Recently I have been reviewing and practicing my respectful Japanese. There are many forms of conjugation in Japanese and although I have a decent understanding I need to practice. Therefore this post is a quick review in these different forms of grammar (I am sorry that their is no English translations…).
Kenjôgo is used for actions performed by the speaker to abase themselves in front of the listener. Consequently it can only be applied to actions that the speaker will take. This is subtly different from sonkeigo. Sonkeigo elevates the listener; kenjôgo lowers the speaker. The result is the same—respect conferred from the speaker to the listener—but the usage and grammar are different.
Brilliant words flowing … From those never knowing, how many lives they touch….
(2001) Connie Marcum Wong
全然知るの人から多い人生達を接触(せっしょく）がして素敵な単語は流麗（りゅうれい）です。
（二千一年）コニ．マルクム.ヲング
I would like to thank Tsunoda Japanese School and its students for helping me release and promote my ebook. The video we made to advertise the book demonstrates the uniqueness of the poetry me and my teacher strove to share with the world; and again I am extremely grateful to all the Taiwanese Japanese language students that came forward to help me with the release of this book. Living and working in Asia for some years now I have come to be accustomed to situations where I do not know what is going on… This is not a problem if an individual harbors honest intentions to learn then every moment remains a gift in itself. The dominant East Asian languages contain fantastic poetic structures but I have to admit other than Matsu O’ Basho and Dogen my understanding of the poetic of works is very little. However, I have in my studies delved deeper into the many interesting and smaller component parts of the language. Take for example the Japanese word Zappai meaning playful literature is a descriptive term that could apply to all the writing I attempt. The second example is the famous example of a kind of unique literature to Japan. The work Again in the Hōjōki’ by Kamo no Chōmei is an example of Zuihitsu (Texts that respond to the authors’ surroundings). I’ve yet to read this bit of Japanese literature I look forward to doing so because a work such as this contains an example of how deeply contradictory language is. For me when confronted with the Hōjōki (a ten foot square hut) I’m reminded of a certain confusion regarding language: it appears to us as being limitless infinite in potential but for humans the beings who are known for their dependency on language it is certainly finite and limited.
‘Everyone and everything is in a ten foot square hut …
Language is certainly a contender for one of the strangest things known to humankind. The possibility of a language-less world is impossible; for nature has had its communication long before homosapiens started making complex patterns in sound. The genesis of language can be considered to arise or start from a need to make sense of pictures, of images, and the meaning they enable. Writing on this blog I have already posted about the inspiration of Derrida and Wittgenstein on how language constructs many competing perspectives. The most interesting of these is inherited from an important moment in the history of thinking. The moment which I speak of is the realisation and perhaps the rediscovery of a long held understanding: that if we seek to contemplate existence, what it means to be, we inevitably arrive at the notion that our mental or subjective experience of our own existence distorts and indeed governs the way we are. This is also a Buddhist notion that behind the appearance of things there resides a deeper truth to being. This can be rephrased as suggesting that having a perspective is not at all helpful in understanding the truer Truth. The European articulation of this is to be located in a line from Germany to France a life long conversation between the ideas of Martin Heidegger and Jacques Derrida. This version of our linguistic interest runs as follows: Humans in as far as they exist can only talk of this being. The being of beings, not of Being itself. Now, the scientists amongst you hawk and state this as rubbish and you are entitled to such an opinion; but do not stop reading just yet.
Science and its method always seeks to arrive at objectivity: a position of knowledge considered to be real. It frequently does produce useful information within a given context so the benefits of having this thing called science and the use of language it enables (highly rational, explainable, and believable) are there to experience yet it is also extremely relativistic. What am I trying to say here? Well let me simplify: a perspective that I am keen on nurturing is the one that questions the outcomes or result of language usage or behaviour that produces more knowledge. What happens if it is possible to know everything? What happens to that which is authentically new and relative if we believe it is already known or even knowable. Our perspective becomes impoverished we loose the initial premise knowledge itself is generated from the original position or proposition of not knowing. The fact that objective knowledge so often looses its way and becomes yet another commodity on a market I find unhelpful to living organisms. This process generates bad belief in a possessive type of knowing. In my ebook I’ve made a small attempt to point towards something else: An Uu (Understated-understanding) such an alliterated concept I would encourage to be defined as the potential to resist the pitfalls of objective knowledge and the havoc it wreaks on limiting the life experiences of so many members of the species…
This Uu concept I hope can encourage lesser explored perspectives such as how cultures of writing can erase knowledge in a useful way. Or, how things such as the internet or the archival habit of humans (a desire for history and useful fiction and myth) point towards the possibility of collective appreciation of what already is… rather than the propensity to overvalue knowledge and attributing our own meaning over already deeply meaningful things. The fact that you had a past, you are in a present, and will be in a future makes me aware that creative use of language and the act of poetic expressioncan assist us in finding new moments for appreciation.
