Words : STOICHEDON

Words : BOUSTROPHEDON

Boustrophedon ( /ˌbaʊstrɵˈfiːdən/ or /ˌbuːstroʊˈfiːdən/;

 ”ɓuᴉuɹnʇ-xo“ uopēɥdoɹʇsnoq ‘νόδηφορτσυοβ ʞǝǝɹ⅁ ɯoɹɟ

from βοῦς, bous, “ox” and στροφή, strophē, “turn”; that is,

ןɐuoıʇɔǝɹıp-ıq ɟo puıʞ ɐ sı '(ƃuıɥƃnoןd uı uǝxo ǝʞıן ƃuıuɹnʇ

 text, mostly seen in ancient manuscripts and other inscriptions. 

pǝsɹǝʌǝɹ ɥʇıʍ 'pǝsɹǝʌǝɹ ɹo pǝddılɟ sı ɓuıʇıɹʍ ɟo ǝuıl ɹǝɥʇo ʎɹǝʌƎ

 letters. Rather than going left-to-right as in modern English,

uı sǝuıl ǝʇɐuɹǝʇlɐ 'ʍǝɹqǝH puɐ ɔıqɐɹ∀ uı sɐ ʇɟǝl-oʇ-ʇɥɓıɹ ɹo

boustrophedon must be read in opposite directions. Also, 

˙pǝɹoɹɹıɯ ɹo 'pǝsɹǝʌǝɹ ǝɹɐ sɹǝʇɔɐɹɐɥɔ lɐnpıʌıpuı ǝɥʇ

The wooden boards and other incised artifacts of Rapa Nui

 ,oǫᴎoɿoǫᴎoЯ bɘ||ɒɔ ƚqiɿɔꙅ ɔiᴎobɘʜqoɿƚꙅuod ɒ ɿɒɘd oꙅ|ɒ

which remains undeciphered. In Rongorongo the text in

 ᴎɒʜƚ ɿɘʜƚɒɿ ꙅɘɘɿǫɘb 08 bɘƚɒƚoɿ ꙅɒw ꙅɘᴎi| ɘƚɒᴎɿɘƚ|ɒ

mirrored; this is termed reverse boustrophedon.

  .ᴎobɘʜqoɿƚꙅuod ɘꙅɿɘvɘɿ ᴎi ᴎɘƚƚiɿw ꙅi ɘboɔ ᴎooM

Words : SUIBOKUGA 水墨画‎

Hasegawa Tohaku 長谷川

Suibokuga (or suiboku; or sumi-e painting) refers to the Japanese tradition of ink drawings, that was introduced from China by Buddhist priest-artists in the late Kamakura period.

水 - water
墨 - ink
画‎ - picture


Suibokuga is "completely unconcerned with producing a literal representation. Its emphasis is completely upon the spirit. Japanese monochromes put no emphasis on scientific or rational realism. The Nanga school, especially, aims at the representation of the state of mind, using serenity as a keynote. (keyhole? - a Freudan slip?) Thus, the most prized masterpieces are those which are thought to display a noble soul rather than an exact reproduction. Suiboku is not photography or the copying of natural things, the shape and colour of which is seen with the eyes; it is the expression or the idea the artist received when he viewed the object."*(p.11, Ryukyu Saito Japanese Ink-Painting).

The artists use sumi-e ink (which is made of soot) and a soft animal hair brush. The drawings are all monochrome. The skill lies in the ability to control the balance of black and white through single brushstrokes to achieve minimalist drawings. The artist draws surfaces (no outlines); the ink runs and merges with the layer below. The strokes cannot be corrected or removed.

There seems to be some disagreement if suibokuga draws on the philosophy of Zen Buddhism (Ryuku Saito) or whether it has no relationship to it (Tsugako Shimada). From my very Christian seat here in London, it looks like suibokuga very much embraces Tao and Zen line of thought, especially the idea of intuitive understanding rather than rational representation of form. The minimal means of expression aim to capture the essence of the object.

Like a visual haiku.

Ike no Taiga 池大雅 Zhuang Zi dreaming of a butterfly

Josetsu 如拙 Catching a Catfish with a Gourd

P.S.

