Leap year!

Nothing much really, just to note that 2024 is a leap year and today is (still) 29 February. The next 29 February will be in four years' time. What will the world be like then? What will I be doing then?

Preview screening of Laid-Back Camp Season 3 (Episodes 1 to 3)

Laid-Back Camp Season 3 will start airing in April 2024. A preview screening of the first three episodes was held today in Tokyo with an event that involved three members of the cast. After this screening was announced, it was also announced that the preview screening will be made available to more cinemas in Japan, and the cast event will be streamed live too. So I booked a ticket and made my way to the cinema offering this preview screening.

It was a special screening, so there were no ads or trailers shown before the screening. Everyone was greeted with this screen.

After the first three episodes were screened back to back (including three screenings of the opening, and the three separate endings with the same song), the audience was told to wait for the live streaming of the cast event to commence.

The event itself was about 30 minutes.

Oh, they also handed out a clear file to those who came to watch the preview.

I think they made the decision to have this preview screening to reassure fans. The production team has changed to a different studio, with a different director and such, from the first two seasons. The art style has also changed, and I think they wanted to reassure fans that, while the studio and staff has changed, the art style is somewhat different, the story is still nice and comfy.

In terms of style, the background art is a lot more real-life looking, the characters are a bit cuter (rounder?), and the opening has a nice cartoonish style. While the opening was the same for all three episodes, the ending of each episode was a small recap (slideshow) of each episode with the same song.

For the cast event, we had Hanamori Yumiri (VA for Nadeshiko), Toyama Nao (VA for Rin), and Kurosawa Tomoyo (VA for Ayano, who was introduced in S2 and plays a more central role in S3). A lot of the talk is really to reassure fans that this is still the same Laid-Back Camp that they know and enjoyed. The broadcast date was also announced (4 April 2024) and they also announced two related events on 8 June 2024 in Yamanashi Prefecture.

I think it was a nice gesture to reassure fans, since there was quite a bit of uncertainty when the trailer was first revealed. I am glad I took the time to travel to the cinema for this.

Yuanxiao 元宵

The 15th day of the first lunar month is called Yuanxiao 元宵, which makes for another opportunity to practise calligraphy.

Another version, not really that different.

 

Anyway, I have been busy practising for an upcoming exhibition which I need to submit in April. Wish me luck!

DIY calligraphy brush rest

I had been using a paperweight as a calligraphy brush hair.

However, I use some calligraphy brushes with long goat hair, and one problem is that, when wet with ink, the hair tends to droop. The paperweight is not high enough, and the hair of such brushes end up touching the table or floor. So I needed to find a higher brush rest.

 

I visited Daiso to see if I could find something suitable, but could not find anything. So, I bought a block of wood instead, drilled a few holes, and filed them to the edges to create some grooves. Tada, calligraphy brush rest.

And woke up with muscle ache the next day. 😅

蒼空の炎

Just thought I would share this song from The Apothecary Diaries Episode 19. It has that nice melancholic touch to it.

蒼空の炎

歌：竹中だいち

作詞：内田ましろ
作曲：神前 暁

曇りない瞳に
見つめられ　思い知る
自分の愚かさよ
炎に変われ

強きその心　守り抜こう
君が歩く道を照らそう
胸に抱きしめたこの熱は
誰も奪えない

Lyric source: https://www.lyrical-nonsense.com/lyrics/daichi-takenaka/soukuu-no-honoo/

Writing in the same style as someone else 臨書

A common practice in calligraphy is to try and write in the exact same style as a renowned calligrapher. This is called 臨書, and I used to print out a copy of the original work in the exact size that I am trying to write in. This was why I wrote a note-to-self about how to set image print size.

Recently, I decided to try something new. I printed a copy on A4 paper, and drew some guidelines in pencil to help with positioning and such. Then, I wrote on a 半切 piece of paper (135cm by 34.5cm).

This worked because I was only writing four characters. But I think I can use this technique in the future too, if I ever need to do this again. It also helped that the piece was horizontal and I was writing on a table, and so I could easily hold the A4 paper (clipped to a piece of cardboard for easier handling) with my left hand while writing with my right hand. It would be more challenging if the piece was vertical, and I had to straddle it while writing on the floor.

Early blooming violet

The weather is a bit weird lately. The temperature can fluctuate so much, that the lows and highs can differ by more than 10 degrees Celsius.

So when I found a violet blooming, I was surprised, but not as surprised as I would usually be.

Hopefully, the violets bloom properly in March...

