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zombiegurlmode · 4 years ago

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Sad that Camren Shippers are to blame. But alas, scape goats are necessary for someone to thrive

I’m not done ranting apparently. Clearly, after all of my satirical nature has come to pass, truth of the matter is, for someone who spoke so openly and highly of valuing love and honesty and all that jazz. Your words cut deeper than any knife could. And for someone who openly “claims” of being a part of the LGBT+ community, (whereas the numbers are thriving so much that more letters are added and we’re almost about to fill in the entire alphabet) we have yet to receive such a backlash coming from “supposedly” one of us. Imagine the horror right? True, perhaps your words may have been misconstrued by the public at large or twisted in some form to suit everyone’s selfish needs. I mean after all, isn’t that what camren shippers are called for - delusional AF and toxic as hell. Well, we don’t deny it and couldn’t deny the fact that yes, there are plenty of us who are quite enthusiastic to a fault. Honestly, tell me in what space or bygone era have toxic people never appeared in. Truth of the matter is, it’s how you deal with things and toxicity that affect each and everyone of us. Happiness is only a matter of possessing the right attitude. And no one, not any one, can take that away from you. Not even hardships.

There are several things I would like to personally address though. Camren shippers most likely than not have in some way or the other connected with you. We all something that we could relate to, From your internalized phobia, or from you getting to finally openly admit your own sexuality and fully embracing it wonderfully, or some other things that the others felt truly connected or as you love to so put it “resonate” with you. So don’t blame your fans if they are passionate in expressing themselves because all humans have escapism in them. And to some, perhaps, this is the only means they have some semblance of control to freely express themselves openly. No one is undermining your hardship when you were outed, or that fact that you were bullied for it, or pressured to act in a certain acceptable way so you may be deemed as socially normal “acceptable” human being, whereas all you truly deserve was love and compassion. But I would like to remind you of one very fine detail. When you were outed, camren shippers were there to support you. Because they (wasn’t here yet when it happened so I can’t include myself) understood well above and beyond that what you encountered was so horrendous. You were cheated and robbed of that one pleasure and right given to every LGBT+ member to pride on - the true nature of coming out. See the thing is, the homophobes corrupted the words coming out so much that even as LGBT+ members sometimes forget the true existence of it. it’s not about public declaration or waving the flag, or marching in rainbows, or stamping a giant sign across your forehead declaring that you’re a proud, frolicking, fun-loving, women-loving lesbian (or in any way the others identify themselves as). No! Coming out and its true nature is simply coming to terms with yourself on your own pace and leisure. So truly I am sorry that you have been cheated out of this privilege. But it wouldn’t be fair for you to lump it together with your emotions and throw it at your brethren (if you even consider us as such). Perhaps, that is not your intention. Just to be clear, I am not invaliding how you’ve felt or how you’re feeling now. No one has the power to do that to someone else - I’m referring to telling others how to feel. Yet the message we perceived is quite clear. That we, as a collective known as Camren Shippers, who “supposedly” belong to the LGBT+ community (ok, maybe not all of us. that’s too presumptive on my part) and pride on understanding your own volitions caused this very volitions to surface or in your words “manifest” in you. We are the hindrances that robbed you of your chance to have a decent flirtation towards the same sex. Ironically speaking, Camren Shippers were the ones also on the forefront of defending your honor when some boy belonging to a particular boy band along with his bandmates ridiculed and degraded your feminine existence simply because they thought they were joking around. I mean aren’t jokes like that - it’s all fun and games until someone gets hurt. Jokes most often than not are made at the expense of others. Doesn’t make it any less right, but then again who are we to blame them for something they thought of as a joke. Let’s all face it people, we are all guilty of this act. And yet, the CS never did falter. Carrying their banners of delusions and brandishing their armors of grandeurs, all in the name sake of defending someone who is belittled for the sake of “fun and games”. Even after deliberately attacking the CS for their enthusiasm and calling it invasive, they were still there for you especially so when they saw how pressure started affecting you. They were always so attuned to you that they were the first to notice signs that you may possibly be queer or you may possibly be undergoing some form of inner conflict. They all wish you good health and as you put it in words “send their love to you” so you may never feel alone enduring all this pain. And now imagine the heartache that every shipper might or might not be going through right now. Because apparently, that same support that they have been sending you is perceived as pain and suffering from your end. How would you feel if the very thought that the love and adoration you have causes someone pain and insecurity? So far, all that you have discussed is the negativity that surrounds an apparent DEAD SHIP. Negativity? Sounds familiar right? You preach on it on numerous occasion. You even wrote a song 50FT. Maybe you should be the one to listen on your own attunement. You brought so much negativity on the topic whereas it was meant to be about your coming out. Again, sorry that you’re coming out seemed more like a burden than liberation for you. And again, I apologize that we are the reason behind it.

Just to clarify. We never undermined your suffering. We know all too well the pain that one undergoes in this journey called self discovery of one’s true sexuality. To be honest, those of us who fear coming out or being outed because of rejection, bullying, disowning, we are the lucky ones. There are some of us who undergo far more threats by simply accepting who they truly are. They fear for the safety of their family, they fear for their own safety, they fear the valid threats of rape and degradation and being treated as if you are worse than animals. There are those individuals where the very soil that they stood upon view homosexuality as ILLEGAL and violation of such law would yield severe punishments. So tell them, tell them that they don’t know the risks, the pains, the sufferings, the deteriorations of ones’ sanities, tell them that they don’t understand it because all they ever care about is Camren. Tell them that they’re only glimmer of hope on priding on someone that may have found what they yearn for is invalid. Tell them that living vicariously on your life brings so much distraught on your otherwise calm existence. Tell them that and they have been the first ones to apologize that you felt that way. Because I’ve read their posts and I’ve felt their pains. And we are sorry to cause you so much pain.

I will remind you. No one forced you to audition for xfactor in the pursuance of your dream. You even have the support of your family for your journey. And we are all grateful that you did. Otherwise, we may not even have bothered you so much. Otherwise, we may not even know that you existed. So let me remind you that the industry you belong to - spotlight is king. So don’t go complaining if your put under the it - that’s the point of the industry my dear, the limelight. I’m a purchaser, I can’t complain if my daily tasks comprise of purchasing goods. Otherwise, I have no business being a purchaser. I’m clearly in the wrong field if I felt that way. So it wouldn’t be fair to tell your fans (if you even consider us as such) to blame us for putting you under the spotlight. May I make a suggestion? Try holding a concert without the lights on next time. You do have sensitive eyes because of the lack of melanin in your eyes. We get that.

Also, you know Becky G never did mention about camren. You brought it up on your own. Just like you’ve given us “it’s camren yo!”. You did say and i quote (uh oh i’m sure going to butcher this. I failed in quoting people all the time) “i don’t really talk about it” and then preceded to have entire litany about camren and whatnot. Ok, I get it, it was part of your coming out process. Cool. Then you’ve touched upon how reading fanfics have ruined you. And made you feel like a predator. Firstly, camren fanfics are intended for shippers only. Like all mediums, they have their own specific intended audieces. For you to wander into uncharted terrains, you must have understood the risks it entails. I don’t know which ones you’ve read, but most fics from decent authors have disclaimer on them. Did you even bother reading the disclaimer? On the onset of something that made you feel awkward or uncomfortable or disturbing, you should’ve stopped on your own and never be bothered with it again. That’s the usual thing to do. If any human find something or someone repulsive, they would ceased to seek it. But it bothered you so much and made you feel like a predator then you’ve read the entirety of it (maybe i’m exaggerating, ok a good chuck of it, sounds better?) Well someone did tell me it could have been born out of curiosity. Yeah curiosity did kill the cat, you know? Unless of course you’re a masochist, then now I finally understand and I have nothing more to add.

So for my parting words, I would again extend my deepest, sincerest apology I could muster in my current sane state for being the cause and hindrance for your inner peace and wellbeing. I am not mocking you. This is just the nature I write. Troublesome, I know. But I’m being honest. If my being a fan of you, and shipping you in our own little niche, caused you so much pain and suffering then I respect your wishes. It would be foolish of me to continue pouring my support to you when all along I’m actually doing the opposite and harming you in the process. I mean what decent human being would like to inflict pain unto others. So in honor of my last words relating to your brand Lauren Jauregui or the very dead ship that apparently troubled you so much, I bid you the very best. May you flourish on your career and find inner peace and true happiness forever and always. I would not like to be a fan of any brand that I’m the apparent cause whether directly or indirectly impedes in attaining their endeavors. All the best in your album release and who knows maybe I’ll stumble upon your music again someday.

#lauren jauregui #camila cabello #camren

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lakelewisia · 3 years ago

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A Lewisian Year

Presented in partnership with the Lewisia Communications Board and Lewisia Public Library

Sponsored by The Historical Society

Hello, readers, listeners, and psychic osmosizers! Welcome to A Lewisian Year, a monthly showcase celebrating the rich culture here in the Lake Lewisia district. Each month, we'll highlight some seasonal events, local celebrations and interpretations of national and world holidays, and historical tidbits.

OCTOBER

Lights on the Lake

You don't know for sure what brought you out to the lake, this cool and misty Halloween night. There are so many bright delights to be enjoyed in town, more festive settings than this stretch of pebbled shore. The moon, already set and no more than a sickle anyway, would do little to illuminate anything more than the glassy surface of the lake nearest to you. Farther out, even that fades into a wall of fog. You just knew, somehow, you were supposed to be here. And you aren't the only one: other people assemble on the shore in uncertain silence. You all look out across the lake, wondering why you are here.

You don't have to wait long. Something appears in the fog out on the water. Just a patch of brightness that could be no more than a particularly thick clump of mist, if it weren't for the way it slowly approaches the shore. It bobs a little as it comes--something is floating toward you. Several somethings, you realize, as more lights emerge from the fog. Soon, a whole flotilla of lights can be made out. And now, by their collective glow, you can see how they are traveling to you.

Each light rides within a pumpkin, a little ship of hollowed squash. Tiny Jack-Be-Littles, great lumpen Knuckleheads, frosty blue Jarrahdales. The ghostly white of Cotton Candy, and the iconic roundness of Baby Bear. Some pumpkins carry but a single ethereal light, while others are crowded with a dozen. They drift in a wobbly, uneven way, suitable for a squash attempting to cross a lake, and yet they also approach so quickly, you have hardly had a chance to look along the length of their assemblage before they are nearly to the shore.

Already, with the pumpkins still several yards out, people have begun to stumble into the water. In the dark on either side of you, some give little cries of recognition as they lurch forward. Others splash out to meet their pumpkin, their lights, in silences grim or reverent. In time, you too will realize which little harvest ship is yours. You too will wade out into the water, heedless of soaked shoes and heavy pant legs. Because you understand, now, in the dark and the mist, what the lights are. You know how far they've come to be here tonight.

