#<- only one very brief mention that is not to do with machi

[magiirealism]

Character Profile: Machi

Eighteen-eighty-nine, London.

Cooper & Sons Coffee House is regarded by many as the place to be after work and on the weekends by many men in the locale.

The "son" in this arrangement is one Mr L Cooper. He is considered to be of the gentle sort, a man who has never seen a day of hard labour in his twenty-something years of life yet has experienced many a burn plying the family trade. He is often made the joke for this gentler way of living life compared to men who work in factories and mines, but he takes this with good humour and continues to serve a variety of non-alcoholic beverages and foodstuffs to the patrons; ensuring that those who wish to conduct their regular business of talk and drink are seated in the front, while those who wish to smoke are directed to the parlour in the back rooms of the establishment.

Enter one Ernest Westbrook, a man who frequents the coffee house and has revealed too much about his life to those in the employ of Cooper & Sons: his debts are mounting and he is no longer in a position to propose to the woman he loves, who he purports now looks elsewhere when she spies a man upon the street. He has a plan, however, a way to wipe his debts and ensure security of his relationship.

Just one week after such an assurance, Mr Westbrook is never seen again.

Despite not being well regarded in the community, there is chatter amongst those who frequent Cooper & Sons as to the disappearance of the social butterfly. Some say he skipped town, others that he took his life in orders to escape. Some say he was tracked down by those he held debts with, others that he had finally gotten his life together. Mr L Cooper hears all these theories and even those quite a bit stranger - even that his woman, a lovely lady who he'd had the pleasure of meeting once, had murdered Mr Westbrook and dismembered his corpse and hid the parts of his body all over town.

Mr L Cooper cannot be certain as to the voracity of any of these theories, but life continues on; the disappearance of Mr Westbrook is no more than a passing concern as he continues working with his father on their livelihood.

It's approximately four weeks after the disappearance of Mr Westbrook and two weeks after last hearing the name that he appears.

Locking up the shop in the dark of night, his father routinely returning home early to work on the business side of things, is when Mr L Cooper first notices the stranger. He pays this no mind; there are many out on the streets of London in the dead of night, including himself. He offers a brief greeting and continues on his way.

But then he notices the stranger on the next night, and the night after that, and even the night after that.

For some three weeks this continues on, until the stranger finally speaks.

'Mind if I grab a drink?'

Mr L Cooper refuses, of course. He is closing up for the night; if he wishes to give the coffee house his custom, he will need to return during open hours.

But the stranger is persistent; he cannot come back during the day. And so it is that Mr L Cooper accedes, unlocking the shop and inviting him inside.

In quite the mood after an already long day, Mr L Cooper tells the stranger to take a seat, but he will need to be quick; he will not wait around for the customer to take in the atmosphere at this time of the evening.

There's little time to finish his sentence, though, before he's set upon, a quick punch to the head sending the rather unfit Mr L Cooper to the ground, and in a brief flash he finally recognises the stranger as one Mr Ernest Westbrook, who had gone missing almost two months ago to the day, and there is no ability to question the sudden reappearance before inhuman fangs sink into his neck.

When Mr L Cooper awakes, it is to his father, Mr A Cooper, shaking him, pleading for his son to wake up. As his eyes flutter open, there's recognition, but he notices that his son is not quite the same: his already fair skin is pale as though he has taken ill, his eyes, albeit naturally brown, are now crimson and there's a certain bloodlust to be found within.

He has no time to state any of this aloud as he discovers the final point the hard way, with Mr L Cooper tearing him apart, draining him for every drop of blood in his body.

Mr L Cooper is immediately mortified with himself. He draws the curtains - not only for his protection, but he's feeling oddly sensitive to the light which streams in - and takes the remains of his father into the smoking parlour (where he also draws the blinds), where he's able to panic in his mortified fear with privacy.

He doesn't want to believe it, any of it. His father is dead by his own hand. Just the night prior, Mr L Cooper himself was attacked, blacking out before the end of it all. He is rather more pale than before and, were it not for the way he had torn into his father, he may not believe that he has sharp fangs where there were none before.

He doesn't want to believe it because none of it seems true, but when that desire to drink blood returns to him, a man who has never once wished even the smallest bit of harm upon another, he knows he has to accept what happened the night prior and what he now is.

A vampire.

Mr L Cooper writes a letter to his mother. He will be going away for a while; he does not reveal anything of what happened to his father, her beloved husband. Though it pains him, he knows that Cooper & Sons Coffee Shop will need to close, for a woman cannot possibly run the business of a coffee shop, let alone on her lonesome.

And so he does disappear from society. None know where he goes, nor what becomes of him, and similar rumours are sure to come up about him as they did for Mr Westbrook, with whom he shares the same fate. The only time he reappears is in the dead of night so that he might prey on unsuspecting victims - victims who are just as unlucky as he had been.

He does not know what becomes of his mother, whether she continues to live in London or whether she continues to live at all. It is only some 30 years later that he reappears, having not aged a day. Whispers erupt throughout London that the renowned Cooper & Sons Coffee House has returned, and new and old patrons alike return (including women, who he is initially quite surprised are now allowed to frequent such places). They ask about Messrs A and L Cooper, but even when he is present, the owner of the store, who simply goes by Machi, tells that he knows naught about the fate of the original Coopers, despite the fact some swear he looks oddly like the man who puts the sons in Cooper & Sons...

It is only until he can afford to hire staff that Machi, formerly known as Mr L Cooper, is seen regularly about the shop. At this point, Machi retires to the now defunct smoking parlour, where he begins to renovate and also experiment with blood - human blood, to be precise, and how he can turn it from the boring same old that it always is into an enjoyable drink for the discerning vampire, just as the men in the front room enjoy their coffee over drinking something so plain as water, for example.

It takes some years to perfect his first recipes and another couple to find enough vampiric clientele to open proper, but in the early 1900s - a rather tumultuous time to be putting his business plans into motion, to be sure - the smoking parlour, now with blinds which block out all light, reopens for those in the know and becomes the place to be for those with a desire to try something different.

And so it is that Cooper & Sons, a coffee shop with a history spanning almost one and a half centuries, is now open 24/7, serving coffee until dark in the front room and blood-based beverages all day, everyday in the old smoking parlour.

Just make sure you are not in the wrong place at the wrong time, lest the 180 year old owner decides your blood would be perfect for a drink base...

[eruminx]

random phantom troupe headcanons / thoughts

including: chrollo, shalnark, feitan, nobunaga, illumi, general phantom troupe

warnings: possible spoilers, nsfw, brief mention of torture, lightly proof-read

chrollo is really into astrology. when you think about his character it makes a lot of sense. chrollo believes in fate and destiny, and how we cannot change it. that’s why he’s so amused by characters like hisoka and gon, because they try to change their destiny. and one of astrology's main themes is destiny and fate. astrology gives people identities, something that chrollo is constantly looking for outside of himself. because he cant accept that he is himself. i would go more into the astrology topic, but i don’t know enough about it to get into great detail without sharing misinformation.

shalnark and feitan aren’t that different from each other. both are scarily sadistic it just manifests in different ways. shalnark is generally very friendly and one of the more outgoing phantom troupe members. he’s a nice dude, but he’s not kind. niceness is like a mask, it’s a common courtesy. kindness comes from the heart. i think the only genuinely kind member is nobunaga, but i’ll get into that later. shalnark is more of a psychological torture guy, while feitan is more into traditional torture.

okay back to nobunaga. i very much think that he is the only truly kind member of the troupe. (this headcanon is not based on how he was as a child by the way) i recently read a nobunaga analysis (here) and it only furthered my belief in this headcanon. simply the way he feels for others is very kind, and how he acted towards gon and uvo specifically. as well as some parts in the manga. he’s definitely very compassionate and understanding, especially compared to the other members. i think some of the other members are capable of kindness, but they wouldn’t be described as ��kind”. two other members that come to mind are chrollo and pakunoda. they are both quite compassionate, as seen during their sentimental moments. (chrollo when reacting to members’ deaths and paku’s pre-death gun scene and her small interaction with the cat) but i wouldn’t call them “kind”, but instead more in-tune with their emotions. but, i think deep down inside all people are capable of kindness, so it can be hard to say.

illumi isn’t as clueless about love as the fandom makes him out to be. his only real reference for “love” is his parents, and they actually really love each other. knowing how kikyo is, she’s probably very doting with silva like she is with her children. and silva seems pretty compassionate as seen in his interactions with killua. silva also showed genuine concern for kikyo’s safety when killua threatened to kill her during the election arc. illumi has definitely learned from that, even if he doesn’t fully understand it. he wouldn’t be the best partner, but he’s more affectionate than he comes off. and i also firmly believe that he is not a virgin. i wouldn’t say he gets around like hisoka and chrollo, but he definitely has a few bodies. he’s human too, and he understands that he has human needs.

a good handful of the troupe members get around frequently. i read a headcanon saying some of the members have had sexual and romantic encounters with each other and I AGREE. i think the members who sleep around the most are (in order) hisoka (obviously), uvo, chrollo, and shalnark. maybe phinks but I think he’s so angry and intense because of how pent-up he is. i also think paku and nobunaga are the types to have intense flings with people every now and then… and they can last months. some members i think do not get around are machi, franklin, and feitan. they’re just not very interested and are too busy. i think shizuku is in the middle. i don’t think she’s a virgin and she has partners once in a while but she’s not actively pursuing sex. she just goes with the flow.

the troupe members dynamics are constantly changing. i feel like there’s very clear friend groups inside the troupe. like uvo, nobu, and shalnark are a very clear group in my eyes. as well as phinks and feitan. i feel like chrollo and pakunoda are a part of their little group together. i think the others are more loner types, but the original members still all share a special bond. member-to-member conflict happens a lot in the troupe, you can see this with nobunaga and some of his interactions with franklin and machi. I don’t think anyone dislikes each other (not including hisoka) but tension is common.

anyways... thank you for reading! this is my first post in forever lol (i’m a bit embarrassed….tbh lol)

masterlist / navigation

[deafeninggardenerpanda]

ive been reading the samurai kirby novel test reads and oh Boy i am so so glad i called dibs on this novel ive been actively enjoying every second of it

tbh if theres like anyone Super looking forward to this novel, i recommend going in completely blind for a number of reasons. but to those who don't care here's some brief rambles

this novel has test reads published every week for a month like the rtdl novel, instead of just one test read about a week before the novel's release date like novels usually do. the rtdl novel i could excuse as being separate from the usual novels, but this is a bit odd. i guess im not complaining though, it means a lot more reading and content for me. currently there have been three test reads released so far

previous post about this novel, if you didn't hear before and want the full rundown

interestingly meta knight hasn't appeared yet, even though he seems to be super important from the synopsis and a duo with kirby for the book's major plot of retrieving the sword technique scroll

also related, the major plot of retrieving any sort of sword technique scroll has not even been remotely mentioned yet at this point

what has been mentioned, then? well first of all everyone lives under a brutal dictatorship. the lord of this place enforces strict and unreasonable laws and anyone who speaks ill of them are arrested. there's multiple occasions of characters freaking out and telling others to shut up in case the authority are secretly listening. according to a rumor from pharmacist scarfy and postman wheelie, dissenters also get taken from their houses at night and thrown into a dungeon never to be seen again, and that there were pained groans heard coming from the dungeon the other night.

its not stated but in my opinion this is definitely a kid friendly version of yeah the police totally torture and starve you. also the police are terrifying animated wooden mechanical puppets, said to be "bloodthirsty". anyways

the animal troupe is in fact this universe's version of beast pack. elfy and them are like a family in this and it makes me buckwild insane. leon acts like an overprotective dad

dedede has been mentioned. he's apparently a double agent against the evil lord and secretly protects everyone. actually really cool

meta knight has not been mentioned. magolor also hasn't been mentioned, but apart from being a sweets merchant he's also apparently a riverman, according to the character introductions.

clawroline wears a kimono. i love her. that's all i wanted to say with that

i was confused about this in my initial post about this novel but bandana waddle dee has been renamed to tenugui waddle dee in this novel, because he wears a tenugui (japanese hand towel) on his head instead of a bandana

oh yeah that brutal dictatorship thing i mentioned earlier? the main ongoing current conflict with that is that no one can eat dango or mochi because of it. that's literally the only thing anyone's mad about. who cares about having your rights being taken away if you can't have mochi i guess. very dreamland-core

anddd the town this takes place in is called pupupu machi (pupupu town) which im considering translating as cappy town, since Dream Town does not have a good ring to it. but i think Some anime haters would get Really upset if i called it cappy town so lol

[oldsargasso]

"Dean smiling is like a little gift because he does smile but sometimes it's so sweet and pretty it can't be anyting other than a present just for Winner." AGH???? MY HEART???? PLZ… DEAN'S SMILE IS A GIFT OH MY GOD.

ONLY SO TONY COULD EXPENSE IT DKFGSDFGDFG I'M SHRIEKING. Kenta the tax write-off 😭 (In another universe, Tony is that boss who pays his employees with UAC gift cards.) And yeah I think Kenta has a very skewed understanding of money! He doesn't know what a living wage is or how much groceries cost. He could make do in a 4sqm or less apartment but wouldn't blink at paying 5x the average market price for it because he just. Doesn’t know any better, and his negotiating tactics have always been “throw money at it” or “knife time.”

I do think there may have been limits from Tony in terms of what Kenta was allowed to spend on himself—for instance, the blazers he wears are of varying quality, the one he wears to the auction, in front of clients, is the nicest, but one of them looks closer to off-the-rack quality, and he only has like. Three shirts, whereas Tony basically has a different custom three-piece suit in every episode. But like Kenta does not look at the price of food when he's ordering at a restaurant (god forbid he make Tony look poor in front of a client) and barely even glances at the check when he's signing it, much to Kim and Dean's horror. He very quickly learns to ask the question "Is that expensive?" when they're out together, until he gets the hang of it.

Yes, let him work with his hands!! BUT GOD THE TINY HANDS HE USED TO HOLD I'M HURTING!!

Yeah sorry I deal with the bookkeeping at work so I am. Not going to be the person to dissuade you from this line of thought! THERE ARE SO MANY QUESTIONS! What happens to everything after Tony dies! How much of it was even on the books! Do you think he ever put things in Kenta’s name without his knowledge, just to keep any consequences away from himself.

But oh gosh Kenta absolutely DOES try to figure out their favorite baked goods without asking (he probably spent so much energy trying to navigate Tony's moods based on nonverbal cues, and it takes him a long time to just be able to ask what people want without feeling like he’s navigating a minefield ☹️)

YES I DO THINK THEY MAKE HIM A BIRTHDAY CAKE??? They ask Pete for his bday, which there's a good chance that Kenta grew up not knowing his bday and Pete had to make one up for him and do his best to gift him something with limited resources. But he wasn't given kitchen access, so this would be Kenta's first birthday cake 😭 (Kenta’s first bday post-Tony passes by unnoticed because Pete has his hands full and it doesn’t occur to anyone that Kenta would simply Never Mention his bday, until one day someone is asking about horoscopes or smth)

As violent as Kim can be when he wants to, it's his tenderness that's truly powerful 🥺 Kenta DOES DESERVE SOFT LITTLE KISSES WHEN HE'S BEING TIED DOWN!!!

Great minds 🤝 Winner thinks his own dirty talk is GREAT and he has the evidence of Dean always getting turned on by it to back himself up LOL. (In all seriousness, I would GLADLY spreadsheet their kinks jkgsdfgdfg)

Kenta 🥺 He'll see it eventually!! Maybe once that happens they can finally (MAYBE) convince him to wear like. Cute lacy briefs or smth. (the bra that deep in my heart I wish to see him wear would take a lot more convincing on their part but by god do those tits deserve to be showcased and worshipped)

Not gonna pretend that I'm NOT physically affected by Kenta's lethal brutality god WHATEVER WHATEVER MOVING ON Winner being soft and caring is gonna be the death of me. The character development… my heart 🥺 From angry, half-satisfying parking lot blowjobs, to Winner looking after Kenta, taking care of him, and Kenta letting him do it. I’M UNWELL.

Kim is the only one with his shit together, of COURSE he is better at laundry. (Also I need him pressing at least one of them crotch first up against the shaking washing machine. for my sanity)

also screaming screaming screaming GOD KIM IS SO… COMPELLING he could probably read the dictionary and make it sound like a command. Goodness. He’s so!!!

[for my future reference this is polycule thread 2]

not Tony with the gift cards 💀 he so would.

I love the idea of Kenta learning the actual value of things. actually I wonder…obviously WE think Winner has a rich family. and Kim is making money from racing. but he stays living in the little serviced apartment - was that confirmed that he got that as part of Red Racing deal or did we just assume that. and we see him driving a nice car. hold on I gotta go rewatch that scene and check. okay so its…a white car. they don't show a badge or anything, there's like a split second of the steering wheel and I THINK it's a toyota (which would make sense since sponsor) ANYWAY. Kim is making decent money I think.

