#suzuri kai

[magicalmikuri]

Mikoto with Minamo and Suzuri!

Now that the Kai Sister designs have been found I'll try to draw them all at some point.

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[chanoyu-to-wa]

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

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

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

_________________________

¹Bachi (バチ).

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

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

²Tanzaku・suzuri-bako [短尺・硯箱].

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

⁴Dora [トラ].

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

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

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

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

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

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

⁵Ka-sho・ryōshi [哥書・料紙].

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

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

—————————————————-—————————————————  

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

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

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

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

†A ka-sho [歌書] is a book of poems.

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

——————————————–———-—————————————————

⁶Shimoku [シモク].

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

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

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

⁷Suzuri・ryōshi [硯・料紙].

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

⁸Un-pan [雲版].

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

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

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

⁹Ko-kabin [小花瓶].

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

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

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

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

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

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

——————————————————————————————————

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

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

==============================================

[Rikyū’s concluding remarks¹:]

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

        Kashiku [かしく]³.

                                                                                     Sōeki han [宗易判]⁴.

                               Nambō [南坊]⁵.

_________________________

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[kaikeidou-backstage-blog]

Record of Kaikeidou Servants (excerpts 11 through 15)

Excerpt from the Sea God Bookstore's "Record of Kaikeidou Servants:" a text whose author and editor are both unknown.

Negoro: CHEEERS! Sarasa: Cheeers!

Negoro: Man, I'm totally beat. I mean, geeze, I had to fight through a volley of danmaku every time just to ask them a few questions.

Sarasa: Wha~a? Are you telling me you didn't get permission from them?

Negoro: C'mon, that'd be such a pain in the butt. Talking back and forth, writing all those formal letters... it's way better to just get up in their face like "tell me about such-and-such if I win this fight," isn't it?

Sarasa: Is THAT why everyone was making those suspicious faces? C'mo~on, the Sea God Bookstore is gonna get su~uch bad reviews for this...

Negoro: Eh, not my problem.

Sarasa: Miss Kaidou's gonna get so~o mad at us again...

Negoro: What are you talking about? We're Kaidous too, aren't we?

Sarasa: Bringing out the old wordplay again, I se~ee.

Negoro: Hey, speaking of which-- let's do that thing again! It's been forever!

Sarasa: Huh? Who would we even be addressing, tho~ough?

***

Negoro: The people's gossip lasts for 75 days-- and stretches to 75 fathoms below!

Sarasa: We hold all the wonders of those depths in our very hands!

Negoro: We are scholars who pursue both the written and divine word!

Sarasa: A publishing company that births a vast sea of printed type!

Both: Together, we are...! The Sea God Bookstore's Kaidou branch!!

***

Negoro: We said it! We said our signature lines, Sarasa!

The Sea God Bookstore's Berliner Lady Negoro Kaidou (海堂 ねごろ)

Sarasa: C'mo~on, quit hugging me so tightly! You're making it hard to breathe!

The Sea God Bookstore's Blanket Girl Sarasa Kaidou (海堂 さらさ)

Negoro: Y'know, though. That last one we interviewed, uh... Miss Owari, right? The other sisters clammed right up when it came to her.

Sarasa: Oh, abo~out that. Miss Hananishiki, the next youngest, told me why. They were worried that their Eldest Sister would, like, punish them or something if they said too much, so they were all trying to avoid making any inconvenient comments~.

Negoro: Ah, that explains why they were all so cagey. I guess she's kind of intimidating, being the oldest and all, huh?

Sarasa: Both of us are ba~asically only children, so I guess we wouldn't really know. When you think about it, having nine whole sisters would be pretty amazing even for humans, right? Let alone mermaids.

Negoro: Oh, speaking of humans. I just remembered that some time ago, the Kaikeidou tried to invite some humans in so that they could make a bigger name for themselves. According to Lady Mikoto and Megumi and the like.

Sarasa: They said that our ocean isn't a place people visit very often, so at the rate things were go~oing, the whole ocean itself would disappear from Gensokyo.

Negoro: Wait, doesn't that mean we were in some pretty big trouble, too?!

Sarasa: Miss Kaidou didn't seem very panicked about it, though. When she was giving me the manuscript for the article, I asked her abo~out it, but she just said "nah, does that really matter?".

Negoro: Uh, Miss Kaidou's definitely not that laid-back?!

Sarasa: Whenever I go to talk to her about work, she's aa~allways casual.

Negoro: Whenever I send in my reports, she sends them back totally covered in red pen...

Sarasa: Anywa~ay, getting back on topi~ic...

Negoro: Sarasa, you can be real cold sometimes.

Sarasa: Miss Hananishiki was the one who said that all the sisters' abilities were the same, except for Miss Owari's.

Negoro: Oh, yeah. In the first place, Miss Owari was born as Lady Mikoto's immediate daughter, and all the other sisters were-- at least on paper-- born from Miss Owari. When you think about it, that would normally make Miss Owari the other nine sisters' mother...

Sarasa: But both Miss Owari and the other nine sisters were born from foam by Lady Miko~oto, so all ten of them are effectively siblings.

Negoro: Apparently, the sisters from Hananishiki on down were originally meant to be created as 'second attempts' if Owari failed, so they would've been born with divine powers like hers too. But since Owari learned how to wield her divine nature right off the bat, they just made her a bunch of regular sisters with no divinity instead.

Sarasa: Miss Kasumi the clam youkai knew a lo~ot about that part. She was the very first guardian of the Kaikeidou's front door, after all.

Negoro: And so, the nine other sisters aren't equipped with any special powers. They've got the same capabilities as average mermaids like us.

Sarasa: If I had to think of any bi~ig difference, I guess Miss Hananishiki is re~eally good at cooking? This one time, she let me have ju~ust a few of these green sturgeon eggs she whipped up.

Negoro: BWH-- Oh my god, why didn't I hear about that...?! WHY DIDN'T SHE INVITE ME TOOOOO?!

Negoro: Hey, now that I think about it... if the goddess of the entire sea came to Gensokyo, is the outside world, like, doing okay?

Sarasa: Oh, yeah, they're doing fi~ine. I heard a~all about it from Lady Mikoto.

Negoro: Huh? When, exactly?!

Sarasa: Lady Mikoto sa~aid that she's just one descendant of the sea gods from ancient lege~ends, and there's plenty of others besides her, so it's still okay out the~ere.

Negoro: Huh!

Sarasa: Y'see, Lady Mikoto used to be a sea goddess who lived in a bi~ig lake, with that special power of hers that can create life. But with just lakewater, she couldn't support all the creatures she'd created.

Negoro: 'Cause it was fresh water, yeah.

Sarasa: And as she was worrying about that, this one gi~irl-- the one named Lady Otohime, who were interviewing toda~ay-- she helped Lady Mikoto turn the lakewater into a fountain of life that could support a~all the sea creatures.

Negoro: And that's how this little "ocean" that we live in was born.

