The Tanabata series following the previous blog “The Star Festival“. This time for the second time is “Five Colors of Strips (Tanzaku)”.

In the ancient Chinese ancestral event “Kikoden”, they were decorating the five colors threads, and after being transmitted to Japan, they have been changed to strips to decorate Japanese poems (Waka). And from the Edo era when ordinary people spread to wishes and the “Milky Way” and other words and pictures wrote down on the strips, turning to hang them on bamboo leaves. Incidentally, Tanabata remains as a custom in China, Korea, Taiwan, etc., but only in Japan, writing a wish in a strip and hanging it on the bamboo leaf. I thought again that Japanese culture likes to write songs and write something.

There are also meanings for the five colors, and the color based on the Chinese Yin-Yang five-line theory is derived. The Yin-Yang five-line theory is that everything has two conflicting aspects of “yin and yang” and has five elements of “Tree / Fire / Earth / Gold / Water” which is the root of all of this world. The color applied to these five elements is “Blue / Red / Yellow / White / Black“, each of which has its own meaning.

There are many annual events in Japan, among them there are many people to participate in and there is a high awareness of Tanabata (The star festival) today. I did not know its origin which seemed to know but actually I did not know well, so I searched it.

– Ancient Japanese event “Tanabata”
– Chinese ancient events “Kikoden”
– Legend of Orihime and Hikabi (Orihime represents Vega, Hikoboshi represents Altair)

It seems these three stories combine and is connected to the present Tanabata.

I wrote about “Smile spreads” in the last blog, today I thought that there were other contagious things, so it’s about that.

Cultures, dance & music deeply carved into human DNA. Always dance & music what forms the center of culture regardless of region or era. For some people it is said that acts indispensable to human beings, impulse more than acts indispensable for human beings.

Back to the stone age. In the days before religion was born, animism (the idea that a spirit or a spirit resides in everything regardless of a biological or inorganic matter) was believed, and prayers and wishes to God are the origins . Not only in Japan but also in other cultures and religions dance & music were born spontaneously as acts of prayer, I think that it was inevitable for humanity.

Smile is contagious, so I introduce the results of the experiment. First of all, please watch this video.

I found something interesting when I was studying onomatopoeia (onomatopoeia / mimetic word) in the last blog, so today it is about that.

First of all, once again about the definition of each of the onomatopoeia and mimetic words.

onomatopoeic word

Onomatopoeias are imitated sounds of things by lexical phrases. Even the same language varies from age. For example, dogs’ barks are expressed as “biyo” by Kyogen etc. It is relatively common to be written in katakana (sometimes referred to as onomatopoeia but now onomatopoeia is more common. There is also a position that calls a word simulating the voice of humans and animals of lower class of onomatopoeia as a onomatopoeia). The boundary between onomatopoeias and mimetic words is sometimes not clear. For example, “zazaza” in “bathed in water” is a sound that is leaning against the body, even if water represents an endless amount of water falling down, it is decided whether it is an onomatopoeic word or a mimetic word Hateful.

(from JapaneseWikipedia)

Today, I would like to start with a riddle.

“What is me which disappears at the moment of calling my name, although it exists when it is quiet?”

I was surprised of the news of June 30, “The 42 th World Heritage Committee of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to the World Cultural Heritage of ‘Hidden Christian Sites in the Nagasaki Region’ (Nagasaki, Kumamoto Prefecture) , the rare religious culture that continued faith in the Christianity repression of the Edo period was appreciated”. Because it was right after I wrote the blog “Movie ‘Silence’” on the 29th of the previous day!

Latency Christian related heritage is an asset group that shows the cultural tradition of hidden Christianity who secretly continued faith while harmoniously coexisting with existing religion and society under the Christianity prohibition of about 250 years in the 17th – 19th century. It consists of 12 assets such as Nagasaki prefecture mainland, Goto islands, Amakusa archipelago that keeps the scenery at the time, and “Ohoura Cathedral” (Nagasaki City) where latent Christian confessed faith to French Father after opening the country.

Today it is about Japanese world heritage, receiving this news!

Today is June 30th. Half of the year passed in 2018. The remaining half of the year starts from tomorrow.

It is an event called “Nagoshi no Harae (Summer Purification Ceremony)” in Japan, that is done on such a day of separation. It is called “Kayano wa kuguri” to pass down the thatch ring created in the shrine and to reduce sin and impurity. Chigaya ring is a ring knitted with grass called Kaya. This is the event that thanks to appreciate being able to spend safely with excellence of the first half of this year, and pray for spending well the rest of the year. What is done at the end of June is “Summer Purification Ceremony”, and “Year end Purification Ceremony” at the end of December.

As an English learner, when I learn English or when I talk to foreigners, I feel lost in translation (it is impossible to transfer the whole culture correctly perfectly, something always is lost). After all, there are limits to words, and it is hard to convey to the context that this word after understanding the background deeply is hard to convey.

Today is about the word “Culture” I often use.

Culture (in Japanese)
Sometimes it means human intellectual refinement and spiritual progress and its outcome, in particular products of art and literature, but today it is wider, including the behavioral styles and material aspects shared by members of a society It often refers to a lifestyle. The culture defined in this way consists of languages, thoughts, beliefs, customs, taboos, laws, institutions, tools, techniques, works of art, rituals, rituals and so on.
(Britannica International Encyclopedia of Encyclopedia)

Today is the summer solstice. It is a big seasonal milestone day four times a year.
Please read this blog on seasonal milestones.

The summer solstice is the longest day with the sun out in the northern hemisphere (the shortest day in the Southern Hemisphere). The length of day becomes longer from the day of the vernal equinox, the day of that vertex is today. Yin and yang theory, the state where the positive energy becomes Max. And from the summer solstice point, the shade energy becomes stronger towards the winter solstice next time. By the way, that moment of summer solstice this year is 7:07 pm in Japan!

Breathing in, breathing in, breathing in, breathing in, breathing in and breathing in… you can not breathing in any more! The moment of being the summer solstice point (I thought, the image method to be likened by breathing). And back from here, we will head towards winter, after 7:07 pm today it is the beginning of the “breathing out” season.