This unusual enso based on the character for heart/mind was made by Daido Bunka in the first half of the eighteenth century.

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The Character for ”Heart/Mind” as an Ens?, 18th century, by Daido Bunka (Japan, 1680-1752). Hanging scroll, ink on paper, image 11 3/16 x 21 in. Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Gift of Edwin Janss, M.84.211.1.

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Daido Bunka enso

• A quarter of all high school students cannot name the ocean that separates North America from Asia.
• Fewer than 2o percent of adults can identify India as the world’s largest democracy.
• Two-thirds of all respondents did not know that Mao Zedong was the first leader of the People’s Republic of China.
• Two-thirds of high school students believe Vietnam is an island nation.

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What do Americans know about Asia?

• The politics of heritage : From the Deccan Herald
• “‘A completely new insight into culture and art” : New York-based Shen Yun Performing Arts
• “Padma Bhushans have strings attached” : Says Suhas Roy, declining government honors
• Giant solar-powered crane : a 35,000-pound 45-foot-tall living art installation of aluminum tubes and mesh fabric derived from Japanese origami
• Mughal hookah fetches 234,000 pounds at Bonhams : What down economy?
• Andy’s Cambodia: www.andybrouwer.co.uk: 7-Headed bust of Hevajra : Now on display at the Met

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Friday roundup

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“Take advantage of what exists.” — Laozi

• Rare Buddha statue unveiled at Ho Chi Minh City Museum : An interesting eighth-century Buddha image
• 50 Years of Iranian animation : An exhibition at  Queensland Art Gallery; a few sample stills are shown
• Kenta Torimoto : Championing Japanese art in Shanghai
• Ten Contemporary Indian Artists : Presented by Ravin Agrawai
• Reviewing 20th-century Chinese art : An interview with Eric Chang

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• Maya Lin’s big dig : Museum of Chinese in America to be NY Chinatown’s culture hub
• History of the Khukuri : A national symbol of Nepal
• Jain manuscripts at the Met : An ancient tradition
• Kishi Ganku’s Bamboo Forest : A Superlative Japanese screen
• Manga Kamishibai : The Art Of Japanese Paper Theater
• LACMA’s reinstalled Korean galleries : Joseon porcelains among the highlights
• A family visits the Asian art museum : Korean galleries a highlight
• Photographing Southeast Asia : Prabir Purkayastha at the Art Alive Gallery, New Delhi

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Singapore has a tradition of vibrant colored buildings with shutters. This great geometric composition comes from swisscan’s photostream.

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Photo Wednesday: Red house in Singapore

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The Longest Way

This image of two women viewing omikuji, or rolled-up fortunes, comes from kalandrakas’ photostream. Kalandrakas writes:

Omikuji are random fortunes written on strips of paper at Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples in Japan.

The omikuji predicts the person’s chances of his or her hopes coming true, of finding a good match, or generally matters of health, fortune, life, etc. When the prediction is bad, it is a custom to fold up the strip of paper and attach it to a pine tree in the temple grounds. A purported reason for this custom is a pun on the word for pine tree (? matsu) and the verb ‘to wait’ (?? matsu), the idea being that the bad luck will wait by the tree rather than attach itself to the bearer. In the event of the fortune being good, the bearer should keep it. Though nowadays, this custom seems more of a children’s amusement, omikuji are available at most shrines, and remain one of the traditional activities related to shrine-going . . .

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Photo Wednesday: Omikuji

• Asia in Paris : “a continued desire for an exotic and ‘orientalized’ Asia”
• Chinese shadow puppets at Princeton : Part of a 2,000-piece collection acquired in the 1920s but only catalogued over the past three years
• A mandala glossary : An updated version at HimalayanArt.com
• Value and contemporary art in India : “The price … is not only a cash quantum but … a measure for the standing of Indian artists”
• “Steeped in History” at the Fowler : Guess what the show is about
• Bird-men of Siam : Not quite celestials but more than human
• Why dictators love kitsch : Reading (or overreading) a North Korean backdrop
• Made in Iran : A contemporary Iranian art exhibit in London

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Stones in Japan are used for bridges, water containers, lanterns, and many other purposes. They are especially used as steps on paths.

