanese Part I: Traditional Culture

Post by shatteredsouls »

Please feel free to think out loud, kassandra. Always good to hear more opinions from others. I like that you're open to combining different practices, unlike some others who think that only one religion/culture/practice is right and the others are wrong. Sometimes combination of two different practices may gain exceptional results :wink:

I might be doing origami tomorrow! With the children at a local hospital but I'm really bad at that so I might be doing something else :lol:
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Kassandra
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Re: Things Japanese Part I: Traditional Culture

Post by Kassandra »

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Hope the origami session turns out great. Sounds like fun.



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shatteredsouls
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Re: Things Japanese Part I: Traditional Culture

Post by shatteredsouls »

Origami session's great. Are you aware of the game app pokemon go? It's very popular recently so our team catered to the trend and made simple pokemon (only the face) origami. Kids are engaged!
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Re: Things Japanese Part I: Traditional Culture

Post by Kassandra »

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Good strategy. Pokegami, lol.




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The Ainu People

Post by Kassandra »

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The original inhabitants of Japan, the Ainu, [had] met [a fate very similar to that of] the American Indians, as they [had been relegated] to one of the small northern islands of Japan. They endured slavery, forced break ups of their families, [as well as the] introduction of smallpox, measles, cholera and tuberculosis into their community.

In 1869, [Japan's newly Westernized] Meiji government renamed Ezo as Hokkaido, and unilaterally incorporated it into Japan. It banned the Ainu language, took Ainu land away, and prohibited salmon fishing and deer hunting. Almost a scene from the Lakota Sioux, or Robin Hood’s England, or present day Palestine. [Oppression] seems to be an age-old system.

It is said that many Ainu made up the kamikaze warriors who flew planes into World War [II] ships meeting their deaths. Their religion [resembles] the nature religions of the Celts and Germanics, which emphasized fire, water, wind and thunder. Aino is a name used frequently among the Finnish people. It could be their origin and the lost continent off Japan could also be. There are about 15,000 [Ainu people] left.

The Ainu seem to have sprung from Siberia where more amazing discoveries are being recorded, [including] evidence of megalithic builders. There are many unanswered questions concerning this area of the world. Ainu lives matter!



Source: https://dublinsmickdotcom.wordpress.com ... tonehenge/



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Re: Things Japanese Part I: Traditional Culture

Post by Lord_of_Nightmares »

I am glad the Ainu are being looked at. Most foreigners do not know they even exist, but they were there before the people of the sun (Japanese). They have their own language, culture, and religion. Unfortunately, most of these traditions were passed orally and as a result, not a lot has been written down.
I am the Earth, The Sun and the Stars
And I am the also the Moon
I am all animal and birds,
And I am the outcast as well, and the thief
I am the low person of dreadful deeds,
And the great person of excellent deeds
I am Female. I am Male and I am Neuter.
- Devi
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Kassandra
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Re: Things Japanese Part I: Traditional Culture

Post by Kassandra »

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Yep. And nice to see you back, Lady_Lilith.


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Kassandra
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Kotodama or kototama (言霊, lit. "word spirit/soul")

Post by Kassandra »

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Was just clicking around Wikipedia looking for something else, stumbled upon this, figured I'd post it here.
Thanks. --K




Kotodama or kototama (言霊, lit. "word spirit/soul") refers to the Japanese belief that mystical powers dwell in words and names. English translations include "soul of language", "spirit of language", "power of language", "power word," "magic word," and "sacred sound." The notion of kotodama presupposes that sounds can magically affect objects, and that ritual word usages can influence our environment, body, mind, and soul.

This Japanese compound kotodama combines koto 言 "word; speech" and tama 霊 "spirit; soul" (or 魂 "soul; spirit; ghost") voiced as dama in rendaku. In contrast, the unvoiced kototama pronunciation especially refers to kototamagaku (言霊学, "study of kotodama"), which was popularized by Onisaburo Deguchi in the Oomoto religion. This field takes the Japanese gojūon phonology as the mystical basis of words and meanings, in rough analogy to Hebrew Kabbalah.

The etymology of kotodama is uncertain, but one explanation correlating words and events links two Japanese words pronounced koto: this 言 "word; words; speech" and 事 "situation; circumstances; state of affairs; occurrence; event; incident". These two kanji were used interchangeably in the name Kotoshironushi 事代主 or 言代主, an oracular kami mentioned in the Kojiki and Nihon shoki. Kotodama is related with Japanese words such as kotoage 言挙 "words raised up; invoke the magical power of words", kotomuke 言向 "directed words; cause submission though the power of words", and jumon 呪文 "magic spell; magic words; incantation".

Kotodama is a central concept in Japanese mythology, Shinto, and Kokugaku. For example, the Kojiki describes an ukei (or seiyaku) 誓約 "covenant; trial by pledge" between the sibling gods Susanoo and Amaterasu, "Let each of us swear, and produce children".[1] Uttering the divine words of the Shinto divination ritual known as ukehi[clarification needed] supposedly determines results, and in this case, Amaterasu giving birth to five male deities proved that Susanoo's intentions were pure.

Kototama or kotodama is also fundamental to Japanese martial arts, for instance, in the use of kiai. Morihei Ueshiba, the founder of aikido and a student of Deguchi, used kototama as a spiritual basis for his teachings. William Gleason says Ueshiba "created aikido based on the kototama principle," and quotes him that "Aikido is the superlative way to practice the kototama. It is the means by which one realizes his true nature as a god and finds ultimate freedom."[2] Mutsuro Nakazono, a disciple of Ueshiba, wrote books on the importance of kototama in aikido.[3]

While other cultures have animistic parallels to kotodama, such as mantra, mana, and logos, some Japanese people believe the "word spirit" is unique to the Japanese language. One of the classical names of Japan is kototama no sakiwau kuni (言霊の幸わう国, "the land where the mysterious workings of language bring bliss"),[4] a phrase that originated in the Man'yōshū.


References:
1. Chamberlain, B.H. The Kojiki, Records of Ancient Matters, p. 53. 1919.
2. Gleason, W. The Spiritual Foundations of Aikido, p. 55. Destiny Books, 1995
3. Nakazono, M. Kototama. Third Civilization, 1976. The Kototama Principle. Kototama Institute, 1983.
4. This quote comes from Kenkyūsha's New Japanese-English Dictionary (5th ed., 2003), which translates kotodama as "the ⌈soul [spirit] of language; the miraculous power of ⌈language [a phrase, a spell]."



Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kotodama






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Re: Things Japanese Part I: Traditional Culture

Post by planewalker »

Excuse the spelling { one kind teacher once termed my English spelling "original"} - Domo Oaregato.
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Re: Things Japanese Part I: Traditional Culture

Post by Kassandra »

planewalker wrote:Excuse the spelling { one kind teacher once termed my English spelling "original"} - Domo Oaregato.
And a Dontouchmymustache, to you. :wink:

sevensons wrote:You describe it so well.
Wikipedia's authorship, not mine (see cited source above at end of article).



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Re: Things Japanese Part I: Traditional Culture

Post by planewalker »

Why, I wouldn't put a torch anywhere near your -- Oh wait --- touch NEVER MIND!
moosix

Re: Things Japanese Part I: Traditional Culture

Post by moosix »

In my arrangement I tried to incorporate this element of the original composition as much as possible. There are 8 instruments in the group, 6 koto and 2 bass koto. The 6th step in the sequence is 13, which is the number of strings on a koto. The 2 bass kotos together have 34 strings, 34 being the 8th step of the sequence. In the first 9/8-8/8-7/8 section the 8 players are subdivided into 2 groups, one of 5 and one of 3.
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