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Hokusai’s Ghost stories, Part 1
Hyakumonogatari Kaidankai: A Gathering of One Hundred Supernatural Tales Let us enter the spooky season with some Hyakumonogatari Kaidankai (百物語怪談会) which can be translated as : „A Gathering of One Hundred Supernatural Tales„. It is a buddhist-inspired game that was invented during the Edo-Period in Japan. The exact origins are unknown: It could be invented by the Samurai as a test of courage and is traditionally played in the summer season. Before you continue to read, please consider that I only have 0.01% knowledge about Japanese art, Japanese traditions, Japanese history, or language. I have to rely on websites in English and German that may or may not be 100%…
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A pineapple for a king!
Some of you might say that the subject of the pineapple has not much to do with art history. But I find the topic so whimsy and a little bit bizarre that I just couldn’t help myself. So here we are. Pineapples are pretty common today. Nothing special. But this was not always the case. Pineapples were not only a very exotic delight in centuries past, they were expensive. In fact: they were so expensive that only the rich and the noble could afford them. Around 1400, pineapples were a staple fruit of the Native American people. Christopher Columbus was the first European to encounter the fruit on his second…
