Saturday, June 13, 2009

Like A White Heron


HIMEJI-JO
Originally uploaded by A_E_Z
Thursday, I went to HIMEJI with my work.

HIMEJI is one of the cities in HYOGO pref. HYOGO has KOBE is well-known in Japan. However, HIMEJI is also a famous city as well as KOBE in Japan. Because there is "HIMEJI-JO". (Jo means the castle.)

HIMEJI-JO has an another name. The name is "SHIRASAGI-JO". (Shirasagi means the white heron.)
The appearance is white like the snow, the figure is beautiful like a bird flying. Because of these reasons, HIMEJI-JO is known us as the most famous castle in Japan.

By the way, Do you think who had lived in the castle? The answer is "TONOSAMA". TONOSAMA means a lord in English. TONOSAMA is also "SAMURAI". But, the look is quite different from the popular samurai.
His clothes, we say "KIMONO", is so gorgeous! His hairstyle, we say "CHONMAGE", symbolizes the dignity like a tall tower! And, his face looks like the white heron! ... What!?
http://www.universalpictures.jp/sp/bakatono/index.html

If you think the visit to want to look SAMURAI, KIMONO and CHONMAGE in Japan, you'll be discouraged without looking them.
But, you'll be able to watch them on TV. If you are in luck, "BAKATONO" too.

*If you want to know about "HIMEJI-JO" more, you should visit this site.*


「白鷺のごとく」

木曜日、仕事で姫路に行った。

姫路は兵庫県にある市のひとつだ。兵庫県には日本ではよく知られている神戸市がある。しかしながら、姫路も神戸と同じように日本では有名だ。なぜなら“姫路城”があるからだ。

姫路城にはもう一つ名前がある。その名も“白鷺城”。
その外観は雪のように白く、その造形は飛ぶ鳥のごとく美しい。そのような理由から、姫路城は日本で最も有名な城なのである。

ところで、城には誰が住んでいたと思う?答えは“殿様”。殿様は英語で言うとロードだね。殿様は“侍”でもある。でも、見かけは普通の侍とは全く違うんだ。
彼の着ているもの、僕らは“着物”って言ってるけど、とても豪華なんだ!彼のヘアースタイル、僕らは“ちょんまげ”って言ってるけど、まるで高い塔のように、権威を象徴してる。そして、その顔は白鷺のみたいなんだ。・・・ ん!?

もしも、侍や着物やちょんまげが見たくて日本に来ようと思ってるなら、そんなの見れなくてがっかりするだろうな。
でも、テレビでなら見れるかも。運がよければ“バカ殿”もね。

*“姫路城”について、もっと知りたいなら、このサイトを訪問するといいよ。*

15 comments:

mss said...

Hi AEZ
you wrote an interesting story about HIMEJI-JO
i always love to go to Japana and visite Japanes house
by the way if you like Thai`s food, i worte about it my blog
tanx
Millad

Ripple said...

Japan is probably the one country in the Orient that I'd like to visit.

Yeah, your English is OK. Your last paragraph is a little shaky, but understandable. Try using the words "see" and "seeing" instead of "look" and "looking".

lifewilder said...

I'm glad I am following your blog as gems like this that you post teach me something new.

Thank you for sharing. I enjoy learning about other cultures.

I don't want to overwhelm you with advice, so I chose one sentence to correct as far as English goes. "By the way, Do you think who had lived in the castle?" should read: "By the way, who do you think lived in the castle?" That's all, something small.

I do agree with Paul F. who said the last paragraph was a difficult read. Maybe another commenter will care to tackle it entirely.

Take care!

malecula said...

Hi AEZ!!! )))
I like your blog! You write interesting things about you, your experience and your culture...
Keep writting & best of luck!

Mark Shean said...

HYOGO, as KOBE is..... HIMEJI-JO is known to us as..... Do you think you know whom had lived in the castle? If you want to visit, go to SAMURAI, KIMONO and CHONMAGE in Japan, you will be glad you did. If you are lucky, ...... If you want to know more about HIMEJI-JO, visit this site. I am also learning from you 'grasshopper'. Mark-

Lauren said...

Thank you for sharing so much. :) One piece of advice: watch out for mixing up your plural and singular - "His clothes, we say 'KIMONO', is so gorgeous!" should be "His clothes...ARE so gorgeous" because the word "clothes" is plural (more than one) and the verb should be "are." If you were to refer to ONE kimono, then you could say "His kimono is so gorgeous." This is especially tough in this sentence because kimono singular translates to clothes plural, which changes the verb.