Sarasa: Ye~ep. But then, since they made the lake wa~ay too big in the process, Gensokyo was about to like, burst at the seams...! So that one lady-- the Hakurei shrine maiden, I think? She came down here and told them to stop.

Negoro: Aaaah! I remember that part! I was THERE for it!

Sarasa: Huh? Did something happe~en?

Negoro: Not just SOMETHING! That Hakurei maiden or whatever slapped me right outta the water on her way down!

Sarasa: ...Oh~h, yeah, you did have that big bump on your head that one ti~ime.

Negoro: See, all of a sudden it sounded like there was this big commotion up on the surface, right? And I was like "ooh what's happening...?" and I went on up to look, right? When suddenly, BAM! Some what's-her-face cannonballs down in here, and as soon as she sees me, she starts hurling amulets and whacking me with a giant ritual rod! ...And then, later, someone else started throwing weird stars that tasted like candy, a-and, and shooting huge lasers and stuff... *snf* a-and... *sniff* and on t-top of everything else... there, there were! There were these, like, nuclear kaboom things, a-and... *gross sobbing*

Sarasa: Oh~h, there, there. You did your best out there, Negoro. I know it must have been re~eally scary...

Negoro: *snrf.* .....And then, like, a little after that is when the ocean shrank back down and stuff. Was that 'cause of-- what did you call her? The Hack-and-Slash shrine maiden?

Sarasa: Hakurei shrine maiden.

Negoro: Yeah, her. ...Okay, wow, we're getting off-topic. So, basically, the reason we, Miss Kaidou and the Bookstore, and the Kaikeidou itself are all here, is because of Lady Mikoto and that Lady Otohime you mentioned?

Sarasa: Yep, that's basically it. When we head over there next time to give them a finished copy of the book, maybe we should give them something to show our thanks?

Negoro: Hm. What kind of present can we even give them...? Like, they're gods, but we're just youkai, y'know?

Sarasa: How about we bring them some of our scales?

Negoro: Uh. That seems kind of... blood sacrificey.

Negoro: Although, the Kaikeidou and its sea being created are what led to us and the Sea God Bookstore existing, so I guess just writing this book is a thank-you in its own way?

Sarasa: Yeah, you could put it like that.

Negoro: We can't dance or fight like the Kai sisters, either. I'm so jealous of all those cool games they get to play...

Sarasa: Negoro, you want to fight?

Negoro: Well, I wanna play-fight.

Sarasa: Why not play-fight with Miss Kaidou, the~en?

Negoro: You really think she'd deign to play with us? Plus, there's her ability to worry about too... even if we had a proper match, it'd probably end with her reading every single one of my moves.

Sarasa: Then... how about me?

Negoro: You're way too slow. It wouldn't even be a competition.

Sarasa: Aww...

Negoro: Hey, now that I think about it. When I went to do interviews at the Kaikeidou this one other time, there was this kind of weirdly dramatic atmosphere, right? And everyone was in such a hurry that I couldn't get any info out of them at all. I think they said there was an intruder there...

Sarasa: Really~?

Negoro: I never met whoever it was, but apparently some super-strong youkai broke in, and Minamo and Suzuri were all sprawled out on the ground...

Sarasa: Sounds really dangerous.

Negoro: Well, I got as far as the entry hall and then high-tailed it outta there. What do you think it was, though?

Sarasa: I wo~onder... Maybe it was, like, a really big-name youkai~? Y'know, like the ones we've heard rumours about lately.

Negoro: A really big one... well, you've got your nurarihyons, your orochis... oh, not to mention the kuda--

Sarasa: Hey, Miss Kaidou's back!

Negoro: Miss Kaidou...!

Production:

Sea God Bookstore: "Kaidou" ・A bookstore that produces books detailing key events in the deep seas of fantasy. Deep, deep down, at depths that humans can't hope to reach, they keep a quiet collection of books found nowhere else; records of mysteries more distant than the stars. The only ones who know whether these events are fantasy or reality are the various "studios" lined up within the Bookstore's walls.

・"Kaidou" is one of the studios within the Sea God Bookstore, run by one of the Bookstore's managers, Minogiku Kaidou. Its employees all receive the surname "Kaidou," based on Minogiku's studio name. The other studios mainly do archival work, but "Kaidou" is one of the few that publish books and magazines. They serialize magazines, journals and tabloids, compile, edit and publish full-fledged books, and so on.

Authors:

Sarasa Kaidou (海堂 さらさ) ・A journalist employed at "Kaidou" in the Sea God Bookstore. She is Minogiku Kaidou's direct subordinate, and in this book, she conducted the interviews for the six elder Kai sisters. One of the mermaids native to the ocean surrounding the Kaikeidou; after coming into existence in Gensokyo due to certain particular circumstances, she was adopted by Minogiku Kaidou. It seems she has some past connection to the outside world...?

Negoro Kaidou (海堂 ねごろ) ・A journalist employed at "Kaidou" in the Sea God Bookstore. She came to work at the Bookstore with Sarasa's help, and is currently employed as one of Minogiku Kaidou's subordinates. She conducted the interviews for the four youngest Kai sisters. Hails from the ocean surrounding the Kaikeidou; were it not for her job at the Bookstore, she would be like any other mermaid who swims carefree in the sea.

etc...

Editor:

Minogiku Kaidou (海堂 水乃菊) ・The administrator of the Sea God Bookstore's "Kaidou" studio; within the studio itself, she serves as the chief editor. She's a mermaid with a keen sense for information, which she makes full use of to produce the various serial publications she oversees. On top of her deep craving for information, she makes a strong habit of guessing what people are thinking, so she's often mistaken for a satori; however, she's 100% mermaid. As can be inferred from how she gives the Kaidou studio name to all her direct subordinates, she's deeply possessive in addition to knowledge-hungry. If you're foolish enough to spark her interest in you, she may very well steal all the information you have. Prepare thyself.

[chanoyu-to-wa]

Nampō Roku, Book 7 (11c):  the Kaki-ire [書入], Part 2:  the Uma no Hi-ai [午ノ火相] and the Tori no Hi-ai [酉ノ火相].

(Continuing the kaki-ire [書入].)

￮ When we speak about the Uma no hi-ai [午の火相], this is the hi-ai for a gathering [that will be] held in the afternoon¹.

    Around noon, the interior of the ro [containing the remains of the fire] from the morning should be refreshed, and a full set of charcoal should be laid².  This [fire] will develop into the shita-bi [下火], that will [be used] when the guests enter [for a gathering in mid-afternoon]³. 〚[It is necessary to rebuild the fire at this time because] the strength of the dawn fire will be fading away⁴.〛

￮ As for the Tori no hi-ai [酉ノ火相], this is the hi-ai for the night gathering⁵.

￮ This [Tori no hi-ai] has the same feeling as [the hi-ai established] at dawn⁶. 〚From the time when the light starts to fade from the sky, guests might arrive [early],〛so [the host] should understand that the way things are done mirrors [what was done] at dawn [if guests arrive early at that time]⁷.

￮ Around the [Hour of the] Rooster, the hi-ai should be refreshed.