All I wish is for people who encounter this collection to leave after rethinking the value of having a confusion or being confused. Certainty can occasionally be overrated in some circumstances.
This post includes a few things I have been reading and translating. I have already posted some of them on Instagram but here I have included a translation of my friend Yutaka’s book, and my teacher Yoko’s buddhist text. I have also included some important practice in Japanese grammar which I really need to commit to memory in a fluent way so I can use them correctly in speech. I also found this amazing website for students of Japanese: www.japanese.io it is full of a wide range of literature and I will be using it a couple of times a week.
If we make space for worshipping our nature with sublimation, existence is magnified.
…
Spring is passing / the birds cry / and the fishes fill with tears on their eyes.
Ah tranquillity! / penetrating the very rock / a Cicada’s voice.
Zen does not shout:
Its will is free
We can swim in the sea of its heart
The place of decision is a turning point in existence
Is the natural profound meaning.
Gradually meet philosophy
What good can I do when angry?
Yutaka Morinaga
Throughout the day there are many problems with being angry, right?
___ Morinaga, This way of resolving was an inconvenient state of affairs.
Morinaga ‘whether one likes it or not, it is a little laughable. A sporadic person, reaching their limit has an angry feeling, and this is an object of torment?’
‘sporadically, ‘yes, this is how it is?’
___what Sporadic people, and Morinaga want to say is failing to come to an end.
Morinaga ‘ sporadic people reaching their limit try and make a sign of the angry episode, this considerable speech is understandable. But, for example, you can’t control the anger, and the anger is unreasonable, oh dear!’
Sporadically, ‘well, yes, you can. Seeing the person who sells, and what person suddenly gets angry like this.
I am sorry blog, I have been away for too long, but here is a post about some translations from Japanese into English. I am sharing it for other Japanese learners and for anyone with an interest in Buddhism and Kanji.
First up we have some letters I am sending to old students who I miss a great deal. I hope to see them all soon they where such nice people and I was lucky, I will always be lucky to have met them. The above Japanese translates as,’ Maki, Please give this to everyone. On the other side of this letter there is interesting English poetry. I am looking forward to the next time I am in Japan. Let us stay in touch. Paul’
The second is a map that my friend Yutaka wrote me… it describes a place of nature, a place near Tokyo which has a lot tress; a kind of forest. Yutaka is a fellow philosopher and I want to talk about co-authoring some texts with him in the future.
Thirdly, there is this bookmark, I took it from a flyer for an exhibition on Ink Painting and I love Sumie and Ukiyoe (Ink painting and Wood Block painting) I could spend all day every day looking at these Japanese art forms. 水墨の風, このブークマークは東京駅近くに出光美術館で展覧会からですね。
I saved the best to last, this year I will sit my first JLPT exam and then each year after I will sit another. My enthusiasm for this Asian language comes from a teacher I had a Yoko amongst other Yokos. Yoko is a translator of Taiwanese Buddhist texts for one of the biggest Buddhist temples in the world. This translation below is from a recently published book Learning the Spirit/Mind of Zen. Like all authentic Buddhist literature its beauty, power, and truth are constants.
The Translation into English Reads:
“Mutually helping each other.
A place where this happens becomes heaven.
Respecting the neighborhood together.
A place where this happens becomes a pure land.
Heaven is ones home.
The Pure Land is ones spirit”
Remove the weeds of the mind. And allow the seeds of merit to grow.
[…]
Thank you for reading. I will post a much larger and more extensive Japanese translation soon.
[This writing is a review of Logic. Recently, the content of the former university I want to remember in the far and near future so I can use. Everyone on the internet, maybe this post is useful I think. Of course, if you have an opinion that logic is interesting. この文章たちは論理の復習します。最近、前の大学の事は覚えたいですから未来と将来また使えますね。インターネットの皆さんは多分このプォストを便利と思います。勿論、もし倫理を面白さの意見だたらねー]
I think your illustrations are amazing and I want to learn more about them so it would be really good if over the next couple of months you would be willing to engage in an interview with me about your art and illustration practice. How you started making the images you make? Images, that somehow as if by magic, but really by your talent, carry and transform the rich tradition of Japanese printmaking and aesthetics and really brings it into the contemporary world – in a more modern way.
