the art of ORR MARSHALL

Patsu-kin & Hana-pī: The first term is a reversal of kinpatsu (golden hair), the Japanese word for blonde. Reversal of word parts occurs in young people’s slang. Hana-pī is short for hana-piasu (nose-piercing). The beginning of an insulting epithet (the rest is covered by posters and the central figure). Onna wa damatte Ramune: There used to be ads showing a rugged character such as the actor Mifune Toshirō holding a glass beside the words, “A man keeps quiet (and drinks his) Sapporo Beer.” In the same outlined calligraphy style, this says, “A woman keeps quiet (and drinks her) Ramune” (an old-time carbonated soft drink). Otogi-bōko: An old-fashioned stuffed doll, formerly hung next to babies to soak up any evil influences that might come nearby. Panda-meiku vs. Gyaku-panda: “Panda-makeup vs. reverse-panda” (i.e., heavy black around the eyes vs. white around the eyes). Vertical graffiti below this say, “Three applications of foundation, five applications of mascara.” He no he no mo he ji: Picture of a face made with four hiragana from the Japanese phonetic syllabary, へ (he), の (no), も (mo), じ (ji), drawn to the accompaniment of a simple tune: Each hiragana is written as the note is sung. This picture is the oldest and best-known ekaki-uta (picture-drawing song), a children’s game which is perhaps unique to Japan. There are many more of these songs, not all made with hiragana, but more often with simple straight or curved lines, circles, dots, etc. A child says a verse, draws the lines and finishes with a simple picture of a person, animal, object or scene. Rakugaki subekarazu: “Do not write graffiti.”