     After the interior of the ro has been cleaned, [it is possible for guests] to enter the room [early].  [In this case,] things are done in a manner similar to an ordinary night gathering⁸.  If they came before [the host] had cleaned [the ro], they should sit [in the koshi-kake] chatting leisurely.  This kind of guest should not ask to be allowed to watch [the host's actions] until after the shita-bi [has been arranged in the ro]⁹.

￮ If the host is a master, [the guests] should certainly [consider] doing something like that -- and it is the same at dawn¹⁰.

￮ Whether at dawn, or at dusk, because there will be nothing to entertain [the guests] while they wait [for the kama filled with cold water to come to a boil, so tea can be served], there is the case where an incense burner, or something of the sort, is brought out [so that the guests can pass the time appreciating incense].  This is the usual way things are done [on occasions of this sort]¹¹.

     In a 4.5-mat room, there is [also] the case where a [box of] tanzaku [短尺], a suzuri [硯], and other such things, are placed out [on the tsuke-shoin, or in the toko], so that -- according to [the inclinations of] the guests -- they may [enjoy writing or reading] poetry¹².

     But [when the guests are invited to entertain themselves like this] it is very important for the host to control the length of time that is passed in this way¹³.

_________________________

◎ In this section, the discussion moves on to the Uma no hi-ai [午ノ火相] and the Tori no hi-ai [酉ノ火相] -- the hi-ai at noon and at dusk respectively.

    It is extremely important to clarify something, since nothing is really said about this in the text*, and the idea is the complete opposite of what we usually imagine chanoyu to be today, based upon the teachings and practices of the modern schools.

    What we would consider to be a “full” sumi-temae, where a complete set of charcoal is arranged in the ro around a shita-bi (a process similar, in most of its technical details, to what is usually called the sho-zumi temae [初炭手前] today, the arrangement of the charcoal at the beginning of the shoza) is what the host was supposed to do at dawn (to establish the Tora no hi-ai), at noon (when he repairs the fire to establish the Uma no hi-ai), and at dusk (to establish the Tori no hi-ai).  Almost always, these processes were never witnessed by the guests†; and the attention to the fire at dawn, noon, and dusk, was supposed to be undertaken every single day, regardless of the time of the chakai -- or, indeed, irrespective of whether a chakai was going to be held on that day or not.

    In contrast to this, the sumi-temae at the beginning of a chakai -- whether in the morning (for an asa-kai [朝會]), in the afternoon (for a hiru-kai [晝會]), or at night (for a yo-kai [夜會]) -- most closely resembled the modern schools’ go-sumi-temae [後炭手前] -- the sumi-temae that is inserted between the service of koicha and usucha (when these are prepared in separate temae) -- which entails repairing the fire by adding no more charcoal than the host deems necessary to keep the kama boiling until the service of the gathering has been concluded.  This is how far modern-day chanoyu has diverged from the chanoyu of Rikyū and Jōō, and it is the reason why the old writings are nearly impossible for modern people to understand. ___________ *Because its intended audience were aware that the most common times for chanoyu were mid-morning and in the early evening (and only rarely in mid-afternoon) -- this is why the old writings always focus their attention on the asa-kai [朝會] (which usually was scheduled to begin either in the middle of the Tatsu-no-koku [辰の刻], around 8:00 AM, or at the beginning of the Mi-no-koku [巳の刻], around 9:00 AM) and the yo-kai [夜會] (which typically started either during the second half of the Tori-no-koku [酉の刻], or at the beginning of the Inu-no-koku [戌の刻], in other words, at 6:00 or 7:00 PM), while things like the (modern-preferred) shōgo chaji [正午茶事] (which requires the guests to gather at the site of the chakai around 11:30 AM) are never mentioned at all.

†Because these occasions were regarded as “maintenance work,” it was inappropriate for guests to be invited to come at such times -- so the documented instances where a guest was present were usually the result of a guest arriving spontaneously (this is the way most scholars interpret the “Tennōji-ya Sōkyū and the snowy dawn” episode -- though that is actually not correct), or of one coming early for a gathering that was scheduled for later in the day.

¹Uma no hi-ai to iu ha, hiru no kai no hi-ai nari [午ノ火相ト云ハ、ヒルノ會ノ火相也].

    Uma no hi-ai [午の火相] is the hi-ai that is established at noon.

    In other words, the fire that is repaired* at noon is what will be used at a gathering held in the afternoon†.

    Hiru no kai [晝の會] refers to a chakai hosted sometime between noon and dusk‡.  Here it refers to a gathering that saw the guests arrive at the middle of the Hitsuji-no-koku [未の刻]** (2:00 PM), or the beginning of the Saru-no-koku [申の刻] (3:00 PM). ___________ *At dawn and at dusk the ro is emptied, and a full set of charcoal is laid around embers.  These fires are based on a dō-sumi [胴炭], a long piece of charcoal (it measures 5-sun long, and is usually between 1-sun 8-bu and 2-sun 1-bu in diameter) which is laid on its side on the side of the ro that faces toward the guests’ seats.

    At noon, however, the remnants of the dawn fire are collected together in the middle of the ro, and the charcoal arranged around this.  At noon, the foundation for the fire is a wa-dō [輪胴], a cylindrical piece of charcoal (it measures 2-sun long, and is usually a little over 2-sun in diameter) that is stood upright on the side of the ro toward the guests.

    The reason why the largest piece of charcoal should be placed on the side of the ro that is facing toward the guests is because it both moderates the heat that radiates in that direction (this is most important when one of the guests is seated near the ro, such as when it is a mukō-ro), and also tends to prevent an eruption of sparks from shooting out of the ro toward them (which could be disconcerting, if not usually dangerous).

†According to Rikyū’s own kai-ki [會記], such gatherings usually started at the beginning of the Saru-no-koku [申の刻] (3:00 PM).

‡The use of hiru [晝] to mean noon is relatively recent.  Classically, it referred to the daytime hours, the hours when the sun is in the sky.  And, together with asa [朝], it defined the daylight hours -- asa being used for the part of the day from dawn to noon, and hiru being used to designate the time between noon and dusk.

**I have seen Hitsuji-no-koku [未の刻] written Hitsuji-no-koku [羊の刻], using the kanji for sheep (hitsuji [羊]), since this is the “Hour of the Sheep;” however, this rendering is certainly non-standard (and many would argue that it is wrong).

²Asa yori no ro-chū Uma-no-toki no koro ni aratame, ittan suru [朝ヨリノ爐中午ノ時ノ頃ニアラタメ、一炭スル].

    Ro-chū [爐中] means inside the ro; the interior of the ro.

    In other words, around noon the interior of the ro should be cleaned up.  The white coating of ash should be scraped off (using the hibashi), the dō-zumi [胴炭] (which will be almost burned through at this point in time) should be broken in half (again, using the hibashi), with the halves being stood upright, and then all of the burning pieces of charcoal should be collected together in the middle of the ro.  Then shimeshi-bai is sprinkled around the perimeter of the fire, where the new charcoal will be stood.