BUT Dean is not? he's not doing the higher level racing (assume prize money jumps considerably given Babe's financial status) and we see him working in a kitchen when he's exiled. that scene lives in my head constantly for so many reasons. anyway all that to say I think Kim would probably also not think too much about spending money on a nice restaurant (he's drinking at the fancy bar spying on Tony and pays for Babe's drink) but Dean for sure would be like. doing the calculation those of us without money constantly do - "this dinner could pay for three days rent" or whatever. and I think that, once he shares that, it would really help Kenta conceptualise how it works. but maybe more like "this knife is worth the same as the jeans Kim picked out for me last week". but it would be hard if like Winner just never cares about what things costs, and Dean really cares - even though the others are like "WE ARE PAYING" - and Kim spend a lot on what he cares about and hardly anything on things he doesn't. also if he did work at Way's car emporium like I think you suggested (until the sales trauma kicks in) Kenta would be like "cars cost this much! :)" and the others have to be like. "well…yes. but also mostly no."

but yes let's talk about Kenta's wardrobe. personal unshakeable headcanon is Kim (and Dean) taking him shopping and being like "you can wear whatever you want!" and Kenta's just happy with his usual all black mostly-comfortable clothes. but sometimes he's just hanging around the house and ~accidentally puts on someone else's jacket. maybe it's colourful, maybe it's not, but it smells like them and it's warm and cosy. it only works with the oversized jackets obviously. but eventually all their wardrobes meld a little bit. semi-related but Kim for sure approves certain people's date night outfits before they're allowed out.

lmao we are KINDRED SPIRITS. give us a special episode where it's just Tony succession planning. I think he kept Babe in the will. but omg yessss Tony dies and a year later a lawyer turns up to Kenta like "and here is your share of Tony's estate. and here is the trial date, you should get a lawyer" wait Kenta definitely goes to prison for killing Tony right? [I typed a whole bunch of stuff but I've taken it out, it's depressing in a real life kinda way and that's not what we're here for] anyway Kenta gets off with a slap on the wrist: time already served plus extenuating circumstances plus Winner's family paid for a vicious lawyer.

it's definitely Sonic and North asking about birthdates so they can do compatibility charts. SHUT UPPPP Pete giving Kenta a birthdy and a little celebration as best he can. do you think he gave Kenta his own birthday so they could share.

don't get me started on a kink spreadsheet!! I used to use one to track all my wips lol I love a spreadsheet.

god yesss give Kenta a pretty bra for his glorious tits it's what he deserves. I think they go shopping and they walk past a lingerie store and Kenta slows for like half a step to look a bit longer and Kim clocks it immediately. it's just the two of them which is lucky because Winner would make a joke about it (and even though it was just for fun Kenta would still feel too shamed) and Dean sometimes jumps he gun between the initial formation of an idea and the full execution of that idea. but Kim is patient. maybe he's like "oh, let's go in here" and lets Kenta hover around while Kim buys something pretty for himself. then it's like. Kim isn't a worse person for wearing it and being enjoyed in it. Kenta wouldn't be either…

[asexual-abomination]

Plat!Yan!Chrollo x Autistic!Reader x Plat!Yan!PT - Soulmate AU Part 3

The Phantom Troupe is finally here, but are they ready for what awaits them in the reader's hometown?

As always, this idea was inspired by the lovely @kiame-sama! I also have no traditional education in writing, so any advice is greatly appreciated! This is still very self-indulgent writing atm, but I plan to set up requests soon enough!

Hope you enjoy reading!

-----

It was nearing half-past three before the Troupe moved in on the library. Originally, they had planned to move in at exactly three o'clock, but Machi mentioned that she felt something odd from within the building, and Chrollo had advised everyone to stay back to watch the doors from a distance.

It was clear that something was wrong here, the library should have been open until at least seven in the evening, yet no-one had entered or exited the building for hours. They had no choice but to make their move now, lest the person that they were try to capture slip through their fingers already.

First to step inside was Chrollo, followed immediately by Phinks and Nobunaga, while the others remained outside to keep watch. Machi's gut feeling was further proven right when the men found the lighting lowered, and the building deathly silent.

"Nobu, use En to see if you can find anyone hiding around here."

Though it was an order to Nobunaga, Chrollo spoke with an order to the whole room. He wanted his soulmate to show themselves without needing to hunt them out, which would be easier said than done.

"There won't be any need for that." A new voice called out from between the bookshelves, making all three of their heads snap towards the source of the noise.

As the speaker stepped out from their hiding place, Chrollo's face became twisted with an unusual level of anger. As they made eye contact, there was a long moment of tension between them while Chrollo's companions watched on with sharp eyes.

"I know who you are, and I don't care. If you have taken away my soulmate, there will be hell to pay." His voice was serious, and while his tone was usually well-maintained, Phinks and Nobunaga could sense the rage and darkness that lurked just beneath his calm exterior. This newcomer seemed to returned the anger, their sharp glare piercing Chrollo with hatred.

"I don't think you understand. (Y/N) is everything to me, you barely know them. When they heard of what you had done, they were disgusted, and left of their own volition. I just helped them."

"What?!" It was Nobunaga's turn to be enraged, who was this person thinking they could send off the boss' own soulmate?

Chrollo stood up straighter, turning slightly to keep an eye on the new foe while speaking to his companions.

"This is... Jo. A friend of (Y/N)'s... and a native of Meteor City."

The tension in the room was practically electrified. There was a clear rule within the Troupe that Meteor city was a priority, and others from that forsaken place were to be protected, not fought.

And yet, Chrollo was ready to bypass that rule for the sake of his soulmate.

"I won't tell you where I sent them, but I won't fight you either. I have faith that they will follow the rules I gave them, and once they do, you'll never be able to find them." There was a strong conviction in their voice, and it was clear that they were prepared to face whatever these thieves had to give.

In that moment, Nobunaga and Phinks felt waves of aura so strong that weaker men would have been knocked over by their force, as both Chrollo and Jo activated their Nen in readiness to fight. They both stepped back from their leader, having originally planned to protect him, but now knowing that the rage in his heart would easily guard him in this fight.

Just as suddenly as it had grown, Chrollo's aura dissipated. There was still an air of hatred surrounding him, but it was no longer hostile.

"You are (Y/N)'s dearest friend. I hate you for it, but I know that if I killed you here, they would never forgive me. Run away, there isn't anything left for either of us if we keep chatting here. Just know that we will find them, no matter what we have to do."

Immediately after the order, Jo was gone with nothing but a slight gust of wind to tell that they were ever there.

-----

As they stepped back out into the cold winter air, the sun was already beginning to lower in the sky. The world outside was just as quiet as the inside of the unpopulated library, as if the birds and passersby knew better than to call in the Phantom Troupe's rage.

"(Y/N) has been taken, we don't know where, but they have help from a native of Meteor City, and they're heading to a safe-house. We need to find and retrieve them before they can reach that place, or else we could loose them forever." It was Nobunaga who gave the rest of the awaiting Troupe a briefing on what had happened within the library, as Chrollo was too wrapped up in his fury to speak even a word.

Quiet and steely conviction was the sentiment shared by remaining members of the Troupe, and so within the minute of that briefing, every person who had stood watch shot away from the library. Each of them had a place in mind, somewhere that they would begin the search for the lost soulmate, and soon only Chrollo was left.

As if he hoped that there would be a signal for him in the clouds, Chrollo turned his face upwards to breathe a long sigh. But that was the only moment that he would spare, and soon he was running with the speed of a bullet, ready to take on whatever the world tried to put between him and his soulmate.

-----

Thanks for reading!

[chanoyu-to-wa]

Nampō Roku, Book 7 (23c), Appendix 2:  Kaki-ire [書入].

￮ Kaki-ire [書入]:

    The chasen-tōshi should also be understood in the same way as what has just been said [with regard to the momi-te]¹.

    When [performing the chasen-tōshi], if the tines of the chasen become too soft, it will not be possible to tap it [audibly] against [the rim of] the chawan².  And again, during the winter (and at other such [times of the year when it is cold]), if strongly boiling water is poured into the chawan, [we] should always be concerned that it does not crack, so it is not a good idea to tap [the chasen against the rim of the bowl in that season of the year]³.

    This [tapping the chasen against the rim of the chawan] is also based on the rules that describe the rituals of the Shingon and Tendai sects⁴.  When the vessel is tapped, if that which [it contains] is [ritually] unclean, it is purified:  this is found in the ritual for blessing holy water⁵.

    While the morpheme⁶ “RAM” [ रँ, 囕] is being intoned, [the vessel containing the water that will be blessed] is tapped twenty-one times with the sanjō [散杖]⁷.  And then, while chanting “VAM” [ वँ, 畔], [the vessel] is tapped twenty-one times⁸.

    Afterward [incense, flowers, and other] offerings are made [to the Buddha], following the same procedures, while chanting “HŪM” [ हूँ, 𤙖]⁹.  From this [ritual], one feels that every impurity has been completely cleaned away¹⁰.

    The chawan is passed [back and forth] between [the host and his] guests again and again; yet only one [chawan] is used¹¹.  [This might make them feel uncomfortable,] particularly when the guests do not know who may have been drinking before them¹².  Because this might seem unpleasant, the three taps [of the chasen against the rim of the chawan] at the beginning [of the temae] seem to make [us] think about the “RAM-VAM-[H]ŪM” of the triple invocation¹³.  And again, later [in the temae] when rinsing [the chasen], [tapping the chasen against the rim of the bowl twice reminds us of] the double-invocation of “RAM-VAM” -- and with that, [the chawan] will be cleansed¹⁴.  Borrowed [originally] from the Shingon [ritual], we [also] do things in this way¹⁵.

([Shibayama’s note:]  “RAM-VAM” refers to fire and water.)¹⁶

_________________________

◎ This kaki-ire , which discusses the practice of allowing the handle of the chasen to tap against the rim of the chawan during the performance of the chasen-tōshi [茶筅通し], is not found in the Enkaku-ji manuscript of Book Seven of the Nampō Roku.  Nevertheless, both Shibayama Fugen and Tanaka Senshō include this text in their commentaries (Tanaka places it after the longer version of the text, as is most appropriate, since that is the version to which it was originally appended), so I felt it would be good to include it in this translation as well -- leaving it up to the reader to decide how important the material is*.

    The way this kaki-ire is written suggests that it was added much later than many of the other emendations that are found throughout the different books of the Nampō Roku, and clearly reflects the machi-shū style of temae that appeared during the seventeenth century, following Sōtan’s rise to prominence.

    With respect to this text, Tanaka writes “[this] is a brief note appended to the text, which is very relevant. The [form of the] chasen-tōji [茶筅湯じ]† was derived from the rules detailing the Shingon kaji-kitō [加持祈禱]‡ ritual. This idea has been completely deleted from the popular books [about chanoyu].  [Furthermore,] no mention of this is made in any of the [collections of] secret teachings, not even in Hiden kū-ka-jō [秘伝九ヶ条]**.  It is regrettable that Jitsuzan koji [実山居士]†† misrepresented the text [of entry 23] in many places [through his numerous editorial deletions].‡‡”

    Nevertheless, we must take this lament with a grain of salt, since it was precisely esoterica of this sort that held a fascination for Tanaka Senshō***

    I would like to thank Søren M. Chr. Bisgaard Sōen [宗園] sensei (who also uses the Japanese-language name Bisugō [飛壽胡]), in Kyōto, for his help reading the three Sanskrit morphemes that are found in this kaki-ire, as well as for his very detailed explanations of their meanings. __________ *As I mentioned in the first appendix (at the end of the previous post), this entry (and so, the kaki-ire that was appended to it) represents the machi-shū perspective that was supplanting Rikyū’s own teachings in the years following his death, in an effort to “restore” chanoyu to the state it had been in during Jōō’s middle period (that is, during the decade or so before Rikyū returned from the continent toward the end of autumn in 1554) -- or, at least, that is what the machi-shū followers of Imai Sōkyū believed they were doing.

    According to Rikyū’s own densho, the chasen should not produce an audible sound when it is rested against the rim of the chawan during the chasen-tōshi.

†Chasen-tōji [茶筅湯じ] is usually written chasen-tōshi [茶筌通し] (or, chasen-tōji [茶筌通じ]) today.  Tanaka’s term means “putting the chasen in hot water,” while the more common expression means something like “to look the chasen over.”

‡The kaji-kitō [加持祈禱] is a Shingon ritual designed to pray for divine intervention (by the Shintō Gods and the Buddhas), to deliver humanity from sickness and other calamities.

     Kaji [加持] is a translation of the Sanskrit word adhiṣṭhāna [ अधिष्ठान ], which means initiations or blessings.  Paraphrasing from the Wikipedia article, in Shingon Buddhism, this includes the chanting of mantras, mudras (ritualized hand-gestures), and visualization exercises aim at achieving honzon-kaji [本尊加持] -- union with the enshrined Buddha-form.

    Professor Emeritus Minoru Kiyota (1923 ~ 2013), of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, identified three kinds of adhiṣṭhāna in the theory and practice of Shingon Buddhism:  mudra, the finger sign [gesticulation]; dhāraṇī, [the chanting of]secret verses; and yoga [...].

**Hiden kū-ka-jō [秘伝九ヶ条] is one of the titles used for the first of the two books of secret teachings that were appended to the Nampō Roku by Tachibana Jitsuzan and the Enkaku-ji scholars.  According to Kanshū oshō-sama, access to these two books was even more closely restricted than to the Nampō Roku itself.

††Jitsuzan koji [実山居士] was the name used by Tachibana Jitsuzan after his retirement.  His actual name was Tachibana Shigemoto [立花重根; 1655 ~ 1708].

    He received the name Jitsuzan koji when he retired and became nyū-dō [入道].

      Jitsuzan established the Tōrin-ji [東林寺] (a small sub-temple, consisting of a moderately sized Buddha hall, with residential buildings, a dedicated room for za-zen, a shoin, and the Jisei-an [而生庵] (above) -- a 4-mat tearoom arranged like a yojō-han (with a masu-doko [桝床], a square toko that takes the place of the half-mat, located at the far end of the utensil mat, in the corner of the room) -- which he constructed in front of the main gate of the original Enkaku-ji (now the site of Hakata Train Station) in 1696.  The Tōrin-ji still stands on its original site, and Jitsuzan’s grave is located in the garden in front of the main hall.

‡‡Nao honbun ni, shōchū no kaki-ire ari. Kore ni kanren shitaru. Shingon no kaji-kitō no hō yori okoru chasen-tōji no konpon no koto de aru. Seken no rufu-hon ni hako no koto sakujo shite ari. Hiden to shite shimesanu mono ka, Hiden kyū-ka-jō ni mo nashi. Jitsuzan koji, ō-ō kono daiji no bunshō wo kaizan suru wa, ikan ni taezu. [尚本文に、小註の書き入れあり。これに関聯したる。真言の加持祈禱の法より起る茶筅湯じの根本のことである。世間の流布本にはこのこと削除してあり。秘伝として示さぬものか、秘伝九ヶ条にもなし。実山居士、往々この大事の文章を改竄するは、遺憾に堪えず。]

*** Tanaka was a firm believer in the inherent validity of the machi-shū tradition, particularly the version that had been proselytized by Urasenke since the last decades of the nineteenth century, which also featured a pseudo-mystical bent

¹Chasen-tōji ni mo, migi no kokoro nari　[茶筌トウジニモ、右ノコヽロナリ].

    Chasen-tōji [茶筌通じ] seems to be pronounced chasen-tōshi today.  This is the action, during the temae, to ready the chasen for the preparation of koicha or usucha -- a way to “test” its performative ability, as it were.  First the chasen is handled in a way that mirrors its use when blending koicha; then it is used to whisk the hot water, in anticipation of mechanics of making usucha.  The modern schools also usually include lifting the chasen out of the bowl several times, so the tines may be visually inspected -- though Rikyū, in his writings, appears to have disapproved of this machi-shū practice (preferring for the host to look at the chasen carefully in the mizuya -- since, if any defect is found during the chasen-tōshi, there is really nothing that the host can do to rectify the situation).

    Kokoro [心] means mind, understanding, mind-set.

    In other words, the host should understand that the chasen-tōshi is a parallel action to the rubbing of the hands together in the momi-te [揉み手]:  both actions are intended to elicit ritual purity.

²Chasen no ho no yawaraguru-tame nareba, chawan no tataku ni ha oyobazu　[茶筌ノ穂ノヤハラグル為ナレバ、茶碗ヲタヽクニハ不及].

    Chasen no ho [茶筌の穂] means the tines of the chasen.

    Yawarageru-tame nareba [和らげるためなれば] means "if (the tines of the chasen) become soft...."

    Tataku [叩く] means to hit, strike, tap against, and so forth.

