Speaking of Japan's martial arts (see Tuesday's post), I recently came across a scientific study that reminded me about another martial art — the way of the sword.
This reminded me of iaidō, which is known as the art of drawing a sword but more specifically is about drawing a sword in response to an opponent who has drawn first.
Not an appealing situation to be in.
The study also reminded me of a comment in "Kyushu, Where Japan's Green Tea Growers" (a documentary in which a Mellow Monk tea procurer is shown visiting two families of grower-artisans). At a kendo school in Hitoyoshi, a kendo master discusses [video link] the importance of emptying one's mind before a bout — that doing so is necessary to assure quick action.
But the reason for doing so is not merely to react to one's opponent but also to act as quickly and as unconsciously as one who is reacting.
The concept of emptying one's mind also ties in with the philosophy of tea — as a prerequisite for mindfully focusing on the tea at hand and on one's guest.
But then that is a topic for another post.
An intense moment at the kendōjō. (Click the image to see the video clip.)
Get "spirited away" to an otherworldly hot spring inn
If you think the Kanaguya hot spring ryokan has an otherworldly look and feel to it, then you are not alone: Hayao Miyazaki used it as his inspiration for the otherworldly animated inn in Spirited Away.
The inn's four-story wood-frame Saigetsu Tower is designated as Japanese tangible cultural asset No. 20-136.
"Oyabun" is obviously a man after my own heart—he runs a fantastic blog on old-school Japanese movies.
(The blog's name comes from the pervasive use of cherry blossom imagery in Japanese movies as a metaphor for the transience of life—blossoming magnificently to signify the brilliant end of existence—as an American cinematic tough guy might talk about going out "in a blaze of glory.")
And if you like the Japanese movie subgenre of Zatoichi flicks, then here's a rare find: a collection of Zatoichi movie music.
Tsuruta Koji about to go out in a blaze of glory in the explosively intense tough-guy classic Bakuto Gaijin Butai (The Gamblers' Foreign Legion), a.k.a. "Sympathy for the Underdog."
Satyoyama isn't a specific place; it's a generic term for Japan's rural woodland farming villages.
Anne McDonald has been studying these villages for decades and has been working to promote to the rest of the world the ecological lessons we can learn from them.
Like a hermit crab in reverse: the crabs that house warrior spirits
Speaking of the Heike Monogatari, as anyone who has seen the classic film Kwaidan knows, in the waters where the Taira clan was defeated in a decisive naval battle lives a species of crab that is said to harbor the spirits of the Taira warriors.
This collection of centuries-old Japanese artwork portays the vicissitudes told in Heikei Monogatari (The Tale of the Heike), which chronicles the power struggle between the Taira and Minamoto clans from 1180 to 1185.
Gio, abandoned by Kiyomori, tearfully leaves his estate.
Beat Takeshi saves the Earth as a 300-foot monster!
Just like Tokyo on the verge of being destroyed by Ghidorah, Japanese cinema's kaiju (giant monster) genre was on the verge of dying out. Rushing to the rescue is director Minoru Kawasaki, who this summer released the decidedly-tongue-in-cheek Monster X Strikes Back—Attack the G8 Summit!
The film revives the kaiju Guilala, who first appeared in 1967.
Lending a hand — several, actually (see photo below) — is famed director Kitano "Beat" Takeshi, who provides the voice and face of "good" monster Takemajin.
Why Beat Takeshi? Director Kawasaki says Takeshi had previously donned monster suits in various TV appearances and "was the only one who could save this dying genre" [source (Japanese)].
Takemajin — who has already started appearing at conventions — also borrows part of Takeshi's name and the meme of the "village guardian deity idol who grows to gigantic size to wipe out the bad guys" from the Daimajin trilogy of the '60s.
See high-resolution stills of the new Guilala flick here. See a trailer here. See a clip from the old Guilala movie here.
Beat Takeshi (a.k.a. "Takemajin") to the rescue! (He looks like he's about to go into his trademark "Komanechi" pose.)
