Takashima Ekidan

[charly]

The simple fact that Takashima was famous or historically important is not as important to me as looking into a translation that makes sense and shows understanding. The bamboo cage is a really bad idea and does not command my respect...

Hi, Brad:

Of course, I had heard about Takashima and lived whitout having read anything from him. There is Change life out of Takashima.

But when I read the chapter post by Luis, I saw an exceptionally modern translation. Probably I ought to post more lines for a better sample.

I don't know if the BAMBOO CAGE was a good idea, but is something that touch a sensible point in the skin of some people. There would be something hidden in the character FEI that provoke such aversive reactions.

Maybe ancient meanings that have suffered censorship before FEI acquired the sense of NOT or the sense of BANDIT (DAMNED).

Maybe BAMBOO CAGE brings the idea of a JAIL, the damned place where so many good people fall with their bones (1). Maybe BASKETRY have excessive FEMALE (2) associations in cultures fond of MALE SUPERIORITY ...

Disconfortable associations make people to say OH NO!, and so character would have acquired the sense of NOT.

I dont say that it be true, but that it makes THINK.


Yours,

Charly

__________________
(1) Like the own Takashima.
(2) Basketry use to be work of women. The canephores were virgins bearing baskets in the head. Even the ancient chinese virgins bore baskets.

 

[charly]

Don't get the cage, eh Bradford? Takashima wasn't making a translation. He was making a divinatory interpretation. It's a poetic application. I think it's a beautiful idea. In Chinese poetry (according to Fenallosa) the Chinese use character components as Takashima apparently did.

Hi, Tom:

I see Takashima more like a businessman than like a poet. But maybe there was a poet in his heart.

Takashima changed NOT for BAMBOO CAGE, let us do another "alteration", in Takashima's words:

1) Is not proud of his splendor, and is fre from blame. (Takashima, original translation)

2) The bamboo cage is splendid and is free from blame. (Takasima "altered"for divination)

3) WOMEN are splendid and are free from blame.

Do you find sense? I would have not invoked Fenollosa.

Yours,

Charly

 

[pocossin]

About 匪 as bandit. I once wanted to have the Chinese experience of growing millet and planted a small patch. I got nothing. Bandit birds stole it all. Maybe such experiences in China contributed to the bandit meaning for 匪 .

 

[charly]

Aboutc as bandit. I once wanted to have the Chinese experience of growing millet and planted a small patch. I got nothing. Bandit birds stole it all. Maybe such experiences in China contributed to the bandit meaning for 匪 .

Hi, Tom:

Given that BIRD is sometimes used for addressing EVILDOERS, BIRDS IN A CAGE would stand for EVILDOERS IN JAIL. Which is maybe compliant with FEI as USELESS WINGS, for the birds are in jail.

For 匪 the Shou Wen says BANDITS IN A CAVE. Say the bandits are enjoing freedom. Not the only thing that bandits use to enjoy for the chinese word for BIRD is used in slag for meaning penis.

Do you get the idea?

Of course, BIRD is also a metaphor of SOUL, and BIRDS IN A CAGE are we, CAPTIVES, SOULS OR SPIRITS PRISONER IN OUR BODIES.

匪 is a metaphor of human condition, f_cking bandits in a jail.


Yours,

Charly

P.D.
TAKASHIMA BEGAN TO WORK WIHT THE CHANGES WHEN IN JAIL, LIKE WEN WANG!
Ch.

 

[pocossin]

Charly, couldn't the relationship between BANDIT and NOT be that bandits are the not-people -- those outside the confines of society? They are in opposition to the social order.

 

[bradford]

Charly, couldn't the relationship between BANDIT and NOT be that bandits are the not-people -- those outside the confines of society? They are in opposition to the social order.

There is a relationship, but they use both words in the Yijing: Fei Ren, literally "Bad People".

 

[pocossin]

There is a relationship, but they use both words in the Yijing: Fei Ren, literally "Bad People".

Thanks. I found these two:

8.3 六三 比之匪人。
12.0 否 之匪人。不利君子貞。大往小來。

 

[charly]

Charly, couldn't the relationship between BANDIT and NOT be that bandits are the not-people -- those outside the confines of society? They are in opposition to the social order.

