#The Suits Are People: Ko No Mono

[hyperfashionist]

The Suits Are People, No. 189 S2E11 - Alana Bloom: “It’s common for a killer to revisit their victims after death”

Gee, Alana, you don’t say.

Alana’s footwear: not seen, but presumably snow boots, either her mukluks or the ones that look like dress boots. 

$$ Since it wasn’t snowing the day I wore this outfit, I wore my dress boots that sort of look like Alana’s snow boots. Roberto Vianni.

Alana’s trousers: not seen, but presumably the black ski pants she wears outdoors on snowy days.

$ My trousers: black fleecy ski pants, Primark.

$$$ Alana’s coat: “The Soia & Kyo brand coat is made of blue wool and features a button-up placket with a built in black leather belt.”

$$ My coat: blue wool coat with button-up placket, Rocha by John Rocha. Black faux-snakeskin belt, thrifted.

Alana’s scarf: blue scarf with blurry leopard print, unknown brand. 

Alana’s predatory animal prints are out in force lately. In my opinion, her use of predatory animal prints evolved from floral prints, which are not a good sign for her.

$ My scarf: blue scarf with blurry leopard print, unbranded via eBay.

Alana’s earrings: “The gold colored earrings are studded.” These have topaz-coloured rhinestones, in contrast to a similar pair that she wears in late S2 which have white rhinestones. In both cases, I think we’re meant to perceive them as real precious stones.

$ My earrings: goldtone hoop earrings with topaz-coloured/pastel rhinestones, unbranded via eBay.

See also 30 Day Challenge version.

PropStore Auction catalog entry

Back to previous Alana Bloom outfit

Forth to next Alana Bloom outfit

Back to The Suits Are People, No. 188

Forth to The Suits Are People, No. 190

[arkashas]

will naming his bait as abigail + how it ties into his “blurring” with hannibal and eventual transformation

“name the bait on your hook after somebody you cherish. if the person you name it after cherished you, you will catch the fish".

i’ve seen this look abigail gives will here

when he says he named the bait after her interpreted as her not cherishing him, but i don’t think that’s it. i think the reason that abigail’s face falls here is because people using her as bait has negative connotations for her. who else used her as bait a lure? that’s right, garret jacob hobbs.

we see in season 1 that will takes pains not to cross boundaries with abigail; he thinks better of his gift of fly tying gear to her because it might remind her of her father.

but now in his daydreams he’s fishing with her and even using her as a lure. what changed?

will’s isolation, alienation from others and slow deterioration of his morals causing him to become like hannibal, that’s what changed. hannibal has no problem being another GJH or leveraging abigail’s relationship with GJH to further his bond with her; in Œuf he feeds her eggs and sausages, the breakfast she shared with her parents, and even gives her priscobilyn tea so that she hallucinates him and alana as her parents (the script tells us that it was actually will that was supposed to be at the breakfast-for-dinner, which makes more sense).

EDIT: i think there’s also instances where hannibal uses abigail as bait. in potage when set up the scene for nicholas boyle to go after her, and when he lets her distract beverly in takiawase when she goes down to the basement (bryan fuller confirmed that beverly saw abigail in the basement). there’s also mizumono where he sends abigail to disarm alana knowing alana won’t shoot at her, which echoes GJH making abigail befriend the girls to get them into a false sense of security.

in season 3, we see that will uses hannibal as bait to catch dolarhyde, and of course he catches the fish, because he and hannibal cherish each other. and in season 2, will names abigail as his bait, but he doesn’t actually use her as bait to catch hannibal in a way that was literal with hannibal and dolarhyde in season 3. so this might be a bit convoluted, but bear with me here - i think the way this is supposed to work is that will using abigail as bait = will acting like garret jacob hobbs which in turn = will acting like hannibal. in order to catch hannibal, will has to beat him at his own game, which means acting like him, which means manipulating, killing and cannibalizing.

this idea makes sense with what will tells jack in su-zakana. he heavily implies he will act as bait to catch hannibal. this means will is also the bait. so how can abigail and will both simultaneously being the bait be reconciled?

the way this can work is if we take it that abigail is not the bait in a literal sense; what is important here is what naming abigail as his bait means for will. it means that will is willing to turn into hannibal to catch hannibal. and will acting hannibalesque is the “live bait” that “moves and excites” hannibal to action, the one thing that he wants, despite everything he knows. (also emphasis on live bait - that can’t be abigail because will thinks she’s dead).

EDIT: more relevant scenes from trou normand. if feeling like garret jacob hobbs makes will feel like a killer, then the fishing scenes in his mind palace with abigail take on even more meaning.

we see other signs of the blurring between will and hannibal, the courtroom scene in hassun where they both dress up at the same time,

and as this post points out, the dream sequence just before this where we see will in a suit (reminiscent of hannibal’s attire) electrocuting the old will.

but for will the transformation is a painful one - his old self goes through the process of electrocution, he tears himself free and screams when he's reborn in ko no mono, and it also doesn't fully take place – the suit is ill fitting, and the ravenstag gives birth to someone who's recognisable as will, just with antlers, not the stagman’s twin. you can’t force a transformation, will has to grow into it in his own time. which he eventually does.

[on a sidenote - this is why i disagree that hannibal never wanted will to be like him. he did, the character development hannibal has to go through is accepting will is not like him and loving and wanting him anyway. we see glimpses of that when he is willing to run away with will even while having his “imago” or ideal of him shattered when he learnt he didn’t kill freddie lounds.]

EDIT: something i forgot to mention is how will gets found out by hannibal because he went to visit freddie, which he was only able to do because he didn’t kill her...and not killing her means that he didn’t turn into hannibal. will failing to catch hannibal is directly connected to him being unable to do what he set out to do with his luring expedition. and i’ve changed my mind to say that abigail not cherishing him back might have played a part in hannibal wriggling away. will and abigail were never especially close, except in will’s mind.

[dialovers-translations]

Diabolik Lovers GRAND EDITION for Switch ;; More, Blood ー Azusa Dark [Prologue]

Monologue

For as long as I can remember,

I was not granted a reality,

in which I could live my life while kept safe,

by someone or something.

The people walking by all looked so happy,

as if everything my heart could ever desire,

came to them naturally,

just like breathing.

And there I was, all by myself,

simply continuing to ponder,

whether I was actually alive,

or long dead.

When I gaze up at the blue skies,

the light stings in my eyes for some reason.

So I figured,

that I was probably alive.

Being alive felt meaningless,

and something I was barely even aware of.

Which conditions one has to meet,

to be able to consider themselves ‘alive’,

even this was a mystery to me.

Does breathing and eating,

equal being alive?

I posed myself this question time after time,

as I opened and closed the palm of my hand.

Unless I was moving part of my body like this,

it almost felt as if,

I was dead.

A proof of living. 

And a reason to live.

That was all I yearned for.

ー The scene starts with a flashback of a younger Azusa in the city

Azusa: ...

( The gypsies scooped up an orphan like myself from the side of the road as I was about to starve to death... )

( I’ll stay here by myself like this, to at least ensure I don’t cause any of them any trouble... )

( That is all I can do. I have no other value... )

( My life is completely meaningless...I might as well be dead... )

...

*SWOOSH*

Azusa: Ah...!

Justin: Oi, lil’ stray boy! (1)

Why are you sitting over there? You’re an eyesore!

Azusa: S-Sorrーー

*THUD*

Justin: Shut that annoying mouth of yours!

Azusa: ...

Geez...

Christina: Exactly! You tell him, Justin!

You’re still alive because we were so kind to pick you up from the streets after all!

So you better listen to us!

*Smack*

Azusa: ーー!

*Smack smack*

Azusa: Uu...

*THUD THUD*

Azusa: ...

Melissa: Ufufu~ He won’t complain at all even if we beat him up...!

I guess trash doesn’t have any pride, huh?

Well...I guess a kid who had to get picked up from the streets doesn’t even know how to talk back. Right, Justin~?

Justin: Yeah, maybeーー!

*THUD THUD*

Justin: Haah, haah, haah...

Azusa: ...Uu...

*THUD THUD*

Azusa: ...Ugh.

Justin: Nn...?

Azusa: ...Fufu...

Christina: W-What’s wrong with him...?

Azusa: Ahaha...!

Melissa: W-Wait! What’s so funny!?

Azusa: ...Hey, please? Punch me more.

Justin: Haah!?

Azusa: More, do it more and more. Keep going until I’m completely battered and bruised, I’m begging you...

More...Punch me more...

Justin: ...Disgusting...

ー The other kids leave

Azusa: Ah...Wait...Hold up...

Why are you leaving...? Hey! Why!?

...Aah...It hurts...Fufu.

Monologue

Humankind is stuck in a cursed vicious circle,

in which one thing always leads to another.(2)

Without a real meaning, without a real reason.

Those kids who punched me,

are beaten up by someone in town on a daily basis as well.

They have rocks thrown at them, and are yelled at.

And because of this unspoken curse,

they take out everything on me.

Their pent up anger,

eventually all ends up in one place,

and that is me.

It is my duty,

to take their beating,

That is my ‘reason to be alive’

ー The flashback ends as the scene shifts to the living room

Azusa: ...

...Uu...He’s...my...

Yui: Azusa-kun...? What’s wrong?

Azusa: They’re all...my...precious...

Yui: ( I wonder what has gotten into him all of a sudden? It’s as if he can’t hear me at all. )

Azusa: ...Justin...Christina...Melissa...

Fufu...Fufufu...

Ruki: Oi, Azusa. Cut it out. You can talk to yourself somewhere else.

Azusa: W-Wait...I’m filling them in on the news right now.

Yui: ( Them? Filling in? What is he going on about? )

Ruki: Haah...Oi, you. Are you sure you want this guy?

Yui: Y-Yes...

( Well, we actually decided through the cards. )

Ruki: Hmph. ...Okay then. Suit yourself.

ー Ruki walks away

Kou: Fufu~ M-neko-chan, good luck with our troublemaker now that you’ve chosen him?

Azusa-kun can be quite the handful, you know? Although, I don’t think he’s a bad guy at heart...

Yui: Y-Yeah...

( They’re actually leaving him in my care instead... )

Is he that hard to handle?

Kou: One hundred percent! (3) Isn’t that obvious? Fufu~

Yui: ( I-I see...Well, I guess he seems a little off, or rather mysterious...? )

( I probably shouldn’t say this about someone but he might even be a little...creepy. )

Kou: I’m sure you’ll regret it in the end. Finding yourself wishing you had chosen me instead, you see?

ー Kou leaves

Yui: ( There he goes... )

Yuma: ...

Yui: Uhm, Yuma-kun...

Yuma: What? Don’t talk to me like we’re pals.

See ya.

ー Yuma leaves too

Yui: ...

( They all left... )

( W-What now? I’m all alone with Azusa-kun now... )

Azusa: Fufu...Fufufu...

