Characters: He, She, a Clerk.
A big stationery shop in Tokyo, buying a Nakaya.
The kimono? Maybe not.
HE: Among the pen community, the silk pen case is known as “the kimono”.
SHE: No Japanese would ever call that a kimono.
SHE: (Facing the clerk.) What is the name of that pen case?
CLERK: We call it “katana bukuro”.
HE: A bag for the sword?
SHE: I told you—no one in Japan calls it a kimono.
HE: Did anyone in Japan hear about pens being mightier than swords?
Afterword:
A “katana bukuro”, a bag for the sword. Besides the obvious meaning, it is also an ornament carried by women in their kimono at their wedding. Apparently, Japanese women needed some form of self-defense on those dire situations... The irony is that the “katana bukuro” is merely ornamental and inside there is nothing but a cylindrical cardboard instead of the traditional dagger, the “kaiken”.
The ornamental (and empty) "katana bukuro" with the elaborate knot and the two tassels.
A pen would be a better filling—provided the name of the bag changed accordingly.
Pilot Custom Heritage 912 – Wagner 2008 ink
Bruno Taut
Shinjuku, October 30th 2018
Etiquetas: Platinum, Japón
Bruno Taut
Shinjuku, October 30th 2018
Etiquetas: Platinum, Japón
5 comments:
informative and wonderfully playful! So what would be the name of it then : Mannehitsu bukuro ?
Thanks, Nikos. A better name would be "fude ire". "Fude" is brush, but it is also a generic word for writing tool, for pen. "Ire" means container, case.
Thanks for passing by and commenting. How was the Ohio Pen Show?
BT
Thanks Bruno :) The Ohio Pen Show was fun but in regards to Japanese pens which are the core of my collection, dry. I did pick up a very nice Hakase made from celluloid & buffalo horn that Mr. Harumi Tanaka made a while back.
Will you be going to the Madrid show ?
Your blog is gold! Lovely tale
Thanks, Nikos and Juan, for your comments, and my apologies for my silence.
About the Madrid Pen Show I need to write a small comment. About my blog being good... it should be better if only through being more regular.
Cheers,
BT
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