Category: everyday life

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everyday life

Yamada Akihiro’s Twelve Kingdoms Calendar 2015.

Go Amazon.co.jp ha-ha.
Go Amazon.co.jp ha-ha.
   Hey guys! There are less than two months left this year. It’s getting colder in my town.
 
   By the way, Shinchōsha released Yamada Akihiro’s Twelve Kingdoms Calendar 2015, which is available at stores in Japan only but you can buy it from Amazon.co.jp despite your address. I don’t care that you buy it or not (^o^). So, jump to the page from the right image. It’s not very expensive, ￥1,950. I think it is a kind of book, so its shipping rates is less than ￥1,000 or so.
 
   The calendar is made of seven sheets.

  • Cover : A new illustlation
  • Jan & Feb : A new illustlation
  • Mar & Apr : From “Kasho no Yume (華胥の幽夢)”
  • May & Jun : From “Hisho no Tori (丕緒の鳥)”
  • Jul & Aug : From “Tonan no Tsubasa (図南の翼)”
  • Sep & Oct : From “Tasogare no Kishi Akatsuki no Sora (黄昏の岸暁の天)”
  • Nov & Dec : From “Twelve Kingdoms day’s gift”
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everyday life

Late autumn makes my heart quiet and lonely.

Moon and clouds.
Moon and clouds
立待月
   Today is November 1st. Just two months remain in this year. I was thinking about such things and re-read my blog posts, then I found the right picture. It reminded me of the following poet by 王維 (Chinese : Wáng Wéi, Japanese : Ōi). The title is 竹里館, 竹里館 literally means bamboo village mansion.
 

  • Rough translation of the poem
    Sitting alone in the thick bamboo-grove
    Playing a koto and reciting a poem with a resonant voice
    Nobody knows me that hiding in the deep grove
    Only Moon visiting and lighting me
竹里館

明　深　弾　獨
月　林　琴　坐
來　人　復　幽
相　不　長　篁
照　知　嘯　裏

   If you read the poem, read top to bottom and right to left.

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everyday life

Hey Vongfong! Won’t you pass us over soon?

同一記事の日本語版
Update information      Edit

Typhoon Vongfong from Oct.12@9:00 ~ Oct.13@8:30
Typhoon Vongfong
from Oct.12@9:00 ~ Oct.13@8:30
   I got it from TV flash that Vongfong moved onshore near Makurazaki around 8:30JST.

   I’ve put up shutters since last night and been stuck in the house. We have Storm warning, Heavy rain Advisory, Flood Advisory and Thunderstorm Advisory in my town and others. Though I heard the wind roar at midnight, now very calm and almost no rain. Is it the calm before the storm?

   As the path of the typhoon moved just to the south compared with its anticipated course, my town will be less affected. But its speed is getting a little faster (around 30 km/h).

   Hey Vongfong! Won’t you pass us over soon?

Edit:
   I’ve opened the shutters just now (Just after 14:00JST). I usually open them except when typhoons coming.

   “Parturiunt montes, nascitur ridiculus mus.”　This is one of those things this year. But no disasters are grateful for us.   “A natural disaster strikes when people lose their memory of the previous one.” So, do not neglect our duty!

   And, Vongfong still has power. Keep to prepare for it, guys!

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everyday life

Moon and Uranus.

同一記事の日本語版

   FHさん gave me the images of the total lunar eclipse on October 8 because I wrote on his BBS that I envied the image he uploaded on his site (^_^;).

   I show you five images by him. I found out Uranus on his images. This time it is Uranus absolutely, I bet.

   You can see Uranus clearly on the three of them. At the night Uranus apparent magnitude was around 5.7. But the moon is darker and darker, we can see Uranus easier and easier on the images. Interesting!

@18:25JST
@18:25JST
@18:32JST
@18:32JST
@18:58JST
@18:58JST
@19:08JST
@19:08JST
@19:37JST
@19:37JST
 photographer: FHさん
Shooting location: Kyōto
Typhoon Vongfong from Oct.11@9:00 ~ Oct.12@8:30
Typhoon Vongfong
from Oct.11@9:00 ~ Oct.12@8:30

   By the way, a typhoon is approaching, again. My town has no disaster by typhoons this year until now. We have to prepare for it. “Well Prepared Means No Worries.” I really hope it will end in no worries.

   Anyway, it has a lot of rain clouds.

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everyday life

Tonight is “Otsukimi”, but cloudy.

同一記事の日本語版

   Tonight is “Otsukimi“. Yesterday, I had very clear moon, but cloudy tonight (around 21:00).

The moon from my garden.
The moon from my garden.

Full Moon
Full Moon

Rabbit
Rabbit

   We have a folklore that says a rabbit lives on the moon and it pounds mochi. A song for you about rabbits and the moon. I apologize for the noise in advance. After upgrading to Windows 8.1, I cannot use a genuine sound driver for NJ2100. The noise maybe depends on it.

  • うさぎ (Rabbit)
    Usaki, usaki, nani mite haneru.
    うさぎ，うさぎ，なに見てはねる。
    Jūgoya otsuki sama, mite haneru.
    十五夜お月さま，見てはねる。

   Now, I can see beautiful Full Moon. But, almost Sep 9.

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everyday life

I’m shocked because Robin Williams passed away.

   I’ve just found “Robin Williams, actor and comedian, found dead at 63”. It’s a very big shock for me. He is one of the most favorite actors.

   Only 63!! May his soul rest in peace.

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everyday life

Cleaning of the graveyard.

   Today is Risshū(立秋), so I was going to clean the patrimonial graveyard in this morning. Actually, this is for Obon(お盆). Most of Japanese do the cleaning of the graveyard for Obon still now, but all of them do not do it on Risshū. It is my family custom.

   It’s sunny day today. I cleaned the graveyard from 6:30 to 8:00. The period we feel cooler than around noon.

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everyday life

“The Garden of eternity” was released on July 31.

   Hi, guys!! I have a good news about 十二国記 for you.

   Yamada Akihiro(山田章博) illustration collection book named “The Garden of eternity(久遠の庭)” was released on July 31. Maybe you can get “The Garden of eternity(久遠の庭)” via Amazon.

   It’s very beautiful but a little bit expensive.

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everyday life

Today’s bird – 9 poses ＆ a video of Gabichō.

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   I took these photos from the living room window of my house. It’s a Gabichō(画眉鳥). After a year of unremitting effort, I finally took its photos clearly ha-ha-ha. I first saw Gabichō around my house last year. Actually this is one of Invasive Alien Species in Japan. In fact, it is a nuisance. But it’s not Gabichō’s faults.

   It sings very loud, so we can hear it easily, but it is usually in a bushy place, so we cannot see it easily. Finally, I took its pictures. Happy!!

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everyday life

Today’s bird – 10 poses of Hiyodori.

同一記事の日本語版

   I took these photos from the upstairs window of my house. It’s a Hiyodori(鵯). It didn’t show inclination to fly away probably because it is very busy preening. Do you think it’s funny and cute?