思想ワークス @shisouworks - Tumblr Blog

[Cyber Effect] astonishing modern raden (mother of pearl inlay) by Terumasa Ikeda. A nice pun on the classic Ghost in the shell ;)

Raden is a very old decorative craft (see video below), usually used on lacquer bases with floral or traditional motifs. It’s so great to see it used this way!

wearejapanese

The man in the video, Kiyoshi Miyagi-san, specializes in a distinct type of mother-of-pearl inlay (Raden - 螺鈿) known as Ryukyu Raden, which relies on green turban shell (Yakōgai - 夜光貝) from Okinawa. This style of inlayed lacquerware relies on meticulously shaving pieces of turban shell and abalone to 0.1 mm, then polishing them to 0.07-0.08 mm by hand in order to get a translucence that allows the shell to be best displayed on a lacquered surface.

Ryukyu raden was tremendously important to the Ryukyu Kingdom’s trade with China and Japan and uses distinct, culturally unique motifs and colors. I think Ikeda-san’s modern interpretations are a wonderful way to preserve this tradition, but the video is also informative in showing Okinawa’s rich history and the painstaking nature of craftmanship in Japan (also known as 工芸 or Kōgei).

softsoundingsea

To go off the caption before, Ryukyuan and Japanese lacquer are distinct from each other in terms of materials, techniques, motifs, and sometimes color.

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Interesting Mini Cooper.

#mini cooper #nissan #rwd conversion #sr20det #japan #drifting #Instagram #anything is possible

#youtube #touhou #Quad City DJs #silvagunner

bluelightning42

I wonder why the word for reptiles は虫類 has the kanji for insect 虫 in it?

tokidokitokyo

Oooh, pick me! *raises hand*

Because in ancient China they grouped everything like snakes and insects into 虫 without it really meaning "insect" but rather a garbage can term for anything not mammal, bird, or fish. So this has carried on through many other words, such as 爬虫類.

That's why you can write octopus (たこ) as 蛸 with the 虫 radical.

Some more info: https://bestiary.japanesewithanime.com/animals/mushi