Yui: ( Uu...What should I do? He’s totally lost in his own thoughts. Can I talk to him...? )

U-Uhm...

Azusa: ...Fufu...

Yui: Excuse me...!

Azusa: ...Nn? ...Yes?

Yui: ( Aah, thank god. Seems like he took notice of me at least. )

Azusa: ...Say. Can I ask one thing?

Yui: ( I-I wonder what it could be...? )

Azusa: Do you...like me?

Yui: Eh?

Azusa: Ah. I’m sorry for...startling you. In that case, I’ll change my question.

Can you...punch me?

Yui: Eh...?

Azusa: I’m asking a serious question. Can you hit me, cut me, or kick me away?

Yui: N-No way. I can’t do that. I’m not exactly...

Azusa: ...I see.

What a shame, very much so...

I mean...I’m this close to you, yet you won’t punch me...

Yui: ( Azusa-kun actually looks disappointed... )

( However, you can’t expect someone to just punch you out of nowhere. )

Azusa: Do you hate me...? ...I see...

Yui: Eh...?

Azusa: But...I don’t dislike you.

Yui: Why? We only just met...

Azusa: Why? That’s because...we have the same scent.

Yui: The same? What do you mean?

Azusa: ...So, please...Let me suck your blood.

Yui: Eh? W-Wait...That doesn’t answer my question...?

Azusa: Can I? You don’t mind, do you? It’s fine...Right?

Yui: ( It’s no use. I’m not getting through to him! )

Azusa: Look, I’ll suck youーー Nn!

ー Azusa bites her

Yui: Ah...!

Azusa: ...Nn...Haah...

Aah, it’s so delicious...I want more, more...

You’re so lucky to have...this kind of blood...

This is...Eve’s blood...Hah...Nn...

Nn...Phew...

Yui: Stop...!

Azusa: ...

Yui: Y-You can’t!

Azusa: Fufu...You’re rather shameless, pretending to dislike it like that.

But you actually love this, don’t you? Being treated like thisーー

Yui: No...!

Azusa: ...

...Fufu. The more you fight back, the sweeter and richer your blood becomes...

We really are alike, two of a kind...

Yui: ( We’re two of a kind? What does heーー )

Azusa: Nn...!

Yui: Uu...!

Azusa: Aah...Delicious...

Say, does it hurt...? Where does it hurt the most?

Here, maybeーー?

Yui: Nn...!

Azusa: Oh, right here, huh...?

I’ll suck you more, okay? Don’t worry...You’re overjoyed, aren’t you?

Yui: I-It hurts! Azusa-kun...!!

Azusa: Hurts...?

I see, it hurts, huh...?

Fufu, haah...Aren’t you glad?

More pain is obviously better, isn’t it? I’ll make you feel it even more.

You are so very precious after allーー Nn...

My Eve...Haah...

Yui: Uu...Kuh.

( Why do things turn out...like this? Who is...’Eve’? )

Monologue

The more I protest,

the more intense Azusa-kun’s blood-sucking becomes.

I knew I had to run away.

However, the more I fought back,

the more he restrained me with force,

to the point where I was left wondering,

where he even found such strength...

I had no other choice,

but to let Azusa-kun indulge in meーー

ーー TO BE CONTINUED ーー

Translation notes

(1) Justin calls him 拾われ物 or ‘hiroware-mono’ here, which literally means ‘something which has been picked up’. 

(2) Literally it says that ‘being born eventually results into death, and with each death, new life is born’. In this context, I assume it is referring to something like ‘abuse creates abusers’, pointing towards the strong, natural connection between two different things. 

(3) Kou literally says ‘360 degrees’ but I felt like 100% was easier to understand for most people. 

→  LIKE MY TRANSLATIONS? SUPPORT ME ON KO-FI!

<- [ Azusa prologue ] [ Dark 01 ] ->

[jeremystrele]

51 Luscious Luxury Dining Rooms Plus Tips And Accessories For Decorating Yours

We focus on meal times during annual special festivities and personal anniversaries, but sitting down to break bread together is something that should always carry a sense of ceremony. Enjoying this daily activity with the added shine of a luxury dining room design means that every day can feel like a special occasion – without all the added prep and hoo-ha. Inspiration for luxury dining furniture and decor can come in many shapes and forms, so we have put together a whopping 51 images of our favourite dining room decor schemes to draw inspiration from. Plus, we offer a few tips and tricks that can be adapted to fit many different room sizes and budgets.

Visualizer: Dvice Inc   The ceiling is just as important as the floor – sometimes more so. If you want to create an intimate feel for your dinner parties, visually lower a ceiling by installing a dark feature, like a stained wood slat design. This tip can work in just about any room dimensions but use caution on low ceilings, you don’t want to leave your diners feeling claustrophobic.

Visualizer: Bashar Swileh   A live edge dining table isn’t just for rustic cottages. Live edge tables are big news right now and there are sizes to suit all sorts of dining room floor plans.

Visualizer: MONO Architects   Define your dining area on a flat woven rug. You don’t have to create an island of colour with your rug, even one in a similar tone to the existing floor will create a luxury island on which to welcome your guests.

Visualizer: Render Vision   Accentuate the head and the foot of the table with a different colour chair – or a completely different chair design altogether.

Visualizer: Bui Ni   Use oversized dining room pendant lights in multiples to make a bold, expensive looking statement… Even cheaper lighting options can look high-end when set in twos or threes.

Visualizer: David Straka   If you’ve got the budget for one big stand out chandelier then it’s a great way to set a high-end scene.

Visualizer: Naira Omar   Add a stylish sideboard and a sparkling mirror. These ones are set against an undulating feature wall for added effect.

Visualizer: Ri Ko   Use colour in unexpected ways. Not only do these glass globe pendants bring a cluster of rouge to the table, but ombre window drapes dip a toe into the blue spectrum too. Behind the monochrome dining set, a random section of wainscot has been picked out in a blush tone.

Visualizer: Lanre Alao   Alternatively, you don’t have to be so subtle with colour. Great swathes of turquoise and red crash up against each other in this wide open space, where masks decorate the bright volumes.

Visualizer: Maxim Tsiabus   Use two different dining chair silhouettes to encircle your table. You can pick them out in similar shades for a subtle yet interesting effect.

Visualizer: Vittorio Bonapace   A black dining room looks decadent with gold trimmings and accessories, like this shining gold finish chandelier.

Visualizer: Mykhaylo Faydula & Uliana Yanishevska   Change out the flooring beneath the dining zone in an open plan home.

Visualizer: 4 Pixos   A large or linear dining table light is another effective way to anchor your table in an free-flowing living space.

Visualizer: Cubico 3D   A formal dining area gives you options. You might be happy perched at the breakfast bar for most meals, or sitting out on the patio. However, you will be thankful for that formal eating option when festivities roll around and when hungry guests stop by.

Visualizer: UNA Arquitetos   Create a warming effect with wall to wall wood. This sunny dining room is clad in wood panels and furnished with matching wood grain dining room furniture. A concrete ceiling balances out the scheme with a cooler finish. A glass exterior and dividing wall gives the natural toned room full views of the garden.

Visualizer: Djamal Mustafaev   Suspend dining table lights close to the table – even from ultra high ceilings. This fabulous design is the Vibia Match Suspension.

Architect: Drozdov Partners   If possible, consider installing a fireplace. This one has a log burning stove and integrated log store. Copper pendant lights hang above a wooden table that matches the tones of the cut logs. The seats are Flow dining chairs.

Visualizer: Archviz Mallorca   Bring in natural greenery. This dining pendant includes planters to bring the garden right to the table.

Visualizer: Bui Ni   Dress to impress – the table that is. Use floral arrangements or classic candles to set the scene, even when the table is not in use. This floral centrepiece picks out the rich colour of the formal dining chairs.

Photographer: Lorenzo Pennati   Add a reflective wall to double the sense of space. This can be done with mirrors, smoked or coloured glass, or high gloss panels.

Visualizer: Nikita Dyagiltsev   Introduce a sense of movement with a veined marble feature wall…

Visualizer: Rosendo Maximiliano Mesillas   … Or a marble dining table and/or a marble effect rug.

Designer: Summer Thornton   Decorate with shape. The circular silhouette of Platner dining chairs has great synergy with a Saarinen tulip table.

Visualizer: Lorenzo Pennati   Add elegance to a shadowy corner with an attractive screen. This is also a great way to disguise a bank of electrical sockets or cover up a small study area.

Visualizer: Double Aye   Meld contemporary with traditional. These chic modern dining chairs have classic tufted upholstery. The room decor follows suit with the theme, with contemporary monochrome prints hung against a wall of boiserie.

Visualizer: Harun Kaymaz   Fashion a feature wall, like this rustic exposed brickwork wall that’s cut through with a marble stripe.

Visualizer: Double Aye   Give amazing tables room to breathe.

Visualizer: Dumbrava Traian   Another strong shape theme; this time with elliptical pendant lights complementing the outline of the Gubi Beetle chair.

Visualizer: Alesya Kasianenko   Match without repetition. Pick out a dining chair design that is available in several different colourways and purchase a varied selection. Change up the lighting by selecting two chandeliers or pendant lights that share similarity without being identical.

Visualizer: Erlind Llanaj & Ervin Arizi   Create a cocoon of calm. If a thoroughfare runs alongside your dining area, or the table is adjacent to a busy wall of doors, consider installing a buffer. Slatted screens are a great way to divide the space without closing it in.

Visualizer: U Design   Backlit dining room cabinets add a cosy glow.

Visualizer: Focus   Float a shoal of paper lanterns over the table. The grouping will create a sculptural attraction by day and a glowing spectacle by night.

Visualizer: Angelina Alekseeva   Create a luxury rustic dining room by teaming natural wood and raw brickwork, or stone, with sleek modern pieces.

Visualizer: David Straka   Not all dining areas are confined indoors; blur the boundaries for a luxury al fresco dining experience.

Visualizer: Alexander Uglyanitsa   Don’t fall short on exposed ducting and metalwork accessories to manufacture a luxury industrial dining room effect.

Visualizer: Leqb   A large lazy susan ensures everyone is served smoothly.

Visualizer: Anna Pahomova   Brighten up an existing suite by adding new additions. A colourful designer chair at either end will transform the look.

Visualizer: Amr Moussa   If there isn’t room for a sideboard in your dining room, try a long wall shelf to create a display instead.

Visualizer: Dezest Design   Traditional crystal chandeliers add sparkle for sure, but a modern chandelier can be just as eye-catching.

Visualizer: CG Walls   Enrich a white scheme with precious rose gold.

Visualizer: Ugo Concept   Choose a dining table chair combination that properly fits your space. A small suite in a large room will look lost – but go to large and diners will feel uncomfortably packed in. Allow room for people to easily leave the table.

