Michael Watson

Great to read the piece on medieval Buddhist fiction by Keller Kimbrough—will be seeing him soon in Zürich for first time in years. Whole issue looks fascinating.

Mt Bandai, Fukushima Prefecture, Japan. Close-up view from the south.

Mt Bandai, Fukushima Prefecture, Japan. View from south-west, showing second (lower) peak.

Mt Bandai, Fukushima Prefecture, Japan.View from the south-east over Nagase river

Mt Bandai, Fukushima Prefecture, Japan. View from the south, on shore of Lake Inawashiro

#MountainMonday
Mt Bandai, a live volcano. Last erupted in 1888. Visible from different angles on all our local cycle rides. 1,816 m (5,959 ft).

Mt Bandai

Cycle path on Lake Inawashiro

Our foldable bicycles by the fast EV charge point in Inawashiro “michi no eki.”

Up early to recycle trash, then spent morning raking leaves. Lunch on porch, nap on same, into town to work in library, editing contributor’s piece for book. The off to “michi no eki” to charge EV. Convenient for cycle ride on the lake! #busyretirement

Sorry for double posting. Poor net reception in woods

Kabuto mushi (“warrior helmet insect”) Trypoxylus dichotomus

Kabuto mushi (“warrior helmet insect”) Trypoxylus dichotomus

It’s #kabutumushiKayobi stag beetle Tuesday! Many more this year in our Tōhoku hideaway. @aizuyabanjin.bsky.social You’re my nearest known neighbour on Bluesky. How’s summer bug activity there?

Kabuto mushi (“warrior helmet insect”)
Trypoxylus dichotomus

Kabuto mushi (“warrior helmet insect”) Trypoxylus dichotomus

Two Kabuto mushi (“warrior helmet insect”) Trypoxylus dichotomus.

@aizuyabanjin.bsky.social local question to you, neighbour. Spending 36th summer up in Aizu-Bandai, I am seeing many more #kabutomushi 🪲甲虫 than ever before. No fewer than five outside our cottage near Mt Bandai. Mortal combat!

Night Tracks! What a loss for those of us who need something soothing to listen to when wide awake at 3 am. Not to mention the Proms. Summers in Japan will not be the same.

Sun setting behind foothills in Aizu-Bandai National Park, Fukushima Prefecture, Japan. Rice fields by the side of this little used farming road, ideal for cycling at dusk.

Sunday is #Stunday

Do any of keep old theatre tickets and use them as #bookmarks ? This edition of 源平盛衰記 came out in 1991 which is when we went to Paris and splashed out on good seats to see an opera I had always loved. Great memory.

With all respect, Tony, I would suggest you put aside moral judgments of the protagonist. Do we need to approve of the often insufferable behaviour of Marcel (the character) when reading Proust? Or Becky Sharp when reading Vanity Fair?

Japanese script cultures

I am looking forward to seeing Shōsōin the Show when the exhibition comes to Tokyo in autumn. Will watch out for this fascinating object—and will keep my eyes peeled for similar objects when I go to the British Museum in September.

Settled down with a book I’ve had on my Sinology shelf for ages. 詩經 the Book of Odes. Perfect for a hot and humid day.

Peaceful tea-time break tidying my study after four weeks of frenetic research work. What should I read next?

675 years anniversary celebrations of one of the oldest colleges in Cambridge University: Trinity Hall, founded in 1350.

50 years since I finished my undergraduate studies at Trinity Hall, Cambridge—and now 675 years since it was founded. Remembering my college contemporaries who died too young: Nick Meadows, Geoff Gardiner, Gerald Denver, Hugh Pooley.

Beginning to feel this way about a massive work I have been struggling with for over two years, a fourteenth-century Japanese war tale in multiple versions. When I finally reached the ending, I realized I would need to read it in another variant. And another, and another… #太平記

Rice paddy, e-bike, cycle path in rural Japan

Evening calm

Ah the knee-jerk trends of academia. Huizinga shaming has been around for a while. When I was doing an MA in medieval literature in 1976, I mentioned to my adviser that I was enjoying Homo Ludens. He made a disapproving comment.

A very refreshing poem to read on a humid morning in raining season Japan!

📌

One of the works I consulted was a four-volume concordance. I managed a few test searches but it would have been much easier with the printed volumes. The other works were large tomes in small print—easier to read on the screen and not hard to navigate and locate the pages I wanted copies of.

Used bag to bring in my own computer—needed for notes. To access the digital materials, I used one of the many terminals. Things went smoothly.

Three fruitful hours in the National Diet Library! The electronic printing service worked well for purposes today.

My room in college in 1972 was regularly visited by friends in search of McV chocolate biscuits , ginger snacks and pots of Twining’s Earl Grey tea. Hearing this, my father became concerned for my profligacy!

@diegoist3.bsky.social The Companion to Nō and Kyōgen Theatre is now in Kathmandu.

Trashomon

Boxed edition of medieval Japanese ballad dramas (kōwakamai 幸若舞).

90 minutes browsing second-hand bookshops in Jinbōchō and somehow managed to restrain myself to one book, a bargain at ¥500. Enjoyed myself thoroughly, though.

“Most publishers don’t even want translators named on a book jacket. The message is clear: they’re disposable, secondary, not the story. Calleja’s genre-busting memoir laughs in the face of all that….” Much food for thought. My uni director of studies was Maltese. A specialist in Romance language.

Beach and seascape in southeast of Fukushima Prefecture. On horizon one can see Izura peninsula in Ibaraki Prefecture. Photo taken in mid March.

#TidesOutTuesday

Photo taken on Japan’s Pacific coast a short drive away. Hope to resume our walks there soon. It’s been a tough few months.

“… Opening our pinewood door / At break of day we came / To this holy place / And will remain until the sun sets / Adding our prayers to those of others.” (3/3)

(Thomas Rimer’s translation, 1970) www.jstor.org/stable/2383544

“… / For this thousand years, / Latter days of the Law Now / That voice alone can help us. / If we fail to gain salvation / On this rare chance we have been granted, / In what other world might we hope to find it? …”
(2/3)