Archive for Relic
October 5, 2008 at 4:40 pm · Filed under Art, Relic, Marketing
These stylish matchbox ads for Japanese bars, cafes and restaurants date from the 1920s to 1940s. See the complete Flickr photoset (uploaded by maraid) for much more.
Shimbashi - Dai-san Otako (Izakaya?)
Ichifuji Shokudo (Restaurant) // Cafe Takimichi
Bar Romance
Fujiya Shokudo
Kissakeishoku Eho (Cafe Eho) // Cafe Eiraku
Asahi Tea Room
Shimbashi Mahjong Club
Ogawa Cafe // Ultra Service
Honten Morishita no Fuji to Seiyu
[Related: Matchbox madness]
Original post by Edo
August 26, 2008 at 5:32 am · Filed under Art, Relic, Paranormal
The Ooishi Hyoroku Monogatari, a largely fictional story featured in picture scrolls in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, tells of a young warrior and his encounters with trickster foxes posing as yokai. According to the National Museum of Japanese History, the story takes place in 1624 in Kagoshima, where a group of notorious young warriors have assembled. When a rumor circulates about shape-shifting foxes that have hoodwinked some people in the area and shaved their heads, the men decide to test the courage of one of the young warriors, Ooishi Hyoroku, by sending him on a mission to capture the mischievous creatures.
When the foxes hear about this mission, they transform into eight different yokai to frighten the young warrior:
Uja
Minobajo
Mitsume Koen
Nurarihyon
Hobeni Taro
Teremenchippei
Konotsukitokko
Nuppeppo
Hyoroku flees in fear each time he encounters one of the monsters. After he finally catches a pair of foxes, his father suddenly appears and urges […]
Original post by Edo
July 31, 2008 at 7:11 pm · Filed under Tokyo, Art, Relic, Attraction, Paranormal
Every August, as Japanese spirits return en masse from the otherworld, Tokyo’s Zenshoan temple exhibits a spine-chilling collection of 19th-century ghost scroll paintings. Here are a few. (Click the “+” under each image to enlarge.)
Ghost [+] // Sea Monster [+]
“Ghost” by Iijima Koga is a portrait of a floating, kimono-clad female apparition with all the ghastly physical features you hope to find in an undead spirit — bony hands, a head of stringy hair, and a pained grimace revealing a mouth full of black teeth. “Sea Monster” by Utagawa Hoen depicts an umi-bozu lurking near a boat anchored at shore, with the moon located precisely where the monster’s mouth should be.
* * * * *
The Ghost of a Blind Female Street Singer [+]
Utagawa Hiroshige’s “Ghost of a Blind Female Street Singer” portrays the restless spirit of a street performer, one white unseeing eye wide open, carrying a shamisen […]
Original post by Edo
June 23, 2008 at 10:09 am · Filed under Art, Relic
Tadanori Yokoo, one of Japan’s most prolific and internationally recognized graphic designers, has created a number of psychedelic posters for notable musicians.
Earth, Wind & Fire, 1976 [Enlarge]
Santana - Lotus, 1974 [Enlarge]
The Beatles, 1972 [Enlarge]
Emerson, Lake & Palmer concert poster, 1972 [Enlarge]
Tangerine Dream, 1976 [Enlarge]
Beatles - Star Club, 1977 [Enlarge]
Cochin Moon, 1978 [Enlarge]
Holst - The Planets, 1979 [Enlarge]
Earth, Wind & Fire, 1993 [Enlarge]
* * * * *
Yokoo is also known to have designed the occasional movie poster, including these three psychedelic beauties for Roger Corman’s “The Trip.”
The Trip, 1968 [Enlarge]
The Trip, 1968 [Enlarge]
The Trip, 1968 [Enlarge]
Original post by Edo
May 16, 2008 at 1:45 pm · Filed under Art, Relic, Simulacra
In early 19th-century Japan, it became fashionable for the culturally sophisticated theatergoing population of Edo to entertain themselves at parties by imitating the voices and gestures of famous actors. As this fad spread, people began to expand their repertoires by mimicking animals, and as animal poses became all the rage at parties, writers and artists collaborated to produce illustrated books containing model examples of these poses. One such document written by poet Santo Kyoden in 1809 included these Utagawa Toyokuni ukiyo-e prints of men imitating birds.
Crow pose
Hawk pose
Duck pose
Read the full post (111 words, 3 images)
Original post by Edo
May 2, 2008 at 10:43 am · Filed under Art, Relic
Kintaro (a.k.a. “Golden Boy”), a popular child folk hero embodying strength and bravery, appears in statues, storybooks, anime, manga, noh, kabuki and candy. He was also the subject of numerous Edo-period woodblock prints.
Various legends say that Kintaro was raised by a Yamamba ogress in the mountains, where he learned to communicate with animals. In this Kuniyoshi print, Kintaro wears a dragon haramaki and referees a sumo match between a rabbit and a monkey, while an eerie blue demon and tengu look on.
Kintaro Referees Sumo Bout Between Rabbit & Monkey (Kuniyoshi, ca. 1830)
As a youngster, Kintaro developed superhuman strength that enabled him to crush boulders, fight monsters and demons, uproot trees, and defeat bears at sumo. In this Yoshitsuya print, Kintaro demonstrates his unparalleled fighting skills by overpowering a giant python. His trademark axe is pictured at the bottom.
Model Warrior of Japan: Kintaro (Yoshitsuya, 1856)
The next series of […]
Original post by Edo
April 25, 2008 at 10:02 am · Filed under Crime, Art, Relic, Health
The Kaibo Zonshinzu anatomy scrolls, painted in 1819 by Kyoto-area physician Yasukazu Minagaki (1784-1825), consist of beautifully realistic, if not gruesome, depictions of scientific human dissection.
Unlike European anatomical drawings of the time, which tended to depict the corpse as a living thing devoid of pain (and often in some sort of Greek pose), these realistic illustrations show blood and other fluids leaking from subjects with ghastly facial expressions.
The fact that the bodies used in scientific autopsies in Edo-period Japan generally belonged to heinous criminals executed by decapitation adds to the grisly nature of the illustrations.
According to the Keio University Library (where these documents are currently stored), the two scrolls contain 83 illustrations based on Minagaki’s observations of over 40 bodies. They are regarded as the best collection of early 19th-century anatomical drawings by a Japanese hand.
The first scroll includes a handwritten compliment by Philip von Siebold, the German […]
Original post by Edo
·
Next entries »
