Konshū no hapuningu

Hey, it was my Mama's birthday yesterday! 17 tsuki 10-nichi Happy Birthday Mama! We made the cake late, so we didn't get to celebrate yesterday, but we will today!
This week I am also gonna be blogging lots, because the trees told me something's gonna happen, not sure if it's good, or bad, and I'm not sure what it means fully anyway.
Firefly is coming over for a sleepover on Friday, but we have to wait for what it seems like a long time. But we might blog together, and then Hotaru can meet all of my trees! You really need to go to her blog, http://thefireflynotebook.blogspot.com I have confidence that it may last longer than any of her other blogs. She calls herself firefly though, but that's what Hotaru means.
Lately, I've been going down to visit the lake. I've been hearing it call to me too. "Aya, don't forget about me! Come play!" But a lot of times, when I go somewhere sort of far away, my name is called, it's Aya to come home, and my full name, (which I can't tell you) to come home when I'm late.
Now I have to wash my hands, wash my face, wash everything just for school. It seems like eveytime I am ready to have fun I have to wash it all away. But now I really have to go to school. Bye! Beatrice says she will watch my le (house) for me. With that I trust! hehe...funny fonts
-Aya

Firefly to ki/ B wa aida o yomu

People, I convinced Firefly that talking to trees is possible. Today, she said she heard a female voice calling to her, so she thought it was her mom. Her mom said it wasn't her, so Hotaru was kinda freaked, finally she realized the trees were calling to her. :)

My trees all have names, but some don't have names yet because I'm waiting to name those when I'm older. Currently I have, Ivy, Fawn, Beatrice, Clyde, Henry, Green Day, Molly, Teddy, Clara, Tim, Willow, Mabel, Clarice, Blue, Rosemary, Pastel, Deliah, Tessie, Wilfre, and Hazel. Molly and Teddy are brother and sister, and who knew, they're both pests! Clyde is the scrawny one who has -1 leaves on him, Ivy is our tree house, Hazel holds our birdhouse, Blue is the oldest, and my Dad says he's dying, but I think he's just older than old.

Green Day was my sister's favorite band when I named him, I like Owl City, but I don't think I will ever name a tree that, maybe Midnight or something. Our neighbors have a really pretty tree that I want to name really badly, but it's on their property, so it's not mine.

I really liked the book Ida B because it reminds me of myself. I talk to trees, I daydream a lot, I basically have a really similar personality as her. I started talking to trees before i read the book, and I was really amazed on how Ida B talks to trees too! I really think they should make a movie out of that book, because i would go see it. At first I read the book just for a report, and I didn't like it very much at first, and then as I read on it got way better. (P.S. Ida B has a dog, Rufus and a cat, Lulu!!!)

READ IDA B!!!!

-Aya

Simon's Cat 'Fly Guy'

Simon's Cat! Look at this cute cat in the video!!!!! Okay, so this is definetly something to watch when you're bored. Find more video's on youtube, on the navigation bar, type in "simonscat" and then you can go to their youtube channel, and visit the official site!

Aki wa ochite iru

That's right, it's very fall-like. The leaves are turning the most beautiful colors now, as I lie in the cold green grass, the breeze gently brushing my face, only to think to myself that nature is calling to me. It whispers the softest whisper, careful not to cause my eardrum to stir, "Come Aya, come play with us here in the forest." I call out to them, "I'll be there in a minute, I'd like to watch the sky turn light blue." I get no answer.
Some people might come up and say, "Aya, no matter how long you wait, you won't get any reply." But I say, "If you've never heard trees call to you, maybe perhaps you aren't listening hard enough. I'd be happy to give you a few pointers some time if you are ever interested." Then, they will look at me as though I was a mystery. I've practiced, the voice inside my head saying, "Aya, don't pay them any mind. Your intentions are much more useful to yourself than any of their silly ideas."
Pretty soon, I find myself lying in my favorite tree, which I think now has the prettiest leaves of all this fall, but I will make sure not to tell any of the others. I rub my hand against it's willow and whisper to it quietly, "Do you believe that pets go to heaven? I do, and I think you should to if you don't already think so."
This tree answers to your heart, not to your voice. So you have to listen real hard, it doesn't come in words, through your heart, and up through your mind, and its your job to turn it into words. The answer was like this if it was in words:
Beevile os I
Which I think means, I believe so. I've talked to this tree so many times, I am an expert. Some days it will take a few minutes for it to respond, other times it takes more than a day. I better go now, the more time i spend on here, the less I know what beauty is. (nature)
-Aya

