I'm not sure exactly how my interest started in Japan. I blame my father, but he takes no credit and acts as though Japan is the weirdest place on earth. But that's a point of view for another post. My dad spent a few years in Japan, and he brought home a beautiful geisha doll that still sits in my parents' living room to this day. This geisha doll is not unique in any way since you can walk into pretty much any Asian decor store, and find one just like it. To me as a little girl, she was the most beautiful woman I had ever seen. I guess as a kid I always dreamed of the beautiful and mysterious land that she came from.
Don't mind the weird mish mash of decor of my mama. She's adorable.
My dad also has a beautiful katana and wakizashi set that makes me giggle with delight whenever he lets me take them out. They have real stingray skin on the handles and have gorgeous hamon (wave patterns on the blade edge from clay hardening.) They're not Chinese reproductions, but they aren't the top of the line reproductions either. He used to keep them on the side of his headboard for home defense even though he's an avid hunter and gun collector. I got him a sword stand a few years ago, and now he keeps them in his home office. I'm still trying to convince him to will them off to me. Please enjoy this awkward photo of teenage-me with the katana. In my defense, my mom took this picture before I went to a high school dance that had a pirate theme.
March 2006-ish
It seems like I got two very opposite sides of a coin with regards to my love of Japan. The artisan and the warrior which seem to be on entirely different plains of expertise. But I honestly feel that the warrior and artisan are considered to be on the same level within the Japanese culture. There's a quote from the Last Samurai movie that I really love that strikes that chord of thought, "They are an intriguing people. From the moment they wake they devote themselves to the perfection of whatever they pursue. I have never seen such discipline." I know people who are the embodiment of that quote. That's what makes warriors and artists the same in my mind. I know that movie sometimes irks the Nihonji of the SCA, but it's got some good references for armor. Particularly Tom Cruise's armor since rumor has it that Anthony Bryant (Baron Edward of Effingham of sengokudaimyo.com) was a consultant for the armor in that movie.
I've always liked history, but I never really had a huge panache for European or American history. I'm not sure if it was because I was bored with what I had been taught in school over and over again, or if it was just me going against the grain. That sounds snobbish, but if you think about those involved in the SCA, we all have our own little niche of history that we enjoy more than others. My interest just happens to be in Japan rather than the mainstream European interest of the SCA.
That being said I don't know everything about Japan, and I am always learning. Hence the subtitle of my blog is "Medieval Japan through Novice Eyes." I had the opportunity to go to 50 Year and meet a ton of fantastically talented and amazing people. I took a class on Central Asian Coats from Her Excellency Mistress Jadi Fatima. She told us about the most important phrase to use when conducting research. "To the best of my knowledge." She says that phrase has made it so she can keep an open mind, and adapt to any new information that she may find. She used the story of "the problem with pleats" to illustrate her point to us. You can read that story here. I hope that while you spend some time here at Warai Gasane I can show you the best of my knowledge.
So continuing the question of 'Why Japan?' About a year into the SCA I decided that I didn't fit the image of your typical rapier fighter. Yes, it's true, I started as a rapier fighter in the SCA. I wanted to have a rapier kit that screamed me. I love hot pink (that's an understatement) so I wanted to find out what cultures within SCA period have pink since I wanted to try to stay historically accurate. I was seriously considering a pink Italian Doublet when I met my first Japanese Persona in my local barony. We started discussing my hopes of pink, and he told me that pink was definitely period accurate for Japan. I immediately got to work researching all things Japan. During this time I experimented with looks, and am still in development for my rapier kit. You can see the development of my rapier gear over the years through these photos.
Me on the left- Kingdom of Artemisia Coronation (March 2011)
Me on the right- St. Pyres Day- Shire of Cote du Ciel (May 2012) Photo Courtesy of Rose Brame
I'm in the red hakama Gulf Wars (March 2015) Photos courtesy of Seamus Mac Airt (Ben Turner)
I'm excited to see what my next kit holds in store for me. I'll show you a sketch of my dream kit next time I post about my time in rapier. Thanks for joining me on my return to the past for a little while. I'm sure I will post again on 'Why Japan?'