Watching I Wish I Could Meet You Again on the Hill Where That Flower Blooms あの花が咲く丘で、君とまた出会えたら。

It has been a while since I last went to the movies. Today, I had some time in the morning, and decided to go catch this movie that I had wanted to watch but couldn't find the time because of the busy December last year.

I Wish I Could Meet You Again on the Hill Where That Flower Blooms (あの花が咲く丘で、君とまた出会えたら。) premiered in Japan on 8 December 2023, and I was quite surprised that it was still showing in cinemas. Most Japanese movies usually run for about a month, maybe two. When I checked the cinema's website yesterday, it was empty. I thought I was going to have the entire screen to myself. When I made my reservation last night, there was a total of five seats already reserved. But when I showed up today, I was pleasantly surprised. The place was actually about 10% filled.

The story is a time travel story where the protagonist, a high school girl, travels back in time to 1945, near the end of World War Two, and meets a kamikaze pilot who was expecting to be deployed for his first and final mission soon. While there is nothing extraordinary about the love story, it is the setting that tugged at my heart. I had visited the Chiran Peace Museum before and the stories of these young men flying off to a meaningless death had always drew out countless emotions in me. This time was no different, and the protagonist offered a modern perspective on the accepted perception back then of loyalty to Japan and duty to the country. Yet can we really blame those young men? The protagonist knew what happened after the war, she knew the results, and that was why she could form that conviction in her mind that flying off to their deaths was meaningless. But those people in 1945 were raised in a different time, and lived under different circumstances. They did not have a crystal ball that allowed them to make more informed decisions based on knowledge of the future. To them, they were making the best decisions based on whatever knowledge they could find.

Anyway, in the end, I cried a lot during the movie, so much so that my eyes hurt now. 

They were still giving out mementos to people who catch the movie.

The reverse side came with QR codes for a special story written for the movie, and a short documentary about the making of the movie.

Side note: A thought also crossed my mind about how Japanese films tend to portray Japanese people as the victims of World War Two. For this movie, it was set specifically in June 1945, within a period of three weeks, so there might not have been more time to go into more details about what led to the war. Somehow, I like the small part in Violet Evergarden The Movie where the old man talked about how they are all to blame for the war, because they were the ones who thought going to war and winning would better their lives. If only more Japanese films would talk about this too...

Signing calligraphy works 落款

At the end of a piece of calligraphy, the calligrapher would usually write a short phrase and affix a seal, which is called 落款.

This phrase can be just the calligrapher's name, but it can also include more details, such as the time when the piece was written, details about the words written (if it came from a poem), and who it was written for (if it is being given to someone else). There are two parts of this "signature" phrase, with the top part and bottom part containing different details about the piece.

Top part 上款

The top part is about who the piece is for (if it is being given to someone) and the "source" of the words, if taken from a poem or such.

Who the piece is for

When the piece is being written for someone (usually as a gift), the character 為 (which means "for") is written, followed by the person's name and then an honorific.

 

As for honorifics:

For a person who is of a higher social status:

长辈：吾师、学长、道长、先生、女士。

For a person who is of the same or lower social status:

平辈或小一辈：兄、弟、仁兄、尊兄、大兄、贤兄（弟）、仁兄（弟）、道兄、道友、学友、方家、先生、小姐、法家（对书画或某一方面专长之称）

For someone with a closer relationship:

关系较亲密：学（仁弟）、吾兄（弟）

From a teacher writing something for a student:

老师对学生：学（仁弟）、学（仁）棣、贤契、贤弟。

For a fellow student:

同学：学长、学兄、同窗、同砚、同席。

Once the recipient's name and honorific has been written, a courtesy word 上款客套词或敬词 is also usually added to end of this part of the "signature".
雅属、雅赏、雅评、雅鉴、雅教、雅正、雅存、珍存、惠存、清鉴、清览、清品、清属、清赏、清正、清及、清教、清玩、鉴可、鉴正、敲正、惠正、赐正、斧正、法正、博鉴、尊鉴、法鉴、法教、博教、大教、大雅、补壁、糊壁、是正、教正、教之、正腕、正举、存念、一粲、粲正、一笑、笑存、笑鉴、属、鉴、玩。

Where the text came from

If the words of the piece came from a poem or classical work, it is also common to write that down. This usually takes the form of the poet's name and the poem's name. Instead of stating the poem's name, it is also possible to abbreviate by just stating 詩 (poem). If only a part of the poem was written, this can be elaborated by stating 詩句 (sentence from poem). For example, a poem by Cao Cao can be stated as

曹操短歌行 (短歌行 by Cao Cao)

曹操短歌行詩句 (sentences from 短歌行 by Cao Cao)

曹操詩 (a poem by Cao Cao)

曹操詩句 (sentences from a poem by Cao Cao)

Other words used instead of 詩 (poem) are 文 if it came from a text, for example.