Visualizer: Color Room Interiors   It’s all about the glow. Dining pendant lights are top of the list for illuminating mealtimes but don’t forget to include side lighting to build ambiance.

Visualizer: Nicolas Jouslin   You may not currently have a dedicated area for formal dining, but a small luxury dining room can be fashioned in all sorts of spaces. This table and modern dining chairs are situated right by the home library stacks.

Visualizer: AtViz   Enjoy the simple elegance of a fresh Scandinavian dining room…

Visualizer: Kanstantsin Remez   … Or a cool minimalist dining room design.

Visualizer: Igor Sirotov   A dining area can run directly off a kitchen island. Add a low hanging pendant light by the dining stools to set the tone.

Visualizer: Artem Bobrov   The striking contrast of a black and white dining room is sure to impress any taste.

Visualizer: Stanislav Gritsenko   A nomadic dining room features natural textures and items that seem to have their own story… You just can’t help but think about the past life of that dramatically gnarled live edge dining table.

Visualizer: Tаrаs Horoduskyy   Time travel into a futuristic dining room. A bleached-out white on white design lands a perfect space age look.

Visualizer: Double Aye   Enliven the beat-up industrial look with some eye-popping colour. A meandering path leads the way to an upcycled dining table in this open plan industrial style home; the metal table has been coupled with a set of fire engine red dining chairs.

Visualizer: En Eimis   Find drama in your natural surroundings. From the awesome rock face feature wall to the organic lightshade, this luxurious dining room celebrates all that is natural and part of this home’s magnificent location.

1. Menu Dropp fruit bowl 2. Saarinen Tulip style dining chair 3. Secto sculptural pendant 4. Menu ceramic salt and pepper shakers 5. Alessi lily bird sauce container 6. Decorative driftwood vase 7. Luxury Chandelier 8. Saarinen Oval Dining Table 9. Unique wine glasses

Recommended Reading:  51 Luxury Bedrooms With Images, Tips & Accessories To Help You Design Yours 50 Luxury Bathrooms And Tips You Can Copy From Them Luxury Kids’ Room Interior Design

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[drewebowden66]

51 Luscious Luxury Dining Rooms Plus Tips And Accessories For Decorating Yours

We focus on meal times during annual special festivities and personal anniversaries, but sitting down to break bread together is something that should always carry a sense of ceremony. Enjoying this daily activity with the added shine of a luxury dining room design means that every day can feel like a special occasion – without all the added prep and hoo-ha. Inspiration for luxury dining furniture and decor can come in many shapes and forms, so we have put together a whopping 51 images of our favourite dining room decor schemes to draw inspiration from. Plus, we offer a few tips and tricks that can be adapted to fit many different room sizes and budgets.

Visualizer: Dvice Inc   The ceiling is just as important as the floor – sometimes more so. If you want to create an intimate feel for your dinner parties, visually lower a ceiling by installing a dark feature, like a stained wood slat design. This tip can work in just about any room dimensions but use caution on low ceilings, you don’t want to leave your diners feeling claustrophobic.

Visualizer: Bashar Swileh   A live edge dining table isn’t just for rustic cottages. Live edge tables are big news right now and there are sizes to suit all sorts of dining room floor plans.

Visualizer: MONO Architects   Define your dining area on a flat woven rug. You don’t have to create an island of colour with your rug, even one in a similar tone to the existing floor will create a luxury island on which to welcome your guests.

Visualizer: Render Vision   Accentuate the head and the foot of the table with a different colour chair – or a completely different chair design altogether.

Visualizer: Bui Ni   Use oversized dining room pendant lights in multiples to make a bold, expensive looking statement… Even cheaper lighting options can look high-end when set in twos or threes.

Visualizer: David Straka   If you’ve got the budget for one big stand out chandelier then it’s a great way to set a high-end scene.

Visualizer: Naira Omar   Add a stylish sideboard and a sparkling mirror. These ones are set against an undulating feature wall for added effect.

Visualizer: Ri Ko   Use colour in unexpected ways. Not only do these glass globe pendants bring a cluster of rouge to the table, but ombre window drapes dip a toe into the blue spectrum too. Behind the monochrome dining set, a random section of wainscot has been picked out in a blush tone.

Visualizer: Lanre Alao   Alternatively, you don’t have to be so subtle with colour. Great swathes of turquoise and red crash up against each other in this wide open space, where masks decorate the bright volumes.

Visualizer: Maxim Tsiabus   Use two different dining chair silhouettes to encircle your table. You can pick them out in similar shades for a subtle yet interesting effect.

Visualizer: Vittorio Bonapace   A black dining room looks decadent with gold trimmings and accessories, like this shining gold finish chandelier.

Visualizer: Mykhaylo Faydula & Uliana Yanishevska   Change out the flooring beneath the dining zone in an open plan home.

Visualizer: 4 Pixos   A large or linear dining table light is another effective way to anchor your table in an free-flowing living space.

Visualizer: Cubico 3D   A formal dining area gives you options. You might be happy perched at the breakfast bar for most meals, or sitting out on the patio. However, you will be thankful for that formal eating option when festivities roll around and when hungry guests stop by.

Visualizer: UNA Arquitetos   Create a warming effect with wall to wall wood. This sunny dining room is clad in wood panels and furnished with matching wood grain dining room furniture. A concrete ceiling balances out the scheme with a cooler finish. A glass exterior and dividing wall gives the natural toned room full views of the garden.

Visualizer: Djamal Mustafaev   Suspend dining table lights close to the table – even from ultra high ceilings. This fabulous design is the Vibia Match Suspension.

Architect: Drozdov Partners   If possible, consider installing a fireplace. This one has a log burning stove and integrated log store. Copper pendant lights hang above a wooden table that matches the tones of the cut logs. The seats are Flow dining chairs.

Visualizer: Archviz Mallorca   Bring in natural greenery. This dining pendant includes planters to bring the garden right to the table.

Visualizer: Bui Ni   Dress to impress – the table that is. Use floral arrangements or classic candles to set the scene, even when the table is not in use. This floral centrepiece picks out the rich colour of the formal dining chairs.

Photographer: Lorenzo Pennati   Add a reflective wall to double the sense of space. This can be done with mirrors, smoked or coloured glass, or high gloss panels.

Visualizer: Nikita Dyagiltsev   Introduce a sense of movement with a veined marble feature wall…

Visualizer: Rosendo Maximiliano Mesillas   … Or a marble dining table and/or a marble effect rug.

Designer: Summer Thornton   Decorate with shape. The circular silhouette of Platner dining chairs has great synergy with a Saarinen tulip table.

Visualizer: Lorenzo Pennati   Add elegance to a shadowy corner with an attractive screen. This is also a great way to disguise a bank of electrical sockets or cover up a small study area.

Visualizer: Double Aye   Meld contemporary with traditional. These chic modern dining chairs have classic tufted upholstery. The room decor follows suit with the theme, with contemporary monochrome prints hung against a wall of boiserie.

Visualizer: Harun Kaymaz   Fashion a feature wall, like this rustic exposed brickwork wall that’s cut through with a marble stripe.

Visualizer: Double Aye   Give amazing tables room to breathe.

Visualizer: Dumbrava Traian   Another strong shape theme; this time with elliptical pendant lights complementing the outline of the Gubi Beetle chair.

Visualizer: Alesya Kasianenko   Match without repetition. Pick out a dining chair design that is available in several different colourways and purchase a varied selection. Change up the lighting by selecting two chandeliers or pendant lights that share similarity without being identical.

Visualizer: Erlind Llanaj & Ervin Arizi   Create a cocoon of calm. If a thoroughfare runs alongside your dining area, or the table is adjacent to a busy wall of doors, consider installing a buffer. Slatted screens are a great way to divide the space without closing it in.

Visualizer: U Design   Backlit dining room cabinets add a cosy glow.

Visualizer: Focus   Float a shoal of paper lanterns over the table. The grouping will create a sculptural attraction by day and a glowing spectacle by night.

Visualizer: Angelina Alekseeva   Create a luxury rustic dining room by teaming natural wood and raw brickwork, or stone, with sleek modern pieces.

Visualizer: David Straka   Not all dining areas are confined indoors; blur the boundaries for a luxury al fresco dining experience.

Visualizer: Alexander Uglyanitsa   Don’t fall short on exposed ducting and metalwork accessories to manufacture a luxury industrial dining room effect.

Visualizer: Leqb   A large lazy susan ensures everyone is served smoothly.

Visualizer: Anna Pahomova   Brighten up an existing suite by adding new additions. A colourful designer chair at either end will transform the look.

Visualizer: Amr Moussa   If there isn’t room for a sideboard in your dining room, try a long wall shelf to create a display instead.

Visualizer: Dezest Design   Traditional crystal chandeliers add sparkle for sure, but a modern chandelier can be just as eye-catching.

Visualizer: CG Walls   Enrich a white scheme with precious rose gold.

Visualizer: Ugo Concept   Choose a dining table chair combination that properly fits your space. A small suite in a large room will look lost – but go to large and diners will feel uncomfortably packed in. Allow room for people to easily leave the table.

Visualizer: Color Room Interiors   It’s all about the glow. Dining pendant lights are top of the list for illuminating mealtimes but don’t forget to include side lighting to build ambiance.

Visualizer: Nicolas Jouslin   You may not currently have a dedicated area for formal dining, but a small luxury dining room can be fashioned in all sorts of spaces. This table and modern dining chairs are situated right by the home library stacks.

Visualizer: AtViz   Enjoy the simple elegance of a fresh Scandinavian dining room…

Visualizer: Kanstantsin Remez   … Or a cool minimalist dining room design.

Visualizer: Igor Sirotov   A dining area can run directly off a kitchen island. Add a low hanging pendant light by the dining stools to set the tone.

Visualizer: Artem Bobrov   The striking contrast of a black and white dining room is sure to impress any taste.

Visualizer: Stanislav Gritsenko   A nomadic dining room features natural textures and items that seem to have their own story… You just can’t help but think about the past life of that dramatically gnarled live edge dining table.

Visualizer: Tаrаs Horoduskyy   Time travel into a futuristic dining room. A bleached-out white on white design lands a perfect space age look.

Visualizer: Double Aye   Enliven the beat-up industrial look with some eye-popping colour. A meandering path leads the way to an upcycled dining table in this open plan industrial style home; the metal table has been coupled with a set of fire engine red dining chairs.

Visualizer: En Eimis   Find drama in your natural surroundings. From the awesome rock face feature wall to the organic lightshade, this luxurious dining room celebrates all that is natural and part of this home’s magnificent location.