Sorry for the long comment. :) Keep writing! I like reading your blog! :)

MimiRock said...

I may not have understood your last paragraph clearly, but here is how I would re-write what I think you meant:

If you plan to visit Himeji-Jo to see Samurai, Kimonos, and Chonmage hair styles, you will be disappointed when you do not see them.

This last sentence you wrote perfectly! "But you'll be able to watch them on TV."

Keep writing! You're doing a good job.

Anonymous said...

your english is pretty decent man!

Chandler said...

Your English is good! Keep up the god work!

あなたの英語は上手。頑張れ!

gb said...

A very interesting post. Someday I will see Himeji-jo.

Unlike Japanese, English seems to always have to state the obvious again and again, and especially to repeat the subject of sentences over and over. That is why we say things like: "My name is Joe. I live in Arizona, and I work at Skunkworks Perfumes." So even though you have just said "Himeji-jo has another. name." in English you still have to repeat what you are talking about and say, "The other name is Shirasagi-jo."

high101 said...

The post was nice & Japan is really a very nice country, with all those industrialization and stuff it still manages to have it's culture and tradition saved.

But, I just have one question and I hope you can answer it^^ Why do you like to learn English so much? I mean, I know English pretty well and that's because we speak English everyday as one of our languages. I your case, why do you like to learn it? any reasons?

Japanese is really good but pretty tough! :P

Anonymous said...

Hello AEZ,

I just discovered your blog! Your descriptions of HIMEJI-JO are very interesting. As for some tips: when you wrote,

"By the way, Do you think who had lived in the castle? The answer is "TONOSAMA"."

That was pretty good, however by swapping the word "think" with the word "know", when I read it, it sounds very smooth. And smooth is a good thing. Keep up the good work! For more references on learning english, the BBC has a program called "Learning English", link is below.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/

Best of luck and good work so far!

Mike Sylwester said...

Thursday, I went to HIMEJI with my work.

On Thursday I went to Himeji on business.

-------------

HIMEJI is one of the cities in HYOGO pref. HYOGO has KOBE is well-known in Japan. However, HIMEJI is also a famous city as well as KOBE in Japan. Because there is "HIMEJI-JO". (Jo means the castle.)

Himeji is one of the cities in Hyogo Prefect. Hyogo also has the city Kobe, which is a well-known Japanese city. In Japan, however, Himeji is as well-known as Kobe, because Himeje has a famous castle, called Himeji-Jo.

---------------

HIMEJI-JO has an another name. The name is "SHIRASAGI-JO". (Shirasagi means the white heron.)
The appearance is white like the snow, the figure is beautiful like a bird flying. Because of these reasons, HIMEJI-JO is known us as the most famous castle in Japan.

Himeji-Jo is known also as Shirasagi-Jo, which means White Heron Castle. This second name comes from the castle's snow-white color and bird-flight-like beauty. This castle is the most famous castle in Japan.

--------------

By the way, Do you think who had lived in the castle? The answer is "TONOSAMA". TONOSAMA means a lord in English. TONOSAMA is also "SAMURAI". But, the look is quite different from the popular samurai.

In the past, the castle was occupied by a Tonosama, which means Lord. Tonosama also means Sumurai, but a Tonosama looks different from the popular image of a Sumaria.

--------------

His clothes, we say "KIMONO", is so gorgeous! His hairstyle, we say "CHONMAGE", symbolizes the dignity like a tall tower! And, his face looks like the white heron! ... What!?
http://www.universalpictures.jp/sp/bakatono/index.html

A tonosama wears a gorgeous kimono. His hairstyle, called a Chonmage, symbolizes the dignity of a tall tower. His face looks like that of a white heron.

-----------------

If you think the visit to want to look SAMURAI, KIMONO and CHONMAGE in Japan, you'll be discouraged without looking them.
But, you'll be able to watch them on TV. If you are in luck, "BAKATONO" too.

If you hope to see a Samurai, kimono and chongage during a visit to Japan, then you probably will be disappointed in your effort. You'll be able to see them only on television. Maybe you'll be able to see a Bakatono too.

-------------

*If you want to know about "HIMEJI-JO" more, you should visit this site.*

[OK}

ML said...

Hi, AEZ. Your writing is good. Your English is also fine. Keep it up.

sxoidmal said...

This was an excellent post! I enjoyed it very much. It was quite educational, and I love seeing the pride Japanese have in their ancient history. I think if my own country had existed for so many centuries, I would be as proud of it, too. Sugoi kawaii!