Random Ramblings - Page 44

Originally posted by: Nynaeve

You know, Kautilya (you really must let me know your name, otherwise I would have to call you by your UN), you are actually quite right. I was actually hoping (rather foolishly) that there could be another reason for this but sadly there appears to be none.

So as you mentioned, men "sexualise" / "objectify" women who play roles that could threaten their standing / roles. But the tragedy is that even women (as far as you can make out from their UN, especially on Deviantart) or even directors of films (Wonder Woman was directed by a woman - Patty Jenkins) or authors stick to this perverse patriarchal thinking. And that is saddening and maddening.

Also I have a slightly different take on men "deifying" women - they do not hesitate to show them their place there too - if the Greek / Roman mythologies are any proof - even in India, our mythological tales are not free from such role playing. And if you care to actually get the meanings for some of those 1008 names of goddess - they are about the physical attributes. I am sure you get the drift - I can get radical in my ramblings too.

Best,

Nyna

Originally posted by: lucky.m

🤣🤣 efficiency expert .. You cracked me up nynu .

.I just happened to land on your take on untamed ..😳.It was love .Happy navrathi.😛🤗

Love

Lucky

Ps.expecting a breather next week...Lots to catch up on this thread

Originally posted by: kautilya04

Hey Nyna, I'm Ranjana :)) I'd thought of mentioning my name in the previous post lekin bhool gayi 😆

Yeah, that is indeed saddening and maddening :/ But in case of female directors/creators etc, I think they look at it from the commercial viewpoint🤔. It is extremely difficult for them to get an opportunity to show their mettle in male-dominated fields. So when they do get a chance, they usually will go out of their way to show that they are not 'feminists' (definition - any woman with a strong and different opinion on any subject😆) and that their gender does not affect their work in any way. And yeah, I also concur with your take that even the Goddesses are often not spared..🥱

Originally posted by: Nynaeve

On a whim I checked up the definition of feminism and there were so many of them. And okay, it was controversial to say the least😆, guess sexism is all pervasive.

Ranjana - lovely name.😊 Do you know, that there is a song in bengali - Ranjana - ami aashbo na - a very peppy number as far as the beat goes, though the lyrics are sort of philosophical / profound. I so loved that song, I used it as a story prompt and wrote out a short novella on the same. I had great fun writing that story. 😳

I could not help notice in your siggy - Prithvi - Chapter 104 updated. What is it about?

Originally posted by: kautilya04

Ah the definition😆...Yes, experiences helped me come up with it😉😆. But it pales miserably in front of the amazing ones that great minds have drafted😆.

I've heard about that song :) my Bengali friends have told me about it, and one of them had made me listen to it too some years back. It sounds really sweet :)) You wrote a novella inspired by the song? 😲That's amazing! It shows how creative you are😳

Prithvi is the title of a story that I've been writing on Wattpad. I recently updated its 104th chapter. I used to post it on this site but then I found out that some wonderful people were using it either in its entirety or in parts😕😆. So I moved the story to Wattpad. But readers often don't get update notifications on that site. So after I post a chapter, I mention it in my status and signature... just in case..

I first came upon this waka in a story by Eugene Woodbury- the path of dreams, the book is okay but this waka is a beautiful gem:

I run to you ceaselessly

on the path of dreams

Yet no night of dreams

could ever compare to

one waking glimpse of you

And I had to hunt down more from this poet this waka was written in the 9^th century by the Japanese poetess Ono no Komachi (she is quite a beauty, right?)

some more of her waka:

The colour of this flower
Has already faded away,
While in idle thoughts
My life goes by,
As I watch the long rains fall.

As I dozed
The man I love
Appeared, so
It is dreams that
Have begun to comfort me.

Without end
Do I think of you and so
Come to me at night.
For on the path of dreams at least,
There's no one to disapprove!

Upon the path of dreams
My feet don't rest,
Constantly trailing to you, yet
In reality, a single glimpse:
Not even that have I had of you.

