Later …

But Then …

hello nice reederz its dennis the vizsla dog hay wel it seems that after choaking down a kuple of snayls i now hav the ninja hedjhogs kompleetly foold!!! in fakt i wuz pikd to go on sum sort of top seekret verry important rayd with them!!! i can only imadjin wot sort of nefaryus items we mite be steeling!!! weppons??? nookular mateeryal??? hanna montanna rekords??? soon i wil find owt wot the first peese of there master plan is!!!

Later …

Meanwhile …

hello nice reederz its dennis the vizsla dog hay in order to uncover the trooth abowt this ninja hedjhog konspeerasy and find owt if dada is reely a ninja hedjhog sleeper aydjent i hav deesided to go undercover amongst the ninja hedjhogs disgized as wun of there own chek it owt!!!

with this impenetrabul mask on i wil finaly be abel to lern all the seekrets of the ninja hedjhogs!!! wish me lukk and dont tel ennybuddy ok???? thanks ok bye

Later …

Meanwhile …

hello nice reederz its dennis the vizsla dog hay wel yoo may remember that sum time ago i wuz investigayting evidense as to wether or not dada wuz in kahoots with the ninja hedjhogs and at the time i wuz unaybel to proov it eether way however my seekret sorse hoo has in the past supplied me with fotografik evidense of dadas chekkerd past has forwarded me this pikcher of dada frum yeerz and yeerz ago chek it owt:

this is just horrifying and i am not tawking abowt dadas aviator glasses!!! i am tawking abowt the fakt that he is kleerly having sum sort of deep diskushun with a ninja hedjhog!!! hoo nos wot sort of promisses the ninja hedjhog mayd in ekschayndj for dada agreeing to giv it yummy meelwurms and to spy on me for the vast small mammal konspirasee eeven tho i wuznt eeven born then yoo no how ninja hedjhogs like to tayk the long vyoo and plan in advanse!!! ennyway i wil be investigayting this further i can ashoor yoo!!! ok bye

Later …

DISCLAIMER: This blog is about antique Japanese swords. If you have no vested interest in this subject, you’ll likely be very bored here, so I suggest you leave ASAP.

For those who enjoy antique swords, I bid you welcome to my small corner of the world. I think you’ll find yourself a lot of information on this subject and I intend to also add E-bay auctions at some point, so if you would like to buy one, you can get the best deals E-bay has to offer.
We’ll just leave this first post as a welcome and warning. Post 2 should be incoming soon with information on the different sword types!

Ya, hay que hablar de samuráis!, habiendo tantos animes con samuráis como protagonistas, en este blog aun no los hemos tocado. en este post hablo de mi favorito, por mucho, mucho mejor que Afro Samurai, es ¡Samurai Champloo! (lo que dice en el encabezado con katakana), un anime de Sunrise, ambientado en Japón durante el  período Edo.

Samuráis

Samurai Champloo, nos cuenta la historia de dos samuráis, increíblemente diestros con la espada o katana (¿alguien sabe si hay diferencia?). Uno es Mugen, un samurái de mundo entrenado en las calles y el otro Jin, un samurái de doojoo, entrenado con disciplina y severidad, ellos conocen a Fuu, una joven chica, que trabaja en un restaurante (o algo parecido) o más bien trabajaba porque ellos se encargan de destruir el lugar xD.

Fuu,Mugen y Jin!!

Fuu trata de encontrar a su padre, otro samurái, del cual solo sabe que huele a girasoles (con esos datos es imposible no encontrarlo xD) y como ahora tiene la compañía de dos poderos samuráis, se lanza al mundo a buscarlo y eso es la escencia de la historia. Fuu, Mugen y Jin en busca del samurái que huele como a girasoles.

Cuando mugen pelea parece que estuvo en Brasil para aprender capoeira xD

Mugen y Jin siempre pelean para demostrar quien es mejor!

Durante el anime vamos conociendo el pasado de Mugen y de Jin, además de las extrañas situaciones que les ocurren en su travesía, que van desde problemas con sectas católicas, hasta partidos de beisbol. Es un anime del 2004, la animación no sobresale pero el diseño de personajes es increíble! El sountrack no me gusta, es Hip hop básicamente, pero tampoco me desagrada.

