CHESMAYNE

rainbow                                                                              tulips from holland

 

 

Florescence

 

 

Van Gogh Irises jigsaw puzzle.  A beautiful work of art in a 1,000 piece jigsaw puzzle. “Irises” is one of Van Gogh’s most-loved works.  Finished size is 26.5” x 17.4”.  Made in Austria by Piatnik. 

The opening set of moves (beginning to flower).   Many floral symbols exist ie,

01 The rose is an ancient and universal symbol used in many traditions.   It represents pain (thorn) and beauty (flower).    Adonis Flower: a rose, once white, but coloured red by the blood of Aphrodite when pricked by a thorn while rushing to help the fallen Adonis.    Symbol of crowning achievement (blossom), feminine beauty.   Flowers and butterflies (short lived).    Ikebana (Japan): flower arranging. 

02 The ‘Virgin Mary’ is often called the ‘Rose of Heaven’. 

03 The white lily represents purity (the flower of the annunciation).   Shakespeare (KI John): To gild refined gold, to paint the lily, to throw a perfume on the violet (IV.2). 

04 A is laurel is the wreath of triumph/victory - evergreen (symbol of immortality) and the crown of martyrdom in Christianity.  Saj: the Indian laurel - Arabian Nights: “Its door was of saj, adorned with brilliant gold”. 

05 The Iris is the symbol of the Greek goddess ‘Iris’ (meaning rainbow).   She is the female messenger of the gods (usually shown winged and bearing a herald’s staff). 

06 The name ‘daffodil’ is a corruption of ‘asphodel’ (a plant of the lily family), associated with death (planted on graves) and the underworld in Greek legend.   Legend says that it was once white (Lent Lily).   In England it was called ‘Affodil’. 

 

One of Monet’s finest works, the tranquil Waterlilies makes a perfect jigsaw puzzle - what a great idea for unwinding at the end of a stressful day!   Also makes a lovely gift.   1,000 pieces.   Made in Austria.   Finished size is 26.5” x 17.4”. 

07 The flower of KIs (Latin: flos regum): KI Arthur.  

08 Hawthorn: symbol of ‘Good Hope’ (in the language of flowers).   Athenian girls crowned themselves with hawthorn flowers at weddings.   Richard III’s crown was recovered from a hawthorn bush and used as his device. 

09 Lotus: water lily which closes its flower in the evening and used in many temples.  Lakshmi: Hindu goddess of beauty (symbol of the lotus).   Eight petalled.   Brahma and Buddha are shown on a lotus leaf.   ‘Mani padme’ [‘the jewel in the lotus’]. 

                                                                   

Vincent Van Gogh’s Vase With Sunflowers is depicted here on a lovely 750-piece jigsaw puzzle by Piatnik of Austria.  Finished size measures 22.9” x 15.2”.  

 

Lotus flower

Hail to the Jewel in the Lotus
(Translation of the Tibetan mantra - Om Mani Padme Hum)

What makes the lotus flower so special?

The lotus flower is one of the most ancient and deepest symbols of our planet.
The lotus flower grows in muddy water and rises above the surface to bloom with remarkable beauty.  At night the flower closes and sinks underwater, at dawn it rises and opens again. Untouched by the impurity, lotus symbolizes the purity of heart and mind.  The lotus flower represents long life, health, honor and good luck.  

Universal symbol for spiritual unfoldment

Egyptian Lotus flower

The Egyptian Lotus flower symbol was called Sesen in the Egyptian language. In the Egyptian mythology the lotus flower is a symbol of the sun, of creation and rebirth.

Eastern Lotus flower

In the East, the lotus flower is viewed as a symbol of spiritual unfoldment.  The lotus has its roots in earthly mud, but as it grows upward in aspiration toward the light, its petals open out in a beautiful flower.  Om Mani Padme Hum, meaning, “Hail to the Jewel in the Lotus” is the sacred mantra of the Tibetans. 

Christian Lotus flower

The Christian alternative to the lotus is the white lily which, relating to Mary as queen of heaven, signifies both fertility and purity.  Traditionally the Archangel Gabriel carries the lily of the Annunciation to the Virgin Mary.  “Blessed are the pure in heart,” said Jesus, “for they shall see God.”  The teachings of the Galilean Master and those of India’s great yogis were cut from the same cloth of self-realization. 

