Graduation — ? ! ! ! of the Kyoto Uni’

Photos from Japan. —– a guy said “If anything crazy happened, it’s in Japan”.

As a very decent Japanese, —– still I agree with him.  Those photos were not from

Cos-Ple or Carnival but  can you believe, it was the Graduation Ceremony in

 the Kyoto University.

 Yes, they are new Graduates, the top-brains in Japan.  So, they are not crazy at all.  

 It’s not a Halloween or Carnival but more like an act  of Manga or Anime

 = Typical Japanese culture.

Before Manga, Japan had Ukiyoe (Utamaro) tradition.  = This tradition was in the context

 of Kabuki Culture.

[]

This Kabuki derived from a word “Kabuku” (傾く) = inclined or twisted = Eccentric. 

Strangely you might thought, the very traditional, Shinto, Buddhists Feudal society  

under the Shogun / Samurai-Ruled society,  still having very exceptional tolerance

towards the Eccentric or even indecency. ( think, mass publication of “Utamaro” !)

So, to have a public display of very extravagant Kimono of  Lord Date etc, etc, or

show-off of Fire-fighters, even a Yakuza’s stunt was a part of the Japanese culture.

= So, why not to have a FUN at the Graduation Ceremony ! ! !

(You may mistaken that it was a display of Ego, but far from it,

If the person could kill-off the own Ego, he can become a cat = otherwise, how

the one could make oneself fool, on THE day = only once in the life.) 

—– Original Report  :  http://togech.jp/2015/03/25/2105

***********

PS: Since WP changed the system for us to upload / editing, I can no longer change 

      the color of the letters = so that, the text may looks funny here. 

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Lens Test on Cherry and Plum Blossom

Those photos were taken a while ago, the same day I took pictures of Daffodils.

(After this, there must be much better full bloom somewhere else though.  🙂 )

(photo above was taken by a Canon Fisheye lens)

And the following photos were taken by the Two Element Homemade Lens above.

The beauty of this lens was that there is no focus  😀   (Other than this lens,

rest of the lenses were used with the Tilting Macro Bellows for focus.)

And the following photos were taken by a lens originally came from a Canon

compact camera G9 = it was their zoom’s front element.

The lens was Epoxy glued onto a lens mount ring and a filter ring was fixed too.  

Unlike first two photos, those photos were (I think) Plum tree.

Next was a front element of a Zoom lens  (I don’t remember where it’s came from,

Canon or Sigma ?)  — The lens was fixed in a similar way to the other homemade lens.

Front element itself couldn’t eliminate the aberration. —– but this one showed

very strong Coma aberration — (if not a camera shake).  In most of the case,

good softness of the image was created by the Spherical  aberration  

= so, Coma aberration was not desirable here.

Strangely, this Coma aberration appeared somewhat in middle distance.  

And not much so on the close-up.

This one above showed no Coma aberration but the following one did  ? ? ?

I need to have more test.

Last one here came from a cheap Wide-Converter for a compact camera.

It got quite big diameter — hence the effective F-aperture is F1.6 !

 

I like the images from this lens though —– strangely, despite full open F1.6,

the back image was not necessary out of focus or dissolved into big  Bokeh.  

Anyhow, each lens got its own character = pros and cons.  🙂

Last photo above was again by the same Fisheye lens. 

[]

Daffodil — Lens Test

As the spring has started, I took the lenses (in fact quite few) which I “made” duling 

 the winter hibernation out to the test.  🙂

And those lenses were designed to use with 

 tilting bellows I specially made for Canon 5D.

Photo left, Those three lenses (mounted on the

 Nikon mount adapter) were saved from 

 the broken cameras or lenses.

— Left one came from Canon G9, center one from an old zoom lens and the right one

came from a Wide-adapter and as they are having focal-length about 50mm~60mm

therefore effective F-aperture is about F2 (fully open only ! )   And being used on the

Tilting bellows they are able to give a focus from infinity to more than 1:1 close-up.

(with a bit of difficulty on use.  😀 )

Most of the photos here were taken by the “Center lens” photo before, except

the right photo above, which was taken by the Canon Fisheye lens.

