#im paraphrasing okay shush!

[fwoopersongs]

山园小梅二首 - Little Plum Blossoms of the Garden in the Mountain (2)

by 林逋 (Lin Bu, 967 - 1028 AD)

众芳摇落独暄妍， zhòng fāng yáo luò dú xuān yán Among the multitude of fallen flowers, its shining beauty warms;

占尽风情向小园。 zhàn jǐn fēngqíng xiàng xiǎo yuán full of grace, centre of attention, it leans into a little garden.

疏影横斜水清浅， Shū yǐng héng xié shuǐ qīng qiǎn, Delicate, tilting branches reflected on clear and shallow water,

暗香浮动月黄昏。 àn xiāng fúdòng yuè huánghūn its subtle fragrance drifts with the rising moon at dusk.

霜禽欲下先偷眼， shuāng qín yù xià xiān tōuyǎn The snowy cranes long to land and sneak a glance,

粉蝶如知合断魂。 fěndié rú zhī hé duàn hún if butterflies could only see, their souls would depart!

幸有微吟可相狎， xìng yǒu wēi yín kě xiāng xiá How fortunate I am, for the presence of this muse,

不须檀板共金樽。 bù xū tánbǎn gòng jīn zūn for my clappers no longer need wine’s company in song.

Okay, so Lin Bu 林逋 of Northern Song! 

His courtesy name was Jun Fu 君复, and as I mentioned in the previous post, his posthumous name was He Jing 和靖. People called him Master Hejing (Hejing-xiansheng). 

Mr Hejing’s great (or some number of greats) grandpa was a government official with a high post, but by his generation, his family was already of the lower-middle class. They lived in Qiantang, Hangzhou - don’t quote me on this xD. He was a hardworking and talented child who enjoyed reading, art and old stuff, and grew up to be a talented painter and writer of things. But he also was very very much an introvert who liked the peace and quiet, was alright with living rough, did not like the power hungry or materialistic. 

So what’s the solution to that? Apparently to move up into the mountains and build a house there. Which was exactly what he did when he turned 40!

So up in his mountain house, he had a garden. And in that garden, there was a plum blossom tree which he was very fond of (some sources say trees, plural... but i prefer to believe there was just one!). Mr Hejing also delighted in rearing cranes. 

(picture source)

Such was his love for his plum blossom tree and crane(s?) that people coined a term for it: Plum blossom wife & crane son 梅妻鹤子. I honestly can’t tell if they were trying to be subtly mean about him never marrying and having children or what - but that imagery of him in his mountain home, with a tree and a crane was so #aesthetic that it became the source of inspiration for generations of artists and poets everywhere (apparently including Japan! as you can see from the 17th century painting up there ^). 

Oh, and a cute story from his baidu page! This mountain of his was near the West Lake in Hangzhou, and he liked to go on boating adventures on the lake, visiting temples and such. So whenever friends called on him at his mountain home, his servant boys (or students? idk) would get his cranes to fly! And that’s how he knew he had to return and entertain his visitors. 

#poems #山园小梅二首 #林逋 #sorry about the long post guys #this dude is just too cool #i read that he was the first poet to really appreciate the beauty and nature of plum blossoms #and was the trendsetter for all the writers who came after him #that's why that other poem from yesterday was like #'those proud yet humble flowers would never have known fame if they never met lin hejing' #im paraphrasing okay shush! #notes #in praise of plum blossoms #commentary

[kaedekayano]

okay! finally, my last live blog post of the night. It is 2.16am right now, so forgive me if my thoughts are a bit incoherent. Also on mobile, so no readmore

[edit the morning after] readmored bc i love yall nd im on my laptop now

a couple comments on the fandom ao3 - the proportion of dazai/chuuya fics is honestly astonishing. I’m sure they have more interaction than this in the manga, but karmagisa has roughly the same, if not lesser (I think? Been some time since I checked the AC AO3 relationship rankings, because all it does is make me sad over the lack of f/f, but that’s smth I’m working on fixing personally) proportions. And Karma and Nagisa get way more screen time together and much more detail on their relationship. idk man, whatever floats your boat and if it’s popular, it’s popular. I’m really into it too

