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Japanese Past Lives (merged)

Shinto, your memories sound beautiful. It seems the romance and wonder of our past lives are almost accentuated. I daydream of the days in 1890's when the land was unspoiled, life seemed uncomplicated and love was not superficial. But often I'm also blasted with the harshness of survival, the hopelessness of illness, things we take for granted today. I long for the "entertainment" of sitting out on a freshly threshed pile of straw on a warm summer night, counting stars and talking. I'm sure I must have discussed reincarnation even then.
 
Hijikata-dono:

I definitely understand...

Tinkerman:

I know what you mean. My home domain of Nagaoka was a lot like that...very green and beautiful-- although from what I read, the farmers always had an issue with the tax rates, and that was why we had over six peasant uprisings in the period leading up to the war in the 1860s. As far as love goes, too-- there was a greater depth back then. A quote from the Kabuki version of the "Atsumori" play particularly strikes me--

"The bond between two lovers surpasses one lifetime..."

--N.
 
I feel that way about the Indian country where my brother, Elan(Tom) and I hunted. The greenness of this one area of grass where we would practise moving quietly, the feel of my leather trousers and the way the cord of the arrow holster would rub at my shoulder. The way it took two days to make a bow properly. The way Tom and I once ran upto the ledge of this mountain and looked over to see an amazing sunset hitting the river down below. And I remember my wife, Ayiana... she was kidnapped along with my brother when white settlers came. My brother came back two years later and he spoke their language and had an English name. I never saw Ayiana again and I still miss her but I had to take care of our 14 summers old son, 'Eyaniwehi'...

I don't know what became of them but in a memory I heard my name. 'Saquo Ugidali' which means 'One Feather'.

Elan's son was called 'Misae' meaning white son because he had a child among the whites. The face I saw I feel was Misae but grown up.
 
I was half watching Indiana Jones and the last crusade on tv the other day, and in it I saw this vast desert scene. As I was looking at it, I felt myself thinking, I belong in the desert. That is my home.

I've always felt I have a connection to Egypt, and just looking at that sand and cloudless sky, I was drawn.
 
Yesterday I finally remembered what I think was my family crest!

http://www.samurai-archives.com/crest6.html

It's the one labeled "Sakakibara". The crest is known as "Genji-guruma", or Genji Wheel, which I have felt "close" to for some time now.

What's interesting is that this crest is similar not only to the crest of Amakusa Shiro (http://www.samurai-archives.com/crest1.html), who I fought under in 1638, but also to the family crest I designed for myself before I started my PL research...

--N.
 
Hello, Nobutada-san.

Quite interesting with the family crests. Who is this "Amakusa Shiro"?

~Seraph
 
Amakusa (Masuda) Shiro Tokisada was the general of the Christian uprising that I fought in in 1638. The rebellion was crushed, but me, my wife, and my sister-in-law escaped, and were able to live quietly in the Goto Islands, where most of the "hidden Christians" escaped to.

--N.
 
Hi Nobutada,

I guess it is like my longing for Edwardian and pre-WWII England...I'm soure it wasn't quite as good as I remember it, but it was a world I could function in well...a world I understood...England before it, too, becamed "McDonalised" like the rest of the world...so I understand this longing for the Old Past only too well.
 
I figured it out!!

I figured it out........*jumps up and down*

First of all, I was watching the end of the "Sakura Wars" movie again, and there's this scene where the major characters are all putting on a play, and the 2 main characters of the story are in the middle of the stage(surrounded by the others). Lachette (the one who caused problems in the story) is pointing a sword at Sakura, and Sakura is going on about how none of what happens matters anymore, and then she said:

Watashi ha, anata no subete wo, yurushimasu!

"I forgive all that you have done!"

And then this rush of water sweeps across the stage at their feet, and one by one, the others say Yurushimasu... (I forgive you...)

Something about that just made me want to cry, and I kept thinking of the Chinese character read "nagare" in Japanese (flow, course, change). Then I realized-- I keep blaming myself for having died in battle all those times, and I haven't forgiven myself for having "abandoned" Midori (my soulmate and wife across several lives).

