[Book] The Fantastic Deer-Man -- Makime MANABU

 

Makime Manabu

Front Cover of the Japanese Edition

Front Cover of the Chinese Edition

1. If you love the Harry Potter's novels, you will also love The Fantastic Deer-Man by Makime Manabu.

The Fantastic Deer-Man is myth making in its finest.

This book was originally published in Japan in 2007.

I have read a Chinese translation of this book published in Taiwan in 2008 and would like to recommend it to everyone.

Not that this book needs my recommendation, the publisher of the Chinese edition has printed in the book many glowing reviews and recommendations from different Japanese and Chinese readers.


2. In the Third Century of the Common Era, the Japanese Shaman Queen Himiko gave a commission to three immortal animals to perform a ritual to prevent earthquake from happening in Japan.

The ritual is to be performed once every sixty years and rotating between three cities: Nara, Kyoto and Osaka.

So the Deer of Nara, the Fox of Kyoto and the Rat of Osaka have been faithfully carrying out their promises to Himiko for the last 1,800 years.

The ritual involves a bronze mirror which needs to be transported between the three cities for each performance.

This year, the ritual is to be performed in Nara.

Since the animals cannot transport the bronze mirror themselves, the (mysterious) Force will select a human courier to do the job.

The Deer-Man has been chosen to transport the bronze mirror of Himiko from Kyoto, where the ritual last took place sixty years ago, to Nara.

And so the fun begins.


3. I like reading stories.

Besides telling a good story, the attraction of a novel like The Fantastic Deer-Man is that it gives the readers many glimpses into the Japanese peoples and their cultures.

In this case, besides descriptions of the city of Nara, the book also explains many Japanese myths and history that serves as background to the story.

For example, Queen Himiko was an actual person.

The first mention of Queen Himiko is in Chinese history.

Queen Himiko sends tributary envoys to the court of the state of Wei in China.

Among the gifts the court of Wei gave to Queen Himiko were one hundred bronze mirrors.

Could the bronze mirror used in the ritual in the novel be one of those mirrors?

There might be a Chinese connection here!

("Himiko", Wikipedia): "Himiko or Pimiko (卑弥呼, 175-248 CE) was an obscure shaman queen of Yamataikoku in ancient Wa (Japan). Early Chinese dynastic histories chronicle tributary relations between Queen Himiko and the Cao Wei Kingdom (220-265), and record that the Yayoi period people chose her as ruler following decades of warfare among the kings of Wa. Early Japanese histories do not mention Himiko, but historians associate her with legendary figures such as Empress Consort Jingū, who was Regent (ca. 200-269 ) in roughly the same era as Himiko. Scholarly debates over the identity of Himiko and the location of her domain Yamatai have raged since the late Edo period, with opinions divided between northern Kyūshū or traditional Yamato province in present-day Kinki. 'The Yamatai controversy', writes Keiji Imamura (1996:188), is 'the greatest debate over the ancient history of Japan.' "

Queen Himiko was said to rule over 30 states with over 70,000 households in ancient Japan.

"The Yamatai controversy" mentioned in Wikipedia is the controversy over where exactly Yamatai was located.

As mentioned in Wikipedia, this debate is one of "the greatest debates over the ancient history of Japan".

To this day, some Japanese historians still blame the controversy on the imprecision of the Chinese historical records.

If only Chinese historians recorded precisely how far Yamatai was from the Capital of the Chinese state of Wei, then the Japanese can determine exactly where Yamatai was located.


4. The following images are from Volume 30 of the "Book of Wei" of the Records of the Three Kingdoms.

The images are from the 1964 reprint of the 1959 edition published by Chung Wah Book Co. in Beijing.

This is a modern edition with contemporary punctuation.

I have selected the page with the Edict from the State of Wei of China to Queen Himiko of Japan.

The Edict mentioned Wei giving 100 bronze mirrors ("銅鏡百枚") to Himiko:

5. Book details in Traditional Chinese:

書名:        鹿男

作者名稱:  萬城目 學

譯者：       凃愫芸

出版社:    皇冠文化

出版日期:  2008-06-30

ISBN:      978-957-33-2426-3

語言:        繁體中文版

頁數:        352 頁


6. This novel has also been turned into a 10 episodes TV drama in Japan in 2008:

http://wiki.d-addicts.com/Shikaotoko_Aoniyoshi

Poster for the 2008 Japanese TV Drama

 Relationship Chart of Characters in the TV Drama

7. Names, Words and Phrases:

The Fantastic Deer-Man (Traditional Chinese: 鹿男; Simplified Chinese: 鹿男).