    Oyobazu [不及 = 及ばず] means not cause (something to happen), unable to achieve (an effect).

    In other words, if, while performing the chasen-tōshi, the tines of the chasen become too soft, their resiliency will be lost and the chasen will not be able to tap against the rim of the chawan properly.  (The tapping occurs naturally, when the handle of the chasen is released when it is 1-sun or so away from the rim of the bowl, with the tines touching the bottom.  The host does not actively tap the chasen against the rim of the chawan, since that could easily damage the bowl.)

³Mata kan-chū nado ha, chawan ni waki-tataru atsui-yu ireba, hibiki-waren-koto* wo osorete, tataku to iu ha arazu nari　[又寒中ナドハ、茶碗ニ湧立タル熱湯入レバ、ヒヾキワレン事ヲ恐テ、タヽクト云ハ非也].

    Kan-chū nado [寒中など] means during the winter, and at other such times (of the year when the weather is cold).  In other words, during the cold months of the year.

    Waki-tataru atsui-yu [沸き立て熱い湯] means hot water (atsui-yu [熱い湯]) heated to a rolling boil (waki-tate [沸き立て]).

    Hibi-waren-koto [罅割れんこと] would mean a crack (hibi [罅] refers to the physical crack) does not develop (waren [割れん] is a negative form of the verb to crack, to break).  Hibiki-waren-koto [ヒヾキワレン事  = 響き割れんこと], on the other hand, would not seem to have any meaning at all†.

    Osorete [恐れて] means to fear, to be afraid of (something), to be apprehensive about.

    Tataku...ha arazu nari [たたく...は非ずなり] means (the chasen) should not tap against (the rim of the chawan).

    The meaning is that, because the host (and everyone else) will be worried that pouring very hot water into the chawan will cause it to crack‡, the host should not subsequently drop the handle of the chasen against the rim of the bowl, for fear of either producing a sound similar to that of a piece of pottery cracking, or reveal the presence of a crack by the dull sound of the tap. __________ *Hibiki-waren-koto [ヒヾキワレン事] appears to be a copyist’s error.  It seems the word should be hibi-waren-koto [罅割れんこと], which would mean “that (the chawan) does not develop a crack.”

    That said, while I seem to recall chajin in Kyōto using the pronunciation hibiki [ひびき] when referring to cracked pottery (perhaps referring to the dull sound, hibiki [響き], made when a cracked pot is tapped, and then using this word to refer to the crack itself), I can not find anything to confirm the existence of such a usage -- neither in the modern language, nor in historical, or tea-related, Japanese.

†Hibiki [響き] means a sound, but specifically refers to an echo or reverberation, noise, the quality of a sound related to a specific thing (such as a bell, gunshot, or hoofbeats -- usually heard at a distance), or (though less commonly) the feelings engendered by hearing that sound (or reading about it -- such as the mental impression that reading the word “hoofbeats” produces).

    Wareru [割れる] means to break, split, fall apart, crack, and so forth.  (Waren [割れん] is a colloquialism that would have been used primarily by men, a contraction of ware-nai [割れない], meaning “to not break,” “does not break.”)

    There are no compounds combining hibiki with wareru; and neither pronunciation (hibiki [ひびき], wareru/waren [われる・われん]) has any homonyms that might allow for a different meaning (as is often the case with many Japanese words).

‡According to Rikyū, when a bowl is known to be cracked, or when the host has reason to fear that the bowl will be damaged by the sudden temperature change, several precautions should be taken.  The bowl should be gently warmed beforehand in the mizuya, if possible.  And then, during the temae, the host begins by pouring half a hishaku of water from the mizusashi into the chawan, after which hot water is added little by little so that the temperature of the bowl will increase slowly (after adding a hishaku of cold water to the kama, and performing a yu-gaeshi, first a quarter hishaku of hot water is poured into the cold water in the chawan; then, after rotating the bowl slowly three times, and without discarding the lukewarm water, a further half hishaku of hot water is added, the bowl is again rotated, and finally the water is discarded).  By this point, the chawan will be hot enough that adding a half hishaku of hot water directly from the kama (for the chasen-tōshi) will not damage it.  Note that at no time is water heated to a rolling boil ever poured into such a bowl:  the temperature of the kama is first moderated by adding a hishaku of cold water, followed by a yu-gaeshi.

    However, while Rikyū always warmed the chawan twice (first using a quarter hishaku-full, and, after emptying the bowl, pouring in a half hishaku for the chasen-tōshi), even when it was an ordinary bowl, the machi-shū (acting on the theory that “hot water is expensive,” so minimizing its use was “more wabi”) only poured hot water into the chawan once (to both warm it, and perform the chasen-tōshi at the same time).  Thus the apprehension that this statement reveals may have been warranted.

    Warming the chawan only once became the general rule under Sōtan.

⁴Kore mo Shingon, Tendai no ka-hō yori motozuki-taru nari　[コレモ真言、天台ノ家法ヨリモトヅキタルナリ].

    Ka-hō [家法] means a code of behavior followed by all of the members of the sect (to whom it was relevant or applicable)*.  Here, the author of this kaki-ire seems to be thinking about the rules governing ritual -- specifically, ritual purification.

    Motozuki-taru [基づきたる] means originally, to be based upon (this precedent).

    In other words, this teaching was based on ritual practices followed by the Shingon and Tendai sects (to wit, tapping on a vessel as a way of rendering its contents ritually pure). __________ *More literally, of the family.

    The followers of the religion were regarded as being members of the same family.

⁵Utsuwa wo tataite fujō wo kiyomuru koto, kaji-shasui no hō nari　[器ヲタヽイテ不浄ヲキヨムルコト、加持灑水ノ法也].

    Utsuwa [器] means a vessel, a container (such as, for example, a chawan).

    Tataite [叩いて] means to tap on something, tap against something.

    Fujō wo kiyomeru koto [不浄を清めること] means the case of purifying something that is impure.

    In other words, in the Shingon and Tendai sects, tapping on or against a vessel is a way to (ritually) purify it (or, actually, its contents†).

    Kaji-shasui no hō [加持灑水の 法] means the procedure or ritual (hō [法 ]) to bless (kaji [加持]) the holy water (shasui [灑水])* [that is later sprinkled on other things, to bless them].

         In other words, tapping (a wand or other object) against a vessel to purify its contents is the ritual (hō [法]) that is followed when blessing holy water‡. __________ *Perfumed water prepared according to the secret ritual (which will be described hereafter), that is then splashed on things to render them ritually pure.

    This blessing by splashing holy water is similar to the practice of sprinkling holy water (on people or objects) in the Catholic religion.

†The way bubbles rise to the surface when a vessel of water is tapped.  The bubbles being taken to represent the impurities dissolved in the water, which are released by tapping on the vessel.

    The fact that it is what is contained in the vessel that is purified by tapping the vessel with a ritual wand (at least in this example), casts doubt on the veracity of the central argument of this kaki-ire -- that tapping the handle of the chasen against the rim of the chawan somehow purifies the chawan (especially of “bad energy” left in it by previous guests)

‡In Tanaka Senshō's commentary, he writes:

    Ima Tendai-shū ya, Shingon-shū de mo, kono hō-hō wo suru ga, kore wo senmon-ka no sōryo ni kiite-miru to, sanjō to iu bō wa, ume no ki de isshaku-hassun-hodo ni tsukuru. Shasui-ki to te mizu wo sakaru-utsuwa ni soete, "ran・ban・un" to iu. [今天台宗や、真言宗でも、この方法をするが、これを専門家の僧侶に聞いて見ると、散杖と云う棒は、梅の木で一尺八寸ほどに造る。洒水器とて水を盛る器に添えて、ラン・バン・ウンと云う。]

    “In present day Tendai and Shingon sects, this method [of purifying holy water] is used.  This was related to me by a monk who was a specialist [in the conduct of these rituals].  A wand called a sanjō [散杖] is used.  It is made from plum wood, and should be about 1-shaku 8-sun long.  Beside it is placed the holy-water vessel, filled with water.

    “[The Sanskrit morphemes] ‘ram,’ ‘bam,’ ‘um’ are spoken [while the vessel is tapped with the staff].”

    Apparently the staff has a yae-renge [八重蓮華] carved on the butt-end of the handle.  A yae-renge is a lotus blossom with an inner and outer whirl of petals (this is the kind of lotus blossom on which the Buddha sits, for example), though the carving can be simple (eight lines arranged like a starburst, “✳”) or elaborate (representational).

⁶A morpheme (quoting from the Rochester Institute of Technology) is “a short segment of language that meets three basic criteria:  1. It is a word or a part of a word that has meaning[;] 2. It cannot be divided into smaller meaningful segments without changing its meaning or leaving a meaningless remainder[; and,] 3. It has relatively the same stable meaning in different verbal environments.”  Which is what “ रँ, वँ, and हूँ ” are.

    I am using this term, in other words, to denominate the Sanskrit elements that are found in this kaki-ire because there is no good word in the English language that actually describes these kinds of entities.  Originally I called them “word(s),” but Bisgaard sensei pointed out that they are not, in fact, words.  I then tried “calligraphs” (a self-coined term, meaning a written element), but that, too, was vetoed as being too confusing (and, frankly, not a real word -- at least, not when calligraph is used as a noun, as I intended). 

    Bisgaard sensei’s suggestions were “stand-alone syllable(s)” or “letter combination(s),” but these struck me as both cumbersome and potentially misleading.  So, after much consideration, we decided on morpheme as being sufficiently vague to cover all contexts, while (since I suppose that most people are not familiar with this term from linguistics) it would also not be misleading -- since I hope the readers will simply accept it as a term to name these entities, “ रँ, वँ, and हूँ,” rather than exercising their minds wondering what they are.

⁷“RAM”-ji kwan-tote, nijū-ippen utsuri wo sanjō ni te tataki　[ रँ  字クハントテ、廿一返器ヲ散杖ニテタヽキ].

    RAM [ रँ, 囕] is a Sanskrit morpheme.  In the various texts it is represented either by the original Sanskrit morpheme (in the example shown below, Shibayama’s handwritten version is on the left, while a printed form is next), or by the kanji ran [囕] (second from the right).  While different pronunciations are given in the different texts (and Shibayama himself appears to be perplexed about what to use*), the closest katakana transliteration would probably be ramu [ラム] (albeit with the final verb dropped), as shown on the left.

    Bisgaard sensei has provided the following explanation:  RA [ र ], the fundamental sound and basis, stands for the element fire, from which are derived heat, love, desire, and going up.

    RAM [ रँ ] is the bija mantra [ बीज मन्त्र ]† of the third chakra [चक्र] Maṇipūra [मणिपूर], which is located at the height of the navel, the height of the stomach. In the ordinary (Japanese) context, it would stand for yang [陽].

    Kwan [クワン], or kan [カン] refers to the sound of a bell or gong -- a ding or chime.  In this case it seems to refer to a verbal ejaculation (in other words, voicing the sound RAM‡), so I have translated it “intoning” (as below).

    Ji [字] means a character or letter, in this case referring to the Sanskrit morphemes.

    “RAM”-ji kwan-tote [ रँ 字クハントテ] means while intoning the morpheme “RAM.”

    Nijū-ippen [廿一返 = 二十一返] means twenty-one repetitions.

    Utsuri wo sanjō ni te tataki [器を散杖にて叩き] means the vessel (utsuri [器]) is tapped (tataki [叩き]) with the sanjō (sanjō ni te [散杖にて]).

    As explained (and illustrated) in the previous footnote, a sanjō [散杖] is a sort of wooden wand, 1-shaku 8-sun long, carved or turned from unpainted plum (ume [梅]) wood. __________ *He indicates the pronunciation with furigana [振り仮名] -- small kana written above or (in this case) to the right of a kanji or other written elements, to indicate its pronunciation -- sometimes as ran [ラン], and sometimes as ramu [ラム].  The same problem is seen in the case of the other two Sanskrit morphemes.

†A bija mantra [बीज मन्त्र] is a one-syllable sound used in meditation or yoga practice. The Sanskrit phrase bija mantra literally means “seed mantra” (which is comprised of two elements:  bija means seed, while mantra means an instrument of thought).

‡As a mystical incantation, rather than as a spoken word.  This is probably why it is described as being a kwan [クワン].

⁸Mata “VAM” kwan-tote, niju-ichi kaeri tatakite　[又  वँ クハントテ、廿一返タヽキテ].

    VAM [ वँ, 畔] is another Sanskrit morpheme.  Since Japanese does not have a “V” sound, it is usually represented as “B.”  For the sake of fidelity to the original Sanskrit, however, I will use “V” in the translation.

    Once again, Bisgaard sensei has provided this explanation:  VA [ व ] is the fundamental sound and basis, and stands for the element water, from which are derived cold, wetness, and so forth.

    VAM [ वँ ] is the bija mantra of the second chakra Svadhisthana [स्वाधिष्ठान], located at the base of the bladder. In the Japanese context, it would be yin [陰].

     In the various texts, this is written either with the original Sanskrit morpheme (Shibayama’s handwritten version is on the left, above, while the printed form is next), or by the kanji ban [畔] (once again, second from the right).

    The same issue with transliterating the final consonant sound is as mentioned before; but the closest form would seem to be bamu [バム] (which Shibayama uses consistently) -- though Tanaka prefers ban [バン].

⁹Nochi kuyō no mono wo, migi no shirushi ni te “[H]ŪM” to tonaete kyōsu　[後 供養ノモノヲ、右ノ印ニテ  हूँ ト唱テ供ス].

    Nochi [後] means after, afterward, following, subsequently.  That is, the offerings made to the Buddha are presented after the holy water has been blessed.

    Kuyō no mono [供養のもの] means (to accompany) things offered (to the Buddha)*.

    Migi no shirushi ni te [右の印にて] means to replicate the tapping ritual described previously (literally, at the right).

    HŪM [ हूँ, 𤙖] is the third Sanskrit morpheme included in this kaki-ire.  Bisgaard sensei notes that HŪM [ हूँ ] is generally used as an exclamation†.  However here, as elsewhere, it is used as a mystical syllable, included in spells and magical utterances.

    A well-known example of this use is in the famous mantra oṃ maṇi padme hūṃ [ॐ मणि पद्मे हूँ]‡ -- “OM Jewel (in the) Lotus HŪM.”

    Shibayama represents the sound as umu [ウム], while Tanaka gives un [ウン].  Aside from the initial “H” (which does not exist in Japanese in association with the vowel “u”), both appear ignorant of the fact that this morpheme has a long vowel.  Given the limitations of the language, it seems that ūmu [ウーム] might be the best transliteration.

    Tonaeru [唱える] means to chant, to recite (an invocation).

    Kyōsu [供す] means to offer, to make (ones) offerings. __________ *These offerings include incense, flowers, votive candles, food and drink.

    Kuyō [供養] translates the Sanskrit word pūjanā [पूजन], which means to venerate or worship.

    This special Buddhist usage should not be confused with the usual meaning of kuyō [供養], which refers to a memorial service for the dead.

†So it is often represented as “oh!” or “ah!”

‡The perhaps better-known Tibetan version of this mantra is: om mani bêmê hum [ཨོཾ་མ་ཎི་པདྨེ་ཧཱུྃ].

¹⁰Kore ni te issai fujō wo kotogotoku shōmetsu-su to kanzuru-koto nari　[コレニテ一切不浄ヲ悉ク消滅スト観ズル事也].

    Issai fujō [一切不浄] means every trace of impurity, all that is impure.

    Kotogotoku [悉く] means completely, entirely, without exception.

    Shōmetsu-suru [消滅する] means (to cause something) to cease to exist; make (something) disappear.

    Kanzuru-koto [観ずること] means to discover, reveal, or perceive.

¹¹Chawan ha kyaku ni taishi, iku-tabi mo ikki ni te mochiyuru-mono　[茶碗ハ客ニ対シ、幾度モ一器ニテ用ユルモノ].

    Chawan ha kyaku ni taishi [茶碗は客に対し] means something like the chawan goes out to the guests, or the chawan passes (back and forth) between (the host and) the guests*.

    Iku-tabi mo [幾たびも] means time and again, many times.

    Ikki ni te mochiiru-mono [一器にて用いるもの] means just one (chawan) is being used. ___________ *It could also mean “the chawan is used for [many] guests.”

¹²Koto ni sono kyaku i-zen ni dare no nomi-shi mo shirazu-koto　[殊ニ其客已前ニ誰人ノ呑シモ不知事].

    Koto ni [殊に] means especially, particularly, additionally.

    I-zen ni dare no nomi-shi mo shirezu-koto [以前に誰人の呑みしも知らずこと]:  i-zen ni [以前に] means just before (him), immediately before (him); dare no nomi-shi [誰人の呑みし] means who drank (from the chawan); mo shirazu-koto [も知らずこと] means something that (he) doesn't know*.

