Some motifs transcend the centuries without ever aging. The Asanoha is one of them. This six-pointed geometric star, formed by the assembly of diamonds that evoke hemp leaves viewed from above, is one of the oldest, most widespread, and most recognizable motifs in all of Japanese culture. It can be found on the kimonos of Heian period temples, on the swaddling clothes of Edo period infants, on ceramics by master potters, and on the bombers of today's trendiest Tokyo streetwear brands. Behind its seemingly simple geometry lies a millennia-old history, rich symbolism, and aesthetic versatility that explain why this motif has never truly disappeared from the Japanese wardrobe. Origins and history of the Asanoha motif in Japan The name Asanoha...
Sake is probably the most misunderstood drink in the Western world. It is imagined as hot, served in small cups during Japanese dinners, slightly bitter and reserved for the initiated. This image is both reductive and inaccurate. Sake is a fermented drink of remarkable complexity and diversity, produced for over two thousand years in Japan according to techniques that have continually refined, and whose best expressions rival without shame the great wines and the most sophisticated spirits in the world. Understanding sake is to understand an essential part of Japanese culture, its relationship to rice, nature, the gods, and shared pleasure. The history of sake: two thousand years of Japanese tradition The origins of sake date back over two thousand...
In Japan, the crane does not simply fly in the sky. It flies in the collective imagination of an entire civilization. Present at weddings and funerals, on ceremonial kimonos and one-thousand-yen bills, in temple gardens and hospital windows in the form of paper garlands, it has accompanied the Japanese in their most important moments for over a thousand years. Few animals have been invested with such symbolic richness in a culture, and few continue to exert such a vibrant and concrete presence in the daily life of a modern country. What the Japanese crane says about Japan deserves our attention. The crane in Japanese culture and mythology In Japanese tradition, the crane, called tsuru (鶴), is one of the most...
Kyoto is often the first city that comes to mind when thinking of Japan. The golden temples, the geishas of Gion, the thousands of vermilion torii of Fushimi Inari, the bamboo grove of Arashiyama: these images have traveled the world and attract millions of visitors to the ancient Japanese capital each year. But Kyoto is much more than its postcards. It is a vibrant, dense, complex city that rewards those who take the time to discover it beyond the marked paths. This guide is here to help you do just that. Kyoto: what to know before visiting the ancient Japanese capital? Kyoto was the imperial capital of Japan for over a thousand years, from 794 to 1868, when the emperor...
In Japanese mythology, few creatures embody as many contradictions as the Kitsune. This fox, both divine and cunning, protector and dangerous, messenger of the gods and master of illusion, occupies a unique place in the Japanese imagination for over a thousand years. According to texts, regions, and eras, the Kitsune can be the benevolent guardian of a Shinto shrine, an evil spirit that possesses humans to lead them to their doom, or an intermediary being whose true nature escapes any simple categorization. This ambivalence is not an inconsistency: it is at the heart of what the Kitsune represents in Japanese thought, a creature that embodies the blurred boundary between the world of humans and that of spirits, between protection and...