Hi, Tom:

Of course, FEI REN also means REBELS. But sometimes social order use really bad people for controlling rebels. Who is said the good and who the bad depend on the point of view.

Sometimes people take a pejorative word addressed to them as an emblem or even as a proper name.

Bazooka Joe looked like a pirate, was he a Fei Ren?

Yours,

Charly

 

[charly]

About Sugiura Shigetake

Sugiura was a follower o Takashima, the translator of the Takashima Ekidan to english and became one of Hirohito's teachers.

Sugiura Shigetake (1855-1924) who, in the early 1890s, played an important role in the Meiji Era, was a representative thinker of the second generation.
This generation tried to connect Western ideas to traditional Eastern ideas and to mediate between these two different trends of thought.
...
Sugiura also proposed a unique idea called "Scientific Morality"... In .Scientific Morality", the ideas of the "I Ching" (Book of Changes) were strongly emphasized, and as a result, approaching his idea became difficult.

He was highly influenced by Takashima Kaemon (1832-1914), known not only as a famous entrepreneur in the first half of the Meiji Era, but also an expert on I Ching divination.
...
I will try to shed new light on Sugiura’s idea and show that the ideas of the I Ching were considered as a kind of science by Sugiura during that era...

Ikuyo Shimomura
From: http://hermes-ir.lib.hit-u.ac.jp/rs/bitstream/10086/17538/1/shakaikg00007a1840.pdf

Another:

... Des éléments liés à la théorie de la sélection naturelle ont été incorporés par Shigetake Sugiura, l’un des tuteurs de Hirohito, dans ses écrits visant à justifier la supériorité de la race nipponne et son droit à dominer l’Extrême-Orient. Avec les éléments mythologiques propres au shinto, le darwinisme social servit donc de toile de fond à l’invasion de la Chine et des pays d’Asie du Sud-Est pendant l’ère Showa. (1)

From: http://www.fdesouche.com/65737-chaq...sent-ou-s’installent-en-france-metropolitaine

Ch.


____________________________
(1) ... Elements related to the theory of natural selection have been incorporated by Shigetake Sugiura, one of the teachers of Hirohito, in his writings to justify the superiority of the Japanese race and its right to dominate the Far East. With elements unique to Shinto mythology, social Darwinism, therefore, served as a backdrop to the invasion of China and countries in Southeast Asia during the Showa era.
[Google translation]

 

[pocossin]

God Bless Virginia

I just received this note from Edward Gaynor of the Library of the University of Virginia:

Dear Mr. Hood,

We finally got word back from Google and now the Takashima Ekidan‏ is viewable in its entirety. You can get to it directly at:

http://books.google.com/books?id=agkvAAAAYAAJ&dq=Takashima Ekidan&pg=PR1#v=onepage&q&f=false

Sincerely,
Edward Gaynor

I am grateful to Mr. Gaynor for his assistance.

 

[bradford]

My Thanks botton went away.
Thanks for the link.
Good to see that the bamboo cage was in the commentary, not in the translation.

 

[pocossin]

This copy was carefully read by someone whose identity may be revealed by the seal in the front of the book. Can anyone read it? Page 6 (Hexagram 1) contains faint notes in Chinese characters. In 3.2 (p23) the strike through 'Positive' is correct.

 

[Sparhawk]

I just received this note from Edward Gaynor of the Library of the University of Virginia:

Dear Mr. Hood,

We finally got word back from Google and now the Takashima Ekidan‏ is viewable in its entirety. You can get to it directly at:

http://books.google.com/books?id=agkvAAAAYAAJ&dq=Takashima Ekidan&pg=PR1#v=onepage&q&f=false

Sincerely,
Edward Gaynor

I am grateful to Mr. Gaynor for his assistance.

Great job, Tom. Glad you reached out to Mr. Gaynor. My sincere thanks to Mr. Gaynor also for helping solve this and make the book accessible to all.

 

[charly]

I don't know other, but following the link I only see sometimes two fragments, sometimes three. No book available.

Maybe I'm doing the things wrong.

Charly

 

[pocossin]

I don't know other, but following the link I only see sometimes two fragments, sometimes three. No book available.

Maybe I'm doing the things wrong.