その絵は肝心の日本的なスタイル有りますから皆さんが見えなければなりません…
I would like to help promote your work… because your images contain an essential Japanese style that everyone should see.
ポール・ハリソン (歩流・梁尊)
First of all, my work is CG, not real wood prints. I like Japanese paintings and wood prints. But it is not realistic in terms of time or cost to draw drawings using rock paints or inks. So I use a pen tablet to draw as realistic Japanese paintings and wood prints as possible.
Draw outlines such as people and background with Painter and paint colors with Photoshop. Then, to lay out realistic prints and textures of Japanese paintings, layer the paper texture captured by the scanner.
Finally, color adjustment is done and it is completion.
I would really love to interview you over the second half of 2018 for a blog post. Let us email each other with two questions each email. About all kinds of topics that relate to your work, Japan, and the wider world.
1) You use digital software rather than the older woodblock printing. Can you describe to me the moment you realized that this way of working was the best for you?
(I am sorry this reply is late, I am always too busy…) I am planning on visiting Tokyo next year so after our discussion we will become friends in person…
At first I was using acrylic paint, about 1996 when I began working as an illustrator, digital illustration started to appear in the world and I started using Mackintosh and Fractal Design Painter.In digital, you can paint like a handwriting using a pen tablet, it is easy to adjust and edit colors.
And from that time on, the publishing industry gradually became the mainstream of submission of data by floppy disk.
That is one reason I began using digital software.
I was drawing oil painting when I was a high school student and Van Gogh is one of my favorite painters. I like the color and texture of western tempera paintings, especially Sandro Botticelli and Fra Filippo Lippi. When I began to draw in digital, I made various material to express texture of tempela picture, scanned them and used it for illustration. I still use that method.
ポールさんが来年東京に来た時はもし会えれば良いですね
It would be nice to meet you when you came to Japan next year.
…
You have had a lot of success with your style. I really think that works like: ‘man with carp’ , and ‘the Girl with an umbrella’ are not too idealised or realistic but achieve a great blend between the two. [I am not sure of these titles are correct, but your instagram account provides a great overview], then you also have deeply erotic illustrations. I wanted to ask you two questions: 1) Which Japanese artist working with eroticism do you like? 2) Do you think works that are erotic in some way are more subjective than objective? Because sex can be thought of in many different ways?
1) Which Japanese artist working with eroticism do you like?
They may not be an artist who draws erotism, but I like Seiichi Hayashi and Komura Settai.（They also draw nudity）Hayashi Shiichi is an illustrator who played an active part in various media in the 1970-1980 years, and the woman he draws is very attractive with its annui atmosphere. Komura Settai is an artist over 80 years ago. Although his illustrations are simple, the composition is refined and makes it feel narrative. It seems to be an ukiyoe print, not an ukiyo-e, it seems old and a new style.
2) Do you think works that are erotic in some way are more subjective than objective? Because sex can be thought of in many different ways?
Since it depends on the case, it can say either, but what you are painting at work is objective. Illustrations of novels are for helping readers imagine the story scenes,I draw illustrations faithfully to the story as much as possible, from characters, scenes, to the background of the times.
Best regards
Sai
…
四つと五つと六つの質問しましょう。
The 4th, 5th, 6th questions…
四・サイさんの全ての絵からどちら一番大好きですか。そして、理由は何ですか。
Sai, in all your images which one do you like the most?
Geisha are famous in Japan, recently thisCulture is regressing but sometime a normal Japanese woman wears the kimono and seems like a Geisha. Sai, what is your opinion on this?
Recently a colleague of mine made a recommendation. An author of a book, ‘Yukio Mishima, “Confessions of a Mask”. And, I like anime, which anime do you like? For example, “Hagenenorenkinjitsu”…
SAI, I will send you some more questions soon… もうすぐ、多分もっと三個の質問を送っています。じゃ、元気だね…
歩流…
ポール ハリソンさん
こんにちは。
先日のインタビューの返信です。
4
最近描いた絵の中では「祭りのあと」が好きです。
理由は人物の表情と構図でしょうか。縁日から帰ってきて少し寂しい雰囲気が表現できたと思います。
I like “after the festival” in the paintings I drew recently.
The reason is the expression and composition of the person.
