One of the hobbies I love the most is origami. Besides I don´t feel the time when I am doing it, my brain is working so hard and developing skills in myself. I really admire Japanese people, and after learning origami, I understand very well why they are so practical and intelligent. Origami(折り紙,origami?) (from oru meaning “folding”, and kami meaning “paper”) is the ancient Japaneseart of paper folding. The goal of this art is to create a representation of an object using geometric folds and crease patterns preferably without the use of gluing or cutting the paper,and using only one piece of square paper.
Origami only uses a small number of different folds, but they can be combined in a variety of ways to make intricate designs. The most well known form is probably the Japanese paper crane. In general, these designs begin with a square sheet of paper whose sides may be different colors or prints.
The origin of the art began as Chinese Paper Folding. The Japanese origin began in the 6th century when Buddhist monks from China carried paper to Japan. The first Japanese origami is dated from this period. Origami had already become a significant aspect of Japanese ceremony by the Heian period of Japanese history. Samurai warriors would exchange gifts adorned with noshi, a sort of good luck token made of folded strips of paper. Origami butterflies were used during the celebration of Shinto weddings to represent the bride and groom.
In the 1960s the art of origami began to spread out, first with modular origami and then with various movements developing, including the kirikomi. Origami is now an international art.
Here I will add some videos that show some nice origami creations. You can make them easily following the instructions of the videos. Ganbatte!!!!
The pagoda has been one of the most recognizable forms of Japanese architecture throughout history. These unique temples have stood the test of time and are often used as tourist attractions today.
A Japanese pagoda is a square tower that is usually part of a monastery used by Buddhist monks. It served as a temple and housed sacred relics. Each of its levels, ascending, is slightly smaller than the last, resulting in a pyramid-like structure that is topped by a spire.
Construction
Japanese pagodas are typically constructed from wood with interlocking beams and posts and a central column. The buildings are tall and slender and consist of five stories. The roofs boast wide overhangs, with clay tiles. Pagodas are extremely sturdy and are designed to absorb the movements of the earth, making them resistant to earthquakes and typhoons.
Famous Examples
Kyoto's Toji pagoda is one of the most famous in Japan. Kyoto's Hoshoji was an octagonal pagoda, and was the tallest structure in Japan at 83 meters (272.3 feet) until destroyed by fire in the 15th century during the Onin War.
History
The pagoda was introduced to Japan from China, and was influenced by the Indian stupa. The Horyu-ji pagoda, near Nara, dates back to the late seventh century.
Symbolisim
The square shape symbolizes the earth. The center column is considered the "axle of the world" and the spire on top of the structure represents Buddha as master of the universe. Each level represents one of the five elements: wind, water, earth, fire and sky.
Visitors to Kyoto and Nara, Japan's ancient capitals, invariably retain in their memories the evocative silhouette of a wooden pagoda--at times towering gracefully above the tiled rooftops of an old neighborhood, at times rising abruptly from the midst of a huddle of modern buildings. Most people familiar with the Kansai region will know the stately five-story pagoda of Kyoto's Toji (Kyoo Gokokuji) temple, clearly visible from the Shinkansen bullet train, or the pagoda of Nara's Kofukuji, standing at the edge of Sarusawa Pond.
At 55 meters in height, the pagoda of Toji is the tallest such structure in Japan. It is far from the tallest pagoda ever built, however. The octagonal nine-story pagoda of Kyoto's Hoshoji was 83 meters tall, and the seven-story pagoda of Shokokuji, also in Kyoto, is said to have risen a full 108 meters. These towering structures, along with many other wooden pagodas built over the centuries, were destroyed by fire--generally either struck by lightning or caught in the crossfire of civil war.
Because of their wood construction, Japan's pagodas have always been extremely vulnerable to fire. At the same time, these tall, slender towers, built of interlocking posts and beams, are so resistant to earthquakes and typhoons that Japan's long architectural history records only a very few instances of their collapsing. Some 1,300 years after it was built, the five-story pagoda of Horyuji in Nara, recently added to UNESCO's "world heritage" list of cultural assets, shows not the slightest sign of instability.
Although built primarily of wood, pagodas are by no means lightweight structures. Like most traditional wood-frame architecture in Japan, they display wide eaves, giving considerable prominence to the tiled roof. If we compare the charming octagonal Yumedono, or "Dream Hall" of Horyuji with the octagonal pagoda of Fogongsi temple in China's Shansi Province, the difference is instructive: The eaves overhang of the Yumedono is 3 meters, more than one-fourth the building's total diameter of 11 meters. The pagoda of Fogongsi, which measures 29 meters across, has an overhang of only 2.5 meters--less than one-tenth the building's diameter.
The jutting eaves of Japan's wooden pagodas lend a powerful rhythm to their silhouette, but their purpose is by no means solely aesthetic.
A wide overhang means a larger roof relative to the rest of the structure. The large roof, consisting of clay and tiles laid on top of wood rafters, is extremely heavy. A heavy roof relative to the size of the building is one of the main characteristics of traditional Japanese wood architecture. With five such overhanging roofs, a five-story pagoda is a heavy structure indeed.
Why such pagodas, despite their height and weight, have remained upright and intact through numerous earthquakes and typhoons is something that no one has been able to explain satisfactorily from the standpoint of modern architectonics. This is because building science evolved in the West as a discipline dealing with the structural mechanics of rigid bodies, that is, buildings of stone, brick, or concrete. In the article that follows, architect Ueda Atsushi elucidates the ingenious techniques by which the Japanese of earlier times built their pagodas to withstand even the strongest winds and earthquakes.
Of course, high towers have been built in the West ever since the Middle Ages. In all cases, however, the material is masonry--stones or bricks joined to form a single mass of wall capable of withstanding this or that impact from without. In the case of Japan's wooden pagodas, however, each story is structurally independent.
