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John Lindsey
7th June 2000, 14:42
This was posted on the nippon culture email list and I got approval from the author to post it here:
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I found an short essay by Nakamura Akihiko, a Japanese writer, in the Kobe
Newspaper. I think it shows quite well how many Japanese feel toward
swallows. So I tried translating it into English. I will be happy if it
could help you to know even a little about our feelings toward the small
wild birds.

"Zuisou" or "A Random Thought" by Nakamura Akihiko
"Tsubakuro, Tsubakura, Tsubakurame."
"All of these Japanese words mean a swallow. It seems that since an
ancient time Japanese have loved the small migratory birds, which can fly
like an arrow. If we look back to the Nara and the Heian periods, we can
find swallows were a subject matter for poems of "Manyo-shu." In "Taketori
Monogatari," their ways of building a nest was described in a very subtle
way.
With the era of Samurai coming along, the word "swallow" came to be
included in nouns for battle-gear and martial arts to show a figurative
sense which the birds might have.
. For example, "Enboo" (its literal meaning is cheeks of a swallow) is
protecting gear for a chin and cheeks and it covers up to the temples. The
upper ends look like the swallow's tails. "Tsubame Gaeshi" means to turn
back the point of a sword very quickly after swinging a sword in a
direction, and "Hien" (its literal meaning is a swallow's flight) means to
react to the opponent's movement with agility.
Since the Meiji Era, "Enbi Fuku" (the swallow's tail) has been used as a
Japanese for an evening coat for a male. In 1930 a supper express train
covered between Tokyo and Kobe in 9 hours. It was a record high speed. The
train was named "Tubame." (A swallow.) Judging from these examples, the
usage of the word "swallow" in the Japanese nouns seems to be a natural
racial idea or inspiration.

"In the morning three days ago, what has made me think about a swallow
thus happened. My wife began complaining that someone had done mischief to
our car in our garage. I found the front part of the car body spread with
pieces of mud.
Our garage, though facing a street, has no shutter. So it would be easy
to spread mud when passing by.
Close observation,however, revealed that the pieces of mud fell vertically
like falling drops of water.
Thinking it strange, no sooner had I tried to see the inner side of the
eaves than a figure flew out from the place, skimming over my head. "The
mischief" was the swallow. The swallow had difficulty in sticking first
pieces of mud on the garage concrete, letting many of them fall on the car.
I welcome this mischief from the bottom of my heart. My wife, who was the
first to complain of the mud, has already changed her mind and is wondering
how many eggs the pair will lay."

Every year for more than 20 years a pair of swallows had come back to our
barn. However, last year no pair did not come back, though the year before
last, several young birds left south at the end of the summer. This year,
when we found a pair of swallow were spying our eaves, we kept open the door
to the barn and to the old nest. They didn't find our barn good enough for
their Japanese home after all.
My wife and I are a little disappointed that for two summers we have no
swallows in our barn.

Thanks for reading.
y.u.akouya

Kolschey
7th June 2000, 15:31
What a beautiful essay! This is exactly the sort of writing that I enjoy this site for.

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Krzysztof M. Mathews
" For I am the Cat who walks by himself, and all places are alike to me"
-Rudyard Kipling

Gary Dolce
7th June 2000, 22:31
Very nice essay! I, too, have long been an admirer of swallows. I love the way they fly just over the grass catching insects that fly up as I mow the lawn. And one of my favorite passive activities at a Shorinji Kempo training camp I attend is watching them darting around under a bridge catching insects flying just above a stream. They remind me of miniature fighter jets in their speed and maneuverability.

In Shorinji Kempo, we also have a technique called tsubame gaeshi, in which the same arm deflects a strike to the face and then immediately changes direction and strikes the opponents neck with shuto kiri. The motion is very much like the flight of a swallow.

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Gary Dolce
Ann Arbor Branch
World Shorinji Kempo Organization

Gil Gillespie
17th June 2000, 06:27
Tsubame gaeshi was also the signature move of swordsman Sasaki Kojiro, killed by Myamoto Musashi in his last great duel. It is also one of the advanced iai katas in Itto Tenshin Ryu Iaijutsu, a difficult reversal of footwork, hips, balance and kissaki.

As an aside, spring in central Florida brings the return of swallow-tail kites, graceful birds of prey. Large white birds, they swoop on broken triangular wings similar to seagulls, but edged in black behind. Their long forked tails are also black. Since they are one of nature's creatures that mate for life (including rattlesnakes but no longer, it seems, including humans) they are often seen in pairs and their sight is as striking as the bald eagles who also grace our environs.

Nature gives us these kind of quiet rewards to compensate for hurricanes and killer humidity.

Carl Long
17th June 2000, 14:55
Hi Gil,

FYI, Tsubame Gaeshi is also one of our favorite katachi from the Second set of 2 man partner exercises in MJERI. The set known as Tsuneai no Kurai.

Carl

John Lindsey
29th April 2003, 05:24
Time to bump this old message thread. Only 37 views!