But the truth is that there is no shame in giving one's life to protect a true love. But it also takes greater courage to live than to die. And Midori (and all the other people I have fought for and loved over the centuries) forgive me! And they want me to forgive myself, too! And to realize that this time, I must live for her...and for others, like my daughter Ani Sakura, who keeps on appearing in visions I've had over the last month (particularly recurring over the past 2 weeks or so).

I feel such a wonderful peace now, like an incredibly heavy burden has been lifted from my heart and my back all at once.....:D

--Nobutada
 
That's great! It's always good when you can come to terms with things that have happened to you. Anime can really realease triggers, I've noticed. I've had a similiar thing with Rurouni Kenshin.
 
Rurouni Kenshin, Sakura Wars, Gasaraki (which was the first, actually), and Ai Yori Aoshi have all triggered memories for me, actually. You're right...they're very effective.

--N.
 
Re: I figured it out!!

Originally posted by Nobutada
I figured it out........*jumps up and down*

Then I realized-- I keep blaming myself for having died in battle all those times, and I haven't forgiven myself for having "abandoned" Midori (my soulmate and wife across several lives).

But the truth is that there is no shame in giving one's life to protect a true love. But it also takes greater courage to live than to die. And Midori (and all the other people I have fought for and loved over the centuries) forgive me! And they want me to forgive myself, too! And to realize that this time, I must live for her...and for others, like my daughter Ani Sakura, who keeps on appearing in visions I've had over the last month (particularly recurring over the past 2 weeks or so).

I feel such a wonderful peace now, like an incredibly heavy burden has been lifted from my heart and my back all at once.....:D

--Nobutada
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Great to hear it, Nobutada, forgiving yourself isn't easy, particularly forgiving yourself for something you did in one or more past lives. I'm glad this happened for you :)
 
Great job - in my opinion, forgiveness - whether it be for ourselves or for others - is one of the most important things we can do in this life - or past ones.

Now move forward!

Aimee
 
I have a similar thing going on. In my previous life (in Japan), I disowned my daughter for marrying a burakumin (member of the underclass in Japan, though I hear discrmination against them isn't so bad these days). I have a disability in this life; now that I'm in the place of the burakumin (I got made fun of for it throughtout school), I see the huge mistake I made.
 
Feeling close to pre-1941 Japan

I had my first date with a friend of mine that I've known for some time now. We both admitted to each other a week ago that we had feelings for each other, so we're in the beginnings of a relationship now...even so, I'm starting to wonder if she's the one...among other things, I thought I'd mention the following: I'm feeling closer in spirit to pre-1941 "Imperial" Japan right now than ever before....but it's like I'm moving toward closer closeness slowly, carefully...that era was when I had some of the happiest memories I've had with my soulmate. So I'm just wondering if this might mean what I think it does. Or maybe it's provoking similar feelings. I dunno. Just thought I'd get that out.

Thanks to one and all.

-N.
 
Only time will tell Nobutada...as long as you enter the relationship with an open mind and no expectancy on your part, you will get your answers one way or the other. To build it into something it may not be before it has even started though, may only lead to disappointment in the end. Even if this is the one, you may well both have other lessons to learn in this lifetime, so you'd be better starting a fresh page, as opposed to trying to pick up where you left off in the past.

Listen to your heart and mind, but keep them open to all the possiblities that may be ahead ;)
 
Oh yes...I'd hate for us to pick up exactly where we left off (if this is her ), because where we left off in 1945 had a lot of death, destruction, and stuff on fire. So either way, I'm glad and grateful to have this opportunity to start on a fresh page and hopefully break the cycle that I've been stuck in for centuries-- this time I must follow the Way of the Warrior in peaceful living, not in laying down my life.

By the way, by "close to pre-1941 Japan" I mean that images, sights, even some sounds from back then are suddenly more apparent to me in flashbacks.

Thanks.

-N.
 
Japan at last

So I'm here, at last. Japan is very changed from how I remember it. It's bigger, faster, brighter....but in many ways it's still the same.

I just wish I had someone to talk to here about what I'm feeling. The way some people react to me right now they just think I have a history obsession. Which is pretty true, but it's really a matter of me wanting to find out everything that I can about things I had no way of knowing back then.

