About Me
- Alyssa
- I live and teach English in Hachinohe, Aomori, Japan. While not working I like to ride horses, read, and travel.
Well, it's finally warming up here (and by warming I mean a high of 50...), so that means more riding, YEAH! Yabusame is this month, plus there are shows coming up in May, June, and November. Time to get back in shape and get the horses back in shape too. I've been working on the website, trying to get it all updated, before I have more stuff to put up. It's frustrating but fun too.
Recently I've decided to try Yoga out. It keeps being recommended to me so I thought I'd try it. I'm still not sure what I think so I will write more after I go a few more times.
The new semester started yesterday. There are a lot of changes going on now with the teachers so I'm a bit nervous with how things will turn out, since I had such good relationships with the old teachers. I hope everything works out!
This was the amazing amount of snow we had yesterday. I had to shovel it out but there wasn't really anywhere to put the snow after... I estimate that we got 70 + centimeters of snow yesterday. Commuting was horrible today, Hachinohe is terrible at cleaning up the snow. The buses weren't running when I had to go to a school today, so we had to take a taxi, which took forever. Luckily by the end of the day a lot of the snow had melted and the roads were a bit better. I hope the temperatures stay up tomorrow so that it keeps melting.
Expert: Horses in terracotta army 'castrated'
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-03-01 16:20
XI'AN - Most of the clay horses unearthed from the mausoleum of Qinshihuang, the first emperor of a united China, had been "castrated", a Chinese archeologist said after studying more than 600 of the life-sized animals.
All the 520 horses that pulled chariots in the terracotta army, unearthed from the mausoleum on the outskirts of Xi'an, capital of the northwestern Shaanxi province, had penises but no testes, said Yuan Jing, an archeologist with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
The situation varied, however, with the 116 cavalry horses, he said. "Some of them were castrated but many others were not."
While the ancient craftsmen -- and possibly the emperor himself -- wanted the chariot horses to appear tame, Yuan said they might have intentionally retained the testes to add to animals' valorous look.
Written descriptions of castrated pigs have previously been found on shells and bones at least 3,000 years old, and Yuan said these were the earliest evidence of animal castration ever found. "These indicate that castration of animals was prevalent more than 2,000 years ago."
"The new finding will help our research into how once unruly horses were tamed by humans and played a role on the battlefield," Yuan said. "It might also help to unravel more secrets about the terracotta army."
Xi'an-based archeologist Hu Songmei, however, said it might be still too early to draw any conclusions. "We need to see proof of castration from horse remains."
Hu, a researcher with Shaanxi Provincial Institute of Archeology, said research on horse skeletons might reveal signs of castration.
In one of the latest findings, several horse skeletons were unearthed near Chang'an district, in the heart of the ancient Chinese capital.
Most experts believe the terracotta army of archers, infantrymen and charioteers was designed to help Qinshihuang, the first emperor of the Qin Dynasty (221 BC - 207 BC), rule in the afterlife.
The army was one of the greatest archeological finds of modern times. It was discovered in Lintong county, 35 km east of Xi'an, in 1974 by peasants who were digging a well.
The discovery, listed as a world heritage site by UNESCO in December 1987, has turned Xi'an into one of China's major tourist attractions.
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2010-03/01/content_9520353.htm
It's snowing today, *sarcasm* yeah *end sarcasm*
No really there is over half a meter out there and it's still coming down. Up side is that they are actually plowing the roads, down side is it's freaking March. I want spring!!
Had graduation at the Jr. High Schools today. It went well, but the kids were crying buckets. They're really going to miss each other. I'll miss them too. I wish them all the best next year!
Found the dates for Sakura Yabusame in April! I'm looking forward to it, but I hope the weather cooperates so that I can get in riding shape before then, why do they not have indoor riding arenas!!