5 foreign film stars who failed in their first crack at Hollywood
Jackie Chan in "The Big Brawl" (1980)
It seemed like it couldn’t miss: the king of Hong Kong martial arts action flicks making his American film debut with the director of “Enter the Dragon” at the helm.
But oh, how this movie did disappoint.
Chan had already shown the world some incredible stunts and fight scenes in movies like "The Drunken Master" [video link], but the creators of "The Big Brawl" decided to saddle Chan’s character with that most hated of kung fu movie clichés, the Reformed Street Fighter Who Promised His Dad/Uncle/Grandfather Not to Fight Any More. Top off this action-free first half with a goofy, carnival-like second half complete with professional wrestlers, pinstriped Mafioso, and roller skating, and you’ve got a wince-inducing waste of talent.
Chan took one more shot with a cameo in "Cannonball Run," then went back to Hong Kong to make a string of big-budget action epics, after which someone in Hollywood had the bright idea of compensating for his limited English abilities by pairing him [video link] with indefatigable motormouth Chris Tucker.
Nicole Kidman in "Days of Thunder" (1990)
To break into Hollywood after her riveting performance in the Australian thriller "Dead Calm" [video link], Nicole Kidman snagged a costarring role in a racing movie featuring Tom Cruise. Somehow, her movie career recovered rather quickly, although the recovery of her personal life from the fateful run-in with Tom Cruise took considerably longer.
Toshiro Mifune in "Grand Prix" (1966)
Let’s see, when an actor has established a rock-solid reputation as a high-energy thespian capable of exhibiting powerful emotions and ferocious intensity, what would be the best role to showcase those talents in Hollywood? The answer is obvious: playing a suit-wearing executive who does a lot of pensive posing while watching cars going round and round a racetrack.
(This early instance of the Racing Movie Curse — that it is nigh impossible to make a good movie about closed-circuit auto racing — is one that Nicole Kidman obviously had to learn herself.)
Two years later, however, Mifune would more than make up for "Grand Prix" by costarring with Lee Marvin in the excellent "Hell in the Pacific" [video link].
Simon Pegg in "Run Fatboy Run" (2007)
After he co-wrote and starred in the horror-comedy sleeper hit "Shaun of the Dead" and the not-as-funny (but still pretty good) "Hot Fuzz," Simon Pegg thought he was ready for Hollywood. Perhaps he was, but he had the misfortune of picking a film directed by David Schwimmer.
David Schwimmer? What were you thinking, Simon?
(Technically this wasn’t Simon’s first Hollywood role, but it was his first Hollywood role playing a character with a first and a last name, so I’m counting it as his first crack at Hollywood bigtimedom.)
But Simon will be playing Scotty in the upcoming "Star Trek" film, so all is forgiven.
However, someone clearly determined to sabotage her big break into Hollywood persuaded her to audition for the role of the annoying, charmless police cryptographer in "The Da Vinci Code."
Ms Tautou then returned to her home country to make films, such as "Priceless," in which she actually portrays appealing human beings.
Here is a 9-minute series of clips of some of the greatest scenes from some of the greatest films of Japan's greatest actor, Toshiro Mifune [more posts about him here].
Featured are the films Sanjuro, Hidden Fortress, The Throne of Blood, Miyamoto Musashi, and the TV miniseries Shogun, among others.
The films' original soundtracks have been replaced by an atmospheric song used in the anime classic Akira.
From Mellow Monk's Department of Obscure Japanese Movie Trivia comes some trivia so old that I've also labeled this post under "Japanese history."
Released in 1952 and 1953, the movie trilogy “Kimi no Na Wa” (What’s Your Name?) broke all previous box office records in Japan. This success was helped by the fact that the films were based on a long-running smash-hit radio series. The films proved so successful that they are said to have financed the modernization of Shochiku, the studio that produced them.
The story concerns a young man and women who meet by chance, fall in love at first sight (hitomebore), but are then kept apart by the circumstances around them. (Such stories about lovers kept apart by fate even constitute their own genre, known as surechigai, which means "passing," as in two ships passing in the night.)