Well, they were just a fraction of test shot —– still, shows some results

which I appreciate a lots.  🙂       ( —– whatever you say.  😀  ) 

[]

Singing Bowl

After the post of Wind-Bell I got a call from a person who said that she got

genuine Japanese glass Fuurin. “Oh, marvellous!”—– It’s said to have come

from a Net-shopping with a help of her Japanese friend.

“The sound is exquisite, its ethereal resonance suck you into the infinite depth

of space!” “How extraordinary!”— and she said that she got a singing bowl

from Tibet too which sound even deeper and draw us into deep meditative state.

—– though, —– What can I say ? ? ? —– should I say “Congratulation” for her

able to get hold genuine article ?

Or should I praise her keen effort to seek a genuine sound ? —– ? ? ?

Or should I flirt her that her spirit will reach higher awareness soon.

[]

It may not fare to write here like this because soon she will read this and might feel

offended though, this is not just her personal phenomenon but this is the wide-

spread misconception among those who, so-called “spiritually awaken” — or

New Age kind of people.

As a matter of fact, it is not easy to see what they are after. (Fashion ?  Snobbism ?)

Are they really believing that they can get hold the Cosmic Power through a

Crystal they bought ? —– Are they believing that to keep a particular article, made

her to posses its myth and the understanding ?  (It’s called Fetisizm Sir/Mme !)

[]

In this area, there are three levels of  misconception.  

1) Believing that the object has its own power. (Like a Crystal power)

2) Or believe the function of its object would solve the problem.

(Like an exercise machine — the matter is not what the machine is but your act.)

3) With its object, the one can imagine that he or she suddenly acquire the truth.

(Like a “Special Mantra” “Book of ancient wisdom” kind. Chanting  O~~~~~rm !)

(— like seeing a film, made a person to believe “Be force with ME” ? )

Unfortunately, none of those kind are in the world. If anybody selling, it’s a fraud. 

[]

Yes, I did said that the sound draw a mind into meditative state and this IS the

state of Void.    This is true, — you try test = what you found?   Did your brain

configure any notion out of tinkling sound ?

I don’t think so = nothing there because nothing else of pure sound is there.

But in this Void what could be discovered ?   It is the question to be a Buddhist.

—– To a non Buddhist, Void or a sound of Fuurin or Singing Bowl wouldn’t make

any meaning other than A sound.   Though, to a Buddhist who seeks nothing,

this Void opens the eyes to see the Void.  (I said, “seeks nothing”)

[]

—– How come ? = our brain takes High-pitched tone as a sign of danger, hence

our brain activities were suddenly silenced and all the perceptions were

concentrated to pick-up further sign.  — even though our higher brain did know

that the tinkling sound was mere Wind Bell and nothing to worry about at all, still,

the emotional region / limbic system and all the sensory receptors were tentioned.

= This combination : completely blank-out Thinking activities and the

completely open / absolutely passive perception is very close to the state of Zen,

and it was the base of the Clear Eyes.   (Then, to see WHAT is depend on the person 

— some will see the enlightenment, but some see nothing.

— you can buy Singing Bowl but not necessary the Enlightenment.)  

And this is THE Singing Bowl ! —– yes it sounds more or less the same to Tibetan

Singing Bowl.

(It’s my cooking pan. = the handle was just unscrewed that’s all, and still sound nice !

— cooking pan wouldn’t make any rice sound.  But it would sound just Gong !   :-D)

—– What’s wrong with this ?          Do you still clinging to the Tibetan Bowl ?  

___/\___

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Fuurin / Wind-Bell (2)

Well, this product / Wind-Bell here, was an utterly odd creation.  

—– ( Before this, there has been a long stories of “Lens making” though, I’m

not actually making glass lens = just modifying them to an usable shape.)

—– anyhow, in order to make a lens usable, I’ve been mounting it to the

Camera Lens Mount using another metal ring etc etc = in short

I’ve been playing with lots of small metal pieces. = then I accidentally found,

some of those metal pieces makes nice sound when they were hit.

[]

So, the photos above are the metal rings hanged as a wind-bell but this one

was made to rather quiet one.  🙂   —– here, there was a post about a nice Zen

story of a Fuurin / Wind-Bell. —– Yes, Fuurin makes nice sound —– yes, on

the beginning. = second day, it became an irritation. = Hence, I made quiet one.

= it chimes only once or twice in few minutes. (When wind was not too strong.)