El opening muestra que música y arte esperar a lo largo del anime.

Samurai Champloo Decarga Direcata [completo]

Champloo01 Champloo02 Champloo03 Champloo04 Champloo05

Champloo06 Champloo07 Champloo08 Champloo09 Champloo10

Champloo11 Champloo12 Champloo13 Champloo14 Champloo15

Champloo16 Champloo17 Champloo18 Champloo19 Champloo20

Champloo21 Champloo22 Champloo23 Champloo24 Champloo25

Champloo26 desde eRdM

Metal Bowl in Mokume-gane Style.

Bryan Lee Brown

11 am.-5 p.m.

Images Art Gallery
1520 Walnut
Kansas City, MO
816.221.2006

Hours: 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday
Runs through: May 23

Artist’s site: http://imagesartgallery.org/htdocs/BryanBrown.html
Gallery site: http://www.imagegallery.org

One of the great things about our ever-shrinking world is that once-inaccessible art forms are now open to a greater number of practitioners.

Then again, that’s also one of the worst things about the ease with which styles and ideas leap state lines, national borders and even oceans. Ask anyone who’s ever been forced to sit through endless faux-tribal drumming, eaten a microwaved burrito from a convenience store or read a particularly brutal attempt at haiku.

Bryan Lee Brown’s metal work counts among the pluses. Brown, one of three artists now showing at the co-operative, not-for-profit Images Art Gallery, is one of only a handful of American artists working in a 400-year-old Japanese style called Mokume-gane. That translates literally as “wood burl metal”, referring to the swirling deformities prized by many woodworkers.

Real burls can be caused by all sorts of things, but are most often the result of insect attacks or mold infestation. Replicating the gnarled grain in metal, a process originally used for katana swords, is a painstaking process — but with beautiful results.

Brown, a former jewelry art instructor at the Gemological Institute of America, describes Mokume-game  as an intricate process that involves the layering of different colored metals in an alternating pattern and bonding these metals using only heat and pressure. After the bonding, the solid stack is cold forged to a desired thickness, and then is ground into to reveal the layers of color and further cold forged until the metals are flush again.

Only then, when the metal is in a sheet, can the artist begin crafting the final work.

The results, as shown in the bowl pictured above, does take on the look of gnarled, knotty wood — but with the gleam of metal giving it an entirely different sort of warmth. Brown also crafts jewelry through the Mokume-gane process — and here, too, the glow of metal intensifies the effects of Brown’s smithing.

(Hot tip for any potential buyers: Images Gallery is moving across the state line, from the Crossroads to 7320 W. 80th St. in downtown Overland Park. The gallery  is holding a moving sale this Saturday. Go today to check out the show, which also includes paintings by Suzy Perkins and Teri Kay Willett … and if something catches your eye, make a return trip to the East Crossroads this weekend.)

And even if you’re just looking for the sake of looking, Brown’s work is worth the drive, walk or bus ride. One concept holds true in every culture of our little tiny world: You have to see something in person to truly appreciate it.

Who was Lady Snowblood, and how was she related to Quentin Tarantino’s “Kill Bill” movies? Come walk the Great Wall of China with me and I’ll tell you the story (and perhaps I’ll even tell you where to find the best katanas in Second Life)… all on my Virtual Neko blog…

=^..^=

Swords never get tired.
- O-Ren Ishii in the movie Kill Bill, Vol. 1

Last week the winter snows melted from an amazing place called Mao in Second Life. If you haven’t heard of this sim, or better yet, if you’ve always wondered what it would be like to walk the Great Wall of China, this place is a must-see.

When you arrive at the main entry building, cross the bridge and begin walking the ramparts (if you’re a curious cat like me, walk down to the water to get a closer look at the boat). The thick, well-textured walls march ponderously up and down the sim’s rolling hills, with guard stations at each peak to capture the surrounding views.  

