info-Blog mode...

what is Umami?

elementary science speaks of 4 basic tastes... sweet, salty, sour, and bitter. however, with advancing scientific research, a fifth (and even a sixth) basic taste has been recognized.





this is umami. coming from the japanese word, "umami", the kanji characters of which, literally mean "delicious food"...








umami corresponds to the taste sensation produced by the free glutamates commonly found in fermented and aged foods. examples include the following: parmesan and roquefort cheese, soy sauce, and fish sauce.

it is also found in significant amounts in various unfermented foods like walnuts, grapes, broccoli tomatoes, and mushrooms, and to a lesser degree in meat.

there is still much scientific dispute as to whether basic tastes exist per se or are simply an overly reductionist concept, but hey... it's food. it should be all good.


aegis ... A.E.G.I.S.


it would make much sense why the anime, Gate Keepers, has such an acronym for their organization...






in the Iliad, aegis is the shield or buckler of Zeus, which according to Homer, was fashioned for him by Hephaestus, furnished with golden tassels and bearing the gorgon Medusa's head in the center.










also appearing in other literatures such as norse, egyptian, and roman mythologies, the aegis takes several forms and shapes but still symbolizing one thing... a shield.



















as well it should, for in modern english, aegis means a shield, protection, or sponsorship, thus derived from Zeus' protective shield.







in the anime universe, A.E.G.I.S. means, Alien Exterminating Global Intercept System... the Earth's first and last line of defense against robotic aliens referred to as, Invaders.






relying on the special abilities of its agents known as Gate Keepers, who have the power to open dimensional gates of paranormal energy, A.E.G.I.S. keeps the world havoc free for mankind.






the Trigram...





a trigram may either refer to the special case of N-grams, having ordered triplets of letters... or it may refer to the ancient Chinese philosophical concept of the Bagua.








the bagua, is a fundamental philosophical concept in ancient China with an octagonal diagram having a trigram on each side.



it is applied not only to the Chinese Taoist thought and the I Ching, but also in other domains of Chinese culture, such as fengshui, navigation, martial arts, and so on.





a popular anime series nowadays has characters utilizing this trigram concept... the Hyuuga clan from Konoha. one gifted Hyuuga gennin in particular, Neji.




in the 3rd Naruto: Narutimate Hero PS2 game, Neji exhibits the Hyuuga clan's most powerful jutsu...


Hakke Sanbyaku Rokujuichi Shiki
(literally meaning, Eight Trigrams Three Hundred Sixty-One Style)


also be interpreted as,
"Divine Three Hundred Sixty-One Strikes"
and "361 Hands of Hakke".











the technique is designed to strike each of the body's 361 tenketsu (chakra holes), directed at a single, humanoid opponent, instantly killing with the final blow.







by concentrating all of the chakra into the 2 palms of the hands, the user will be able to strike each tenketsu precisely, thus, immobilizing an opponent with every hit. being an extreme jutsu on its own, the attacks in this technique are excuted with speed that could match that of the Initial Lotus'.