It is Halloween, and your beloved dead have come out to see you again. The pumpkins ferry their little soul lights from the misty underworlds and afterlives they inhabit, on this night when such visitations are possible. I will not hazard a guess as to who has come for you this year, nor speculate about what messages they might bring. No matter how many assemble on the lakeshore in a given year, we all meet the lights alone.

Search and Rescue

As you make your way back through town, you watch the more mundane joys of Halloween, in all their glittery, sugar-stuffed glory: trick-or-treaters. Even before the night itself, there are harvest events all month to draw out crowds. It's easy to get lost in such a crowd. Easy for a group to get smaller by one or two people without anyone noticing right away. Easy for someone to get lured away from the group and the safety of the path when there are so many delights to look at.

When that happens, someone has to track them down. Enter the Lewisia Search and Rescue Collective, a loose association of public servants, private trackers, and independently operating animal guides. Given the unusual terrain of the Lewisia area, both physical and ethereal, it takes more than just a sniffer dog and an unwashed shirt to track down a missing person. The LSRC can handle everything from underwater searches (trained kingfishers and a pair of selkie sisters) to dimensional rift retrievals (several retired time travelers and the single skinniest, most disreputable- and ancient-looking black cat I have ever seen). They even have multiple successful faerie abduction recoveries in their history, but they declined to give any details about whom of their associates had handled those cases.

October sees more mysterious disappearances than any other month of the year in the greater Lewisia region. The town's ability to draw in outsiders raises the statistics for seventeen counties beyond its immediate reach as well. (Your humble host has spent a lot of time looking at microfiche records of missing person reports in the last month. A lot.)

Of course, a missing person isn't always a bad thing; a mysterious disappearance isn't always an involuntary one. Whether it's down to October's metaphysical properties, the changeable fall weather, or just the prospect of facing the coming winter cooped up somewhere, or with someone, you hate, this is the time of year when people make their escapes. Plenty of fairy rings are approached with clear eyes, rather than blundered into. Sometimes maw-like eldritch portals swallow a person AND the suitcase they packed ahead of time. Sometimes, a missing person does not need or want to be found. After all, sometimes those missing people end up here in Lewisia.

Mating and Migration

While we're on the subject of local population fluctuations, I have a repeated and intense reminder from Dr. Ben Langston in the Biology department of the community college regarding mating and migrating creatures this autumn:

If you encounter a local animal, cryptid, ambulatory plant, or other apparently non-rational life form, and it seems like it really wants to eat, breed with, or flee from you or anything else in the immediate area? Strongly consider getting out of its way.

This time of the year, several of our local species leave on their yearly migration to warmer climates in the south. Tawny unicorns and scorched-beak falcons have both already left us. Snowy púki and glass bats will likely be seen headed along their usual paths bordering the Briarwood district. These habits are driven by seasonal changes both obvious and subtle, written into the genetics of creatures and taught from one generation to the next.

It is a drive stronger than your desire to cross a particular road just then. It is an impulse older than your ideas about private yards and landscaping. Let them pass.

All of which is nothing compared to the mating impulse in some creatures. I don't think I need to explicate the mortal danger faced by anyone who gets between a bull moose and his paramour. And while Old Tommy, the goblin crane who lives out by Stoneheart Manor, is generally friendly with the public, that dance he's doing for the next month is not for your benefit, and you should consider using an extremely long lens if you feel compelled to capture his moves on film.

If anything should decide that you are, in fact, the intended subject of their amorous attentions, it is recommended that you seek shelter indoors. Cars are not the deterrent you might hope, except in cases of relatively small unwelcome suitors. A sturdy door and/or high fence will offer more protection until their interest turns elsewhere.

Of course, if you decide you quite fancy one of the human-compatible creatures currently seeking mates, we won't stand in your way. Advice and resources for negotiating an interspecies relationship and parenting any resulting hybrid children can be found through the library's life skills programming.

This Month in History

October 17, 1937 saw the first public distribution of the newly developed vaccine against Custler's Influenza, also known as Gothic flu. Symptoms of Gothic flu include paleness, wasting away, light aversion, mysterious billowing winds centered around the afflicted, and a compulsion to find moorland and cliffs on which to wander. Though not directly fatal, the impulses caused by the disease frequently lead to misadventure. Several of Lewisia's older architectural wonders are thought to have begun as visions of designers suffering from undiagnosed cases of Gothic flu, as the disease is also known to cause obsessions with houses.

Efforts to explore a vaccine or even study the disease had been hindered for years by the tendency of any laboratory setting to go moderately weird within six months of introducing live virus samples to the space. Teams of sensible researchers were assembled based on testing for resistance to romantic notions and delusions of grandeur. Special ultramodern workspaces had to be built, including numerous south-facing windows to counteract the dark and withdrawn tendencies brought on by proximity to the virus. Thanks to their efforts, Gothic flu is now a rare, and rarely life-altering, affliction that seldom does more than cause a temporary flare for flowing poet's shirts and antique literature.

That's a taste of what October has to offer us. See you next month, when November replaces werewolves with regular wolves, donates an hour, and once again brings a covered dish.

#fiction #microfiction #magical realism #holidays #history #October #Lake Lewisia #demifiction #A Lewisian Year #bonus material

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sassyfrassboss · 4 years ago

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I have to say I dislike Harry as much as you guys and that he’s as bad as Meghan etc.

But I feel like Harry wants a quiet life or is paranoid so wants one where he’s left alone but with Meghan she wants attention and paparazzi all the time, she wants the drama and headlines. I think he’d have done his military stuff and Invictus along with his Africa stuff like usual but Meghan got to him and has obviously warped his mind and changed him drastically if even the likes of William can see a change in his brother after all his 2000/10s craziness.

Just look at how she forced him to make a statement when they were dating, nobody knew she was dating him and it’s apparently come out she was using Splash News to take pap shots so she could claim harassment and so on even staging breakins. Not to mention that the Splash News or Backgrid pics of her in Canada with an oddly shaped and placed Archie strapped haphazardly to her, were with her knowing exactly where the camera was and was smiling away. But when Harry returned from the Sandringham Summit it was announced they were suing?

Harry also made statements in around 2015 saying that he was better now since the death of Diana and that yes he suffered but he was better... now look at him on the issue. Not to mention that he was always close with the likes of Catherine and Eugenie, Sophie even.

Meghan is a textbook manipulator and abuser. I think she’s definitely bipolar and self medicates with medication/drugs & alcohol, and that she has narcissistic personality disorder as well with delusions of grandeur & paranoia with also anxiety disorder that connects up with an inferiority complex as well.

Harry I’d say suffered or suffers from depression and self medication as well. I wouldn’t say PTSD from his toy soldier days or even from the death of his mother. Perhaps the delusions of grandeur and importance due to how he’s been treated, how the Cambridges out of love treated him equal footing. I’d say Harry is suffering from an inferiority complex as well that Meghan has feasted on and perhaps even Stockholm Syndrome as well. Meghan is known to be verbally and physically violent, I wouldn’t put emotional or psychological abuse past her. I mean look at how drained and different Harry looks since being with her, and how better the likes of Corey & Trevor look since getting away from her.

Thank you for this!

I agree that while Harry had issues the begin with, Meghan picked up on them and exploited them to her benefit. Main reason we believe her to be a narcissist. I have dealt with one in my past. She picked up on her subject insecurities and with constant needling magnified those insecurities tenfold.

I have seen what people who suffer from PTSD and I agree with you that he doesn’t exhibit the signs, however, he may have issues after he makes his break from Meghan.

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userseokkie · 6 years ago

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In defense of Daenerys' spiral into madness

I see a lot of people upset and disappointed in Daenerys' ending last night not because they stan her blindly and want her to be the badass queen, but (rightfully) because they believe this sets a dangerous, mysoginystic precedent that teaches us no woman can be powerful or strive to be powerful without it blowing up in her face. It kind of reads as a cautionary tale that says women in places of absolute power, of agency and control, will eventually go insane because well, they're women. I have also read it interpreted as saying that the only possible ending for a woman who has been abused, raped, sold into slavery, and tossed to the side is for her to go insane. Because trauma damages the inherent worth of women, apparently.

these are all valid concerns, because d&d are not known for being the most capable writers and to be honest, this ending WAS tinged with mysoginy and poorly executed. but if these concerns are true for you, then yall should turn to Sansa Stark.

Sansa is the proof that this show doesn't always shit on women. If you really think in this show a woman that's been through hell and back is cursed by the writers to have a trauma porn ending, then look at Sansa and realize that SHE is the direct parallel to Daenerys, with a completely opposite outcome.

She has been traumatized

She has been abused

and married against her will

She has been beaten and sold off like cattle

she has been manipulated

She has been raped.

And yet, she has come out the other end a good person, a brilliant strategist and a dedicated Queen. She vows to always defend her people, and she has shown resilience at every turn of the story.

She hasn't come out unscathed, but she is proof women who are traumatized do not always become evil, or go insane or start abusing their power.

She has a lot of power, as Lady of Winterfell, as the last hope for the North, as the link with the Tullys of her family. She used to be a spoiled child who dreamt of becoming Queen, but now that she's seen what power can do to people she no longer wishes to be Queen for the sake of being Queen. She wants to be the leader of her House, and to protect the people that have pledged to defend her and her family because that's what a kind leader does. She's stared cruelty dead in the face and has chosen to respond "I will answer cruelty with mercy."

If that means becoming Queen, then so be it. She doesn't claim to be the leader all people want and cheer, she just wants to see justice be served and keep the North safe.

Want more examples of women not getting corrupted by their past? Take a look at Arya.

At Brienne

At Yara Greyjoy

All these, powerful women that have suffered at the expense of men and of other people who wish to see them fail. All with similar backgrounds to Daenerys'. And yet, they have not turned out to be mad. Because power IS corruptible, specially when it's the only end and the only mean you seek. Which is what Daenerys did.

But do not pretend that her ending was something made purely out of spite and hatred for powerful women, because it isn't. Daenerys had a lot of opportunities to turn the other way, to realize with great power such as the one the dragons gave her, you need to be held accountable and you need to be responsible for that power. D&D are not the great writers they believe by any means, and all the female characters have suffered at their expense because they do not know or do not care about how to write women. But not everything is black and white, and some of the most important and iconic characters in the show ARE women. Women who do not go fucking batshit crazy when things have not gone the way they planned.

So yeah, if you're angry about Daenerys' ending, that's valid and you are allowed to grieve the characters you love. But you need to face the truth and accept that not everything you don't agree with about a story comes from a place of bigotry or mysoginy. Daenerys was always going to end up like her father. Not because she's a woman with power, but because she only cared about the power her name brought her, and what that could get her. Delusions of grandeur always come at great expense. If you want to turn this mysoginystic views around, then support Sansa Stark, and support Arya and their ending, because they are strong women who will live to see the end of the game of thrones.

