Dimview's New Writeups

shikirisen (thing)

2009-11-16T07:50:26Z

仕切線

The shikirisen are two flat, enamelled pieces of wood or metal (I think it must be wood, but I don't know this for sure) set in the clay of a sumo ring. Located in the middle of the fighting area, 70 cm apart, respectively east and west of the center they are, in fact, the "starting lines". But that should be taken with a grain of the salt of inaccuracy: the wrestlers are supposed to line up behind their shikirisen, but there are no rules concerning how close to - or far from - them they have to be.

The lines are white, 6*90 cm, parallel, and level with the floor of the dohyo. They easily get covered by sand and dirt during a match, and are meticulously swept clean by the yobidashi between bouts.

During the yokozuna dohyoiri (ring opening ceremony) the yokozuna will place their feet on the lines; not because they have to, but because the shikirisen nicely mark the center of the…

shikiri (thing)

2009-11-14T21:05:19Z

仕切

If you have the good fortune to attend a day of professional sumo in Japan you will be sure to notice the stomping and glaring that goes on on top of the dohyo, before the actual sumo begins.

Shikiri can mean something along the lines of "drawing the line" or "toeing off the mark". And that is what the wrestlers, or sumotori, do: they crouch down and put their fists on the ground by the shikirisen (starting lines), get up and walk back to their corner, perform kiyome-jiro - the throwing of the salt (originally to ward off evil spirits) - go back to crouch down again, and so on. They will lean very far forward, supporting their weight on their knuckles, making it look like they could do a handstand with no effort whatsoever. It can be a terrific display of strength, meant to help the wrestlers gain the mental upper hand and boost their spirit.

During the shikiri the gyoji (referee) will be standing…

November 6, 2009 (personal)

2009-11-06T10:20:57Z

I'm entering week two of having iritis. Feeling very sorry for myself. My left eye has stopped hurting now, but the right one is pretty painful and inflamed. I have to drip the right eye every two hours with one kind of eyedrops, and every four hours with something else, and then there's a gel that I have to put in at night. The left eye is only every four hours with one kind, and morning and night with the other, no gel.

Now, as the very organised and prepared person I am, I mislaid my glasses years ago, and never really got around to buying another pair - which means that I am practically blind now that I'm not allowed to wear contacts.

My ophtal.. optom... eye-doctor sent me to have some blood tests taken, to find out why I all of a sudden am being attacked by this very annoying affliction. I'm suspecting menopause (I mean, menopause can cause all kinds of oddities), but doc says that it's unlikely. Hrmph.

I am writing…

Deep in the Woods (thing)

2009-10-25T15:33:07Z

The other morning I woke up from a dream with an old Danish children's song churning in my head. In the dream I had been singing it for three children, while playing half a guitar (only the neck) with five strings (one of the E-strings were missing). But I guess that's not important from the point of this writeup.

Langt ud i skoven, or Deep in the woods

The song is old enough that I couldn't find an author or composer online. It's one of those songs that keeps getting longer and longer, as you add a line with every new verse, and kids seem to love that. It lets them learn the words as well as have a go at guessing the new line, which is, to some extent, logical enough once you get the gist of the story.

In the movie "The Wicker Man" a song with words very close to these featured. That song was based on an old Irish drinking song called "The Rattlin' Bog". "The Rattlin' Bog" itself is actually not very close to my Danish version, but…

Chimera (review)

2009-10-17T16:51:09Z

Let me tell you a story about a story about a storyteller who's telling a story. A nested doll kind of story. Or perhaps a filigree of interlacing stories.

Chimera by John Barth is a story about stories and story tellers. It is by no means an easy read, and definitely not a book you rush through with half of your mind somewhere else. It's a book that requires a bit of focus.

Like the mythical creature by the same name, that consisted of three different animals, Chimera comprises three different stories: The Dunyazadiad, the Perseid, and the Bellerophoniad. The three stories retell, in their own special way, three classics, namely 1001 Arabian Nights (Dunyazade being the younger sister of Sheherezade), Perseus' story, and the tale of Bellerophon. But John Barth's way of "retelling" means that he gives us the story about the stories and their tellers.

Sometimes it can be hard to tell who's doing the talking: the narrative is so…

Hundige (place)

2009-09-06T21:40:02Z

Once upon a time in Denmark

Not a city, not a town - once, though, a village - Hundige's claim to fame is, today, a reputation for being a place of unrest and gang-related violence. It wasn't always like that, though; it used to be a nice spot in the countryside until it was swallowed up by the ever expanding Greater Copenhagen, and became a troubled suburb in Greve Kommune.

Located some 25 km to the south-west of Copenhagen, close to the coast with nice beaches and a marina, Hundige is still a nice place, as long as you stay away from certain areas at certain times of day. (And if you avoid looking like this, and walking like that, and yadda yadda...) I suppose what I am trying to say is that, bad reputation or no, Hundige is not much different from many other rapidly expanding, underfunded suburbs anywhere. But again: it wasn't always like that, and, old sentimentalist that I am, I miss the old Hundige…