The old Japan Sword Co.

[Curran]

This thread should be revived.

 

I have grown rather fond of sencha myself.

The concept of tea wasn't foreign to me, since being raised in a southern location it is the fuel of choice. Many of you won't appreciate what I am talking about, as it is one of those things known about those living in certain southern states in the USA... but not understood until you have lived there and seen that if you cut someone from north Georgia, Tenn., Alabama, or Carolinas.... they are half as likely to bleed southern tea mix as they are anything remotely red...

 

The irony is that I had never had coffee until Japan. Mistaking ice coffee for watered down chocolate milk one day as a teenager.... I had an interesting day after about 2 full glasses.

Flight of the bumble-bee buzz buzz.

 

Shi-shi:

Shi-shi are a mythology I don't know past a certain level. I am afraid I would probably make a mess mixing what I know of them with other Asian Mountain Dog related lore.

I have often seen them rendered with Peonies (supposedly King of Flowers) and Daikons. As John said, read any book on Japanese patinas and you will have a profound respect for Daikons. Read enough Korean cookbooks, and that respect will only grow. Incredibly useful.

 

Many years ago I did pick up this nice tsuba with Shi-Shi, Peonies, Flaming Jewels (Treasure) and what I assume are Daikons.

[Brian]

Whilst to a coffee purist what I am going to say is surely heresy...there is still nothing like that machine-warmed cup of oversweet coffee-in-a-can from a vending machine in Tokyo when venturing out at 6am on a cold Winters morning. Those vending machines are the best thing ever. Hot tin of coffee when the mist is forming from your breath and you are on your way to some exciting antiques market. Another thing to miss about Japan..

 

[Pete Klein]

Curran -- Is 'tea' another name for 'white lightnin'?

[Curran]

Brian,

I certainly agree in that regard. Spent better part of three years doing early shift work: rooftop construction & at University. Tea is more an even lift, but nothing can get you up like that warm grab and go 2x strength coffee on a cold morning.

 

Peter,

White lightning? I assume you mean Miami Snow? Most everywhere I was prior to getting that scholarship to be a Japan exchange student, the people were too cash strapped for (cocaine?), if it was even available. I don't know if I have ever seen cocaine outside of a movie or science film. Never even saw it in South America when the wife worked down there.

 

No.... Japanese Ice Coffee is a dangerous thing. Perhaps even more dangerous than southern chuggers of that Orange Pekoe tea blend drank there. Does wash down pulled pork very well..... but you spend the rest of the day driving 90 when the speed limit says 70.... and being irritated that everything moves slower than you do.

 

There is a reason UPS is based out of Atlanta and FedEx out of Memphis.

[Pete Klein]

Curran, White lightning: bootleg, mountain dew, red-eye, rotgut, ardent spirits, booze, drink, firewater, grog, hooch, John Barleycorn, juice , potable, spirits, tipple.

[Brian]

Funny thing....the local SA moonshine brewed by the Afrikaaners is traditionally called "Witblits" which translates to..... white lighting. :lol:

Guess this is a universal thing.

 

Brian

[jamesicus]

.......... Shi-shi are a mythology I don't know past a certain level. I am afraid I would probably make a mess mixing what I know of them with other Asian Mountain Dog related lore.

I have often seen them rendered with Peonies (supposedly King of Flowers) and Daikons. As John said, read any book on Japanese patinas and you will have a profound respect for Daikons ..........

Yes, further research on my part has lead to pretty much the same conclusions as yours -- and garnered the same respect.

 

..........Many years ago I did pick up this nice tsuba with Shi-Shi, Peonies, Flaming Jewels (Treasure) and what I assume are Daikons.

A wonderful tsuba indeed. I have been looking for one like that for a long time.

 

James

[Curran]

Well, better than the tsuba is this:

 

http://www.choshuya.co.jp/sale/gj/1112_ ... shirae.htm

 

I don't know or doubt the signature on the fuchi given the big name.

Otherwise, price is not cheap- but much more affordable than what other Japanese shops ask for good koshirae now.

I confess to being tempted by this koshirae.

[Jean]

Furthermore, prices can always be discussed when business is slack. Four years ago, Ginza Cho. Building was swarming with employees and no red carpet was unrolled for visitors, today it is exactly the opposite. They are really charming and easy to deal with.

[runagmc]

Curran, could those be choji rather than daikon? Either way it's a really nice tsuba...Edit-I live in the mid western part of Georgia and sweet tea is a favorite here. Everytime I travel out of the south, I miss it.

[Curran]

Adam,

___Could be. I've considered that before. Answer is I don't know.

I don't know the answer. Have grown daikons, but not clove. Hence my bias is to see them as Daikons, but it may be my western eyes seeing what I want to see.

 

If you triangulate Atlanta, Huntsville, and Chattanooga- that approximates where I grew up. Not quite the mountains, but enough so that I've heard every iteration of Deliverance joke possible.

Doesn't help I was large into archery and bow hunting.

 

I was down to Callaway Gardens often enough. Not far from Columbus.

I miss the Azalea hills and lake there. Without the Georgia climate and red clay, azaleas in the other parts of the USA bloom and burst too fast.

Also, something about Georgia clay and climate has the cherry blossoms last much much longer. Tree in our front yard would last forever, or until we could no longer sufficiently deter the Japanese beetles.

 

Sencha low level buzz is the same as southern unsweetened Tea.

Add the sugar the way some southern women do, and that... well... that is a different chapter.

Should get back to James' sencha, which I agree with using the loose leaves.

 

I don't know about having it with Marmite like he does. Seems plain crazy to me, and I can't figure out what a southern equivalent might be.

[runagmc]

Yeah, I use to go to Callaway Gardens a lot when I was a kid, but I havn't been in probably almost 20 years now. Also, my parent's back yard is FULL of pink and white azaleas, and I agree, they are pretty, blooming under the tall pines.