Place of the first kick

I visited Shimogammo Shrine for the first time in a while. I usually go straight back along the approach to the shrine from Tadasu-no-mori forest, but I went through the horse stable located right next to the shrine. This is where the horseback archery event "Yabusame" is held on May 3.



Walking through the fresh greenery, I spotted something strange at a small shrine!



A big Rugby ball!

This Sadawasha Shrine is widely revered as a rugby shrine!



Here in Tadasunomori, Keio University students taught rugby to Kyoto University students in 1910, which was the beginning of Kansai rugby. I forgot to take a crucial photo, but there was a stone monument "the place of the first kick" standing next to the shrine.
The history of Japanese Rugby was engraved in such a familiar place.
.t

New release App - "Audio Tone Generator Plus" for iPhone

"Audio Tone Generator Plus" has been newly released now!

"Audio Tone Generator Plus" is a new integrated sound signal generator application that produces a variety of audio test tones.

This app can be used in a wide range of fields as a reference sound source for audio system testing, sound tuning, hearing testing, SR fields and more.

It has four types of signal generators as follows, and can generate sine wave signal, frequency sweep, chirp signal, colored noise with octave-band noise.

- Sine wave generator:
It includes sine wave generator that generates a pure tone with a high precision of DVD quality and a frequency accuracy of 0.1Hz.



- Frequency Sweep generator:
It has linear sine wave frequency sweep/warble signal. Upward/downward sweep is possible.

　

- Frequency Chirp generator：
It is short-time sweep signal with linear or exponential frequency change. Chirp signal generation time and start delay time can be adjusted.



- Colored Noise generator with Octave-band noise：
It produces White noise, Pink noise, Brown noise, Blue noise, Purple noise and Gray noise. It can also generate 1/1 and 1/3 octave band colored noise with user-configurable frequency octave-band filter. Multiple selections of arbitrary bands are possible. Burst noise can also be output with 4 different duty ratios.

　

- Octave-band noise：
It can also generate 1/1 and 1/3 octave band colored noise with user-configurable frequency octave-band filter. Multiple selections of arbitrary bands are possible.

　

If you are interested in this app, please click the following link to display on the product information of App Store^TM.

Cherry blossoms in full bloom in Kyoto

The cherry blossoms were in full bloom in Kyoto City, and since the temperature did not rise much after the blooming was declared, I was able to enjoy them for an unexpectedly long time.



Demizu's weeping cherry tree in Kyoto Gyoen.



Weeping cherry tree at the site of Konoe's residence in Kyoto Gyoen.



Someiyoshino at Kiyamachi





Cherry Blossoms at Gion Shirakawa.
.t

Signs of spring in Kyoto.

Cherry blossoms were declared to have begun blooming on March 24. It seems that spring has begun in Kyoto.

So I took a stroll in Kyoto-gyoen national park to see how things are going. However, here was mainly composed of yamazakura (mountain cherry), satozakura (town cherry), and shidarezakura (weeping cherry), and no someiyoshino (Most popular cherry) is planted there, so I had nothing to do with the declaration of cherry blossom blooming.



The large weeping cherry tree on the Demizu creek is only about half in bloom. It will be in full bloom by the middle of next week. The satozakura and yamazakura cherry trees are still in bud, so it will be a while before they are in full bloom.



Peach blossoms are just at their best in the peach grove. Plum blossoms were late in blooming, so the late-blooming plums are at their best in the plum grove. Now we can enjoy full blooming of three spring flowers at the same time.
.t

Walking in Kyoto Gyoen park in warm spring-like weather

For the first time this year, the temperature in Kyoto City exceeded 20 degrees Celsius, making the weather warmer.

I took a short walk in Kyoto Gyoen National Park. I used to come here often last year, but the very cold weather and COVID-19 have kept me away in this winter.

Plum blossoms were in full bloom around Demizu creek. In the plum grove, many of the plum trees were only half in bloom. If the warm weather continues, we will see much blooming this weekend.



The wax plum trees were also in full bloom.



Peaches grove were beginning to bloom with buds swelling considerably. The early-blooming weeping cherry trees are still hard in bud, so it will be a while before they bloom.
.t

3.11 - 11th years of Great East Japan earthquake

Eleven years have passed since that terrible day.

Will time heal the painful and sad memories?
No, there must be something that we should not forget even if it is painful. The efforts to recover from the disaster caused by the massive tsunami and the nuclear power plant accident in Fukushima are still going on.