The film was so popular that the unconventional way that lead actress Keiko Kishi wore her scarf (see the photo below) started a new fashion trend known as Machiko-maki (a "Machiko wrap," after the character's name).
A famous scene take place in the beginning of the trilogy at Tokyo's Sukiya Bridge, where Machiko first meets her would-be beau, Haruki, during an air raid. (It is as they rush from the bridge to go their separate ways that Haruki utters the famous phrase, "Kimi no na ha?"—Oh, by the way, what's your name?)
In 1957, the Sukiya Bridge was demolished by the frenetic wave of development that preceded the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. Today at that spot stands a monument that reads "Former site of the Sukiya Bridge." The words carved into the monument were actually written with a calligraphy brush wielded by Kazuo Kikuta (1908–1973), who authored the original story and after whom a TV screenwriting award was named.
A poster from the movie Kimi no Na Wa (What's Your Name?), showing actress Keiko Kishi sporting the scarf style that sparked a nationwide fashion trend waaaay back in the mid-1950s.
The part of Rhett Butler will be played by a Japanese woman
In 1977, Japan's all-female theater group Takarazuka Revue premiered its production of a musical version of Gone with the Wind.
The role of Rhett Butler went to Haruna Yuri, then the troupe's biggest star, who played the role with a Clark Gable-style mustache.
That she was the first Takarazuka actress in a leading role to sport facial hair would have caused enough of a stir on its own. But Ms Yuri multiplied the controversy tenfold by wearing the mustache offstage at public appearances. She explained that she wanted to get used to it and so be less conscious of it on stage.
"After this show runs its course, maybe I could get into painting."
Here's an 8-minute clip from the English-subtitled version of "Zatoichi and the Doomed Man," featuring Shintaro Katsu as the blind traveling swordsman/gambler/masseur.
Although this classic scene has one of the highest body counts of the entire Zatoichi series, this film, released in 1965, isn't nearly as bloody or gory as later films (to say nothing of today's fare).
Here's a great scene from "Zatoichi the Fugitive." Note the unconventional way Zatoichi holds his swords. This technique—sakate-giri, or "upside-down cut"—was one of his trademarks. I also like the atmospheric '60s music in this film. It's cheesy, but then that's part of its charm.
Japanese science fiction illustrator Noriyoshi Ohrai is a bit of an enigma—not a lot of information is available about the guy—but he's said to be Japan's "most prolific and accomplished artists" when it comes to artwork for the "Star Wars" movies.
A poster Ohrai did for the Japanese-dubbed version of the first "Star Wars" movie in 1982. (Until then, only the subtitled version was available in Japan.)
Master Ohrai (as he's reverently called by fans in Japan) also did a series of posters for the 2006 disaster flick "Nihon Chinbotsu" (Japan Sinks).
Of the many things for which Kumamoto Prefecture (home of Mellow Monk tea) is famous, one of the "big three" is said to be the traditional song and dance "Otemoyan" ("Little Miss Otemo").
Here he is, the late, great Katsu Shintaro, singing the jazz standard "Sunny." This is from his album "Yoru Wo Utau" (Singing the Night).
Katsu gained superstardom in Japan in the 1960s playing the blind traveling gambler and masseur "Zatochi" in the long-running movie series of the same name.
For an actor, Katsu was a pretty decent singer, and it stands to reason: As the son of a famous Kabuki actor, he was trained in classical Japanese acting and singing in his early youth.
Also on this track, check out the funky jazz guitar, the jamming piano, and the melodious background singing.
Here's a cool factoid about Japanese movie great Toshiro Mifune: In 1994, when he was 74 years old, Toshiro appeared in a small independent American film.
The film, Picture Bride, is about a young Japanese woman who in 1918 is sent to Hawaii to marry a man she's never met. This compelling, well-made film began life as a short-film project while the writer-director, the late Kayo Hatta, was still in film school but expanded into a full-length feature when Ms Hatta realized the story was too important for a short.
Here's where Toshiro Mifune comes in.
