Yeddo Helmet?!?!

[fluteplayer07]

Interesting. Hints at both a boater, and a pith helmet, yet resembles neither.

 

[John in Covina]

I have no clue on where I get this connection but I think that there was an Asian City Police Force in like the 1930's that had these or a very similar helmet as part of their uniform.

 

[CRH]

I have no clue on where I get this connection but I think that there was an Asian City Police Force in like the 1930's that had these or a very similar helmet as part of their uniform.

Yeddo = Tokyo

 

[dhermann1]

Would that be an alternate spelling of Edo?

 

[boushi_mania]

Would that be an alternate spelling of Edo?

Yes.

Slightly fftopic: , but it's the same thing here in Osaka. The old name for the city is Naniwa, which is also sometimes written Namba (as in the name of the main central commercial district). In Tokyo's case, though, it has to do with historical romanizations of Japanese, while in Osaka, the original name's pronunciation drifted in two different directions over time.

 

[hatflick1]

Similarities?

No, it's not exactly the same. Yet, it comes close if you are interested in a summer straw that us unique.
http://www.dadshats.com/ba1pastvideh.html

 

[Mr E Train]

This one is similar. Look at the inside, that is really cool.

This one's on the 'Bay right now, by the way, not an auction, but a buy it now, being sold as a straw pith helmet.

 

[Tomasso]

This one is similar.

It looks like the one in this ad found in the Miami Daily News (August 27, 1926).


http://news.google.com/newspapers?n...VUtAAAAIBAJ&sjid=odcFAAAAIBAJ&pg=3271,2069038

 

[Edward]

Interesting hat, I've seen one or two of these before now, andhad always just assumed them to be a relative of the pith. Looking at the construction of them, they seem to be made in a similar method to the traditional, conical Chinese hats (which are still very much in use out in the paddy fields). Would make some sense if this was from Japan, I've seen a fair few similarities across Chinese and Japanese cultures.

 

[LaMedicine]

I honestly don't think it has anything to do with Japan--unless someone had it made in Japan and sold it elsewhere.
Edo era is from 1603 to 1868, and western type head gear would have been frowned up during this time.
If you ask a Japanese about an *Yeddo helmet* what they'd imagine is this.

 

[LaMedicine]

Slightly fftopic: , but it's the same thing here in Osaka. The old name for the city is Naniwa, which is also sometimes written Namba (as in the name of the main central commercial district). In Tokyo's case, though, it has to do with historical romanizations of Japanese, while in Osaka, the original name's pronunciation drifted in two different directions over time.

Osaka was already called Osaka, or Ozaka, by the Edo era. Naniwa/Namba goes further back than that, and historically, the correct name is Naniwa or further back Naniwa-zu (Naniwa Bay). Namba was never the official name of the area, it's only a deviation of the pronunciation from the letters 難波. The oldest record of the name Osaka is in a document from 1496. Toyotomi Hideyoshi built a castle in and named it Osaka-jo (Osaka castle), and beyond this, the city was called Osaka, as well as the period that he ruled Japan being often called Osaka-jidai, Osaka era. THe city developed as the major economic center in Japan during the Edo era.
Edo was Edo from the beginning. It means mouth of the river. (Osaka BTW means large slope.) It was changed to Tokyo, which means East Capital, when the Edo era ended and the Emperor moved from Kyoto to Tokyo. "Kyo" means capital/city where the Emperor resides.

 

[boushi_mania]

Osaka was already called Osaka, or Ozaka, by the Edo era. Naniwa/Namba goes further back than that, and historically, the correct name is Naniwa or further back Naniwa-zu (Naniwa Bay). Namba was never the official name of the area, it's only a deviation of the pronunciation from the letters 難波.

It seems to me that the pronunciation was sort of "locked in" as "Naniwa" for the sake of poetry and historical things, while it mutated into "Namba" in the mouths of merchants and such over time. They are considered distinct terms now, though they share the same characters and both apply to Osaka (albeit in different ways).

Poetic: なには (naniɸa) → なにわ (naniwa)
Common speech: なには (naniɸa) → なんは (nanɸa) → なんば (nanba)

Anyhow, the dictionary I have gives "Naniwa-e" (難波江; "Naniwa Inlet") and "Naniwa-gata" (難波潟 "Naniwa Lagoon") and not "Naniwa-tsu". They're both about the same, meaning-wise; this suggests to me, though, that "Osaka" was properly the edge of the plateau (around where the castle, and the Buddhist temple that existed before it, were built), and that "Naniwa" was properly the inlet to the west. Considering this fact, it would make perfect sense for Namba to be named as it is, considering its location west of the Uemachi Plateau, where it would have originally been underwater. The oldest historical and religious landmarks are all on the plateau (or what would have been nearby islands), with the Kawachi Plain to the east and the western business/manufacturing districts only filling in gradually through the deposition of large amounts of sediment.

...And we've gone from talking about the origins of a helmet that bears the old name of Tokyo, to arguing over the evolution of the name of Japan's second city. [huh]

 

[LaMedicine]

I know we are going totally fftopic: but for the sake of what's commonly known in Japan in general--you living in Osaka of course would mean that you'd be exposed to specific theories and notes, and I'm not saying that it's not correct, I am only saying what is commonly taught in Japanese schools and as common knowledge in general, or, was taught to my generation at least, but I do know that it's also what my daughters were taught.
Anyway-- Naniwa-zu is historically correct because that was what the harbor was called in ancient times--and by that, I mean the mid 7C--and are on records as such. During this historic era, the location of the Imperial Palace/capital migrated with the retirement/death of the Emperor, or with such disasters as epidemics dieases, and a few of these palaces such as and Naniwa-no-Nagara-no-Toyosaki-no-Miya and Naniwa-no-Miya were located in the Uemachi Plateau area, though the majority migrated within the Nara-Asuka area.
As I wrote before, "Namba", to the Japanese, is a deviation of the pronunciation, and as a location, now refers to a very specific area within the city of Osaka, as well as being used as a term referring specifically to Osaka merchants who were referred to as "Namba shonin" starting most likely during the Edo era. The term "Kamikata shonin" was also commonly used during this era to indicate merchants from both Osaka and Kyoto.
Since you were referring to Edo=Tokyo, in that context, Naniwa=Osaka would be the correct *evolution*, Namba should be excluded in this case.

 

[boushi_mania]

(snip)

Since you were referring to Edo=Tokyo, in that context, Naniwa=Osaka would be the correct *evolution*, Namba should be excluded in this case.

That's a fair point, and probably something I could have articulated better. I didn't mean to suggest that "Namba" was ever used officially to apply to the whole city, merely that the word grew out of "Naniwa" as a product of common use and the location of the area which now bears the name. It also appears that my dictionary is rather incomplete, as all three variants (-zu, -e, -gata) are listed elsewhere.

*clears throat* But anyhow...

How about those hats?