#got #game of thrones #anti dany stans #but not anti daenery/s bc being a villain is not a bad thing in literature #we need female villains and we need to have them be more fleshed out #sansa stark #arya stark #got meta #got s8

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mobius-prime · 5 years ago

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58. Special - Sonic and Knuckles Mecha Madness

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Mecha Madness

Writer: Michael Gallagher Pencils: Pat Spaziante Colors: Kyle Hunter

Oh boy, time to see what "Operation Last Resort" is! Turns out, it involves a portable roboticizer - the same one, in fact, that partially roboticized Bunnie all the way back in StH#3. Apparently they actually took it with them when they rescued Bunnie, and Sally's been having Rotor fix it up this whole time in case of such an emergency. It even has a built-in neuro-overrider to let the person inside keep… their… okay, hang on. I'm calling BS. You're telling me that this entire time they've had a portable roboticizer which functions normally, lets the person keep their mind, and as revealed later in the issue even comes with a reverse function that can deroboticize any 'bot that it's created? Can you say plot holes? First of all, since this is Bunnie's roboticizer, it should be the simplest matter ever to stick her in it and give her her organic body back. I guess you could fudge around and say, well, there's too many risks since her process was interrupted and whatnot, but the other problem comes with the fact that two different issues now have had this same drama about someone being roboticized and not having kept their normal mind. How different would literally the last issue have gone if Sally, in response to Sonic's request, had said "Well sure Sonic, we have a nearly-risk-free option right here in Knothole Village. With your consent we'll throw you in it and have Robotnik defeated and in prison by lunchtime"? There would be absolutely no risk of him losing his mind and becoming a slave of Robotnik's! Sure it would come with physical risks, but since when has Sonic ever balked at a risk of death or injury before?

Man, the only way we'll be able to get through this issue is if we just pretend there's no plot holes, so I'll stop my yapping and move on. Knuckles comes to, and after deliriously trying to punch several of the Freedom Fighters present Sally kicks him in the back, which makes him recognize her, because I guess she's the only one who's ever kicked him in the back like that. Healthy relationship, guys! They get a bit gaga over each other for a little while, reminiscing on their past together - apparently Sally's father used to vacation on the Floating Island when Knuckles' father was still guardian and before Robotnik's takeover. Really, this issue makes it seem like they have a residual crush on each other, with Sally in particular still being affected by it. Man, Sally, how many crushes can you have at once? I still insist she's polyamorous. Things would be so much easier for her if she could just date multiple people at once. After a bit more discussion, Sally tells him the plan, and apparently Knuckles just cannot wait to scoot his booty into the 'botmaker and get roboticized.

Everyone actually acts quite terrified by using this option, with Rotor even questioning Sally if this makes them "no better than Robotnik." While it's played for laughs with Sally's response of "Et tu, Rotor?" honestly all this makes me think is that these literal kids (none of them is over 18 at this point) are definitely traumatized by all the crap they've gone through in this war. For basically their entire lives, getting roboticized has been synonymous with psychological warfare and death, with only a handful of examples otherwise (such as Uncle Chuck and the people he rescued a few issues ago, but even then that's an incredibly recent occurrence). It's clear they're having a hard time getting over this association in their minds, apart from Sally, who's the pragmatist of the group, and Knuckles, who… well, has spent most of his time away from the war anyway, and thus doesn't have the same fear.

As all this is going on, Tails is the last to evacuate Knothole himself while Mecha Sonic lays waste to all its buildings, and as such is spotted and targeted. He tries to fly away to safety, but it's hopeless. He's still within reach of Mecha Sonic's blasters, and Mecha Sonic locks on… and…

…hesitates! Sonic, you still in there buddy? He seems to be fighting back somehow, even though Robotnik's apparently upgraded his roboticizers since Sally's old attempts to thwart them. Not a problem for Robotnik though, since he has nuclear bombs, apparently! Jeez, man, he's really serious about taking these guys out for good. After a little while, Mecha Knuckles emerges from the roboticizer, and engages Mecha Sonic in battle, conveniently right before Mecha Sonic can tell Robotnik the coordinates of Knothole. They duke it out midair for a little while, until Mecha Sonic eventually hits Mecha Knuckles hard enough to knock him back straight toward Robotropolis, on a direct course for wherever Robotnik stores his nuclear warheads. Mecha Knuckles, determined to take out Mecha Sonic no matter what, grabs him with a magnetic pull, and together, they hit the stockpile.

Oh, boy.

Everyone back home is in tears. Certainly, as confirmed by Nicole, there's no way they could have survived a nuclear blast like that, not even with upgraded robotic bodies. Sally has to take a few moments away from the group to hide her tears. It's pretty damn bleak.

So, turns out that the blast just straight up ripped a hole in the middle of Robotnik's city, vaporizing basically every building in its path and irradiating the crater. This is some serious damage. No mention of the fact that this probably just killed untold numbers of roboticized Mobians who were stuck inside that section of the city, however, because Robotnik then emerges from an underground shelter, straight into the radiation - how messed up is this guy, dude? He drinks motor oil like it's a nice glass of wine, never exercises, and already lives in a city made out of pollution, and now he can just walk right out into the site of a nuclear bomb explosion with no issue? Anyway, he then happens to find Mecha Sonic's mangled body, somehow still barely alive, though heavily malfunctioning. Oh, and Mecha Knuckles is alive, too, so Robotnik gets punched in the head.

Mecha Knuckles isn't doing so hot, but incredibly, he recounts how just before the impact Mecha Sonic switched their places so he would take most of the brunt of the blast instead. Mecha Knuckles heads back to the Freedom Fighters with Mecha Sonic in tow, to Sally's immense relief, and they get ready to deroboticize Knuckles.

Aww, poor Sonic. Literally, he thinks he doesn't deserve to be saved after what he did, despite it not even being his fault. That's some seriously heavy stuff for a fifteen year old, man. Of course, Sally isn't about to take that. Nicole is able to run some tests and confirm that somehow, back when Sonic collected his one billionth ring and went on that crazy drug trip with the Ancient Walkers, it gave him a magical protection around his "life force," which allowed him to keep some of his personality even while roboticized. I don't know how the hell all that is supposed to work, but essentially, she's certain she'll be able to use that life force protection to deroboticize him even without the help of any machinery, since all of Rotor's equipment was destroyed in the attack on Knothole.

Miraculously, it works, and after a few moments, Sonic is back to normal, although suffering from one hell of a migraine and unable to remember anything from his time as Mecha Sonic. At first everyone is quite happy to have him back, but then he sasses Knuckles right out of the roboticizer, who glides away in a huff, and from there things start to turn sour.

Yeah, you didn't think everyone forgot about his supposed disobedience of a direct order, did you? He's handcuffed and marched away in preparation for a court-martial, as he's now suspected of treason! Remember, from Sonic's point of view, this is all he remembers: got denied his proposition, walked away and passed out, woke up in very brief agony before everything going blank, and then woke up again on the floor with a migraine. He has no idea what has even happened these past two issues, and now he's suddenly being dragged away in cuffs. Can you imagine? This poor guy.

Don't Let the Island Hit You on the Way Down!

Writer: Kent Taylor Pencils: Harvey Mercadoocasio Colors: Kyle Hunter

Well, we couldn't have an epic issue like this without a couple of silly "nothing" stories following it, so time to see what the Chaotix were doing while Knuckles was away being a robot and everything. Turns out they're under attack from the "Fearsome Foursome," a random group of Mobians who are apparently just interested in kicking some ass. The Chaotix get slapped around for a little while before regrouping and fighting back.

It goes on for a weirdly long amount of time considering nothing even happens in this story until like, six pages in. All they do is punch each other around. Suddenly, a mysterious figure emerges onto the scene: Mammoth Mogul, a gigantic mammoth with delusions of grandeur. Apparently, he was actually born in prehistoric times, but a chance encounter with a Chaos Emerald granted him mysterious powers and immortality, and as such he declared himself ruler of Mobius while sitting on a throne wearing a loincloth that leaves almost nothing to the imagination. People eventually couldn't take his manspreading on the throne any longer and ousted him as their leader, and so he just bided his time for millennia until the modern day, where he assembled this really weird ragtag team and is now intending to take the Floating Island's Chaos Emerald for his own, since apparently there are absolutely no other Chaos Emeralds for him to choose from on the planet right now.

The Chaotix respond by punching him in the face in unison, and he immediately retreats, insisting he'll be back at a better time. He literally just jumps into a hovercar straight out of the punch and zooms away at top speed while essentially doing the stereotypical villain thing of shaking his fist and yelling "I'll be back, mark my words!" C'mon, man, you're apparently this immortal god-being from prehistoric times and four random dudes slapping you is enough to drive you back? What a wuss.

Eel of Fortune

Writer: Michael Gallagher Pencils: Dave Manak Colors: Kyle Hunter

This story pretty much only exists because Michael has overestimated how much people might care about the Forty Fathoms Freedom Fighters. P.B. Jellyfish encounters Octobot swimming at top speed and tries to stop and fight him, but turns out Octobot, no longer a big bad boss of the ocean, is himself running away from someone even more terrifying - Eel Capone! Yeah, this guy is basically just a big mob boss joke, even getting his own "hired mussel" (geddit? geddit?) to beat the crap out of P.B. His other friends in the F.F.F.F. find him unconscious, and Bottlenose decides to take things into his own hands by beating up Eel Capone in ninja getup, while simultaneously murdering all his lackeys! Wait, what?!

That is cold-blooded, man! No one even makes mention of the fact that Bottlenose just brutally killed like, a hundred sentient beings. They just drag Eel Capone off to "Aquatraz," and then sing a silly, pun-filled song about the battle. Guys, I can't stress this enough, but your friend is now a literal murderer. Just because he was dressed in a ninja disguise while he was doing the murdering doesn't make him any less of a killer. These weren't even roboticized mussels or anything, they were literally just some living individuals who made bad life decisions. What kind of a Freedom Fighter keeps the head honcho alive but murders all the lackeys who were just following orders? Jesus christ.

#nala reads archie sonic preboot #archie sonic #archie sonic preboot #sonic the hedgehog #special - sonic and knuckles mecha madness #era 2 the freedom fight #writer: michael gallagher #writer: kent taylor #pencils: pat spaziante #pencils: harvey mercadoocasio #pencils: dave manak #colors: kyle hunter

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carelessgraces · 5 years ago

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@potterstillstinks said: 💏

FIFTY WAYS TO KISS SOMEONE ( ACCEPTING )

36. ...to give up control

"If you’re here for me to fulfill my husbandly duties,” Draco says lazily, tiredly, “you’re out of luck. I’ve been informed that I mustn’t exert myself, to avoid reopening my wounds."