I must admit, I was glad to have seen this place before the snows melted. Something about the contrast between dark skies, swirling snowflakes, and soft mounds of white made the setting so much more magical — a perfect backdrop to a photo that Bobby had long been envisioning: the deadly snow scene in the first “Kill Bill” movie.

This scene is certainly the one most people think of when they recall the movie. But did you know that this blood-spattered snowy moment, not to mention many other aspects of Kill Bill, were inspired and heavily influenced by a Japanese manga and film? Yep… long before Quentin Tarantino’s hit, the original vengeful female character was known as Lady Snowblood.

I’ve never been nice my whole life, but I’ll do my best…
– Bill, in Kill Bill, Vol. 2

Lady Snowblood (修羅雪姫 Shurayukihime) is a classic 1973 Japanese film based on the manga ”Lady Snowblood” by writer Kazuo Koike and artist Kazuo Kamimura. It follows the story of a woman assassin who seeks revenge on a band of thugs who destroyed her family.

Much like Lucy Liu’s character O-Ren Iishi in Kill Bill, Lady Snowblood was a beautiful, vengeful killing machine. In fact all you Kill Bill fans out there will probably recognize her storyline:

A family is attacked by criminals who kill the father and brother, and brutalize the mother. Mom is thrown into prison, from whence she plots revenge the only way she knows how: by getting pregnant with a child that she hopes will grow up to be a trained killer who will hunt down the bandits.

Sadly, mom dies during childbirth, but her fellow prison-mates take up the cause to raise the baby girl, who they name Yuki, as an assassin (apparently the taste of revenge can be contagious as well as sweet)…

Young Yuki quickly develops her skills as a calculating killer. Upon reaching adulthood, she makes a living as a master assassin, earning the name “Snowblood.” Her every waking moment is consumed with a single-minded goal: to comb the underworld for the remaining members of the criminal gang that destroyed her family, in order to exact her mother’s bloody revenge.

Clearly the theme of this movie impressed Quentin Tarantino enough to influence many aspects of his Kill Bill movies — from the creation of several vengeance-seeking female characters, to its unique camera angles, not to mention overall stylistic approach. 

You didn’t think it was gonna be that easy, did you?
You know, for a second there, yeah… I kinda did.
– O-Ren Iishi and The Bride, in Kill Bill, Vol. 1 

So there I was, a little Neko in the middle of a snowy field at midnight. Since I’m not a killer kitteh, I decided to have some cosplay fun. But which character… O-Ren Iishi in her (in)famous white kimono, katanas crossed menacingly? Or the more elegant Lady Snowblood, a long dagger tucked artfully into the sleeve of her silk kimono?

Mmm… when in doubt, a cosplayer can always start with katanas. Not only did that allow me to give a nod to one of my favorite blog readers, Kyllie Wylie, in her “Dress Me Up” suggestion from a while ago, but it let me pay homage to one of my favorite Neko designers in Second Life: Loki Dancer of Dirty Lynx / Hanzo Blades.

Loki’s katanas are quite simply the best I’ve found in Second Life. Their detail work, action, sound effects, simple-to-use HUD, and the attack animations (note to users: if the AWDS keys don’t work for ya, use your arrow keys) are all excellent.

However equal praise goes to a guy named Mulaki Bracken, owner of a store called ‘Filthy Hobbit,’ where I found some outstanding poses for two swords (or katanas). If you’re a fan of wielding weapons, I’d encourage you to check out his unique poses.

Ready? Set? “Kakugo!” (Japanese for “en garde,” or quite literally, “prepare to die!”)

| Hair | Magika: Geisha in brown (hand-tinted to create multiple red shades)
| Eyes | SbZ Eye Fidelity: FREE Neko deep blue eyes (actually a light blue color)
| Kimono | Nonko Romankan: Momoro kimono (includes geta shoes with short lace-trimmed socks shown above, and a cute little coin purse which I didn’t wear cuz it just didn’t look right next to the katanas ^_^ )
| Katanas | Hanzo Blades: Shingen Katanas
| Katana Poses | Filthy Hobbit: Red Sonja poses (the LM won’t take you to the store, so when you arrive, head for the red beacon. You’ll come to a pose store called “Serenade;” Filthy Hobbit poses are in the back left corner of the store).