Book of Wei (Traditional: 魏書; Simplified: 魏书).

Chung Wah Book Co. (Traditional: 中華書局; Simplified: 中华书局).

Edict (Traditional: 詔書; Simplified: 诏书).

Himiko (Traditional: 卑彌呼; Simplified: 卑弥呼).

Kyoto (Traditional: 京都; Simplified: 京都).

Makime MANABU (Traditional: 萬城目 學; Simplified: 万城目 学).

Nara (Traditional: 奈良; Simplified: 奈良).

Osaka (Traditional: 大阪; Simplified: 大阪).

Records of the Three Kingdoms (Traditional: 三國志; Simplified: 三国志).

State of Wei (Traditional: 魏國; Simplified: 魏国).

Yamatai (Traditional: 邪馬台國; Simplified: 邪马台国).


References:

"Himiko", Wikipedia - The Free Encyclopedia,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Himiko
(accessed 2012-07-29).

"Records of the Three Kingdoms", Wikipedia - The Free Encyclopedia,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Records_of_the_Three_Kingdoms
(accessed 2012-07-29).

"Shikaotoko Aoniyoshi", DramaWiki,
http://wiki.d-addicts.com/Shikaotoko_Aoniyoshi
(accessed 2012-07-29).

"鹿男", Wikipedia - The Free Encyclopedia,
http://zh.wikipedia.org/zh-hant/%E9%B9%BF%E7%94%B7
(accessed 2012-07-29).

"卑彌呼", Wikipedia - The Free Encyclopedia,
http://zh.wikipedia.org/zh-hant/%E5%8D%91%E5%BC%A5%E5%91%BC
(accessed 2012-07-29).

End.

[Music] Kenneth Choi -- Her Image

Kenneth Choi

1. The lyrics of this song paint a picture of a man catching the glimpses of a woman from afar and then follow her image with his eyes.

The lyrics go on to describe the woman in some details and what the man imagine or wish could have happened between them.

So a fuller meaning of the song title is: Following her image with my (or his) eyes.

But since this is too cumbersome, I will settle for the two words translation Her Image.


2. Her Image ("倩影") was composed and sang by Kenneth Choi.

Ken Choi was considered both an idol and talent singer - I think he did have the looks for being an idol.

Ken Choi was involved in one of the most infamous incident of Cantopop of the 1980s and that stalled his music career for 25 years.

In 1985, Ken Choi was co-host of the most important TV music show in Hong Kong: TVB's Jade Solid Gold.

During a segment of an episode of the show, Ken Choi criticized Leslie Cheung with the words: A moment of brightness may not represents eternity ("一剎那光輝未必代表永恆").

I remembered watching that TV episode and still have some vague memories of its contents.

Leslie Cheung was than at the peak of his career and he and Alan Tam were dominating Cantopop.

Ken Choi made his infamous comment in that TV segment after some reporting about Leslie Cheung's concert by another reporter.

Since the TV show was broadcast live, there was no opportunity to correct the mistake.

Most people thought that Ken Choi made the comment out of jealously and that it was an inappropriate and unprofessional comment for a TV host to make.

As far as I am aware, Ken Choi never did apologize for the comment.

This incident lead to the downfall of Ken Choi's music career.

There is an English saying that God helps those who help themselves.

But Ken Choi was not one who helped himself.

After struggling for another few years, Ken Choi basically disappeared from Cantopop.

I am happy to see that Ken Choi has been trying to make a comeback since 2011.

He is a talented singer and I hope he will treasure this opportunity late in his life.

 
3. A music video from 1981; the guy in the video is Ken Choi:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Isb8RMUFkmk

Another version of the same video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-ctfGuks3Q

A simple but beautiful love song.


4. As the comment in YouTube: Good sound quality

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ApEXaqRnBVY


5. Ken Choi performing this song last year (2011):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_7KAPnjCDo

After many years away from Cantopop, the performance was wooden and lacked polish.

But the voice was there.