A Chinese painter was once commissioned to paint the Emperor's favorite goat. The artist asked for the goat, that he might study it. After two years the Emperor, growing impatient, asked for the return of the goat; the artist obliged. Then the Emperor asked about the painting. The artist confessed that he had not yet made one, and taking an ink brush he drew eight nonchalant strokes, creating the most perfect goat in the annals of Chinese painting.

* The quote comes as it is in the book. Amusing it may be, but poor wording is not my choice.

Words : OSTALGIE/OSTALGIA

A useful new word I learned today. OSTALGIE is a German term referring to nostalgia for aspects of life in East Germany. It is derived from the German words Ost (east) and Nostalgie (nostalgia). The word can also be used more broadly, to denote nostalgia for all things Soviet elsewhere in the Eastern Europe.

I am pleased to know, that there is a term to describe the phenomenon that results in Tarybinės dešreles (soviet sausages) and Tarybinis batonas (soviet bread) on the Lithuanian supermarket shelves.  Somewhat differnet from selling a Victorian Chutney at Sainsbury's. 

Words : EHON 絵本

E-hon chiyomigusa (Illustrated book of the thousand floating grasses) by Nishikawa Sukenobu

Kuroneko Yamato (Black Cat of Yamato) by Katsushika Hokusai

Ehon mushi erami by Kitagawa Utamaro

Ehon mushi erami by Kitagawa Utamaro

Ehon mushi erami by Kitagawa Utamaro

Seiro bijin awase sugata kagami (Mirror of Beautiful Women of the Green Houses) by Katsukawa Shunsho and Kitao Shigemasa

Ehon shungа print by Shuncho Yushido

Since about seventeenth eighteenth century Japanese have been publishing illustrated books consisting mainly of pictures and possibly a few words. Picture books. Ehon or e-hon. The books were produced using predominantly black and white prints on thin paper. Then nineteenth century brought an avalanche of printed matter, flooding the market with colour prints, produced using multiple blocks.
Ehon books were highly sought after in Europe and the USA - as a result most of them are now kept in Western collections, rather than in Japan. Well, I suppose this can be said about most of the artefacts from Asia or Africa.

Words : XIANZHUANG 线装

... xianzhuang (thread binding) is the last and final stage in the development of Chinese bindings. Thread binding developed directly from baobeizhuang and dominated Chinese bookmaking since the Ming. The paper was now bound externally at the spine using a silk thread.

Words : SILLYBOI...

... (regardless of what you may think) is a Greek term for title tags, that were attached to the upper edge of the papyrus scroll. The titles and author's names were written at the end of the book, therefore the reader had to unroll the whole scroll before they reached the information. Sillyboi  (sillybos, sittybos) allowed the them to access this information quickly - much like reading the spine of a modern book.

Words : BAOBEIZHUANG 包背装 ...

... baobeizhuang (or wrapped back binding) is the last step from brutterfly binding towards the traditional Chinese book. Baobeizhuang developed from hudiezhuang. Pages were folded in half with the text facing outwards. They were then tied together to form a spine at the inner margin. The blank white disappeared into the inside of the fold, while on the outside text ran right to the edge.

Words : HUDIEZHUANG 蝴蝶装

... hudiezhuang (or butterfly binding) from the end of the first millenium is the first Chinese binding style to feature separate leaves bound together at the spine, i.e. not attached linearly to each other (like scroll or concertina). This was achieved by folding a printed sheets of paper inwards and then attaching them together at the folded edge with paste, so that every second page spread was blank.

Words : JINGZHEZHUANG 经折装 ...

... jingzhezhuang is an antique Chinese concertina binding, which had developed from scroll in early Tang dynasty.

Words : JIANCE...

an ancient Chinese bookform consisting of jian strips inscribed with text and bound together with a cord to form a volume ce

Words : POTHI ...

... ancient Indian form of concertina style books - the main form of Buddhist text distribution along the Silk Route. It was originally made with loosely bound etched palm tree leaves, protected by the wooden boards. Pothi traveled to China along the Silk Route and from the 9th century onwards has been produced with paper as a Chinese binding: the pages were larger, one hole for the string. It is thought that there pothi merged with scroll to produce a hybrid transitional form of Chinese book jingzhezhuang.