Re: PC Police squelch Manji

From: James Rose (ceo_at_fat24.com)
Date: 12/30/04 

Date: Thu, 30 Dec 2004 21:30:30 GMT

This reminds me of a trip to Nagano. If you've been there, then you know
there is a supremely fantastic temple nearby in the "Japanese Alps" called
Zenkoji, with what is purported to be one of the oldest known Buddhas in
Japan (which itself is a whole other thread as it happens to be a three
headed Buddha).

I was photographing the temple when a very politically astute colleague
asked me not to be in the photo... which I was a bit shocked at. It was
because there were huge white canvasas hanging around the temple, each with
the symbol in question blazzened on it. He told me that the symbols on the
temple were too controversial for him to be seen with them by people back in
Cambridge (MA - AKA the PC capital of the Universe)... and sure enough, if
you gave yourself a labotomy and pretended it was 1945 in Berlin, it sure
did seem like we were standing in the middle of a weird kind of Nazi temple.
But I thought how insane... I mean who is this mysterious fool that will not
be able to tell the difference from context - this fool that some are so
afraid of stirring up? As any reasonable person familiar with things asian
knows this is a symbol of peace and love... and is embossed on countless
Buddhist icons. My colleague by the way, was not Jewish.

One time long ago, while playing the devil's advocate and asking a
born-again Christian colleague why he celebrates Christmas in December when
Jesus was born in April and the Christmas tree was a pagan fertility symbol
etc. etc... he told me "I know all that... but we're reclaiming the
Christmas tree for Christ". Seems to me that the "swastika" has been
symbolizing peace and love on earth for many many more years and for many
more people in history (and the present) than the old Nazi variety ever did.
Why can't it be reclaimed too?

Other than that... the Japanese have no business monkeying with Kempo... as
its the intellectual property of the Okinawaans... (^_^)

in article 20041230034711.14386.00002356@mb-m13.aol.com, Gyumaoh at
gyumaoh@aol.compost.net wrote on 12/30/04 3:47 AM:

> Shorinji Kempo group to change swastika symbol+
>
> TAKAMATSU, Japan, Dec. 24 (Kyodo) - A Shorinji Kempo martial arts group based
> in Kagawa Prefecture has decided to change its symbol because its similarity
> to
> the Nazi swastika has hindered efforts to popularize the art abroad, group
> members told Kyodo News on Friday.
>
> For more than 40 years the Shorinji Kempo Federation Foundation has been using
> the symbol, which originates in Sanskrit and has no relation to the Nazi
> swastika, they said. It is known as "manji" in Japanese.
>
> "We want to register a new symbol (as a trademark) in as many counties as
> possible and popularize Shorinji Kempo throughout the world," said Yuki So,
> 47,
> head of the group.
>
> A new symbol, which will be publicized in January and implemented in April,
> looks like a circle and means "self-definition" and "care for others," an
> extension of the idea and form of manji, So said.
>
> The league, based in the town of Tadotsu, Kagawa, has overseas offices in
> about
> 30 countries mainly in Europe, Asia and the United States with about 1.5
> million members in Japan and abroad.
>
> So's late father Doshin started Shorinji Kempo martial arts in 1947, learning
> from the art of self-defense studied by Buddhist ascetic monks in China.
>
> The manji, a Buddhist character that originally stood for "good deeds" and
> looks like a reversed Nazi swastika, was registered as the group's trademark
> in
> Japan in 1961. But the United States and some European countries refused to
> register it, the group members said.
>
> In such countries, the foundation has alternatively used a crest featuring a
> Chinese character meaning "fist" or "blow."
>
> In 1997, a U.S. Jewish group complained to a Japanese toy maker for printing
> manji on playing cards featuring popular Pokemon cartoon characters. The maker
> then stopped using the symbol.
>
>
> 12/23/04 23:20 EST
>
>
>
> ?SYNTAX ERROR
> READY.
>

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