Vintage News Articles & Finds

[billycw]

"A Group of plants in the spontaneous growth of bhang at Amritsar, India"

"A Group of plants in the spontaneous growth of bhang at Amritsar" April 23, 1894 (Photo from the British 'Report of the Indian Hemp Drugs Commission, 1894-1895') Plate 38

 

[Jellyfish]

That looks like David Bowie in his Thin White Duke phase.

 

[billycw]

That looks like David Bowie in his Thin White Duke phase.

He did have that 20's/30's opium glam style rocking, pretty fashionable age for the outlaws

 

[billycw]

"Burro train of hemp bales on highway street"

Colombia, burros with hemp bales on street in Ríonegro. c.1933

 

[Jellyfish]

Where'd that pic go? Now my post makes no sense!

 

[billycw]

Where'd that pic go? Now my post makes no sense!

It's on the previous page, I added it to the post on this page for reference

 

[Jellyfish]

Ah, thank you. Here's one, from High Times, I think 1977. All you kids posting bud porn on the 'net, say 'thank you' to this guy- he 'posted his pics' when it could get you a prison sentence.

 

[Jellyfish]

1977- We've come a long way, baby!

 

[Jellyfish]

 

[Mrs.Babba]

^^^ I smoked a lot of those in the 70's lol

 

[Jellyfish]

This is from High Times magazine. I believe this is Nepal, and that man is holding an impressive slab of hash. Unfortunately, he is the law, and he is showing off the spoils of a recent bust. Hey, Mr. Policeman, break me off a piece of THAT kit-kat bar!

 

[billycw]

Nice finds Jellyfish, someday I'll have to collect the gaps in my magazine collection. Thanks for sharing

 

[billycw]

"Zulu smokers dhahu"

Zulu men smoking cannabis, South Africa- 1879

 

[billycw]

Now we can look at this history two ways... One, the owner was a huge Edward Howard fan(a somewhat obscure writer of 'Rattlin the Reefer' in 1836) or Two, in 1929 with the term Reefer in full swing, Reefer's owner tips the hat...

Oh what a day at the track when ol Reefer won...

'Rattlin The Reefer' - Ogden Cigarettes sport cards, 1929

 

[Jellyfish]

Couple more 70's renegades

 

[billycw]

Congratulations to all the new medical and recreational states that passed yesterday!

 

[billycw]

"Photograph of U.S. Border Patrol Agents with a donkeys used to smuggle sotol across the border. Sotol is a liquor similar to tequila."

Texas/Mexico border, 1920's

 

[billycw]

"Odalisque smoking hookah"

Algeria, 1850's

 

[billycw]

見真 "See Truth"

-title given to Shinran by the Emperor Meiji, hung above alter in The Goei-do/Founder’s Hall at the Higashi-Honganji Temple

Higashi Honganji Temple: Dragon fountain Kyoto, Japan


The Human Hemp Hybrid

Like a modern day Frankensteinian tale, the Buddhist Higashi-Honganji Temple holds a secret...

To complete the construction of the worlds largest wooden structure, a partnership was needed between man and nature...

The Human Hemp Hybrid was alive!

'Portrait of Anjo' - A portrait of the monk Shinran on scroll at Honganji Temple in Kyoto


"Like the cherry blossom, the heart planning on tomorrow is ephemeral indeed, what sudden storm may not arise in the middle of the night"

-Shinran wrote at age 9 after losing his parents and entering Shoren-in Temple


Founded by the monk named Shinran (1173–1263), The Pure Land Buddhism Sect in Japan is one of the most popular forms practiced in the country.

In a simplified teaching Shinran theorized that chanting “namu amida butsu” or “Praise to Amida Buddha” would be all encompassing. Shinran believed that Amida Buddha had vowed to save all those who sincerely repeated these words...

The Higashi-Honganji Temple - Kyoto, Japan

 

[billycw]

The Human Hemp Hybrid continued...


The Higashi-Honganji Temple complex would first be built in 1604 although the Temple wouldn't last long...

Hagashi-Honganji would burn to the ground a total of 4 times with the most recent coming in a 1864 during a political and civil uprising.

Construction on the current Temple began in 1895 with the Founders Hall, but there was a problem...

A giant wooden beam in the Higashi Honganji 'Founders Hall' Temple, Kyoto, Japan


To raise the gigantic beams in the Higashi-Honganji Temple an unique solution was needed. Ropes of the time could not support the massive weight of the beams, so a Frankenstein idea was hatched...

The Human Hemp Hybrid was born...

Tradition says when a Buddhist temple is built, followers are to give something of themselves to help (usually meaning time or money). The Women of the Pure Land Sect took this teaching to the next level...

In a pure act of solidarity in a soul purpose more then 30,000 Buddhist women of the Sect shaved off their hair... Sending the strands of hair to the builders, human hair was weaved around a Hemp core to make 'Kezuna' or a Hemp Human hair hybrid rope...

This rope was strong enough to lift the massive beams into place safely, making it possible to construct Japans largest wooden structure and at the time the Worlds largest...

Human Hemp Hybrid rope or 'Kezuna' on display at the Higashi-Honganji Temple, Kyoto, Japan


In all 53 human hemp hybid ropes were made, the largest rope measuring 225 feet long, had a circumference of 13 inchs and weighed over 827 pounds...

With the 'kezuna' ropes to lift the massive beams into place, getting them to the site was another story...

Again this problem called for a similar solution... Hemp. Hemp tied wooden sleigh's were used in sliding the massive beams down from the forest and through the city, finally arriving at the Temple site.

Wooden sleigh used to transport the wooden beams of Higashi-Honganji Temple tied with hemp rope. Higashi-Honganji Temple, Kyoto


Here again at Higashi-Honganji Temple in Kyoto, Japan, we find Hemp at the core of humanity, right where it belongs...

Early postcard of the Higashi Honganji Temple, Kyoto, Japan