Charly

Charly, try again using the link I originally posted rather than a quoted link. I just tried, and it's still there.

Or go to Google Books and type in Takashima Ekidan.

 

[charly]

Thanks, Tom:

For me it doesn't function. Maybe Google has different mirrors with different rights of access for each country.

It's a pity. But I will try to get all the juice from H.14.

Is there another access out of Google?

Yours,

Charly

 

[pocossin]

For me it doesn't function. Maybe Google has different mirrors with different rights of access for each country.

Charly, as I understand from the header attached to the Takashima file, Google doesn't do that. Two others have downloaded the pdf, and it should work for you too. Maybe Luis will send you a copy if you are sure you can't get it. Can't you get the whole book from the Google Books site?

 

[pocossin]

Here is its long address:

http://books.google.com/books?id=ag...&resnum=1&ved=0CCcQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false

 

[pocossin]

Also, Charly, the book has now been fully indexed by Google's search engine. Type into Google any of the text you have in quote marks, and you should get a link into the book.

 

[Sparhawk]

Ladies and Gentlemen,

The problem is that many Google Books full view PDF's are available only to US viewers. I can send you a copy Charly. Send me your email address and I'll do it later.

 

[rodaki]

Ladies and Gentlemen,

The problem is that many Google Books full view PDF's are available only to US viewers.

ah, that figures! Thank you Luis :bows:

 

[pocossin]

Ladies and Gentlemen,

The problem is that many Google Books full view PDF's are available only to US viewers. I can send you a copy Charly. Send me your email address and I'll do it later.

I had no idea this was the case because I thought Google tried to treat everyone the same. This limitation must be a consequence of the complexity of copyright laws.

 

[Sparhawk]

Okeydokey,

I uploaded the Takashima Ekidan file to my site:

http://yitoons.com/pdf/Takashima_Ekidan.pdf

Leave a flower at the door...

 

[Sparhawk]

I had no idea this was the case because I thought Google tried to treat everyone the same. This limitation must be a consequence of the complexity of copyright laws.

Yes, unfortunately. When Google started scanning whole libraries, many authors and publishers sued them. In the settlement, one of the rules was, because of the different copyright laws in different countries, that access to full view files would be regional. Not precisely like this, but, In a nutshell, if it was scanned in the US, only US viewers would have access to it.

 

[rodaki]

hi Luis,
Thank you for making available to all of us!

 

[pocossin]

Contents of the Takashima Ekidan

TITLE PAGE i

INTRODUCTORY REMARKS iii

CONTENTS xv

PROCESS OF DIVINATION 1

I. KEN 6
Two Affairs Decided by a Single Divination 8
My Resolution at the Beginning of Meiji 10
Agriculture of the 16th. Year of Meiji 12
The Negotiation with China By Count Ito, Ambassador 13

II. KON 16
Fate of the Iwashimizu Temple for Mr. Fukushima 18
My Views for the Kyodo-Unyu-Gaisha through the Divination 20

III. CHUN 23
On the Franco-Prussian War 24
My Own Fate, in Prison 28
Fate of a Certain Bank 30
War between China & France 31
Takashima's Misinterpretation 34

IV. MO 37
Mode of Education of a Son 38
Return of Our Ransom from America. 39

V. JU 43
Fortune of Nishimura, Mitsushe, and Me, while at Tsukudajima 44
Suicide of Mr. Goichi Nakano 47

VI. SHO 49

VII. SHI 51
Mr. M. Mutsu's Views 52
Selection of Ambassador for China 53

VIII. HI 55

IX. SHOCHIKU 57

X. RI 59
Corean Accident 60

XI. TAI 64
Mr. Sugi's Going to Hawaii 65

XII. HI 69
punishment of Masajiro Suga 70
Fortune of Shintoism 71
On Supplying the Military Caste with Occupations 73

XIII. DO-JIN 76
My Fate and Future Course in 3rd. of Meiji 77
Comparison of the Writings of the Three Writers, Mesjrs. Iohiroku, Sanshu, and Mei-Kaku; and also the Writing of Mr. Soejima 82

