Steve Forrest

Ouf, typo in the alt text: poem transcription should read "minAnezame" not minumezame

"From a long night's
distant dreaming
we all awaken--
how lovely the sound
of the boat upon the waves!"

(I don't *think* the book has been translated into English, but maybe someone's working on it? Would be great material for all sorts of undergrad courses)

Back to that poem in roman script, and what it's doing there: the text is a hiragana palindrome:
なかきよの とおのねふりの みなめさめ なみのりふねの おとのよきかな.
It's not original to Kanagaki's text or even time, it dates back to late medieval times at least, but it makes for an interesting fit with the image (and book)...

earlier page from same Japanese woodblock printed text, this time a full-page illustration. It shows a dragon-prowed boat heading directly toward the viewer, with seven passengers filling the center half of the scene, and a sail filling the top quarter. The passengers are tagged Russian 魯西亜, Prussian 普魯士, French 仏蘭西, Turkish 土耳其, Chinese 支那, Japanese 日本, and British 英吉利. The Japanese is a woman, the rest are men. The picture is labelled, Fellow Passengers from Seven Countries 七國人乗合. LINK to source: https://www.wul.waseda.ac.jp/kotenseki/html/he14/he14_01260/index.html.

...inscription for a preceding illustration. I didn't get a pic of the illustration when we were in the library, but here it is from a copy in the Waseda Kotenseki 早稲田古典籍 collection.*
(Between the two is a double-page spread of a #sugoroku board--must go back to that later!)
*see vol 11 pt 1

Japanese woodblock-printed book open to show the right-hand page, which has a decorative border with a strange (chimeric?) creature at the bottom and an eagle at the top. Text in Japanese reads, 題七国人乗合図 in a cartouche at top, then in roman letters a waka poem in five lines: nagaki yono tononemu lino minumezame naminorubuneno otonoyokikana.

... spending time with--each volume contains entertaining dialogue, a variety of illustrations by multiple artists (incl. the great Kawanabe Kyōsai), plus a range of inventive paratexts and decorative touches. For example, this poem (stylishly written in cursive roman letters), which is a detached..

Steve Forrest (@sforrest.bsky.social) From today's class visit to the Benjamin Smith Lyman collection, some pages from _Tsuredzuregusa eshō_ 『徒然草絵抄』 , published in Genroku 元禄 4 (1691) -- a beautifully clear printing, carefully conserved in 1991 when it came to UMass. Illustrator is Namura Jōhaku 苗村常伯 #WoodblockWednesday

Another book in the Benjamin Smith Lyman collection at #UMass is Kanagaki Robun's zany (and totally fictional) travelogue _Seiyō dōchū hizakurige_ 『西洋道中膝栗毛』 (Tokyo: Bankyūkaku, Meiji 3-9 [1870-1876]). It's an incomplete copy (13 of 15 vols, 26 of 30 booklets), but worth...

bsky.app/profile/sforre…

"expensive" というより、 high quality 高品質、かな？

“The Ryukyu islands” by Gregory Smits & “The Legacy of The Ryukyu Kingdom” by Takara Kurayoshi To start: a confession. Academics often speak of imposter syndrome—the sense that we lack real expertise on the topics about which are talking or writing. Although it’s largely a psychological illu…

Today in ARB: @irapley.bsky.social reviews “The Ryukyu islands” by Gregory Smits @uchicagopress.bsky.social & “The Legacy of The Ryukyu Kingdom” by Takara Kurayoshi (JPIC) asianreviewofbooks.com/the-ryukyu-i...

The Chinese character for laughing is written with the character for dog underneath a bamboo (technically it's not a dog, but it's a similar character).

This one’s fiction, but interesting coincidence: bsky.app/profile/scrm...

The Daigo Fukuryū Maru Exhibition Hall In the next of my series of posts about memorialisation sites I have visited, I’m writing about my visit to the Daigo Fukuryu Maru (第五福龍丸) Exhibition Hall. I visited the site on 18 July 2019 …

Today is the anniversary of the Castle Bravo thermonuclear weapon test at Bikini Atoll. The bomb was bigger than expected and the fish vessel Daigo Fukuryumaru was caught up in its fallout. The test also helped lead to the creation of #Godzilla.

#OnThisDay #OTD

hoodcp.wordpress.com/2020/03/24/t...

Japanese woodblock printed book open showing one page with 12 columns of text; script is mixture of kana and kanji, with generous furigana, punctuation and voice marks. Top quarter of page is given over to illustration of episodes inscribed in lower 3/4. Episodes are numbered: the numbers 125 and 126 are visible.

double spread from same book, with text for episodes 133 (partial), 134, 135, and 136 (partial). The monochrome illustrations above also have numbers, indicating which episodes [sections?] are being depicted (131 on right-hand page and 133 on left-hand side).

From today's class visit to the Benjamin Smith Lyman collection, some pages from _Tsuredzuregusa eshō_ 『徒然草絵抄』 , published in Genroku 元禄 4 (1691) -- a beautifully clear printing, carefully conserved in 1991 when it came to UMass. Illustrator is Namura Jōhaku 苗村常伯 #WoodblockWednesday

On March 2nd!