     Ittan suru [一炭する]:  the layer of gitcho that were piled on top (in the fukube) are moved into the hai-ki until the wa-dō [輪胴] (see the first sub-note under the previous footnote -- the wa-dō is placed on the bottom of the fukube, along with one more dō-sumi, and then they are covered over with gitchō) is exposed.  Then the wa-dō is moved into the ro and stood on the side of the fire toward the guests’ seats.  Then gitchō (selected from those in the hai-ki) are arranged in a semi-circle around the burning embers.

    The gitchō should be leaning inward slightly, since this helps them to catch fire more easily.

³Kore sunawachi kyaku-iri no shita-bi ni naru nari [コレ則客入ノ下火ニナル也].

    Kore sunawachi [これ則ち] means this will be (what serves as the shita-bi after the guests enter the room).

    Kyaku-iri [客入] means the arrival (or entry) of the guests.  However, it is extremely important to understand that the arrival of the guests is not imminent at the time when this set of charcoal is being laid*.  The hi-ai established at noon will be used as the shita-bi for a gathering that begins in mid-afternoon (around 3:00 PM). ___________ *Even some scholars (most of whom have close ties to one of the modern schools) seem to be confused over this point -- a result of the overwhelming prevalence of the shōgo-chaji in the modern tea world.

⁴Following the preceding sentence, Shibayama Fugen’s teihon [底本] adds the words akatsuki no hi-kagen to ha tou nari [曉ノ火加減トハ遠フナリ], which means “the strength of the dawn fire is fading away*.” ___________ *Tou [遠ふ = 遠う] is a rarely seen archaism.

    Cf. the first example cited here:  https://furigana.info/w/%E9%81%A0:%E3%81%A8

     Here, tou [遠う] means something like “receding into the past,” “fading into the past;” “becoming more distant all the time.”

⁵Tori no hi-ai to ha yo-kai no hi-ai no koto nari [酉ノ火相トハ夜會ノ火相ノコト也].

    Tori no hi-ai [酉の火相] refers to the hi-ai established at dusk.  As in the previous instances, the guests are usually not present when this is done.

    The procedure is similar to what is done at dawn, albeit the ro has to be cleaned out first.

    The host begins by bringing a handa-hōroku [半田炮烙] and soko-tori [底取] (and, today, a pair of naga-hibashi [長火箸]*, though in Rikyū’s day it seems that the ordinary ro-hibashi -- with wooden handles to protect from the heat -- were used) out to the utensil mat.  After removing the kama to the mizuya, all of the remaining pieces of charcoal and larger embers are moved into the handa-hōroku.  Then the soko-tori is used to scoop up the surface layer of ash and minute embers within the circle defined by the legs of the gotoku, and this is also poured into the handa-hōroku.  Then, using the hibashi and soko-tori, the ash surface is smoothed into a slightly depressed bowl shape, and then shimeshi-bai is sprinkled over the entire surface of the ash in the ro.

     Several of the larger pieces of burning charcoal are returned to the ro, where they are grouped together in the center, to form the shita-bi.  Then a full set of charcoal is arranged around the burning pieces, as usual†.  Then the handa-hōroku, containing the remaining pieces of burning charcoal and hot ashes that were removed from the ro, is carried out to the mizuya.

     The host then cleans the kama by dipping hot water out with a hishaku and pouring this over the sides until it is half empty.  Then, protecting the sides of the kama with a pair of folded towels (the oil of the hands can damage the patina of the iron), the kama is picked up and all of the remaining water poured into the chakin-darai.  After rinsing the bottom of the kama by pouring hot water over it with a hishaku, it is scoured with a sort of brush called a kiri-wara [切り藁]‡.  After rinsing, the kama is turned over again, and filled (to a point just below the bottom of the kan-tsuki) using the dawn water that was stored in the mizu-kame [水甕]**.  Then the kama is carried out into the tearoom, and placed in the ro.  And after sweeping the utensil mat, the host turns his attention to other tasks that he must undertake before darkness falls.

     Tori no hi-ai to ha yo-kai no hi-ai no koto nari [酉の火相とは夜会の火相のことなり]:  the charcoal that the host has just laid will burn and heat the kama.  The kama will come to a full boil, and then, as the fire wanes and collapses, it declines to a sub-boiling state.  This is the desired condition for the hi-ai and yu-ai when the guests enter the room for the shoza of a night gathering -- and so it is the remains of the fire that was started at dusk (the Tori no hi-ai) that will serve as the shita-bi for the sumi-temae that is performed at the beginning of the yo-kai††.

    In Shibayama Fugen’s teihon, the phrases of this sentence are inverted:  yo-kai no hi-ai wo Tori no hi-ai to iu [夜會ノ火相ヲ酉ノ火相ト云], but the meaning is identical -- the hi-ai for the night gathering is provided by the fire that was established at dusk. ___________ *These are especially long hibashi (usually with the ends of the handles wrapped in a piece of  bamboo sheath, held in place by loosely coiling a length of dark-green cord around it; the handles usually have rings on the end, and they were formerly attached to each other by a short chain, preventing the host from inadvertently dropping them) that allow the host to work in the ro for a prolonged time without exposing his hands to the intense heat that has accumulated between dawn and now.  (The original ro-dan was made of mud-plaster, and this tends to become very hot, and continue to remain so even as the fire in the ro goes into a decline.)

†The way the charcoal is laid resembles the ordinary ro no sho-zumi temae [爐の初炭手前] as taught by the modern schools, with the only difference being that the guests are not present.

‡The kiri-wara [切り藁] is made from the outer leaf-sheaths of the sago palm (Cycas revoluta), rolled into a bundle and then bound with a series of copper wires.  The lower end is frayed, and this is used to scour the bottom of the kama.  Unlike other scouring tools, the kiri-wara causes minimal damage the surface of the iron -- though, even still, the host should restrict the scouring to the bottom and sides below the scar left where the top and bottom halves of the kama mold met.

**Mizu-kame [水甕] is a large, usually glazed ceramic, jar, with a wooden lid, in which the remaining water that was drawn at dawn is stored until needed later in the day.

††The sumi-temae performed during the shoza of the yo-kai is similar to what the modern schools teach as the ordinary ro no go-sumi-temae [爐の後炭手前], the abbreviated sumi-temae usually used when repairing the fire during the goza, between the koicha-temae and the usucha-temae.

    Because Rikyū felt that, especially in the wabi setting, it was inappropriate to add charcoal to the fire more than once (indeed, he says that the estimation of the skill of the host is based on his ability to arrange the charcoal in such a way that the fire does not fail while the guests are still in the room, yet begins to decline slightly after the host concludes his usucha-temae -- indicating that there was only as much fuel used as needed), he preferred to serve usucha during the koicha-temae -- using the matcha that remained in the chaire as a way not only to save time (since the host would not have to go through the motions of cleaning a new tea container and the chashaku), but so he could use as much of the tea as possible while it was still fresh, so it would not go to waste (each time the tea was exposed to the air, its quality was felt to decline, so by the end of the gathering, the tea remaining in the chaire could never be used to serve guests on a subsequent occasion).