    This statement seems to be saying that the guest would not know who had been served from this chawan in the past. ___________

*This could be an issue because it seems -- from the condition of some bowls that were used in the early Edo period, and then not used again since -- that the host did not always wash the chawan thoroughly after the gathering.  Rather, the only cleaning it got was what was done during the temae; and after being left out to dry for several days, the bowl was returned to its box, where it remained until the next time it was needed.  As a result, a film of tea (which often built up around the part of the mouth from which the guests drank) would not only remain, but become deeper and deeper every time the chawan was used.

    Nevertheless, it is hard for me to generate the degree of disgust that the author of this entry seems to feel -- which strikes me as being a description of a great daimyō being afraid to sully his lips by drinking from a bowl previously used to serve a rank underling (or, even worse, a common townsman or merchant).  Of course, this was an Edo period sort of sensitivity -- and, looking at the catalogs listing the temae that were taught during the early Edo period by the different schools -- particularly with reference to the kijin-date [貴人立て] class of temae (the temae used when serving a daimyō, when he is being received formally) -- as well as the kaiki that survive from that period, it seems that, more often than not, daimyō were preferentially served using a brand new chawan.  So, I guess there is that “historically valid” sort of extenuation.

¹³Fukai yue, hajime ni mitsu-utsu koto ha, “RAM-VAM-[H]ŪM” no san-kaji no kanji nari　[不快故、始ニ三ツ打ツ事ハ、 रँ वँ हूँ ノ三加持ノ観也].

    Fukai-yue [不快ゆえ] means because this (situation of not knowing the person who drank before you) is disagreeable.

    Hajime ni mitsu-utsu-koto [始めに三つ打つこと] means when (the chasen) taps (the chawan) three times at the beginning (of the temae)....  This is referring to the chasen-tōshi that is performed at the beginning of the temae.

    “RAM-VAM-[H]ŪM” no san-kaji no kanzuru [の三加持の観] means it seems to suggest the “RAM-VAM-[H]ŪM” triple invocation (of the Shingon ritual).

¹⁴Ato mata susugi no toki, “RAM-VAM” no ni-kaji wo motte kiyome oku-koto nari　[後又スヽギノトキ、 रँ वँ ノ二加持ヲ以テキヨメ置事也].

    Ato mata [後又] means “and again, later....”  This is referring to the conclusion of the temae.

    Susugi no toki [濯ぎの時] means when rinsing (the chasen) -- that is, during the second (concluding) chasen-tōshi.

    “RAM-VAM” no ni-kaji wo motte [ रँ वँ の 二加持を以って] means with the double-invocation of “RAM-VAM”....

    Kiyome oku-koto nari [清め置くことなり] means the cleaning is finished, the cleaning process has been completed.

¹⁵Shingon wo karite kono-koto wo nasu to nari　[真言ヲカリテ此事ヲナストナリ].

    Shingon wo karite [真言を借りて] means borrowing this (idea) from the Shingon (ritual)....

    Kono-koto wo nasu [このことを成す] means (we) do (things) like this.

¹⁶(“RAM-VAM” ha hi-mizu nari)　[( रँ वँ ハ火水ナリ)].

    RAM [ रँ ] refers to fire, and VAM [ वँ ] refers to water -- which also agrees with Bisgard sensei’s explanations.

     In Shibayama’s commentary, this last sentence is formatted as a gloss.  It is not found in any of the other versions of this kaki-ire.

[animegenork]

Fruits Baskets Final Season Episodes 2 & 3

What? No, I didn’t watch these on the Fridays of the weeks they came out. No, I wasn’t dying from school---

Anyway, back to the grind.

Episode 2

I swear the gif search function HATES me and what I’m trying to do---

Anyway.

I would like to make this very clear. Shigure is a little bit evil. A little bit. But it’s mostly from being twisted by the zodiac curse and his strange form of love. So if you wanted to punch him this episode, that’s good. He needs to be punched. A lot. Like a lot. God, he’s so evil. Moving on.

So the episode begins with young Akito asking Shigure if he loves her. This is, as we’ve seen, something that Akito fixates on, mostly due to her father accidentally warping her with the idea of being eternally loved by the zodiac members. He responds with a very earnest love confession that sort of explains why they spend so much time together, but it also confuses things a bit, at least at first. What with the zodiac spirit, it’s unclear how much of Shigure’s love is real and how much isn’t up to him. That may factor in to whatever the hell is up with him now.

Cut to Tohru working on graduation ceremony flowers and nearly asking Shigure about breaking the curse. Of course, she can’t, because it’s hard to bring up, and she’s only seen 2 sides of Shigure at most. Naturally, he already knows what she’s thinking about, because he’s Shigure. He’s just that good.

Tohru continues to struggle even at school, when she realizes that there’s so much she knows that she probably can’t talk about with Momiji or Haru or anyone else. And since the curse is this ever-present thing to them, she’s not even sure if they’ll believe her or how they’ll react. Rin is the exception to this, of course, since she was already looking for information on it.

There are some shenanigans with the Prince Yuki Fan Club, and Tohru and Kyo are left alone (probably on purpose) by Hanajima, Uotani, and company. But I’ll get back to that in a sec.

Yuki tries to help out other classes with things, but they won’t let him because... well, uh, they think he’s too busy... and he... isn’t... I’m sorry, that’s just so funny to me. So anyway, he runs into Machi, who is being all adorable and stubborn because she wanted to say hello and chased him all over the school to do so. It’s cute, because Yuki’s not used to that much effort being put in to something for his sake. I love Machi like that UwU

Back to Tohru and Kyo, they’ve been waiting for HOURS. Tohru decides to tentatively try out her Kureno talking point, but as soon as she brings up the curse maybe being broken, Kyo tells her that hypotheticals like that are pointless (this is implied paraphrase). He does this mostly because he’s in that pit of despair of “I’m never getting out of this” but also because he doesn’t want to give himself a false hope that might never come true. Tohru, however, becomes sad, because of course she wants to save him from having to be locked away like the previous Cat. So there’s a bit of moment where she’s about to cry.

And then Kyo *sniffle* gives her a flower to make her feel better. *sobs*

Technically speaking, this scene should’ve been in the last season or SOMETHING, I honestly thought they WEREN’T going to put my FAVORITE scene in the anime, and then they did. What’s cute about this scene is how torn up Kyo is from hurting Tohru’s feelings, and how almost desperate he is to make her feel better. It’s a sweet moment, if slightly awkwardly animated, but it’s a rare Tohru and Kyo moment where they don’t even say anything and you can SEE everything they want to say. Of course, they’re interrupted, because they always are (HAVE YOU NOTICED THAT LIKE NEVER HAPPENS WHENEVER YUKI AND TOHRU HAVE A MOMENT?), but hey, I got my fluff, I am fed.

There’s brief mention of Rin and how Tohru hasn’t seen her lately, and I hate it because I know where she is.

Anyway, now on to Shigure being Shigure.

He’s torturing his poor editor again, and he walks away from what appears to have been a heated conversation with... HIS PARENTS. THEY EXIST. I dunno what it is with rarely seeing zodiac parents (besides the obvious cases of Kyo and Momiji), but there you have it. We see then that there’s a big Sohma dinner outing with Akito there, so clearly Shigure planned that. His skills of perception and foresight are serious scary, and I really wonder how the hell he developed them.

There’s a flashback to before Tohru and Kureno’s revealing conversation, and we see that Shigure hates Kureno for being so close to Akito. Of course, Kureno makes it clear that Akito doesn’t love him, that she’s always wanted.... well, he doesn’t say, but I think all of us are familiar enough with how this anime works that we know who he means. But Kureno basically wants Shigure to stop being so cold to Akito, and this is because of how much he wants to keep her happy more than any personal feelings about Shigure.

This is where it gets a bit dicey. I’ve actually got a strange fondness for this scene, if only because it sort of but also not really gets to the heart of why Shigure is the way he is.

Shigure appears in Akito’s room, and she’s basically jealous that he was out with another woman. Then she brings up his sexual relationship with his editor (nonexistent), which is rather petty, but then, when was this duo not about pettiness? The implication Akito makes is that he sleeps with every woman he meets (explains a lot). She then mentions that Shigure slept with Ren, Akito’s mother (I’m not going to touch on how screwed up that is), which is why he’s living in a house away from the main estate. Shigure acts all cool and says that was a long time ago, he’s been punished, but Akito points out that he almost wanted to leave. Which... he did, but not for any lack of love on his part. And he says that. He recalls the conversation we see at the beginning, in which he tells her he cares about her more than anyone else. Understandably, she’s frustrated, and she asks why he always tests her.

It’s because she slept with Kureno. Petty, I know.

The phone conversation comes back. Everything you need to understand about Shigure is in one sentence: “I love her so much that sometimes I want to spoil her rotten, and sometimes I want to crush her into a pulp.” This is nearly verbatim of the manga translation I read a long time ago, and it’s always stuck with me. The thing is, Akito was always told she’s special and she can do with the zodiac as she pleases (which she says directly in this episode). It seems a part of Shigure didn’t like that that extended to those that weren’t him (Kureno), and his love for her warped and twisted into this kinda toxic relationship. (Kinda, she says, as if it’s not very.) This makes him want to be kind to her, but at the same time, he wants to be mean to her and show her how much pain she’s put him through, too. It’s pettiness at its extreme, but it’s somehow more believable than other forms of petty jealousy I’ve seen.

Oh yeah, and then they have sex.

Once again, there’s brief mention of Rin, perhaps she’s in the hospital, we don’t really know. But the main part of this all is Shigure remembering that before Akito was born/in his life, he had always been sort of waiting for her, which is mostly the zodiac spirit talking but is also interesting nonetheless. How much of Shigure’s love is influenced by the zodiac curse? How much of it is him? I don’t know if we ever find that out, because frankly, the curse did a lot of things to everyone involved, including him.

I still love Shigure, don’t get me wrong, but this is SUCH an interesting episode.

Episode 3

Precisely the gif I wanted. Hehehe.

IT’S A MACHI EPISODE! AND I LOVE HER, SO THAT’S ALRIGHT!

Still pissed about Kyo’s screentime being so awful lately. ads;fkjsad;fklsda

Some student council shenangians occur as always, and it’s revealed that Nao has a crush on someone, which is why he declared Yuki to be his rival on day one. Also, Kimi is a golddigger.

Some girls come in and gossip about Machi making a mess again with one of her outbursts, and they mention a rumor about her trying to kill her brother, which is why she lives alone. Kakeru looks quite displeased to hear this, and Machi walks in on the conversation and runs away, with Yuki wanting to go after her. 

Kakeru tells Yuki later that the rumor is “mostly true”--that is, that’s the story he’s been told as well. Of course, he’s wary to believe it, because while they’re not terribly close, he knows her a little better than the parents do. He then tells a story of seeing Machi making footprints in the snow, almost obsessively, and he’s not quite sure why she did it (but Kakeru has a Shigure streak, so I wonder if maybe he does know?).

So Kakeru decides to pull a sort of jerk move and visit Machi while with Yuki, and she tries to turn them away to no avail. Of course, Yuki isn’t put off by the mess, since he and Shigure used to live that way, so he’s all cheerful about it while Machi is dying in the corner. I will not talk much about the bra incident, but that was honestly the most hilarious few seconds.

Finally left alone, Machi asks why Yuki is there, assuming it’s about the rumor her classmates mentioned. She says she’s done trying to correct everybody, since no one ever seems to believe her anyway. (That is all too relatable, especially in high school.)

But Yuki doesn’t even mind. He asks something else instead: does she hate perfection? And she says yes. TEN POINTS TO GRYFFINDOR.

Wait. My bad.

Anyway, Machi has a flashback to what I believe I’ve mentioned before, which is Machi’s mom forcing her to be perfect so that she could beat Kakeru in the succession war (England?) with her family. When that was called off, her mother would say right in front of her face (jerk) that Machi was boring. Machi asked her why she would say that when she was just trying to do what she was told. Her mother has the gall to be offended by the implication that it’s her fault (IT IS, YOU IDIOT--) and then turns around and says maybe she raised Machi wrong.

Here’s a hint: that’s not what you say to your CHILD.

Poor Machi didn’t know what to do with herself. What is she supposed to do if she’s just a “mistake” her mother made?

Yuki, in his cute way of knowing precisely what she means, tells her she’s worked hard to get where she is, and that he’s glad she’s here. She’s not used to compliments like that, and it’s a very sweet moment. That’s when she admits that she was just trying to take care of her brother, but her parents wrongly and automatically assumed she was jealous and trying to kill him (which says a lot about how god awful they are). And she’s finally able to let it out and cry with Yuki, who offers to go leave footprints in the snow with her.

My heart might’ve burst during that, not gonna lie--

I think my favorite part of the episode is the next day, during a student council meeting. A new, perfect box of chalk is placed in front of Machi, and you can see in her eyes that the perfection is about to make her snap. Yuki, knowing this, calmly reaches over and breaks a piece of chalk, ruining the “perfection” of it. It’s very sweet of him and a very cute moment for both.

Then we cut to Tohru handing Kyo a flower, which is whiplash to the previous episode I’m glad we got.

The next sequence was a bit confusing at first, as I thought we’d sort of covered this already in season one, but we get to see Motoko. She’s called Yuki out in order to tell him that he made her high school days happier, and that she truly loved him. Motoko also hopes that Yuki himself will find happiness, which I think is a nod at her recognizing Tohru’s influence on him. It’s kind of cute, because even Yuki seems to appreciate her words, and we get to cut to a nice graduation song that actually kind of made me cry.

Motoko is still in a classroom when someone finds her. It’s Nao, and it appears that she was the girl he was in love with, which I LOVE. I HOPE HE OR SHE OR THEY ARE HAPPY TOGETHER OR EVEN APART, JUST THAT HE EVENTUALLY GOT TO TELL HER OR SOMETHING AND AHHHHHH. He tells her that goodbye is not the end, and it always leads to “nice to meet you,” which is sweet for both of them, considering her graduation and his being left behind.

Then we get to meet Hiro’s baby sister, Hinata, a true cutie pie. I think I cried here, too, for different reasons.

Finally, we see Kagura having picked up Rin’s diploma (YAY SHE GRADUATED YAYYYY), and wondering where she is despite her mother’s warnings not to investigate. Hatori and Shigure are a bit suspicious, too, and we see Akito with a pair of scissors.... OwO

[I know what happened and I hate it.]

I’m glad I could finally do these, it’s been a couple of weeks of hell, to be honest. Hopefully, Fruits Basket will be back at it again and I’ll have something more to wax poetic about, haha. Thanks for reading!

[waywardfacegarden]

What is your ult fav anime and ult fav otp? You can only choose one *evil grin*

First of all, thank you so much for the ask!!!! I love getting asks, it always makes me so happy when people are interested in me, haha🤣💜 Second of all, the answer will be under the cut because... it somehow got too long... but I mean. You can’t ask me about ships or anime and don’t expect that with how much I babble here all the time about those things specifically, LOL.

So, anon, I hope you don’t mind me giving you an almost-essay as an answer to this!!🤣

HAHA, anon, you are evil!!!! bUT. I actually have an answer to this!! Haha. I didn’t need to think about it, either! As much as I absolutely love and die for a lot of animes, I always tell people my favorite favorite anime is Erased/Boku Dake Ga Inai Machi. I read the manga later and well, the manga is even better!! The resolution of the conflict, the background of the villain, the story is much more developed/better explained in the manga, but even when the anime is not a super amazing adaptation, I still think it did an amazing job!! The reason(s) of why this is my favorite anime is(are) simple: I love every single character (except. you know. the evil ones, haha). I’m usually not that attracted to protagonists, but Satoru has my heart in his hands. I’m so attached to him. He’s selfless, smart, tries his very best and loves so deeply. I absolutely love how the author managed the women/girls in the story, too. I started watching it without knowing a single thing more than “oh, he’s trying to solve a murder” and OH BOY, did I was surprised with the very first episode!!! Never ever have screamed so much and lose my shit that much with a first ep, and that’s saying a lot asjdkasjd. Maybe it was because I didn’t know a single thing, but either way, I was obsessed since the very first seconds. I love the villain, even when people say it was “obvious, lazy or predictable” since the start. I love Satoru’s mom. I love how it is dark and sad but just the right amount. I love how much it made me feel. I sobbed, and screamed, and laughed, and almost wanted to break my laptop while watching, too, lol. It seriously is an amazing anime. The characters, dynamics, the plot, everything was so well-done! I would die for the kids, for Satoru’s mom, for Airi. Their dynamics make me melt. The writing is fantastic!! I feel like time-traveling and solving murders are delicate things that, if you don’t know how to handle, are gonna fail you. If you don’t know how to connect things, the story is not gonna feel rewarding, it’s going to feel confusing. But with Erased, everything made sense and connected until the end, which is something I’m obsessed with. Add that to the freaking stellar animation, the aesthetic of it (I still love the subtle change in colors/that black framing in the “past” asdkajf), and the fact that I’m so, so, sooo weak for thrillers + science fiction-ish and kids as protagonists, lol. So, yeah, anon, that’s my fave anime, even when I love, love, love, LOVE a lot of more. I could talk about like, maybe 30 animes with so much love it would amaze you, lol. And that’s just talking about anime, ohhh how many mangas do I love, too... But yeah!!! Even if I don’t talk about this anime enough on here, I think is criminally underrated, and I talk about it to everyone irl I know, lol.