 

Bottom part 下款

The bottom part is about the time, place, and the calligrapher.

 

Time

For time, the year is usually written using the Chinese sexagenary cycle 干支, which is a combination of the 十天干 Ten Heavenly Stems and 十二地支 Twelve Earthly Branches. The month uses the more artistic names for each of the twelve months. Note that these months used to refer to the lunar calendar months, but today, can be used for the Gregorian calendar months (January for the first month 一月, February for the second month 二月, and so on) too. You can also add further details, like the time of the month. See the end of this post for more details.

 

Place

Next is the place where this piece was written. The character 於 (at) is written, followed by the name of the place (which can be a town, or a town's name followed by the actually location like name of a restaurant).

 

Person

This is then followed by the calligrapher's own name, and a word 下款客套词或敬词 to close off the "signature".

敬书、拜书、谨书、顿首、属书、醉书、嘴笔、漫笔、戏书、节临、书、录、题、笔、写、临、篆。

About different combinations

Note that some people may choose to just affix a seal without this "signature" phrase. Depending on the piece, this may or may not be appropriate. At the very least, you should write the name part. Recipient, source, time, and location are usually optional and can be left out.

Script to use

There is also the script in which this "signature" is written in; it is to be written in the same or a more "cursive" script than the piece itself (the order being seal 篆 -> clerical 隷 -> regular 楷 -> semi-cursive 行 -> cursive 草). Note that for pieces using the cursive script, it is the practice to sign them with just the calligrapher's name and seal, because an elaborate "signature" phrase may end up being confused with the actual piece itself.

 

More about writing the time

The artistic names of the months:

一月：孟春、寅月、陬月、太簇、初春、新春、端月、岁始、肇春、初阳。

二月：仲春、卯月、如月、夹钟、花月、杏月、春半、花朝、殷春、春中。

三月：季春、辰月、病月、姑洗、桃月、暮春、桐月、晚春、春杪、余春。

四月：孟夏、巳月、余月、中吕、初夏、麦月、槐月、夏首、新夏、梅月。

五月：仲夏、午月、皋月、蕤宾、蒲月、榴月、星月、盛夏、夏半、芒种。

六月：季夏、未月、且月、林钟、荷月、晚夏、暮夏、荔月、晚夏、杪夏。

七月：孟秋、申月、相月、夷则、瓜月、初秋、桐秋、桐月、兰月、肇秋。

八月：仲秋、酉月、壮月、南吕、桂秋、桂月、清秋、拓月、秋半、中律。

九月：季秋、戍月、玄月、无射、菊月、暮秋、凉秋、杪商、秋末、残秋。

十月：孟冬、亥月、阳月、应钟、初冬、早冬、首冬、始冬、开冬、新冬。

十一月：仲冬、子月、辜月、黄钟、霜月、寒月、葭月、正冬、畅月。

十二月：季冬、丑月、涂月、大吕、腊月、暮冬、梅月、暮岁、岁杪。

For the first ten days of the month:

每月一日至十日：上旬、上浣、上瀚、上澣
For the middle ten days of the month:
每月十一日至二十日：中旬、中浣、中瀚、中澣
For the last ten days of the month:
每月二十一日至三十日：下旬、下浣、下瀚、下澣

For the first day of the month:

每月初一：朔、旦、额

For the 15th day of the month:

每月十五日：望

For the last day of the month:

每月最末一日：晦

There are also specific names for certain days of the lunar calendar, which can be used instead of stating the month.

其他：元旦（元月一日）、元宵（元月十五日）、端午（五月五日）、中元（七月十五日）、中秋（八月十五日）清明、冬至、七夕、重阳、除夕等等。

Welcoming the Year of the Wood Dragon 甲辰

Happy Lunar New Year! 

And the best way to start off the new year is by writing some pieces related to the Year of the Wood Dragon.

龍 (Dragon)

 

新春 (New spring)

春節 (Spring Festival)

And a slightly different dragon.

 

希望大家事事顺利，心想事成。

 

Note: The words at the top of the post with the red background were written by me at the start of 2024. I took the words from here and used GIMP to give them a red background of the lunar new year.

