#but i dont want to turn off reblogs in case ppl found it interesting enough to reblog lmao

[spicycreativity]

Long post/cosplay ramble:

So Roman's katana has been on my radar ever since I first got into TSS (I'm Nikkei* and I'll take literally any opportunity I can find to work my heritage into any given cosplay hehe)

I initially wanted to do some sort of samurai!Roman but I got caught up with the armor and everything and just felt way too intimidated by all the research and thought it was way too much effort.

Well

Since then, I've learned a lot about samurai apparel outside of armor and had a lot of Realizations and so on. And yesterday, I was struck with the perfect design for a samurai!Roman cosplay 🤩

First, a vocab lesson:

*Nikkei = anyone of any Japanese descent living outside the country of Japan; Japanese diaspora. In my case, I am of mixed Japanese and white descent born, raised, and currently living in the USA

My initial thought was to perfectly mirror my Roman cosplay (red hakama, white hakamashita), but upon doing some research it seemed like that particular color combo is only worn by miko (shrine maidens). So I decided it would be better to avoid that.

I really don't want to wear white hakama bc I know it'll be a MESS, but alas, we all must make sacrifices for art. So white hakama, red hakamashita. I think that will work well with what I have in mind for the haori.

Instead of a traditional Japanese haori, I'm gonna get an open prince jacket (you know, as opposed to a closed on like Disney princes wear) and— here's the fun part— use Roman's emblems as the kamon!

I think that's a smart, respectful move bc obviously "Sanders" wouldn't have a Japanese family crest and I don't really feel that it would be appropriate for me to design or wear one anyway because that's. not my family name. My Japanese family name also doesn't have a kamon (that I could find) and I'd also be hesitant on using it to cosplay a white dude (that's more personal preference). But then I remembered that every sign has a canonical symbol/crest! So I think it's gonna look super cool!

If I could draw, I'd draw a picture bc I know it's gonna look dope as hell. But I can't, so I'm setting for making this post 😆

(Obligatory Nuance Paragraph:

None of this clothing is considered "closed" or inherently religious or off limits in any way. There are respectful avenues for people of all racial and ethnic identities to access and wear traditional Japanese clothing, that is, you don't have to "earn" the right to wear it. If you're not Japanese, the only thing I would watch out for is the kamon— don't wear a kamon that isn't yours without first researching if it would be appropriate to do so).