i love to watch movies. aside from porn (hehe), i watch english-subtitled foreign movies. i barely remember luis bunuel's "belle de jour" starring the young and delicious catherine deneuve. i think i dozed off during most parts of the movie. but i love to watch again and again pedro almodovar's "!Atame!" with antonio banderas and victora abril and nagisa oshima's erotic "ai no korida." i even endured the maoist epic "dongfang hong" depicting the history of the chinese communist party which was shown at the government-owned national library when martial law was still very much rampaging across the country (how that was possible i still cant figure out until now).
among my favorites is akira kurosawa's "kagemusha" (shadow warrior) .. about japanese feudal lord takeda shingen and his "double" (the kagemuha). this i first saw when i was still in college, at a film retrospective which included another favorite, woody allen's "annie hall."
in one of the movie's scenes involving takeda shingen's young grandson takemaru, shingen's bodyguard sohachiro tsuchiya and the kagemusha, there was this following dialogue:
in one of the movie's scenes involving takeda shingen's young grandson takemaru, shingen's bodyguard sohachiro tsuchiya and the kagemusha, there was this following dialogue:
Takemaru: Why are you called a mountain, grandfather?
Kagemusha: [Unaware of the legend behind Shingen's nickname] "Mountain"? Takemaru: Everybody calls you that. Where is the mountain? Is it because we have this mountain in our garden?
Sohachiro Tsuchiya: [Quickly intervening to cover for Kagemusha's ignorance] You know the master's banner. What is printed there?
Takemaru: [Reciting the slogan on the Takeda clan's banner] Swift as the wind... Quiet as a forest... Fierce as fire... Immovable as a mountain.
Sohachiro Tsuchiya: The lord is that mountain. Both in battle and at home, he is steadfast, like a mountain. When his army advances, first the horsemen attack, swift as the wind. Second, the lancers raise a forest of spears, advancing with silent resolve. Third, more horsemen engulf the enemy ranks, as mercilessly as fire. And the lord is always behind them, watching over them, immovable as a mountain. That is why our army, from general to foot soldier, can fight so resolutely... Immovable as a mountain. The lord is that mountain. So we call him "the mountain."
the takeda battle banner slogans:
Swift as the wind
Quiet as a forest
Fierce as fire
Immovable as a mountain
usually abbreviated as "wind, forest, fire, mountain" (fuu rin ka zan in japanese), were taken from sun tzu's art of war (chapter 7).
these same words i later adopted in my stock trading ..
swift as the wind ...
silent as the forest ...
ravagingly merciless like fire ...
and immovable as a mountain .. one pointed, focused and steadfast
hence .. the title of this blog.