Now, many people in Ukraine are suffering and struggling. Their grief is our pain. We must not try to destroy the world peace order that was built on the reflection of the tragic events of World War II. May peace come to Ukraine!
.t

Prayers for Ukraine from Nijojo Castle, Kyoto.

Nijojo Castle in Kyoto, a World Heritage Site, was lit up in the colors of the Ukrainian flag!

Kyoto city and Kiev in Ukraine are sister cities, and this is an expression of solidarity with Ukraine and a wish for peace.

The current tragic war situation involving ordinary citizens is heartbreaking.

Furthermore, war attacks on nuclear power plants are criminal acts that endanger the existence of the entire human race, and cannot be tolerated for any reason. Calls for an immediate halt to the war of aggression against Ukraine.
.t

Kind of Blue - World of fountain ink.

I never intended to get into anything other than audio, but...

In this age of COVID-19 disasters, I thought it might be good to immerse myself in another world for a little while. And now, I'm reexamining the world around me.



Now I'm becoming obsessed with fountain pen inks.

This is a "Pelikan Royal Blue" that I owned a few years ago.
It is a standard dye ink made in Germany, a very nice blue, and I was inspired by this color. (The top line in the photo above is this ink, a vivid blue with a purple tinge, but the exposure doesn't do justice to the color in this photo.)

Fountain pen inks have evolved to such an amazing degree that I am stunned by the state of modern inks.



Sailor's pigment inks, pure black "Kiwaguro", blue black "Seiboku" and "Souboku", have been my personal standard for the past seven years.

I was convinced that the current pigmented inks were good enough because they solved the critical problems of water resistance and ageing of fountain pen inks. The reason why I can use fountain pens normally for business purposes is because of the commercialization of pigment inks with ultra-fine particle nano technology.

So I never thought of going back to the origin of ink, dye ink.

But now, what kind of dye ink should I choose?

I tried to choose a few variations of blue ink based on the ink images posted on the Internet.



There, I found Sailor's ink series "SHIKIORI" . It had as many as 20 color variations, and the exquisite naming was very enjoyable.



In the end, I chose the blue inks "Souten" and "Yamadori", which have slightly different color tastes.

Here is a comparison of the two inks. Written with Sailor "Fude DE Mannen" (nib angle: 40 degrees).



Pelikan Royal Blue is a graceful purple-ish blue, Souten is the color of a clear early summer sky, and Yamadori is a deep green forest rather than blue.

Once again, I fell in love with the beauty of Pelikan Royal Blue. And in the future, I think I will use "Soten" more often as a new blue ink.

I was convinced that the ink madness is gradually increasing. Once again, I realized the richness of human sensitivity.

I'm going to try to immerse myself in the world of blue pigment inks for a while.
.t

P.S. Hopefully, those in power should make every effort to bring about a peaceful world we can all feel a little happier. Never destroy it easily. No war!

New updated - "Audio Tone Generator Lite" ver 5.0 - Free of charge!

"Audio Tone Generator Lite" has been updated to ver 5.0 today.

"Audio Tone Generator Lite" is a high quality audio signal generator app for iPhone.

It will help you to make the sound benchmark for testing your audio equipment and loudspeakers, your listening environment and room acoustics or your hearing check.

With the latest version, the UI design has been revamped to a brighter and more visible image, and stability has been improved.



This app can create the audio reference signals as Sinewave, Sinewave Sweep, White Noise and Pink Noise.

The signals created by this app can be best used in conjunction with external devices, such as an audio spectrum analyzer or a sound level meter.





Please to click the following link to view more information about "Audio Tone Generator Lite" app on App Store^TM.

New updated - "Vibroscope Lite" ver 5.0 - Free of charge!

"Vibroscope Lite" has been updated to ver 5.0 today!

"Vibroscope Lite" is a vibration measuring app by using iPhone's acceleration sensor.

"Vibroscope Lite" is a free app that is simplified the measurement function of "Vibroscope".

This app can be intuitively detected an acceleration amount, that displays the two-axial coordinates in the horizontal direction and the time-axis waveform in the vertical direction.

It can measure by determining the horizontal or vertical direction to suit the attitude of the iPhone automatically, so as to be available on the floor and desk or handheld.



The peak value of vibration acceleration can also be displayed in the "GAL" unit used in seismographs.

　

Please to click the following link to view more information of this app on App Store^TM.