Visible colours (Invisible passions)
Fade from
This world's
Human hearts
And flowers.

I then had to find out more about her, she is quite a legend and I have posted what I read from another article in the below post (quite a few images)

Ono no Komachi was a poet of unparalleled beauty and renown. Not only was she one of the most famous and well respected poets of the early Heian Period, the golden age of Japanese poetry, but the rumour and awe surrounding her beauty has left its mark on Japan to the present day.

A LEGEND IS BORN IN TOHOKU

It is widely accepted that Ono no Komachi was born in Akita Prefecture, when it was still known as Dewa, in what is now Yuzawa City around 834 AD. Her father Yoshisada was (most likely) the lord of Dewa at the time and sent his daughter to Heian-ky (modern day Kyoto). She was around twelve or thirteen when she went to serve in the Imperial Court. It is rumored that she had an older sister who was also sent to Kyoto, but she never reached the level of fame that her little sister attained.

During the Heian Period the Imperial Court was all about aesthetics. The two most significant were Miyabi (Refinement/Elegance/Courtliness) and Mono no aware (Sensitivity). The former meant the removal of all things vulgar or absurd, and the latter was the ability to be moved by nature, a melancholy over the impermanence of things in this world.

For someone to be considered attractive in the Heian period they needed to be refined, elegant and sensitive. They expressed these qualities mainly through poetry. Poems were the primary form of communication between those at court, men wrote poems to men, women to other women, and of course, lovers and married couples wrote poems to one another.

Poetry competitions were held regularly, and the most sensitive poem that referenced proper seasonal and older poetic tropes would bring renown to its writer. Genji's (of the Tale of Genji) charm came from his ability to feel, and his expression of those feelings through poetry. Heian aesthetic was also expressed through the way people dressed. Women had to wear long robes called jnihitoe, or twelve layer robes. They were extremely complicated, colorful kimono that had numerous layers and could weigh almost forty-five pounds. The more layers, the more impressive was the kimono. You certainly couldn't put them on by yourself.

All of these qualities defined what beauty was to the Japanese nobility.

POETRY AND HEARTACHE

Ono no Komachi had all of these qualities and she excelled in the world of the Heian court.

While she was known for her skills at the koto, calligraphy, singing, and dancing, it was her poetry that brought her the most attention. She wrote mainly about love, and the poems she wrote to her many lovers actually help us to know when she was at court. Her most famous relationship was with Fukakusa no Shosho. Her poetry is full of longing, heartache, and emotional intensity and the waka style that people were using at the time fit her own perfectly.

As a side note: having many lovers was in no way considered to be a bad thing at this time. Men and women often had more than one lover, but that didn't make the emotional strain when someone you had feelings for moved on to someone else hurt any less. Please do not mistake Ono no Komachi for some kind of concubine or anything out of the ordinary.

Here are five of the author's personal favorites: (italics are Japanese transliteration)

Ima wa tote
Ware ni shigure no
Furiyukeba
Koto no ha sae zo
Utsuroinikeru

Now is the time You think to leave me,
I am growing older
Your promises too
Are leaves of turning colors.

Omoitsutsu
Nureba yo hito no
Mietsuran
Yume to shiriseba
Samezaramashi o

Was it that I fell asleep
Longing for him
That he appeared?
Had I known it was a dream
I should not have awakened.

Utatane ni
Koishiki hito o
Miteshi yori
Yume cho mono wa
Tanomisometeki

In a doze I saw
The one I am longing for;
Since then
I have come to rely
On my dreams

Ito semete
Koishiki toki wa
Mubatama no
Yoru no koromo o
Kaeshite zo kiru

When I long for him
Oppressed by the thoughts I have,
I wear my robe,
Jet black as the night,
Turned inside out.