And Astoria laughs, closes the door gently behind her. “I know. The maester informed me before he’d allow me past the stairs.” Her gaze drags across his frame, and she takes in every bruise, every gash, with worry. There are some wounds that worry her more than others, all of them obtained when he had helped her. He’s sitting up on his own, and doesn’t seem to be in immediate danger; she’s grateful for that much, at least.

( If someone had told her before the battle that she would be this relieved to see him survive, she would have laughed. But she can still feel his hand grasping her wrist, pulling her up in front of him, can still see him taking a blow meant for her, and there’s something warm and unfamiliar bubbling in her chest, something infinitely soft, something honestly, truly fond. )

“You could always climb on,” he adds, and he raises an eyebrow. “You’ll have to do all the work yourself, mind you, but – ” There’s laughter in his voice, and she’s grateful for that, too.

“I only wanted to see you,” she says, and she moves to stand beside the bed. “To make sure that you’re recovering.”

For a moment, Draco watches her, as if trying to size her up; he opens his mouth as if to speak, before apparently thinking better of it.

Astoria gestures toward him. “May I?” After a moment, he nods, and Astoria reaches forward to pull his shirt up, careful to avoid touching him. There’s a vicious gash in his side, hidden by a bandage that Astoria doesn’t touch, but the bruising around the wound is nasty, and far-reaching. Gingerly, she traces two fingers along his ribcage, her touch feather-light. The warmth in the pit of her stomach begins to feel tainted by guilt. “You must be in a great deal of pain.”

“It’s only a flesh wound. It will heal soon enough – I’ve had worse. I’ll bet most of my men have worse now.” He doesn’t move as Astoria lowers his shirt. “Are they badly hurt?”

“Some, yes. We’re still counting the dead, but – somehow – the majority of both of our forces survived.” She smooths his shirt back in place, and she moves to take a step back when he catches her wrist, his grip gentle.

“And you? Are you hurt?”

“Only some bruising, a few cuts and scrapes. Thanks to you.”

He releases her then, rests his head back against the pillows behind him. “Good,” he says after a long moment’s silence, voice quiet enough that for a moment she thinks she imagined it. “That’s – good.”

“Would you rather have quiet, so you can rest, or company?” she asks after a moment, hovering awkwardly at his side, and Draco looks back at her, offers her a small smile.

“Staring at the ceiling isn’t exactly riveting entertainment. If you don’t need to be elsewhere...”

“I can stay.” And she sits, carefully, at the edge of the bed, close enough to touch him, still facing him. “I had – a question, if you wouldn’t mind.”

( She’s staring into the face of a White Walker, a dozen more surrounding her, the wind biting cold – her helmet is long lost, and there’s blood on her face, some of it her own, some of it matting her hair. For a moment she is utterly, painfully aware of every muscle in her body, every ache and groan, the bruises along her sides and back. She is aware of the smell of its breath, of the ridges in its skin. Her fingers are closed around the hilts of her daggers, and she knows she is going to die. )

“Go ahead.”

( She hears the beating of dragon’s wings, feels the wind grow heavier and colder, and she plants her feet against the snow to try and brace herself but the force of the winds is too much and she – and the White Walkers – are knocked to the ground. She hears his voice, but she can’t make out the words. She knows she is going to die. )

“Why did you do it?”

( She doesn’t die. )

He frowns at her, as if he isn’t sure what she’s asking, and so she presses on.

“You could have left me there. No one would have known. I’d have died a valiant death, and the North would have celebrated me. You would have been able to walk away from your obligations to me. Formed another marriage, one better suited to your plans – you could have subdued the North, had your seven kingdoms. You would only have had to leave me there.” Astoria chews the inside of her lip, watches him closely as if to try and see past whatever answer he will give. “Why did you do it?”

For a long moment he says nothing, then, voice even and clear, tone teasing, he answers, “You think I want to go through marriage negotiations again?” He lets out a scoff. Doesn’t meet her eyes. “Once was enough.”

“Draco. I doubt it.”

“Just – don’t mention it to my mother.”

It takes some effort not to react visibly, but she manages. Astoria only raises an eyebrow, then asks, “Your mother wants me dead?”

“You Northerners weren’t kidding about this winter.”

“That’s clever of her. I can’t blame her at all. It’s the smart thing to want.” And she leans forward, waits until he looks back at her. “Why didn’t you do what she wanted?”

“Are you complaining?”

“No. I only want to know why.”

“And I wanted lemon cakes this morning – we all must learn to live with little disappointments.”

“Draco. Please.”

He raises the hand on his uninjured side and runs it through his hair, watching her for a moment. “Because you’re my wife.” He says it as if it’s the simplest thing in the world, as if their union matters more than the terms under which it was negotiated, as if their union matters more than the plans he’d had to set aside. “I put my cloak around your shoulders. I took you under my protection.”

She wants to argue, for a moment, that she doesn’t need his protection – but she’d certainly needed it then. And, for a moment, Astoria thinks that perhaps it might be nice to be protected, for once. She thinks she rather likes the idea.

“I’d be a shit protector of the realm if I wouldn’t even protect my wife when I had the power to do so.”

On a whim, Astoria reaches to take his other hand, squeezing gently. He squeezes her fingers in return.

“Besides,” he adds, “I didn’t want you to die.” And then, as if afraid he’s said too much – “Even if you are stubborn, and irritating, and suffer from delusions of grandeur.”

Astoria laughs, sudden and bright, and she brings their joined hands up to press a quick kiss to the backs of his fingers. “That was lovely, right until that last bit.”

“Yes, well – we wouldn’t want to spoil you.”

She releases him and stands, only to kneel, carefully, beside him, pulling her skirts up enough to manage it. Her movements are slow as she swings one leg to straddle him, and one of his hands comes up to rest against the back of her thigh as he tips his head back to watch her. Her own hands move to push his hair back, to trace carefully along his jawline, to rest against his chest, and after a long moment of watching him she lowers herself into his lap.

( She doesn’t die. He takes a blow for her and she doesn’t die. He pulls her to safety and she doesn’t die. There’s a warmth in her chest, bubbles floating lazily and pop-pop-popping in her blood, and she thinks she likes the thought of him protecting her far more than she should. )

Slowly, slowly enough that it’s almost teasing, she leans forward and kisses him. They’ve kissed before – at their wedding, in their marriage bed, even in passing, the gesture almost ritual in some cases and almost consuming instinct in others. Now, though, it feels deliberate, more deliberate than anything else she’s done lately. Her touch is sweet, lips soft against his, one hand moving to curl against the front of his throat; his hands slide up to rest at her waist, one curling against her side, the other trailing up her spine to tangle in her hair.

If he would do that for her – risk himself for her even when he’d be better served by letting her die, risk himself for her not because she’s useful to him but because it’s right, because he doesn’t want her to die – then perhaps she owes him more than what she’d imagined.

The kisses before were power struggles – attempts to prove one of them the truer monarch over the other, even all of the ones shared for the sake of fun and nothing more. This is different.

This is awareness. This is the warmth in her chest and the smile she can’t quite seem to keep off her face. This is wanting to be protected, to be held, to look at him and know – for the first time since this war started, since she was held hostage as a child to curb a rebellion and stop a war – that there is someone else who values her survival the way that she does. That there is someone else watching out for her. That there is someone else worth protecting, too, not because she must but because she chooses.

This is letting go.

( Has it always felt so good to let go? )

The kiss is slow, almost lazy, but when she pulls back he moves as if to follow her; Astoria only smiles. “Thank you,” she says, and she means it, she really means it. “Thank you for being there, and for helping me. Thank you for saving me.”

He watches her for a moment before surging forward to kiss her again; she trails her lips along his jaw and to his throat, bites lightly at the skin there before she presses a careful kiss over the thrum of his pulse. She forgets the war waiting for them, forgets his injuries and her own, until he winces as he lifts one arm too far; Astoria lets out a quiet laugh and pulls away from him, nuzzling his jaw and pressing a kiss to his cheek before she sits back.

“I think even with me here, it might be a bit too much exertion,” she points out quietly, but she doesn’t try to pull away when his hands tighten comfortably at her side, in her hair. He presses forward to kiss her again and she responds, enthusiastic, if brief. “If you still want company, I can stay – ”

He kisses her one more time and nods. “Stay,” he insists, and he pulls her closer still.

She didn’t die.

She stays.

#potterstillstinks #& I'D BE THE LAST SHRED OF TRUTH IN THE LOST MYTH OF TRUE LOVE. ( answers )#& I WANT YOU THE WAY I WANT THE SEA: WILDLY. RECKLESSLY. GLORIOUSLY. ( drastoria )#( verse tag pending )#(hi i Love them)

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allthefilmsiveseenforfree · 6 years ago

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Glass

Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me. Post-The Village, this was probably the healthiest attitude to adopt towards one M. Night Shyamalan. But then came 2017′s Split, and with it a post-credits scene that made audiences freak out - this story takes place in the same universe as 2000′s Unbreakable, which leads us here. The final entry in Shyamalan’s trilogy about people who believe they can do extraordinary things brings together Unbreakable’s David Dunn (Bruce Willis), the single survivor of a massive train derailment who has superstrength and a knack for sensing bad guys; Elijah Price (Samuel L. Motherfucking Jackson, or SLMJ), a man born with bones so fragile they shatter like glass at the slightest impact but whose mind is on a whole other level; and Split’s Kevin Crumb aka The Beast aka Hedwig aka Patricia....you get the idea. He’s a man who has dissociative identity disorder and exhibits 24 distinct personalities, one of whom happens to be a superhuman amalgamation of animal characteristics called The Beast who punishes the impure and those who “have not suffered.” He’s super fun at parties. Put them together and what have you got? Well...

I’m not sure why the critical response to this one is so tepid because I thought it was a fantastic conclusion of a trilogy that asks us to consider the stories we tell ourselves and the untapped power of those stories. Plotwise, the main story relies on Dr. Ellie Staple (Sarah Paulson) attempting to cure these three men of their delusions of grandeur. At times she enlists the help of David’s son, Elijah’s mother, and Kevin Crumb’s kidnapping victim who survived (Anya Taylor Joy) to assist in her work. I’m sure you can guess that uh, things don’t go as she planned.

Some thoughts:

Let’s talk performances. Bruce Willis doesn’t have a lot to do, unfortunately, and he’s playing the strong stalwart type anyway, so he doesn’t get very much dialogue or inner turmoil. His best acting comes from the physicality of playing a man who moves in the world in a way that normal humans do not. SLMJ is a born scene-stealer, and charismatic as hell, even when playing catatonic. You’re just waiting for the twinkle in his eye, the twitch of his lips to reveal the inner workings of Elijah’s terrifying mind. But the real workhorse is McAvoy all the way. 24 distinct personalities is a tall order for anyone, but the seamless transition between them, the intense physicality of embodying each separate personality - I just don’t know how this kind of performance doesn’t earn an Oscar, regardless of the Academy’s disdain for genre work. He’s a masterclass, a tour de force, and even running around as a human/animal Beast God Hybrid doesn’t seem so ridiculous when he’s doing it.

