Castle Day

 

Castle Day

April 6^th is Castle Day in Japan. It is an opportunity to celebrate the history and importance of castles. In the fifteenth century, Japan was a collection of numerous small independent states, which squabbled with each other. Castles were built on mountain tops for defence.

When Japan was unified in the late sixteenth century, larger castles were built as administrative and military centres. These were constructed on the plains or on small hills, rather than mountains.

Towards the end of the nineteenth century, castles were seen as undesirable reminders of the feudal past and many were deliberately demolished. Others were destroyed in the Second World War.

Japanese castles were wooden structures built on stone foundations. Today twelve castles survive with their original keeps.

For comparison, France has the most castles in the world, with 45,000. Italy has 20,000, and Germany has over 4,300. The British Isles has 3,000 to 4,000 castles.

The USA has 152 structures that are considered castles, but most are architectural reconstructions.

Wrinkles

 

Wrinkles

                    General Douglas MacArthur, with his corncob pipe

Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons

I wrote the following quotation in my Commonplace book a few years ago and wanted to learn a little more about it.

‘Nobody grows old merely by living a number of years. We grow old by deserting our ideals. Years may wrinkle the skin, but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul.’

Samuel Ullman (1840 – 1924)

These lines come from Ullman’s poem ‘Youth’, written when he was 78. It was a favourite poem of General Douglas MacArthur, who was deputed to oversee the rebuilding of Japan after the end of WWII.

 When he was appointed Supreme Allied Commander in Japan from 1945 to 1951 he had a copy of the poem on his office wall. It became very familiar to the Japanese, who admired the General and his diligent work routine. MacArthur regularly quoted from the poem in his speeches, which inspired a nation occupied in rebuilding their ravaged country.

From Birmingham Historical Society:

‘In 1945, Reader’s Digest published the poem and reported that MacArthur posted the poem in his office. Yoshio Okasa, a Japanese businessman, upon reading the article, was inspired to create a beautiful and moving translation in Japanese and display it in his offices. The popularity of “Youth” in Japan soared. Many carried folded-up copies of the poem in their pockets and wallets. 

In 1985, the Youth Association was formed in Tokyo. Its corporate and individual members across Japan are encouraged to study “Youth” and the writings of other philosophers and to share the joy and hope expressed in the poem. 

Writing in 1992, Jiro M. Miyazawa, who wanted to share the message of the poem and who had distributed more than 10,000 copies across Japan, stated: “Japan has been completely rebuilt since the devastation of World War II. I believe Samuel Ullman’s poem ‘Youth’ played a part in this process by sustaining the Japanese mind with its inspiring message.’

YOUTH

 Youth is not a time of life; it is a state of mind; it is not a matter of rosy cheeks, red lips and supple knees; it is a matter of the will, a quality of the imagination, a vigor of the emotions; it is the freshness of the deep springs of life.

Youth means a temperamental predominance of courage over timidity of the appetite, for adventure over the love of ease. This often exists in a man of sixty more than a boy of twenty. Nobody grows old merely by a number of years. We grow old by deserting our ideals.

Years may wrinkle the skin, but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul. Worry, fear, self-distrust bows the heart and turns the spirit back to dust.

Whether sixty or sixteen, there is in every human being’s heart the lure of wonder, the unfailing, child-like appetite of what’s next, and the joy of the game of living. In the center of your heart and my heart there is a wireless station; so long as it receives messages of beauty, hope, cheer, courage and power from men and from the infinite, so long are you young.

 When the aerials are down, and your spirit is covered with snows of cynicism and ice of pessimism, then you are grown old, even at twenty, but as long as your aerials are up, to catch the waves of optimism, there is hope you may die young at eighty.

 In 2020, Birmingham Historical Society published an article about Samuel Ullman.

What were you thinking, David – or were you?