About my favorite ship!!!! HAHA, the thing is. I have like 500 ships and I probably would die for like. 100 of them. Easily. I even have my top of faves, tbh, haha. But my ultimate favorite ship is sasunaru/narusasu. Maybe it’s a very “basic” answer, I don’t know, lol, but I seriously think they always will be. I won’t talk so much about them because then I’d never shut up and this answer is already so long ajsdkadj (I feel like that twitter thread that is like “okay, i’ll try to be brief (1/475)” LOL). But the reason why they are my fave is because I’ve never became this obsessed with a ship before. They were the first ship I felt so deeply for. They had me since the very first eps and continued to rip my heart out, to made me FEEL so much for both of them; for their longing, for their yearning, for their love for each other. The fact that they’re two broken boys who found the connection they so desperately craved for in each other? The fact that Sasuke taught Naruto, a boy who was hated all his goddamn childhood for something he didn’t even know about, what love was, what sacrificing yourself for someone was, what caring was? The fact that Shippuden is about Naruto so desperately trying to understand, trying to make Sasuke understand, and loving Sasuke so fiercely back (without giving a damn about what other people said, without giving up on him, saying that if being smart meant giving up on Sasuke than he rather being dumb all his life)? The fact that the first part of Naruto is about Sasuke doing all those little things and making Naruto feel validated, loved, cared for, seen? And then Shippuden is about Naruto screaming into a void, trying to tell Sasuke “I love you, too, I love you back, as deeply as you did, and I want you to know that even if I don’t understand, I want to understand, I want to be there for you, I care for you so much that just the very idea of you being dead or hurt gives me an attack; I want you to be okay, and I’m never giving up on you”?? The fact that I still sob like a baby every time I watch ONE minute of that last battle and the fact that Naruto answering Sasuke to “you’ve been saying that all the time, but what exactly... does that (being your friend) mean to you?” with “even if you ask me, I can’t exactly put it into words. I just... when I saw you hurting, it... kinda... hurt me, too. So much that I couldn’t stand it, that I couldn’t just leave you alone” STILL KILLS ME LIKE THE FIRST TIME EVERY SINGLE TIME I HEAR IT. LIKE GOD. MY HEART CANNOT. It’s just so emotionally rewarding seeing they make amends at the end and also discover how the other has been loving the other back just as deeply as they did. -- They’re also just a bunch of tropes I love piled up together, tbh, and the kind of characters I love having paired up. The tsundere-ish kid with a dark past, that’s so kind and so selfless and loves so deeply that it breaks him plus the kid with the tragic backstory that’s basically The Sun itself, a bit dumb but also so caring and so cool, and the one that makes the tsundere-ish boy’s heart go all doki doki. Idk, I just love my rivals trope, my “could have been childhood friends if they just had the courage to talk” trope, the “I care so deeply about you and love you with all my soul” trope, piled up with so many emotional layers and so deep emotional connection??? Oof. They’re just my very first ship and the one that practically owns my heart and soul. They have so many layers and they hurt me but also melt me and heal me and make me fall in love with their raw, pure love. They’re soulmates, your honor. Haha. They just... really make me feel so much, I can’t quite explain it. As much as I love, love, love, LOVE all my ships, they’re... different, I guess. They even made me write for them. My very first fics, my very first tryings/attempts to write was for them. And to be honest, I was obsessed with Naruto for such a long time... (maybe because it was my first anime LOL). Sasunaru/Narusasu and all their moments (that I kid you not, I remembered like every little thing in the 700+ eps, even with the NUMBER on which ep it happened, of them. The exact lines, too.) was like, everything I talked about for like. Half a year or more, LOL, and my mom wouldn’t let me lie, she knows. After school, I was in the car and was mentioning for the 50th time that moment Sasuke recognized it wasn’t Naruto in the Chuunin Exams bc Naruto used the kunai in his other leg. LOL. I was eating and I was talking about the battle of the Valley of the End. It was dinner and I was talking about that ending with the lyrics “please kiss me, please kiss me all night”. I just. They’re so important to me. They mean so much to me. And I know I said I was going to be brief so I better shut up now ajsdkajsd. But, yeah, they’re my favorite. :’)

[ask-hunterxhunter]

How do you think the adult trio would have been had they a chance to grow up in a normal stable family? Are their behaviors (mostly) a product of nature or nurture?

This is actually a very good question. I honestly believe that, inmost cases, nurture wins against nature. I’ll try to give my analysis ofeach case. Now, I just read a little about psychology for fun (and because I loveit), I’m not an expert and this is how I see things. It doesn’t mean, at all,that I am right.

Hisoka

The whole fandom agrees that something happened to Hisoka and verylikely made him into what he is today, but how much of this is connectedto the present is anyone’s guess. I think I mentioned how I noticed that Machi thought that Hisoka doesn’t talk about the “past” (being specific about it) and how hedisplays a desire to be in control of his own life, to the point he doesn’t open up to people (which seems to be more related to his personality ratherthan lifestyle). Also, note that Hisoka is part of the main characters (not the core ones, but important enough) and yet, nothing about his past has everbeen shown or mentioned. Even with the Spiders we at least had a briefflashback of Chrollo and some explanation about the Meteor City, which can give us some ideas of how things were for those who grew up there. Heck, Togashi has told us the background of characters that are not as much part of the main plot.

With Hisoka? Nope, nada, zero. The guy may as well have fallen from thesky with his Nen activated and searching for an opponent.

It keeps going back to Hisoka’s past. Contrary to Pariston, whoseems to be a born sociopath (perhaps even a complete psychopath), this makes me think that something seems to have pushed Hisoka. Even we can’t besure of how much of what he has displayed is genuine or a façade that he keeps around others (we have rarely seen him by himself) or the levels of disordershe seems (or most certainly) has.

Is it all connected to his past? We have no means of knowing. Hehas an intense bloodthirst and is always seeking opponents. Hey, maybe he was into fighting since he was a child anyway. He seems uninterested in formingbonds with people. Has he been betrayed at some point? Has he experienced atraumatic loss? We don’t know.

However, I do think most (if not all of it) is connected tosome event, if only for how twisted Hisoka is. So, it follows that if his life hadbeen different, if he had had a safe and stable environment, he would not bethe same he is today.

Would he still be into fighting? Possibly. I, at least, find it hard to imagine Hisoka not into fighting, though he wouldn’t be that much of a sadist (even if it remained his “call”) and might have emotional bonds with others regardless of their strength (he wouldn’t judge people based on this). Depending on his “family” and other events, he might have been a man who would actually use his Nen in order to help others. 

Illumi

Definitely yes. No question about it. We just have to look at thewhole Zoldyck family and Illumi’s own behavior and words in several occasions.For crying out loud, Killua was chained and whipped when he returned home (itdoesn’t matter if he broke the chains and his pain tolerance is high, thegesture alone is disturbing by its very nature and the insight it gives us tothe workings of the Zoldyck as a family does not paint them in a positivelight). Besides, with Illumi being the eldest, it is very possible his trainingwas even more severe due to being only child for a while and future head of thefamily, until Silva and Kikyo decided Killua would be the better option.

Just for a note, see the rest of the Zoldyck children as well… Alluka hasbeen caged almost all her life (and later she asked Killua if everyone elsewould be happier if she was dead basically), Milluki is just as focused in the familygoals and wants to please/impress his parents (he once seemed afraid of hisfather. Respect is something, fear is another), while appearing to almost neverleave the mansion. Kalluto shares a few similarities with Illumi and is also asadist that enjoys prolonging a fight just for his own amusement… While the Zoldycksclaim to love each other and maybe do/believe so, we cannot look at them andsay they aren’t toxic people (except Killua and Alluka, who got to break thecycle and escape) or that those children are examples of a healthy upbringing.

Does it all connect to the family’s “teachings”? Yes. And the fact theyare assassins doesn’t excuse any of this. If Togashi wanted, he could have madethe Zoldycks to be as dangerous as they are while having a far more stable/lovingrelationship between each other. There is a reason why this isn’t the case.

Illumi reached a point when being… Well, the way he is, is already hisnature and for what we can see, it is entirely connected to his family and whathe has been taught or rather, molded into being. I don’t even think thereis any hope for him. If you take away the “teachings” and “assassin business”,there is nothing left in Illumi. Whoever he was or whoever he could have beenis lost forever, there is only this walking, breathing result of years of training.And we all got a glimpse that he may not be as stable as we came to believe…

If Killua hadn’t been strongenough to break away from them, he might end up the same or even worse than his“big brother”.

So, if his family was different, then he would have been different. Forone, his displays of “affection” would not be tainted by the obsession withcontrol and his love for his siblings would be genuine. Somecharacteristics of his might remain (since we know nothing of how he was orcould have been), but he would be a far more stable person and even if he wasto become an assassin, he would have more morals. He surely wouldn’t be againstKillua choosing another path in life (hell, he might even want somethingbetter for his little brother) or having friends.

 Chrollo

For some reason, I always feel that Chrollo ends up standing somewherebetween the extremes that Hisoka and Illumi represent and the same applieshere, though it is more about how (little) we know of Chrollo’s life and evenhis ending goals. It is more than we know regarding Hisoka, but not as much as we know of Illumi. While writing this, I found myself oscillating between “yes”and “no”. Out of the three of them, Chrollo at times ends up being the hardestto analyze depending on the subject…

Is Chrollo a born sociopath who is using the unfairness of society as anexcuse to achieve his own personal goals and act upon his own bloodthirst orhas this unfairness pushed him into taking what he considers a necessary attitudedue to lack of any other option?

I think, in the end, there is something seriously wrong withChrollo. The things he has done are far too extreme… Perhaps he is even moretwisted than Hisoka or Illumi.

We know he started the Phantom Troupe but while we can guess the main reasonsfor that, we have yet to actually hear them and also what Chrollo hopesto ultimately achieve with his actions (due to his behavior, it seems improbablehe doesn’t have anything like that and is truly “just” a thief. In a way, itseems to be that this is a means towards a bigger end). We know he came fromMeteor City… And what has been shown of it is pretty depressing. That is not aplace that seems to offer chances of a good life, being basically a “junkyard city”and people there don’t even have official records of existence. It is a way ofsaying they there are also unwanted trash. So, we can assume that Chrollo’slife has not been easy.  

 And with everything we know of Chrollo directly connected to the Spider, it’shard to dissociate one from the other. What has turned him into what he istoday exactly?

Like Hisoka and Illumi, Chrollo has no care for human beings and evensaid he sees no difference between them and a puppet but does care for theother members of the Spider. And when returning home, the Troupe faced theChimera Ants, so the city is also the only other thing that matters for them ina personal level. Regardless of the sort of place that is, it is their home.Other than that, we don’t know of Chrollo’s story, parents or childhood.All we have are our own ideas and the options are many.

Honestly, just living in the Meteor City is not quite enough explanationfor his whole behavior, though: Many people go through harsh lives, awful situations,abuse or torture (be emotional, physical or mental) and do not end up like him. Hell, from what we’ve seen, Leorio came from a poorbackground, saw his friend die (when he could have been saved, just to twistthe knife) and is actually the opposite of Chrollo, someone who wants to save lives.

I’m not saying the misery of living in the Meteor City played nopart in who Chrollo is, let alone dismissing how horrible it must have been!Poverty is hell. Having to chose between buying food and paying the bills,being unable to afford medicine, those are hell enough, imagine how it musthave been in a city like that then! And sometimes, people get to the limit whenthey see no way out but to go to an extreme that they wouldn’t go otherwise.

 What I mean here is that, for what Chrollo has displayed, there may verywell be something more that made him turn into someone who torturesothers with such lack of empathy or remorse. For all we know, he may haveexperienced a traumatic event or loss, perhaps not very different from Leorio’s.

I think most, if not all of the situation, end up related to the creationof the Spider but I’m unsure of how much of it is connected to Chrollo’s personality. Even people from a loving, stable and healthy environment can end up twisted and this is not the parents’ (or anyone’s) fault. You can searchin the lives for the trigger that made them into sadistic killers and you won’tfind anything. Some people are just born psychopaths.

With Illumi and Hisoka is easier to be sure due to the motivations they display, their own desires and attitudes and the information we have onthem. Chrollo’s motivations are intertwined with the Spider, so much that he hasstated that it and what it represents are above his own life. This last detailmakes it hard to consider he is using the Spider as an excuse for hisown goals, but… What if he is lying and manipulating the others? It’s not easyto tell.

Now, personally speaking, I think we need more information about him asa person and of his life before the creation of the Spider to be completelysure… Would he have been better if the circumstances of his life weredifferent? It is very possible. Would he have been a criminal anyway, if onlywith some differences? Also possible.

When he talks about the Spider, I lean towards the first option… But thereare some moments, such as when Gon asked him how he could kill people who havenothing to do with him and how Senritsu reacted to his heartbeat that make meseriously lean towards the second one…

[kyosohmastan]

Fruits Basket Another Vol 1 Review

I thought I’d share my thoughts on the first volume of Fruits Basket Another since I FINALLY got to it. I’m in love!

First of all, the MC. I think I’m going to relate to Sawa more than I ever did with Tohru. We share very similar traits and anxieties. She has a fear of forming relationships due to trauma she experienced when her friends suddenly abandoned her because she was too “annoying”. I don’t remember the majority of my childhood (due to the fact that I had epilepsy, but that’s a whole other story) but one thing that stood out to me because it left me so heartbroken was when I was in first grade and my friends decided they didn’t want to hang out with me anymore because I was too weird for wanting to play in the grass and dirt when they thought that’s not something a girl should do. Which is dumb, but kids will be kids. So I really connected with Sawa over that. Based on how much Takaya has a talent for developing characters seamlessly, I can see her opening up more and becoming more comfortable around the Sohmas and others throughout the series.

As for other characters, let’s move onto Mutsuki who is seriously drop dead gorgeous. Of course, Yuki’s son would also look like a girl (although tbh Yuki is more feminine.) He has a lot of optimism and clear signs of kindness, but he’s very mischievous as well. He reminds me a lot of Kakeru in a way which that is his uncle so I’m sure he influenced him. I find it hilarious that he’s naturally messy and his excuse is “My parents are messy too”. And they are haha! Then he follows it up with a sweet comment saying “I’m happy to be like them.” He’s like “Yeah, it’s a bad trait. But I wouldn’t have it any other way because I can connect with my parents over it.” The family vibes has me all smiles.

I’m most excited to follow Hajime since I adore Kyo and Tohru so of course, I’m super pumped to get to know their son. He’s like a toned down version of Kyo. He has a temper, but it never gets too out of control. But then again, he’s kind of like Tohru having a considerate side to him as well as the fact that the family refers to him as “papa” because he addresses Sawa as a father would. And Tohru had always been the motherly type. I love how both of their traits are mixed into him. It makes for a very balanced personality! His first meeting with Sawa was hilarious. Obviously he’d be like Kyo and sleep on the floor haha. Or is the cat part of his blood coming out?

I’ll discuss Sora and Riku together. First of all, HARU AND RIN HAD TWINS?! I can only imagine Rin was terrified of that lol. I think Sora will be the Momiji of this series. That bubbly personality is adorable. I don’t know enough about Riku yet, but he seems very caring albeit stoic. I loved the part when Sawa finally asked him if she offended him and he told her he was concerned that she didn’t know a girl wanted to have lunch with her. So he worried over her which was sweet.

Michi I don’t have much of an opinion on yet. I was never a huge fan of Kakeru in the first place so....We’ll see if she grows on me. 

The most BEAUTIFUL woman so far is Kinu, holy smokes. I’m guessing she’s the parental figure in this series since she seems to be the oldest. I’m very excited to get to know her. And I’m thrilled that Hatori and Mayu ended up staying together and had a daughter awwww.

Shiki made a brief appearance and since he’s the head of the family, that’s gotta be Akito and Shigure’s son. He’ll be in volume 2 a lot more, I assume. 

And then this chick shows up and I’m like oh, hell, naw. Motoko is the most annoying character of FB and her daughter is no different. Grrrr. It is interesting that Motoko was only a fan of Yuki, but Ruriko’s club is a fan club for all the Sohmas. Their popularity has grown that much dang.

Two other characters that showed up from the OG series are Megumi and Takei. Megumi looks soooo good. And he still has his habit of doing curses!

