The Yoshida Summer House.
May. 2nd, 2005 08:57 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
janestarzWell, that was certainly fun! I've not had a better Queensday, I think. Malor picked us up after all, I was afraid he'd forgotten us, and we drove to Uden. I hate the long trip there, the weird traffic lights in the middle of the highway near Den Bosch (I mean, wtf?!). And the last bit was a lot of trouble because of the road workings there. They're constructing another highway, but that will take a long while to finish.
So we arrived, and the farmhouse was already bustling with activity. The chairs and tables were stacked to one side, and on the floor was a circle of cushions, the low japanese tables in the center. Candles were standing around, ready to be lit, and someone (I think Sakura, Pluis' girlfriend), had made two yin-yang circles in cloth, to lie on the floor.
The house itself was great too. A nice kitchen, with loads of surfaces to work on, two toilets, and upstairs a big attic where we could sleep. Emergency exit signs with lights provided enough light at night to stumble down the staircase. And a nice forest nearby.
DISCLAIMER: most of this was played out with larp weapons of foam and rubber. No real heads were severed in the process. Steel katana and boken (wood katana) were only used for kata, training the forms.
We dressed up, it's always fun to see all the samurai struggle with their hakama, the geisha be wrapped in their kimono and obi. Most people had a katana and wakizashi. For this occasion, I left my tanto at my bed, since we would play in the Yoshida Summer house.
We would arrive, In Character, following our Daimyo who arrived a few days earlier. Yoshida Natatoshi-sama was quite sick, and we arrived in the Summer house where the meiko (geisha in training, it's a term only used in Kyoto) and Inazuma-hime served us tea. Everyone sat down on the cushions.
Nobody spoke, and the Daimyo looked around at each and every one of us. He sometimes coughed, and we waited. Natatoshi-sama spoke to his sons, Kasumi and Shiro, and they stood. Shiro asked Mineko and me for help, and we lay down a white cloth on the floor. Shiro set down a white table with a fan, and Kasumi helped his father to sit there. Mineko and I stood to the side.
While Natatoshi-sama beheld the fan, Shiro let some water cleanse the katana (forgive me if I'm wrong), and Kasumi severed Natatoshi's head from his body. Kasumi and Shiro helped their father have an honorable death.
The funeral was very beautiful also. Kasumi and Shiro wrapped the lifeless body of their father in the white cloth, and with two other samurai they carried him outside to a bier. Everone lit a candle and said their goodbyes to Daimyo Yoshida Natatoshi-sama.
Then, all the samurai swore allegiance to the new Daimyo, Kasumi-sama.
And as the clan was at a difficult point, we were attacked by ninja. They were looking for our new daimyo, hoping to slay him. They barged in through the doors as some of the clan was outside, and the house was immediately in turmoil. Yasuo was wounded, as were the smith Magura and some others. The geisha and I cleansed the wounds, and bound them. I did not have any healing, so I just brought the wounded tea and water. The samurai ran out and about to find the ninja, and some returned, wounded. It was quite busy for the women of the clan. The non-samurai women, that is. Though I must say all of the wounded were men, except for Ogawa Jishin.
At one point, when only the wounded were near us, a shinobi ran inside. All of us started, but he ran past us, upstairs, to the daimyo's rooms. Soon, Jishin came inside and followed him upstairs. That was quite a thing.
Our samurai drove the ninja off, luckily, and we prepared for sleep.
The next day, the samurai trained. I practiced some shooting with a bow and some kyudo, with Birgitte. All in all, the shooting went quite well. I only hit my arm once, and the knuckle-bracer I concocted worked quite well. Mike, who plays our sensei armed combat Shiro, gave an extended lesson. He and Sakura held real katana's, while the rest used their boken. They first did some basic poses, and then some three blow things. It was very cool to look at, but the geisha and I soon returned to the house.
