I can write down a few words and make people thousands of miles away, whom I have never met and will never meet, laugh tears of joy and cry tears of true sorrow for people who do not exist and have never existed and never will exist. If that isn’t actual literal magic I don’t know what is.
“Come on. Play the violin. Do not worry. At this place, nobody will stop you from doing it. And no one will bother you. Just feel free to play it as long as you want.”
Here’s a little “today I learned” about Hiraga Gennai 平賀 源内, arguably one of the most interesting individuals of the Edo period.
+ Gennai was born in 1729 in Shidoura village, Sanuki province (one of the provinces on the Nankaido road) as the third son of Shiraishi Mozaemon, a low-ranking samurai.
+ He grew up in a family with many siblings and was a precocious, intelligent child whose interests ranged from painting to poetry, and science to naturalism. In fact, pretty much the only thing I didn’t find in references was any mention of talent with (or even just interest in) the sword.
+ Around age 12 or 13, Gennai became an apprentice of one of the domain’s doctors where he learned traditional Japanese medicine, herbalism, and Confucianism.
+ After his father died in 1748, 19-year-old Gennai became the head of his family. During the Edo period, it would have been more common for the eldest son to succeed the father as both head of household and in his hereditary post (if he held one), so it stands to reason that Gennai’s two elder brothers either did not survive into adulthood or there was some other reason neither could succeed their father.
+ Around 1752, Gennai traveled to Nagasaki to further his studies. Specifically, he studied rangaku (Dutch learning, but really any Western learning): Western medicine in general, surgery specifically, natural sciences, and oil painting, for good measure.
+ After his time in Nagasaki, Gennai realized he was much more interested in studying, traveling, writing, and inventing than he was in being heir to his family or being stuck in his province. He abandoned his position as head of the family - this went to his sister’s husband - and resigned from his clan, becoming a ronin, so he would be free to pursue his own interests.
+ Gennai was interested in everything. At various times, he pursued (among many other things, I’m sure): Western medicine, surgery, traditional Japanese medicine, herbalism, mining and smelting techniques, mining development, natural history, ferry building, electric generators, fire-proof cloth, pottery, plays, and literature.
Electricity go brrrrrrr: Gennai obtained a broken, second-hand elekiter (エレキテル) from a shop in Nagasaki in 1770 and used it as the basis to build his own. He demonstrated the elekiter to the shogunate and many individual daimyo, and used it to treat various medical conditions, though perhaps more as a novelty than a legitimate attempt at treatment.
Two more things from the brain of Hiraga Gennai:
On the left, kakanpu, Gennai’s fireproof cloth woven from asbestos, which would obviously not burn even if you threw it directly into the flames; and on the right, green glaze pottery dubbed Gennai ware, which was based on Chinese cochin ware.
Gennai also wrote … a lot. He published 6 illustrated volumes on herbalism, 5 kabuki plays, 9 gidayu, and an assortment of other works, including an essay on farting, a guide to kagema of Japan, and his most popular work, Rootless Weeds, a gay love story featuring Enma, the king of the underworld, and Gennai’s lover, the onnagata Segawa Kikunojo II.
That’s Kikunojo in the two prints below. Yes, he’s a man, despite appearances.
+ Gennai’s death is a bit of a mystery. Apparently, he was involved in the building or renovation of a daimyo’s mansion. At some point in this process, a drunk Gennai started arguing with several of the carpenters over what he believed to be stolen plans to the mansion. The argument turned violent and Gennai murdered at least one man and perhaps killed or injured a second.
+ He was arrested and died on 24 January 1780 in prison. His cause of death, unexpectedly, seems to have been tetanus.
“You will die. You will not live forever. Nor will any man or any thing. Nothing is immortal. But only to us is it given to know that we must die. And that is a great gift: The gift of selfhood. For we have only what we know we must lose, what we are willing to lose… That selfhood which is our torment, and our treasure, and our humanity, does not endure. It changes; it is gone, a wave on the sea. Would you have the sea grow still and the tides cease, to save one wave, to save yourself? Would you give up the craft of your hands, and the passion of your heart, and the light of sunrise and sunset, to buy safety for yourself - safety forever?”
Has anyone else noticed that as a society, we’re shamed for wanting to sleep? Sleeping in is bad, naps are only okay if they’re 20 minutes, you cant be tired unless you’re a <insert career/lifestyle choice here>, so on and so forth.
I mean, I think we all need to spread our blankets out, cuddle a pillow, and go to sleep. Everyone needs more of it, fuck this “it’s not productive” nonsense. It’s okay to sleep, it’s okay to want to sleep. You’re not lazy because of it.
Can we also stop with the one-upping about sleep. If someone tells you they’re tired because they only got six hours of sleep, please don’t immediately say “Oh that’s nothing! I only sleep three hours a night!”. Or “you don’t even know what tiredness is until you’ve done xyz thing!”
Just stop. We should all feel totally comfortable getting the amount of sleep we need. Be it four hours or 11.