I mean, I also like dazai/kunikida a lot too and it was my first ship for this show, but kunikida hasn’t had as much time to shine this season - many of the characters haven’t, but dazai, ever the eternal puppet master and one of the central focuses, usually gets a lot. I certainly don’t mind, he is the favorite son.

still don’t understand why akutagawa/Atsushi is such a thing, but ofc the end of s2 is hinting at redemption of a sorts for akutagawa and he’s getting better, and I’m sure that’s shown even more in the manga. tbh akutagawa is such an incredibly self-destructive, volatile, poor-tempered guy that while that’s a ship I could get behind, it would require a ton of work, and that’s work I’d prefer the show to be doing instead me headcanoning my way into things making sense (looks at the rarepairs I have cobbled together out of headcanon and far-reaching analysis. it’s work, yall). Development. It would be good. for now, I definitely love lucy/Atsushi - I think they’d be good for each other, and she’s got a skewed moral compass too, but she seems a little more amenable to changing that.

okay! fandom comments over.

Steinbeck/lovecraft is a cute friendship, even if I can’t stop thinking the phrase “tentacle porn,” over and over, in my head. I hate it a whole lot. I’m so done with myself tbh, too many tentacle jokes in AC fandom RIP. Lovecraft is really cool, he’s such a mystery but I think that’s a good narrative choice that the writers made, and I love that monster aesthetic even though I have never once in my life read any of Lovecraft’s works.

Ranpo is really fascinating as always. I’m not entirely sure of his thought processes, but I understand where he’s going with the, “but then I’d be normal.” (Paraphrasing because I don’t remember the exact words.) because - and I suspected this was the reason from the start - if he isn’t gifted, then his abilities are only human, can make mistakes and be fallible and he’d be held responsible for it. I get that. It’s hard. I sympathise with him. And I continue to love his closed-eyes smiling expression and his spiky hair, the hair is just cool. Also, poe/ranpo seems cute.

I was going to say I have no words for how much i adored the double black episode, but I’m writing a whole lot of words now, so I guess that’s a lie. I really adored it. I love ships that are all rivalry and hatred and an unwilling magnetism that attracts them to each other (okay yall could already tell but shush). I will probably rewatch the episode soon. And probably write a couple snippets of fic, but won’t really do anything until later because I have a lot of other writing to attend to ah the moment. But oh my God, Dark Era Dazai (still can’t believe Chuuya was his partner and didn’t appear even once in the Dark Era episodes!) and his partner fucking shit up and insulting each other and terrifying all their enemies and making fun of each other all the time, barely able to tolerate each other but inexplicably tied together. I love it, okay. I want to write so much about it.

Francis was never a character I liked, but he at least amused me sometimes, so props to anything that can make me laugh or smile.

Akutagawa is a mess.

I wanted to write more, but it’s now 2:31 and I desperately need to sleep. So a few quicker points than what I’ve been typing up until now -

Atsushi playing big brother / mentor to Kyouka gives me life

I am a fucking baby I felt so many overwhelming emotions when Dazai walked over to Akutagawa and said, “you’ve become strong.” (Not paraphrased!) I’m so - oh my god.

Akutagawa try to gain some semblance of mental stability. Maybe read a self help book, take an anger management class. thx, love u bb

Kyouka is so precious and important to me

Steinbeck is terrible but he has the Affably Evil trope and I’m a sucker for the affably evil trope. I’m a sucker for the affably even-normally-not-associated-with-affability trope

“I haven’t left my house in four years. I want to sleep.” Same, Lovecraft, same

Where did Q go. Is he okay. He’s a nasty piece of work but I still feel concerned for him

The five executives give me life. Technically I know three rn, but yeah. (Did anyone ever replace Dazai and who were they?)

I continue to love Chuuya’s hair. And his hat. And his terrible temper

Also, Chuuya and Dazai were partners but did anyone else have a partner? Was it because of Chuuya’s Corruption ability and Dazai being able to neutralize it was the reason they were paired?

Atsushi is precious. Deserves good things.

Omg the Poe episode I forgot how much I loved the unreliable narrator trope in fiction. Mainly because the reasons for the narrator being unreliable turned out to be shitty and cliche most of the time but I still love it.

The detectives are precious and adorable. All of them. The party at the end was so great my heart was like!!!!! :D

Good night everyone

#bsd lb