Visit the Great Wall at Mao Island:
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Mao/241/131/24

Visit the beautiful Japan Hosoi Ichiba island next door:
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Japan%20Chugoku/60/56/27

Learn More About Hosoi Ichiba and Mao Island on Their Blog:
http://hosoi-ichiba.blogspot.com/

Read an Overview of the Snowblood Mangas:
http://www.megacitycomics.co.uk/acatalog/Lady_Snowblood_Manga.html

Watch a Scene from Lady Snowblood:
(this clip makes it easy to see how much this movie influenced “Kill Bill”)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JkkXZj5VwZM

See the Story of O-Ren Iishi in Kill Bill, Volume 1:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DDrRq36KORI

Photos by the ever-artful Bobby Yoshikawa <3***

© Stacia Villota / Virtual Neko in Second Life – 2009
http://virtualneko.com

=^..^=

“Hook! Hook! Give us the Hook! Hook! Hook! Give us the Hook!” the pirates in my head kept chanting. I spent all morning in Neverland with Robin Williams and Dustin Hoffman.

By “Neverland,” I of course am referring to the dentist.

Now, nobody with half a brain would ever stick a sharp, pointy object in their mouth. No sane person uses katanas for toothpicks. You don’t use a steak knife as a tooth brush. So I never understood why the first thing that dentists do is grab a gaffing hook and start clawing around your mouth with it. I tried to stay focused on finding my happy thought, but the incessant picking that echoed around my skull too closely resembled the piratical chanting of Captain James T. Cook’s minions.

One final thought. Exactly what kind of fairy was Tinkerbell? I firmly believe she is a tooth fairy. And what do you suppose her “pixie dust” is made of? Those chunks of teeth that go flying from the drill.

Seguro que a los fans más acérrimos de Final Fantasy, y sobre todo de Final Fantasy VII, el nombre de Masamune les resuena en la cabeza como aquella espada inmensamente larga que manejaba con soltura Sephiroth. Pues bien, hoy vamos a ver qué persona hay detrás del nombre de esta espada, y ese es Masamune Ozaki.

Masamune Ozaki (正宗, Masamune Ozaki 1288 – 1328) también conocido como Goro Nyudo, fue un herrero de katanas que fabricaba sables distinguidos entre los demás por tener longitudes descomunales que alcanzaban los dos metros. Fue discípulo de Aka Shintogo Kunimitsu y se le atribuye la creación de una técnica de fabricación de katanas que consistía en laminar una hoja de hierro de un sólo bloque con acero trenzado. Su discípulo más conocido fue Muramasa, a quien le prohibieron la venta de sus espadas en Japón debido a que tenían tanto filo que se creía que estaban poseídas por un espíritu maligno.

Masamune era un forjador de una gran serenidad que practicaba el ritual de la purificación para forjar sus hojas. Aún hoy día son consideradas como las mejores del país. En el siglo XIII, sus sables de acero poseían cualidades míticas, y los guerreros que las portaban fueron forjadores del código samurai. Entre ellos, Miyamoto Musashi y los célebres 47 ronin, quienes se suicidaron como prueba de lealtad a su shogun.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
osoki hi no tsumorite tôki mukashi kana
>

Dias que se alongam —
Cada vez mais distantes
Os tempos de outrora!

Buson

………………………………………………………………………………………………

haru nare ya na mo naki yama no asagasumi

Já é primavera —
Uma colina sem nome
Sob a névoa da manhã.

Bashô

…………………………………………………………………………………………………

yane ni neru nushi nashi neko ya haru no ame

Um gato sem dono
Dormindo sobre o telhado —
Chuva de primavera.

Taigi

………………………………………………………………………………………………

harusame ya utsukushû naru mono bakari

Chuva de primavera —
Todas as coisas
Parecem mais bonitas.

Chiyo-jo

…………………………………………………………………………………………………….

hira-hira to kaze ni nagarete chô hitotsu

Flutuando,
Abandona-se ao vento
Uma borboleta.