There we devised a small distraction. After all, the hatamoto and the sensei were practicing, while the daimyo and some geisha were alone in the summer house. Sakura and Ignis dressed up as shinobi, and ran out of the summer house, past the samurai into the forest. We faked some wounds with movie-blood (which smells and tastes bad and has ecoline ink in it so it stains nicely), and lay down on the cushions. This was all just meant to show the samurai it was not too smart to not send an escort with the daimyo. I dare say they learnt their lesson. They quickly enough came running, and patched up the daimyo, Mineko and me. The ninja were caught, and one killed herself while the other was skinned and strapped to a tree, upside down. I'm afraid Kaminari is not very patient.
In the afternoon, the samurai took off to take the ancestral sword from the shrine. Shiro, Kasumi and the women (geisha and ex-geisha) as well as Yasuo for Kasumi's protection, stayed behind. As soon as the samurai were off, we ran back inside and changed into our NPC-roles. Geert and I dressed up as statues with bows, while NoKey and Pluis dressed up as yin and yang in white and black. Before the samurai could get the sword, they had to prove themselves, and that meant they had to fight NoKey and Pluis, while being shot at by the two statues.
That was much fun. My shooting went well, though my first shot hit Ryuzo on the head, right above his eye. After that I started taking aim at bellies. Too bad Usagi jumped over my arrow (yeah, try that with a 55 lbs Yumi, you lame bastard).
After a while, the man in black and the one in white stopped, and returned to whereever they came from, and they could take the sword back to the daimyo. There were many wounded, and they had to drag Ryuzo while Brian's character had no arms he could use, and Garou had been hit in his eye.
When they arrived back, we tended to the wounded and brought them things to drink. NoKey and I then started preparing for dinner, chopping up vegetables and chicken and soy. Mike tried to chop apples with his katana. And while the Daimyo and sensei were discussing the travels to other worlds, like we did to the world of dragons last year, they let Toshi do some exercises. He had had to help clean up the dishes and now had to stand on one leg for as long as he could. That was fun to see, and while I know OC what was going on, IC it's quite the gossip among the ladies.
We also discussed, after dinner, what things we would do this year, and if there were any events we could visit. Most people were very inspired to do stuff again, and even Mineko would try to come to our next planned event. I must say that with a few more geisha the women's club (or the supporting background) was much more fun now that it wasn't just Mineko and sometimes me. I laid down my ambassador's function, to be able to be more with Mineko, and Inazuma (Ignis) also stopped being a samurai to focus more on her geisha part. With the meiko, that gives us four women in the house, who can practice calligraphy, the tea ceremony, fan dances, and the treatment of the wounded.
Later that night, Kasumi and Mineko had a private cha no yu (tea ceremony) with Yasuo there for their protection. The rest of the samurai did not know this, but we found out about it soon enough. We were all called inside, and there Mineko and Kasumi sat side by side. Kasumi spoke, and told us, the rest of the clan, that they would be wed. Mineko would become the dana, and every one present also swore to serve her in their own way. That was good too.
So Sunday morning we had to clean up everything, and luckily we all got up early. We left the place cleaner than we had found it. The weekend, in retrospect, was mostly serene and sincere. We're getting better accustomed to the role, and we're getting better acquainted with one another, so that is quite good. I'm still trying to be too polite to everyone now, so I think I got the gist of things. Even when some dude called 'voltath' on the IRC chat said samurai were lame, I tried to be polite. In any case, I made him see it's not polite to be like that without even understanding what a samurai even is. He said ninja were cool because they could just do what they pleased, but I told him even ninja had their own code of honor. In any case, I'll keep my eyes open for any ronin who lack the proper respect.
The journey home was bad. Too much luggage, a detour past Roosendaal because of 'work on the railroad'. We had to switch trains three times and then had to take the subway home. The stress on the muscles of my neck got me a splitting headache, and I slept on the couch while NoKey made salad. We made love under the klamboe and in the dark, before falling fast asleep though. That was good. In fact, the whole weekend was very good.
So we arrived, and the farmhouse was already bustling with activity. The chairs and tables were stacked to one side, and on the floor was a circle of cushions, the low japanese tables in the center. Candles were standing around, ready to be lit, and someone (I think Sakura, Pluis' girlfriend), had made two yin-yang circles in cloth, to lie on the floor.