Each story of the pagoda is basically a square box with no bottom, built around twelve outer pillars, or gawabashira. The pagoda as a whole is, in essence, five stacked boxes. Since each story is smaller than the one beneath it, the placement of the gawabashira moves inward as one proceeds up the pagoda, meaning that horizontal beams are needed to support the gawabashira of each story above the first. In fact, these pillars rest on horizontal bases, which in turn are supported by taruki--slanting beams that run from the inside of the structure diagonally downward to the outside, where they support the eaves.
The weight of the upper story, pushing down on the inner ends of the taruki, would cause the outer ends to rise if there were no counterweight. The heavy tiled roof of the eaves performs precisely this function. In short, the taruki functions as a lever arm, while the top of the gawabashira serves as the fulcrum.
The story above bears down on the inner end of the lever, and the overhanging roof balances this load at the outer end.Or, to put it another way, the heavy eaves are in effect supported by the story above. When one reaches the uppermost level, of course, there is no story above to counterbalance the overhang. Here, however, the tall copper or iron spire, or finial, performs that function. The finial of the Horyuji pagoda, we are told, weighs a full three tons.
Ueda explains in detail how this lever construction ensures that, during typhoons and earthquakes, pagodas swing and sway but almost never collapse. Built not to resist the forces of nature head-on but to accept and absorb their impact, pagodas epitomize the ingenuity of traditional Japanese wood architecture. This solution to the problem of structural stability could be said to manifest the Japanese approach to nature--not only to observe it carefully but also to learn from it and coexist harmoniously with it.
In my time living and studying in Japan, I heard many opinions from different foreigners around the world. It is strange but interesting to discover that women immediately fall in love with Japanese food. I did!!!!!
The reason is simple…..Since Japanese food is healthy, it helps you to lose weight and to look great. In the other hand, it is common to hear cry baby university students who always complain missing their mothers’ food. Nevertheless, there is a male minority, who has a unique taste, that likes Japanese food taste.
Let me tell you that there is a great option for foreigners who don’t know what to eat in Japan. This option is ………………..bento boxes!!!!
It is so convenient and easy to find them everywhere in Japan for a very reasonable price. They are around ¥300 and ¥1200 (that would be $2 and $10).
When you buy a bento box, you can have many types of food arranged in a perfect and singular way. I said once that Japanese food is too beautiful to be eaten…….
Now I will explain you what a bento box is and the varieties you can find. I hope you like them.
What is bento?
Bento (written 弁当), or obento (お弁当) to use the honorific term, is the Japanese word for a meal served in a box. Beyond that basic definition though, just about anything goes as to what kind of box or container is used, as well as what is put inside that box. Bento, or o-bento, refers to a packaged, single-portion, portable meal that is usually eaten at lunch, but also comes in larger sizes meant for use at picnics, dinner, and parties. A bento generally consists of rice or noodles and some form of protein (e.g., meat, poultry, fish, tofu) accompanied by side dishes of raw, simmered, or pickled vegetables. There are many different types of bento boxes, ranging from traditional handcrafted wooden lacquerware to disposable containers. Most bento boxes have compartments or internal dividers for separate dishes.
Bento is an art form in Japan. Japanese women spend a good part of their mornings preparing bento for their families – there is even a sense of competition among mothers to see who can produce the cutest, appetizing, and healthy lunch for their children. Modern Japanese culture virtually revolves around compact cuteness. The variety of designer bento boxes, food liners, wiener and cookie cutters, egg molds, food picks, and other bento-ware used to create these mini-masterpieces is amazing and overwhelming.
Different types of bento
There are several different kinds of bento, with different purposes.
1.Makunouchi bentoare elaborate bento meals presented at formal meals, meant to be eaten at table. This is the type you will see served in restaurants, arranged in elegant lacquered boxes. Kouraku bento are picnic bento, to be shared by a group of people enjoying themselves outdoors - the most popular settings is while enjoying the cherry blossoms in spring (hanami).
2.Ekiben (a shortened form of eki bento) are boxed meals sold at train stations for travellers (though nowadays you can buy ekiben at many other places, such as department store food halls or convenience stores).
This is a place that sells bento boxes in a station. It is a very common view in Japan.
This is the way bento boxes are arranged for people to choose their gavorite. there are bento boxes with different kinds of meat. You choose the kind you like....and there are vegetarian bento boxes as well.
For the ones who love to travel and visit all the beautiful places in Japan, don't worry about eating or spending so much muney in restaurants.....You can have a bento box anywhere........
3.The kind of bento that have garnered the most attention recently, especially outside of Japan are what are called kyaraben or charaben, ‘cute bento’ ‘art bento’ or ‘entertaining bento’ (entertain-bento), extremely elaborately decorated small works of art, as exemplified by the work presented on sites like e-obento (Japanese). These are usually made by mothers for their small children. There can be a high level of competitiveness in this arena - there are tons of contests and such that feature these bentos.
4.Finally, there’s the plain simple bento that most people bring to work or school for lunch. It’s important to note that most Japanese people do not spend their time making elaborate charaben or ‘cute bento’ - that’s more in the realm of a hobby and craft rather than practical everyday living. The type of bento that JustBento concentrates on for the most part are practical, tasty, healthy everyday bento lunches.
HOW TO PREPARE YOUR BENTO NO MATTER THE PLACE YOU ARE.....
If you are interested in preparing a bento box for your kids, you can do it in a simple way and give them the surprise. In this way, you can make them forget the junk food, and have a more balanced diet with vegetables. Watch the following video. It is great!!!!!!
I hope you understand now why I love bento boxes so much. Here I leave you more pictures to show you once again the beauty, creativity, convenience, and good flavor of bento boxes. Itadakimasu!!!!!!!