1. Menu Dropp fruit bowl 2. Saarinen Tulip style dining chair 3. Secto sculptural pendant 4. Menu ceramic salt and pepper shakers 5. Alessi lily bird sauce container 6. Decorative driftwood vase 7. Luxury Chandelier 8. Saarinen Oval Dining Table 9. Unique wine glasses

Recommended Reading:  51 Luxury Bedrooms With Images, Tips & Accessories To Help You Design Yours 50 Luxury Bathrooms And Tips You Can Copy From Them Luxury Kids’ Room Interior Design

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[chanoyu-to-wa]

Appendix:  the Rikyū Hyakkai Ki, Part 30:  (1591) Intercalated First Month, Eleventh Day, Morning.

90) Intercalated First Month, Eleventh Day; Morning¹.

￮ Terumoto dono [輝元殿], alone².

￮ 4.5-mat room³.

￮ Shi-hō-gama  [四方釜]⁴; ◦ Seto mizusashi  [瀬戸水指]⁵; ◦ seitaka ・ kuro-chawan  [せいたか・くろ茶碗]⁶; ◦ chaire ・ chū-natsume  [茶入・中ナツメ]⁷; ◦ plum-blossoms placed in “Shakuhachi”  [尺八]⁸.

￮ Afterward Hashi-date [橋立] was brought out⁹.

￮ Tai no yaki-mono  [鯛のやき物]¹⁰; ◦ koi no sashimi  [こいのさしみ]¹¹; ◦ imo-no-kuki ・ azuki irete [no] shiru  [いものくき・小豆入テ汁]¹²; ◦ meshi  [めし]¹³.

￮ Hikite  [引て]: ◦ hakuchō no shiru  [白鳥ノ汁]¹⁴.

￮ Kashi  [菓子]: ◦ fu-no-yaki  [ふのやき]¹⁵; ◦ yaki-guri  [やき栗]¹⁶.

￮ Sase Yosozaemon [佐世與三左衞門]¹⁷, Hayashi Hizen-no-kami  [林肥前守]¹⁸, and Shōan rō  [少安老]¹⁹. 

     These three people ate in the hiroma [廣間]²⁰, and came out to the [tea]room when tea was served²¹.

_________________________

¹Urū-shōgatsu jūichi-nichi ・ asa  [閏正月十一日・朝].

   The Gregorian date of this chakai was March 6, 1591.

²Terumoto dono ・ hitori  [輝元殿・一人].

    This was Mōri Terumoto [毛利輝元; 1553 ~ 1625], daimyō-nobleman (as gon-chūnaigon [権中納言], Supernumerary Middle Counselor) he held the Third Rank), and a member of Hideyoshi’s Council of the Five Great Elders [go-tairō [五大老]).  He was thus an extremely important person -- and, interestingly, he also is one of the most frequent of Rikyū’s guests mentioned in the Rikyū Hyakkai Ki.

     While Lord Terumoto at his meal alone (Rikyū actually indicates that he was “hitori” [一人], meaning that he was invited to the gathering alone, as the sole guest)*, in fact three other guests joined the chakai during the go-za.  Details of them will be found below (in footnotes 17 to 21). ___________ *This is evidence that Rikyū wrote his kaiki before the fact -- as a sort of planner.  And the use of a chū-natsume (rather than an ō-natsume as might have been better, with four guests to serve) suggests that the other three people were not originally expected; thus Rikyū had to make due with the utensils (and the amount of matcha) that had already been prepared.

    The mention of the other three guests, and the way he disposed of them in a different part of his mansion, was scribbled in at the end of the entry.  In other words, it seems that two of the guests (who were personal retainers of Lord Terumoto) unexpectedly accompanied Terumoto to Rikyū’s house, after which Rikyū may have sent word to the third (a chajin and personal friend) to join and help him with the food service, and perhaps to act as a sort of provisional hantō during the service of tea as well (since the presence of retainers would demand that Rikyu treat Lord Terumoto much more formally than it seems he did when Terumoto visited him unattended).

    Following the meal, all three of these people joined Lord Terumoto in the 4.5-mat room for tea.

³Yojō-han [四疊半].

⁴Shi-hō-gama  [四方釜].

⁵Seto mizusashi  [瀬戸水指].

⁶Seitaka ・ kuro-chawan  [せいたか・くろ茶碗].

⁷Chaire ・ chū-natsume  [茶入・中ナツメ].

    Apparently liking the effect of his maki-e ō-natsume the day before, Rikyū decided to try something similar, but using a smaller tea container, better suited to the service of a single guest*.

    Together with this natsume, Rikyū would have used an ori-tame [折撓] as the chashaku, one that he had made by himself.

    And, though also not mentioned in his kaiki, Rikyū most likely used a take-wa [竹輪] as the futaoki, and a mentsū [面桶] as the mizu-koboshi.

___________ *It seems that the gathering had been originally planned for Mōri Terumoto alone.  Then three other guests came and asked to be allowed to participate.  Rikyū probably served Terumoto a personal bowl of koicha, and then offered a second bowl of koicha to the others (as sui-cha [吸い茶], meaning that a single bowl of koicha was shared by these three guests), followed by usucha.

⁸Shakuhachi ni baika ireru  [尺八に梅花入る].

    As before, this was the oki-hanaire [置き花入] named “Shakuhachi” [尺八] that Rikyū had made for the all-night flower-arranging competition that Hideyoshi had hosted during the siege of Odawara the previous summer.

    Placed on an usu-ita [薄板] on the floor of the tokonoma, the effect would have been similar to that of the previous day.

⁹Ato ni Hashi-date deru  [後に橋立出る].

    Hashi-date [橋立] was Rikyū’s best cha-tsubo.  It was taken to the island of Shikoku not long after his death, and vanished from the records (and so was presumed lost) during Sen no Sōtan’s lifetime (according to a document written by Sōtan that discusses the fates of Rikyū’s three cha-tsubo).

    In Rikyū’s period it was customary for the guests to have an interest in examining the cha-tsubo, since this also revealed the source of the tea that it contained.  (In this period, the tea jars were usually filled by tea merchants, who acquired the leaf tea from the growers, and then blended it in order to achieve a more consistent product from year to year.)

¹⁰Tai no yaki-mono  [鯛のやき物].

    Tai [鯛] (sea bream) grilled over charcoal.  It was basted with salted water while it cooked.

¹¹Koi no sashimi  [こいのさしみ].

    This refers to what is now known as koi arai [鯉洗い]:  the carp was cleaned and filleted, and the fillets were placed in a bath of hot water before they were transferred to cold water (to chill and firm the flesh).  After chilling, the fillets were carved into bite-sized pieces, as usual for sashimi.

¹²Imo-no-kuki ・ azuki irete [no] shiru  [いものくき・小豆入テ汁].

    This is a kind of miso-shiru, in which imo-no-kuki and cooked azuki beans are suspended.

    Imo-no-kuki [芋の莖, 芋の茎]* are the petioles of the taro plant.  These were eaten as a vegetable in early spring†, when the plants first begin to sprout.  Care must be taken to remove the stringy vascular bundles from the concave side of the petiole before cooking.  They are boiled lightly, but should still be fairly crisp when served.

    Azuki [小豆] are small, burgundy-colored beans.  They are best known to foreign practitioners of chanoyu as being one of the main ingredients in many types of wa-gashi [和菓子] (Japanese traditional sweets -- though the word is generally used to refer to kashi specifically made for chanoyu), but, in fact, they are also used as a vegetable, as here. ___________ *More commonly known as zuiki [ずいき = 芋茎] today.

†They could, of course, be eaten at any time.  But it was in the early spring, when fresh vegetables were still scarce, that imo-no-kuki were most commonly included in the diet.

    The petioles of the sweet potato plant (not the vines) can be eaten in the same way, and sometimes the name imo-no-kuki is used for these as well.

¹³Meshi  [めし].

    Steamed rice.

¹⁴Hakuchō no shiru  [白鳥ノ汁].

    This is a clear soup -- perhaps served more as a stew (in other words, with a larger proportion of meat and vegetables than when offered as a soup course) -- made by boiling the flesh and bones of a wild swan, together with pieces of daikon and seasonal vegetables.

     The swan would have been provided to Rikyū by Hideyoshi’s hawkers.

¹⁵Fu-no-yaki  [ふのやき].

    Rikyū’s signature wheaten crêpes, spread with sweet white miso (or possibly miso-an [味噌餡] -- which is the same white miso diluted with strained cooked white beans) before being rolled or folded into bite-sized pieces.

¹⁶Yaki-guri  [やき栗].

    Roasted chestnuts.

¹⁷Sase Yosozaemon [佐世與三左衞門].

    This refers to the bushō [武将] (military man) and daimyō Sase Motoyoshi [佐世元嘉; 1546 ~ 1620], who was a personal retainer of Mōri Terumoto.  Motoyoshi served as Governor of Iwami (Iwami-no-kami  [石見守]), and also Governor of Nagato (Nagato-no-kami  [長門守]), both in the far west of the main Japanese island of Honshū, with the latter position including responsibility for guarding the Kanmon Straits.

    Sase Motoyoshi and Hayashi Narinaga were both Mōri Terumoto’s personal attendants -- perhaps equivalent to his personal guard of honor.

¹⁸Hayashi Hizen-no-kami  [林肥前守].

    This is a reference to Hayashi Narinaga [林就長; 1517 ~ 1605], another personal retainer of Mōri Terumoto, who was a daimyō-nobleman* in his own right.

    The Hisada-bon [久田本] refers to this man as Hayashi Higo-no-kami [林肥後守], meaning he was the Governor of Higo, but this is clearly an error -- since a member of the Hayashi family did not serve as governor of that province until the late Edo period.  Possibly this suggests that portions of the Hisada-bon were modified later. ___________ *As Governor of Hizen (Hizen no kami [肥前守]), Hayashi Narinaga held the junior grade of the Fifth Rank.

¹⁹Shōan rō  [少安老].

    This probably refers to Mozu-ya Sōan [萬代屋宗安; ? ~ 1594]*, who appears to have been close to Rikyū’s own age (perhaps a year or two younger, as attested by the affectionate use of the kanji “shō” [少]) -- and who has been seen in the role of batsu-kyaku [末客] (last guest)/hantō [半東] (host’s assistant) at other chakai where the other guests were high government officials or noblemen.  Sōan’s name was also written as Shōan/Sōan [variously as 少安, 小安, 少庵, and 小庵], by his contemporaries†.

    I should mention that the Sadō Ko-ten Zen-shu‡ identifies this person (without further explanation, or justification) as [Miyaō] Sōjun [(宮王)宗淳; 1546 ~ 1614], the son of Miyaō Saburō Sannyū [宮王三郎三入; ? ~ 1582], who is usually known today as Sen no Shōan [千少 庵].  But this argument is extremely problematic, if only because (in addition to the fact that the second kanji for his name is different -- and this difference has nowhere been accounted for) the suffix rō [老] (which means “old man**”) would not have been appropriate for a man 45 years of age, who was younger than everybody else participating at this gathering with the exception of the shōkyaku (and even here the age-difference was not sufficient to elicit this sort of honorific, were “Shōan” actually a member of Terumoto’s party -- rather than someone whom Rikyū had called upon to help him in a pinch as I have suggested). ___________ *While Mozu-ya Sōan’s date of birth is not known with certainty, the indications are that he was the same age (or a year or two younger) than Rikyū himself.  While there was no fixed rule, the honorific suffix rō [老] was not generally used for people under 60 years of age.