The house itself was great too. A nice kitchen, with loads of surfaces to work on, two toilets, and upstairs a big attic where we could sleep. Emergency exit signs with lights provided enough light at night to stumble down the staircase. And a nice forest nearby.
DISCLAIMER: most of this was played out with larp weapons of foam and rubber. No real heads were severed in the process. Steel katana and boken (wood katana) were only used for kata, training the forms.
We dressed up, it's always fun to see all the samurai struggle with their hakama, the geisha be wrapped in their kimono and obi. Most people had a katana and wakizashi. For this occasion, I left my tanto at my bed, since we would play in the Yoshida Summer house.
We would arrive, In Character, following our Daimyo who arrived a few days earlier. Yoshida Natatoshi-sama was quite sick, and we arrived in the Summer house where the meiko (geisha in training, it's a term only used in Kyoto) and Inazuma-hime served us tea. Everyone sat down on the cushions.
Nobody spoke, and the Daimyo looked around at each and every one of us. He sometimes coughed, and we waited. Natatoshi-sama spoke to his sons, Kasumi and Shiro, and they stood. Shiro asked Mineko and me for help, and we lay down a white cloth on the floor. Shiro set down a white table with a fan, and Kasumi helped his father to sit there. Mineko and I stood to the side.
While Natatoshi-sama beheld the fan, Shiro let some water cleanse the katana (forgive me if I'm wrong), and Kasumi severed Natatoshi's head from his body. Kasumi and Shiro helped their father have an honorable death.
The funeral was very beautiful also. Kasumi and Shiro wrapped the lifeless body of their father in the white cloth, and with two other samurai they carried him outside to a bier. Everone lit a candle and said their goodbyes to Daimyo Yoshida Natatoshi-sama.
Then, all the samurai swore allegiance to the new Daimyo, Kasumi-sama.
And as the clan was at a difficult point, we were attacked by ninja. They were looking for our new daimyo, hoping to slay him. They barged in through the doors as some of the clan was outside, and the house was immediately in turmoil. Yasuo was wounded, as were the smith Magura and some others. The geisha and I cleansed the wounds, and bound them. I did not have any healing, so I just brought the wounded tea and water. The samurai ran out and about to find the ninja, and some returned, wounded. It was quite busy for the women of the clan. The non-samurai women, that is. Though I must say all of the wounded were men, except for Ogawa Jishin.
At one point, when only the wounded were near us, a shinobi ran inside. All of us started, but he ran past us, upstairs, to the daimyo's rooms. Soon, Jishin came inside and followed him upstairs. That was quite a thing.
Our samurai drove the ninja off, luckily, and we prepared for sleep.
The next day, the samurai trained. I practiced some shooting with a bow and some kyudo, with Birgitte. All in all, the shooting went quite well. I only hit my arm once, and the knuckle-bracer I concocted worked quite well. Mike, who plays our sensei armed combat Shiro, gave an extended lesson. He and Sakura held real katana's, while the rest used their boken. They first did some basic poses, and then some three blow things. It was very cool to look at, but the geisha and I soon returned to the house.
There we devised a small distraction. After all, the hatamoto and the sensei were practicing, while the daimyo and some geisha were alone in the summer house. Sakura and Ignis dressed up as shinobi, and ran out of the summer house, past the samurai into the forest. We faked some wounds with movie-blood (which smells and tastes bad and has ecoline ink in it so it stains nicely), and lay down on the cushions. This was all just meant to show the samurai it was not too smart to not send an escort with the daimyo. I dare say they learnt their lesson. They quickly enough came running, and patched up the daimyo, Mineko and me. The ninja were caught, and one killed herself while the other was skinned and strapped to a tree, upside down. I'm afraid Kaminari is not very patient.
In the afternoon, the samurai took off to take the ancestral sword from the shrine. Shiro, Kasumi and the women (geisha and ex-geisha) as well as Yasuo for Kasumi's protection, stayed behind. As soon as the samurai were off, we ran back inside and changed into our NPC-roles. Geert and I dressed up as statues with bows, while NoKey and Pluis dressed up as yin and yang in white and black. Before the samurai could get the sword, they had to prove themselves, and that meant they had to fight NoKey and Pluis, while being shot at by the two statues.