Indian Yoga Lotus flower

The Indian Lotus flower symbolizes divinity, fertility, wealth, knowledge and enlightenment. It is associated with the goddess of wealth, Maha Lakshmi, who brings prosperity, purity and generosity.  She sits on a fully blossomed lotus flower, symbolizing purity, beauty and everything that is good. 

Lotus jewelry - meaningful creation

Symbols are a means of bringing subtle, inner realities to a focus in outward expression. Within the fundamental unity of consciousness, certain symbols, such as the lotus lifting itself in purity above the muddy water, possess universal relevance and power.  David’s Lotus jewelry collection contains the Lotus Ring and lotus earrings with different stones. 

Lotus ring

“Life flows within you and without you”

Lotus ring gold

The lotus ring contains the lotus flower symbol on both sides of the ring.  The Hebrew engraving translation is: “Life flows within and without you”.  This sentence holds the secret of unification with the One.  When our false Ego dissolves, we enter the state of unification with the whole - hence life flows within you and without you.  The sentence is taken from a song by Swami Kriyananda: 

“We were talking - about the space between us all and the people -
Who hide themselves behind a wall of illusion never glimpsing the truth
Then it’s far too late when they pass away.

We were talking - about the love we all could share
When we find it - to try our best to hold it there - with our love
With our love we could save the world - if they only knew

Try to realize it’s all within yourself - no-one else can make you change
And to see you’re really only very small
And life flows on within you and without you.

We were talking - about the love that’s gone so cold
And the people who gain the world and lose their soul
They don’t know, they can’t see - are you one of them?

When you’ve seen beyond yourself
Then you may find peace of mind is waiting there
And the time will come when you see we are all one
And life flows on within you and without you.”

Lotus flower: Symbol of Spiritual Unfoldment
By Swami Kriyananda

Lotus earring silver

 

Giovanni Villani

Short biography

Born in Florence c.1275 (?) - Died in Florence 1348.

Giovanni, son of a humble family, is known to have been in Rome for the Jubilee in 1300.  From 1302 to 1308, he travelled for business reasons to France and to Flanders.   In 1316 he started his political career in Florence as a Guelph, and went on to hold important public office.
In 1335 Villani was declared bankrupt with the eminent banking family of Bardi, the financial important family and was imprisoned.   Villani regained his freedom only in 1346.   Two years later Villani died during the terrible plague [The Black Death, described by Boccaccio in his Decamerone].
The Giovanni’s Nuova Cronica covers the history of Florence from its origin up to 1346.   Matteo Villani, his brother, continued the chronicling of events up to 1363, the son of Matteo, Filippo Villani, concluded them in 1364. 

We shall take into consideration the following reference to chess

Nuova Cronica
Book VIII, Chapter XII (33-40)

Nuova Cronica
Book VIII, Chapter XII (33-40)

Free translation

(33) During these times there came to Florence a Saracen, named Buzzeca, who was the foremost master of the game of chess.  At the Palace of the People in the presence of Count Guido Novello, he played the three finest chess masters in Florence, simultaneously, for over an hour.  Of these three games, he played two blindfolds and one over the board, winning two and drawing one of the matches.   The result was considered an outstanding achievement. 

Comments on chess

It seems clear that the game of chess was held in high esteem in Florence during the middle of the 13^th century, given both the venue of the game, and its esteemed audience.   In regard to the nature of the game of chess at the time, this passage reveals two interesting historical details.   The first is that blindfold chess must have been practised by at least some of the Muslim players of the time.   Buzzeca is an example.   The second is that old masters of chess could play a game and obtain a result in around one hour.   In the present day, this would be thought of as quick play.   It is even more of a feat when we consider that they played with rules that limited the moves of the Queen and Bishops.   In fact the rules that we follow today for these two pieces in chess came along only by the end of the XV century.
The Ghibeline Count Guido Novello’s attendance of Buzzeca’s exhibition of chess would suggest that the Count had more than a passing interest in the game.   It is, moreover, probable that the Count invited the Saracen Buzzeca to play chess in Florence.   It would have been difficult to justify an open exhibition of chess in Florence at the Palace of the People (which now houses the Bargello Museum) without an official invitation from the Podestà (Mayor and Chief of Justice of the town) who at that time was Count Novello. 

                            When this chess match took place?