Takei hasn’t changed. Still obsessed with Yuki.

Now going over specific scenes I liked. I suppose starting from the beginning. 

I like how Mutsuki and Hajime are trying to help Sawa get over her fear of being a burden to people. I saw a tumblr post mentioning how Tohru was the one who saved the Sohmas from their trauma and the Sohmas are the ones saving Sawa from hers and so far that is so true. It think it goes to show how differently the previous generation raised their children in comparison to how they were raised from hate and spite. This generation is so much more carefree and considerate as their parents probably shared with them their own previous trauma so they’re able to understand what that’s like. I think overtime, they’re really going to help Sawa get over her fears and she’ll find a place where she belongs with this family. I’m so excited to see that unravel.

And so Sawa is forced onto the student council with Mutsuki and Hajime lol. I like how it gives her that push to interact with others because she will have to now. I expected Mutsuki to be the president since his dad was, but Hajime is? He was forced into it tho. xD

Possibly one of the best things is that Hajime is (or used to be) a mama’s boy which comes as no surprise since Tohru would be an amazing mother. How could her children not love her? This was too cute.

Based on what Mutsuki said, Hajime has siblings????? I heard Kyo and Tohru had three kids ouhuobuefbhjqbeh. I need deets!

It seems that Mutsuki and Hajime have a pretty close relationships whereas their fathers were rivals. They do bicker, but it’s clear there’s no animosity between them. That also indicates that Kyo and Yuki must have really patched up their relationship over the years if their kids have always hung out together. That’s a happy thought. I love the dynamic of their relationship so far.

Glad to see Aya is so involved in Mutsuki’s life hahahhahha.

Mutsuki and Hajime don’t even live with their parents? For some reason, Hajime moved to be closer to school, but why did he specifically have to go to Kaibara? Maybe he wanted to go to school with the family. I do know Kyo and Tohru moved out of town. Or did they move back so Kyo could take over Kazuma’s dojo? Idk anyway... I think Yuki and Machi did too which is probably why Mutsuki moved out. And Kinu is watching over them. It’s like Shigure, Yuki, and Kyo all over again.

IS HAJIME WEARING THE BEADS?????!! I saw somewhere that it was a gift. Or is it Kyo’s actual beads?!

The entire last chapter is my favorite in the volume. Seeing Sawa get so comfortable with the Sohmas was heartwarming. It’s sad how she says this is the happiest she’s felt in a long time, but also sweet. I’m interested to see what her home life is like. It doesn’t sound good.

As I suspected, the kids know about the curse. But I guess they weren’t told about it until they were a little older. It’s so sad how Kyo was nervous when everyone was saying how Hajime looked like him. Goes to show that Kyo still has his demons and he doesn’t want his son to go through any of that.Therefore, he doesn’t want Hajime to be like him at all. They had to be worried that the curse would come back. Thank goodness it didn’t.

I suppose what pushed Kyo and Tohru to tell him was when he was told that “I hope you’re not a monster.” (Is that Ren? It kind of looks like it.) Indicating that she thought he might be the cat since his dad was. That had to be so confusing. But after knowing the curse, everything makes sense. And I hope by knowing about it, they don’t face any hardships that the curse brought upon the family. But they seem to be doing fine.

To conclude, I’m really liking this. I’m sure I’ll love it since I’m biased in my love for Fruits Basket, but I think this series has the potential to stand on its own as something fantastic. 

I have noticed that the kids mention their parents A LOT, but that’s to be expected since the readers know of the original characters. I’m anticipating some great family moments and I’m looking forward to that. I REALLY HOPE THE OG CHARACTERS SHOW UP SOMETIME!!!

Thanks for reading~ I’m on to volume 2.

[placetobenation]

SmackDown on Fox Episode #8 SmackDown Episode # 1,057 Chicago, IL – Allstate Arena 11/22/19 The show opens with the SmackDown roster gathered together in the back and for the third week King Corbin is opening the show with a promo, however he is quickly interrupted by Roman Reigns who hypes up the SmackDown roster by saying that they are going to open the garage door and let all of Team Raw and Team NXT in and then kick their ass when they get there. Corbin and Reigns continue to bicker back and forth. Sasha steps up the podium and says that the women are ready which leads to the women walking out of the meeting as they are headed to the ring.

Yet another Corbin segment to open SmackDown, but at least this one wasn’t as long and there were no dog poop bags or bulldog mascots so compared to weeks previous that was a vast improvement. I liked Sasha taking charge at the end and instead of waiting on the opposing rosters to come to them she wanted to call them out and make the first move which shows she and the rest of the women have bigger balls than Reigns and Corbin combined. 

After the intro video we get Sasha coming to the ring along with the SmackDown’s women team, Sasha says that this is their show and their ring and nobody is going to hit them from behind. Sasha calls out Team Raw because she knows that Team NXT won’t show their faces. Team Raw comes to the ring with their captain Charlotte and this would lead to Sasha challenging Charlotte to a match right then. We then get our first look at Team NXT which is comprised of Team Captain Rhea Ripley, Toni Storm, Mia Yim, Tegan Nox, & Candice LeRae, Rhea challenges both Sasha and Charlotte to a triple threat match between the three team captains, this leads to all the women brawling as we go to commercial. 

There have been a lot of good, fun, and badass teams in the history of Survivor Series, but rarely do those teams consist of women, but that is going to change this Sunday as the women’s NXT team that was revealed tonight could be the greatest (and most hachi machi) female quintet to ever compete at Survivor Series. I can’t think of a more badass team than NXT has and despite their cuteness, they are not to be taken lightly as they are some of the toughest women that are going to be in the match. When I saw Team NXT coming through the crowd and saw that Toni Storm was apart of the team I popped as it’s nice to finally see her back after losing the title to Kay Lee Ray back in August, it was a big surprise as she hasn’t even returned to NXT UK TV yet. I do find it odd they made the team all babyfaces and didn’t stick someone like Io Shirai or Bianca Belair in the match to mix it up a bit, but I’m not complaining as I am loving the team they do have. I have to mention that when Raw and SmackDown faced off in the ring there was a nice callback that probably nobody noticed as Dana Brooke and Sarah Logan (who had a terrible looking face paint design tonight) were nose to nose which was a nice callback to their feud they had earlier this year on Main Event that nobody watched.  

Match #1: Sasha Banks w/ Team SmackDown vs Rhea Ripley w/ Team NXT vs Charlotte Flair w/ Team Raw All three women start the match by striking each other until both Rhea and Charlotte team up to take Sasha down with a big boot. Charlotte and Rhea have words with each other before Charlotte takes her down with a rear waist lock and then locks in a headlock. Charlotte kicks Rhea in the face and tries for the snap exploder but Rhea counters and drives Charlotte into the corner where she drives her shoulder into the gut of Charlotte. Rhea hits a kick on Charlotte but Charlotte comes back with a big boot that takes Rhea down. Charlotte pays back Rhea with some shoulders to the gut until Rhea moves and causes Charlotte to go face-first into the corner. Sasha finally gets back into the match and hits Rhea with a backstabber and goes for the first pin of the match which only gets a 2 count. Rhea goes for a kick but Sasha catches her leg and knees her in the face only for Rhea to hit Sasha with a short-arm clothesline and a dropkick moments later. Sasha rolls to the outside and when Rhea goes out to roll her back inside she gets caught with a kick by Sasha. Charlotte pushes Sasha into Nikki Cross and they both go into the steps at ringside. Sasha and Nikki have words and start to argue as the rest of Team SmackDown try to break them up. Rhea and Sasha start brawling at ringside until they are both taken down courtesy of a top rope moonsault by Charlotte and this leads to a commercial break.

As we come back from commercial Rhea breaks up a half crab by drop kicking Charlotte. Rhea sends Sasha into the corner but Sasha tries to fight back by attempting to hit a head scissors but Rhea counters and sends Sash into the corner face-first. Rhea sets Sasha on the top rope looking for a superplex but Sasha is able to fight her off and come off the top with a diving Meteora which leads to Charlotte breaking up a pin attempt by hitting the Natural Selection on Sasha for 2 as Rhea breaks up the pin. At this point, it comes to my attention that Charlotte has a bloody mouth. Charlotte goes to pick up Rhea but gets kicked by Rhea. Charlotte and Rhea are dodging big boots and dropkicks before Charlotte connects with a Natural Selection, but before she can attempt to pin her Rhea rolls out of the ring. Charlotte locks in the Figure Eight on Sasha, however, while has it applied Rhea slides back in and crucifixes the arms of Charlotte which puts her shoulders on the mat for the 3 count to give the Team NXT captain the win. Winner: Rhea Ripley via Pinfall    Match Rating: ***¼ I really enjoyed this match especially the segments that involved Rhea and Charlotte (no disrespect meant for Sasha) because Rhea is the first person that when standing face to face with Charlotte looks like the most legit threat to her as she is one of the very few women that Charlotte doesn’t tower over in the ring and her skills inside the ring are just as great as Charlottes. I will go out on a limb and say that if they want to do another women’s main event at WrestleMania in a few years this one on one match wouldn’t be out of the realm of possibility as I think both would be able to pull off the build of a main event WrestleMania match with excellent promos and in-ring action. One thing I didn’t like about the match was the arguing amongst members of Team SmackDown as the trope of team members not liking each other and fighting each other during matches is so overdone when it comes to Survivor Series and to make it even worse they are already running that story with the SmackDown men’s team, but more on that later. Something I did like about the match was the finish as it was really unique and showed that Rhea is smart as she gained a victory in a way never seen before, whoever came up with that deserves a raise or at least a cookie and a gold star as that was brilliant.  If this match was a taste of how good the triple threat tag match at Survivor Series will be then we are in for a treat come Sunday. 

After the match, there is a brawl between Team Raw and Team SmackDown as Team NXT looks on.

King Corbin is talking to Dolph Ziggler and Robert Roode about their match tonight and Corbin has a plan to abandon Reigns if Team Raw and Team NXT get involved. Sami Zayn appears and Corbin calls him annoying which leads to Zayn challenging Corbin to a match before walking off as we go to commercial. What was the point of this segment it felt completely unnecessary and I don’t see it leading to anything as both Corbin and Nakamura are heels?   After the break, we go to the back where Bayley is being interviewed about her match on Sunday against Becky Lynch and Shayna Baszler. Bayley brags about being a women’s champion on all three brands and then challenges Shayna to come out and face her face to face in the ring instead of hitting her from behind like she has done in the previous weeks.  We go to the ring which is being taken up by Shinsuke Nakamura and Sami Zayn. Zayn talks about Corbin not accepting his challenge because he is scared of both Zayn and Nakamura. Zayn then talks up how studly Nakamura is and that because he is so studly Zayn has something special for him, Zayn reaches into a bag he brought with him to the ring and pulls out an all-new version of the Intercontinental Championship.  Zayn talks about why Nakamura will get the win for SmackDown on Sunday before running down AJ Styles and then acting as if he had forgotten Roderick Strong’s name. Undisputed Era makes their way to the ring and after a brief staredown, Zayn and Nakamura leave the ring. Adam Cole talks about how Undisputed Era will take care of Raw and SmackDown on Sunday. New Day come out to get some retribution for Undisputed Era attacking them last week and UE are glad to accept a 2-on-4 challenge, however New Day reveal they have a couple of buddies who will help them even the odds, this leads to Heavy Machinery making their way down to the ring as we will have an 8 man tag match after the commercial break.

I like the new Intercontinental Championship, but I’m curious why they changed it as the old one looked good as well. I wonder if this means we get a new United States Championship as well? While I don’t want them on Raw or SmackDown because they will end up getting ruined by the booking on those shows I will say that when UE came out they felt big time and looked like they belong on one of the two main shows whereas some of the NXT stars looked a bit out of place being on one of the main shows, if that makes any sense maybe that was just a vibe I was picking up.   Match #2: New Day & Heavy Machinery vs Undisputed Era Big E and Strong start the match out with Strong trying to find an opening to take Big E down, but Big E backs him into a corner, but Strong finally gets the opening he was looking for thanks to a distraction from the UE. Strong tags in O’Reilly and they beat Big E down in the corner and then O’Reilly tags in Fish. Fish & O’Reilly try for a double team move but Big E runs right through them clotheslining O’Reilly and hitting Fish with an overhead belly to belly suplex. Big E tags in Kingston and then hits Fish with a big splash on the apron followed by an overhead belly to belly suplex on the floor to O’Reilly. Kingston comes off the top with a springboard axe handle on Cole who had been tagged in while the action was happening on the floor. Cole and Kingston trade strikes while Strong blind tags himself in and hits a half-nelson backbreaker on Kingston then stomps a mudhole into Kingston’s chest. Fish works over Kingston with strikes and hits him with a tope atomico before tagging in Cole. The Undisputed Era is making quick tags and working Kingston over in their corner. Kingston tries to make a comeback as he goes up to the top but is dropkicked off and sent to the floor where he crashes right down on top of Tucker (who was trying to prevent O’Reilly from interfering). Otis runs over and pulls Kingston off of Tucker and Big E does not take this well as he gets in Otis’s face and we get a bit of shoving as we go to commercial.  As we come back from commercial Fish has grounded Kingston with a chin lock and body scissors, Kingston fights his way out of it and tries to make a tag but Fish knocks Big E off the apron. Kingston finally makes a comeback when he hit Fish with a dropkick out of the corner and then makes the hot tag to Otis. Otis clotheslines Strong and O’Reilly and splashes Cole in the corner. O’Reilly tries to attack Otis with kicks but they don’t phase Otis as he catches O’Reilly and hits him with a capture suplex. Otis calls for the Caterpillar but Fish pulls Cole out of the ring to stop that. Otis catapults O’Reilly into a hip toss from Tucker. O’Reilly tags in Strong but that doesn’t help anything as Tucker throws Strong across the ring and then hits a sidewalk slam for a 2 count. Tucker has Strong down and then looks around like a complete dumbass for what felt like an entire minute before finally going up top and hitting a moonsault which gets him a 2 count after Cole breaks it up. 

Big E hits Cole with a side belly to belly and then backdrops Fish & O’Reilly to the outside. Kingston looks to dive to the outside but Cole grabs his foot to prevent that from happening, meanwhile on the other side of the ring Fish & O’Reilly pulls Big E out of the ring and hit him with the High Low. Kofi fights off Cole and runs around to take care of Fish & O’Reilly but as he leaps off the steps O’Reilly moves and then they hit Kingston with the High Low as well. Otis hits the Caterpillar on O’Reilly but gets taken down by Fish. Cole hit a superkick on Tucker and Strong follows that up with a running knee that gets the win for the UE. Winners: Undisputed Era via Pinfall    Match Rating: **¾ This match really showcased just how great Undisputed Era are to the fans who don’t watch NXT as they were firing on all cylinders and working so well together, in fact, they were so good they made New Day look way less impressive than they usually look which is not an easy thing to do as New Day have been one of the top teams in WWE for the past five years. As far as Heavy Machinery goes they are really good when they want to be but I didn’t feel tonight was the best night for them, the fact that Tucker looked like a complete idiot by looking around like he didn’t know where he was before the moonsault really irked me. This was the second match in a row where people who are supposed to be on the same team get into an argument and this time it made less sense because both teams are babyfaces, although maybe it’s a tease for an upcoming heel turn from Big E or New Day as a team because he really overreacted to Otis pulling Kingston off Tucker. Once again I just want to say that this match was Undisputed Era’s coming out party to the non-NXT fans.

After the match Roderick Strong confronts Shinsuke Nakamura and Sami Zayn (who were watching the match from the top of the ramp) when out of nowhere AJ Styles hits a forearm on Nakamura and this leads to all three men brawling until Zayn helps Nakamura get the advantage as he takes out AJ and then hits Strong with some chair shots until UE run them off.  Michael Cole and Corey Graves run down the Survivor Series card and inform us that NXT is keeping their men’s team a secret. We go to a commercial. Not sure what the purpose of keeping the NXT men’s team hidden is. I get maybe having one or two surprises on the night of the show but the entire team doesn’t make much sense, especially since you can kinda predict most of the team given who has been highlighted in the build-up to show and doesn’t already have a match, I’m guessing the team will be Tommaso Ciampa, Keith Lee, Matt Riddle, Walter, & either Finn Balor, Pete Dunne, or Triple H.  As we come back the OC is beside the stage to cut a promo which leads to AJ saying he would mop the floor with CM Punk when the fans started chanting his name. Styles runs down his opponents at Survivor Series to end the promo.  With both Rollins and now Styles mentioning Punk  I feel the chances of Punk coming back to the ring are highly likely.  Daniel Bryan makes his way to the ring, Bryan says he isn’t here to do Yes! Chants or to inform people about climate change but he is here to call out Bray Wyatt. Bryan says they can talk about the past or they can fight, whichever one Wyatt would rather do. The lights go out and come back on without anything happening. Bryan is now getting angrier and once again challenges Bray to fight. 

