Andrew’s Restaurant

I probably have it buried in a box somewhere, but after recently moving in 2009, it’s going to take a Herculean effort to shift enough crap out of the way to even begin looking for it!
Noren. I mentioned it in a previous blog—Freeze Frame—look to the left of Matthew in his photo to see my o-zumo (sumo wrestling) noren that I hung in my hallway. I had thought that a noren was purposely hung low within a doorway to ensure people ducked their head when entering to ensure a bow was made (failure to bow would get one a face full of fabric)—but that was a load of hooey.
Apparently the positioning of a noren at the entrance to a restaurant has a much more practical use.
So… what is a noren? Click HERE for a visual sample.
A noren is a split curtain hung in front of a shop at the doorway, and nowadays is more often seen fronting restaurants. It was used to keep out the sun and dust, but with the advent of better doors and windows, it is now either used as a decoration, or for advertising purposes.
Stores often have its name written upon it, and often serves as the shop's signage, in lieu of a large graphic billboard or light box seen more commonly in other countries. A Canadian version for a now-closed iconic record store utilizing a lightbox (the sign is a Toronto landmark) is presented HERE for your amusement.
Japanese noren—I’m assuming other Asian countries also have a version of them—are now also used as decorations in homes. I didn’t know that when I dared to place it in my apartment—I thought I might be over-stepping the cultural grounds of taste—and while I wouldn’t have cared too much about what people thought of my Canadian embassy, it’s nice to know now that I didn’t cause an international incident. At least with my noren.
My particular noren has an image of a sumo wrestler, of which quite a bit more will be written about in another blog soon. Thanks to Matthew, I actually have some neat sumo souvenirs! Click on THIS word to see what my noren looks like.
The noren’s sumo image is taken from an ukiyo-e (Japanese wood block print – I have about 10+ of these made in the 1850s), and is of a Yokozuna-class sumo wrestler entering the ring. Thank you Matthew and Takako Hall for your help with identifying that much, at least.
Anyhow, all of this baloney about noren has made me hungry. I guess it’s curtains for the diet I was going to start earlier today.

Somewhere going through boxes,
Andrew Joseph
Today's title is a parody of the Arlo Guthrie tune Alice's Restaurant.