Hito ni awan
Tsuki no naki ni wa
Omoiokite
Mune hashiribi ni
Kokoro yakeori

On a moonless night
When I will not meet him,
I lie awake longing for him, my mind aflame
My heart burns amidst
The leaping fire in my breast

Even in translation, her passion seems to pulse through the page. Her poetry is so highly regarded that she is listed among the Rokkasen (Japanese Poetry Immortals), as well as in the introduction to the Kokin Wakashu(also known as the Kokinshu), which contains the only surviving works by Ono no Komachi. She is also one of the Sanjurokkasen(the Thirty-six Immortals of Poetry) and the Nyobosanjurokkasen (Thirty-six Immortal Lady Poets).

Her poetry and her ability to fit within the aesthetic world of the Heian court were amazing. But what exactly is it that makes her so important? She's had an even bigger impact on Japan than many people realize, especially in how people look at her supposed birthplace, present day Akita Prefecture.

BEAUTY STANDARDS OF THE AKITA BIJIN

From left to right: Ono no Komachi, Sotoori-hime, The Third Princess (Onna San No Miya/Nyosan).

You may have heard the term Akita Bijin before in Japan. It's a term used for really beautiful women from Akita prefecture, and some other parts of Tohoku. There is a certain something that young women from that area seem to have, and when people talk about their ideal woman, or who the most beautiful women are in Japan, Akita Bijin may come up.

Here are the qualities an Akita Bijin is said to have:

white/pale skin

round face

straight brow

double eyelids

small nose

small mouth with full lips

This concept of beauty and the traits involved are all rumored to be qualities that Ono no Komachi had. She was the ideal, a perfect woman who came from far away to the capital to serve in court and her beauty was what everyone longed for.

Today you can hear people saying how good the rice in Akita is. "It's so good for your skin, they say. And the water is so fresh up there, drinking and soaking in it makes your skin so smooth and white. These were all things I heard first hand when I told people I was going to Akita to study. So was it these natural resources that gave Ono no Komachi and other women their beauty? Water and rice?

There are other theories. This pale complexion is more likely from the fact that it snows in the Tohoku region. A lot. The summers are fairly short and the winters are excruciatingly long. This means that people aren't getting a lot of sunlight, so of course they're going to be pale compared to someone from Kyoto. In the 1960s, studies were done by a physician in Yuzawa City, measuring the whiteness of women's skin. He found that a mix of the climate and geological environment were what made their skin so white. According to this study, 29.6 is the "whiteness of Akita Bijins, while the Japanese average is 22.0. Apparently this is a noticeable difference.

While the rice and the water may help, seeing as they're actually pretty tasty, as well as the lack of sunlight, it's more likely that Ono no Komachi's legacy is the cause. Her looks were enhanced by her sensitivities and her poetry. Her pale skin and soft round face may have become popular more so because of her ability to fit within the aesthetic of the Heian court, than her looks themselves being attractive. In other words, the idea that her features were beautiful were a result, not a cause.

THEATER KEEPS THE LEGACY ALIVE

Source: lensonjapa

Writers have been using Ono no Komachi as their personification of beauty and poetic skill for over one thousand years. She has been used as the subject of seven Noh plays: Sotoba Komachi, Sekidera Komachi, mu Komachi, Sshi Arai Komachi, Kayoi Komachi, Amagoi Komachi, and Kiyomizu Komachi . Sometimes she appears as an old woman, destitute and lamenting over her former glory as a poet in court. Other times she comes back as the ghost of the beautiful woman she was, appearing to people and reciting her poetry. In every case she is remembered for her great beauty and masterful poetry. She also appears in four Kabuki plays: Tsumoru Koi Yuki no Aeki no To, Saruhodoni koi non omoni, Rokkasen Sugata no Irodori, and Waka no Toku Amagoi Komachi.

She also appeared in a manga that started in 2010 called Chyaku Hyakunin isshu: Uta Koi , which is still being published. It's all about; you guessed it, poetry exchanged between Heian nobility and love. The anime aired in 2012.