6. Two other performances from 2011:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68CGL2wU-u4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bIxYbk4cRgE


7. On the occasion of the establishment of the Ken Choi International Fan Club in 2011:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUV9D1MHpLM


8. Ken Choi at Reno, USA on December 25, 2011:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4mm0wn_hh0


9. Ken Choi performing as recently as two weeks ago (July 11, 2012):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKl_ZXusglM

Compare to 2011, the performance is much more polish.

But I wish he would take off that black glass so that we can see his eyes.


10. Good quality audio:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FKxCz8El4Lw

But the video has nothing to do with the lyrics.


11. The video is just graphics but they illustrate the lyrics well:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WUQ2zaoDMfE

Quite nice.


12. The uploader sang and played (the Gu Zhen parts) this song in memory of his late wife:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5lOVHZ5FGRA

Touching and this song is appropriate for it.


13. The Lyrics in Traditional Chinese:


倩影 -- 蔡楓華

遙望你倩影經過
看燈飾與夜色輝映
明亮眼眸裡一縷失落
令我眼光不禁追隨

凝視你步履多優美
發披肩在風中飄起
明亮眼眸裡憂郁的夢
又似帶出一點傲氣

唯愿你永遠不會失去
凝視你說話輕輕笑
隨著你進出於晚燈裡
愿結識相相墮愛河

*陪伴你步履輕快
晚燈光采份覺優美
明淨眼眸似星光般亮
為這晚妝添上艷美

唯愿我與你朝晚相對
陪著你說話輕輕笑
陪著你進出於晚燈裡
愿你會跟我相墮愛河

Repeat *


14. The Lyrics in Simplified Chinese:


倩影 -- 蔡枫华

遥望你倩影经过
看灯饰与夜色辉映
明亮眼眸里一缕失落
令我眼光不禁追随

凝视你步履多优美
发披肩在风中飘起
明亮眼眸里忧郁的梦
又似带出一点傲气

唯愿你永远不会失去
凝视你说话轻轻笑
随着你进出于晚灯里
愿结识相相堕爱河

*陪伴你步履轻快
晚灯光采份觉优美
明净眼眸似星光般亮
为这晚妆添上艳美

唯愿我与你朝晚相对
陪着你说话轻轻笑
陪着你进出于晚灯里
愿你会跟我相堕爱河

Repeat *


15. Names, Words and Phrases:

Kenneth Choi (Traditional Chinese: 蔡楓華; Simplified Chinese: 蔡枫华).

Alan Tam (Traditional: 譚詠麟; Simplified: 谭咏麟).

Jade Solid Gold (Traditional: 勁歌金曲; Simplified: 劲歌金曲).

Leslie Cheung (Traditional: 張國榮; Simplified: 张国荣).


References:

"蔡楓華", Wikipedia - The Free Encyclopedia,
http://zh.wikipedia.org/zh-hant/%E8%94%A1%E6%A5%93%E8%8F%AF
(accessed 2012-07-26).


"勁歌金曲", Wikipedia - The Free Encyclopedia,
http://zh.wikipedia.org/zh-hant/%E5%8B%81%E6%AD%8C%E9%87%91%E6%9B%B2
(accessed 2012-07-26).

End.

[Opinion] On Behaving as a Major World Power

1. The BBC reported today (Thursday, July 19, 2012) (BBC News 2012): "Russia and China have vetoed a UN Security Council resolution proposing further sanctions on Syria, prompting an angry Western response."

By vetoing the UN Security Council resolution, I have the impression that both Russia and China do not act as a major power should.

How should a major power act?

Every nation acts on its national interest.

But beside naked national interest, a major power's action should be guided by certain universal moral values such as the sanctity of life and freedom.

I think this is what distinguishes the US and the West from Russia and China in the current Syrian crisis.

While Russia and China foreign actions are just national interest, US foreign actions has a moral tone to it.

The genius of American foreign policy is that it acts on its national interest within a moral framework.


2. American foreign policy has both idealistic and realistic elements.

Idealistically, America promotes certain moral values such as the "inalienable rights" to "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" (from the United States’ Declaration of Independence).

Realistically, like other nations, America acts on its national interest.

What is distinguishing about US action is that, by and large, it is within what is permitted by its moral values.

By and large, the US acts on its national interest within the confine of its moral values.


