€70,433 Raised Out Of 80,000

An in-depth of the Takiishi Chika tattoo

With chapter 152, we have a glimpse into the tattoo on Takiishi and Endo's shoulders.

Let's disect it!

Furanki

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 wolf

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).

Name references between Takiishi Chika and Ishibiya

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

Kunikuzushi (国崩し)

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 

I cannot stress enough, how important I think this scene is for Endo and Takiishi's relationship

Because Umemiya has just told him "the trick to being with someone who'll change your world". Hes told him to start calling people by their names, to awknowledge them, to show them that he sees them. Because that is the way you let someone affect and influence you, by first awknowledging that they exist.

He then proceeds to immediately follow this advice, and in my opinion sort of test it out, and call Umemiya by name.

Now, what I think is so incredibly important, is him calling Endo by name. Him actively and consciously choosing to awknowledge him and his existence, and show him that he's looking at him.

Because he could've just, not done that. Or he could've done it later. But I think it is incredibly important that he does it immediately. He makes the decision to show Endo that he sees him, something that Endo likely hasn't experienced even once in their years together.

And I don't know, maybe I'm just stating the obvious or something..

But it's just such an important little scene, because this wasn't something Endo thought he was ever going to get. He was fully ready to keep on going as usual, doing and working towards what Takiishi wants, to find Takiishi interesting people so he can use Umemiya's advice on someone other than him.

But in just this small moment, hes validated Endo's entire existence, that he does mean something to Takiishi, and that maybe he can have the things he truly loves.

I also really don't think that Endo has expressed what he wants or needs to Takiishi, like ever. They really do not communicate well. But this scene shows us thta they're going to get better, that they are going to start understanding each other more.

via @wizard_bisan1

21 January 2024

Hi everyone, it’s Bisan from Gaza, I am still alive Alhamdullah.. it’s been 107 days of genocide, 15 weeks, 2568 hours of killing us, taking over our homes and lands in Gaza Strip, and forcing us to choose between leaving or death.. and sometimes we can’t even choose.. the Israeli air strikes simply kill us without any warnings. Now, we are without any connection, neither the internet nor the cellular, we can’t reach each other’s inside Gaza, we don’t know if our families and friends are alive or not, wounded or not.. still in their places or not! We take hours of walking and searching to reach someone, while moving became very risky! We can’t reach to you as well! The footage, information and news from Gaza are not reaching you as before because the Israeli army intentionally destroyers the signal towers and the servers, even using the E-SIM requires being in a high place which is very risky!. I borrowed this vest to upload this post! I am not scared of death, but of being displaced, scared of losing my family or friends, scared of being wounded and can’t have my treatment because the health system is collapsed in Gaza, and to die in pain! I am not scared of the destruction.. I lost my work place.. my home and my family work place and source of income, I am terrified of being killed by an occupier, and to be forgotten, one oppressed Bisan of a whole occupied people. The strongest governments and weapons manufacturers are supporting this genocide against my people, and you are our only hope! STRIKE globally and call for a ceasefire! Strike, protest, stop the economic movements and make pressure on your countries to stand against this and stop it, if ISRAhell don’t find the financial and weapons support, or governments to hide their crimes they will be forced to stop the genocide! Go to the streets, protest and Globally strike for a week, (21-28) January! YALLA Brave and free people of the world, CEASEFIRE NOW!

It is not our fault to be born and die in the middle of rubble and war!!

These are my innocent children ، I hope you will help me so that I can protect them from war and survive this hideous war with them. 🙏🙏

When you donate and post Dont forget

100$ USA=1100kron Norwegian 🍉

gofundme.com

Donate to Help my family to be in safe place, organized by Ahmed Al-habil

I am physiotherapist Ahmed Al-Habil from Gaza I have been displaced from my home si… Ahmed Al-habil needs your support for Help my family t

@newsfrom-theworld

@witchywitchy @soon-palestine @mee-op

@fairuzfan @sayruq @palipunk @tsaricides

@riding-with-the-wild-hunt

@elierlick @blackpearlblast

@child-of-thecosmos

@90-ghost @nabulsi

@el-shab-hussein

@etherealvistas

@yohioloid

@ibtisams @nouh-the-bored-reader @gilliga @gazagfmboost @omenoidenunohtelia

Do any of u have decent recipes that are like 5 ingredients (not including spices) and take 45 mins or less to prepare i gotta stop eating sandwiches for dinner

Marcelat Sakobi of Democratic Republic of Congo, at the end of the women’s round of 32 boxing match against Uzbekistan's Sitora Turdibekova, made a strong gesture to raise awareness of the ongoing genocide in the DR Congo by placing her hand in front of her mouth and pointing two fingers at her temple.