XIV. TAI-YU 85
Discovery of Lost Money 86

XV. KEN 88

XVI. YO 90
My Punishment while in Prison 91

XVII. ZUI 93
Marriage of Miss 94

XVIII. KO 96

XIX. RIN 98

XX. KWAN 100
Existence or Nonexistence of Diviners in the Country 101

XXI. JEI-KO 103

XXII. HI 105
Sickness of Mr. Sanzaemon Shimoirjura 106
The National Assembly 107

XXIII. HAKU 118

XXIV. FUKU 120

XXV. BUBO 122
Keyamura, a Wrestler 123
The Boundary Disputation between China and Russia 124
Contest between Main and Branch of a - Family 126
The Traveller Obtains a Cattle and the Villager a Trouble 127

XXVI. TAI-CHIKU 129


XXVII. YI 131
Arbitration of Yokohama Gas Question 132
Electric Light 134

XXVIII. TAI-KWA 135
The Japanese and Chinese Intrication 136

XXIX. KAN 140
The Expectation of Money in Prison 141
Mob of Saitamaken 143

XXX. RI 145
The Rebel of Saga 146

XXXI. KAN 148
The Result of His Loan, for Lord ---- 149

XXXII. KO 151
The Accusation against China 152
Rain or No Rain in Aug. 1886 155
The Divination of Corea 157
Destination of a Loan 158

XXXIII. TON 159
Mr. Nagai's Baby 160
The English and Russian Engagement at Afghanistan 161

XXXIV. TAI-SO 165
Rebel of Hagi 166
Calamity from Thief of Mr. Sugi, Vice-Minister of Imperial Household Department 167

XXXV. SHIN 168

XXXVI. MEI-I 170
Taxation of Nineteenth of Meiji 171
Marriage of Mr. So-and-so 176
Fortune of Buddhism 177

XXXVII. KA-JIN 180

XXXVIII. KEI 182
A Certain Affair of a Certain Person 183
Wife and Daughter of a Rich Family 185

XXXIX. KEN 189
How to Pay His Debt for a Gentleman 190
Cholera at Yokohama in 1886 193

XL. KAI 195
Debt of Yamashiroya Wasuke 196
Anticipation of Koshen-Osho's Topic of Conversation, before seeing Him 199

XLI. SON 201
Mr. Sanenobu Sugi's Sickness 202
Resolution of Mr. 203
Destination of Yokohama Iron Works 204

XLII. EKI 20G
Market of Tanegami 207

XLIII. KWAI 209
Management of Treacherors to a Merchant. 210
Result of Debate of Mr. 212
Utilization of Mr. Amamiya's Earnings 213

XLIV. K0 217
Entangling of Eastern Europe 218
Kindness Rewarded by Anger 223

XLV. SUI 224
Railway Bridge over Todagawa of Uyeno Line 225
Will a Certain Nobleman be Able to Visit Foreign Lands? 227

XLVI. SHO 229

XLVII. KON 231
Will Mr. be Infected with Cholera ? 232
Death of a Cholerate 233

XLVIII. SEI 235
Life of a Nobleman 236
Disputation among the Fishmongers of Yokohama 238
China and France on the Anam Affair 239

XLIX. KAKU 241
Which Cause to Belong, for a Certain
House at the Restoration War 242

L. TEI 245
The Detention of Messrs. Fujita and Naka-no 246
Marriage of a Friend 247
Tumult in Corea 248

LI. SHIN 250
Difficulty of Lord 251
Where have Mr. G. Yamada's parents and
Sister Gone? 253

LII. GON 257
Fortune of an Officer 258
Lioking at Fuji from Peak Otome 259

LIII. ZEN 261
Intermixture of Foreigners 262
Mr. Juichiro Wada's Fortune 267
Disease of Mr. Ujitomo Toda's Mother 267

LIV. KIMAI 269
Life of a Public Story-Teller, Choka Ito 270

LV. HO 272
Condition of Yokohama Foreign Coin
Transaction Company 273

LVI. RYO 276
Warning of Fire in a Coal-Mine 277
Fortune of Mr. Unsho 279
Fortune of a Nobleman's Friend 281

LVII. SON 283
The 4th. of " Son " is the Profit of Three Times the Capital 284

LVIII. DA 286

LIX. KWAN 288
Shipwreck of Mrs. Kei Oura 289

LX. SETSU 291
How to Return His Debt for a Police Officer 292

LXI. CHU-FU 296
Marriage of a Nobleman 297

LXII.SHO-KWA 300
Petition of Mr. Kikakudo 301
Petition of the Shintoists' Club 303