3. Morality is normative and concerns with such notions as what is obligatory, optional, impermissible, permissible and omissible.

A moral framework will divided or parse actions into these categories.

The Traditional Threefold Classification of these notions looks like this (McNamara 2010):

Thus:

(a) One ought to act on what is obligatory to act.

(b) One is forbidden to act on what is impermissible to act.

(c) One is permitted to act on what is obligatory or optional to act.

(d) One can omit to act on what is optional or impermissible to act.


4. My impression is that for the US, its moral values are a major constraint on its national interest:

(a) For its foreign actions, the US does not act on all that it is obligatory to act.

The US act on some, but not all, that it is obligated to act by its moral values.

When an action is obligated by its values and in its national interest, the US tends to act on it.

When an action is obligated by its values but is against its national interest, the US tends not to act on it.

(b) For its foreign actions, the US usually do not act on what is forbidden to act.

When an action is forbidden by its value and is against its national interest, the US would not act on it.

When an action is forbidden by its value but is in its national interest, the US tends not to act on it or if does act, then act covertly.


5. A look at the Diagram above tells us that that one cannot omit to act on what one is obligated to act.

What is obligatory is not omissible.

This is the usual criticism of the US: it does not do all that its values require or obligated it to do.

The idealist asks: Why did the US and NATO bombed Muammar Gaddafi's Libya last year and not Bashar al-Assad's Syria this year?

Both the Libyan and Syrian peoples aspire to freedom.

What is the difference?

The realist replies: the national interest of the US and the West is different in Libya than from Syria.

That is why the US and NATO will not involve themselves military in Syria at this time.

American foreign policy has both an idealistic and a realistic element.


6. I heard in the CBC News tonight that the Russian Foreign Minister criticized the US for harboring motives other than helping the Syrian people: since Assad's Syria is a close ally of Iran and since Iran is against the US, the US wants a regime change in Syria to weaken Iran.

But if we accept the premise that all nations should act on their national interest, then this is no criticism of the US at all.

Should the US act on other than its national interest?

Should Russia or China?

What distinguish the US from Russia and China is that besides naked national interest, its actions are constrained by its moral values.

From an idealistic viewpoint:

(a) the failure of the US is that it does not do all that it is obligated to do by its own moral values; and

(b) the success of the US is that, by and large, it does only what is permitted by its own moral values.

How should a major power act?

Beside on its national interest, a major power should act morally.

As should be for all nations.


References:

BBC News. 2012. Syria conflict: West 'appalled' by Russia China UN veto. July 19.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-18914578
(accessed 2012-07-19).

McNamara, Paul. 2010. Deontic Logic. In The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, ed. Edward N. Zalta.
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/logic-deontic/
(accessed 2012-07-19).

End.

[Music] The Flying Fox of Snowy Mountain -- David Lui & Susanna Kwan

David Lui

Susanna Kwan

Poster for The Flying Fox of Snowy Mountain (1985)

1. The Flying Fox of Snowy Mountain ("雪山飛狐") is the theme song for a Hong Kong TVB television drama of the same name that was first broadcast in 1985.

The TVB television drama in turn is based on a martial arts and chivalry novel of the same name by Louis Cha (pen name: Jin Yong).

The Flying Fox of Snowy Mountain was Louis Cha's fifth novel and was written in 1955 but first published in a Hong Kong newspaper in 1959.

This novel has a companion volume called Legend of the Flying Fox, which was Louis Chia's sixth novel and was written between 1960-61.

Three movies and five TV dramas have been produced based on these two novels.

This is how powerful and interesting these martial arts and chivalry novels are.

The 1985 TVB television drama is the second TV drama based on these two novels.


2. David Lui is a very good singer.

He entered Hong Kong's music scene in 1983 by participating in a music competition.

He participated in another music competition in 1984 and won and that brought him to the attention of the music industry.

But as is remarked in the Wikipedia entry on him, although David Lui is a very good singer, he did not have any breakthrough over the years.

But as is also apparent in the same Wikipedia entry on him, because David Lui is such a talented singer, he has a solid fan base and is able to release music CDs on a regular basis - the last ones being in 2011.

David Lui also did some TV and movie acting, but these are not of notes.

What is of note is his 16 years relationship with Carol Cheng, which ended in an amicable separation in 2008.