Going to Osaki Hachimangu shrine, though, was the best. I felt so peaceful, so happy...the horseback archery demo felt familiar, the shrine fair felt familiar, and when I prayed at the shrine I felt so calm-- and all that was soon followed by a flashback of myself in the World War II era, walking in to the shrine with my wife at my side. :) I could also see the two of us going to the main hall of the shrine, just like I had done on my own, and I know we prayed for success, whatever it was-- Osaki Hachiman being the shrine to the kami (god/spirit/whatever you'd like to call it) of war, that's usually what people pray for when they're there.

I wrote a story about going to the shrine to Atago, kami of love-- when I went, I got the strangest feeling that I'd been there in the late 1930s with my wife. Either that one or another shrine to the same kami-- so I wrote a story about that. It's here- http://www.greatestjournal.com/users/masayoshi/32317.html

And of course, the big 'magnum opus' painting/drawing regarding my WWII life is here-- http://www.deviantart.com/view/20118863/

-N.
 
Nobutada,

Congrats on finally making it to Japan!

I know how you feel. I remember gong to the temple with the big Buddha statue in Kamakura. When I walked into the courtyard of the temple and saw the big statue, the feeling I got was, "Home at last."

I am sorry to hear that people think you have a history obsession. It is very important that you do not come across as wierd to people there. You know the old Japanese saying, "The nail that sticks out gets hammered down."

I hope that you can work through your memories of past incarnations. The important thing to remember is that you are not in WWII any more. It does sound like you spend a lot of time thinking about the past. I hope that you will get to the point where you spend most of your time thinking abou the present and the future.

I am looking forwrd to hearing more of your travelogues. I imagine that going to Sendai will be a big day for you. Let us know when you get there, and your reactions to the place.
 
I hope that you can work through your memories of past incarnations. The important thing to remember is that you are not in WWII any more. It does sound like you spend a lot of time thinking about the past. I hope that you will get to the point where you spend most of your time thinking abou the present and the future.
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I think a lot of us spend a lot of time thinking about the past, or we wouldn't be here! :D
 
You have a point, Spocket, but I think I somewhat know what Buntaro-san might be getting at-- in the words of a very wise friend of mine: "Remember who you are , not just who you were ." That was in reference to how I told her that whenever I introduce myself in Japanese, I get the instinct, however slight, to proudly announce myself as a "Retainer of His Excellency the Lord Shogun Tokugawa Yoshinobu (or whichever shogun), so-and-so"

I am indeed keeping a diary of my travels here-- handwritten, because it means more to me that way, but I will put it up on a blog very soon. I would indeed like to share it with you all :thumbsup:

-N.
 
Matsushima

Hi all

Those of you who may have read my past few posts know that I was supposed to go to Matsushima Bay, near Sendai here in Japan. Well, I did...and now it all makes a little more sense. See, Matsushima, since the Middle Ages, has been and still is a very very holy place to Japanese people, and is one of the places in the country where souls of the dead are said to gather. Especially one island-- Oshima.

So now I know why Matsushima is so familiar and why I was desperate to go there-- somewhere deep down inside I probably knew from before I last saw Kaoru that if we were to be separated/if one or both of us were to die, we would meet again in Matsushima.

Not only that, but on one of the other islands, there is a HUGELY long bridge called the Fukuurabashi-- and if you walk across that bridge with someone you care about, it will karmically tie you ("en" in Japanese), apparently.

At Oshima there was a small shrine...and I paused to pay my tearful respects. From the shrine, the view across the water to the other islands, and the deepening dusk sky, was simply unbelievable...

-N.
 
What a great experience Nobutada! :)
Are you planning on living there sometime soon?
 
Believe me, if I could I would. But I have to return to the US next month. But...maybe someday when I retire I'll live there. :) Or maybe sooner, if I can somehow weasel my way into doing detailed research of the place. Nothing quite like getting paid to live in a country paradise. :)

-N.
 
Sounds great! I should go there sometime. There are so many places in Japan I want to go. :tongue:

Just curious--I thought you said you were going to go to Kyoto? Will you have time for that?
 
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