Honorable mention goes to Sarah Paulson who has never done anything wrong in her life, ever, and whose hair and makeup look fucking amazing the entire time even when shit really hits the fan.

I have never heard the phrase “PB&J sandwiches” sound so terrifying in my life. Nice callback later to the guard’s abandoned PBJ as well. Shyamalan is a man who knows the devil is in the details.

I can’t believe they got not only the leads, but also the kid who played Bruce Willis’s son (Spencer Treat Clark) and SLMJ’s mom (Charlayne Woodard) to reprise their roles 19 years later! Spencer Treat Clark especially has to do some heavy emotional lifting and his scenes are just a joy to watch.

Especially affecting are some brief sequences of unused footage from Unbreakable that serve as some of David’s memories or flashbacks. No creepy CGI here, just good old fashioned 19 years younger Bruce Willis, and it’s effective as hell. Side note: Bruce Willis can still get it, even 19 years later.

There are definitely some problems with everything that’s happening here from a logistical standpoint. Sarah Paulson has 3 days to treat these people who “think they’re superheroes.” Yeah, I don’t know where you got your medical degree ma’am, but 3 days isn’t enough time to treat anything - that’s not how psychiatry works.

The subtitle of this movie could be Glass: HIPAA Violations. None of this is best practices. You can’t just go showing other patients’ someone’s MRI. No one has signed any informed consent forms. You can’t just leave patient files in unlocked cabinets. You especially cannot let a patient’s victim have a one-on-one confrontation with them in order to “cure” the patient - does anyone have ANY medical training in this movie?

Probably not, since there’s only 1 orderly in this whole goddamn wing apparently and this facility has the worst security guards to ever be hired. “Oh this nurse with particularly well-muscled calves and white crocs with no socks on is wheeling one of our most notorious patients out of the wing in a wheelchair and he has a blanket on up to the neck. Well, no further questions!”

I think it’s easy to forget based on Shyamalan’s past missteps that he’s actually an incredibly visually interesting director. I found myself marveling at the unnerving, visceral way he shoots The Beast, or the circular tracking shots of Hedwig as he skates around and around some would-be victims of The Beast. These little touches bring the larger-than-life quality of the characters closer to the audience and allows us to feel as if we’re part of the action. And his use of color palette to distinguish between David (green), Elijah (purple), and The Beast (mustard yellow) creates the same gut-level effect as the oversaturated colors of the comic books he’s honoring. It all leads to an interesting film to watch, which I don’t think he gets enough credit for.

Also, I’m sure you’re wondering - yes there are some twists (two, three if you’re feeling generous) and I felt they were well-executed, plausible, and helpful to the story. I’d say the first is the biggest and most effective, and I actually wrote “OH SHIT GOOD TWIST” in my notes.

It amuses me to no end that Elijah’s mom has an iMac computer circa 2003.

Even if you haven’t seen the other films in the trilogy, Glass is worthy of your time as it forces us to reflect on the myths that shape our society and the myths we make our own selves out of. Strong performances from magnetic leads create enough tension to sustain what could be a simple Celebrity Death Match fight into a larger rumination on who gets to become something more than they think they could be, and who might be trying to stop them.

#119in2019 #glass #glass movie #glass 2019 #glass review #james mcavoy #samuel l jackson #bruce willis #spencer treat clark #Anya Taylor-Joy #m night shyamalan #sarah paulson #movie reviews #film reviews

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chanoyu-to-wa · 6 years ago

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Nampō Roku, Book 2 (48): (1587) Eighth Month, Twenty-fifth Day, Midday.

48) Eighth Month, Twenty-fifth Day; Midday¹.

It had been promised that [Imai] Sōkyu --

﹆ [would] bring the tea².

◦ 4.5-mat [room]³.

◦ [Guests:] Sōkyū [宗久]⁴, Yakushi-in [藥師院]⁵, Fujishige [藤重]⁶, Rōju [良壽]⁷, Sōmoto [宗本]⁸.

Sho [初]⁹.

﹆ Engo [圓悟]¹⁰: in accordance with [the guests’] request to bring [this kakemono] out [for their appreciation]¹¹.

The gedai [外題] was displayed in the toko¹².

◦ On a ko-ita [小板], the furo ・ unryū-gama [風爐・雲龍釜]¹³.

▵ Shiru saku-saku [汁サク〰]¹⁴.

▵ Roast shigi [鴫] ・ kamaboko [カマホコ]¹⁵.

▵ Asa-zuke [アサツケ]¹⁶.

▵ Senbei ・ yaki-guri [センヘイ・ヤキクリ]¹⁷.

Go [後]¹⁸.

◦ The toko remained as it was¹⁹.

◦ Mizusashi Shigaraki [水指シカラキ], on top of which was placed the hishaku [ヒシヤク]²⁰.

﹆ Sa-tsū-bako [茶通箱]²¹.

However, inside [the sa-tsū-bako] were the Shiri-bukura [尻フクラ] ・ ko-natsume [小ナツメ]²².

◦ Habōki [羽帚]²³.

Su [ス]²⁴.

◦ Chawan kuro [茶碗黒], ori-tame [折撓]²⁵.

_________________________

¹Hachi-gatsu nijū-go-nichi, hiru [八月廿五日、晝].

The Gregorian date was September 27, 1587, since the Eighth Month of Tenshō 15 had only 29 days.

This seems to have been another chakai given for influential machi-shū tea practitioners, probably intended to promote interest in Hideyoshi’s upcoming Kitano ō-cha-no-e [北野大茶の會]. It appears that the guests asked to inspect the Engo bokuseki -- perhaps as a sort of compensation for their taking part in the gathering.

There are several issues with the Enkaku-ji version of this entry that are contradicted by (all of) the other manuscripts (including Jitsuzan’s original copy, which was made with the Shū-un-an document in front of him), suggesting that Jitsuzan either mistook his earlier notes, or deliberately decided to change things for reasons of his own; and (in contradiction to Rikyū’s own writings on the subject) the premise on which the use of the sa-tsū-bako is based clearly derives from machi-shū practices that became mainstream, as a result of Sōtan’s influence*, during the Edo period -- rather than the way that Rikyū appears to have handled this kind of temae. These problems might be considered so significant that it is possible to doubt whether this was an actual chakai hosted by Rikyū -- or whether the entry is completely (or at least partially) spurious. ___________ *Ultimately, these were machi-shū practices that appear to trace their origins back to Jōō’s middle period (when the form of the cha-kai [茶會] was being codified -- based on, though increasingly distinct from, the Shino family’s kō-kai [香會]). Though later superceded by subsequent developments -- which were largely associated with Rikyū (and his influence on Jōō during the last year of the latter’s life) and his circle. A movement to return to the earlier forms appeared shortly after Rikyū’s seppuku, as part of a semi-official effort to repudiate Rikyū’s influence on chanoyu -- championed (with encouragement from at least some of the important daimyō surrounding Hideyoshi such as Date Masamune) by the group of machi-shū practitioners associated with Imai Sōkyū: It was under the influence of this group that Sōtan trained (he was some 14 years of age when Rikyū died); and it was their teachings that he disseminated when he ultimately rose to his position of influence on account of his fictive relationship to Rikyū -- a relationship that was especially important to the Tokugawa bakufu (since it furthered their efforts to turn Hideyoshi’s collection of famous tea utensils into cash).

²Yaku-soku ni te Sōkyū [h]e ﹆cha jisan [約束ニて宗久ヘ﹆茶持參].

This words cha jisan [茶持參] are marked with a red spot in the Enkaku-ji manuscript, indicating the importance of Sōkyū’s agreeing to provide the tea. However, none of the other versions of this kaiki* are formatted in this way (suggesting that the emphasis -- provided by the red spot -- was added by Jitsuzan, rather than Rikyū).

In all of the other versions of this kaiki, this line reads yakusoku ni te Sōkyū cha jisan [約束ニて宗久茶持參] -- without the particle [h]e [ヘ]†, or the emphasis on the words cha jisan [茶持參]. __________ *Including Jitsuzan's original copy, which he made with the Shū-un-an documents in front of him.

†The particle [h]e [へ] confuses the sense of the statement -- making possible the interpretation that Rikyū was taking the gift tea to Sōkyū.

³Yojō-han [四疊半].

The 4.5-mat room in Rikyū's residence.

⁴Sōkyū [宗久].

This was Imai Sōkyū [今井宗久; 1520 ~ 1593], who was said to be “the other one” of Jōō’s two greatest disciples*.

Sōkyū was married to Jōō’s daughter, and assumed the guardianship of Jōō’s son Sōga [宗瓦; 1550-1614] (who was just six years of age at the time of his father’s death).

At the time of this chakai, the relations between Sōkyū and Rikyū were still more or less cordial, with their main source of contention restricted to their rivalry for Hideyoshi's favor†. ___________ *The other was, or course, Rikyū.

†The primary cause of the bad blood between Rikyū and Sōkyū seems to have arisen because Rikyū disagreed with Sōkyū over how he was managing Sōga’s (Jōō’s son) affairs.

Sōkyū seems to have taken charge of Jōō’s extensive collection of meibutsu utensils shortly after Jōō’s death, which he said was intended both to safeguard them (as Sōga’s inheritance), as well as (in certain cases) reimburse himself for the added expenses placed on his household by the boy’s upbringing. Rikyū, meanwhile, believed (and made it publicly known) that, in his opinion, Sōkyū was simply enriching himself -- both monetarily and with respect to his reputation as a tea master -- at the boy’s expense. (It must be remembered, with respect to meibutsu utensils, that ownership implied that the owner also had been initiated into the secrets of their use -- and, indeed, it was just this fact on which not only Jōō’s own reputation, but eventually that of Sōkyū as well, had been based.)

Rikyū’s own densho addressed to Sōga, meanwhile, suggests that, in his opinion at least, Sōkyū was not doing a very good job at educating the young man in the details of chanoyu that had been finalized by Jōō at the end of his life: rather, it seems that he was schooling him in Sōkyū’s own version of these teachings (which seems to have remained faithful to the style of chanoyu popularized by Jōō during his middle period -- before Rikyū returned from his sojourn in Korea) . Sōkyū’s way of practicing chanoyu (as the leader of the machi-shū faction that was increasingly opposed to Rikyū’s simplifications) can be identified with what is now called the machi-shū style of tea -- which passed into the modern world through Sōtan and his descendants. The difference between Sōkyū’s “machi-shū style” and Rikyū’s chanoyu can be seen clearly by comparing Rikyū’s densho with the practices advocated by the modern Senke schools.