Shiki

………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

Me siento a escribir… y mis dedos se mueven furiosamente sobre las teclas, plasmando a golpes lo que mi mente vomita desesperadamente en un intento de aplacar la gran cantidad
de pensamientos que en este momento la aquejan.
Molestia, rabia, impotencia, desesperación, odio; todas y ninguna a la vez.

Una y otra vez, se repite la historia.
¿Qué sucede?
¿Soy yo quien se niega aprender, o decididamente el mundo
ha optado jugarme de nuevo una mala pasada?
¿No tuvo ya suficiente acaso?

Es difícil centrar la punta de mis dedos sobre cada tecla, sin poder detener el efecto de la adrenalina que ahora fluye por mis venas, pareciera que reemplazando a la sangre, en vez de surcar a través de ella.

No puedo evitar repetirlo. Otra vez. Y otra vez. Y luego, otra vez más.
Por eso es que a veces la soledad me fascina: sólo yo tengo la capacidad de estorbarme a mi mismo. Sólo yo soy mi propio obstáculo. Pero no, esta vez tenías que ser tú.

Y me molesta que seas tú. Ojalá pudiese mandarte al otro lado del mundo.
Pero aún allá causarías el mismo efecto. Y no puedo quitarte de mi camino. Inevitablemente tengo que cambiar el mío, hacia donde no estés tú.

Mis palabras no te hacen nada, mis puños rebotan inútilmente antes de tocarte. Ni mis espadas son capaces de atravesarte y partirte en dos. Nada sirve.

Ya sólo puedo cerrar los ojos… intentar desconectar mis sentidos una vez más.
Y una vez más, tu imagen aparece allí, claramente.

Quisiera poder tomar vacaciones del mundo, y de ti. Especialmente de ti.

Hello all. How’s it going. Dekkun’s back with a new post…and some odd news. I HAVE READERS! Whoo-hoo! Time to entertain…

Let’s start with a lesson. My sensei is great. I’m learning a lot from her in a small amount of time, and now if I were to go to Japan, I could survive and basically speak with the people there. She’s a wonderful teacher, and she’s only 25, proving my point that younger teachers are just as good, if not better, than older ones. But it’s so mean what some of the students do to her.

A while back, someone poured Elmer’s glue all over her desk. Her pens didn’t work, her paper’s stuck together, her schedule ruined. And she told us, “Look, I’m not mad that someone did this. I’m just upset that no one is apologizing. If you apologize, I won’t tell the office. I’ll just forgive you.” Now what can you say? She’s the kindest, gentlest woman that ever lived, so why would anyone do that to sensei! Poor sensei…

So now she’s made new rules. If you disturb her class, she’ll put you in a time out. Literally. She’ll make you stand in the corner of the room for 10 minutes. That is the best punsihment ever.

She told us that “anger is like a katana: it is always besides you. Yet it is your choice if we unsheith the sword and use it.” Words to live by. So next time you get in a heated argument with someone, whether it be your parents, friends, or drug dealer, remember it’s your choice to get angry. Sometimes its better to leave that katana alone.

Speaking of leaving the katana alone…perhaps that’s what Jamie Lynn Spears should have done (is that what she calls it?)…but she didn’t, and now she’s gotten her hot pocket served up cold. And what’s up with Casey? She went for a college-dropout turned pipe fitter…well, we all know where he fitted his pipe. *crickets chirping* Okay, enough…but really, he scored bigtime. Knock up a rich innocent teenager…and then start an Oprah-Stedman relationship. Good job Casey. You’re an inspiration to losers and scumbags everywhere.

I swear to god…I hope no one I know is reading this…except for Rachael. How awkward would that be, to go to class and have one of my teachers go, “Hey, I read your blog. Funny joke about Casey fitting his pipe into…”

And by the way, the Spears sisters are starting a crusade to begin the Vajapocolyspe.

I’m sure at this point their brother Brian is changing his last name. He hasn’t been dragged into any of this. He’s outta here. To Mexico with him.