Its high-pitch tone with resonating tail makes our ears to listen,

and our ears can catch even faintest sound

 = the ears become so sensitive, 

still its sound got no meaning,

neither no-point to waite next sound 

= it may come may not come.  

—– So, the mind become completely passive and open.

= this is nothing but a deep meditative state.

The mind is in the state of Void.

[]

In this design, each three metal pieces had different sizes and the sounds though,

strangely, when they hit each other, they makes only one sound ! (or, to my ear)

(You know, it’s a famous Zen question, when two hand crap, why only 

one sound came out, despite each hand makes each sound ?  — Try to see. 🙂 )

[]

So, now on, the spring breeze has nice company.

[]

 

Poetry Contest (2)

Not necessary having a thought, I suddenly realized that the story of the Poetry Contest of Huineng and Shenxui was not right.    Its contest was the 5^th patriarch, Hongren try to find who should succeed him and become 6^th patriarch of the Zen.   Unlike the other sect of Buddhism, Zen does their learning without rely on the words. = the action in the practice or a thing or phenomenon trigger the understanding.

So, the founder of Rinzai Zen, Rinzai said to have uttered that, “On the way, (may mean Pathway) when you saw the scriptures, through them away.  When you saw the monks kill them or met Lord Buddha, kill him too.” —– (this advice was meant be getting rid of any notion, and empty the mind.) 

[]On the said Poetry Contest, for the answer to the Hongren’s request to show the Zen mind, well-learned top-rank monk, Shenxui wrote “Mind is like a mirror, I polish the mirror diligently for no dust to settle on it” —– opposing to this, one low rank monk, Huineng wrote “Since Mirror is not exists in the first place, where could dust settle”

—– Hongren found that Huineng has much deeper understanding in Zen, he chose Huineng to be his successor.

[]Zen teaching was started by Bodhidharma on 5^th century.   Though, as a matter of fact, there were numerous legend and myth about Bodhidharma but little historical facts were known, therefore any story has to be treated with a pinch of salt.

—–When Bodhidharma wanted to choose his successor, there was a similar story.   He asked his disciples  “Can each of you say something to demonstrate your understanding ?”

Dao Fu stepped forward and said, “It is not bound by words and phrases, nor is it separate from words and phrases. This is the function of the Tao.”

Bodhidharma: “You have attained my skin.” 

The nun Zong Chi stepped up and said, “It is like a glorious glimpse of the realm  of Akshobhya Buddha. Seen once, it need not be seen again.”

Bodhidharma; “You have attained my flesh.” 

Dao Yu said, “The four elements are all empty. The five skandhas are without actual existence. Not a single dharma can be grasped.”

Bodhidharma: “You have attained my bones.” 

Finally, Huike came forth, bowed deeply in silence and stood up straight. 

Bodhidharma said, “You have attained my marrow.”

Bodhidharma passed on the symbolic robe and bowl of dharma succession to  Huike and, some texts claim, a copy of the Lankavatara Sutra. 

Bodhidharma then either returned to India or died. (This story from Wikipedia)

(There was the conflicting stories, —– He might returned to Persia.  Or even killed in the mass execution at Heyin in 528.) []

My doubt was that why Shenxui, studying under Hongren did have such poor understanding ?  (While Huineng who was working in the kitchen could still pick up the Zen understanding from overheard conversation of other monks.)   

And the same question goes to the colleagues of Huike too. = they were no ordinary monks, THE direct disciples of  Bodhidarma.   As they lives together, they must have  lots of discussion even arguments. —– still keep maintaining such variety of idea = quite logical and full of blah blah, but where the “Teachings of the Master” which was supposedly on the principle of Void and abhorrence to the words, has gone ?

 And, what was the 5th Patriarch, Hongren’s understanding and the teachings of “mind” ? —– (Was he thinking, “There is Zen Mind” ? )  

— Who recorded those stories ?  — Was that came from the diary of Hongren ?  — weren’t those stories made-up to glorify each Huineng and Huike ? ? ?

While making others looks fool = makes stories interesting.  And this kind of practice was behind of all those compilation of “Sutra” or scriptures.  It’s mean, we need very critical sharp eyes to distinguish what was the true teachings.    🙂

___/\___  

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Jazz at the Cafe / February

Jazz night on this month at the Small White Elephant Cafe had a guest musician

Harrison Cole as a trumpet player.