It was with great surprise and some fury that the British public, along with many of their Commonwealth and former Commonwealth members, heard David Cameron declare that Great Britain was the 'junior partner' of the USA in fighting Germany in 1940. He seemed to be unaware, or perhaps had 'forgotten' that the US remained neutral until Germany and Japan declared war on it in December 1941 following the attack on Pearl Harbour. The US had supplied the UK as well as the Soviet Union, China, France and other Allied nations
with war materials from March 1941 until 1945 through the 'Lend-Lease' law. The UK finally redeemed its debt in 2006.
Nicholas Soames, grandson of Sir Winston Churchill, defended the Prime Minister's remarks, intimating that he had been misunderstood, but compounded the insult by omitting to mention the UK's allies. His grandfather must have groaned and pirouetted in his grave!
At the beginning of World War II Great Britain was indeed a 'junior partner' – but to France which had one of the biggest armies in the world. France had 86 divisions, Germany 78, while Britain had 9 and the US just 8.
After July 1940 Britain and the Commonwealth stood against Germany until Russia entered the war in July 1941. Forces from several defeated European countries escaped to UK to continue the fight – Albanian, Dutch, French, Polish, Norwegian, Belgian, Czechoslovakian to name but a few.
Russia entered the war five months before the US and arguably was a far bigger partner than the US in defeating Germany. Russia inflicted many more military casualties on the Germans than the US. Russia had the biggest army at the end of the war with 491 divisions while the US reached 94 including those also deployed in the Pacific. The sheer size of the Russian army was at the heart of the eventual German defeat.
The first important German reversal was in the Battle of Britain in 1940.
The first major land defeats of Germany were by British and Commonwealth troops at El Alamein in 1942 and by the Russians at Stalingrad in 1943.
More British and Commonwealth than US troops landed in Normandy in 1944. The RAF had many more fighters than the USAF for D Day (2172 versus 1311). The Royal Navy was the senior partner at Normandy, providing the majority of warships.
The biggest defeat the Japanese army faced was in Burma at the hands of the British and Commonwealth (especially Indian) armies.
Throughout the war the RAF was bigger than the USAF in Europe facing Germany. In June 1942 there were 9500 British aircraft and no US aircraft. A year later Britain had 12700 and the US 5000. Even towards the end of the war Britain still had the larger force with 14500 while the US had 12200.
When military deaths are brought into the equation, Russia suffered the greatest number of fatalities, followed by Britain and the Commonwealth, with the US suffering the fewest. As a proportion of population the British suffered three times the military deaths of the US.
Britain also sustained far more major warship losses than the US (260 versus 157)
Finally, Britain suffered significant civilian casualties and the US did not.
David Cameron and Nicholas Soames were both expensively educated at Eton (current basic fees are around £30,000 per annum). Is this venerable institute not able to employ effective History teachers or is it simply the case that David (and Nicholas before him) were not paying attention during lessons?
In spite of Hollywood reworkings of historical events much of the statistical evidence aforementioned has come from US Government sources, which are both remarkably accurate and well-informed.

ABC Wednesday L is for Lithophane

My father travelled extensively during his time in the Royal Navy, visiting parts of the world which were later forbidden to Westerners for many decades. From a voyage to the Far East before the Second World War he brought back tea and coffee sets for my mother. They were made from fragile eggshell china and hand-painted with Japanese scenes of water, trees and houses, junk-rigged sailing boats and bridges. As a child I loved to study these delicate paintings.

The most fascinating items were the cups. As each cup was held up to the light an image of a geisha's face appeared in the base. The likeness was seen clearly only when lit from behind.

This geisha has a flower in her hair.

This geisha is directing her gaze forward. The fact that there are two depictions of geishas leads me to believe that my father bought two different sets - or picked up a mixed lot. I wish I could ask him!

Recognising the appeal they held for me my mother promised the sets to me and packed them, carefully wrapped, into a large box and told me she would keep them until I had a home of my own. I subsequently married a soldier and we didn't have our own home for several years, relying on the army to provide us with quarters. Through the years I occasionally thought about these beautiful sets and wondered what had happened to them. They were rediscovered when we cleared my parents' home. I was delighted to see them again.

Assuming you're right-handed this is the front of the tea pot - or is it a coffee pot?

 . . . and this is the back! Japanese children are all expected to be right-handed. Even if they are natural left-handers they must change to their right hand for calligraphy otherwise they cannot produce neat work - or so I was told by the left-handed mother of a left-handed child many years ago.

A cursory glance gives the impression that they are all the same but each piece is unique. Sometimes the differences are slight – two boats rather than three, or a bridge of another design. Mount Fuji features in the background of each item.

I did some research and discovered that this moulded artwork is called lithophane and is created in very thin translucent porcelain. It represents a three-dimensional image and is particularly effective when used in a window where the image changes throughout the day according to the sunlight.
Many historians believe that the first lithophanes were created in China during the Tang Dynasty (618 – 907 AD) They were also produced throughout Europe from the 18^th century through to the early 20^th century.
I also discovered that by the end of 1930 all Japanese potteries started producing lithophanes on tea cups and sake cups. Bizarrely this resurgence was linked with the first emergence of tea bags. The popularity of lithophane continued after WWII during the Occupation of Japan (1945 – 1952) Many lithophane pieces were taken back to the USA by American troops. The production declined until it almost stopped in the 50s.
After our late lunch on Easter Sunday we drank coffee and tea from my favourite cups. My pieces have no backstamp, no signature, no identifying mark to note who made them. (Indeed, they may well have been produced in China!) The handles on the tea and coffee pots are quite 'heavy' and somewhat crude but it is not the pottery I love so much, apart from the cups and saucers, as the illustrations on it. I know they have little monetary value but for me they are priceless treasures to be loved and appreciated for their mystery and history and absolute loveliness.

Now this is a coffee pot . . . or is it for hot chocolate?

Thanks go to Denise Nesbitt and her team for organising and hosting this meme. What have other people chosen for their Ls this week? Click here to find out.