KOMACHI BRANDING

If you add Komachi to a product, it instantly becomes more marketable and hints at elegance.

AKITA KOMACHI RICE

This rice not only takes Ono no Komachi's namesake, but companies use her image for marketing as well. It's easy to see how people think that the rice is what makes the girls of Akita so pretty when they use this kind of imagery. This rice isn't what gave the original Akita Bijin her beauty though, as this strain of rice didn't exist before the 1980s.

KOMACHI SHINKANSEN

Created in 1997, the Komachi Shinkansen runs from Tokyo to Akita. The name was voted on by the public, second and third place were Obako and Tazawa respectively. The train was upgraded in 2013 and is one of the best ways to travel to Akita without flying directly to their airport.

KOMACHI HOT SPRING AND HOTEL

What better way to pamper yourself than in a hotel that has a bunch of hot springs. That Akita water is sure you make your skin soft and bouncy, just like Ono no Komachi. They don't just have one big communal hot spring, mind you. They have huge public baths, seven open air baths, a mist sauna, and a sauna theater! They also have a theater called the Komachi Theater where different theater troupes put on performances.

A PARADE OF BEAUTIFUL WOMEN

She wouldn't be a proper Japanese legend if she didn't have her own festival! The Komachi Festival is held every year in her hometown of present day Yuzawa City's Ono District on the second Sunday of June.

The festival involves seven girls picked from Yuzawa City who dress in traditional clothing and dedicate seven of Ono no Komachi's poems at a shrine bearing her own name, Komachi-do.

QUIET RETIREMENT

Ono no Komachi left court and returned to Yuzawa when she was in her mid-thirties and no one really knows what happened from there. While some plays suggest that she met old age in a state of poverty and slight madness over her lost loves, most scholars believe this to be false. There are grave sites dedicated to her dotted throughout Japan so no one really knows her true burial site either. They can be found in Miyagi, Fukushima, Shiga, Okayama, and Ibaraki prefectures, to name a few. There are even two in Kyoto. Regardless of where she went, she probably spent her remaining years in peace, unaware of her impact on the world of poetry and Japanese perceptions of beauty.

~ Source - https://www.tofugu.com/japan/ono-no-komachi/

Originally posted by: Nynaeve

I am not too sure about the creativity though I was being quite creative😉. The novella would be analogous to this anecdote my dad's friend would often tell about his schoolmate. It appears his mate had a gut feeling that the essay topic would be mosquitoes so he prepared very very well on that topic. Imagine his chagrin when the topic turned out to be.. .. .. Indian Railways. Not one to give up he though a bit and this is what he finally wrote:

"Indian railways span the length and breadth of our nation, connecting cities and villages, passing through tarred roads and muddy countryside. In the vast countryside, during the monsoons, puddles of water form beside the railway tracks which serve as breeding grounds for mosquitoes."

Tada, he was on a roll from that point and the rest of the essay was on mosquitoes.🤣 I do not recall being told how he fared on the examination but now I sure admire his brazen creativity.😉 My novella is on similar lines😆😆

So you are on Wattpad too - I am quite jealous of that platform, I have lost so many of my writer friends to Wattpad that subconsciously I sort of hate it. But some of them still wander here, I have a small group of readers still reading my stories when I update them so I guess I will stick around. Plagiarising i is such a disgusting thing, it is an outright theft and still people do it with impunity. I fortunately have not come across my stories being stolen, so I cannot truly imagine the anger one would feel at seeing one's ideas and hard work being stolen. So what is it all about - fan fic or a regular fiction?

Originally posted by: Maharani.

Nyna, I read the post about your dad. It left me in a contemplative mood. I just want to say I admire your strength to write down your feelings in such an open and honest manner. Frankly, I would have a hard time coming to terms with such a loss. I really need to be more grateful for the people around me. Thank you. Sending a warm hug across to you.