Resources for Congo:

Friends of Congo

Panzi Foundation

War Child

CammeDRCongo

Genocide Watch

A guide to the decades-long conflict in DR Congo

Democratic Republic of the Congo: Industrial mining of cobalt and copper for rechargeable batteries is leading to grievous human rights abuses.

An explanation thread from 2019.

Books on Congo.

Feel free to let me know of other resources to add.

he has consumed my brain

It's time for a new Project. This time i wanna be witch from Witch Hat Atelier. I started with the white dress they wear under the iconic big cape. For that i used the pattern 120 from the 08/2011 burda style magazine as a base for the top part and the sleeves.

I added the button placket first to the front part and marked where the 7 buttons are gonna sit. Then i decided a point at the armhole and connected that point to the top and the bottom of the button placket. After that i measured the space and divided that by 7 and marked each line with that result. To each line i added 0,7 cm for the pintucks later. For the back part i did it similar. For the sleeves i split off the bottom part and added space for another button placket. To the top sleeve part i added more space to the middle so the sleeve will be fuller and puffy. In the end my pattern looked like this: (all the dark gray parts got thrown away)

I also constructed a collar for the dress from scratch and for the bottom part of the white dress i used a simple rectangle as big as all the fabric that i had left after i cutted all the parts for the top part. Now to the fun part: sewing! The first thing i made was all the pintucks in the front and the back. That took more time than i thought because i sewed really slow to make them as accurate and neat as possible. After that i pieced the two front parts together and added the button plackets in the front and in the back. Next was the shoulder seam - I hid that one under another pintuck so it's barely visible!  Because the embroidered fabric i chose is pretty thin and see-through i sewed in a lining. After that i sewed on the collar.

Then i prepared the bottom part of the dress by sewing on the lining. I made sure the scalloped edge from the fabric is still visible. I also made this for the bottom part of the sleeves. After that i pinned the skirt part onto the dress. Thought it would be good to use my dress form for that but in the end i just measured the distance between the highest and the lowest point of the V-shaped front part and the A-shaped back part. With that i could mark these points on the side and the middle of the skirt and could connected the points. Then i could cut off the excess fabric. Next i gathered the skirt fabric at the top, sewed it on the top part. Lastly i also gathered the fabric for the top part of the sleeves into a puffy sleeve and sewed that on the dress - then the dress was done~

The absolute silence today is gut wrenching. Leaflets were dropped on the west bank telling palistinians to go to Jordan. Last time they told them to go south and they got bombed. Everything about Palestine has suddenly dropped off trending and we know that staff has been suppressing the tags #free palestine and #palestine. Now its has to be every single tag that was trending, because i just simply do not believe we stopped talking about it over night. I feel so hopeless about this shit but the only thing we can do rn is to not stop talking. We have to stop trying to bury our heads in the sand and keep posting as if it was normal because its not normal. Palestinians don't get a break from the horror, the least we can do for them is to make sure their suffering isn't silent.

I am consumed by fear that my mother might die in Gaza while I am far away, unable to help her. The thought of her suffering alone in such a dangerous place breaks my heart. I feel so helpless and terrified, knowing I can't be there to protect her or bring her to safety. Every day is filled with anxiety and dread, as I hope and pray for her survival amidst the chaos.

gofundme.com

Donate to My mother's life is in danger, time is running out, organised by Issam Aziz

My name is Issam Aziz, and I am 26 years old, living in the Netherlands.… Issam Aziz needs your support for My mother's life is in danger, t