According to Giovanni Villani the match took place ‘at the time in which king Charles was crowned in Rome’.   And in Chapter V, Villani stated clearly that the Count Charles of Anjou and Provence was crowned king of the Two Sicilies (Apulia and Sicily) on the day of Epiphany January the 6^th 1265.    However Villani was following the Florentine Calendar which took the day of the Immaculate Conception March the 25^th, as the first day of the year.   Today historians recognise that Charles was crowned in Rome on January 6^th 1266, so the chess match could not be played before January 1266.   It is also known that Count Novello was Vicar in Tuscany of king Manfred, the bastard son of king Frederick II, who was killed by king Charles-I at Benevento on February 16^th 1266 (1265 by Florentine Calendar).  The final possible date at which the match could conceivably have taken place would have been before July 1^st 1266 for then Count Guido Novello was no longer Podestà of Florence.  It seems more probable that the chess match took place in January or beginning of February 1266.  As Captain of the Ghibeline troops, Count Novello would probably have had more pressing matters on his mind than attending a chess competition once the king Manfred was killed at Benevento.  Also had Buzzeca’s chess match taken place after the death of Manfred, Villani would have written ‘In the times in which king Charles defeated Manfred in Benevento…’ 

The name of Buzzeca is controversial.   Giovanni Villani in the first version called this Saracen ‘BUZZECCA’, in the second version ‘BUZZECA’.  Saba Malaspina (13^th century) in his ‘Rerum Sicularum Historia’ named this Saracen as ‘BOOZECCHA’.   So the spelling is rather controversial. 

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“Roses, Dahlias et Lilas”, Moise Jacobber

Five-minute poppy shogi

In the May/June 1996 issue of NOSTalgia, the NOST bulletin, Kerry Handscomb writes about this Shogi variant which he calls Microshogi.    He has played the game in 1981, and assumes that it was invented by the great shogi player Oyama Yasuharu.   (Oyama Yasaharu died several years ago, at an age of approximately 60 years.   He was a top level Shogi player until he died.   He is the 15^th “Eisei Meijin” (Eternal champion), and he was the president of Japanese Shogi association.)   Wooden and plastic sets are (most probably) commercially sold in Japan, and were used in a promotional campaign of a firm.   The rule sheet for the game calls it Five-minute Poppy Shogi, in Japanese.  

Rules

The game is played on a board with five rows and four columns, i.e., only 20 cells/squares.   Each player has only five pieces.   Using a nice promotion rule, still most of the Shogi pieces can play a role in this game (with only the dragon king and dragon horse - promoted rook and bishop omitted).   At the start of the game, each player has a king, a bishop, a golden general, a silver general, and a pawn [JP].  The opening setup is as follows: 

White:
King d1, Bishop c1, Golden General b1, Silver General a1, Pawn d2.

Black:
King a5, Bishop b5, Golden General c5, Silver General d5, Pawn a4.

Promotions

In this game, pieces do not promote by reaching a certain rank, but promote when they take another piece.   Each time a piece takes a piece of the opponent, it is reversed.   At the other side of the piece, another piece is shown: 

• At the reverse side of the Bishop, there is a ‘Tokin’: a piece that moves as a golden general, but has a different symbol to distinguish it from the piece that starts as a golden general.   (The token-symbol is that of a promoted pawn.)
• At the reverse side of the Golden General, there is a Rook.
• At the reverse side of the Silver General, there is a Lance.
• At the reverse side of the Pawn, there is a Knight [JK].

Promotion (which is in many cases more a degradation) is obligatory: every time a piece takes another piece, it is reversed.   For instance, when a golden general takes a piece, it becomes a rook.   When this rook takes a piece, it becomes again a golden general, etc.   All pieces move in the same way as in Shogi (except that they do not promote in the same way.)   These promotion rules do not hold for kings, i.e., when a king takes a piece, it just stays a king.   

Drops

Pieces taken from the opponent are held in reserve, and can be dropped on empty squares on the board, as in Shogi.   There are some differences in the rules: one may put any side of the piece up when dropping a piece, e.g., when one has taken a silver general, one can decide to drop the piece as lance or as silver general.   One may drop a piece on a square from where it can no longer move.   Pawns [JPs] may be dropped on columns that already contain another pawn of the player (so, this restriction of Shogi is not in this game).   It is allowed to give mate with a pawn-drop (as with a drop with any other piece).  

Other rules

Object is to take the opponents king.   Giving perpetual check is forbidden.  

Written by Hans Bodlaender, with thanks to Katsutoshi Seki for information on Oyama Yasuharu.