From a Brother in Arms Under the Cross

One of the great and wondrous things about being in the Office of the Holy Ministry is the collegiality of the fathers and brothers.  I am blessed with brothers in arms under the cross who come from every walk of life, scattered around the globe, of every tribe and tongue, engaged in the common warfare against sin, death, and the devil as servants of Jesus Christ.

The Rev. Fr. Wesley Tetsuji Kan is one such brother in the office. 

He is, as the kids say, if you'll pardon the expression, a "badass."  He is now a retired second career pastor, a former district attorney from Hawaii, and a man of Japanese heritage who knows and revels in his culture's warrior history.

I am glad to count him a friend and not a foe.

He has heroically driven more than six hours each way from his home in Florida to fill in for me at Salem when I needed help.

My dear brother wrote to me today, and said:

Earlier, I told you I refuse to provide you with a hanko (Chinese ideogram seal) for fear that you would use it in a stole orphrey or chasuble vesica.  Since then, it dawned on me that as cultured academic, you should have a hanko even though you don’t have a name that can be honestly rendered in kanji (ideogram).  However, your surname, “Beane,” means “life,” “enochi” in Japanese.  Larry is Laurentius in the original Latin, “man from Laurentum,” a Roman town that is associated with the laurel wreath, and in Japanese, that is “Gekkeikan,” that is also the name of the internationally popular saké.  I could render your name in Japanese but it would be unbalanced in a traditional hanko and it sounds really weird. 

The kanji is for “nanban,” literally “southern barbarian.”  Its first usage was in China when the tiny Han Chinese kingdom fought off the ancestors of Cantonese Chinese of what is now Guandong to Yunnan Provinces.  In Japan, it was used to refer to the Portuguese explorers of the late sixteenth century.  This was expanded to include the Dutch and English.  The term is now used mostly by non-Asian Europeans and Americans to sarcastically refer to themselves in the same way I call myself a “Jap” (as opposed to JAP–Jewish American Princess). 

The capsule cartouche is called an “inkan.”  The vermilion color is traditional.  I have given you the kanji in both the simpler modern and more complex traditional.  Abuse them to the glory of Christ (if possible).

And here are the two finished products.  I am honored, Father Wesley.  This is right up there with being made an honorary Marine by a Marine, and an honorary Seal by a Seal.  I suppose I can add honorary Japanese aristocrat to my list of bucket-list items completed.

どうもありがとう！