†Which has played into the hands of scholars who want to assert a closer connection between Miyaō Sōjun, who was also known as Shōan [少庵] (though it seems, mostly in later accounts), and Rikyū.  In fact, it is difficult to associate Miyaō Saburō Sannyū’s son with most of these references (which is why they are rarely mentioned in public), while the more likely person is always Mozu-ya Sōan.

    Mozu-ya Sōan was one of Rikyū’s closest personal friends, and it would be to such a person that he would turn when he needed help serving important guests (as here), rather than the son of his second wife (whom he had married on Hideyoshi’s orders around 1585 or ’86, and to whose son he had barely been introduced -- a son who practiced a form of machi-shū chanoyu far removed from Rikyu’s own style).

‡Published by Tankōsha [淡交社], whose affiliated scholars can always be relied upon to promote Urasenke’s version of chanoyu and its history.

**The suffix ro [老] also includes the nuance that the person so designated was what we might call an “elder” -- that is, in the context of chanoyu, a publicly respected master (what Yamanoue Sōji called a chanoyu-sha [茶湯者], a man who made his living as a teacher of tea, and who was publicly acknowledged and respected as such).  Mozu-ya Sōan was, in fact, employed as one of Hideyoshi’s tea masters (and apparently part of his responsibility was to act as an instructor for Hideyoshi’s courtiers, and possibly his women); Sen no Shōan, on the other hand, does not seem to have cultivated much of a public persona -- and he (and his son Sōtan) seem to have curtailed all of their public activities, and literally went into hiding after Rikyū’s seppuku (a situation from which Sōtan only emerged in his later years, and only after much prodding by the Tokugawa bakufu).

²⁰Hiroma [廣間].

    The 18-mat “Colored Shoin,” the main reception room in Rikyū’s Juraku-tei residence.

    The guests would have had to exit the building and cross the garden to reach the (detached) 4.5-mat yashiki.

    Two of the men may have been attendants of Mōri Terumoto, and were served their meal separately -- perhaps because their presence had not been anticipated by Rikyū.  Shōan, meanwhile, was a personal friend of Rikyū‘s, who likely participated in order to help Rikyū serve the others*. ___________ *As Rikyū could not be in two places at the same time, Shōan may have helped with the food service in the shoin, while Rikyū waited on Lord Terumoto in the 4.5-mat room.

    Nevertheless, the fact that Shōan also drank tea during the go-za together with the others suggests that he was not simply an assistant.

²¹After the naka-dachi, the three other “guests” followed Lord Terumoto when he returned for the go-za.

    Possibly they joined him at the koshi-kake.

[hyperfashionist]

Hannifashion January Challenge: 30 more days of Alana Bloom

Day 24: Ko No Mono - "I don’t think Hannibal is good for you and I think your relationship is destructive”

@fannibalgrowingcircle

$$$ Alana’s jacket: “The second jacket (size S) is made by Burberry Brit and has a green nylon shell with polyester lining.”

$$ My jacket: aqua turquoise quilted jacket, Eastex via eBay.

Alana’s scarf: dark blue with purple flowers. I was convinced when I did The Suits Are People version that this was the same one as in Mizumono, that it’s a kind of Murder Scarf. Totally wrong!

$ My scarf: sea blue with purple flowers, unbranded via thrift store.

Alana’s trousers: black ski pants, unknown brand.

$ My trousers: black fleecy leggings, Primark.

Alana’s gloves: looks like black gloves, possibly with a leather outer.

$$ My gloves: black leather gloves, Dent’s.

Alana’s boots: black knee-high or mid-calf zip-up snow boots with 1 to 2-inch block heels and latchets at the ankles (and calves?), unknown brand. They seem to be made out of leather or nubuck.

$$ My boots: black fleece-lined knee boots with thick cleated sole, 1- to 2-inch block heel and latchets at the ankles and calves. Clarks via eBay. I don’t know how good these would be as snow boots, but they’re warmer and their soles have more traction than dress boots.

Alana’s earrings: Alana wears two pairs of similar, but not the same, earrings in late S2. One pair is a partial hoop with white rhinestones, the other pair is a full latching hoop with pale topaz-coloured rhinestones that stand out from the goldtone setting.

$ My earrings: full latching hoop earrings with pastel-coloured rhinestones in a goldtone setting, unbranded. I forgot to take a picture but they’ll appear over the next days, and there’s a pic in The Suits Are People version.

S2 running total Alana outfits: 25

of which unique outfits: 24

garments worn more than once: 5

of which, worn more than twice: 1

Running total wrap bodices: 9

of which dresses: 6

Wrap bodice percentage so far: 36%

of which dresses: 67%

wrap dresses as percentage of total: 24%

Running total trousers: 3

of which jeans: 1

trousers as percentage of total: 12%

Running total coats: 6

Running total footwear: 11

Running total bags: 2

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Both Alana and Will display considerable sophistication in this scene.

Box-and-Stick Trap

A naive tactic would be for Alana to say, Will is a bad influence on Hannibal! He is influencing Hannibal to kill!

Instead, she acknowledges consciously that Hannibal is influencing and manipulating Will. Back in the theremin scene, she warns Hannibal “People are not instruments” and that he has to pay careful attention to what he’s playing. She says it in a sleepy voice, because you can’t be held responsible for what you say when you’re not fully conscious. But it’s a lucid point, and she makes it.

Priorities

Fast-forward to this scene, and Alana is accusing Will not in terms of “you’re a bad influence on Hannibal” but “Hannibal is a bad influence on you” and condemns the relationship... because the problem isn’t that Hannibal is a murderer whether directly or by proxy... the problem is Will’s relationship with Hannibal!

So I guess, if Will had no relationship with Hannibal, the problem would go away!

Behaviourism

Meanwhile, a naive tactic would be for Will to try to drag Alana away from Hannibal, saying “he’s a very bad man... you’re not safe...” 

Instead, he said “I’ve given up good and evil for behaviourism.” (The remark about destructiveness is a callback to that conversation.) The naive reading of this is: “OMG! Will doesn’t care about good and evil any more! He’s announcing that he’s just going to be a sociopath!” Actually, what he’s saying is that instead of appealing to people’s conscience, he’s going to appeal to whatever is most rewarding or punitive to them.

Reward (or the loss of it)

A major reason why Alana fled into Hannibal’s arms was to repair her social standing after narrowly escaping being caught making valentine eyes on the witness stand at the degraded and criminal Will. 

But now, Will is saying “Hannibal’s good enough for you” in a scornful tone that clearly places Alana in a lower position. This is the second time in recent days that someone has done this - the first one was Freddie. And while Alana considered Freddie a low-life, having put her to the test Alana has come around to believing Freddie was right. So this time, instead of dismissing what Will says like she did when he warned her in Yakimono “he’s dangerous”, she takes it in. She realizes that instead of looking up at her with envy and admiration, two people she considers beneath her actually think less of her for her involvement with Hannibal *and she can’t prove that both of them are wrong*, because Will hasn’t been arrested yet!

And... now Alana is starting to actually feel unsafe. (Not that she’s acting as if that’s the case - she shows up alone and unarmed to tell Will he’s the killer? He has to hand her a gun to impress upon her that this shit is real.) 

Because if Hannibal is dating Will right in front of her (which he is, in the more or less literal sense) then Hannibal is not on Alana’s side any more - not because he’s turned against her per se, but because the situation is humiliating for Alana and Hannibal is not only fine with that, he’s actually sitting at the dinner table laughing about it.

And making jokes about eating livestock animals despite loving them. 

(That scene REALLY makes me angry on Alana’s behalf. How fucking DARE he. Hannibal is a dick of the worst kind, and it’s amazing that one has to keep repeating that, but he. really. is.)

I feel like that joke went over Alana’s head at the time, but maybe it’s flown back and is perched on her shoulder by now.

(Fucking seriously. Hannibal should eat himself as punishment for that conversation alone.)

Punishment

Remember what I said about Alana’s being in the place of CJ in the Lost Boys family back in Oeuf? CJ’s desperate mindguarding of his “brothers” was his way of making sure he didn’t age out of his role in the family, and become the scapegoat - which ended for another boy, with CJ’s help, in being burnt to death. Of course, the scapegoat role is to be avoided as a matter of life and death, but the problem is, Will won’t stay in it. And if the scapegoat role is vacant - anyone could be pushed into it. 

And Will says it outright here: just like no-one believed him, no-one will believe her. 

Warning

This statement is read as petty and vindictive, but it’s actually a warning phrased in terms Alana can hear: you are going to be in my position, you are going to experience what I experienced. Since Alana doesn’t really have the imagination to put herself in someone else’s shoes, she has to be put through a simulation in order to understand what was done to Will and what will be done to her if something doesn’t change. 

The rest of the episode consists of Alana dashing around trying to avoid ending up in Will’s position, so the warning got through.

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[chanoyu-to-wa]

Rikyū Chanoyu Sho, Book 6 (Part 4):  Rikyū’s Hyaku-kai Ki, (1590) Ninth Month, 13th Day; Morning.  The Kuchi-kiri Chakai.

4) Ninth Month, 13th Day; Morning [九月十三日朝].  Kuchi-kiri [口切]¹.

￮ Guest:  Toyotomi Hideyoshi².

￮ 4.5-mat [room]³.

￮ Shi-hō-gama [四方釜]⁴; ◦ Seto mizusashi [瀬戸水指]⁵; ◦ akeido-temmoku [あけいど天目]⁶; ◦ ori-tame [おりため]⁷; ◦ (shi-ho-bon) katatsuki Enza [(四方盆) 肩衝圓座]⁸; ◦ Hashi-tate [はしたて]⁹; ◦ Seto mizu-koboshi [瀬戸水こほし]¹⁰; ◦ take-wa [竹わ]¹¹.

￮ Zen-bu [膳部]: ◦ namasu (unagi) [鱠 (うなき)], soup (nattō [なつとう]), rice¹².

￮ Second [zen]¹³: ◦ ae-mono [あへ物], soup (shige [鴫]), yaki-mono (tai) [焼物 (たい)]¹⁴.

￮ Kashi:  zakuro [さくろ], yaki-guri [やきぐり], kawa-take [川茸]¹⁵.

￮ 2-mat room [二疊敷]¹⁶.

￮ Unryū-no-kama [雲龍之釜]¹��; ◦ wake-mono mizusashi [〇け物水指]¹⁸; ◦ ori-tame [おりため]¹⁹; ◦ Tsutsui no ido-chawan [筒井ノいど茶碗]²⁰; ◦ chaire:  ko-natsume [茶入・小なつめ]²¹.