⁶Akatsuki ni nitaru-kokoro ari [曉ニ似タル心アリ].

    Nitaru-kokoro [似たる心] means to have the same feeling* as (the hi-ai that was established at dawn).

    The reason for this was explained under the previous footnote:  the ro is emptied and cleaned, and then a new fire is established from scratch.

    There are two important differences here, however.  First, at dawn the interior of the ro is cold, while at dusk, the ro is very hot; and, while the dawn fire was started by arranging the charcoal on top of a bed of embers that was spread within the circle defined by the gotoku, here the remnants of the earlier fire are gathered into the center of the ro, with the charcoal laid around the periphery.  As a result of the heat and the shimeshi-bai (which creates a strong updraft as it evaporates), the fire catches quickly, but burns more smoothly (because the charcoal is burning sideways, rather than from the bottom up).

    The foundation of the Tori no hi-ai is a dō-sumi [胴炭]†, just as was the fire at dawn.  And, also as at dawn, the kama is wet when it is lowered into the ro‡. __________ *This idiomatic use of kokoro is extremely difficult to translate into English.  While the kanji itself means heart or mind, when used in this way it refers to a feeling, mood, mindset; or an imitation, some situation that imitates another.  So a more accurate translation might be that (the laying of the fire at dusk to establish the Tori no hi-ai) mimics the laying of the fire at dawn.

†Please refer to the first sub-note under footnote 1 for details.

‡While this outwardly looks the same, however, the water in the kama is now at room temperature (which, even in the winter, in Japan, would be almost always well above freezing by late afternoon), meaning it is warmer than when first drawn from the well.  As a result, the kama will boil faster than at dawn.

⁷Akatsuki no hataraki kokoro-e-beshi [曉ノハタラキ可心得].

    Shibayama’s teihon includes a phrase at the beginning of this sentence which helps to qualify the rest:  yū-sari yori kuru-kyaku ari, akasuki no hataraki kokoro-e-beshi [夕サリヨリ來ル客アリ、曉ノハタラキ可心得].

    Yū-sari yori [夕去りより]:  yū-sari refers to the time of day when the light in the sky begins to fade.  The sun has dipped below the horizon, and, slowly, the sky darkens from blue to gray to purple.  Yū-sari yori [夕去りより] means “from this time....”

    Kuru-kyaku [來る客] means guests who have arrived (for a scheduled chakai).  In other words, this is referring to the case where one (or more) of the guests who were invited to a night gathering have, unexpectedly, arrived early (usually with the intention of watching the host’s preparations).

    Akatsuki no hataraki kokoro-e-beshi [曉の働き心得べし] means that (the host) should understand (kokoro-e-beshi [心得べし]) that the way things are done (hataraki [働き]) is the same as at dawn (akatsuki [曉 ]).

    In other words, when guests come early, in order to watch the host establish the Tori no hi-ai, what he does (in front of their eyes) should be the same as if guests came at dawn.

    At dusk, the fire in the ro has been burning constantly since dawn.  Thus, before the host can set about laying the fire for the Tori no hi-ai, he first has to clean out the ro -- as was explained in detail, in the previous two footnotes.  Because this is somewhat dangerous, the host needs to be able to concentrate on what he is doing without any possibility of distraction.  Thus, even if the guest has arrived earlier, he must wait in the koshi-kake until the ro is cleaned, the select embers are arranged in the center of the ro, and the handa-hōroku (containing the rest of the burning charcoal, embers, and hot ash) has been removed to the mizuya.  At this point, the ro is in the same basic state as it was at dawn, so it is from this time that the guest can enter the tearoom and watch the host’s preparation of the Tori no hi-ai.

    It is important to point out that, while the guests might come early at dawn and at dusk, there is nothing comparable to this at noon, when the host establishes the Uma no hi-ai (the hi-ai that is established at noon), because at that time the ro is not cleaned out.  Rather, at noon, the host simply brushing the white coating of ash off of the charcoal with the hibashi, and the remnant of the dawn’s dō-sumi [胴炭] is broken in half (if necessary -- though by this time, what remains of any of the pieces will be little more than a small ember*), and then moves all of the pieces together into the middle of the ro.  After that he sprinkles some shimeshi-bai around the sides of the ro (to cover any bits of white ash, mostly to make things look tidy), and so arranges a set of charcoal around the pile of embers.  

    The Uma no hi-ai (as mentioned above) is based on a wa-dō [輪胴].  A wa-dō is similar to a gitchō [毬杖], but with a diameter that might be close to twice that of the average gitchō†.  The rest of the "set" will consist of gitchō and gitchō that broke in half when being cut -- while the total number of pieces depends on the host's experience of what is necessary‡. ___________ *The host would not usually give more than one chakai on any given day (and, indeed, when following this practice as an exercise in the cultivation of ones samadhi, hosting a chakai would be more the exception, rather than the rule).  Thus, when we speak about rebuilding the fire here, it is what remains of the dawn fire that the host would usually be dealing with, not the fire after a morning gathering.

†In Jōō’s and Rikyū’s period, the host usually cut the charcoal himself, starting with the 3-shaku long pieces that were purchased in bundles of 30 from the charcoal seller.  As these were made from pine branches, the end that was attached to the trunk was usually considerably thicker than the other end.  Two or three lengths of charcoal would usually yield enough cut pieces to fill the fukube.

    A wa-dō was cut off the end of the thickest piece, and dō-sumi, were cut off the ends of the other pieces.  Then, what remained were cut into gitchō (and since some of the gitchō usually break in half lengthwise during the cutting process, these provided the host with smaller pieces that could be used when the larger gitchō would be too much).

    How much charcoal to use was a matter of experience -- and also depended on whether there would be an afternoon chakai or not.  If there was not going to be an afternoon gathering, then the fire would be arranged to burn more slowly, so there would still be some larger embers left when the host went to establish the Tori no hi-ai at dusk.

‡Including whether this fire will be used as the shita-bi for a gathering that will be hosted in the middle of the afternoon, or whether the fire will have to last until dusk, to provide the shita-bi for the Tori no hi-ai that will be established at that time.

⁸Tori no koro ni hi-ai aratame, ro-chū sōji shitaru ato ni, tori ge-koku za-iri ha tsune no yo-kai betsu no koto nashi [酉ノ頃ニ火相アラタメ、爐中掃除シタルアトニ、酉下刻座入ハ常ノ夜會別ノコトナシ].

    Tori no koro ni [酉の頃に] means around the Tori-no-koku [酉の刻] -- during the hour or so before dusk starts to fall*.

    Ro-chū sōji shitaru ato ni [爐中掃除したる後に] means “after (ato ni [後に]) the interior of the ro (ro-chū [爐中]) has been cleaned (sōji shitaru [掃除したる])” -- this preparation of the ro includes the laying of the new set of charcoal, and the placing of the wet kama in the ro.

