With chapter 152, we have a glimpse into the tattoo on Takiishi and Endo's shoulders.
Let's disect it!
Breech-loading swivel gun – or Furanki (仏郎機砲, "Frankish gun") in Japanese (Turnbull, 2006) – was one of the first cannons used in Japan. Coming from the Portuguese, these early European models were either called ishibiya (石火矢) or furankihō (フランキ砲) (Gunsen History, 2019), the latter bears similarity with the gun's Chinese name "Folangji", which comes from the Turkish name "Prangi" or Turkic "Farangi" (Chase, 2003). This explains the "Frank" on the tattoo.
I was trying to see if the wheel in the tattoo has any other meanings, but as far as I know, it is simply the wheel of the cannon. The same structure can be observed from Nii Satoru's drawing of the cannon wheel with 4 main spokes and 4 additional, underlying spokes. (Most wheel symbols in Hinduism or Buddhism are eight-spoked wheels).
The right-most part of the tattoo appears to be the rings and the button at the base of the cannon. It is pretty similar to what we'd see with a top-down view of the plan below.
Note. From Oozutsu cannon Japan 16th century [image] by Unknown author. Wikimedia Commons, 2010. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Oozutsu_cannon_Japan_16th_century.jpg
The illustration of the wolf was cleverly combined into the cannon. Its hind legs turned into the cannon base while its fur blended into the fire surrounding the cannon.
Wolves have many symbolic meanings, but here I believe Endo was trying to highlight Takiishi's fierceness. Takiishi is an untamed, lone wolf. He doesn't obey the rules; and Takiishi's world, as per Endo's explanation, has no one other than Takiishi (of course until Umemiya makes an entrance).
Japanese Ishibiya (石火矢) hand cannons are also early firearms in Japan and have made an appearance in the movie Princess Mononoke.
If you find Endo's explanation confusing, here's a more visualised version for it.
Takiishi Chika (焚石 矢)
焚 (taki): to burn, or anger. This character is made up of two 木 (trees) and one 火 (fire)
石 (ishi): stone, or rock
矢 (chika): arrow
Ishibiya (石火矢)
石 (ishi): stone, or rock
火 (bi): fire
矢 (ya): arrow, projectile
Occasionally, Furanki guns were also called Kuni-kuzushi by the Ōtomo clan, which means country destroyer (Gunsen History, 2019).
Kunikuzushi (国崩し)
国 (kuni): country, or nation
崩 (kuzu) し(shi): breakdown
References
Chase, K. W. (2003). Firearms : a global history to 1700. Cambridge University Press.
Gunsen History (2019). Taihō (大砲): Japanese Cannons and Artillery. Gunbai: Ancient Japanese Warfare. https://gunbai-militaryhistory.blogspot.com/
Turnbull, S. R. (2006). Samurai : the world of the warrior. Osprey
Unknown Author. (2010). Oozutsu cannon Japan 16th century [image]. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Oozutsu_cannon_Japan_16th_century.jpg
Hello, my name is Jaafar from North Gaza. I previously created a GoFoundMe donation campaign, and when I got $2,400, they deleted the campaign without knowing the reason. Please support me in my new campaign, Chuffed. Any amount you donate, even if it is small, will help buy flour and vegetables for my family. The price of everything we have is many times its normal price. Please help save my family from starvation! 🥹🙏
✅️Vetted by @gazavetters, my number verified on the list is ( #299 )✅️
https://chuffed.org/project/helpjaafar
@dlxxv-vetted-donations & @a-shade-of-blue
@gazavetters , my number the list is ( #75 )
paliliberation , my number the list is ( #171 )
Our important links here
this one did numbers on tt
Bags of Sugar in Aid Shipment is Replaced with Bags of Sand
Starting again on July 1st is my favorite online artist event: Art Fight! If you have OCs, and enjoy making and receiving art involving OCs, then I highly suggest you check out the site and set up an account!
For those who aren’t familiar with Art Fight, here’s a brief overview:
Each year, participating artists are split into two teams.
The main goal is to find any artist from the team opposite yours, and ‘attack’ them by drawing art of their ocs! Your team receives points based on what you create.
Artists that receive attacks can then ‘counter’ by drawing an OC belonging to the person who fought them, or pay it forward by simply attacking anyone on the opposing team!
The official about page with more in depth information is located here! There’s also a video format for this information that can be watched here!
Art Fight is a great chance to interact with tons of different artists, get to know the amazing OCs that others have created, and have a lot of fun making art! The art you receive is also very exciting; you never know who may attack you! Keep in mind, it’s all in good fun and any skill level is welcome!!
The event lasts a month (July 1st - August 1st), and the team with the most points by the end wins!
I hope to see you there!!
What a sweet and powerful gesture. It's frustrating when people say "what do you expect them to do? they're entertainers not activists!" look at how simple this gesture of solidarity is and how resonant it is! This is wonderful.
I accept death in Gaza, I lost the one who made me cling to this life, but I cannot bear to lose my father, brothers and sisters. I just want to tell you that it has been six and a half months since I opened the donation campaign for my family, and during this period we have lost many new family members, from my father being arrested by the Zionists and tortured, to my brother Mohammed being shot by a sniper, to our displacement to the south. I have been appealing to you for more than six months, asking you all to get me and my family out of the war zone. I cannot imagine Lulu’s future here after she lost her father in the bombing of our house and became an orphan suffering from fractures and malnutrition. I ask you all to unite together to help me achieve the goal. I am too shy to ask, but I trust you. Please do not leave me alone. Every dollar will be used to save my family.
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I can’t stop thinking about Tala Abu Ajwa.
She was 10 years old.
Killed by Israel on the 4th of September, 2024.
Blue period ch 69 is very relatable :D
As an art student, I’ve had many similar thoughts :)