Tuesday 6 July 2010
七夕
Tanabata Star Festival, the 7th day of the 7th month
Traditionally the seventh day of the seventh lunar month
Orihime 織姫 the weaving princess, daughter of the Universe 天帝, wove beautiful clothes by the bank of the heavenly river, the Milky Way, Amanogawa 天の川. Her father loved the cloth she wove, so she worked very hard everyday to weave it. But Orihime was sad because her hard work meant she could never meet and fall in love with anyone. Concerned about his daughter, her father arranged for her to meet Hikoboshi 彦星 (the cow herder star), who lived and worked on the other side of Amanogawa 天の川. They fell instantly in love. However, once married 織姫 would no longer weave cloth and 彦星 allowed his cows to stray all over heaven. In anger, 天帝 separated the two lovers across the 天の川 and forbade them to meet. 織姫 became so sad that, moved by his daughters tears, 天帝 allowed them to meet once a year on the 7th day of the 7th month. But, the first time they tried to meet, they could not cross the river because there was no bridge. 織姫 cried so much that a flock of magpies came and made a bridge with their wings. It is said that if it rains on 七夕, the magpies cannot come and the lovers must wait another year to meet.
Write a wish and hang it from the bamboo
At midnight send it down the river or set it alight.
笹の葉 さらさら
ささのはさらさら
the bamboo leaves rustle
軒端にゆれる
のきばにゆれる
shaking away in the eaves
お星様キラキラ
おほしさまきらきら
the stars twinkle
金銀砂子
きんぎんすなご
gold and silver grains of sand
Tanabata Star Festival, the 7th day of the 7th month
Traditionally the seventh day of the seventh lunar month
Orihime 織姫 the weaving princess, daughter of the Universe 天帝, wove beautiful clothes by the bank of the heavenly river, the Milky Way, Amanogawa 天の川. Her father loved the cloth she wove, so she worked very hard everyday to weave it. But Orihime was sad because her hard work meant she could never meet and fall in love with anyone. Concerned about his daughter, her father arranged for her to meet Hikoboshi 彦星 (the cow herder star), who lived and worked on the other side of Amanogawa 天の川. They fell instantly in love. However, once married 織姫 would no longer weave cloth and 彦星 allowed his cows to stray all over heaven. In anger, 天帝 separated the two lovers across the 天の川 and forbade them to meet. 織姫 became so sad that, moved by his daughters tears, 天帝 allowed them to meet once a year on the 7th day of the 7th month. But, the first time they tried to meet, they could not cross the river because there was no bridge. 織姫 cried so much that a flock of magpies came and made a bridge with their wings. It is said that if it rains on 七夕, the magpies cannot come and the lovers must wait another year to meet.
Write a wish and hang it from the bamboo
At midnight send it down the river or set it alight.
笹の葉 さらさら
ささのはさらさら
the bamboo leaves rustle
軒端にゆれる
のきばにゆれる
shaking away in the eaves
お星様キラキラ
おほしさまきらきら
the stars twinkle
金銀砂子
きんぎんすなご
gold and silver grains of sand
Sunday 4 July 2010
Friday 2 July 2010
Sunday 20 June 2010
Friday 18 June 2010
Tuesday 15 June 2010
sakura rain
It is said that the time of falling cherry blossom brings on deep melancholy at the realisation of the fleeting fragile beauty and ever changing nature of life. It is a time to cherish and contemplate that we can never grasp or hold on to a moment of time, only flow with it in the continual cycles of birth, growth and death.
Thursday 27 May 2010
せい 聖 sacred
せい 精 energy, vigour, a spirit, a nymph, an echo
せい 姓 a family name
せい 生 (enjoy) life, living
せい 性 nature, sex, gender
せい 正 right, justice
せい 所為 consequences
せいい 誠意 in good faith, sincerity
せいいき 聖域 a sanctuary
せいいく 成育 生育 growth
せいしん 精神 spirit, mind, soul
せいしん 清新 new, fresh
せいしんせいい 誠心誠意 sincerely, in all sincerity, work
せいてき 性的 な sexual appeal
せいてん 青天 like a bolt out of the blue
せいてん 晴天 a long spell of fine weather
せいてん 聖典 a scared book
せいぞん 生存 existence, life
せいりよく influence, power, force, energy
せいりつ 成立 come into existence
せいよく 性欲 sexual desire
せいらい 生来 by birth, innate
せかい 世界 the world, the earth, the universe
せつしよく personal contact、touch
せつする 接 come in contact with
ぜつする 絶する be beyond words
ぜんぶ 全部 all, the whole, total, everything
せい 精 energy, vigour, a spirit, a nymph, an echo
せい 姓 a family name
せい 生 (enjoy) life, living
せい 性 nature, sex, gender
せい 正 right, justice
せい 所為 consequences
せいい 誠意 in good faith, sincerity
せいいき 聖域 a sanctuary
せいいく 成育 生育 growth
せいしん 精神 spirit, mind, soul
せいしん 清新 new, fresh
せいしんせいい 誠心誠意 sincerely, in all sincerity, work
せいてき 性的 な sexual appeal
せいてん 青天 like a bolt out of the blue
せいてん 晴天 a long spell of fine weather
せいてん 聖典 a scared book
せいぞん 生存 existence, life
せいりよく influence, power, force, energy
せいりつ 成立 come into existence
せいよく 性欲 sexual desire
せいらい 生来 by birth, innate
せかい 世界 the world, the earth, the universe
せつしよく personal contact、touch
せつする 接 come in contact with
ぜつする 絶する be beyond words
ぜんぶ 全部 all, the whole, total, everything
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