I think I was able to express a little lonely atmosphere as she came back from the shrine festival.
In Japan, I still wear a yukata at a festival and wear kimonos at an adult ceremony etc, In general, geisha is a hostess with skills to entertain customers at banquets and the like,a woman wearing a kimono and a geisha are quite different to me in Japanese. I want kimono to become more popular like everyday wear.
I don’t see much of recent animation, but I often see it when I was a child is a series called “World Masterpiece Theater”. I like all the stories, but I especially like “Anne of Green Gables” among them.
Okay, four last questions (It makes me sad but we are both busy and can continue our conversations in person), and I like your answers. I am learning many new things.
In pursuit of Japanese fluency every Westerner is faced with the dilemma of how or what to do about the languages three alphabets … Hiragana and Katakana are difficult enough then a normal person will look at Kanji and say, “Well I am not Asian therefore I am not obliged to learn it. I, on the other hand, are a mischievous animator constantly seduced by all kinds of literature from Graffiti to poetry and especially graphic poetry.
The following is an abuse of Instagram. A collection of recent calligraphy and writing from various Asian hands with some translation and comments.
Now, I have no choice. Now I live as a woman . @Shunpu
With writing, really a moist instrument,
A wealthy rich culture comes. @Mashiko798
Before trying to be someone, I think the things you couldn’t do are a way of introduction. @bein_S.0913
Bugs/disregarding (disregarding small bugs, you say plates do not cry Kanji.
Haha, this one is a failed translation, the adjective is wrong. 笑、これは翻訳しないで、形容詞は悪いです。
May also the yearly amount is over. Atmospheric temperature between the body’s condition will disappear (leave). Please look after yourself please. @kakichirashi
Today, looking back at recent events in the west. My mind is filled with a deep hope that the Labour party lead by Jeremy Corbyn can usurp the evil leadership of the Conservative party. If they achieve this it could give millions of people in America some more inspiration to unify and collaborate to get rid of Trump from the helm of their government. What has struck me recently has been how those in power have distorted the truth to maintain and enhance their control. Recent nefarious practices, such as the abuse of data can be seen to have bought the British democracy. Undermining it by equipping the propaganda machines of the right with enough information about voters, so that they could feed the population facts that distort the truth. The noun for this type of information is a ‘factoid’ a piece of information repeated so many times that it starts to attain the appearance of the truth. This has already caused a catastrophe of epic proportions. Brexit is entirely a construct and conclusion of the power plays within the conservative government. The decision to leave the European Union was engineered in this space of greed, self-interest, and the cult of money. David Cameron, Boris Johnson, George Osborne, and the likes of Nigel Farage have all lived with such luxury and distributed such views. That, I hope eventually their unethical actions come back to haunt them through the rest of their existence – these people that made the UK poorer.
From oligopolies lobbying to Members of Parliament expense claiming. You might try and compassionately reason and suggest, ‘Perhaps, if I was in such a situation, if I was offered the chance to claim for money – by just showing ones receipts. Then maybe I would do the same.’ This hints at one of the biggest factoids the legitimisation of entitlement, of ownership. We are not supposed to inherit rights, rather we are meant to be born with them. But, under the Neo-liberalist project that gained steam since it was fuelled by the socially damaging governments of Thatcher and Reagan. Our rights have suddenly become surplus to requirements. Trump’s idiocy, ineptness, and overall hideousness shows clearly how those with vast wealth simply do not care about the majority. It does not matter if we destroy the planet… or, if you literally remove the rights of those with different appearance or belief. What matters to Trump is business and his ability to exercise control through profit. The inability of democracy to not completely safeguard itself from corruption does not have to be it’s downfall if we are more aware of it. Team Trump’s use of factoids to give the orange haired child in the room confidence in his own bloated existence and his repertoire of lies. The attack on decency and the visual explosion of hate from the masses towards the ‘other’ (itself a potential factoid?). The murderous Murdoch mafia’s desperate attempt to slur the honorable socialist Corbyn, and disrupt free speech with it’s rank drivel should also be snuffed out. How do we stop people like Robert Mercer and his company of Cambridge Analytica?
Let’s hope Trump is impeached, and Corbyn’s Labour is elected. Then perhaps certain Factoids: climate change is a myth, profit is not a filthy world, market competition drives progress, and capitalism will last forever can be made to match the facts they are enhanced from? In the future how do we keep the two separate, a fact from it’s potential steroids?
Muriness: a Japanese word that I created!
