5 interesting facts

It's time for 5 interesting facts about Japan :

I. THE FACE MASK

The face mask protects Japanese against disease, but also hides imperfections on the face.

II. KIT KAT

Japanese have a lot of types of Kit Kat. Words "kitto katsu" mines " you will win" or something like that, so parents buy these chocolate bars to children.

III. SAKE 

Overall it is alcohol, being in the bar should be clarified what you want.

IV. WAVING HAND

For us "waving hand" means greeting someone or valediction. Japanese wave hand when they want to talk to someone.

V.  FASHION

The personality is characterized by cloths. The Japanese have their own style, can go dressed as e.g. characters from anime, in pink, in gray etc., and no one will say a bad word about it.

The Ballad of Narayama (1983)

The Ballad of Narayama is a Japanese film by director Shōhei Imamura from 1983, tells a story about long-standing Japanese tradition of treatment of older people. The film bases on a really old tradition of treatment of older people who were escorted by sons to the Mount Fuji. Script writer : Shōhei Imamura and lead roles : Ken Ogata (Tatsuhei), Sumiko Sakamoto (Orin, mother of Tatsuhei).

The action takes place in Narayama, it is a small village in the inaccessible mountains. There is a age-old principle that every villager, who finished 70 years must go to the mountains to die. Refusal pulls shame and contempt for the whole family. Old Orin is 69 years. This winter is her turn. Before leaving she wants to make sure that her eldest son Tatsuhei find a wife... 

The great advantage of this film are costiumes created by Kyoto Isho and music composed by Shinichirô Ikebe. However the bad side of the film are scenes of animal's copulation. The director has not left anything the viewer's imagination. 

I recommend to you this film because is not very well known, but it is worth to watch it. Shows the life of the Japanese people in the nineteenth century village away from civilization.

The wood Horse year

I know this subject is a little in opposite with a matter topic of my blog, however I will talk about Chinese New Year. Today in Poznań, the students of sinology prepared a little party to welcome the wood Horse year. From 4 pm to 8 pm were different attractions. It was possible to practice Chinese calligraphy (it is always good fun;)), to mold the dumplings (jiaozi, in Japan called gyōza) and to participate in a lecture about the celebration of New Year in China. After that we listened to the Chinese horoscope for the year. At 6 pm were performances of wushu style (this is a very dynamic form of martial art) and of tai chi chuan style (I was doing this with my group, among other things :P) My friend of Tai Chi, he is great in this form of martial art and I think his performance was genius! At the end we had a Chinese dinner. 

This evening was amazing and I hope for the next time :) 

I do not believe in horoscopes, but according to what I heard today, I'm screwed :P The Chinese symbolic is very rich and detailed. It's amazing that the Chinese attach to it so much attention since ancient times.

In the Chinese horoscope I am a horse, and do you know what's your sign?

雪女 - snow woman

One of the most popular figure in Japanese culture is yuki onna (snow woman). We can meet her in Japanese literature and animations. She is shown as a beautiful woman with a pale skin. She has long black hair and red lips. She is often dressed in a white kimono, but sometimes  she is naked. Appears with snow (most with snowstorm). She heralds death. Her kiss makes the man freezes. Sometimes she pushes people from the mountains or give to someone to sustain a child who is so heavy that a person falls and can't stand up.

The most popular story about the yuki onna is a story about two hunters who went hunting in the mountains. In order to avoid the storm , took refuge in a cabin. Father fell asleep quickly, but the son could not sleep. When the snow began to fall harder, the son saw that the door to the house open. He saw a beautiful woman dressed in a white kimono, with black hair, which glided over the ground. She approached to the elder hunter, she bent over him and kissed him. Hunter was killed by freezing. The younger hunter could not find his voice. Yuki onna said she did not kill him because he is young, but he can't tell anyone about what he saw.
Some time later, in his house came a woman who had no where to hide from snow blizzard. She was with him longer, until they fell in love and started a family. After a few years, during a blizzard, hunter remembered the night in the yuki onna killed his father. He told his wife about it. She she started to cry and it turned out that she is a yuki onna. She wanted to make sure that a man will never tell anyone about it. He broke his promise, and she disappeared in the snow and left him alive with their child.