Friday, 30 June 2017
Mikro Papingo: Ring Them Bells! Church-blessed Tsipouro.
Yoshinori really enjoyed the excellent tsipouro made by Giorgos, a neighbour of Peter's in Mikro Papingo.
No wonder that it tastes so good: the villagers make all their tsipouro (40% alc/vol) in the church building, as it is the church that has the licence to distil the spirit up in Mikro Papingo!
Ring them bells!
Alas, I couldn't try even a drop, as I was driving, and the road from Aristi to Mikro Papingo is like a corkscrew.
Still, I enjoyed swimming in the icy water of the Voidomatis River below Aristi, and in the natural pools formed by the Rogovo stream at Mikro Papingo - in the font-like rock pools or natural basins (ovires) formed by the stream - and in the wonderful large pool.
Οβίρες ή ''Κολυμπήθρες'' στο ρέμα Ρογκοβού, στο Πάπιγκο - Maria makes friends in the pool:
Thursday, 29 June 2017
Greece: Garbage Collectors' Strike Ends; The Clean-Up Begins
Garbage cleanup begins as workers halt strike action
"Municipal garbage collectors Thursday started the long and unpleasant task of picking up thousands of tons of trash that has been rotting under the sun for the past two weeks after unionists decided to call off strike action demanding job security".
Please let me know when it's safe to return to Corfu!
Satori in Zagori: Our Japanese Friends in Epirus - and Corfu; Satori, 悟り
Kyoko and Yoshinori, old friends! All the way from Japan.
Their children, Ichiro and Miki, with our children;
London, about 40 years ago.
Japanese Art, Corfu, Museum of Asian Art: Ukiyo-e, 浮世絵, Pictures of the Floating World
A present from Kyoko and Yoshinori, back in 1990.
Their children, Ichiro and Miki, with our children;
London, about 40 years ago.
My Zen Master! Yoshinori and Jim reading Zen poetry
by the monk Ryokan. Satori, or enlightenment! Zagori, 2017.
さと悟り
1. comprehension; understanding
2. enlightenment; spiritual awakening; satori
"Satori, often translated as 'enlightenment', the end and aim of Zen life, gives man a new viewpoint, a new way of seeing the ordinary things of life. It cannot be taught, it must be sought without strain, and found by each individual himself (or herself)".
Footnote, page 28, "The Genius of Haiku, Readings from R. H. Blyth",
The Hokuseido Press, Tokyo, 1995.
"Satori may be defined as an intuitive looking-into, in contradistinction to intellectual and logical understanding...Satori is a sort of inner perception...It is acquiring a new point of view for looking at things...Satori is the sudden flashing into consciousness of a new truth hitherto undreamed of...Satori is the raison d'etre of Zen without which Zen is no Zen...There must be the awakening of a new sense which will review the old things from a hitherto undreamed-of angle of observation".
D.T.Suzuki, An Introduction to Zen Buddhism
"Satori, often translated as 'enlightenment', the end and aim of Zen life, gives man a new viewpoint, a new way of seeing the ordinary things of life. It cannot be taught, it must be sought without strain, and found by each individual himself (or herself)".
Footnote, page 28, "The Genius of Haiku, Readings from R. H. Blyth",
The Hokuseido Press, Tokyo, 1995.
"Satori may be defined as an intuitive looking-into, in contradistinction to intellectual and logical understanding...Satori is a sort of inner perception...It is acquiring a new point of view for looking at things...Satori is the sudden flashing into consciousness of a new truth hitherto undreamed of...Satori is the raison d'etre of Zen without which Zen is no Zen...There must be the awakening of a new sense which will review the old things from a hitherto undreamed-of angle of observation".
D.T.Suzuki, An Introduction to Zen Buddhism
Japanese Art, Corfu, Museum of Asian Art: Ukiyo-e, 浮世絵, Pictures of the Floating World
A present from Kyoko and Yoshinori, back in 1990.
With Peter and Fran Annear, Mikro Papingo
On Japan :
“Trees possess souls. An old tree is almost as greatly
revered as an old grandmother.
The Japanese think it a sin or a crime to cut down an old
tree”.
The Living Past,
Ivar Lissner. Penguin edition, 1965.
Over on Corfu:
A poem about the boat trip,
copyright Yoshinori Ando:
Kaiki Trip, Corfu - Japanese Perceptions
"I embarked on a boat
In the Ionian Sea -
Astonished to see
The big busts of the girls".
Yoshinori.
"To what shall I compare
This world?
To the white wake behind
A ship that has rowed away
At dawn!"
The Priest Mansei (c.720)
Translated by Arthur Waley
A poem (copyright Yoshinori Ando) before the flight to London -
about Homer, and a Japanese person gazing on the old citadel of Corfu
A photo by Kyoko Ando, Spring in Japan:
Kyoko introduced me to the work of Ryuichi Sakamoto
Ryuichi Sakamoto - "honj" (from "async")
Ryuichi Sakamoto - "garden" (from "async")
Ryuichi Sakamoto - "solari" (from "async")
Ryuichi Sakamoto - async - album preview
Ryuichi Sakamoto - "Plankton"
Ryuichi Sakamoto - Music for a Divided World (2017)