    Tori gekoku za-iri [酉下刻座入] means (the guests) enter the room (during) the second half of the “Hour of the Rooster” (sometime between 6:00 and 7:00 PM)†.  The sky is still fairly light at this time, but dusk will be falling.  The availability of natural lighting is important so that the guests can see the arrangement of the tokonoma (which usually contains the chabana on this occasion).  But it is important that the za-iri does not take place until after the kama has begun to decline‡ -- otherwise, when the host tries to repair the fire, he will end up putting in too much charcoal, meaning the kama will be in danger of boiling over (and the fire going out again before the service of usucha can be concluded).

    Tsune no yo-kai betsu no koto nashi [常の夜会別のことなし] means nothing is different from an ordinary yo-kai other than the time that the guests enter the room.  The biggest difference is that the availability of natural lighting means that the guests will be able to appreciate the chabana (which, as mentioned above, is usually displayed during the shoza at a yū-sari gathering), since after dark artificial lighting usually makes the flower arrangement hard to see clearly. __________ *The host should undertake the work of establishing the Tori no hi-ai while the sky is still quite light, so he can clearly see what he is doing.  The Tori-no-koku [酉の刻] extends from 5:00 to 7:00 PM, with the sky growing perceptibly darker after the middle of this “hour” (that is, from around 6:00 PM -- though this actually differs depending on the time of year, since the koku [刻], “hours” vary in length depending upon the amount of light versus darkness on any given day).

†This is not an ordinary yo-kai [夜會] (night gathering), however, even though the details of the two gatherings are generally similar.  This kind of chakai is sometimes titled the yū-sari-no-kai [夕去りの會].

    While most of the details are the same, there is one big difference:  at a yū-sari gathering, the chabana is usually displayed during the shoza, with the kakemono not being shown until the goza.  Putting yin and yang philosophizing aside, the simple fact is that flowers always look best when viewed under natural light.

    At a night gathering (but never at a yu-sari no kai), especially in the small room, the chabana (which, during this gathering, was generally displayed during the goza) was often replaced by a kake-tō-dai [掛け燈臺], a hanging oil-lamp suspended from the hook in the middle of the back wall of the tokonoma (during Jōō and Rikyū's period).  Hanging the oil lamp in the toko in this way was called tō-ka [燈華] (“lamp-flower”), which is a pun on the word for flower (ka [華]), and the word for flame (ka [火]).

    The tō-ka was one of Jōō’s greatest secrets -- and one that confuses most scholars even today (since the practice of suspending the oil lamp at the back of the toko is unknown to most of the modern schools).

    Regarding the kake-tō-dai, the saucer of oil is placed on what looks like a wa-nashi ichi-jū-giri [輪無し一重切], a bamboo ichi-jū-giri that lacks the ring of bamboo usually found above the mouth -- though, in this case, the lower part is reduced to a ring no thicker than necessary to support the saucer of oil safely (as can be seen in the photo).  This detail (which made its first appearance during Rikyū’s last years) makes it resemble a flower arrangement even more -- with the flame taking the place of the flower.

‡The burning pieces of charcoal that remained from the Uma no hi-ai [午の火相] (the fire that was established at noon) should have crumbled into ash by the time that the guests are admitted to the room for the shoza of a yū-sari chakai.  Therefore, during the sumi-temae, the host moves several pieces of burning charcoal from the periphery into the middle of the ro, and fills in the spaces with fresh gitchō [毬杖] from the fukube.  The dō-sumi [胴炭] should still be reasonably intact, however, so it may be left in situ -- since turning it around, or breaking it in half (as is done during the sumi-temae at a yo-kai) will likely make the resulting fire burn too hotly, meaning the kama might boil over, and then start to fade too early as the fast-burning fire starts to go out.

    These are things that cannot be understood except from years of experience performing chanoyu with a charcoal fire.  They cannot be learned from books, or even from watching it done once or twice in keiko.  The result has been the rise of the “electric” ro -- so that most modern chajin really do not know how to use charcoal any more.

⁹Sōji-mae-yori kite, yuru-yuru katatte, shita-bi yori shosa-shite miru-beki shomō no kyaku ari [掃除前ヨリ來テ、ユル〰語テ、下火ヨリ所作シテ見ルベキ所望ノ客アリ].

    Sōji-mae-yori kite [掃除前より來て] means (the guests) arrive before (the host) begins to clean (the ro -- at dusk).  In other words, it is their intention to watch the host establish the Tori no hi-ai*.

    Yuru-yuru katatte [緩々語って] means to chat leisurely.  This is referring to the behavior of the guests, if they decided to come early.  Even if they entered the roji before the host started cleaning the ro, they should wait in the koshi-kake, chatting leisurely, until the host has finished the cleaning, and the shita-bi has been arranged in the ro, before making the request to be allowed to watch what the host is doing.  They should never try to watch his cleaning of the ro.

    Shita-bi yori shosa-shite miru-beki shomō no kyaku ari [下火より所作して見るべき所望の客あり]:  there are guests (kyaku ari [客あり]) who ask to be allowed to watch (miru-beki shomō [見るべき所望]) the preparations (shosa-shite [所作して]) starting from the shita-bi (shita-bi yori [下火より]).

    While, since the Edo period, it became customarily to submit this request to the host beforehand, in Jōō’s and Rikyū’s day it seems that the guest would just show up early -- around the time that he knew the host would have entered the tearoom to begin his preparations (this is why it says sōji-mae yori kite [掃除前より来て], arriving before the cleaning begins).

     However, even though he arrived around the time when he imagined the host was going to begin his preparations, the guest would be left to wait in the koshi-kake until the host had finished taking out the fire, cleaning the ro, spreading fresh shimeshi-bai, inserting the shita-bi, and removing the handa-hōroku from the room -- because this part of the process is inherently dangerous (on account of the extreme flammability of just about everything in the tearoom), so the host must be allowed to concentrate on what he is doing and not be inadvertently distracted by the presence of a guest and his conversation.

    This is why it says shita-bi yori...miru-beki shomō [下火より...見るべき所望], which means he asks to watch starting from the shita-bi (rather than starting with the cleaning that precedes the laying of the charcoal around the shita-bi).  In other words, he is going to watch the host’s sumi-temae (which would resemble the modern schools’ sho-zumi [初炭] -- albeit with the wet kama not being brought out from the mizuya until after the charcoal had been arranged in the ro). __________ *The same thing was sometimes done at dawn, but the earliness of the hour, and the fact that most people prefer to remain in bed during that coldest hour before dawn breaks in winter, means that anyone with an inclination to spy out the host's lapses (just for the sake of doing so) would prefer to wait until a more reasonable hour.  And late afternoon is certainly a more reasonable hour -- especially, if the guest was already planning to attend the night gathering, coming an hour or so early would not really be a problem, since he would have most likely had to close up shop in the early afternoon, so he could go home to bathe and dress for the chakai.

¹⁰Kōsha no teishu ni kanarazu kaku-no-gotoki-no-koto ari, akatsuki no gotoku nari [功者ノ亭主ニカナラズ如此ノコトアリ、曉ノゴトク也].