In an echo of Japan’s animistic native beliefs, stones are chosen for the spirit they emanate. They form a link between people and the earth. Stones that are scored or pitted or covered with moss evoke the spirit of wabi-sabi — of harmonious simplicity and impermanence (more on this in a subsequent post).

This image of petal-covered stepping stone as Shokokuji, a Rinzai Zen temple in Kyoto, comes from EYLC’s photostream.

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The spirit of stones

• Chinese traditional art loses youth : “The spirit of the art form isn’t in accordance with today’s society.”
• Mongolian treasures uncovered : From the sands of the Gobi desert
• Diamond Ganesha steals the show : Made from 80,000 American diamonds and 800 colored stones
• A little wabi sabi : “An active aesthetical appreciation of poverty” (D. T. Suzuki)
• Finding Sweetness in Life : Looking for readings on Siam and Burma
• The Trend Toward Director-Based Exhibits : Good or bad?

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This photo of Hongkong at twilight comes from Stuck in Customs’ photostream

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Photo Wednesday: Hongkong lights

• Chinese red lacquerward on view at Met : An impressive selection
• Pakistani contemporary art : Its value is increasing
• Jain: Images of Perfection : At the Rubin this fall
• Takashi Murakami : A Retrospective in Format Magazine
• Korean pop star Rain to appear in Enter the Dragon Remake : As hero or villain?
• Islam Retakes Spain : At the Aga Khan Museum Collection in Madrid
• Two thousand years of Vietnamese art : Opening in New York and Houston

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Indra, a major Hindu deity, also figures in the Thai Buddhist belief system, where he seen as powerful but limited and subservient to the Buddha (and sometimes as one of the four guardian kings of the cardinal directions). He is recognizable by his green skin.

The image shown is a detail from a large painting of the story of the life of the Buddha in the collection of the Asian Art Museum (Scenes from the life of the Buddha, 1800-1850. Thailand; paint and gold on cloth. Gift from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation’s Southeast Asian Art Collection, 2006.27.122.15).  The painting will be displayed during the museum’s upcoming Emerald Cities: Arts of Siam and Burma exhibition

In an essay I wrote on the subject of translation, I talked about the “middle way” of the Chinese translator Xuanzang (who lived in the seventh century but may be most familiar from his role in the Ming dynasty “Monkey” stories). Xuanzang insisted that translation be both “truthful” and “intelligible to the populace.” In the essay I go on to discuss other advocates of the middle way, such as the Mexican poet Octavio Paz.

In this detail Indra makes a case for the middle way in a charming manner. The Buddha-to-be (shortly before his enlightenment) has been troubled about whether to give up the extreme austerities he has been practicing. Here Indra appears to him and plucks three strings of a lute-like instrument. One string is too slack, and it makes only a dull sound. One string is too tight, and it breaks when plucked. Only the properly tightened string makes a beautiful sound.

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Indra’s lute

This image of patterns and reflections at Wat Rajabophit, Bangkok, Thailand, comes from Taiger808′s photostream. The temple was constructed in 1869 under the command of King Rama V.

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Photo Wednesday: Wat Rajabophit

• An interview with Zhao Renhui : Wildlife photographer
• Is the Chinese art market ready to recover : Mixed signals
• The eight fears : Of Himalayan art
• Stealing Ganesha : That can’t be auspicious
• Beyond Golden Clouds : Exceptional Japanese screens
• 3rd Gwangju Design Biennale : design in clothing, eating, living, enlightening, and enjoying
• Met plans new Persian gallery as part of a suite of Islamic art galleries : To open in 2011
• Cataloguing art from Burma and Siam : Via the Asian Art Museum blog

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This photo of Indonesian officials at an election polling stations is by Andry Prasetyo of Reuters; it appeared in the New York Times. The officials are dressed as puppet theater characters.

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Photo Wednesday: Indonesian election officials

• Japanese mandalas at the Met : Depicting the Buddhist universe
• The art of tea : From Asia to the West
• Streams and Mountains without End : At the Cleveland Museum of Art
• Bali Arts Festival : A month of performances
• Who owns art? : “A now-divided architectural wonder made whole”
• Light of the sufis : The mystical arts of Islam

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Friday roundup