That was much fun. My shooting went well, though my first shot hit Ryuzo on the head, right above his eye. After that I started taking aim at bellies. Too bad Usagi jumped over my arrow (yeah, try that with a 55 lbs Yumi, you lame bastard).
After a while, the man in black and the one in white stopped, and returned to whereever they came from, and they could take the sword back to the daimyo. There were many wounded, and they had to drag Ryuzo while Brian's character had no arms he could use, and Garou had been hit in his eye.
When they arrived back, we tended to the wounded and brought them things to drink. NoKey and I then started preparing for dinner, chopping up vegetables and chicken and soy. Mike tried to chop apples with his katana. And while the Daimyo and sensei were discussing the travels to other worlds, like we did to the world of dragons last year, they let Toshi do some exercises. He had had to help clean up the dishes and now had to stand on one leg for as long as he could. That was fun to see, and while I know OC what was going on, IC it's quite the gossip among the ladies.
We also discussed, after dinner, what things we would do this year, and if there were any events we could visit. Most people were very inspired to do stuff again, and even Mineko would try to come to our next planned event. I must say that with a few more geisha the women's club (or the supporting background) was much more fun now that it wasn't just Mineko and sometimes me. I laid down my ambassador's function, to be able to be more with Mineko, and Inazuma (Ignis) also stopped being a samurai to focus more on her geisha part. With the meiko, that gives us four women in the house, who can practice calligraphy, the tea ceremony, fan dances, and the treatment of the wounded.
Later that night, Kasumi and Mineko had a private cha no yu (tea ceremony) with Yasuo there for their protection. The rest of the samurai did not know this, but we found out about it soon enough. We were all called inside, and there Mineko and Kasumi sat side by side. Kasumi spoke, and told us, the rest of the clan, that they would be wed. Mineko would become the dana, and every one present also swore to serve her in their own way. That was good too.
So Sunday morning we had to clean up everything, and luckily we all got up early. We left the place cleaner than we had found it. The weekend, in retrospect, was mostly serene and sincere. We're getting better accustomed to the role, and we're getting better acquainted with one another, so that is quite good. I'm still trying to be too polite to everyone now, so I think I got the gist of things. Even when some dude called 'voltath' on the IRC chat said samurai were lame, I tried to be polite. In any case, I made him see it's not polite to be like that without even understanding what a samurai even is. He said ninja were cool because they could just do what they pleased, but I told him even ninja had their own code of honor. In any case, I'll keep my eyes open for any ronin who lack the proper respect.
The journey home was bad. Too much luggage, a detour past Roosendaal because of 'work on the railroad'. We had to switch trains three times and then had to take the subway home. The stress on the muscles of my neck got me a splitting headache, and I slept on the couch while NoKey made salad. We made love under the klamboe and in the dark, before falling fast asleep though. That was good. In fact, the whole weekend was very good.
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no subject
Date: 2005-05-02 05:12 am (UTC)Good thing I knew all but one of those Japanese words or I would have gone "you did what to who now"?
Ooh, one question though: "Natatoshi-sama". Isn't "sama" used for women and "san" for males?
no subject
Date: 2005-05-02 05:32 am (UTC)Don't take my word for any of this, though.
no subject
Date: 2005-05-02 05:58 am (UTC)Sorry for the dutch here.
Aanspreektitels (plak je achter een naam of woord):
'chan' noem je iemand die je heel erg mag, of liefhebt.
'kun' noem je iemand die een (goede) vriend is.
'san' is het algemeenst, zoiets als 'meneer'.
'sama' zeg je tegen je meerderen, als respect.
Verder zijn er woorden die je ook als aanspreektitel kunt gebruiken:
hime = prinses
sensei = leraar, wijze man
sempai/kohai = meester/leerling
kami = god
megami = godin
Bijvoorbeeld 'Mononoke-hime' is 'Prinses Mononoke',
'Mitsuischi-sensei' zeg je tegen je leraar (als'ie Mitsuishi heet..)
Maar je spreekt een prinses meestal met 'Himesama' aan.
no subject
Date: 2005-05-02 06:22 am (UTC)