At the same [gathering], [the kaiseki was served] in the large room, [at] midday [同・廣間にて、昼]²².

￮ Kane ni damu [金にだむ]:  yaki-miso [やきみそ]; oke [桶]²³.

￮ Kō-no-mono [かうの物]; mizu-ae [水あへ]; o-yu-tsuke [御湯漬]²⁴.

Second [zen]: ◦ unagi [うなぎ], kamaboko [かまほこ], soup (atsume [あつめ])²⁵.

￮ Kashi:  senbei [せんへい], kineri-kaki [木練柿], usukawa [うすかハ], fu [ふ]²⁶.

_________________________

◎ We are fortunate that most of the utensils that Rikyū used during this gathering have survived, so we can get a very good idea of his intentions at what turned out to be his final kuchi-kiri chakai.

¹Kuchi-kiri [口切].

    Kuchi-kiri -- the opening of a new jar of tea -- was always an important occasion, since the contents of each jar of tea were different (often featuring the produce of different gardens, even when the jars were packed by a middle man, who blended the teas for consistency); but the chakai that was held in honor of the opening of the first jar of new tea for that year (the tea that was packed at the beginning of the previous summer), was the most important gathering of the year.

    That Rikyū performed the kuchi-kiri exclusively for Hideyoshi, is a significant indicator of the intimacy between these two men -- even as it was poignantly also the occasion of Rikyū's final kuchi-kiri, little more than 6 months before his seppuku, which he suffered on the orders of the same man.  Sharing this experience with Hideyoshi surely brought great pleasure to both men.

    The reason why the kuchi-kiri was celebrated on the 13th day of the Ninth Lunar Month of this year is because, since the following year included an intercalated month, the seasons had advanced forward of the calendar.  In fact, it is only in the middle of each six year cycle that the seasons actually correlate with the months of the year -- at the beginning of the cycle, the months are a little early, and at the end, they are several weeks late.  Since the timing for opening the irori was decided not by the calendar, but by the seasons*, the ro was used when needed, and the kuchi-kiri performed when the season had advanced to the point where the contents of the jar of leaf tea would not suffer significant degradation (as a consequence of temperature) when the jar was opened.  The kuchi-kiri was performed in early winter, according to the seasons. __________ *The ro is opened either when the fruit of the yuzu [���子] (the citron, Citrus junos) begins to yellow (this tree is common in both Korea and the western half of Japan); or, in regions where the citron can not be grown, when white chrysanthemums begin to blush pink (both phenomena are the result of the same forces of nature).

    The ro is closed, and the furo brought out, when the buds of the hana-suou [花蘇芳] (the oriental red-bud tree, Cercis chinensis) turn from a deep mahogany-purple to a magenta tinged with orange (the change happens as the buds swell, prior to opening, and occurs over a period of two days at most, thus being a good indicator).  Contrary to the way things are done in Japan today, this change occurs in late March or the beginning of April, usually up to several weeks before the cherry trees begin to bloom.

    In Rikyū's day, the ro was used for roughly four and a half months, while the furo was used for a little over seven months.  This is why the feelings for the ro were so intense -- its season was short.

²Kyaku ・ o-nari [客 ・ 御成].

    O-nari [御成] means a visit from ones lord.

    It was customary to avoid writing the name of ones superior unless it could not be avoided.

³Yojō-han [四疊半].

    This was the 4.5-mat room in Rikyū’s official residence within Hideyoshi’s Juraku-tei complex in Kyōto.

    The dōko in this room was an ordinary dōko-dana [洞庫棚], not a mizuya-dōko [水屋洞庫] as in the Mozuno ko-yashiki.  To use this kind of dōko the host enters the room and greets the shōkyaku (as usual in Rikyū's style of chanoyu -- this was done both at the beginning of the sho-za, and at the beginning of the go-za).  Then he would turn toward the dōko and slide the door open, and so remove the things that were not already present on the utensil mat (usually the chawan, and the koboshi and futaoki).

    At the end of the temae, the chawan and koboshi were returned to the dōko; and, after the guests were finished with haiken, the chaire, chashaku, and shifuku were placed in the dōko, too, and it was closed.  None of the temae utensils were carried in and out through the katte-guchi.

    The rule was that the guests were not allowed to open the dōko to look at what was inside.  This is the primary difference between the dōko and the ji-fukuro of the fukuro-dana (which was the precedent upon which the dōko was based).

⁴Shi-hō-gama [四方釜].

    Rikyū’s square kama.  It had recently been made for him by his kama-shi Yojirō.

    This kama has permanently attached kan, which were left upturned after it was lowered into the ro.

⁵Seto mizusashi [瀬戸水指].

    Mizusashi of this type began to appear during Jōō‘s period, and usually hold 6 mizuya-bishaku of water.  They were originally scaled for use on the fukuro-dana.

⁶Akeido-temmoku [あけいど天目].

    The name is problematic, and most likely was, in part, a mistake*.  The designation ake-temmoku [朱天目] would mean a variety of nogime-temmoku [禾目天目] that has a significant amount of rust-reddish coloring† around the mouth.

    The temmoku that was owned by Rikyū during this period in his life was the bowl, shown above, that is usually (and rather simply) called the Seto-temmoku [瀬戸天目] today -- which, notably, has a lot of reddish color around the mouth (much more, indeed, than any other bowl of the type that I have ever seen).  This temmoku-chawan bears Rikyū's kaō on the foot, written in lacquer, suggesting that he had strongly proprietary feelings about this bowl‡.

    While it is said today that this temmoku was fired at the Seto kilns in Mino, it is not clear that Rikyu subscribed to this idea; because he used it when serving Hideyoshi, he may have believed that this was a Chinese temmoku-chawan. __________ *Rikyū, thinking of the chawan that he was going to use during the second temae (the Tsutsui ido [筒井井戸]) wrote the word ido.  He was guilty of similar errors on more than one occasion in his various writings.

    There was no such thing as an “ido-temmoku” (though some Japanese commentators suggest that Rikyū put a small ido-chawan on a temmoku-dai and used that to serve Hideyoshi), and an ido-chawan would never have been used in this way by him.

    Looking at the gathering as a whole, we see that Rikyū used his temmoku-chawan, along with other utensils suggestive of chanoyu in the earlier period, to serve the first kind of koicha (hatsu-no-mukashi [初の昔]) to Hideyoshi in his 4.5 mat room; then he uses the Tsutsui ido-chawan -- which had originally been Shukō's own ido-chawan -- and a suite of simpler, more rustic utensils that expressed his own sense of wabi, to serve the second variety of koicha (ato-no-mukashi [後の昔]) to Hideyoshi in the 2-mat room with mukō-ro later in the gathering.  (Shukō's ido-chawan was noticeably smaller than the bowls preferred by Jōō; and the two-mat room with mukō-ro also harps back to the style of room that Shukō used when serving tea intimately).

†The kanji shu [朱] -- which can also be pronounced ake, as here -- means an orange-red or rust-red color.

‡Rikyū, as per the customs of the day, wrote his kaō on those objects that he considered indispensably to be part of his collection.

    Writing the kaō on utensils to show favoritism, or increase their value -- the concept of the konomi-mono [好物] -- was a practice that did not appear until the Edo period.  In Rikyū's day, the primary reason for doing so was to discourage theft (since the object could be identified immediately from the kaō if it was taken out of the owner's residence), and only objects that the owner never expected to part with would be so marked.

⁷Ori-tame [おりため].

    A chashaku similar to the Namida [泪] chashaku, since this chashaku was made for use with the Rikyu Enza [利休圓座] chaire when it was used on the Haneda tray shown below.

⁸(Shi-ho-bon) katatsuki Enza [(四方盆) 肩衝圓座].

    Rikyū seems to have mixed up the name (perhaps after his mistake with the temmoku).  This refers to the meibutsu Enza-katatsuki [圓座肩衝]* which Hideyoshi presented to Rikyū.

    The tray was the one that Rikyū had made for the chaire, modeled on the Haneda-bon that Haneda Gorō had designed for Ashikaga Yoshimasa†. __________ *This is the chaire now known as the Rikyū enza [利休圓座].

†Haneda Gorō's original trays in this style were nagabon.  However, Jōō had the chaire-bon that he ordered from the Matsuya house based on this model, and Rikyū followed his example.

⁹Hashi-tate [はしたて].

    This line refers to the meibutsu cha-tsubo named Hashi-tate [橋立].  However, while the jar shown below -- and which was (also) owned by Rikyū -- is known by this name, it is certainly not the jar that Rikyū displayed during this gathering.

    It seems that people like Rikyū, who frequently were called upon to serve tea in several different places, would pair their large meibutsu cha-tsubo with a sort of smaller companion jar into which a certain amount of the tea was transferred, for transport to the other location (while the meibutsu jar could remain safely at home).  In this case, the meibutsu jar was known as the hon-tsubo [本壺], while the smaller jar was called the watashi-tsubo [渡し壺] -- which means the jar into which the host transferred some of the tea (from the large jar).

    In a letter written by Sen-no-Sōtan (already mentioned in footnote 10 in the previous post), in which he discussed certain of Rikyū’s utensils, Sōtan wrote “cha-tsubo ha Hashi-tate, kita-guni ni te yake-sōrō” [茶壺ハはしたて、北國にてやけ候], which means “with respect to the cha-tsubo [known as] Hashi-tate, it was destroyed in a fire in the north country.”  Thus, the jar now known as Hashi-tate (above) can only be the watashi-tsubo*.

    Only the hon-tsubo was usually displayed during a gathering (since the other, smaller, jar was a piece of mizuya equipment).  Furthermore, the long cords could only be tied on the large jars. __________ *According to the Yamanoue Sōji Ki [山上宗二記], Sōji reports that, with regard to the Hashi-tate cha-tsubo “(cha) nana-kin iru tsubo nari” [七斤入壺也].  One kin [斤] was approximately 600 grams, so 7 kin would have been 4.2 kilograms.  Jars capable of holding this amount of tea are between 33 and 36 cm tall; but the jar shown in the photo, above, is just over 23 cm tall.  This is a second proof that the jar now known as Hashi-tate is not the meibutsu cha-tsubo owned by Rikyū.

¹⁰Seto mizu-koboshi [瀬戸水こほし].

    The piece known as Ō-wakizashi [大脇指] today.

¹¹Take-wa [竹わ].

    A hikkiri [引切] (to use the term preferred by the samurai-chajin), a bamboo futaoki.

¹²Namasu (unagi), shiru (nattō), meshi [鱠 (うなき)、汁 (なつとう)、めし].

    Unagi [鰻] is the freshwater eel.  Rikyū seems to have served unagi two times in this gathering (if the version in the Rikyū Chanoyu Sho is accurate).  During the second part of the gathering*, the unagi was probably served as kaba-yaki†, so during this earlier session, it was probably offered to Hideyoshi as what is now called unakyū [うなきゅう] -- raw eel with cucumbers.

