A couple books that I have been excited about have arrived in the mail: The first book is a look at a famous collection of Japanese woodblock prints called the One Hundred Aspects of the Moon, which I will be covering in a new post in the near future. This collection of woodblock prints hasContinue reading “New Books!”
Category Archives: History
Actions, Not Words
As I continue watching the Japanese historical drama The Thirteen Lords of Kamakura, I am struck by how much a scoundrel the lead character, Minamoto no Yoritomo (based on the real historical figure), is. By episode twelve, he’s tossed out his first wife, sleeping around behind the back of his pregnant second wife’s, and hasContinue reading “Actions, Not Words”
Letters and Swords
While watching the movie Top Gun on Netflix,1 I got to thinking about how different cultures view the “ideal man”, or “ideal person”. This reminded me of a Japanese yojijukugo phrase 文武両道 (bunbu ryōdō). Breaking it down, the phrase means: 文 – letters, literacy or cultural refinement 武 – martial prowess, or martial warfare (alsoContinue reading “Letters and Swords”
When It Turns Out Your Heritage Isn’t Really Your Heritage
This is pretty small beans compared to other things going on in the world, but recently my sister let me know an interesting historical detail about my paternal grandfather and what it means for our Scottish heritage, and sense of identity in general. My dad’s wife has been an avid genealogist ever since she decidedContinue reading “When It Turns Out Your Heritage Isn’t Really Your Heritage”
War, Buddhism and Language
We are now almost two weeks into the invasion of Ukraine and now the long, ugly grind of war has reared its ugly head. The invasion has consumed many of us. The initial fervor has given away to the reality that even if Ukraine totally routs the Russian military, Ukraine will still have been destroyed,Continue reading “War, Buddhism and Language”
Ennin: The Forgotten Tendai Monk
In my recent free time last month, I caught up on an old DVD video tour of Buddhist temples in Japan that my in-laws had given me years back. I also discovered that I could turn on the subtitles, which helped a ton as the Japanese is kind of difficult for me, but the contentContinue reading “Ennin: The Forgotten Tendai Monk”
The Rise and Fall of the Heike
Near the end of the twelfth century in Japan, after decades of political meddling by the Fujiwara clan in Imperial court politics, an upstart samurai warlord named Taira no Kiyomori took control of his clan, the Heike (平家),1 in 1159. In 1179 he had become so powerful that he seized control of the capitol inContinue reading “The Rise and Fall of the Heike”
Japanese Samurai Armor in D&D
As I recently wrote, translating Dungeons and Dragons as a game into another medieval cultural setting can be a challenge. As someone who writes independent adventure modules for a Japanese-inspired setting on DMS Guild, I appreciate this point a lot. Nowhere is this more so a challenge than armor. Originally, when I first made thisContinue reading “Japanese Samurai Armor in D&D”
The Thirteen Lords of Kamakura
Since the kids were very young, the family and I subscribe to Terebi Japan, a cable channel that allows us to watch Japanese TV. The cable channel mostly shows TV from the public channel, NHK (roughly analogous to the BBC), and not other content, but it does allow us to watch Japanese TV legitimately andContinue reading “The Thirteen Lords of Kamakura”
Buddhism and the Parthian Empire
Speaking of the Parthians, let’s talk about Buddhism. As mentioned in the previous post, the Parthians primary religion was Zoroastrianism, a fascinating subject by itself. However, they were quite tolerant of other religions and faiths, including the Greek colonists, Babylonians and their venerable pantheon, but also faiths that arose in the eastern parts of theContinue reading “Buddhism and the Parthian Empire”
Gleanings in Buddha-Fields 