After Rikyū’s death, Sōkyū was one of the leaders of the group that sought to eradicate all traces of Rikyū’s teachings from the practice of chanoyu -- and, given the subsequent and lingering animosity between the Sen families and Rikyū’s own writings, it might be said that Sōkyū was more successful in leaving his imprint on chanoyu than Rikyū, or than he (Sōkyū) could ever have dreamed possible.

⁵Yakushi-in [藥師院].

This was Rikyū's nickname for the man more usually known as Yakuin Zen-sō [施藥院全宗; 1525 ~ 1599]*. Formerly a monk from Ei-san [叡山]†, he was also a respected medical doctor of the period, and a close personal attendant of Hideyoshi's‡. __________ *He was also a chajin and had been a disciple of Jōō.

†This mountain is now usually called Hiei-san [比叡山]. It is one of the peaks in the mountain range between Kyōto and Ōtsu (to the east).

‡Perhaps occupying a position similar to a personal physician.

Hideyoshi was suffering from tertiary syphilis (which evolved into neurosyphilis in the second half of the 1580s) during the last years of his life (which accounts for his increasingly erratic behavior during this final decade), and so the near-constant attendance of a physician (who could at least offer a degree of palliative care) would have been important to him and those around him.

It is inferred that his increasing susceptibility to his delusions of grandeur – specifically that he could succeed in conquering China and having himself installed as Emperor (as suggested by the Korean expatriates in Hakata – whose actual goal seems to have been causing political instability on the Korean peninsula, thus potentially could have allowed for a restoration of the Han [韓] republic that was overthrown by the Ming military incursions aimed at reinstating the feudal system on the Korean peninsula, under the Lee family (as a Chinese puppet-regime), in the middle of the previous century) – increased in step with his developing neurosyphilis.

⁶Fujishige [藤重].

This was Fujishige Tōgen [藤重藤元; his dates of birth and death are not known], a famous lacquer artist from Nara. He was considered the greatest master of that period, and his list of patrons is said to have included both Hideyoshi and Tokugawa Ieyasu.

⁷Rōju [良壽].

This seems to refer to the machi-shū of Sakai known as Akane-ya Rōju [茜屋良壽; his dates are unknown]. His name is also given as Akane-ya Dōju [茜屋道壽] (which would make him a fellow disciple of Araki Dōchin, together with the young Rikyū; perhaps these two were of a similar age).

His name appears as a guest several times in Rikyū's kaiki, but the details of his practice are not known.

⁸Sōmoto [宗本]⁸.

This was the man known as Noto-ya Sōmoto [能登屋宗本; his dates are not known], another machi-shū of Sakai, and apparently a chajin as well.

No further details have been discovered relating to his life and career.

⁹Sho [初].

The shoza.

With respect to the kane-wari:

- the tokonoma contained the kakemono, displayed rolled up on the floor of the toko, so that the guests could inspect the gedai [外題]*, and so was han [半]†;

- the room, meanwhile, contained the ko-ita furo, and so was han [半] as well;

- there was no tana.

Han + han is chō, which is proper for the shoza of a gathering held during the daytime. __________ *The gedai [外題] is a sort of title (actually, it generally contains the name of the artist responsible for the composition that is featured on the scroll), written on a small piece of paper that is glued to the back of the scroll near the upper roller. Thus, it was originally intended to allow someone to know what the scroll contained without going to the trouble of opening it up. Some of the earliest gedai were written by several of the great Higashiyama dōbō [東山同朋]; and, since they are verified by the writer’s seal, the gedai became an object of appreciation in its own right (this was especially important when many of the old paintings, which were often fragments of larger works salvaged from deteriorating specimens, lack their artist’s signature -- hence the gedai alone provides the viewer with the ascription, which was based on the dōbō’s expertise).

†Tanaka Senshō, unfortunately, confuses things by suggesting that perhaps the toko was empty when the guests entered the room, with Rikyū only bringing the scroll out from the katte after the guests had entered (they would therefore have had to all move to the tokonoma to view the gedai once the scroll was placed there). This, however, would confound the kane-wari -- as well as contradict Rikyū's own words (gedai wo kazaru [外題ヲカサル] -- that “the gedai was displayed [in the toko]”).

¹⁰Engo [圓悟].

This is the bokuseki now usually known as the Nagare Engo [流れ圜悟], formerly owned by Shukō (this, it is said, is the scroll that tradition holds was given to him by Ikkyū Sōjun, and before which he was encouraged to perform chanoyu), which he hung in his room when serving tea. Furthermore, this is said to have been the first bokuseki ever used for chanoyu*.

The scroll was written by the Chinese Chán monk Yuán-wù Kèqín [圜悟克勤; 1063 ~ 1135], the editor of the Bìyán Lù [碧巖錄] (Heki-gan Roku; the Blue-cliff Records).

This document was not intended (by Yuán-wù Kèqín) to be used as something like a scroll. It is actually a fragmentary part of Yuán-wù’s notes from one of his lectures (he traveled around China presenting lectures on the cases in the Bìyán Lù at various temples, and this is a fragment of the text of one of these lectures -- probably preserved originally by one of the auditors, as a sort of souvenir of the experience).

Precisely how this document made its way to Japan is unclear, though it seems most likely that Ikkyū Sōjun brought it with him when he immigrated from Korea at the beginning of the persecution of Buddhism (as both a monk, and the posthumous son of the last king of Koryeo, Ikkyū had double reason to fear for his life during this time of great trouble for the faith) on the Korean peninsula. ___________ *Before this, only paintings (almost always imported from the continent) were displayed in the tokonoma. The original intention was to recreate a scene of Amida’s Western Paradise.

¹¹Shomō-yue jisan [所望故持參].

This means that the reason (yue [故]) the scroll was brought out (jisan [持參]) on this occasion was because of a request (shomō [所望]) made by the guests. The request likely was tendered before, or at, the time when the guests accepted the invitation.

¹²Gedai wo kazaru [外題ヲカサル].

The gedai [外題], which is usually translated to mean “title,” refers to something written on the back side of the scroll, near the upper roller, that identifies the scroll’s contents. While the gedai is sometimes written directly on the mounting itself (as in the example shown below), since the Higashiyama period it has also been the custom to write this information on a small slip of paper*, which is then glued onto the back of the scroll.

Now, while there were various accepted times at which the gedai might be displayed†, on this occasion it seems that Rikyū displayed the rolled-up scroll on the floor of the tokonoma (oriented so that the gedai would be easy to read)‡; and after their silence indicated that the guests were finished, he entered and proceeded to hang the kakemono in the toko, so that the guests could then inspect Yuán-wù’s writing. ___________ *Writing the gedai on a separate piece of paper (that was then glued to the back of the scroll) allowed the ascription to be lodged without physically damaging or altering the scroll itself (the glue, which was made from sticky-rice, was water soluble, and could be removed without difficulty). This was the dōbō‘s intention (since the gedai itself was originally considered to be a sort of inventory or cataloging aid).

According to the commentary on the Chanoyu San-byakka Jō [茶湯三百箇條] (this work is usually ascribed to Jōō, though Jōō himself held that the core entries were set down by Shukō: the earliest surviving manuscript was created by Jōō’s disciple Uesugi Kenshin about ten years after Jōō’s death; and includes not only Kenshin’s extrapolations, but also additional interlineal material added by Sen no Dōan and Dōan’s disciple Kuwayama Sōzen -- the different layers of commentary are not separated, or even separable, from each other), the proportions of the slip of paper on which the gedai is written should be calculated in the following way: “if the [honshi [本紙] -- the paper on which the scroll was written -- of the] bokuseki is 1-shaku 1-sun from top to bottom or less, this length should be divided into thirds, and the length of the gedai should be equal to one of the thirds. The width of the gedai should be equal to a sixth-part of its length. This is a secret matter.

“If the scroll is long and wide, or if it is extremely narrow for its length, in general the proportions of the gedai are determined in the same way as above; however, the details are secret: “1) When [the honshi] exceeds 1-shaku 1-sun when measured top-to-bottom, that length is divided by four, and one of the fourths is discarded; then the remaining three are divided as above to give the length and width of the gedai. “2) In the case of extremely long and narrow scrolls, the rule is that the length of the honshi was divided into four parts, and one of these quarters is discarded. The remainder was divided into quarters again, and a further fourth was deleted. From the length of the remaining three, the above rules were followed to determine the length and width of the gedai.”

The above secret material was based on Nōami’s [能阿弥] and Sōami’s [相阿弥] gedai. Since, as mentioned above, these were often pasted onto the backs of scrolls which lacked any sort of artist’s signature at all (either works that were in a poor state of preservation, or panels of a long horizontal scroll that had been cut into individual pieces based on content), it became essential to be able to verify that the gedai actually belonged to the scroll to which it was attached (forgeries of paintings were not uncommon; and one of the easiest ways to pass off a fake was by attaching an authentic gedai -- removed from some other scroll -- to it). Thus, these details provided the assessor with a very good way of determining whether the gedai actually belonged to the scroll to which it was attached, or not. Further details can be found in the post entitled The Three Hundred Lines of Chanoyu (Lines 261 - 270: Part 1, Lines 261 - 265). The quote comes from footnote 5 under line 263 (“The way to inspect a bokuseki’s gedai”).

The URL for that post is:

chanoyu-to-wa.tumblr.com/post/62296322423/the-three-hundred-lines-of-chanoyu-lines-261

†Sometimes the gedai was displayed first, and after inspecting it, the scroll was hung up so that the guests could view that as well; and sometimes the scroll was already hanging in the toko when he guests entered the tearoom, and the inspection of the gedai took place later in the za (such as immediately before they left the room for the naka-dachi). The latter form was mostly used when the guests subsequently asked to inspect the gedai, while the former was used when the request was tendered before the host began his preparations (as was the case on this occasion).

‡It is not clear who the gedai on this scroll was written by -- though Ikkyū Sōjun or Shukō would seem to be likely candidates. This scroll was never a part of the Higashiyama collection, hence none of the dōbō would have been involved. The hyōgu [表具] (mounting) seems to have been designed by Shukō.

¹³Ko-ita ni furo ・ unryū-gama [小板ニ風爐・雲龍釜].

For this special occasion, it seems that Rikyū borrowed the old Temmyō kimen-buro that had belonged to Yoshimasa (and, later, Nobunaga).

The kama would have been the first small unryū-gama, which Rikyū designed to be used with this furo.

I assumed (when creating my sketch showing the general arrangement of the room under footnote 3) that Rikyū placed the ko-ita furo on the right side of the utensil mat, since this was the orthodox way of doing things in a room that had a dōko. Nevertheless, in light of the shōkyaku’s relationship to Jōō, and in deference to his feelings*, it is possible that Rikyū decided to place it on the left, in the manner used by Jōō during the middle period of his career†. ___________ *Sōkyū was Jōō’s brother-in-law, and a known champion of the teachings emanating from Jōō’s middle period (meaning the period prior to Rikyū’s return from the continent -- after which Jōō incorporated numerous changes in light of the new material that Rikyū brought back with him from Korea).