Not completely unrelated to the above, yet certainly detached is an event that brought me great personal joy. Recently, my job in Tokyo has been rather debilitating. The reason for this is because I am an English teacher in a conversation school in Japan. So yes, of course, in my lessons I do not speak Japanese because I do desire the Asian people I see weekly to learn my language, and have been working hard to achieve this. Since I started two years ago my company has expected me to abide by certain rules – to a large extent I have out of respect for the opportunity to work and experience living in a different country. Yet, in the last couple of months I have come to realise just how unhealthy this strict regime I am forced to maintain is. This is okay, I only have two more months of work here, but one of the saddest, most negative things that will stay with me is my own inability to have adapted myself to the environment of Tokyo. This means that rather than fluency, I speak a broken Japanese that stays somewhat too simple. This frustrates me because I am a social person, I do enjoy spending time with people, and up until very recently I deeply desired to speak a second language fluently. This is still too vague… let me describe in more detail how I have felt working full time in Tokyo. 3 days a week I finish work at about 10:00 pm, I leave the school at around this time. Adding this to the commute via train I arrive home towards 11 at night. This does not leave much time to relax and spend time with my housemates. Or, even prepare a wholesome meal.
Anyway, this post is not about ungratefully bitching on the company that gave me my first full time job. Although, I am frustrated and annoyed at how I have been treated – and the behaviours I have forced to perform. Notice how I am not naming the company this is out of respect for those I work with both fellow foreigners and local Japanese friends. Who have helped me enjoy my time here… What I want to share with you today is the Japanese word I created to describe this frustration and anger I suddenly felt toward the type of capitalism that exists here in the biggest city in the world. The word is Muriness, a hybrid between the Japanese Muri (impossible) and the English ‘ness’ (quality of) so you can use it to describe a feeling/sense/quality of impossibility. So, what in my experiences living in Japan could be seen to have Muriness? Let us go through some examples. The Japanese language itself is a huge language – if you are good at singing then you might find this language easier to speak. You pronounce absolutely everything there are no unvoiced syllables. It’s written form is slightly more challenging, but if you have time, desire, and commitment you can do it. For me the muriness of acquiring Japanese as a second language is it’s formal context specific qualities. These things stand in sharp contrast to my mother tongue. I find myself not being able to express myself both accurately and creatively enough when I try and communicate in Japanese.
The Japanese government is also in contention for being labelled as having muriness. This is due to prime minister Abe’s support of Trump and the administrations conservatism that is very much a perspective in favour of a nationalistic past. Contrasting with the image of modern Japan as a passive, peaceful, and welcoming country. One normal encounter with Muriness, that every normal individual or salary-man/woman regularly encounters is the experience of rush hour traveling on the hundreds of trains. Sometimes the train is so full you literally have no space to move. Discovering, or contemplating the “meaning” of existence I would also say has a potential for Muriness because this assumes the importance of meaning. I would like to imagine that one day this bizzare little creation will enter the Japanese lexicon and be used by Japanese people in conversations in both Japanese and English. For now, I am content that I made something that allows me to describe how I feel having existed in a far eastern capital city. Please… Japanese readers please use this… when you feel like something is impossible, but do not know if it is actually impossible.
Recently, I was introduced to Hayao Miazaki’s “Panda! Go Panda!” (1972) I haven’t seen the film but I want to watch it. The story features around a Father and son pair of Pandas. Who escape from the zoo and have a crazy adventure with a Tiger. I’m going to watch it soon! Eyeball the trailer below.
Secondly last year I watched two Japanese Anime films. The first recently became the most successful of all time, kimi no nawa (your name)is a story of gender swapping, the trials and tribulations of emotional life, and a meteor. The characters are Mitsuha and Taki. They transport the viewer into beautiful drawn moving pictures of Tokyo and Itomori in the Hida region of Japan. Watch this for a great depiction of Japanese culture, and a fine example of a uniquely Japanese style of animating. My favourite part is when Mitsuha first swaps bodies with Taki, and she has to use the correct male word. The painterly images of Tokyo are very realistic, the animators did a good job.
The film ‘Koe no katachi'(Form of Voice) is a rather long but interesting anime. Set in a high school and featuring an arrogant boy and mute girl. You are really invited to mull over what it’s like to be bullied, and to bully. Topics such as suicide are explored, and the film’s images serve as a potent reminder of the varied differences between people. It also formally showcases the culture of confession. All in all interesting but a tad too long.