LXIII. KISEI 305
Affairs of Europe 306
Delay of Mr. Haruo Sakata's Arrival 312
Iwaiya's Payment 313

LXIV. BI-SEI 314
Subjugation of Corea 315

 

[pocossin]

An Edited Takashima Biography

http://mybookshop.0catch.com/xxjul10.htm

Born on December 24, 1832 as Seisaburou Yakushiji to successful businessman and also diviner father Kaemon Yakushiji who went by the family name of Enshuuya. Mother's name was Kuni. Born in the 30-borikan municipality in Edo that now corresponds to the Central Ginza district of Tokyo metropolis. Although he was the sixth child, three siblings born before him died young, leaving behind two big sisters born and surviving before him, and also making him the "man" of the house. Seisaburou later changed his given name to Kiemon like his father, before changing to Donshou and then further to Kaemon. . . . When he was young, he was influenced by his father's religious practices to study Confusian works. Although they were very difficult to read and complex to understand works, if he read them a few times, he remembered them inside-out. By age 14, Seisaburou began working in his father's lumber and steel production businesses. By the time his father died, he found that his father's business was bleeding red ink. It was partly due to his older sister's husband who was spending money recklessly and a government ordinance of debt-forgiveness, deferrment, and extensions. . . .

As part of his plan to get his family out of the huge debts, he changed his given name to his father's given name, so that all the business contacts can associate him with his father's businesses. At age 22, he also started a retail lumber yard business which quickly became profitable the year after when Edo was hit by the Big Earthquake of Ansei on November 11, 1855 with magnitude 6.9 which necessitated reconstruction of houses and mansions through which he earned 200,000 ryou of gold coins... but there was a huge storm at the small Japanese country of Morioka where he owned forest and lumber making land that led to the loss of lumber and the refusal of the Morioka government officials to pay for lumbers that were already delivered, through which he lost 200,000 ryou of gold coins. By 1859, he began selling chinawares and other wares at Yokohama city.

Remember that in Japan, one weight of gold was exchanged for four weights of silver, which made gold relatively cheap compared to silver when compared to the exchange rates in the rest of the world. Foreigners quickly began offering silver to obtain the precious gold, but the Bakufu government realized this disparity in world exchange rate to the Japanese exchange rate and forbade the foreigners from doing so. So, Seisaburou did the exchange for them, at a higher exchange rate but still very profitable for the foreigners. Since it was illegal, he was sent to prison in 1860, and paroled in 1865, although he had no idea that he was going to be released in 1865, since that fear of the unknown is part of the punishment. This is the time he changed his name to Kiemon.

Since he was banned from Edo, he went to Yokohama and started a lumber yard store. Once British ambassador Harry Smith Parkes (Febr 24, 1828 - March 22, 1885) ordered lumber to make the British embassy, other foreigners began ordering large amount of lumber from his store. In 1867, because there was no hotel for foreigners and the foreign embassy staff, he also made a huge hotel for them.

By this time, the Morioka clan that refused to pay him had also rebelled against the Bakufu government and was in need of paying 700,000 ryou in gold coins as penalty to the Bakufu government. Since paying that amount of money means that they can't pay for rice and could lead to famine but Seisaburou had the money, they asked him if he'll lend the money, and he magnaniously agreed.

By 1870, he began discussing the construction of a railway. In order to lower cost of the railway, he began a sea-reclamation project of the Yokohama Harbor to create a shorter route for the train. Also in 1870, a German company applied to start a coal gas powered lighting company. (Coal is burned with steam that creates a mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen that's carried by pipes to outdoor light posts to make nights light-up.) He didn't want the foreigners to gain a monopoly in Japan, leading him to start his own coal gas company, hiring French engineers to make the plant to manufacture the gas and the pipes for distributing, metering, billing etc which was completed by September 29, 1872. He also started a language school in 1871. He also ran the Aichi Cement Corporation, Hokkaido Colliery and Railway Company, and the agricultural development and settlements in Ishikari and Tokachi among many other enterprises. He seemed to be born under a lucky star, but actually, it was planned that way.