    Nattō [納豆] is fermented soybeans.  It would have been served in miso-shiru, traditionally together with soft tōfu, aburage [油揚]‡, and seasonal vegetables. __________ *Rikyū included two cha-seki during this extended gathering, each consisting of sumi-temae, kaiseki, kashi, and then the service of koicha followed by usucha.  This was apparently done because the cha-tsubo typically contains two kinds of koicha.

†Kaba-yaki [蒲焼] is skewered eel roasted over charcoal, with a thick sweet soy-based sauce.

‡Fried tōfu.

¹³Ni [二].

    This means "the second" -- in other words, the second zen.  (At formal banquets, rather than passing food around in bowls, with each guest helping himself, his portions of the various dishes were arranged on a series of zen, each of which held one course.  And though Rikyū reduces the number of items to that typically served at tea gatherings in his day, he is still maintaining the tradition of arranging them on separate zen, as a sign of respect.)

¹⁴Ae-mono, shiru (shigi), yaki-mono (tai) [あへ物、汁 (鴫)、焼物 (たい)].

    Ae-mono [和え物] means some sort of vegetable (or sometimes fish) that is dressed with a sauce (usually a miso- or shōyu-based dressing).  Rikyū does not describe this dish further, so we can not know what it was made of.

    Shigi [鴫] is the snipe, a shore-bird (a sort of sandpiper).

    This kind of bird would have been taken with hawks.  The soup would have been prepared by boiling the bones and flesh, with some of the meat formed into dango [團子] (Japanese-style meatballs) that were served in the soup together with vegetables, as a sort of ni-mono course.

    Tai [鯛] is the sea bream.  Because Kyōto is too far from the ocean for fresh seafood, the bream were probably packed in salt for transport to the city.  Thus, the best way to serve it would be grilled over a charcoal fire.  This was served as the yaki-mono course.

¹⁵Kashi ・ zakuro, yaki-guri, kawa-take [菓子 ・ さくろ、やきぐり、川茸].

    Zakuro [柘榴] is the pomegranate.

    Yaki-guri [焼き栗] are roast chestnuts.

    Kawa-take [川茸] is a kind of freshwater seaweed that grows in flowing water.  It can be eaten raw (sometimes with vinegar), as seen below, or it can also be cooked.

    In the present day it is sold dried, but I do not believe it can be eaten in this way (the way dried kelp is, for example).

    There is no indication how it was served on this occasion.

¹⁶2-mat room [二疊敷].

    This was the same two-mat room that was illustrated in the previous post (see footnote 5 in that post).

¹⁷Unryū-no-kama [雲龍之釜].

     The small unryū-gama (left) was suspended on a bamboo jizai over the ro, using a bronze* tsuru [弦] (right, above) and kan [鐶] (right, below)  Because of its small size, the gotoku was usually arranged in the ro (so the ro would not look so empty), even though this kama itself is too small to rest on the gotoku† (the kama actually fits between its legs).

    While Rikyū originally suspended this kama so that its mouth was 6- or 7-bu above the height of the ro-buchi‡.  But Furuta Sōshitsu remonstrated with him that this caused the host unnecessary bother; and that, because the kama does not have a shoulder in any case**, it could be just as easily oriented below the level of the ro-buchi as above.  After considering his point carefully, Rikyū agreed, and thereafter began to suspend the small unryū-gama in the ro so that its mouth was below the level of the ro-buchi, and so closer to the fire (making special charcoal unnecessary).

    When the small unryū-gama is hung in this way, the hishaku is rested on top of its mouth, just as if it were an uba-guchi kama.

    This was the same kama (the second small unryū-gama that Rikyū had ordered from Yoshirō), with matsu-kasa kantsuki [松かさ鐶付].

   The temae itself is basically the same as when the furo is used:  

- The mizusashi is opened at the beginning of the temae (before the kama is opened to begin warming and rinsing the chawan)††, and 2-hishaku of cold water are added immediately, followed by a yu-gaeshi; then, after pouring hot water into the chawan for the (first) chasen-tōshi, two more hishaku of cold water are added to the kama, yu-gaeshi is again performed, and then the kama is closed.  After putting the hishaku down on the futaoki, the mizusashi is also closed.

- However, because this is the ro temae, the mizusashi is not opened before adding hot water to the matcha in the chawan to make koicha:  the mizusashi remains closed until the chawan will be cleaned (after the host drinks the cha-no-ato‡‡, when the chawan is returned after the guests have drunk the koicha).

- After drinking the cha-no-ato, the host puts the chawan down on the mat in front of his knees.  Then he moves the chakin onto the lid of the kama (except when he is using a kiji-tsurube, which makes this action unnecessary at this point in the temae), and adds one (or two, if necessary) hishaku of cold water to the kama, followed by a yu-gaeshi.

- After cleaning the chawan with the right thumb, the chawan is rinsed twice with hot water, and then two hishaku of cold water are added to the kama to replace that which was used (and also lost to evaporation).

- The host then continues the temae as usual, adding two hishaku of cold water to the kama after each step in the temae.

- When it is time for the final chasen-tōshi, a hishaku of cold water is dipped from the mizusashi and half is poured into the chawan; the rest is poured into the kama.  Then the host performs the chasen-tōshi as usual, discards the water, and drys the chawan with the chakin.

    After wringing out the chakin, it is placed in the chawan as it is and without refolding it, and the chasen is rested on top (tines pointing downward).

    Then the host cleans the chashaku and chaire, as usual.

- Finally, after placing the chaire and chawan in front of the mizusashi, as usual, the host picks up the hishaku.  However, he does not add any more cold water to the kama.  Rather, he dips a hishaku of hot water from the kama (or two, if the water level in the kama is high***), and pours it into the koboshi.  Then he closes the kama, and then the mizusashi.

    The rest is the same as usual. __________ *Or brass.  The two metals represent different mixtures of copper and tin and/or zinc.  Because neither bronze nor brass were being produced in Japan at this time, the terminology was not clear.

    Consequently, all such alloys are described as bronze (karakane [から金] -- which actually means “foreign metal”), since they have a similar yellowish-brown color (until they oxidize), with the sole exception being the Korean bronze that contains a certain amount of silver (this metal was called sawari [四分一] -- the name “one part of four” referring to the silver content, in other words it was karakane with a silver content of up to 25%, the silver keeping the bronze from turning green -- which the Koreans feared as poisonous).

†Usually, the ro was set up at dawn, as always, with an ordinary ro-kama.  Then, just shortly before the arrival of the guests, the larger kama was removed and replaced by the small unryū-gama (filled with cold water); the kama begins to boil in about 15 minutes, and so just prior to the entrance of the guests into the room.

‡This required the host to prepare special, extra-long, charcoal that would reach the bottom of the small kama.

**The way the kama was arranged in the ro originally depended on the height of the mouth relative to the shoulder.  When the mouth was higher than the shoulder, the kama was placed so that the mouth was 6- or 7-bu above the top of the ro-buchi (below, left); but when the mouth was lower (i.e., in the case of an uba-guchi kama [姥口釜]), the kama was arranged so that the mouth was 6- or 7-bu lower than the ro-buchi (right).

    This was because of the way the hishaku was rested on the kama, the two cases being illustrated above.  It will be noted that the height of the hishaku is always the same in either case.

††If the mizusashi is anything but a kiji-tsurube (such as the Shigaraki mizusashi that Rikyū was using on this occasion), the host has to wait -- leaving the chakin in the chawan -- and open the kama first, then resting the hishaku on the kama.  Next the chakin is placed on the lid of the kama, the lid of the mizusashi is wiped with the fukusa (if it is lacquered), and the mizusashi is opened.

    When it is time to close the kama, the mizusashi has to be closed first, then (after wiping the lid with the fukusa, if it is lacquered) the chakin is moved to its lid.  Then the kama is closed, and the hishaku rested on the futaoki.

‡‡When the chawan is returned, the host opens the kama, performs a yu-gaeshi, and then takes a hishaku-full of hot water from the kama.  A little (maybe a quarter hishaku-full) is poured into the chawan, and the rest of the hot water is returned to the kama.

    The host picks up the chasen and whisks the cha-no-ato and hot water into a thin usucha, which he then drinks (according to Rikyū, it is offensive not to do this; and it is also wrong to give the cha-no-ato to the guests to drink -- even if they mistakenly ask for it).  After drinking, he places the chawan down on the mat in front of his knees again.

***Because the host has been adding cold water throughout the temae, rather than decreasing (as in the case of an ordinary kama), the level actually increases slightly each time (this is why the kantsuki on the small unryū-gama are lower than usual -- when first placed in the ro, the water level should be just at the bottom of the kantsuki).  Thus, to prevent the kama from boiling over when it heats (the lid remains closed until the host returns to collect the chaire, chashaku, and shifuku after haiken, and the kama usually returns to a full boil during this time), water is removed until the surface is again at the bottom of the kantsuki.

¹⁸Wake-mono mizusashi [〇け物水指].

¹⁹Ori-tame [おりため].

    This chashaku would have had a noticeable bend in the handle at the node -- such as seen on the Yugami [ゆがみ] chashaku (above) -- since it would sit on top of the natsume that was used as the chaire.

²⁰Tsutsui no ido-chawan [筒井ノいど茶碗].

    The Tsutsui-ido [筒井 々 戸] was in fact the original ido-chawan, brought to Japan by Shukō in the fifteenth century, and treasured by him.  It was known as the Tsutsui-chawan [筒井茶碗] or the Tsutsui-ido-chawan [筒井々戸茶碗] because the bowl had been recently in the possession of Tsutsui Jūnkei [井筒順慶; 1549 ~ 1584] -- who presented it to Toyotomi Hideyoshi sometime after the Battle of Yamazaki*.

    This bowl, then, was in a very real sense the ultimate wabi-chawan, and nothing less would do for the present gathering.

    The Tsutsui-chawan was in Hideyoshi's collection at the time of this chakai, but that did not mean that Rikyū could not use it -- since he was Hideyoshi's sadō [茶頭], and naturally had access to the utensils (and the only guest at this gathering was Hideyoshi himself).  Also, the fact that the chawan belonged to Hideyoshi did not mean that he would not enjoy the chance to drink from it (Hideyoshi used this chawan when serving tea with his own hands in the Yamazato-maru in his Ōsaka castle).

    It is not clear exactly when this chawan was broken (and then repaired with lacquer -- the kintsugi [金継ぎ], however, was added in the Edo period, at a time when it was repaired again), but since Hideyoshi refused to use it after that (he considered the repair work contaminated the bowl, even though only lacquer was used on that occasion), it appears that the damage was not done until after this occasion (and probably not until sometime after Rikyū's death). __________ *Jūnkei had refused to be drawn into a battle that was so charged with the internal politics of the nation (probably fearful that, if he backed the wrong side in this dispute, he could ruin himself and his house); and after its resolution, he offered this precious chawan to Hideyoshi as a token of his neglect.

