Posts
All the articles I've posted.
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How to Grind Sumi Ink on an Inkstone (and Why Bother)
By K. YamaGrinding your own ink takes ten minutes and changes everything. How to grind a sumi inkstick on a suzuri — and why calligraphers still do it by hand.
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How to Clean & Care for a Japanese Calligraphy Brush
By K. YamaDried ink is what kills a calligraphy brush. How to clean, reshape, and store a fude so a good brush lasts years instead of being ruined in a month.
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God Kanji (神): The Meaning of Kami and How to Write It
By K. YamaThe kanji 神 joins an altar to an old lightning bolt: the divine shown as awesome power. What kami really means, from Shinto shrines to the thunder god.
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Endurance Kanji (忍): Perseverance, the Ninja & How to Write It
By K. YamaThe kanji 忍 sets a blade over a heart: to endure is to bear what cuts. It names the ninja, the quiet virtue of forbearance, and a sharper, darker edge.
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Sumo (相撲): The Ancient Ritual Behind Japan's Sport
By K. YamaThe bout lasts seconds; the ritual takes centuries. Why sumo is a Shinto rite in disguise — the salt, the sacred ring, and the wrestling that came last.
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Shinto (神道): What the 'Way of the Kami' Really Is
By K. YamaShinto has no founder, no scripture, and no commandments. What Japan's native 'way of the kami' actually is — shrines, torii, purity, and the sacred in nature.
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Matsuri (祭り): What Japan's Festivals Are Really About
By K. YamaA matsuri looks like a street party with food stalls and fireworks. At its root it is a Shinto rite — a portable shrine carrying a god through the streets.
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The Tale of Genji (源氏物語): The World's First Novel
By K. YamaA thousand years ago a Japanese court woman wrote what many call the world's first novel — in the script men dismissed as beneath them. The story of Genji.
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Bushidō (武士道): The Samurai Code, and the Myth Around It
By K. YamaBushidō means 'the way of the warrior' — but the single ancient samurai code most people picture was largely assembled late and sold to the West in 1900.
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Noh (能): Japan's Oldest Theater and the Power of Less
By K. YamaNoh is the 650-year-old masked theater where a tilt of the head does what kabuki would shout. What makes it the slowest, subtlest stage in the world.
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