Word and image for the New Year

[wongkk.livejournal.com]

Happy New Year everyone!  This is the January picture from my 1901 Japanese woodblock calendar (with an added poem and added image of wintery Gackt).  Please click on the image for a larger size.

 
Priest myoe was an intense and original character.  On one occasion he cut off his own ear in front of a temple statue of Buddha to demonstrate discipline to his students.  I don't suppose they ever forgot that lesson!
 

Comments

[eclatc4t.livejournal.com]

thanks for this interesting and immensely thought-provoking entry.

it is true the moon is brightest and sharpest on a cold, clear, cloudless night. as so many authors and philosophers have noted, getting close to celestial bodies or beings of any sort exacts an increasingly severe price. it's an interesting problem: our love/need pulls us toward them, but their proximity requires much, often too much. consciously or unconsciously, each person struggles with balancing and re-balancing this over time.

it's a nice little knot of philosophy, neuroscience, psychology, physics, art, astronomy, quite a new year's party. Gackt is in good company.

[mirien.livejournal.com]

Beautiful picture, and a beautiful man added to it! Happy New Year!

[wongkk.livejournal.com]

Ah - your comment reminds me of a haiku I used to match a Gackt (in kenshin role) picture a while back: "A heart as large as
a mountain cannot move
close to another".

Interestingly, I hadn't really contemplated a night scene. I had imagined this to be one of those occasions when you can see the moon in the daytime sky - though I don't even know if this happens in Japan!

Thanks for leaving your thoughts in the comment. Yes, adding Gackt to the party is always a good move ;=)

[wongkk.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you enjoyed the piece - I've only one month to go with this calendar now because I wasn't bright enough to start in January last year!

Hope 2011 brings you happiness, success and good health!