†Locating the ko-ita furo on the left (as shown above) was also the arrangement preferred by Hideyoshi (perhaps under the influence of Sōkyū: this manner of arrangement also makes it easier for the guests to see everything the host is doing, whereas placing the furo on the right tends to hide many of the host’s actions behind its bulk -- Hideyoshi was perennially fearful of being poisoned, a method of assassination said at that time to be preferred by the followers of the Ikkō-shu [一向宗], the Amidist sect of Buddhism with which most of the Sakai machi-shū-chajin were at least nominally affiliated), hence it might have felt “less controversial” to employ this version of the arrangement on the present occasion (not only out of respect for Sōkyū’s sense of propriety, but because several of the other guests were also employed as Hideyoshi’s tea masters).

That said, it could have been precisely for this reason that Rikyū may have decided to locate the furo on the right -- in order to illustrate to the assembly the theoretically appropriate way of doing things (less the habit of doing things in the way preferred by Hideyoshi induce a state of forgetfulness).

¹⁴Shiru saku-saku [汁サク〰].

This was miso-shiru containing coarsely chopped greens from the kitchen garden. The chopped greens were added just before the soup was served, so they would still be crisp when eaten (this is what the onomatopoeaic saku-saku means).

¹⁵Shigi yakite ・ kamaboko [鴫ヤキテ・カマホコ].

Shigi [鴫] means snipe* -- a shore-bird; a type of sandpiper. While Rikyū does not go into the details of its “roasting,” cooking the birds in the senba-iri [船場煎り] style† seems likely.

Kamaboko [蒲鉾] is boiled or steamed fish-paste. in Rikyū’s day the kamaboko was probably formed into cylinders (possibly hollow tubes, which insured faster cooking times), or flattened into patties, and then deep-fried in oil (by the shop that produced it) -- it could be offered to the guests as it was received from the shop (warm to cold), or be reheated before being served.

These dishes would have been accompanied by the service of several rounds of sake. ___________ *Shibayama Fugen’s manuscript, however, has kamo [鴨], meaning the wild duck. The kanji are similar; and perhaps shigi seemed a bit too “exotic” for the late Edo-period palate of the gentleman responsible for producing his copy of the Nampō Roku. (We must remember that making copies -- or even writing down notes -- while in the Enkaku-ji, was strictly forbidden. Thus the material could be committed to paper only after the person -- I do not believe the name of the person who made the original copy is actually known -- took his leave.)

That said, shigi was also served at a gathering mentioned in the Rikyū Hyakkai Ki [利休百會記] -- albeit in that case, it was mashed and formed into dango [團子], and served in a clear broth.

†Senba-iri [船場煎り] refers to a style of cooking employed in the food stalls located along the wharves at Sakai. It was used primarily for preparing small birds (and, incidentally, prawns as well). In this case, the entire bird (plucked, and with the head, feet, and innards removed) was threaded or tied onto a spit and roasted over a small wood or charcoal fire in a brazier, while basting them with a mixture of sesame oil, soy-sauce (or iri-zake [煎り酒]), sake, mirin, and crushed garlic. (The wood fire added an interesting dimension to the food’s flavor -- since in Rikyū’s day most home cooking was done over charcoal.)

¹⁶Asa-zuke [アサツケ].

Asa-zuke [淺漬け] are a simple kind of home-made tsuke-mono (the type is often referred to as o-shinkō [お新香] today). Naturally crisp vegetables -- such as immature cucumbers, daikon, hakusai, Japanese eggplant, and the like -- are either dusted lightly with salt (usually small slivers of dried kombu [昆布] -- kelp -- are added during this step as well), kneaded with the fingers (to distribute the salt evenly), and then left to stand under a light weight (which helps to press out the water).

Alternately, the vegetables and kombu can be placed in a brine solution to pickle.

In either case, they are left to stand anywhere between several hours and overnight. The process removes the extra water, increasing the natural crispness of the vegetables.

¹⁷Senbei ・ yaki-guri [センヘイ・ヤキクリ].

These were the kashi:

- senbei [煎餅], rice crackers, which were usually obtained from a professional confectioner (and often, in the case of Rikyū’s chakai at least, received as a gift from one of the guests* -- rather than being procured for this purpose by Rikyū himself); and.

- yaki-guri [焼き栗], chestnuts roasted over a charcoal fire. ___________ *Unlike in the present, money was not considered an appropriate thank-gift for the guests to give to the host. Elegant senbei, or other things of that sort, were preferred. Since the guests were all chajin, they would likely have bought such a gift as a group, after consulting with each other.

¹��Go [後].

The goza.

As for the kane-wari:

- the scroll remained hanging in the tokonoma, and so it remained han [半];

- in addition to the ko-ita furo, the room contained the mizusashi (with the sa-tsū-bako arranged in front of it, and the hishaku resting on top -- all of which counted as a single unit), and so was chō [調].

Han + chō is han, which is appropriate for a gathering held during the daytime.

¹⁹Toko sono-mama [床其儘].

The kakemono remained hanging in the toko, as it had been since the guests finished inspecting its gedai during the shoza.

²⁰Mizusashi Shigaraki, ue ni hishaku [水指シカラキ、上ニヒシヤク].

This was Rikyū's Shigaraki mizusashi.

The hishaku was placed on top, with the butt end of the handle touching the second kane, as explained in the post entitled Nampō Roku, Book 2 (46): (1587) Eighth Month, Second Day, Morning*, under footnotes 14 and 16. ___________ *The URL for that post is:

http://chanoyu-to-wa.tumblr.com/post/184163345058/namp%C5%8D-roku-book-2-46-1587-eighth-month

²¹Sa-tsū-bako [棚ニ茶通箱].

This entry is marked with a red dot, indicating its importance. This would have been a futatsu-iri sa-tsū-bako [二つ入り茶通箱], a sa-tsū-bako made to hold two containers of tea (this is the kind usually seen today* -- though what kind of lid the box may have had cannot be verified: the box shown below has what is known as a yarō-buta [藥籠蓋]).

The sa-tsū-bako was probably placed in front of the mizusashi†. __________ *Based, apparently, on the precedent of this chakai -- though this chakai is, in fact, not representative of the way that Rikyū usually handled the sa-tsū-bako (when he was sending a gift of tea to someone else). Rather, it shows the way that Jōō may have been doing things during his middle period (this is where the machi-shū tea of Sōtan, on which modern day chanoyu is based, originated).

This anomaly has fueled certain suspicions that this chakai is at least in part spurious -- and was possibly modified or inserted into the kaiki to provide a Rikyū-based precedent for the way that the Sen family was handling the sa-tsū-bako and its (by that time, “secret”) temae.

†Shibayama Fugen, however, notes that if the chaire contained in the sa-tsū-bako (he seems to have believed it to have been Rikyū’s Shiri-bukura chaire [尻膨茶入]) was a meibutsu, then the sa-tsū-bako should be placed on the central kane.

In this case, rather than an ordinary ko-ita, which measures 9-sun 5-bu square (shown on the left in the following sketch), a specially made smaller one (measuring 8-sun square -- the arrangement of which is shown on the right) could be used. This smaller version of the shiki-ita was arranged according to the usual rules: 5-sun from the far end of the mat, and 9-me from the heri. The effect, then, was to move the furo diagonally away from the central kane, making it possible to place the chaire -- or, in this case, the sa-tsū-bako -- on the central kane (without any danger that the heat from the furo would be close enough to damage the tea).

As with the ko-ita, this smaller shiki-ita (which was Rikyū’s creation) could only be used with a large furo (meaning a furo measuring between 1-shaku 1-sun and 1-shaku 2-sun in diameter -- whether made of iron, or of lacquered clay).

Nevertheless, Fugen admits that, in this particular case, he is unsure where the box would have been displayed (and seems inclined, on second thought, to imagine that it was more likwly placed in front of the mizusashi).

Tanaka Senshō, meanwhile, suggests that the sa-tsū-bako might have been displayed in the toko (along with the scroll, which still remained hanging as it had been during the shoza) -- though doing so would have made the apparent kane-wari unworkable (and so Rikyū probably did not do this). Nevertheless, in such a case the host (immediately after bringing the chawan into the room -- which he temporarily placed on the left side of the mat) would go to the toko and retrieve the sa-tsū-bako (for this reason, the box would have been displayed on the side of the toko closer to the toko-bashira, so that the host would not disturb the shōkyaku when he went to pick up the sa-tsū-bako). After bringing the box back to the utensil mat, the host would cut the box open with a knife, as explained under the next footnote.

²²Tadashi, uchi ni Shiri-bukura ・ ko-natsume [但、内ニ尻フクラ・小ナツメ].

The chaire is generally assumed to be Rikyū's meibutsu Shiri-bukura chaire [尻膨茶入] (shown below). But if that was the case, the source of the tea it contained (whether matcha ground that morning by Rikyū, or the gift-tea that was received from Sōkyū -- over which Rikyū seems to have made quite a fuss) becomes a matter for confusion*.

According to both Shibayam Fugen and Tanaka Senshō, the Shiri-bukura chaire contained tea that would be served as koicha, while the ko-natsume contained tea intended for use as usucha -- and this is represented, by both of them, as being the traditional assessment of the contents of the sa-tsū-bako that was held by all of the scholars (since the time of Tachibana Jitsuzan himself, and so from the beginning of the study of this document) associated with the Enkaku-ji and the Nampō Roku scholarship.

This latter assertion, too, is problematic as well, since (at least in the time of Jōō and Rikyū) the ō-natsume [大棗] was generally used for usucha, while the ko-natsume (according to Jōō -- who created both of these kinds of chaki†) was supposed to be used for koicha. If, as some suggest, the tea in the Shiri-bukura was Rikyū’s own tea, then the tea in the ko-natsume being intended for usucha is equally odd -- since the tea used for usucha was either left-over koicha‡, or ground from the inferior-quality tea leaves that had been used as packing material in the cha-tsubo. In either case, for Imai Sōkyū to promise to send a container of matcha, and then send over such poor quality tea, would be almost insulting -- and, again, does not conform with what we know of Sōkyū’s character (since he was, if anything, inclined to be self-promoting, and very concerned about “face”: if anything, Sōkyū would have sent the highest-quality tea he had, and made quite sure that Rikyū respected it properly by preparing it as koicha -- especially if this were the only tea from Sōkyū that would be served during the chakai). Furthermore, if the matcha received from Sokyu had really been such poor tea, Rikyū would have hardly made such a fuss over it

Gift tea was (originally -- and this custom was still current in the time of Jōō and Rikyū) packed into the sa-tsū-bako by the person giving the tea, and that person then sealed the box by pasting a paper tape around the place where the lid joined the sides, and applied his name-seal to the place where the two ends of the tape met (which was considered the side of the box that would face toward the guests -- meaning that the container or containers of matcha were always oriented accordingly). The host opened this tape with a small knife, using three cuts: first he cut from just beyond the name-seal away from himself (and so around the box to the side opposite the name-seal); then from just beyond the seal and toward himself (the two cuts, then, meeting on the far side of the box from that were the seal had been impressed). Then the sa-tsū-bako was passed around for haiken (with the name-seal still remaining uncut -- to verify to the guests that the contents of the box were as packed by the giver), while the host dusted the utensil mat with the habōki. Then, after the box was returned, the host took the knife and cut through the name-seal, thus freeing the lid, and so allowing him to open the box and remove the container or containers of matcha. This process is clearly described in the Nampō Roku.

