For many years, I have been fascinated by modern Japan — everything from the Meiji period (1868 – 1912) to current day. One of my favorite periods is a rather short one known as Taishō (1912 – 1926). What strikes me most about Taishō is the amazing blend of Japanese and Western aesthetics.
I think my interest in Taishō really began when I read Yukio Mishima’s novel Spring Snow (Haru no Yuki). This novel is actually a period piece — published in 1969, but set around 1912 – 1914. Mishima gives a detailed look at the Japanese class system of the period through a romantic tragedy (although I’m not sure Mishima saw this story as such).
My interest in Taishō developed further through a series of college courses on modern Japanese literature. I even did a project involving costume designs for a Taishō-set short story, involving research on fashion of the period from Kimonos and beyond.
I also find advertisements from this period interesting. Actually, the Shiseido ads from the 1900s through the 1930s are really remarkable! You can find out more about these ads on MIT’s Visualizing Cultures website.
Anyway, I just wanted to share a number of my favorite images:
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the following images!!
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Copyright 2012 by G. E. Gallas
11 comments | tags: Ad, Advertisement, Aesthetic, Aesthetics, Beyond, Book, Brainstorming, Brilliant, Chic, Class, Class System, Clothing, College, Colors, Cool, Current Day, Developed, Era, Fascinated, Fascinating, Fascination, Fashion, Favorite, Graphic Design, Haru no Yuki, Historical, History, Illustration, Images, Interest, Japan, Japanese, Japanese Literature, Kimono, Kimonos, Literature, Meiji Period, MIT, Modern, Note, Novel, Period, Period Piece, Published, Remarkable, Research, Romantic, Romantic Tragedy, Share, Shiseido, Short Story, Spring Snow, Story, Storytelling, Strange, Taisho, Taisho Period, Tragedy, Turn of the Century, Unusual, Vibrant, Visualizing Cultures, Website, Weird, Western, Woodblock Carving, Yukio Mishima | posted in Brainstorming, Research
This list was originally intended for web series ideas, but has gotten off track a bit. So it’s more of just a brainstorming list intended for various mediums.
(This is just a rough list of ideas for my personal use. In no particular order!)
- My short story entitled “Inside the Display Case,” about a Siberian pit viper named Peter.
- Crime/mystery/thriller genre: perhaps a modern version of “Bluebeard” or “How the Devil Married Three Sisters“…?
- Supernatural/Vampire/Werewolf: not my favorite topic in the universe, but I would like a chance to completely reinvent it.
- Perhaps a quirky series with a cynical heroine like Daria or Ghost World…?
- “The Chronic Argonauts” (1888), Tono-Bungay (1909), etc. by H. G. Wells.
- “The Modern Prometheus,” more widely known as Frankenstein by Mary Shelley.
- The Mysterious Death of Edgar Allan Poe and/or The Poe Toaster.
- San Francisco history [Found SF].
- Cliff House and the Sutro Baths.
- Oscar Wilde in San Francisco.
- A story about a bored widow…?
- Tchaikovsky’s Voice: Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Julius Block, and Thomas Edison.
- “Beelzebub has a devil put aside for me.” — “Bohemian Rhapsody” by Queen.
- Exquisite corpse and other parlour games [Victorian Parlour Games]: Hyakumonogatari Kaidankai (百物語怪談会), Wink Murder (Vampire), Snap-dragon, etc.
- Kaidan (怪談) [Hyakumonogatari]: Yotsuya Kaidan, Botan Dōrō, etc.
- The Japanese Village in Knightsbridge, London.
- The Devil’s Trill Sonata by Giuseppe Tartini.
- “Victorian Funeral Customs and Superstitions”
- The ancient Greek goddess Melinoe.
- The Pied Piper of Hamelin.
- The Plague Doctor and his costume.
- 「…夢が現実の領域（りょういき）にまで溢れ出し、夢の氾濫（はんらん）が起ってしまったのだと。」” ‘…[My dream-world has] spilled over into reality. They’re a flood that’s sweeping me away.’ ” Quote from “Spring Snow” by Yukio Mishima.
- The Demon, an opera by Russian composer Anton Rubinstein.
- The works of Mikhail Lermontov, including Demon and “Death of the Poet.”
- “The Earl of Oxford, making of his low obeisance to Queen Elizabeth happened to let a Fart, at which he was so abashed and ashamed that he went to travel, seven years. On his return the Queen welcomed him home and said, ‘My Lord, I had forgot the Fart’” –Aubrey’s Brief Lives.
- “A Visit to the Haunted Chamber,” painting by William Frederick Yeames.
- …?
To be continued…
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For more updates, don’t forget to follow me on tumblr and/or twitter.
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Copyright 2012 by G. E. Gallas
Leave a comment | tags: A Visit to the Haunted Chamber, Alexander Pushkin, Ancient Greece, Anton Rubinstein, Artistic, Aubrey's Brief Lives, Beelzebub, Bluebeard, Bohemian Rhapsody, Borded, Botan Doro, Brainstorming, Cliff House, Costume, Creativity, Crime, Customs, Cynical, Daria, Death, Death of the Poet, Demon, Devils, Earl of Oxford, Edgar Allan Poe, Edward de Vere, Exquisite Corpse, Fairy Tales, Fart, Film, Frankenstein, Funeral, Genre, Ghost World, Giuseppe Tartini, Goddess, H. G. Wells, Haru no Yuki, Haunted, Heroine, History, How the Devil Married Three Sisters, Hyakumonogatari Kaidankai, Ideas, Inside the Display Case, Japanese Village in Knightsbridge, Kaidan, List, Literature, Mary Shelley, Mediums, Melinoe, Middle Ages, Mikhail Lermontov, Modern, Mysterious, Mystery, Myth, Oscar Wilde, Parlour Games, Peter, Pied Piper, Queen, Queen Elizabeth, Quirky, Reading, Reinvent, Research, Russia, San Francisco, Screenplay, Screenwriter, Sea of Fertility, Series, Short Story, Siberian pit viper, Snake, Snap-dragon, Spring Snow, Story, Supernatural, Superstitions, Sutro Baths, Tchaikovsky, The Chronic Argonauts, The Demon, The Devil's Trill Sonata, The Modern Prometheus, The Pied Piper of Hamelin, The Plague Doctor, The Poe Toaster, Thomas Edison, Thriller, Tono-Bungay, Topic, Travel, Universe, Vampire, Various, Version, Victorian, Visual, Voice, Web Series, Werewolf, Widow, William Frederick Yeames, Wink Murder, Writing, Yotsuya Kaidan, Yukio Mishima | posted in Brainstorming, Screenplays