Lynne K. Miyake (Pomona College) on her recent book “The Tale of Genji through Contemporary Manga”, in conversation with Jan Bardsley (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill) and Sara Kang (Princeton U).

Register for Zoom here: mjha.org/event-6314342

ニャンパン looks good too — heck, the whole shop looks fabulous!

Chinese Object Study Workshops Chinese Object Study Workshops is a program providing graduate students studying Chinese art history an immersive experience in the study of Chinese objects in North American museum collections.

Call for applications: Chinese Object Study Workshops, summer program for graduate students in Chinese Art History. Apply by March 2 for 2026 workshops at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and Royal Ontario Museum.

https://umma.umich.edu/projects/chinese-object-study-workshops/

Excerpt of a Japanese painting in light colors with a beige background showing a hawk looking to the left. To its left is a sprig of pink flowers, and to its right the truck of a pine tree with pine needles surrounding it.

JPP is pleased to announce the launch of A World of Edo Art. This web portal, spearheaded Linda Hoaglund (director, Edo Avant Garde), brings together 200+ captivating Edo-period (1603–1868) artworks related to animals and nature from around the world. edoart.japanpastandpresent.org

Come see me speak on the “Mining Pasts of the Nintendo Game Boy” at Harvard on Monday, February 23rd! Grateful to my hosts @eastasiascitech.bsky.social and @harvardusjapan.bsky.social.

Animals in Premodern Japan This Open Access book is presented with an outlook on current developments in Japanese Animal Ethics and how Andō Shōeki's depictions of non-human animals.

🔓
Melissa Ann Kaul: Animals in Premodern Japan. The Encyclopaedia of Andô Shôeki 安藤昌益 (1703-1762), 2026

doi.org/10.1007/978-...

Really cool work by historian Dr. Seal! The BBC story doesn't mention them so worth checking out here.

wellcomecollection.org/stories/medi...

large, brightly-colored and somewhat fantastical owl painted on the curving wall of a stairwell -- painting is signed "Nayana Thimmiah, 2018"

It's evidently the day for #SuperbOwl pics -- here's one from UMass's W. E. B. Du Bois Library's wonderfully decorated stairwells (just don't ask me which floor!)

I'm a bit surprised (but happy) that 速達便 still exists!

a George V pillar box, red with black base, standing at the edge of a shop forecourt on a damp September day in Cambridge. Some flowering weeds reach out over the tarmac of the forecourt; the shop sign reads "Go glass" and there are posted in the window reading, "We have moved. Visit our new class design and production center" followed by the address & phone number.

All this white is a bit overwhelming, so here's a splash of red, since it's also #PostboxSaturday today
(pic is from Sept. 2025 visit to Cambridge for the 近世文学会 conference)

view along straight section of a rail trail under snow, lined by bare woods (but all trees have sticky snow on them), with track of a fat-tire bike stretching ahead, and two sets of hoof prints from horses that must have trotted along next to the bike??

view along canal-side trail, curving gently right off in the distance, with X-country ski tracks making parallel lines off into the distance. The canal water looks dark, cold.

view across wetlands, partly frozen over and covered with snow, next to canal trail, with snow dusted mixed woodland beyond. The trail in foreground shows quite a lot of foot traffic in the snow, but no other signs of activity in the scene.

view along other side of canal, a narrower, as yet untracked trail.

At least four fresh inches of the white stuff this morning, plus a wild wind -- srsly cold but ran anyway as the trails offer some shelter, & snowmobiles had gone through & reduced depth. Didn't take pics today, but here's a couple from a run a few w/ends ago, much nicer snow then!
#AmRunning

here we go again, urg 🙃

Especulacions sobre l'escena. Antologia de textos de teoria dramàtica. Vol I: De l'Antiguitat a la Il·lustració Especulacions sobre l'escena. Antologia de textos de teoria dramàtica. Vol I: De l'Antiguitat a la Il·lustració, , 20,90€. Aquesta antologia, de la qual teni...

Molt content de sentir que ja ha sortit _Especulacions sobre l'escena_ (Ed. Institut del Teatre), una antologia de textos de teoria dramàtica per a la que vaig traduir una secció del tractat sobre Noh _Fūshikaden_ de Zeami.

Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Associate Curator for Asian Art

Job Opportunity: Harvard Art Musuems are hiring for a position of Associate Curator for Asian Art, specialising in Japan. Please help us circulate widely!

careers.harvard.edu/job/abby-ald...

Thanks for Typing

It's hard to believe good things can still be happening, but if you are in the Boston area between now and May 1st, there is an free-to-the-public exhibition on women's type labor in literature and the arts (co-curated by me and the great Dale Stinchcomb).

library.harvard.edu/exhibits/tha...

大英博物館で「サムライ展」始まる 世界初公開も多数 www.msn.com/ja-jp/news/o...

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Applications for our rare books librarian position at the University of Arizona are open until Feb 9 (next week)
We have a fab diverse collection, great people to work with, and amazing Mexican food.
arizona.csod.com/ux/ats/caree...

I'm not on the search, please feel free to reach out w qs!