The Miz makes his way to the ring and Bryan wants to know why Miz is out there, this leads the two of them eventually getting into a heated exchanged like they always do when they are in the ring together. Miz says he can’t wait for The Fiend to rip Bryan apart and then he slaps Bryan and then we cut to commercial completely out of the blue.  Match #3: Daniel Bryan vs The Miz As we come back the match has already started and Miz is hitting Bryan with the Yes! Kicks. Bryan catches the leg of Miz and then delivers a slap of his own before sending Miz to the outside, Bryan dives off the apron and catches Miz with a flying knee. Bryan gets Miz back in the ring where they exchange blows before Miz hits Bryan with a kitchen sink. Miz gets a 2 count on Bryan after a PK to the head. Miz hits a couple more kicks to the head while trash-talking Bryan. Bryan makes a comeback and hits Miz in the corner with kicks and chops before hitting the running dropkick in the corner, but as he goes for the third one Miz follows him and hits Bryan with the corner clothesline. Miz comes off the top with an axe handle but Bryan avoids it and tries to go for the LeBelle Lock but Miz prevents it from happening. Bryan hits a running clothesline on Miz before going up to the top where Miz cuts him off and goes for a superplex but Bryan fights him off and lands a missile dropkick off the top. Bryan hits the Yes! Kicks and then just as he was thinking about doing the Yes chant the lights go off and when they come back on The Fiend is sitting in the corner. The Fiend locks in the Mandible Claw on Bryan to end the segment. Winner: No Contest    Match Rating: **

This was nothing special of a match and was used just to set up The Fiend attacking Bryan. Of all the matches happening at Survivor Series this is the one I’m least excited about which is a shame as I shouldn’t feel that way about a match that has one of the best wrestlers in the world facing a champion who just underwent a gimmick change a few months ago and should still be interesting and captivating only a few months later. It feels like there has hardly been any build to this match and this segment on the go-home didn’t sell me on the match either, in fact, it feels like they are building up to another Bryan vs Miz match instead of Bryan vs The Fiend. Hopefully, the match at Survivor Series is good (although if they keep the red light on during the match none of Bray’s matches are going to be that good) but right now I’m not feeling it. I also feel like the Bray/Fiend character development has stalled compared to a few months ago, I actually think the character could use a segment where he has a serious one on one interview with one of the announcers similar to the interview Mankind did with JR back in the late 90s so we can get some more development on why Bray is the way he is. 

After the commercial, Shayna Baszler makes her way to the ring and calls out Bayley, but this time it’s Bayley hitting Shayna from behind as she takes her down with a chop block. Shayna gets in control and Bayley doesn’t want to stay and fight but she has no choice as Shayna locks her in the Kirifuda Clutch on the floor, Bayley is able to escape by ramming Shayna into the ring post. Bayley runs to the top of the ramp as we have a staredown between the two women’s champions before Bayley goes to the back. 

Kind of a bummer Becky couldn’t be there for the go-home show but this match doesn’t really need much more build to get people hyped for it as the build for it has been really well done and I have no doubt those three women will put on a great match on Sunday. It’s now time for the main event Match #4: King Corbin, Dolph Ziggler, & Robert Roode vs Roman Reigns, Shorty G, & Mustafa Ali Reigns immediately takes down the heels and then hits a Drive-By on Corbin. Reigns rolls Roode into the ring but Roode grabs the referee with allows Ziggler to hit Reigns from behind and then Corbin sends Reigns into the barricade. Roode tags in Ziggler and they try to double team Reigns only for him to fight them off and hit Roode with a Samoan drop. Reigns tags in Shorty who dropkicks Corbin off the apron and then hits an exploder on Roode and a northern lights on Ziggler that gets a 2 count. Ziggler backdrops Shorty to the apron where Corbin and Roode are waiting, they toss him from the apron onto the announce table as we go to commercial. 

As we come back from commercial Ziggler hits Reigns with a big DDT for a 2 count. Ziggler tunes up the band for the Superkick but gets caught with a Superman Punch from Reigns. Reigns makes the hot tag to Ali while Ziggler tags in Corbin, Ali hits a couple of dropkicks and moments later hits the rolling X-Factor. He catches the leg of Ziggler who was attempting a Superkick and hits him with a spinning wheel kick. Ali hits the tope suicida on Ziggler followed by a tope con hilo on Corbin. Ali rolls Corbin back into the ring and gets out of an attempted chokeslam and then follows up with a springboard DDT out of the corner. Ali goes up top looking for the 450 but Roode crotches him, Shorty tries to take care of Roode but gets hit with a spinebuster on the floor for his efforts. Reigns leaps off the steps and hit Roode with a big Superman Punch and then turns around and gets hit with a Superkick from Ziggler. Ziggler pushes Ali off the top rope and Corbin hits Ali with the Deep Six to get the win.  Winners: King Corbin, Dolph Ziggler, & Robert Roode via Pinfall  Match Rating: **¼

This was a fun match but nothing special except for Shorty G getting tossed on the announce table which was a nice looking spot. As Reigns made his way to the ring Michael Cole tells us that Reigns had sent out a tweet that he was going to help Corbin practice getting eliminated for Sunday which is kind of dickish that he puts his personal issues with Corbin ahead of the betterment of his team and the SmackDown brand, if I were Fox I would be like screw this guy get us someone else on the team who wouldn’t be happy with one of his team members being eliminated. 

The heels leave Reigns in the ring alone as Seth Rollins’s music hits and he leads the Raw roster through the crowd. Rollins enters the ring alone and starts trading punches with Reigns before the rest of Team Raw join Rollins in the beat down. The SmackDown roster then ran to the ring to help their Team Captain. After a few minutes of Raw and SmackDown brawling, it’s time for NXT to get involved as we cut to the back and see the NXT stars walking beside the DX tank which has DX, Keith Lee, & Tommaso Ciampa inside it. DX sends the NXT roster into battle and there are at least 50 people brawling around ringside as it is all-out chaos. 

The show closes with a face-off between Keith Lee and Braun Strowman in the ring, they take out some lower card talent with a pounce and a shoulder block before going at each other as members of all rosters get back in the ring to join them as the show goes off the air.  This was pretty much how you expect the Survivor Series go-home show to end now as we have to have the annual Survivor Series multi-brand brawl between all of the wrestlers, it has become as much a November tradition as Thanksgiving is, I’m actually not against the crazy brawl as it is one of my wrestling guilty pleasures. I do think Team NXT coming into the arena on the DX tank (otherwise known as a jeep) was overdoing it, especially since we had already seen NXT stars throughout the night so it wasn’t like they were just now arriving and the fact they didn’t drive it into the arena to give a cool visual made it even more unnecessary, Why do the NXT guys get to be led down to the ring by three Hall of Famers when Raw and SmackDown doesn’t have anybody like that supporting them, it actually kinda makes NXT look less than the other two shows because it comes off as they are a bunch of kids that are being led by their babysitters or parents. I also didn’t like how they didn’t involve the women in the final segment as they did a few years ago when the SmackDown women stood side by side with the men and beat down the Raw women, if they want them to be equal then they should’ve been apart of the brawl. I am excited for Survivor Series weekend as there is potential for some really great matches. That’s all for this week, but be sure to come back next week when everyone will hate each other again and the us vs them mentality will be a thing of the past.

[animegenork]

Fruits Basket Season 2, Episode 20

[Apologies for posting this late, friends! It’s been rough getting myself off my ass so I can pack for moving this Saturday, not to mention a general lack of motivation to do anything. But once again, here I am! Let’s get into it.]

I’m almost pissed that we didn’t get quite to what I thought we were gonna get into, but the thought of the blessed moment coming this next episode shall keep me going.

Okay, so almost right off the bat we have Yuki with the student council again (after some stuff about the play they’re doing in their class - which ohmygosh I can’t wait for THAT). As a sidenote, I really love that Takaya gave the student council so much screentime, because Yuki joining as the president was a really hard decision for him, and it would’ve been a bit undermined had she not focused on that part of his life. But she did, and so we get plenty of quality scenes with the wonder that is Kakeru!

Kakeru is only seeing the bare bones of Yuki in this episode (and will see much more in the next episode), but when he asks Yuki about his relationship with his parents, Yuki explains it as being like a shirt that’s buttoned up wrong. This is such a clever metaphor, and so accurate, that it’s a wonder it took us over forty episodes to hear it.

We don’t get to dwell on it too much, because we see Machi in the process of wreaking havoc in the student council room. Instead of shock, Kakeru takes this all in stride, to Yuki’s surprise (he thought he was the only one to have seen this), and tells him he’ll take care of it. What I admire most about Yuki is how he handles this situation. Naohito wants to make a big deal about it, and Yuki tells him to forget about it and move on. He knows that something’s up with Machi, but he’s not about to pry. In a way, he’s picked this up from Tohru - she won’t directly ask you what’s wrong most of the time, and will instead try to move past it and wait for you to come to her. Yuki knows that there’s nothing to be done about this and Kakeru’s got it, so he leaves it in his VP’s hands. That not only speaks of Yuki’s trust in Kakeru, but of his respect of Machi’s boundaries. Our little boy’s growing up. ;w;

When Yuki returns, the room isn’t much cleaner, but he does get more insight into Kakeru’s connection to all this. He and Machi are half-siblings (although the sub said “step-siblings” at some point, which is... interesting) and were embroiled in this battle of succession in some company. Kakeru explains that at some point, he realized that he doesn’t want to be part of this whole thing, and so he was freed from it. He starts to realize, through Yuki’s buttoned shirt metaphor, that perhaps Machi’s not free from it. Maybe that’s why she keeps letting it out by destructive means. But, Yuki tells him, you can’t choose your parents. And your parents can’t choose you (unless they’re adopting you BUT THAT’S NOT THE POINT AT HAND). It’s an interesting little scene that I don’t think we get much expansion of just yet. It’s one of those things that’s not necessarily glossed over in Fruits Basket, but it passes by so quickly that you start to wonder what you just learned...

We get a brief scene of Yuki with his mother, who has apparently been changed by her last interaction with her sons (plural because Ayame). She expresses a brief bit of concern at Yuki getting a phone, telling him not to spend too much time on it (which is adorable). He’s surprised by this, understandably, but in a way, it makes him kinda happy to see something like this from the woman who never seemed to care before.

I think it’s a bit late for her to start being a mother, but at least Yuki’s optimistic.

We see some funny tidbits of Kakeru Causing Chaos (i.e. he’s such a little gossip about something he knows can’t happen) before we get to the next bit. Machi apologizes for the trouble she caused, and Yuki asks her to put herself out there more. This is pretty interesting for him to say, especially since he was, more or less, exactly like Machi for a good part of his life and even at the beginning of the series. Might Tohru have rubbed off on him a bit?

Next we see Kyo being such a cutie about having to be the Prince Charming to Hanajima’s Cinderella (I’m still cackling), and Yuki gets to reflect just a little bit more on what exactly Tohru means to him. (We also get a really cute shot of Tohru smiling at Kyo and Kyo trying not to lose his shit.)

When Yuki returns to the Student Council, he gets locked in the storage room. Normally this is fodder for shenanigans, but he’s alone, so no shenanigans are involved. (Though I want to know why this room isn’t better taken care of - the former president must’ve spent too much time getting up in everybody’s faces about harassing Yuki and/or having Haru’s strangely colored hair.) By accidentally knocking over a paint can, foolishly left open, Yuki flashes back to Akito saying some cruel things to him that shook him up more than we probably realized at the time when that particular episode aired. I’d even venture to say that one memory of Akito led to many others, especially in a room that dark.

So for once, someone that’s not Tohru rescues him.

Machi busts in with a chair (total badass, this woman), and asks if he’s okay. You can see in her face that she knew exactly how not okay Yuki was. Their pain isn’t the same, but they somehow recognize it in other people, including each other, and I think that’s a very valuable skill in people. Machi even directly says, “I thought you wouldn’t want to feel anxious,” which says a lot about her own experiences if she picked up on that. It’s not like Machi’s even seen Yuki in any kind of negative state either - so perhaps she has Shigure-level skills of perception, hmm?

We cut outside, and it’s setting up for a bro moment between Yuki and Kakeru. Yuki admits that painful memories came up in that dark storage room, and he gets ready to finally lay it all bear to someone. He hasn’t even told “that person” (who is very clearly Tohru just based on how she appears right after).

And that’s where we end.

These damn cliffhangers.

Once again, friends who didn’t read the manga: hold on to your seats. Next week, you might be in for a huge surprise. ;)

[chanoyu-to-wa]

Nampō Roku, Book 5 (51):  the Display of a Taikai and Temmoku on a Maru-bon (One of Five Arrangements).

51) Maru-bon taikai・temmoku kazari¹, itsutsu no uchi² [丸盆大海・天目飾、五ツ之内]¹.

[The writing reads:  hane tate ni mo yoko ni mo ji-gi ni yoru-beshi (羽タテニモ橫ニモ時宜ニヨルヘシ)³.]

_________________________

◎ This is another arrangement that seems to have been inserted into the sequence during the early Edo period.  Apparently because this kazari (correctly) uses a naka maru-bon [中丸盆], it was assumed that the previous arrangement used this kind of tray as well.

¹Maru-bon taikai・temmoku kazari [丸盆大海・天目飾].

    “[On a] round tray, an arrangement of a taikai [and] a temmoku.”

    In this case, the “round tray” (maru-bon [丸盆]) is, indeed, the naka maru-bon [中丸盆] (which measured 1-shaku 2-sun 3-bu in diameter).  This tray was one of the six meibutsu trays selected by Nōami for Yoshimasa to use when serving tea with the daisu.

²Itsutsu no uchi [五ツ之内].

    “[One] among five [arrangements].”

   The precise collection of five arrangements, to which this notation refers, is unclear.

    In Shibayama Fugen’s teihon [底本], this entry is followed by a note (which he attributes to Tachibana Jitsuzan), reading kono tsugi [no] san-mai datsu-raku [此次三枚脱落], which means “the next three pieces were left out” (or, possibly, “fell out” from the notebook).  While the person who produced the copy of the manuscript that Tanaka Senshō used as his teihon added his own note*:  kono tsugi [no] san-mai nashi [此次三枚ナシ] -- “the subsequent three leaves are missing” -- implying that this scholar felt that the other three sketches had been lost in some way.  While all of this is, of course, possible, it would seem that the simplest explanation is that the three missing arrangements never existed at all, and that the person who inserted these sketches added the notation (itsutsu no uchi [五ツ之内]) only to make it appear that the added sketches were, in fact, an original part of Jōō’s manuscript (if only because the sketches appear to be out of sequence when this part of Book Five is viewed as a unit†, and the systems of kane-wari differ between the two purportedly surviving members of the five sketches). ___________ *This is odd, since it implies that Jitsuzan’s own note had gone missing. 

    According to the text of the Enkaku-ji manuscript, at least as it was reprinted in the Sadō ko-ten zen-shu [茶道古典全集], no mention is made of this note (though it is found in the margin of the relevant page in the Gunsho Ruijū [群書類従] reproduction of Jitsuzan’s original manuscript).

†As has been mentioned several times before, the first part of Book Five of the Nampō Roku was conceived to follow the historical evolution of chanoyu (at least, according to Jōō‘s understanding of the process), starting with the earliest days (when a chawan and chaire were arranged on the ten-ita in what was -- naturally -- the first step in the process).  Then progressing on to the use of the the different large trays to support the utensils, which introduced additional levels of complexity to the process of preparing a bowl of tea.  And finally ending, in the years leading up to his own time, with a series of midare-kazari [亂飾], which include arrangements used by the Shino family when tea was served (during the goza) following the appreciation of incense (which was almost always done at the very beginning of the shoza -- and was followed by a meal, kashi, and a naka-dachi).  It seems that the Shino family’s way of doing things was especially important to Jōō because this was the foundation not only of his own personal practice, but also of what came to be called the cha-kai [茶會] (as a direct derivative of the Shino’s kō-kai [香會]).  After a brief discussion of the shiki-shi [敷き紙] -- which ignorance of this object in the Edo period has corrupted into an irrelevant discussion of an anomalous form of the kane-wari of the daisu via the body of kaki-ire appended to this sketch (even though the sketch of the object in question clearly fails to match the dimensions of the daisu, as all other sketches in the collection faithfully do) -- the book concludes with a look at Jōō‘s own contribution, namely the idea of using the daisu with the ro.

    The person responsible for the addition of the spurious sketches seems to have failed to recognize that Jōō constructed this collection in the very specific way outlined above -- and it is, in fact, only these additions that befuddle this fact, and make the order appear to be random (or, seemingly aligned with this or that modern school’s study curricula).

³Hane tate ni mo yoko ni mo ji-gi ni yoru-beshi [羽タテニモ橫ニモ時宜ニヨルヘシ].

