culture

  • Chōzu-ya or temizu-ya is a Shinto water ablution pavilion

    Chōzu-ya or temizu-ya is a Shinto water ablution pavilion

    Chōzu-ya or temizu-ya (手水舎) is a Shinto water ablution pavilion for a ceremonial purification rite known as temizu or chōzu (手水, lit. ’hand-water’). The pavilion contains a large water-filled basin called a chōzubachi (手水鉢, lit. ’hand water basin’). At shrines, these chōzubachi, are used by worshippers for washing their left hands, right hands, mouth and finally the handle of the water ladle to purify themselves before approaching the main Shinto shrine or shaden (社殿). This symbolic purification is

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  • The act of washing the hands can also be considered as playing the suikinkutsu

    The act of washing the hands can also be considered as playing the suikinkutsu

    A suikinkutsu (水琴窟, literally “water piano cave” in original Chinese or “water zither cave” in Japanese) is a type of Japanese garden ornament and music device. It consists of an upside down buried pot with a hole at the top. Water drips through the hole at the top onto a small pool of water inside of the pot, creating a

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  • Tsubo-niwa have been described as “quasi-indoor gardens”

    Tsubo-niwa have been described as “quasi-indoor gardens”

    A tsubo-niwa (坪庭/壷庭/つぼにわ) is a type of very small garden in Japan. The term tsuboniwa stems from tsubo (坪), a unit of measurement (equal to 1×1 ken, the size of two tatami, roughly 3.3 square metres (36 sq ft)), and niwa, meaning “garden”. Other spellings of tsubo-niwa translate to “container garden”, and a tsubo-niwa may differ in size from the tsubo unit of measurement. Tsubo-niwa have been described as “quasi-indoor gardens”, and are a key feature of some

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  • The roji is usually divided into an outer and inner garden

    The roji is usually divided into an outer and inner garden

    Roji (露地), lit. ‘dewy ground’, is the Japanese term used for the garden through which one passes to the chashitsu for the tea ceremony. The roji generally cultivates an air of simplicity. Development Sen no Rikyū is said to have been important in the development of the roji. At his Myōki-an, the ‘sleeve-brushing pine’ gained its name from the garden’s diminutive size. For his tea house at Sakai, he

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  • Tsukubai, a washbasin provided at the entrance to a holy place

    Tsukubai, a washbasin provided at the entrance to a holy place

    In Japan, a tsukubai (蹲踞) is a washbasin provided at the entrance to a holy place for visitors to purify themselves by the ritual washing of hands and rinsing of the mouth. This type of ritual cleansing is the custom for guests attending a tea ceremony or visiting the grounds of a Buddhist temple. The name originates from the verb tsukubau, meaning “to crouch” or “to bow

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  • Shishi-odoshi

    Shishi-odoshi

    Shishi-odoshi (鹿威し) (literally, “deer-frightening” or “boar-frightening”), in a wide sense, refers to Japanese devices made to frighten away animals that pose a threat to agriculture, including kakashi (scarecrows), naruko (clappers) and sōzu. In a narrower sense, it is synonymous with sōzu. A sōzu is a type of water fountain used in Japanese gardens. It consists of a segmented tube, usually of bamboo, pivoted to one side of its balance point. At rest,

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  • Sanxingdui (‘Three Star Mound’) Wiki

    Sanxingdui (‘Three Star Mound’) Wiki

    Sanxingdui (Chinese: 三星堆; pinyin: Sānxīngduī; lit. ‘Three Star Mound‘) is an archaeological site and a major Bronze Age culture in modern Guanghan, Sichuan, China. Largely discovered in 1986, following a preliminary finding in 1927, archaeologists excavated artifacts that radiocarbon dating placed in the twelfth–eleventh centuries BC. The archaeological site is the type site for the Sanxingdui culture that produced these artifacts, archeologists have identified the locale with the ancient kingdom of Shu. The artifacts are displayed in the Sanxingdui Museum located

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  • Shi (Personator)

    Shi (Personator)

    The shi (Chinese: 尸; pinyin: shī; Wade–Giles: sh’ih; lit. ‘corpse’) was a ceremonial “personator” who represented a dead relative during ancient Chinese ancestral sacrifices. In a shi ceremony, the ancestral spirit supposedly would enter the descendant “corpse” personator, who would eat and drink sacrificial offerings and convey messages from the spirit. James Legge, an early translator of the Chinese classics, described shi personation ceremonies as “grand family reunions where the

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  • The lactating birds and the bees (gastrin, pepsin, etc)

    The lactating birds and the bees (gastrin, pepsin, etc)

    Crop milk is a secretion from the lining of the crop of parent birds that is regurgitated to young birds. It is found among all pigeons and doves where it is referred to as pigeon milk. An analog to crop milk is also secreted from the esophagus of flamingos and the male emperor penguin. Description Crop milk bears little physical resemblance to mammalian milk. Crop milk is a

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  • Columba constellation

    Columba constellation

    Columba is a faint constellation designated in the late sixteenth century, remaining in official use, with its rigid limits set in the 20th century. Its name is Latin for dove. It takes up 1.31% of the southern celestial hemisphere and is just south of Canis Major and Lepus. History Early 3rd century BC: Aratus‘s astronomical poem Phainomena (lines 367–370 and 384–385) mentions faint stars where Columba is

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