Okay, I’m out of ideas…it’s a slow day right now…so forgive me.

-Dekkun-

A HONRA……. A TRISTEZA DE PERDER UM COMPANHEIRO……. A HONRA……… A ESPERA DO SEGUNDO PRECISO EM QUE SE SEPARA A VIDA DA MORTE……. A HONRA……. A ESPERA….. A HONRA…. DE REPENTE,UM FAISCAR DE LÂMINA………..TUDO ACABOU…. A HONRA FOI DE NOVO REPOSTA….A HONRA FOI DE NOVO GANHA……A VÉNIA…… O RESPEITO…A HONRA…. REI.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A kaishakunin is an appointed second whose duty is to behead one who has committed seppuku at the moment of agony.

Aside from the purpose of being spared prolonged anguish until death, both the condemned and those on hand to observe are spared the spectacle of the writhing death throes that would ensue. The use of a kaishakunin is normally reserved for one who is performing the deed out of honor, rather than in disgrace. For example, a warlord who is defeated in battle and has chosen to commit seppuku might be appointed a second so that he may die respectably, as opposed to a samurai who has been ordered to die for some crime, or for having disgraced his clan through dishonorable deeds.

The most recent kaishakunin of the 20th century was Hiroyasu Koga, who beheaded the novelist Yukio Mishima during Mishima’s seppuku.

The ritual
Still preserved in modern-day Iaido katas, the ritual of performing kaishaku varies very little between Japanese fencing schools, but all of them are bound to the following steps to be performed by the kaishakunin:

First, the kaishakunin sits down in seiza position, or remains standing, at the left side of the samurai about to commit seppuku, at a prudent distance but close enough to be reached with his katana when the time is adequate. If seated, the kaishakunin will raise slowly, first on his knees, then stepping with the right foot while drawing the katana very slowly and silently and standing up in the same fashion (keeping in mind that the tekki (opponent) is not an enemy, but rather a fellow samurai). If the kaishakunin was from a standing stance, it will draw his katana slowly and silently as well. In both cases, after the katana is out of the saya, he will raise it with the right hand and wait for the seppuku to begin. Some modern Iaido styles, like the Muso Jikiden-Eishin Ryu, establishes this “waiting stance” as the kaishakunin having taken one step back with the right foot, katana behind his head parallel to the floor held with the right hand, left hand holding the saya in sayabiki position; other styles establishes that the katana is to be held vertically, parallel to the body, held in the right hand, the left hand resting at the kaishakunin side, feet together. In any case, the kaishakunin will always keep eye contact with the samurai performing seppuku, and waiting for his cut (kiri) through his abdomen (hara).

When the samurai actually performs the seppuku, and after he returns the tanto blade back to the cut beginning, the kaishakunin steps forward, letting the katana drop straight through the back of the neck of the dying samurai. Just before making contact, the kaishakunin grips the tsuka with both hands, giving precision to the katana’s blade and strength to the kiritsuke (downward cut). This head cut is not supposed to go all the way through the samurai’s neck: honor dictated that the cut shall finish just before completely beheading the samurai that has committed the seppuku, since complete decapitation was considered a grave dishonor and disgrace (remember that only the samurai that were invited to perform seppuku in order to preserve his honor were allowed to have a kaishakunin to assist; samurai committing seppuku for criminal actions were not allowed to have any assistance). Therefore, the final cut has to be controlled, in order for the initial kiritsuke to reach only half the neck of the samurai; the final cut, leaving the required skin to hold the head attached to the samurai’s body, was performed by a single slashing/withdrawing motion of the katana. The complete cut-slash-withdraw motion is called daki-kubi.

After the dead samurai falls, the kaishakunin, with the same slow, silent style used when unsheathing the katana, performs chiburi (shaking the blood off the katana’s blade) and noto (returning the katana to the saya, or scabbard), while kneeling towards the fellow samurai’s dead body. When the noto is completed, the kaishakunin was to remain knelt for a while, as a sign of deep respect to the fallen samurai that committed the ritual suicide, always in zanshin (total awareness) before standing up and bowing (rei) to his body.