rairakkumun

my new blog title! ya well anyway i am still Aya. It means lilac moon. i like change, but i don't like too much change, so i will still be doing what i normally do. Hotaru has made a new blog (again!!!) and i encourage you to check it out in the all about me section. that is of course if it's still going to be here by the end of next week.
i think we have a total of 21 or more blogs on our blogroll and most of them are deleted, there are 4 right that are currently up and running. most of the 21 blogs we've made were made by Hotaru, and yes, i do share a blogger account with her.
its 10:44 p.m. in Tokyo right now, i am staying up very late to talk to you guys!
It's not fun being me right now, i am constantly being judged by my friends, family, and teachers!! they expect me to do something i dont want to do, or my writing to be absolutley perfect, like for example: Firefly thinks my g's look like s's I am keeping a japanese journal so i can still write in japanesse and not english, WE ARE SUPPOSED TO WRITE IN ENGLISH!! thats sort of sad...

Hōkago

Yesterday- Oct. 4, 2010
okay, so Misaki has just left my house, but my last post about the sun clock you know, this is the continuation??? or how ever you want to say it. But, we had a great time at my house.

In P.A. , our teacher offers extra credit on our mini reports we're doing. So, in order to get extra credit, we had to make a poster or something. So we made a poster!!! We put Japanese characters on it and the meanings for the other American people that don't know at all what they mean, those pictures from the last post, and we made the text all rainbow colored! we are both really crafty, we made borders too. i really hope the teacher will give us a lot of points with all our hard work we put into it.
Firefly is doing a report with one of my other friends, it is actually going to be a mini news report. and their script is like, "Hey, what are those big brown statues over there(moai)? Oh, what? Where the heck did they come from!?" you can see that they're trying to go for a comedy role, Misaki and I are going for creativity.


Yesterday- Oct. 5, 2010

WOW! Firefly and friend did an amazing report! It was hilarious! Ours, we didn't do yet. But our P.A. teacher said we'd be able to do it tommorow so yay! For our poster, we will be nice and let our teacher keep it. So, wish Misaki and I luck, and hopefully, we won't be the last ones, or the first ones to present out of all the groups tomorrow.

Yesterday- Oct. 6, 2010

Well, we didn't get to go today suprisingly because the other people took sooo long!!!!!! But I know tomorrow that we'll be able to go because they're only two other groups. Misaki said that going last would actually be a good choice, so I am listening to her because she is VERY wise.


Today- Oct. 7, 2010

We finally went today! It actually turned out good, because for one thing our techer was happy that we gave her our poster to keep, and we got to show them Kochi, Japan, AND I think they liked the japanese characters too, because they are not knowledged about Japan! But so we stuck to "the script". So it all turned out good dadada whatever.

-Aya

Watashi wa kōunda!

One of my other best friends, Misaki, and I are able to study the observatories of Japan!!!!! Right now we are working on a mini report about the "Sun Clock" of Kochi. It was made to tell time. It casts a shadow of a rope hanging across it, at noon. The shadow strikes right down the center of the slab of stone, it was said that many years ago, they would ring bells to alert the citizens that it was noon. The sun clock was made out of a wooden post, a rope, and a slab of stone.
On Monday, we get to do another observation on another observatory. You see, Hotaru, Misaki, and I are in this gifted class, so that means we get to do a lot of these cool projects. I'm really excited.

