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eight things tagged “japan

Netsuke

Summary of Wikipedia article: Japanese kimono didn’t have pockets. They needed something to store their stuff in. So they made containers that they hung from their kimonos’ sashes1. The part that secured the container to the sash at the top was called a netsuke (“root attached”.) Here’s a really cut…

Trippy Japanese AI Art

by @sportsracer48 (Patreon) /misc/s/sportsracer48-1.mp4 /misc/s/sportsracer48-2.mp4…

Portrait of Hotto Enmyo Kokushi

This beautiful piece was sculpted in Japan around the 13th century and is about three feet tall. The subject is a Zen Buddhist monk Shinchi Kakushin, who lived till the ripe old age of 95. After his death, he was given the title “perfectly awakened national teacher of the Dharma lamp” which is what…

How to Make a Dorodango

Hikaru Dorodango means “Shining Mudcake”. Start with a lump of mud and end with a highly polished sphere. Absolutely amazing. Here’s a short NatGeo video about Bruce Gardner, an artist who makes a lot of these. He says it took him 30 tries to make his first perfect one. https://www.youtube.com/watch…

The History of Bushido

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yuRW1zkEQpw…

Omoshiroi Blocks

These are memo pads that “excavate objects” as they are used. A bit more expensive than your average PostIt, but a very lovely idea.…

It’s Never Finished

I think my job doesn’t have an end goal. Words like “finished” or “complete” don’t exist. We do our best with today’s menu and entertain our guests. That’s all for today, it’s repetition. – Chef Nozumu Abe, Sushi Noz https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3wAQxJeyyXo…

Hell Courtesan

by Kawanabe Kyosai, Kyosai rakuga1, 1881. More of his stuff here. As far as band names go, “Hell Courtesan” is metal as fuck. “Kyosai’s Drawings for Pleasure”↩︎…