Linfamy

Live reading of wuxia Chinese fantasy. Clickie.

3 days ago | [YT] | 74

Linfamy

How do you claim a top courtesan at the height of the sex trade in Japan? The answer is in that chest the worker is carrying in this art print.

An elite courtesan always had clients buzzing around her like wealthy bees around a flower. It was hard to know if you were just another bee to her or you were the bee to get past her petals. She had many clients, but which one was her main “lover”?

To stand out, men showered these courtesans with gifts, but only the richest men could afford to buy her expensive things like clothes and bedding.

Now if the only thoughts of bedding you’ve ever had in your life was, “Hm, is it starting to smell? Yeah, I better wash it.”, then you wouldn’t have stood a chance. This business was not for the faint of heart nor the light of purse.

In this lovely art print, the friends of a client are having a little party at a brothel. At the top, a worker carries a chest the size of his chiropractor bills. Inside are a futon and bedsheets.

Women love fluffy blankets and nice duvet covers. The courtesan receiving the bedding would be pleased, more pleased than that worker seems to be anyways.

A bedding delivery was no ordinary delivery. It was a client shooting his shot, nominating himself for the position of main lover.

If she accepted the client, it would have been a huge sign of status for both the client and the brothel. The courtesan would display the futon and bedsheets for people walking by to see and go, “Ah, so she is Fujimoto-san’s now.”

The delivery of the bedding was a public event, letting everyone know that this was the top guy for her (for now), and that they’d be using his futon and blanket for the deed. Good for him.

5 days ago | [YT] | 2,014

Linfamy

If you could master one of these traditional Japanese arts, which would it be? What would you do with the skill?

1 week ago | [YT] | 565

Linfamy

📜 The Worst Thing About New Kittens

New kittens are certainly cute, but they will usually crush your heart into itty-bitty pieces. Wanna guess why?

This Japanese art print from 1845 called “News of Potential Little Ones” shows that people back dealt with many of the same problems we do. It’s a nice drawing that hides a tragedy.

One kitten is snuggled up inside the woman’s kimono, either licking her face or giving it a little love nibble. Another kitten is playing with its mother.

At first, it looks like an adorable scene, until you realize it’s a scene about a woman who cannot afford to take care of the kittens and must give them away. The mother cat looks happy, not knowing that she and her precious kittens will soon be separated.

1 week ago | [YT] | 1,893

Linfamy

📜 Oldest Japanese Human Bones Shockingly Turn Out to Be Something Else

Scientists have just realized someone made a huge mistake.

In the 1950s, someone dug up some neat bones, and, after investigating, scientists declared that these were the oldest human bones in Japan. They called him “Ushikawa Man,” after the place he was found, and he lived in the Middle Pleistocene (781,000 - 126,000 years ago).

Japanese history textbook makers thought, “There were people in Japan hundreds of thousands of years ago? I’m definitely writing that one down.” And they did. And they were satisfied. Until now.

Textbook makers must be drinking themselves silly today when they realized they have been misinforming millions of Japanese schoolboys and schoolgirls for decades.

Scientists this year, armed with modern Gundam technology and the kind of curiosity that gets you in trouble with fossil collectors, took a closer look at these bones.

They found two shocking things. One, the bones were not hundreds of thousands of years old, but only a youthful 20,000+ years. Two, they were not human bones at all, but probably the bones of a brown bear. Ushikawa Man was Ushikawa Bear, who has been sitting up there in bear heaven for a long while, quite annoyed at the whole mix-up.

Without Ushikawa Man, the next oldest human fossils we’ve found in mainland Japan are from 17,000 years ago. And in the Ryukyu Islands, they’ve found fossils that may be up to 32,000 years old.

2 weeks ago | [YT] | 1,545

Linfamy

📜 Things Are Not As They Seem…

Things are not quite as they seem in this mysterious piece of Japanese artwork, drawn on a fan. What do the 3 shadows look like to you?

Upon first glance, the one on the right looks like a lion, the middle a horned owl, and the third a hannya mask (demon mask).

But if you flip over the fan (second picture), you see that they’re actually cats! How dumb do you feel right now?

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2 weeks ago | [YT] | 1,732

Linfamy

"Do you know how to draw cute babies?"
"Absolutely, you can count on me."

3 weeks ago | [YT] | 2,389