    Kosha no teishu [功者の亭主] means a host who is fully matured; an host who has many years of experience.

    Kaku-no-gotoki-no-koto [如此のこと] is referring to the case discussed in the previous footnote, where one (or all) of the guests comes early, in order to watch the host's preparations.

    Akatsuki no gotoku nari [曉の如くなり] means “it is also the same at dawn.”

    In other words, when the host is a man of great experience, it will be a wonderful opportunity -- that might not occur again -- for the guests to avail themselves of his experience by arriving early to watch him execute his preparations.

    And while this should always be done in the case of a gathering that was scheduled for the evening, it is also an excellent reason for the guests to put comfort aside and get up early, and so present themselves at the host’s gate at dawn, so they can watch this master’s preparations for the day from the beginning.

¹¹Akatsuki mo yū-sari mo, za-no-kyō nakute ha machi-hisashiki mono naru yue, kōro nado dasu-koto tsune no koto nari [曉モ夕サリモ、坐ノ興ナクテハ待久シキモノナルユヘ、香爐ナド出スコト常ノコト也].

    Za-no-kyō [座の興]* means amusement, entertainment.

    Machi-hisashii-mono [待ち久しい] means in this situation (they must) wait for a long time.

    In other words, whether the guests come at dawn, or to watch the host's establishment of the Tori no hi-ai at dusk, because there will be nothing to amuse them while waiting for the kama to begin to boil†, an incense burner should be brought out, so the guests can pass the time appreciating kyara [伽羅] incense‡.  Then this can be stopped at an appropriate time so that the guests can finish eating the meal, and kashi, before the kama comes to a boil. __________ *The word would be zakyō [座興] today.

†In both of these situations, the host is starting with a kama filled with cold water.  At dawn, the ro is cold, as is the water, so it will take even longer; but even at dusk, where the ro is hot and the water room temperature, the delay before tea can be served will be very long -- too long for just the simple “one-soup, three-dishes-of-cooked-vegetables” meal that was typical of Rikyū’s chakai (as well as those of Jōō’s latter period) to fill comfortably.  Since this meal was intended to take no more than 15 minutes to eat, there will be quite a lot of time left.

    It is in voicing this concern that we see how far modern-day chanoyu has diverged from the path laid down by Jōō and Rikyū.  Because, taking their cue from the way things were done in Jōō's middle period (when everything was still based on the Shino family’s kō-kai [香會]), where the practice was to serve a meal based on the court banquet, the problem is not that there will be too much time, but that there will still not be time enough to serve everything, before the kama begins to sputter.  This makes this entry difficult for modern scholars to explain in the context of their school’s vision of the chaji, even if they can understand the meaning of the words.

‡Since people of that time usually brought along some of their own favorite kyara, there will be enough to occupy them for 45 minutes to an hour, if necessary.  After which the ordinary simple meal, and then kashi, can be served, bringing everything up to schedule.

    Since the gathering was actually scheduled for the evening, it is not likely that the meal would have been ready at the conclusion of the sumi-temae in any case.  Thus, appreciating incense will give the host (or his assistants) time to put the meal together while the kama slowly heats.

¹²Yojō-han ni te tanzaku・suzuri nado oite, shiika-tō kyaku ni yorite aru koto nari [四疊半ニテ短尺・硯ナド置テ、詩哥等客ニヨリテアルコトナリ].

    Tanzaku・suzurinado oite [短冊・硯など置いて]:  the tanzaku* are usually placed in a special lacquered box (made to match their dimensions).  It was also conventional for the box to contain a mixture of tanzaku that were written by (usually famous†) poets as well as a selection of blank strips, on which the guests could choose to write their own poems; a suzuri [硯] is an inkstone, but usually the word refers to a writing box, which contained not only the stone, but a stick of ink, a water dropper, and one or several writing brushes.  If the host suspected that something like a renga challenge would materialize, he would also provide a pack of writing paper and a low writing desk on which the person elected secretary could keep a record of the poems (and, sometimes, of the participants’ evaluation that was traditionally directed at each).  Such varied things are covered by the word “nado” [など].

    If the room had a built-in writing desk (a dashi fu-zukue [出し文机], or tsuke-shoin [付書院]), these things would be arranged there.  Otherwise, they were placed out on the floor of the toko.

    Shiika-tō [詩歌等]‡ means poetics, the practice of poetry; the act of composing poems.

    The suggestion might be something like renga [連歌] (which was very popular at the time), where a number of people take part in the composition of a long poem.  This is probably why this activity is reserved to the yojō-han, since the small number of guests in the sō-an would make the activity much less interesting (so it is unlikely that it would occupy the time between the end of the sumi-temae and the time when the simple meal was to be served).

    This is naturally premised on whether the guests are interested in such activities or not. ___________ *Tanzaku [短冊] (tanzaku [短尺] is a mistake that was common during the period) are strips of decorative paper (usually imported from the continent) on which a single waka poem could be written.  Each piece measures 1-shaku 2-sun by 2-sun.

†Or, in the case of Rikyū, poems written by Hideyoshi or prominent members of his court who had a poetic turn of mind (several men from noble families were found among his court, and both poetry and calligraphy were elements of their training).  The precise nature of the poems depended both on the circumstances of the gathering (such as the time of year), and the specific guests who were invited.

‡Once again, shiika [詩哥], though commonly used during the sixteenth century, is a mistake.  The word is correctly written shiika [詩歌].

¹³Teishu no nobe chiji-me kan-yō nari [亭主ノノベチヾメ肝要也].

    Nobe-chijime [延べ縮め]:  noberu [延べる] means to draw out, prolong; chijimeru [縮める] means to reduce, abridge.

    Kanyō [肝要] means crucial, essential, very important.

    In other words when the guests, having come early, are doing something to pass the time while waiting for the water to boil -- whether it is appreciating incense*, or composing renga† -- they can all too easily loose track of time.  Therefore, the host (if nobody else) has to keep an eye on the kama, and either put a stop to the proceedings, or encourage the guests to indulge in one more round as the present situation demands, so that the meal and kashi (which will be served after the present activity is concluded) will be finished just as the kama begins to reach a low boil.  Because, regardless of how delightful these other activities might be to all concerned, the purpose of the present gathering is chanoyu, and so its demands must take precedence over all else. __________ *Since the host would have prepared at least two varieties of kyara [伽羅] for the guests to enjoy, and each guest would probably have brought along one or two varieties of his own as a matter of course (people carried small pieces of incense wood in their right sleeve to perfume their breath, by holding a piece under their tongue, in those days before the advent of mouthwash; and, in the years before the forced segregation of the different arts became a rule in the Edo period, most cultured people became competent in at least several different interests:  most of Jōō's original guests were people whom he had met at the Shino family’s kō-kai, and even in Rikyū’s day the majority of the people interested in chanoyu were also drawn from the same cultural pool).  As a result, the appreciation of incense, once started, could easily continue for several hours if there were four or five guests in the room (remember, each variety of incense was traditionally passed around the room at least three times, so that each guest could appreciate all different stages of burning that quality incense exhibited -- with each round often ending with a discussion of the merits or flaws in the kyara that was just sampled).