    “The feather may also be [placed] vertically, or also horizontally:  which should be decided according to the circumstances.”

    “The circumstances,” as mentioned in the notes accompanying the previous arrangement, refer to the way that the utensils on the ji-ita are arranged (in other words, the kane-wari count of the ji-ita), and whether the gathering will take place during the daytime, or at night.

    All considerations are the same.  Since when the temmoku and taikai both overlap their respective kane by one-third:

- the habōki (placed horizontally in front of the other objects) will either contact both of their kane (and so gather everything on the tray into a single unit)*; or,

- when centered between the temmoku (not the dai) and the chaire, the habōki will lie on the interstitial yin-kane, and so allow all three utensils to be counted separately†.

__________ *The habōki would have been specially made so that it would conforms with this necessity.

    Here, it seems that the original system of kane-wari is to be employed (perhaps because one of the six meibutsu trays selected by Nōami is being used).

    The habōki being oriented horizontally gathers all of the objects on the tray into a single unit, making the tray have a count of “1.”  Adding to it the kae-chawan, the total for the ten-ita is “2,” which is chō [調].

†According to the classical system, an object resting on a yin-kane is either given a yin value, or not counted at all (Rikyū seems to have preferred not counting it all, which suggests that the whole idea of “yin-kane” was a concept that arose after the time of Yoshimasa, and so should be attributed to a later machi-shū interpretation of this system).

    Thus, in this case, the dai-temmoku and taikai will each count as “1.” while the habōki will count as “2” (or nothing), making the tray yin (the total is either 2 or 4, depending on whether the yin object is given a value of 2, or not counted at all).  Coupled with the kae-chawan, the total for the ten-ita is either 5 or 3, in either case the total is han [半].

    Which of these arrangements is appropriate for the daytime, and which may be used at night, depends on the kane-wari count for the objects on the ji-ita.  If the count there is 3 (which is the usual way that the nanatsu-kazari is tallied):

- then, placing the habōki horizontally (so the ten-ita has a count of 2, which is chō [調]) would be appropriate for use during the daytime;

- while placing the habōki vertically between the chaire and dai-temmoku (resulting in a count of 3 or 5 for the ten-ita) would be best used at night.

——————————————–———-—————————————————

◎  Analysis of the Arrangement.

    Here, two possible arrangements should be considered (which of them is appropriate on any given occasion depends on the considerations that were discussed above, under the second footnote):

1) The first arrangement shows the habōki oriented horizontally in front of the other utensils (and contacting both of their kane).

2) The second variation shows the habōki placed vertically, centered between the temmoku and the taikai.

    Once again, it seems that the habōki was intended to be used to clean the tray.

    The temae would be similar to that described in the post entitled Nampō Roku, Book 5 (7):  the Ordinary Round Tray; and the Display of a Chaire and Chawan Together*, though with the orientation of the tray modified† to accommodate the greater diameter of the taikai. __________ *https://chanoyu-to-wa.tumblr.com/post/618309870571192320/namp%C5%8D-roku-book-5-7-the-ordinary-round-tray%C2%B9

†The tray would have to be moved toward the left, so that it was 1-me from the right heri.  This would have no effect on the position of the dai-temmoku on the mat during the temae.

[chanoyu-to-wa]

Nampō Roku, Book 4 (24.2):  Four Arrangements for the Dashi-fuzukue [出文机] (Tsuke-shoin [付書院]), Part 2; and Rikyū’s Brief Closing Remarks.

[The writing reads (from right to left):  bachi (バチ)¹; tanzaku・suzuri-bako (短尺・硯箱)²; kore ha sukiya no katte-shoin nado ni, chika-goro konna mo suru, ji-yū yoshi (コレハスキヤノ勝手書院ナトニ、近來如此モスル、自由ヨシ)³; dora (トラ)⁴; kasho・ryōshi (哥書・料紙)⁵.]

[The writing reads (from the right):  shimoku (シモク)⁶; suzuri・ryōshi (硯・料紙)⁷; un-pan (雲版)⁸; ko-kabin (小花瓶)⁹.]

_________________________

¹Bachi (バチ).

    This is the striker for a gong.  It consists of a relatively short wooden haft, to which a round, ball-like head (usually made of leather secured at the neck over a ball of twine, for the necessary resilience).

As with the kanshō [喚鐘] (which was mentioned in the previous post), the gong was struck with the bachi while the host sat on the floor in front of the dashi-fuzukue.

²Tanzaku・suzuri-bako [短尺・硯箱].

    A tanzaku・suzuri-bako [短冊硯箱] is a rather elongated* sort of suzuri-bako, with a lower compartment in which tanzaku [短冊] (poetry cards) could be stored.

    The box for the tanzaku is shown on the left, and the lid is on the right.  Above the rather elongated suzuri is a silver mizu-ire [水入].  The lid is usually tied on with a pair of cords that are attached to small kan [鐶] near the bottom of the box (the cords are not shown in this photo). ___________ *Tanzaku are usually 1-shaku 2-sun long, and 2-sun wide, and the box would have had to be perhaps 1-sun larger than this in order to allow the tanzaku to be removed easily.

³Kore ha sukiya no katte-shoin nado ni, chika-goro kon-na mo suru, ji-yū yoshi [コレハスキヤノ勝手書院ナトニ、近來如此モスル、自由ヨシ].

    Kore ha sukiya no katte-shoin nado ni [コレハスキヤノ勝手書院ナトニ]:  a katte-shoin is a construction more commonly seen in the early sukiya [数奇屋] (a wabi-style tearoom -- in this case, a 4.5-mat room with a 6-shaku toko, with a dashi-fuzukue on one side of it*).   

    Chika-goro konna mo suru [近來如此モスル]:  chika-goro [近來]† means “at this time,” “in the present,” “recently;” konna mo suru [如此も爲る] means “it is still done like this.”

    Ji-yū yoshi [自由ヨシ]:  ji-yū [自由] means “to do as one likes”:  thus, “it is appropriate to do as one feels best.”

    The dora [銅鑼]‡ was more commonly used in the wabi-sukiya, rather than in the more formal shoin (where the gakki [樂器] were usually percussion instruments originally used in the temple setting). ___________ *We must remember that the Shū-un-an documents with which these sketches were associated dated from the beginning of Jōō’s public career.  The small room did not appear until 1554; prior to that time, the sukiya was always a 4.5-mat room, with a 6-shaku toko.

†It is also important to keep in mind that these kaki-ire [書入] were added to the sketches sometime after Jitsuzan presented his copy of the Nampō Roku to the Enkaku-ji.  Thus “chika-goro” refers to sometime during the eighteenth century (or after -- it is not clear precisely when these notes were added, though some speculate it was during Jitsuzan’s lifetime, when the secret discussions on the way to interpret these drawings were beginning).

‡The dora [銅鑼] was first used by ships as a sort of fog-horn -- to announce their presence (and intended entry into port) during foggy weather.  They were, thus, much more “humble” than the percussion instruments that were created to be played in the temple, to accompany the chanting of prayers.

⁴Dora [トラ].

    The dora [銅鑼] is a gong.  The sketch shows a Chinese nipple-gong.  The face of Korean gongs was usually flat (though sometimes incised with concentric circles to indicate the center).  The sound of the two are similar -- though more care has to be taken to hit the Korean gong in the center, since otherwise the sound will be discordant†.

    It is said that the Chinese gongs were originally made for ships to announce their approach to the harbor -- since the deep sound carries well in fog*.

    The similarity of the sound of a dora to a temple bell heard at a distance was noted very early (probably already on the continent, among the townsmen followers of wabi‡, long before chanoyu was brought to Japan), so that the way to play the gong was intended to imitate the sound of a temple bell (and its echo). ___________ *Many of the antique dora that appeared in Japan during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries are said to have been brought from the Philippines, where the natives were apparently using them as war-shields.  However, the aborigines are not known to have possessed bronze-making abilities at that time; and these gongs seem to have come into their possession as a result of the wrecks of Chinese shipping in their territories.

    Japanese-based merchants from Sakai and Hakata began to visit the Philippines during the fifteenth and sixteenth century, to trade with the Europeans, in addition to their port calls in other East and Southeast Asian countries.

†Korean gongs seem to have originated as instruments intended to scare away malicious influences during purification rituals.  Thus their ability to produce audibly disturbing sounds was considered a benefit.

‡These people seemed to admire the spiritual aspect of things like chanoyu, though they were not monks.  Playing the gong so that it resembled a temple bell was, therefore, a sort of fiction.  This is an attitude that deeply influenced the development of wabi tea.

⁵Ka-sho・ryōshi [哥書・料紙].

    A ka-sho [歌書]* is a book of poems.

    Ryōshi [料紙] is writing paper.  Possibly just one or two pieces, folded in half, to keep the book from coming into direct contact with the surface of the desk (which might have dust or ink residue present that could damage the book). ___________ *Ka-sho [哥書] is a rather inelegant abbreviation, though this form is commonly found in machi-shū writings.  It is difficult to believe that it was ever used in Jōō’s authentic writings.

—————————————————-—————————————————  

      Shibayama Fugen begins by noting that the present arrangement of the dashi-fuzukue would be appropriate for an uta-kai [歌會], or a renga-kai [連歌會], or a gathering of that sort*.

    The dora is suspended from a hook attached to the middle of the ceiling above the dashi-fuzukue.  The bachi [撥] is suspended on the side of the writing desk closest to the katte (in other words, the opposite side from where the tokonoma is located).

    A tanzaku・suzuri-bako [短冊硯箱] is shown on the right, and ka-sho [歌書]† (a book of poetry) is shown, resting on a piece of ryōshi, on the left.  The object resting on top of the book is a bun-chin [文鎮]‡. ___________ *Kono kazari ha uta-kai, renga-kai nado no kazari naru-beshi [此ノ飾ハ歌会、連歌会ナドノ飾ナルベシ].

     An uta-kai [歌会] is a poetry competition, where two teams compete with each other, proposing verses according to a specific series of topics; a renga-kai [連歌会] is a linked-verse competition, where the contestants utilize part of the preceding participant’s verse to create a new one, with the purpose being to create a single, long poem of a certain number of links.

†A ka-sho [歌書] is a book of poems.

‡A bun-chin [文鎮] is a paperweight.  While a generic sort of bun-chin (a long bar of polished brass, with a small knob by means of which it can be handled) is shown in the sketch, more fanciful shapes were also common -- and likely would have been used, if available, and if the shape were appropriate to the occasion.

——————————————–———-—————————————————

⁶Shimoku [シモク].

    Shimoku [シモク] appears to be a miscopying of the word shumoku [シュモク = 撞木], probably because the original manuscript was already in a poor state of preservation when Jitsuzan took his copy.  The sketch may be reconstructed as follows.

    The shumoku is a mallet-shaped striker, used to sound the un-pan [雲版] while the host remains seated in front of the dashi-fuzukue.

    The shumoku used for an un-pan has a shorter handle, and a broader head than the one used to sound the kanshō.  This kind of shumoku is sometimes suspended (upside-down) from a loop of cord inserted through the hole in the handle (and some of the versions of this sketch show that orientation).

⁷Suzuri・ryōshi [硯・料紙].

    A suzuri [硯] (ink stone), displayed on top of a packet of ryōshi [料紙] (writing paper) that has been folded in half.

⁸Un-pan [雲版].

    An un-pan [雲版] is a rather flat, bronze percussion instrument, which produces a sound somewhere between a gong and a pair of cymbals (depending on the size and shape).  As the name suggests, it is more or less cloud-shaped.

    The un-pan is not usually flat, but generally has a recurved rim (the deeper the rim, the more gong-like the sound).  This was another of the traditional Buddhist instruments installed in the bell-hall along with the large bell, drum, and wooden gong.  (These instruments were usually played by the monks at dawn and dusk, as the sun rose above, or slipped below, the horizon.)

    Like the kanshō, it, too, was played by striking with a wooden mallet.

⁹Ko-kabin [小花瓶].

    A small flower-vase, such as Rikyū’s treasured Tsuru-no-hito-koe [鶴ノ一聲]*, shown below.

    The word ko-kabin specifically refers to a vase that was much too small to hold a formal rikka [立華] style arrangement.

    Only a single flower (or a small twig)† could be placed in this kind of hanaire -- and, indeed, the flowers as arranged in a ko-kabin were the precedent for the “cha-bana” [茶花]‡. ___________ *Early sources give the original name as Tsuru-no-hashi [鶴ノ波子] (which describes the pattern of waves around the foot of the hanaire).  Rikyū changed its name to memorialize an episode that seems to have occurred in the 1570s.

†Rather than being considered to be a “flower arrangement,” this kind of thing was usually done as a way to appreciate the flower in question.  For example, a small branch of plum blossoms would be placed in this kind of vase so that the color and fragrance could be enjoyed close at hand.

‡In Chinese, cháhuā [茶花] refers to the late autumn- and winter-flowering forms of the camellia, as well as those cultivars of the tea plant that are grown for their attractive flowers.  The former are all hybrids between the true camellia (Camellia japonica), which flowers in the spring, and the tea plant (Camellia sinensis) -- which can flower at any time of the year, but predominantly in the early autumn.  Some of these are ancient, natural hybrids (and so appear to us to be purely camellias, rather than hybrids), while others are what the Japanese refer to as sazanka [山茶花] (Camellia sasanqua).  According to the Japanese horticultural definition, tsubaki [椿] (the “true” camellias) are distinguished from the sazanka by the fact that sazanka loose their petals one by one, while tsubaki drop the entire corolla as a unit.  While this is valid in first generation hybrids, complex natural hybrids often behave more like camellias than their tea parent.

    Be that as it may, classical references dating to the Ming dynasty times (and possibly earlier), speak of Chinese connoisseurs of tea drinking who would display a twig of the tea plant, when in bloom, in such small vases on their desks or tea tables, and it was apparently from this practice that the tradition of cha-bana developed.

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    Shibayama Fugen explains that the kane employed in this sketch are exactly the same as in the previous example. 

    The un-pan is suspended from the ceiling on the central kane; and the suzuri and flower-vase stand on the right-most and left-most kane, respectively.

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[Rikyū’s concluding remarks¹:]

    Migi ichi-ran mōshi-sōrō shoin-kazari ika-hodo mo shina ōku sōrae-domo, korera no wakare ni te ichi-dan koto ka mōsu majiku sōrō [右一覧申候書院飾いか程も品多く候得共、此等之分にて一段事欠申間敷候]².

        Kashiku [かしく]³.

                                                                                     Sōeki han [宗易判]⁴.

                               Nambō [南坊]⁵.

_________________________

¹This title is not present in the original.  These remarks simply follow the last sketch.

²“Having read through the foregoing, [I am amazed at] the great number of arrangements for the shoin [that you have collected together].  But for all your understanding of these things, there is still so much more that you do not [yet understand].”

³Kashiku [かしく] is a traditional, standard -- albeit somewhat effete -- closing for letters and things of that sort.  It is usually translated* “sincerely yours,” or “respectfully yours.”

    Shibayama Fugen’s teihon [底本] has kashiko [かしこ], but this is simply another form of the same greeting. ___________ *The actual meaning would depend on the kanji with which the expression is written -- ranging from auspicious wishes, to fear (of having given offense).  Traditionally this term seems to have been used by women -- and affected by the excessively effete chajin of the old capital during the Edo period.

     Rikyū’s authentic writings are never signed in this way.

⁴Sōeki han [宗易判] means Sōeki’s name-seal.  Perhaps his stylized signature (kaō [花押]) was written here.

⁵Nambō [南坊], Nambō Sōkei [南坊宗啓; ? ~ 1594], the purported recipient of these comments.

    The closing suggests that Sōkei presented a collection of documents to Rikyū for his review, and his comment was that while the collection is exhaustive, there is still much that Sōkei does not know.  This is the way that the first six books of the Nampō Roku end.

    These concluding remarks are assumed to have been fabricated by Tachibana Jitsuzan, though it is entirely possible that one of the other parties who had accessed the Shū-un-an documents between 1595 and 1680 (agents of the Edo bakufu, and representatives of the Sen family) might have added these remarks -- to disguise the actual origins of this material.  This was because it was at this time that efforts were being made to discredit both Jōō and Furuta Sōshitsu, in favor of Rikyū (since, in the absence of access to Rikyū’s actual teachings -- the result of the damnatio memoriae imposed by Hideyoshi, and furthered by the efforts of the machi-shū under Imai Sōkyu, who attempted to restore chanoyu to its state during Jōō’s middle period -- his importance and influence had to be demonstrated somewhere, and this was most easily accomplished by stating that many of the practices that were known to have started in the sixteenth century, actually originated with him).  Thus, most of what we commonly understand to be the achievements of Rikyū today, were actually things begun by Jōō and Oribe (even when those practices were could also be confirmed as having been indulged in by Rikyū himself).