On December 20, 2017, the Yokozuna Deliberation Council discussed the techniques of the yokozuna Hakuhō. Its chairman, Kitamura Masatō, criticized his slaps, the harite, and his forearm blows, the kachiage. He said: “Harite, kachiage, on ten days or more out of fifteen. This style can hardly be called the sumo of a yokozuna. It is not beautiful. I do not want to see it.”
Diet Precedents
The House of Councillors explains on its website that the laws and rules for the Diet cannot cover every situation. Where they say nothing, the house follows senrei, precedent. Precedents fill the gaps in the written rules so that proceedings can run smoothly.
The House of Councillors collects them in the Sangiin senreiroku, a record of precedents in 32 chapters. The House of Representatives keeps its own collection, the Shūgiin senreishū. The National Diet Library advises that the written rules must be read together with these collections.
The Vocabulary of Precedent
Shikitari (仕来り): custom handed down from the past. The Daijisen dictionary defines it as an old habit, a usage, a convention. Its examples are shikitari o mamoru, to keep to custom, and shikitari ni shibarareru, to be bound by custom.
Tōshū (踏襲): following in the steps. The business magazine DIME explains it as taking over precedents or policies and doing things the same way. It appears in the phrase zenrei tōshū, following precedent.
The Hidden Lining
A haura is the lining of a haori, the jacket worn over a kimono. A paper by Ōmori Masao of Kyoto Saga University of Arts describes how splendid designs came to be hidden in it. In the Edo period, sumptuary laws kept people from wearing showy kimono. One of the fashions devised under them was to hide splendid designs in the lining and in the underrobe.
The haura cannot be seen while the jacket is worn. Others see it only when the jacket comes off. The paper calls this the beauty of uramasari, the lining that surpasses the outside.
Under the Lacquer
Making Wajima-nuri, the lacquerware of Wajima in Ishikawa Prefecture, takes about 124 steps, divided among specialized craftspeople.
Before the lacquer, the weak parts of the wooden body, such as the thin rims of bowls and plates, are reinforced with cloth. This is nunokise. The base coat mixes lacquer with ji no ko, a diatomaceous earth that is Wajima’s own. Only then come the middle and top coats and the decoration.
The Knot on the Envelope
A Japanese gift envelope is tied with mizuhiki, a decorative cord. Mitsukoshi Isetan explains that its shape carries a meaning. A musubikiri, a knot that does not come undone once tied, is for things that should happen only once, such as a wedding or a recovery from illness. A bow that comes loose with one pull and can be tied again is for celebrations that may come many times, such as a birth or seasonal gifts.
Takashimaya’s gift wrapping guide shows the rule in use. A wedding return gift takes a red and white musubikiri of ten strands. A kokorozashi, a gift of thanks for condolences, takes a black and white musubikiri of five strands.
New Bills
Money given as a wedding gift in Japan should be in crisp, new bills, pinsatsu. A financial guide explains that new bills express a celebration of a new beginning.
For money given at a funeral, the rule is reversed. New bills are avoided, because they have to be prepared in advance and could suggest that the death was expected.
Smart Wrapping
On June 5, 2006, the Japan Department Stores Association created sumāto rappingu, smart wrapping. It declared the fifth of every month Smart Wrapping Day. In February 2007, the Ministry of the Environment announced an event that asked people to accept simple wrapping for Valentine’s Day chocolates. Its slogan was: Aijō wa tappuri, hōsō wa hikaeme ni. “Plenty of love, modest wrapping.”
Takashimaya calls a department store’s wrapping paper and bags, which show at a glance where a gift was bought, the face of the store.
Mirror Polish
Grand Seiko polishes the cases of its watches with zaratsu kenma, Zaratsu polishing. The company explains that the surfaces are polished into a smooth mirror without distortion, and that the edges where flat and angled surfaces meet are made sharp. Its design principles say that each surface should, as a rule, be a mirror, with as little distortion as possible.
A craftsman profiled on Seiko’s site says that an error of a single micron ruins the surface.
Maneshita Denki
Matsushita Electric, the company of Matsushita Kōnosuke, developed products by studying existing ones. A research paper by Fukunishi Takeshi, published on a site devoted to Matsushita Kōnosuke, describes the method of its engineer Nakao Tetsujirō. He took existing products apart, examined each part and built new products from what he learned.
The paper says that the method was later mocked as Maneshita Denki. The nickname changes one sound in Matsushita to make maneshita, copied.