Handsome boy Harrison (originally from Colombia) has been in Japan several

times, so, I teased him “You must be chased by many pretty girls there” — he said

“No no, nothing like that. My friend tried to chase those Kawaii-ko, neither him

was successful”  ” Ha, ha, ha, I don’t believe you”.

—- Left  Harrison Cole / Trumpet ——– Tris Harris / Drum ——- Les Booth / Bass Guitar

(They were experienced enough to ignore trespassing photographer — thanks ! )

With a good rethome and a touch of latin Trumpet, the customers started dancing.

During a break and after the music, a lots of chat with musicians, visitors

each other — there was even other photographer who was wondering what a

funny lens I was using. (my handmade fuzzy lens !)

It was more like a socializing occasion —– good fun !

[]

Fun from a broken Camera (2)

It was two weeks ago when I showed this photo of Canon G9.

Among the disassembled component, I found some of them are useable.

Such as the front lens alone (photo above left)  could be used as a 50 mm F2.6 lens

and the second group of the optics (photo above center) is a very strong diverging

(concave) lens = could be used to widen the view of a pinhole camera.

In order to use a lens, it has to be mounted somewhere — to a lens mount or

to a filter ring etc. —– unless it got exact diameter or screw pitch, we need to fill

the gap and glue (epoxy) them.  

I cut a beer can’s thin metal to the needed diameter and fix it with epoxy.

To do this kind of work, I bought M39 to M42 adapter ring and M42 to Nikon F

mount adapter. (Those item’s cost were only few pounds though, it took 2 weeks to 

get them here, and as being as cheap Chinese products, noting is what we expected

= M42 screw was slightly larger and couldn’t fit to the Pentax original mount.  

And the clow of Nikon Mount bayonet was too thin hence it was too loose.  

For M39 to M42 ring, I “re-cut” the M42 screw (Photo left in the center).

 (Photo Left : Nikon to Canon Adapter though,

part of its diameter was 0.5mm too large

= needed to file-down !)

(Such laborious cutting work with file is 

nothing but a good Zen practice.  😀 )

Second group of concave lens aforesaid was

mounted on the center of M42 to Nikon 

mount adapter. (photo above center)  

And the Front lens of G9 was mounted

on to a Nikon mount adapter via M39-M42 ring. (photo right) 

So, what was those hastle for ? —– The photo (right) here was taken by the

front lens of discarded Canon G9 Camera aforesaid.

(Left photo was also taken by a single lens came from another broken zoom lens).

( I’m preparing those lenses for the coming flower season ! )

If you like to see “sharp but ubiquitous” photo, please go to phone-camera.

The photos here, the images were full of aberration and halation still where

the focus lies, it’s sharp.  (Look the enlarged photo) —– they might be

the images what we are actually seeing.

(like impressionist painter had found).  🙂

[]

Dorkbot gathering #87

 Dorkbot is one of the most peculiar social group.

 As its motto says, it is the gathering of the

 people doing strange things with Electricity.

 Other than some Core-members taking care of

organizing the meeting, there is no membership kind, but just a mailing list. = If you

are interested in, just visit their site and join them (free).

After a bit of lapse, their gathering got back to the monthly base,

and this one was for the February.

The first speaker was James Auger and he talked about Robot things and

“Somewhat a kind of kinetic Sculptures” = kinetic mean, having some mechanism

with certain electronic controls. = hence, doing strange things with electronics.  😀

And, he is teaching it to the grown-up students and going to be a Phd !

James Auger is a designer, researcher and lecturer whose work examines the social, cultural and

human impact of technology and the products that exist as a result of its development and application.

His PhD topic is Why Robot? Speculative design, the domestication of technology and the considered

future. James is also a partner in the Speculative Design practice Auger-Loizeau, whose projects have

been published and exhibited internationally, including MoMA, New York; 21_21, Tokyo;

The Science Museum, London and the Ars Electronica festival, Linz, and

are part of the permanent collection at MoMA.

The second speaker was Tim Hunkin.  Since he has been running Fun Arcade,

with “Strange Game (?) Machine” he was THE genuine Dorkbot tribe.