It is unlikely, then, that the sa-tsū-bako contained one kind of tea prepared by Rikyū (in his Shiri-bukura chaire) and another tea (in the natsume) prepared by Sōkyū. If any of the tea was from Sōkyū, then all of the tea in the sa-tsū-bako would have been from him (and the box sealed with his name-seal); and if Rikyū still intended to use his own tea (ground that dawn and put into his own chaire, the Shiri-bukura), then the gift tea in its sa-tsū-bako would have had to be placed elsewhere until the service of tea from the Shiri-bukura was finished (since the host’s tea always took precedence in such cases). Putting the tea containers together in the same box was simply not done during Rikyū’s period -- since this would have involved cutting off the donor’s seal beforehand, making the entire process of cutting off the tape nonsensical (Rikyū’s introductory remark that the tea had come from Sōkyū certainly implies that all of the tea that was served was from him -- that the sa-tsū-bako was from Sōkyū, and so would have been sealed with his name-seal).

As an separate comment added here, Shibayama Fugen adds that, if the chaire was a karamono piece (as was Rikyū’s Shiri-bukura chaire), then, after opening the box (and seeing what it contained), the host would quietly go out to the katte and bring in a chaire-bon, and so serve the first tea using the bon-date temae**. __________ *The idea was always to prevent the tea from coming into contact with the air. Thus, the containers of matcha were always tied into shifuku (or, for gift tea sent to someone in newly-made natsume, purple, fukusa-shaped furoshiki) and loaded into the box, which was then sealed with a paper tape. The seal was not broken until the box was opened, before the eyes of the guests (according to the Nampō Roku), during the koicha-temae.

Therefore, Rikyū could hardly have received two containers of gift tea from Sōkyū, and then transferred one of them into his own chaire (since that would expose that tea -- which would have been the better of the two -- to the air, potentially ruining it, and causing grave insult to Sōkyū). Neither could he have included his own chaire of tea in the box with the gift tea (in a ko-natsume), since the box would have been packed and sealed by Sōkyū (in his own home, immediately after grinding the tea). It may have been possible that Sōkyū borrowed Rikyū's chaire; but it seems that people of that period did not usually do such things -- since there would have been nothing to prevent the borrower from showing the chaire secretly to his friends (though, given Sōkyū's status -- and his personal commitment to maintaining his reputation -- it is unlikely that he would have breached Rikyū's trust in this way). Therefore, the most likely possibilities -- assuming that this kaiki is authentic (something which these particular details tend to make less likely) -- are either that Sōkyū used his own shiri-bukura chaire (which has not been identified) -- if, indeed, a shiri-bukura chaire even originally figured into this -- or that he borrowed Rikyū's chaire for this purpose.

However, all of that aside, if things were done “correctly,” the sa-tsū-bako would have contained two natsume (perhaps a ko-natsume of koicha and an ō-natsume of tea intended for usucha -- though it is also possible that it contained two ko-natsume, both holding koicha-quality tea), and that the words “Shiri-bukura chaire” were added by someone who wanted to make this sa-tsū-bako temae appear identical to what the Sen family was teaching.

Imai Sōkyū, it must be remembered, was married to Jōō's sister (I have said this before; but this point is extremely important if one wishes to understand Sōkyū and his motivations); and his practices tended to mirror Jōō's own usages from his middle period (during which time Jōō preferred using one variety of matcha for koicha, and a different, slightly lower-quality tea for usucha); he also had an extensive collection of high-quality tea utensils (a number of which had come from Jōō’s collection -- taken by Sōkyū to reimburse himself for the expenses of raising Jōō’s son Sōga). But I have never seen it alleged (in contemporary documents) that Jōō placed a chaire and a natsume together in the sa-tsū-bako; nor that Jōō taught that the sa-tsū-bako should be opened by the host (before the chakai began) and then repacked so that it would contain his own chaire along with the gift tea (whether the chaire also contained gift tea, or tea ground for the occasion by the host).

All of the documented instances of the use of a sa-tsū-bako from Jōō’s and Rikyū’s period clearly imply that:

- the sa-tsū-bako contained only the gift tea (never tea prepared by the host);

- that the gift tea was to be placed in newly made natsume (or other new lacquerware tea containers) of an appropriate size (this was done precisely so that it would be the tea that was important to the guests, not the container in which it had been sent);

- and, that the sa-tsū-bako was packed by the donor, and sealed with his name seal, and that the sa-tsū-bako was not to be tampered with until the box was cut open in front of the eyes of the guests, who would then be served the tea it contained (this because it was the reputation of the donor that was at stake, rather than that of the host: tampering with the box could make the donor loose face, if the tea proved to be bad).

Tachibana Jitsuzan, Shibayama Fugen,Tanaka Senshō, and the group of scholars affiliated with the Enkaku-ji, however, were all products of their age. Since they only knew the sa-tsū-bako temae taught by the Sen family (which holds that the sa-tsū-bako was prepared by the host, to contain a chaire of his own tea, plus a natsume or other container of gift tea), it seems that none of them were able to imagine anything different -- even though the differences are actually described elsewhere in the Nampō Roku itself. This kind of inflexible attitude remains the bane of Nampō Roku scholarship, even to this day.

†Since Imai Sōkyū was not only married to Jōō’s sister, but also the de facto guardian of Jōō’s son (and heir), he appears to have been a stickler for adhering to Jōō’s teachings and practices, at least in so far as he was aware of them. (Sōkyū, together with many of the machi-shū, had a sort of falling out with Jōō during the last year of his life -- after Jōō began to modify many of his teachings in light of the new information that Rikyū had brought back with him from the continent. This last one-year period is what saw the incredibly rapid evolution of the small room, along with the advancement of extremely wabi practices -- in contradistinction to what Jōō had championed for most of his professional life.) Thus, it is highly unlikely that Sōkyū would have so wantonly rejected one of Jōō’s basic teachings by using the ko-natsume for a purpose for which it had not been intended.

‡In other words, koicha-quality matcha left over from tea that had already been placed in a chaire and used to serve tea at an earlier gathering (it was considered rude for all of the tea in the chaire to be used, in case the guests wanted to drink more: thus, the host always selected a chaire that was larger than necessary, and the tea container was always filled fully, with the intention being that a certain amount should always remain in the container at the end of the temae, as a sign of the host’s courtesy and concern for his guests): such tea could only be used later for usucha, because it had already been exposed to the air too much -- meaning that the volatile constituents (which contribute heavily to both the aroma and taste of the tea) would have been lost, for the most part.

**Or, more specifically, a meibutsu karamono chaire (that had been paired with a tray). In Jōō’s and Rikyū’s period, only karamono chaire that had been paired with a tray were used for bon-date (by Rikyū’s day, ko-Seto chaire were also acceptably used in this way -- assuming that they had been paired with a tray) -- and, since the tray had to agree with the proportions of the chaire exactly (according to both Jōō and Rikyū), it would have been impossible for the host to simply bring out any “random” tray, historically speaking, at this point in time (the idea of using “any small tray” began with Sōtan and his followers, as a result of ignorance of Rikyū’s teachings -- or perhaps as a deliberate rejection of the way that Rikyū had done things), on the spur of the moment, after finding such a chaire in the sa-tsū-bako . This highlights (albeit inadvertently, so far as Shibayama Fugen’s comment is concerned) the difference between practices in Rikyū’s day and his own (which, as is also true of modern-day chanoyu , followed directly from Sōtan’s machi-shū style of chanoyu).

“For the record,” Jōō's chaire-bon was supposed to be (exactly) 3-sun 5-bu larger on all four sides than the chaire that would be used on it; Rikyū’s chaire-bon (which was notably smaller than Jōō’s tray), was 2-sun larger on all four sides. These measurements were supposed to be exact (the tolerence is less than 1-bu in the case of all of the old chaire and their trays that have survived), and even modest deviations were generally rejected. If one had a tray that conformed with the chaire, and that chaire was deemed worthy of being used on a tray, then one did bon-date. If either of these conditions were not true, then the chaire was supposed to be used without a tray.

²³Habōki [羽帚].

The habōki (which was a larger one, made from feathers that were between 9-sun and 1-shaku long -- the kind that is usually seen today) was placed on the left side of the mat, next to the heri.

According to Shibayama Fugen, it was used to dust the utensil mat just before the sa-tsū-bako was (finally) cut open and the first container of tea taken out.

²⁴Su [ス].

The utensils that follow this notation (the chawan; and, though not specifically mentioned in the kaiki, the koboshi and futaoki) were brought out from the katte at the beginning of the koicha-temae, rather than being displayed in the room when the guests entered the room for the goza.

Su [ス] is an odd modification of the kanji mata [又], used consistently in this book by Tachibana Jitsuzan. It is intended to mean “also,” “and again.”

²⁵Chawan kuro, ori-tame [茶碗黒、折撓].

Though usually assumed to be one of Chōjirō’s early black bowls, it seems more likely to have been the hiki-dashi-kuro chawan that Furuta Sōshitsu made for Rikyū the year before -- the chawan that is shown below (which bears Rikyū's kaō, as a mark of his ownership, on the bottom) -- since Rikyū would have been extremely sensitive to avoid any charges of self-promotion leveled after the fact by this group of guests.

Consequently, it does not seem that Rikyū would have used one of Chōjirō's bowls (since those bowls were known to have been produced under Rikyū’s watchful gaze -- and those not approved by him were destroyed), since a certain reticence would have seemed to be called for during this chakai. His own creativity would have been sufficiently demonstrated by the use of one of his own chashaku -- made to accompany the main tea container, Rikyū's meibutsu Shiri-bukura chaire [尻膨茶入] -- and the use of a take-wa [竹輪] as the futaoki (below) -- and the other unimportant (though necessary) utensils.

While nothing is said, it seems most likely that Rikyū would have used a take-wa [竹輪] as his futaoki, and a mentsū [面桶] as the koboshi.

2 notes · View notes