As with many buildings which are considered national treasures in Japan, entrance to the west door of the main "house" on the citadel of Kochi Castle requires removal of ones shoes. Near this entry area, in a small yard, a "sun clock" made in the Edo Era (1603-1867) can be seen. Most visitors, both local and foreign, pass the little "instrument" without notice; yet at one time, this simple string gnomon and stone arrangement had more impact on the lives of Kochi citizens than anyone could imagine.
"Sun Clock" in front of Kochi Castle; moved during a period of repairs in the late 1940's, the linear depression in the middle of the stone is aligned with magnetic north. The angle of the "gnomon" is about 40 degrees.
A sun "dial" consists of two major components: a gnomon and a set of incremental markings generally called a "dial". To be a relatively accurate measure of time throughout the year, the alignment direction and angle of the gnomon should be such that it always points at celestial north. The angle of the gnomon should thus equal the latitude of the location of the instrument. The "sun clock" at Kochi Castle, similar to ones which can be found throughout Japan, looks somewhat different from sun "dials" we usually see in the West. However, its basic function was similar. Instead of the solid gnomon we are used to seeing, the gnomon of the castle's "sun clock" is composed of a post at the northern end of the stone with a string attached to its top and stretched to the southern base. Instead of a "dial", the "sun clock" has but one indented line in the middle parallel (lengthwise) with the stone.
The angle of the gnomon (string to stone base) is about 40 degrees. The actual latitude of Kochi is a bit over 33 degrees, so the gnomon of the clock is obviously not parallel with the earth's axis. The indented north-south "line" of the stone is aligned at present with magnetic north, thus placing it out of alignment with "true" celestial north. At best, the instrument gives a somewhat inaccurate indication of the noon hour. What then, in a culture known throughout its history for precise engineering, was the function of this rather crude instrument?
As in every culture, knowledge of time was an important aspect of day-to-day life throughout the history of Japan. While records are scarce regarding means of determination prior to influences from China and Korea, there is evidence that by the latter part of the 7th century, a clepsydra (water clock) based on Chinese principles of time keeping was in use for "knowing the hours" in the Yamato (present Nara/Asuka region) of Japan. [It should be noted that from early times of Chinese influence, hours were based on a system of Chinese Geomancy. In East Asian countries influenced by China, one hour was equal to what would be considered two hours in the West. Hours were also named according to the familiar animals of the Chinese Zodiac rather than on a numerical basis. For more on this, see The Sun, the Moon, and Happy New Year in Japan.]
Despite virtual isolation from the outside world during the Edo era, mechanical time pieces (such as pendulum clocks) were in use in much of Japan at least by the 18th century. However, for many centuries (even until the late 19th when time pieces were common), arrangements for meetings, appointments, and social gatherings were sometimes based on a relatively loose interpretation of coincidence of celestial phenomena with geophysical landmarks. For example, people might decide to meet "tomorrow when the sun has reached the top of that mountain in the southeast", or lovers might decide to meet "when Subaru is at the position of the horse" [meaning the asterism Subaru's transit overhead at night]. Obviously, such means of determining times for engagement fulfilled many informal needs, but the Shogunate along with daimyos from the various feudal domains of the Edo Era saw the need to have a more standardized method for setting and coordinating functions of time pieces as they became more available to citizens in each domain.
While it is possible that the "sun clock" at Kochi Castle was an educational or amateur instrument of the daimyo or one of his children, it is more probable that it was the instrument used to determine the "official" noon hour for Kochi City in Edo times. As in the West, determination of standard time was pretty much a local matter up until latter parts of the 19th century. No standard such as that established in Greenwich with its time ball in the early 1800's was instituted by the Tokugawa Shogunate in Tokyo, and virtually every feudal domain had to develop its own standard for determining "correct" time. Most likely, given its place on the castle grounds, the "sun clock" was the instrument used to provide citizens of Kochi with a standard for adjusting their time pieces. At the moment when the string's shadow was perceived to be exactly coincident with the linear groove in the stone, on signal, temple bells were probably sounded to alert citizens that the hour of noon was "at hand". Before the present era, Kochi was known as Tosa. Thus, the stone probably functioned to establish "Tosa Standard Time"... TST.
Photo of the "sun clock" taken at noon; note the shadow of the string roughly coincides with the linear marking on the stone.
The style of "sun clock" seen at Kochi Castle was introduced to Japan by Shihei Hayashi at the end of the 18th century and was in widespread use throughout the country in latter Edo times. We really do not know what the original alignment of the stone or angle of its gnomon was. There certainly were calendar scholars in Kochi throughout the Edo Era, and it is clear that they not only had a relatively precise measure of the city's latitude, but could also easily determine alignment with celestial north. Whether or not one of them assisted in the original placement of the stone and angular "setting" is not known. Given the generally accepted attitude of the shogunate and respective daimyo of the time, it seems likely that such precision was not seen as necessary. Rather, the simple establishment of a standard that the daimyo could "rely on" was sufficient for regulating the temporal affairs of the city. The Meiji Era, of course, saw the demise of shogunate rule and a movement to follow GMT as a base for time standardization throughout Japan.

Scroll down to my picture gallery if you would like to see more pictures of the Kochi Sun Clock.

Thank you very much! Domo!

-Aya