Before filming of Picture Bride began, Kayo Hatta wrote to Mifune asking if he would appear in the role of the benshi, a professional narrator of silent films. She knew the letter was a "Hail Mary" pass and later said she never expected Mifune to say yes. But that's exactly what he did.
The rest, as they say, is history.
You can read about the filming of Picture Bridehere.
Here's a wonderful clip from the film Tokyo-Ga, in which Wim Wender documents his trip to Japan to explore the world of legendary Japanese directorYasujiroOzu.
This clip features pachinko. It has no narration or dialog, and none is needed: It shows pachinko afficionados in a trancelike state of mu (nothingness) before their pachinko machines. Fascinating—and a little sad at the same time.
The character for mu (無) is also the lone epitaph on Ozu's gravestone.
Tie a yellow handkerchief 'round the old koinobori pole
For four weeks in 1973, the song "Tie a Yellow Ribbon 'Round the Old Oak Tree," by Tony Orlando and Dawn, was the number-one song in America, and today it's enjoying something of a revival.
In the song, a man is riding on a bus on his way back from a stint in jail. He had told his sweetheart to tie a yellow ribbon around "the old oak tree" if she still wants him back. No ribbon means "Keep on walking, buddy."
When the bus finally passes the tree, he sees not one ribbon but hundreds. (You can read the lyrics here.)
Predating the song is a 1971 piece by Pete Hamill called "Going Home." Like the yellow ribbon tradition itself, the ex-con-on-a-bus-looking-for-a-yellow-ribbon theme has a long and convoluted history, which this page explains in detail.
Eventually, a Japanese translation of Hamill's book was published, and in 1977 legendary Japanese film director Yoji Yamada turned it into a movie, Shiawase no Kiiroi Hankachi ("The Yellow Handkerchief of Happiness"), which was a smash hit in Japan and even won the "Best Picture of the Year" award in the inaugural year of the Japanese Academy Awards.
The film's ending is essentially the same as the song's, with an interesting difference: Instead of an oak tree, the sweetheart ties dozens of yellow handkerchiefs to the lines of her koinobori pole.
(And don't accuse me of giving away the film's ending, because that's the scene on the cover of the DVD case, as you can see below.)
In another twist to the yellow handkerchief tale, the Japanese film is being remade as Yellow Handkerchief, which is due out next year and stars William Hurt.
Cover of the DVD version of "Shiawase no Kiiroi Hankachi."
"Bubble Fiction" travels back in time to Japan's economic heyday
A new Japanese film, Bubble Fiction, takes a satiric look at the country's "inflated assets" bubble period of the 1980s and early 1990s.
Back then, the country was flush with cash thanks to massive trade surpluses. Too much of that money, however, was invested in real estate, driving prices far beyond what was sustainable.
At first, no one minded: property owners saw their net worth double, triple, quadruple—and still keep on rising. Individual and corporate land owners borrowed heavily against this upwardly reassessed real estate, and the banks were only too happy to loan them the money.
At the height of this bubble, it was said that in places like Tokyo's Shinjuku district, a ten-thousand-yen note (worth more than $100 back then) could not be folded small enough to buy the tiny square of land it could cover.
By the late 1980s, the party was in full swing but came to a crashing end around 1990; Japan is still recovering today. Bubble Fiction is about a woman who, deep in debt in 2007, agrees to travel back in time to try and stop the "bad political decisions" that caused the bubble to burst with such ferocity. For many Japanese, the film will undoubtedly be a nostalgic look back at a not-too-distant past when everyone thought the good times would never end.
But all things, grasshopper, must come to an end eventually—both the good and the bad.
Back then, businesses had plenty of cash for after-work socializing.
Princeton professor Michael Wood writes an excellent review of the film Yojimbo, directed by Akira Kurosawa and starring Toshiro Mifune, two powerhouses in the pantheon of Japanese cinema.
The great Toshiro Mifune as the lone swordsman Sanjuro in the Kurosawa classic Yojimbo.
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(Singing the Night).
