Wednesday, August 29, 2012

More Japanese labels of human professions

The bold man with the BIG shoes

The lady at the window

The drunk Sumo man with the smoker on his right hand
(Sumo style advertising for a nutritious tonic)

The fabrics painter

The Moon reader
The Frog keeper

This is a FISHY post of Japanese labels...


The Carps Rider

The Carp Parade

Which Carp shell I eat...


Save me from the crabs - move me to the other label with my shy friend


The Japanese Musical instruments



A girl on a  peacock playing a Biwa

Let's design a new Gekkin

Gekkin
The Gekkin is the close relative of the Chinese yueqin, and nowadays the instrument is not made in Japan anymore.
The old instrument is almost the same as the yueqin : so two circles of softwood for soundboard and back, joined by a narrow strip of hardwood for the sides. It has a separate neck, with a sickle shape pegbox, ending in a decorative plate at the front with some woodcarving.
The strings are tuned with long rounded friction pegs, two on each side of the open pegbox. Bamboo strips glued to the fingerboard are used as frets, usually in a full western scale.
Sometimes on the old Japanese instruments there was special decoration or even soundholes on the soundboard.
It is played with a plectrum, but the gekkin is not often used anymore.
All right reserved to: http://www.atlasofpluckedinstruments.com/far_east.htm


2 boys hide behind a Gekkin





Some new Japanese "Find the differences" items in my collection

At the Circus

The Black Clown with the red hat

The fighting babies

The woman on the eagle

The Camel and the Elephant go for a walk

The Secret Trio


Sunday, August 19, 2012

An interesting story by the "Collectors Weekly" about the lovely "feature matches" of the 1930's in the USA

Playing With Matches: Sexy, Silly 1930s Ads That Went Up in Smoke

"Smoking is growing more taboo in the United States now, but back in the 1930s, cigarettes were sexy. And where there was smoke, there were matches. At one point, nearly every business in the country, whether it was a national chain or a local Mom ‘n’ Pop, produced logoed matchbooks to help their customers fuel their nicotine habit—now known to be a deadly addiction...."




All rights reserved to the "Collectors Weekly" - Copyright © 2007–2012 Market Street Media LLC

Thanks to my friend Mike De Mondo who sent me this link.