春联 couplets for 2024 (Year of the Wood Dragon) "兔奔千里传春信 龙起九霄展鸿威"

I wrote several pieces of couplets (春联) for the Year of the Dragon. This is the final "product".

兔奔千里传春信 龙起九霄展鸿威

I found a similar phrase online and decided to tweak it a bit. It was originally "兔奔千里传春信 龙起九霄壮国威" but I felt the "壮国威" was a bit too... patriotic? and so I changed it to something else (展鸿威).

For practice, I used normal 半切 (135cm by 34.5cm) paper at first, and once I got the hang of it, I got out some red paper (which had gold flakes on them) in 全紙 size (135cm by 69cm), cut them into 半切 size, and then wrote some pieces. Subsequently, I cut the final "product" into two strips as per usual couplets.

I guess I am ready to welcome Chinese New Year now!

Snow in Yokohama

It doesn't snow often in Yokohama. So yesterday's snow was exciting at first.

But it soon turned out to be pure miserable.

Because it was not just snow. It was heavy snow with strong winds. I think it can be called a blizzard, since the winds were like 20 knots. And it was as if heaven was trying to make up for not snowing much in Yokohama, and decided to dump around two years' worth of snow in 12 hours.

 

As luck would have it, I had to go out. Not willing to take the risk with riding a scooter in the snow, I took the bus. Well... and ended up having to wait 30 minutes for the bus to get back, almost turning into a snowman in the process, since the wind was so strong and blowing all the snow at people standing in the queue at the bus stop.

In the end, we had about 35mm of snow accumulated all around this area.

Enough to make a tiny snowman. I mean, there was enough snow to make a big one, actually, but it was too cold to be outside for that long.

This morning, I took some time to clear the snow outside, so that the way to the house would not end up becoming an icy path. I had to clear the slush, which if left as it was, would have hardened into ice with time. In a place where earthquakes are a thing, a safe way to evacuate at all times is actually necessary. It was quite an exercise, since I didn't have any proper tools and had to use a small garden spade to scoop slush.

Snow in spring

Yesterday was 立春 Lichun, which is supposed to be the start of spring. But a cold wave is here and brought along some snow. So, I decided to write 春雪 which means spring snow.

Using the 24 solar terms (二十四節気) for calligraphy practice

A year ago, I started using the 24 solar terms (二十四節気) for calligraphy practice. Today is Lichun 立春 again, which starts a new cycle of the solar terms. Here is a post consolidating the results of this practice.

 

To round it up, I wrote the characters for 節気.

以节气圆此节。

 

The following are links to the pieces written for each of the 24 solar terms.

Lichun 立春

Yushui 雨水

Jingzhe 驚蟄

Spring equinox 春分

Qingming 清明

Guyu 穀雨

Lixia 立夏

Xiaoman 小满

Mangzhong 芒種

Summer solstice 夏至

Xiaoshu 小暑

Dashu 大暑

Liqiu 立秋

Chushu 處暑

Bailu 白露

Autumn equinox 秋分

Hanlu 寒露

Shuangjiang 霜降

Lidong 立冬

Xiaoxue 小雪

Daxue 大雪

Winter solstice 冬至

Xiaohan 小寒

Dahan 大寒

 

And finally, a slightly different version of 節気 to round it all up.

Monuments in memory of the victims of the fire at Kyoto Animation 1st Studio

On 1 February 2024, at around 4 p.m., Kyoto Animation's President Hatta Hideaki, representing the committee of the bereaved families, submitted a proposal to the mayor of Uji City, asking to place a monument at a public park in Uji City. There was an arson attack on 18 July 2019 at Kyoto Animation 1st Studio, and this monument will be ready by the fifth anniversary of the fire, 18 July 2024. The proposed location of this monument is at a public park in the city so that it can be visited by anyone.

Designed by employees of Kyoto Animation, this monument will include 36 birds (representing the 36 victims) soaring to the future. It will be made by the committee of the bereaved families and donated to the city. President Hatta stated that, after the fire, the company received many heartwarming messages and donations from all over the world, and they hope to express their gratitude. It is also hoped that when people visit Uji City, they will see the monument and remembered that such a tragic event had taken place.

Source: Screenshot of MBS News clip from here

 

Source: NHK article from here

Meanwhile, another monument will be established at the site of the former Kyoto Animation 1st Studio in memory of the victims. This will be for the families of the victims and other affiliates of Kyoto Animation as it will be located on private land.

Related links:

List of 35 victims of KyoAni fire listed in credit roll of Violet Evergarden the Movie

 

Trial of Kyoto Animation fire arsonist