Taliesin Banzai(PART 1 OF 3)
Kato, Banzai reminds me of Banzai Cliff during the Pacific War.
Oh...? Do you really know about the mind-boggling, horrendous incident on Saipan Island?
I've seen the tragedy in the documentary war film.
Banzai Cliff
Banzai Cliff is the northernmost cape of Saipan, Northern Mariana Islands.
During World War II, the Japanese military headquarters was located on the northern island of Saipan.
The U.S. military fought a fierce battle (the Battle of Saipan) from June 15, 1944 till July 9, 1944.
Battle of Saipan
<iframe width="400" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/SDj05_wr3eA" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Suicidal Women
<iframe width="400" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/65EShYbK5ww" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Banzai Cliff Today
<iframe width="400" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/J-G7_I4Tm5M" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Utterly defeated, Japanese soldiers and civilians threw themselves into the sea from Banzai Cliff---so-called because they shouted "Emperor Banzai (Hurray---literarlly, live for ten thousand years)" before their dive, although American soldiers asked them not to dive to death.
The number of suicidal victims has been said up to 10,000.
The sea around the cliff became red with their blood.
After the war, the memorial was built, along with a number of memorial towers near the cliff.
It was really an awful incident, wasn't it?
Yes, it was. But today, I won't talk about the tragedy at Saipan.
Then, Kato, you're going to talk about the tragedy at Taliesin, aren't you?
More personal turmoil
On August 15, 1914, while Wright was working in Chicago, Julian Carlton, a male servant from Barbados who had been hired several months earlier, set fire to the living quarters of Taliesin and murdered seven people with an axe as the fire burned.
The dead included Mamah; her two children, John and Martha; a gardener; a draftsman named Emil Brodelle; a workman; and another workman's son.
Two people survived the mayhem, one of whom helped to put out the fire that almost completely consumed the residential wing of the house.
Carlton swallowed muriatic acid immediately following the attack in an attempt to kill himself.
He was nearly lynched on the spot, but was taken to the Dodgeville jail.
Carlton died from starvation seven weeks after the attack, despite medical attention.
In 1922, Wright's first wife, Kitty, granted him a divorce, and Wright was required to wait one year until he married his then-partner, Maude "Miriam" Noel.
In the following year, Wright's mother, Anna Wright, died.
Wright wed Miriam Noel in November 1923, but her addiction to morphine led to the failure of the marriage in less than one year.
SOURCE: Frank Lloyd Wright
Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Quoted in: "Taliesin Studio"
Diane,... I think you're preoccupied by tragedies. Are you a tragedy-mania by any chance?
No, of course, I'm not. Since you've jotted down "Taliesin Banzai" on the top, I thought you would talk about Carlton who swallowed muriatic acid immediately following the attack in an attempt to kill himself.
I don't think he shouted "Taliesin Banzai" when he tried to kill himself.
Then, Kato, how come you've come up "Taliesin Banzai"?
The Japanese used to shout "Banzai" whenever they felt overjoyed---rather than when they were in an acute depress.
So, Kato, are you saying, you were overjoyed somehow, aren't you?
Yes, I am.
Tell me how you became overjoyed.
Look at the following list.
What on earth is this? I cannot read Japanese.
This is the list of popular pages on my Ameba blog, based on the access records from November 1 till November 30, 2011. Look at Number 5 in the list!
"Taliesin Studio"---which you wrote on November 24, didn't you?
Yes, I did. You can also see "Swansea" at the 6th position, "Madame Lindbergh" in the eighth, and "Letters to Diane" in the ninth position.
So, is that the reason you got overjoyed?
Yes, I was more than happy to see my articles in English in the above list.
How come?
'Cause 80 people have read "Taliesin Studio" since November 24. Compared to other articles, it attracted quite a few readers. Mind you, it is written in English. Besides, those readers are regulars.
Kato, how do you know?
Look at the following list.
What the heck is this? Mind you, Kato, I cannot read Japanese.
Well..., the above list shows where those readers came from.
What is the top orange bar?
Forty three hundred and sixty readers came from their bookmarks for these 30 days.
So, they bookmarked your blog, didn't they?
Yes, they did. That's why I'm saying they are regulars.
The most of your readers came from the bookmarks, not from the search engines. Is that it?
You're absolutely right there, Diane. The following list shows those readers who came from the search engines.
(To be followed)