While he did all this, he was also into divination which he used to determine which business to start and how to proceed with it. A few days before that Big Earthquake of Ansei began, his kid brother's kitchen pot made a sound without anyone present. Using the divination process that he had learned when young from his father, it predicted "fire", and contracted to purchase all the lumbers from every lumber yard around. Then the Earthquake struck a few days later, fire razed everything, and the price of lumber shot through the roof.

When he was in prison for the illegal exchanging of gold and silver, he also found old divination tools under a tatami carpet and began using it to make divinations. But lacking bamboo, he ripped paper to see what shape they made. Because he was so successful at predicting what was going to happen, he regarded divination as a type of religion. (Ancient oracles and temple priests/priestesses who divined the future did give rise to religions, so it's the same thing.) He was so good at predicting the future that even the Japanese government asked for his divination to predict and see the outcome of the Sino-Japanese War and the Russo-Japanese War, both of which Japan won despite heavy casualties and despite the overwhelmingly inferior Japanese war machines, and this was also reported by the Japanese newspapers. . . . It's said that he also predicted the first Japanese Prime Minister Hirobumi Itou's death and the name of the assassin. But when he failed to divine Hirobumi's intents, he stopped divining other people. He did predict his 1914 death and prepared for his own funeral.

Shouzan read Seisaburou's book on divination and became a diviner who also became famous for accurately predicting the future, and changed his last name to Takashima. His catch phrase was "Sit-down quietly and the prediction will come true." He did so well that he wrote a book on divination and made his own Takashima Divination Headquarter building. On November 24, 1959, a mentally ill young man visited his building and stabbed him and his eldest son. He died the next morning and his business also suddenly collapsed; everyone thought that he must have been a crooked diviner because he didn't divine his own death like Seisaburou.

 

[charly]

知日部屋屋主 回覆於 2008/10/22 14:08
Divination and Meiji Politics: A Reading of Takashima Kaemon’s Takashima Ekidan (My Judgment on the Yijing). By Benjamin Wai-Ming NG.

Abstract: The use of Yijing oracle in politics and the military had a long tradition in Japanese history and this practice survived in the Meiji period (1868-1912). Meiji leaders consulted the oracle of the Yijing frequently in making major political and military decisions. Takashima Kaemon (1832-1914), a famous entrepreneur and Yijing scholar, served as a semiofficial diviner for Meiji government, consulted by the prime minister, cabinet members, military generals, highranking officials, diplomats, intelligence officers, and judges. Hundreds of political and military oracles have been preserved in the Takashima Ekidan (My Judgment on the Yijing, 1882 first edition, 1901 expanded edition). Through a textual analysis and critical reading of the Takashima Ekidan, this study aims to investigate the role of Yijing divination in Meiji politics, in particular how the Meiji leaders made use of Yijing divination for political purposes and how was it incorporated into late Meiji state ideology. It sheds light on the nature of Meiji modernity and the formation of the so-called “emperor-state” (tennosei) ideology in modern Japan.

From: http://www.cuhkacs.org/~benng/Bo-Blog/read.php?964

Benjamin Ng Wai-ming 吳偉明
Department of Japanese Studies, Chinese University of Hong Kong,
Shatin, N.T. Hong Kong
http://chinajapan.org/articles/13.2/13.2ng45-63.pdf
Many Ngo´s pdf in Steve Marshall´s page.

This article about Mencius a la japanese might be of interest:

http://chinajapan.org/articles/13.2/13.2ng45-63.pdf
From: http://chinajapan.org/archive.html

Ch.

 

[pocossin]

Takashima's method of casting is similar to the method given in Jou's I Ching, pp. 65-7. By this method there should always be one and only one moving line, but somehow on pages 78, 84, and 154 he gets unchanging hexagrams. Any idea how?

 

[charly]

Takashima's method of casting is similar to the method given in Jou's I Ching, pp. 65-7. By this method there should always be one and only one moving line, but somehow on pages 78, 84, and 154 he gets unchanging hexagrams. Any idea how?

Hi, Tom:

Don't you believe that Takashima allowed himself some freedom from methods maybe in search of desired results?

Yours,

Charly

P.D. I will post assap something about your birds.
Ch.