Snapshot No. 835-839
839. 2025 Book Of The Year
There are awards called "so and so Car Of The Year".
In the same manner, if there is an award "Book Of The Year" (if any already?), I will nominate this book.
Though published at the end of the last year, it can be regarded as a book sold this year.
The authors are Mr. Itou Seikou for the contempory translation, and Mr. Jay Rubin for its English part.
In order to watch noh performances, the best thing to do is to read their texts preliminarily.
So we read this and that books for lay persons about noh.
Yet, for instance, many of the modern translation of Buddhist terminology in such publications can be said sloppy.
Among such books, this one is uniquely kind to readers. And there are many points which I could understand for the first time by reading the English translation.
Moreover, the book adopt the traditional bookbinding, the so-called double-leaved printing. So this 250-page book uses papers corresponding to 500 pages of ordinary books.
That bookbinding method looks to give me a pleasant feeling when I turn the pages.
It is great that there are organizations who plan the publishing of this book, and who print and bind to materialize that idea.
838. A sloping path
A year has passed since Jiro died.
This slope too was his favorite walking route.
The past one year has been the time, on my going out, I remembered repeatedly this and that places as if I asked him "here too, we had come together, hadn't we".
837. Go fishing together
Fishing at Inba marsh as of today, Dec. 7th afternoon.
The annual fish catch at the marsh was around 1,000 ton in the early 1980, but the recent figure is said to be less than 10% of the value and its statistics release has stopped.
Still, the fishing has continued on a small scale.
In this area, it is a common scene that white herons chase tractors in paddy fields. In the same manner, they gather at fishing boats too.
In fact, even after the fishing, some herons remain on the boat returing to its port.
Below is a shot showing herons chasing the boat to its basin.
836. A book to a desert island
The year-end makes me look for the new stuff. One such item is this "Science Yearbook".
This year is the 100th anniversary of its publication. While the 2026 edition says the 99th issue. The numbers do not match.
The reason seems to be that there were years of no issuance by the war and also the years when 2 volumes were published in a year.
In a frequently cited question, "if you are allowed to bring only one book to a desert island alone, what book you choose?"
Frequently seen answer is, for some reason, "Tan ni shou"#1.
My answer is, without hesitation, this "Science Yearbook".
"Tan ni shou"#1
A text said to be written in the late 13th century by a monk called Yui-en. With that, he tried to rectify the then prevelent misconceptions about the teachings of his master Sinran, the founder of Joudo Sinshuu (true pure land) Buddhist school.
The first "tan" means "lament", second "ni or i" "deviations" and third "shou" "excerpt".
Its wiki is here.
835. Earthshine
During the routine check of 18 MHz in the shack, I noticed a crescent moon floating above the neighbour's roof.
Though not sure if the faintly visible earthshine can be taken, I went for it with the camera handhold.
839. 2025 Book Of The Year
There are awards called "so and so Car Of The Year".In the same manner, if there is an award "Book Of The Year" (if any already?), I will nominate this book.
Though published at the end of the last year, it can be regarded as a book sold this year.
The authors are Mr. Itou Seikou for the contempory translation, and Mr. Jay Rubin for its English part.
In order to watch noh performances, the best thing to do is to read their texts preliminarily.
So we read this and that books for lay persons about noh.
Yet, for instance, many of the modern translation of Buddhist terminology in such publications can be said sloppy.
Among such books, this one is uniquely kind to readers. And there are many points which I could understand for the first time by reading the English translation.
Moreover, the book adopt the traditional bookbinding, the so-called double-leaved printing. So this 250-page book uses papers corresponding to 500 pages of ordinary books.
That bookbinding method looks to give me a pleasant feeling when I turn the pages.
It is great that there are organizations who plan the publishing of this book, and who print and bind to materialize that idea.
838. A sloping path
A year has passed since Jiro died.This slope too was his favorite walking route.
The past one year has been the time, on my going out, I remembered repeatedly this and that places as if I asked him "here too, we had come together, hadn't we".
837. Go fishing together
Fishing at Inba marsh as of today, Dec. 7th afternoon.
The annual fish catch at the marsh was around 1,000 ton in the early 1980, but the recent figure is said to be less than 10% of the value and its statistics release has stopped.
Still, the fishing has continued on a small scale.
In this area, it is a common scene that white herons chase tractors in paddy fields. In the same manner, they gather at fishing boats too.
In fact, even after the fishing, some herons remain on the boat returing to its port.
Below is a shot showing herons chasing the boat to its basin.
836. A book to a desert island
The year-end makes me look for the new stuff. One such item is this "Science Yearbook".This year is the 100th anniversary of its publication. While the 2026 edition says the 99th issue. The numbers do not match.
The reason seems to be that there were years of no issuance by the war and also the years when 2 volumes were published in a year.
In a frequently cited question, "if you are allowed to bring only one book to a desert island alone, what book you choose?"
Frequently seen answer is, for some reason, "Tan ni shou"#1.
My answer is, without hesitation, this "Science Yearbook".
"Tan ni shou"#1
A text said to be written in the late 13th century by a monk called Yui-en. With that, he tried to rectify the then prevelent misconceptions about the teachings of his master Sinran, the founder of Joudo Sinshuu (true pure land) Buddhist school.
The first "tan" means "lament", second "ni or i" "deviations" and third "shou" "excerpt".
Its wiki is here.
835. Earthshine
During the routine check of 18 MHz in the shack, I noticed a crescent moon floating above the neighbour's roof.Though not sure if the faintly visible earthshine can be taken, I went for it with the camera handhold.
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