²¹Chaire ・ ko-natsume [茶入・小なつめ].

    Rikyū probably served Hideyoshi a second variety of koicha, followed by usucha.

    Traditionally the cha-tsubo contained two kinds of koicha:  hatsu-no-mukashi koicha [初の昔濃茶] and ato-no-mukashi koicha [後の昔濃茶].  By serving each kind of koicha in a different temae (separated by a meal), Rikyū was able to insure that both kinds of koicha were absolutely fresh (the first kind being ground from the time that the cha-tsubo was cut open, during the kaiseki; and the second kind could then be ground during the first temae and subsequent meal).  This was a wonderful way to celebrate the kuchi-kiri.

    Though not mentioned, the futaoki would have been a take-wa, and the koboshi was probably a mentsū (since reusing the earlier ceramic koboshi might seem unclean).  It was not really necessary to include these things since:  

- 1) they are unimportant (the mentsū was used only one time, and anything made of unpainted wood or bamboo -- such as the take-wa, and even the bamboo chashaku -- was replaced as soon as it started to look dirty); and,

- 2) the kaiki was made for Rikyū's own reference, and never intended for extramural study, circulation among others, or publication.

²²Onaji ・ hiroma ni te, hiru [同・廣間にて、昼].

    In Rikyū's official residence in Hideyoshi's complex in Kyōto, the 2-mat room adjoined the 18-mat reception room, with a 2-mat jō-dan [上段] that also functioned as the tokonoma.  

    After witnessing the sumi-temae in the 2-mat room, Hideyoshi would have exited through the katte-guchi (= sadō-guchi), passed through the katte, and so entered the shoin for the meal*.  He would have returned to the 2-mat room for koicha and usucha.

    Note that the lineal way in which the kaiki was published is confusing†.   The food was offered to Hideyoshi after the sumi-temae, while the kama was heating‡.  Because he had eaten previously, this food service was kept as light as possible. __________ *Doing so allowed Hideyoshi to eat in peace, without feeling pressure to finish his meal quickly because the small kama was beginning to boil.

†In Rikyū's original, the menu for the kaiseki was written at the bottom of the page, below the listing of utensils, only because this information could not be added until later.

    The evidence for the presumed reason for employing this style of composition (where the kaiki is largely a planner, rather than an after-the-fact record) is admittedly anecdotal (primarily, the occasional discrepancies between the details of Rikyū's kaiki, regarding the utensils used, and the records made by guests who had actually attended the gathering -- where Rikyū's kaiki indicates that he was planning to use a special chaire, but the guests note that he used an ordinary natsume) Rikyū probably entered the initial information, regarding the guests, the room, and the utensils, several to many days before the fact (this would be necessary, since it appears that he stored his special utensils at his residence in Sakai -- to which the Japanese authorities still had no access without special permission -- and sending for them would, in many cases, need several days before they came into his hands).

    But the menu could not be decided upon until the day of the gathering -- since, especially when in residence at one of Hideyoshi's compounds (in Kyōto or Ōsaka), the menu could be subject to change at the last moment (as, for example, when the hawkers returned with the day’s catch), or (in an age without refrigeration) this or that vegetable was found to be unsuitable, or had just became available (mushrooms can spring up over night, and the preference was always for using something at the very beginning of its season).

‡In the case of the small unryū-gama, after the kama is lifted out of the ro, it is carried out to the mizuya and emptied, cleaned, and then refilled with cold water.       The reason for doing so is because this cold kama takes only 15 ~ 20 minutes to come to a boil, thus giving the guest time to finish eating -- before the sound of the kama coming to a boil signals the time for him to leave the room for the naka-dachi.  It also allows the host to serve koicha using water that is as pure and fresh (and free from contamination by the taste of iron) as is physically possible.

²³Kane ni damu ・ yaki-miso; oke [金にだむ ・ やきみそ、桶].

    This passage is unclear as it was printed.

    Kane ni damu ・ yaki-miso [金にだむ ・ やきみそ].  This statement is garbled, and probably was intended to read kane ni dasu ・ yaki-miso [金にだす ・ やきみそ], which would mean "brought out in a metal (nabe), yaki-miso."  This is the miso-shiru.

    Because Hideyoshi had already eaten earlier in the gathering, Rikyū could have no way of knowing how hungry he might have been.  Therefore, at this second kaiseki (as it were), he is offering the soup and rice in serving vessels, so that Hideyoshi could help himself and take as much (or as little) as he wished.  Even given his exalted position, where leaving something uneaten could hardly be taken as an offense against the host, Hideyoshi was still deeply imbued with the teachings of chanoyu, and would have felt uncomfortable leaving something.  Therefore, by serving the soup in an iron nabe (and the rice in a lacquered meshi-oke [飯桶]) Rikyū could be certain not to offend Hideyoshi's sense of propriety.

    Oke [桶]:  this means a lacquered meshi-oke [飯桶] -- what is usually called a han-ki [飯器] today.

²⁴Kō-no-mono, mizu-ae  ・ o-yu-tsuke [かうの物、水あへ ・ 御湯漬].

    Kō-no-mono [香の物]:  tsuke-mono.  They would have been brought out separately in a bowl.

    Mizu-ae [水和え] means various dried fish (sardines/anchovies, fingerling eels, squid, sea-cucumbers, and so on) and vegetables (dried melon, daikon, various kinds of mushrooms and tree-fungi, and the like) soaked in water to soften them, and then sliced.  This mixture was then dressed with iri-zake [煎り酒]* and rice-vinegar, producing a sort of salad.

    O-yu-tsuke [お湯漬け] was the sixteenth century's equivalent to the modern-day o-cha-tsuke [お茶漬け].  In that case, however, hot water (rather than steeped green tea† or genmai-cha‡) was used. __________

*Iri-zake [煎り酒] was a popular condiment and flavoring in Rikyu’s period.  Old sake (that is, sake remaining in the keg that was no longer suitable for use as a beverage) was boiled down with kelp, katsuo-bushi, and ume-boshi.  The resulting liquid was clarified (by decanting it through a layer of sarashi), and used either as a flavoring agent (for soups and the like), or as a dressing or dipping sauce, as here.

†Sencha [煎茶], steeped green tea, had only begun to appear in the early sixteenth century (apparently in Korea first, as a result of the tea mills and steaming equipment having been destroyed during the suppression of Buddhism during the second half of the previous century), and was by no means a common beverage, and certainly not with a meal (this did not occur until the Edo period).  Thus, when one wished to make a sort of gruel from ones rice, hot water (rather than steeped tea) was used.

‡Genmai-cha [玄米茶], where low-quality green tea is mixed with parched brown rice, appeared even more recently.

²⁵Unagi, kamaboko, soup (atsume) [うなぎ かまほこ 汁 (あつめ)].

    Unagi [鰻] is a freshwater eel.  It was grilled over charcoal on skewers, with a sweet soy-based sauce:  this way of preparing unagi is called kaba-yaki [蒲焼].

    Kamaboko [蒲鉾] is a sort of steamed fish-paste (made from various white-fleshed fish).  It is often shaped and colored fancifully.  And while it is frequently served in soups, here it was probably offered on a dish -- perhaps several smaller pieces skewered on a small bamboo spit.

    As for the soup, atsume [集め] means something like a mish-mash -- a mixture of the various meats and vegetables that had been served previously -- cooked in a clear broth.

    These are all light foods (the first two were often served in picnic boxes), that can be eaten quickly -- since time was limited (due to the speed with which the small unryū-gama comes to a boil).

²⁶Kashi ・ senbei, kineri-kaki, usukawa, fu [菓子 ・ せんへい、木練柿、うすかハ、ふ].

    Senbei [煎餅] are rice crackers.

    Kineri-kake [木練柿] means persimmon that has ripened on the tree (that is, fresh persimmon, not dried)*.

    Usukawa [薄皮] is a kind of manjū [饅頭] (a steamed kashi) with a very thin wheat-flour skin, filled with azuki-an.  This was probably procured from a specialty shop.

    Fu [ふ] in this case probably means fu-no-yaki [麩の焼], small crêpes filled with an.  Rikyū probably made these kashi by himself. __________ *This kind of persimmon was picked after the first frost had softened and sweetened the flesh of the fruit.

[hyperfashionist]

The Suits Are People, No. 191 S2E3 - Alana Bloom: “I have no romantic feelings for Will Graham” - DEPRECATED

THIS POST IS DEPRECATED. For a correct version, see 30 Day Challenge.

Alana’s footwear: normally, Alana wears black pumps, but look at the light reflecting off the shoe leather in the fifth photo. It looks brown or maroon to me. At her other major moment of clarity, in Ko No Mono, Alana is wearing blue shoes with her green-and-blue outfit. So I think it’s possible that her shoes in this scene look burgundy/maroon to me because they are burgundy/maroon.

$$ My footwear: maroon patent kitten-heel pumps, M&S.

Alana’s hosiery: none, or sheer tights.

$ My hosiery: fishnets, Pamela Mann.

$$$ Alana’s dress: Marc by Marc Jacobs ‘Minetta’ burgundy silk shirt dress, with long sleeves, waist tie and self-coloured polka dot print. Characteristically for Alana, it is just that bit too short for a professional situation. 

$$ My dress: Gap burgundy viscose shirt dress, sleeveless, with black pindots. We’ve seen red with black dots before, once on Freddie (when it made her look like a ladybug) and once on Beverly (it was sort of like a watermelon print). On my dress, the dots are much smaller and are not visible from a distance, and they make much the same impression as the dots on Alana’s dress, so I figured this would be OK as a match.

I realized later that the top button should be undone, but I didn’t bother taking another photo.

The important thing about these dots? They’re not connected. Am I overthinking it? Maybe. However, take another look at the outfit from Alana’s other great moment of clarity. The skirt has a chain print, and the chains are linked. 

$$$ Alana’s watch: Movado Museum Classic 601139 with gold band and black face (discontinued).

$ My bracelet: goldtone wrist chain with rounded painted black cross. 

$$$ Alana’s necklace: pavé starfish pendant. As noted by @ohlookacannibal, Alana’s necklace is by Effy.

$$ My necklace: gold-plated starfish pendant, My Jewellery Story via eBay.

Alana’s earrings: goldtone creole hoops, unknown brand.

$$ My earrings: gold-plated creole Alananearrings.

Alana also has a black coat draped over the back of her chair. Unknown brand.

$ My coat: black Tencel trench coat, Next via thrift store.

TV Ate My Wardrobe post

Back to previous Alana Bloom outfit

Forth to next Alana Bloom outfit

Back to The Suits Are People, No. 190

Forth to The Suits Are People, No. 192