Fox-fire, Samurai, Traditonal Theatre and Visual Kei: Yoshitoshi's Art in a Kagrra, Pamphlet

Finally we arrive at our third and final installment of my look into the Yoshitoshi prints used in Isshi's last photoshoot for Kagrra,.  I'd like to thank everyone for reading this series, as well as to LiveJournal user sutafairu for letting me use her scans of the photoset.  If you missed Part I, please read it here, and Part II can be found here.  Today's photo is the one that made me want to write these interpretations of the shoot.  I think it's really quite fantastic.



So let's interpret that one right in the middle, possibly the most famous of all three.

Heian-era Poetry, Kabuki, and Visual Kei: Yoshitoshi's Art in a Kagrra, Pamphlet

Part II of my reviews on Isshi's last Kagrra, pamphlet, featuring the art of Yoshitoshi from "New Forms of 36 Ghosts".  If you missed Part I, please be sure to read it here.



Today, let's take a look at the photo on the right.

Buddhist Monks, Prostitutes, and Visual Kei: Yoshitoshi's Art in a Kagrra, Pamphlet

This entry marks the very first entry for the New Year, all the more reason for my blog to start being more productive.  Even though I'm going to be very busy with college, I will need to write to relieve stress and focus myself that much harder, and the New Year is a time for new beginnings.

Originally, I was working on this entry last July when the calamity happened.  And I've held onto it in favour of more traditional but non-Kagrra, related posts since then.  But with the New Year I want to work harder to spread as much traditional Japanese information as I can.  I think my first entry of 2012 may as well be a continuation of this philosophy; I want to write about some things that only Kagrra, can manage to bring up and make some vague sense out of in order for me to discuss it.

For the most part, besides this introduction, I've kept the entry just as it was while I was originally writing it.  I still plan to joke about Isshi's dumb ideas and purposefully difficult over-traditional themes, because I am still a fan of that music and motif, and I will always remember fondly his obsessive personality and traditional leanings, as I see myself developing them further as well.  I also keep all mention of him in the present tense; partly out of laziness, but mostly because now I've decided there's no use to make it seem so dour.  Kagrra,'s music and words and pictures and stories will always be with us; and here on the internet we can always find much more information about it, new fan or old, that everything remains present and relevant.  Isshi's beliefs will never really be gone, or over, or finished, so it's not like I can just stop all entries related to that.  I will always find something new from something old, and songs about old things wrapped in twelve layers of Heian kimono and mysteries will always plague each and every one of us Kagrra, fans.

So I'd like to pick up just where I left off and tell you about a popular old folk character, traditional Japan, and Isshi.