Hanzo the Razor (not to be confused with Hattori Hanzo) is the title character of a Jidaigeki film trilogy. Like Tom Laughlin and his Billy Jack films, Shintaro Katsu both produced and starred in the low-budget movies. Each story has Hanzo bringing down corrupt politicians with his special blend of booby traps, rape and torture. Reviews of the trilogy can be found here and here.
posted on Mar 6, 2008 - View this thread

The Hagakure, written by Yamamoto Tsunemoto in the early 1700s, is a guide to being a warrior and servant in a decadent world. It's probably known best to Westerners, at least indie-film folk and Forest Whitaker fans, as being the favorite text of the hero of Ghost Dog. Study it well and you could be as cool as Ghost Dog. (NSFW)
posted on Mar 2, 2008 - View this thread

In Japan haramaki were originally worn as part of samurai armor to protect the stomach and kidneys. They have evolved to become a handy winter fashion accessory, which keeps the whole body warm.
posted on Feb 28, 2008 - View this thread

Bakumatsu - from this to this. Photographs from an exhibition at the University of Tokyo. [related]
posted on Jun 6, 2007 - View this thread

Anime Music Videos. Yet another remixing web subculture, they're usually a source of amateurishly produced angst. From the competitive perfectionists, though, come well lipsynched, action packed, meta-mashuped, and occasionally just filthy stuff for cartoon nerds. Besides the usual metal, ballads, and pop rock, there's some Daft Punk, club, and downtempo accompaniment. Or you can just go to hell. Wear headphones and no-one will know.
posted on May 28, 2007 - View this thread

Restaurant crybaby lashes out at NYT's Frank Bruni (pdf). Jeffrey Chodorow's new restaurant (where each diner is constantly threatened with impalement by samurai sword, apparently) got a (funny and) decidedly lukewarm review in the Times. So he took out a full-page ad to complain about it (pdf linked above), price tag: at least $30k. He also whines about it on his new blog. The word "critic" is deployed in scare quotes.
[via this Slate piece by a former NYT food critic; interesting in itself]
posted on Feb 23, 2007 - View this thread

Animation collective Three Legged Legs' (previously) newest piece, Samurai (embedded quicktime here, High Def direct download here) is a really beautiful looking short cartoon in Japanese. Warning to those fearing advertising, the piece was sponsored by GE, although it shows no branding or GE messaging of any kind.) Via.
posted on Jan 6, 2007 - View this thread

"I heard the hammer cock," John said. Let's say somebody breaks into your apartment at gunpoint. Let's say that they seem likely to kill you or your roommate. Let's say you happen to have a samurai sword on hand. Here's what it looks like when you're done. (Caution: Blood pretty much everywhere.)
posted on Aug 11, 2006 - View this thread

Samurai Kittens - 99% fun and hilarity watching little martial-artsified kittens die in horrifying ways, 1% ad for IFC's Samurai 7, an anime about Akiro Kurosawa's Seven Samurai. I don't normally go for this stuff, but all ya gotta do is mash a few buttons, and even I got to see all 9 "Furtalities" and enter the drawing for a dvd box set. Check out the fake ads, I won't spoil them for ya.
posted on Apr 15, 2006 - View this thread

Antkendo ... defeat the opposing samurai ant by clicking above, below and on your own samurai ant. Good luck, though. The other guy is preternaturally good. [note: flash]
posted on Sep 16, 2005 - View this thread

My coming My going, Two simple happenings that got entangled... Japanese Death Poems. Small beautiful simple poems written before death. I just discovered them and thought I would share. A few more here
posted on Dec 17, 2004 - View this thread

Black ships and samurai In 1853 four ships under Commodore Perry anchored off the coast of Japan against the wishes of the Japanese. According to historian John Dower, "This initial encounter between the United States and Japan was eye-opening for all concerned, involving a dramatic confrontation between peoples of different racial, cultural, and historical backgrounds. We can literally see this encounter of "East" and "West" unfold through the splendid, yet little known, artwork produced by each side at the time." This beautiful exhibition includes many examples of this artwork, juxtaposing scenes of the encounter from Japanese and American artists' points of view. (Part of MIT's open courseware initiative.)
posted on Mar 14, 2004 - View this thread

Kodomo no hi : May 5 is officially Children's Day in Japan, but it is traditionally all about boys. On this day, Japanese households make a display of ningyo musha (Samurai dolls), prepare and eat special food, hang carp streamers (koinobori) outside the house, and sing the Koinobori Song.
posted on May 5, 2003 - View this thread