2010/07/16

Japanese Garden Dictionary online

Japanese Garden Dictionary, http://www.nabunken.go.jp/database/jgd/
 -- A Glossary for Japanese Gardens and Their History
 
...This online dictionary is based on the Bilingual [Japanese &
English] Dictionary of Japanese Garden Terms, published in 2001 ...
This online compilation, maintained by the Department of
Cultural Heritage of the Nara National Research Institute for
Cultural Properties, is intended to make the English language content
of the original dictionary more widely accessible.

Site contents, A to Z:
* English index (Over 600 entries organised alphabetically,
from abbot's quarters, aggregate lantern, aka well, Akisato Rito,
Amanohashidate, Amida hall, angler fish basin, arbor, arched bridge,
arched stone bridge, arching stone, armor pattern screen fence, and
artificial hill, [...]
through [...], milepost lantern, millstone, miniature landscape, mirror
stone, mist-shaped island, monkey pine, moon shadow stone, moss, moss
garden, mountain base stone, mountain island, mountain path stone,
mountain slope stone, and mountain-and-water landscape, [...] to
[...], waterfowl stone, waterside lantern, wave-receiving stone,
wayside stone, weathered beauty western style garden, who goes there?
lantern, wild wave stone, wing stone, wisteria yard, wooden bridge,
wooden conduit, wooden gate, wooden steps, worshiping stone, Yang
stone, yarai fence, yarimizu stream, Yin stone, Yin-Yang stones, yoko
ochi (cascade), Yosuien garden, Zen'ami, and zigzag bridge);

* Japanese index.

2010/07/10

copyright guidance

Details, as well as sample situations, for the legal use of images and other potentially copyrighted material is outlined at
http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~ncc/imageuse/rightsholder.html

follow-up response on the H-Japan list, www.h-net.org for 13 July 2010
From my own experience as an author: I believe with the 1930 case, one would determine that permission is not needed since the organization is gone. (But if an artist is credited or the likeness of an individual appears in the illustration that would be a different matter.) For example, magazines I have worked with have said that it would be OK to republish advertisements from companies that are now out of business, and that their own (the magazine's) permission is not needed since it is over 50 years since publication, though I try to get it anyway if they can be contacted. I would guess that legally you need permission for the 1990s item, but perhaps there are fair use practices for such government documents? Of course, I am not a lawyer, but these are just my personal experiences with these sorts of materials.
[S. Frederick]

2010/07/03

summer lion dance, shishimai

Friends in Fukui-ken created a YouTube channel recently. They've started with two movies,
about 10 minutes each (YouTube limit on ordinary accounts):
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTIFjCIAllc [troupe based in Mie, but traveling their annual circuit of blessing]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6GikgN-nSus [lots of commentary in the ?Mie-ken dialect; juggling at 6'45"]