Tim Hunkin is an English engineer, cartoonist, writer, and artist. He created the

Channel Four TV series and Science Museum gallery The Secret Life of Machines, which

explained the workings and history of various household devices.  He has just launched

a “new London arcade of home-made coin operated machines built by enthusiasts”:

www.novelty-automation.com
twitter: @NovAutomation

The third speaker was Restart Project.

The Restart Project is a London-based social enterprise that encourages and empowers people

to use their electronics longer, by sharing repair and maintenance skills. Through community

and workplace events we create engaging opportunities to extend the lifespan of electronics

and electrical equipment.

twitter: @RestartProject

And the last presenter was Pollie Barden.

Pollie is an artist, activist and game designer who has designed games from the mobile platform

to the urban landscape. Firefly is a tagging game that explores temporal memory, and exploits

the balance of collaboration and competition. The action takes place at night. Your first strategic

move is the clothing you wear. Players, wearing Flashing LED badges will compete to see who can

steal the most badges from other players. However, the prize you seek may be your downfall!

[]

I’ve been with this Dorkbot London for about 10 years, so, I’ve been watching

the popularity side of the technology. = understanding and approach of the

people toward the electronic technology.  — Years ago, the presentation of the

gathering were the handmade strange machines and its electronics.  We could

operate the machine and see its function and the way how it was made. — though,

now we got used to fire virtual weapon by pressing a button and see the enemy

smashed over a screen. (I’m guessing = I never played Game)   The operation,

movements etc etc getting more and more realistic and the resolution of the screen

is ever getting finer.  —– but how many of us does know such as a color in the screen

was generated, let alone to simulate it by the LEDs and its control of brightness. —–

I’m not happy with this trend = “Virtualization of the Life, thanks to the Technology”

—– May be I have to write about it in the other post.

—– incidentally, my pieces such as Wire Dragon, the Archer = Cupidon were

first time presented at Dorkbot many years ago.

[]

PS: The Red cast on some photos were caused by the low battery in the camera.

And a moale on the Pollie’s pullover was because of its pattern.

—– strange things would often happen in the Dorkbot.

[]

Dale’s Studio

——– (Note: Photo above by Zeiss 18mm lens for Nikon = Virtually no Distortion ! ) 

Yesterday, I went to the studio of Dale in the east London who also run the Cafe,

Small White Elephant to help a documentation, photographing his paintings.

As always, when I go out to take picture, it was a sunny blue-skyed day. = Almost

like the first spring day of this year.

(In fact, I’ve told him “If the weather was like this rainy, it would be a sign of

that the Heaven doesn’t like you” as the day before was rainy.)

As always, the studio was in a disused big industrial building,

some walk from the Bromley by Bow station.  = Real East End ! —– the area

“was” really a derelict, disused industrial land though, in the past few years,

suddenly new development was started. = would become posh town soon ! ? 

Utterly out of my guess, Dale’s paintings were the riot of colors with tons of paint.

— paint was not painted but more likely, deposited on the canvas. (= so that,

even after few years, some paint was still not completely dried yet.)

I only say ” Wao, Amaaaaaaazing”.  and then, I realized the connection, why

he interested in Zen = those process to dripping the paint without having

much of  pattern or figure = almost endless work of Mushin (Mind of No-mind

= Do the task without needing to have the Thinking.)  —– And the result

—– it showed nothing or it is the everything !  (色即是空，空即是色 = like what

Heart Mantra said ) —– He was not trying to copy a style of Zen painting

but “Do the Zen” in action.

And, for the next step, for exhibition and for a publication, he needed

to have his paintings digitized.

When we finished the shooting, his friends came to the studio with cans of beer.  

In most of the case, the studio of the artist never be tidy —– so, looks like this

pile of mess = was not a mess = it was a collage of the doodles or a draft of plan

etc etc. in his past (= said to be.  🙂 )

Therefore, I wouldn’t make any question “What is this ?” to an artist.

(with obvious reason.  🙂 )

So, I even didn’t have an attempt to guess what they are — why the blobs of

the paint was kept and treasured ? ? ?

In some distance, over the Bow Creek, landscape of the East End.

The life is there as usual. (of usual kind.  🙂 )

(Camera used was: Nikon D810 with PC Nikkor 35mm F2.8 and

Carl Zeiss 18mm F3.5 for Nikon)

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