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illustration friday (whiskers)
I tried to think of a more cheerful, or at least a more seasonal, visual interpretation of this week's IF prompt "whiskers." But I am still haunted by the whiskered catfish I painted to mourn the great Great Northeast Japan Earthquake of March 11, 2011. The triple disaster of the earthquake/ tsunami/and Fukushima nuclear power plant crisis took more than 20,000 lives, mostly from drowning. More than a year and a half later, there are
still about 2,800 people missing, and 34,000 refugees displaced from their homes and their vocations, unable for various reasons to get back on their feet and find a new life elsewhere.
In Japanese mythology, a giant namazu (catfish) causes earthquakes when he stirs in the mud beneath the foundations of the earth.
Posts
I love the catfish. Thank-you for the mythology of the catfish.
ReplyDeleteThank you for visiting my blog, Debbie. And especially for your comment!
DeleteHi, Debbie,
ReplyDeleteWonderful work and how caring you are to remind viewers of the earth quake's impact! BTW, what sort of old Japanese did you quote. It seems a bit sad story.
Kind regards, Sadami
Sadami, Thank you. I didn't quote anything. The words are my own.
DeleteThe catfish myth seems to have gained popularity in the Edo period. You can read about in English here>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Namazu_%28Japanese_mythology%29
and in Japanese, here>>
http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%A4%A7%E9%AF%B0
Oh, 道産子Debbie,
DeleteYour own! Thank you very much! I love old Japanese so much. I feel you're a very romantist.
Cheers, Sadami
Good drawing. Also interesting story about a giant namazu. (I did not know it)
ReplyDeleteBeautiful catfish! Such strange creatures they are, and such an interesting mythology. I agree it's good to remind people that tragedies don't end when the cameras stop rolling.
ReplyDeleteLove the movement in the image, and the soft landing in difficult thoughts that your words bring me to.
ReplyDelete