Carol Cheng is a noted Hong Kong actress and Master of Ceremonies and I have a lot of respect for her abilities.


3. Disappointingly, a search in YouTube turns up only two instances of this song.

This song has an otherworldly appeal but a sad undertone, as befit the story of the The Flying Fox of Snowy Mountain.

A music video by David Lui and Susanna Kwan:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=03EboYcObAk

The music video does not do justice to the music and lyrics.

There is no doubt the best part of the song are the opening bars, although the rest of the song is good too.


4. An unknown cover:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LFY4wQuBerE

As has been remarked in a comment in YouTube, the singers are not David Lui and Susanna Kwan.

I suspect this is one of those pirated karaoke produced in the cheap in China.

But excepting the audio quality, the singing is surprisingly good.


5. The Lyrics in Traditional Chinese:


雪山飛狐 -- 呂方 & 關菊英

男︰放眼望千山雪海   我有夢在雲外
     見世上冷漠人似冰封
     笑問熱血何在

女︰人間一向多風霜   同心冰雪亦無礙
男︰豪氣生溫解凍   將冰雪為妳改
女︰攜手心裡引春風   同心春就在
男︰蜜意深心舒暖   將歡笑為妳開

* 女︰雪山裡不知清冷
男︰只知倆情相愛
女︰傾我熱愛
男︰傾我熱血
合︰將冰凍俗世改

女︰攜手千里雪山飛　同心飛進白雲內
男︰和妳相通心意　飛出萬里雪海
合︰追蹤美夢雲外

Repeat *

合︰攜手千里雪山飛　同心飛進白雲內
男︰和妳相通心意
女︰飛出萬里雪海
合︰追蹤美夢雲外


6. The Lyrics in Simplified Chinese:


雪山飞狐 -- 吕方 & 关菊英

男︰放眼望千山雪海   我有梦在云外
     见世上冷漠人似冰封
     笑问热血何在

女︰人间一向多风霜   同心冰雪亦无碍
男︰豪气生温解冻   将冰雪为妳改
女︰携手心里引春风   同心春就在
男︰蜜意深心舒暖   将欢笑为妳开

* 女︰雪山里不知清冷
男︰只知俩情相爱
女︰倾我热爱
男︰倾我热血
合︰将冰冻俗世改

女︰携手千里雪山飞   同心飞进白云内
男︰和妳相通心意   飞出万里雪海
合︰追踪美梦云外

Repeat *

合︰携手千里雪山飞   同心飞进白云内
男︰和妳相通心意
女︰飞出万里雪海
合︰追踪美梦云外


7. Names, Words and Phrases:

David Lui (Traditional Chinese: 呂方; Simplified Chinese: 吕方).

Carol Cheng (Traditional: 鄭裕玲; Simplified: 郑裕玲).

Jin Yong (Traditional: 金庸; Simplified: 金庸).

Louis Cha (Traditional: 查良鏞; Simplified: 查良镛).

Martial arts and chivalry novel (Traditional: 武俠小說; Simplified: 武侠小说).

Susanna Kwan (Traditional: 關菊英; Simplified: 关菊英).

The Flying Fox of Snowy Mountain (Traditional: 雪山飛狐; Simplified: 雪山飞狐).

The Legend of the Flying Fox (Traditional: 飛狐外傳; Simplified: 飞狐外传).


References:

"呂方", Wikipedia - The Free Encyclopedia,
http://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%91%82%E6%96%B9
(accessed 2012-07-11).

"雪山飛狐", Wikipedia - The Free Encyclopedia,
http://zh.wikipedia.org/zh-hant/%E9%9B%AA%E5%B1%B1%E9%A3%9E%E7%8B%90
(accessed 2012-07-11).

"飛狐外傳", Wikipedia - The Free Encyclopedia,
http://zh.wikipedia.org/zh-hant/%E9%A3%9E%E7%8B%90%E5%A4%96%E4%BC%A0
(accessed 2012-07-11).

"雪山飛狐 (1985年電視劇)", Wikipedia - The Free Encyclopedia,
http://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E9%9B%AA%E5%B1%B1%E9%A3%9B%E7%8B%90_%281985%E5%B9%B4%E9%9B%BB%E8%A6%96%E5%8A%87%29
(accessed 2012-07-11).

End.