†People interested in renga also tended to loose track of time -- especially when the gathering was not formally structured (this is why official renga-kai [連歌會] usually included the expected number of links in the invitation) -- since each guest composed his next poem based on something suggested by the previous participant’s poem.

[chanoyu-to-wa]

Nampō Roku, Book 1 (27):  the Fu-ji [不時] Gathering.

27) With respect to the fu-ji [不時] gathering¹, [the host] should certainly use [some of] his treasured utensils on such occasions² -- one, or even two, of which should be brought out³.

    The way [the gathering] is “staged”⁴ should be “shin” [眞]⁵, while it is better if the mood⁶ is “sō” [草]⁷.  [This is explained in] a kuden⁸.

_________________________

◎ Hizō-no-dōgu [秘蔵の道具] (treasured utensils): aka-chawan by Chōjirō, named “Shirasagi” [長次郎 の赤茶碗・“白鷺”]; chashaku by Kobori Enshū, named “Mushi-kui” [小堀遠州の茶杓・“虫喰”], ko-Takatori chaire, named “Utsumi” [古高取の茶入・“内海”].

¹Fu-ji no kai [不時の會].

    This expression is usually explained (by the modern schools) today to mean a gathering that is held at other than the “usual” times*.

    But, in Japanese, the word fu-ji [不時] means “unscheduled,” “unexpected,” “unforeseen,” and “uninvited.”  And, according to Rikyū's kaiki, it seems that in his period this expression was used to mean a spontaneous, totally unplanned, chakai, at which only kashi were served (if the gathering happened to take place between mealtimes)†.

    This entry seems to be another of those that were added during the early Edo period, since the specific teaching regarding the importance of using treasured utensils‡ goes against the details of what Rikyū did himself on the occasions that he labeled fu-ji [no kai]** -- and, indeed, doing so also implies a degree of pre-planning that circumstances suggest would have been impossible in the real-life examples quoted from the Hyakkai Ki. __________ *The “standard times” for chanoyu (according to the modern schools) are asa-cha [朝會] (in the morning), the shōgo-chaji [正午茶事] (at the noon hour), and the yo-kai [夜會] (in the evening).

   Rikyū’s hiru-kai [晝會], which was his counterpart of the so-called shōgo-chaji, was more flexible in terms of the time at which the gathering could commence, since people did not customarily take a meal at midday during that period (this is reflected by the somewhat reduced fare mentioned as being served at these kinds of gatherings).

†These gathering seem to have actually been completely unplanned affairs, at which Rikyū used whatever utensils happened to be in the mizuya at the time, serving the guests the kinds of kashi that could be readied while the host performed the sumi-temae, and offering what would have been tea left over from the preparations for the previous chakai.

‡Since most people do not make a habit of leaving their valuables lying about the mizuya (if only because of the danger of their being accidentally broken), using such things implies that the host has received sufficient forewarning that he can consider his tori-awase carefully, and then go into the storehouse and start ferreting out these treasures.  Rikyū‘s kaiki, however, suggest that nothing of the sort was possible, with respect to those chakai that he labeled as “fu-ji.”

**Two fu-ji kai are described in the Rikyū Hyakkai Ki [利休百會記]:  on the last day of the Eleventh Month, and on the 15th day of the First Month.  The kaiki for these gatherings, as recorded in that source, follow.

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❖ Onaji misoka ・ fu-ji ni [同晦日　・　不時に]

◦ yojō-han [四疊半]

◦ chanoyu mae no gotoku [茶湯まへのごとく]     tadashi chaire mentori [但シ茶入めんとり]

◦ fuchidaka ni, kashi  okoshi-kome, tawarako [ふちだかに、菓子　　おこし米、たはらこ].

    This means “the same [month], last day; [the gathering was] unscheduled; [the gathering was held in] the 4.5-mat room; the chanoyu was the same as before, though the chaire was [changed to] a mentori[-nakatsugi]; the kashi were served in a fuchi-daka:  okoshi-kome, tawarako.”

    The room was his detached 4.5-mat room, and the guests were four courtiers, for whom Hideyoshi may have had some private instructions or advice that he wished to be conveyed to their lord, which he offered to them via Rikyū.

    At the previous chakai (which was at midday, suggesting that the fu-ji no kai was in the late afternoon), Rikyū used:

◦ kiri no kama [きりノ釜]

◦ Seto mizusashi [瀬戸水指]

◦ Sōho-dana [宗甫棚]

◦ Hikigi-no-saya [ひきゞのさや]

◦ chaire ・ Konoha-zaru [茶入・木の葉ざる]

◦ kane no mizu-koboshi [かねの水こぼし]

◦ Bizen tsubo [びぜんつぼ].

    However, he notes that he substituted his tame-nuri mentori-nakatsugi [溜め塗面取中次], below, for the karamono Konoha-zaru chaire (thereby actually removing what had been the most treasured of the utensils that he had used at the earlier chakai):

◦ mentori [めんとり]

    This mentori-nakatsugi was one of the containers in which either the excess tea (what remained after filling the chaire) was stored, or a container into which the chaire was emptied after the gathering (though such tea could not be used again to serve koicha, it could be used for usucha, and so it was preserved in a lacquered container that was as air-tight as possible).

    Okoshi-kome [おこし米] is a sort of kashi made by mixing parched (“puffed”) rice with something like honey and then pressing this into a thick sheet, which was subsequently cut into more-or-less cubic or oblong pieces; tawarako [俵子] is sliced dried sea-cucumber, probably softened by boiling it briefly in broth.

==============================================

❖ Onaji jūgo-nichi ・ fu-ji [同十五日　・　不時]

◦ nijō-shiki [二疊敷]

◦ [arare-gama [あられ釜] -- the kama is not mentioned in this version of the kaiki, but it is elsewhere]

◦ wage-mizusashi [わげ水指]

◦ chaire ・ ko-natsume [茶入・小ナツメ]

◦ Ko-mamori no chawan [木守ノ茶碗]

◦ ori-tame [折撓]

◦ Hashi-date [はしだて]

◦ kashi ・ yaki-mochi, iri-kaya, shiidake [菓子 ・ やき餅、いりかや、しい竹].

    This means “the same [month], fifteenth day; unscheduled; [the gathering was held in] the 2-mat room; wage-mizusashi, chaire ・ ko-natsume, Ko-mamori no chawan, ori-tame [chashaku], and the Hashi-date [cha-tsubo]; the kashi:  yaki-mochi, iri-kaya, [and] shiidake.”

    The guest was an advisor to the daimyō of Chiku-shū (in northern Kyūshū), to whom Rikyū was charged with delivering certain information for his lord, from Hideyoshi.

    At this chakai, Rikyū changed the chaire (from his Shiri-bukura [尻膨] to a small natsume), and also removed the objects (a Kokei scroll and meibutsu suzuri [硯]) that had been displayed in the tokonoma during the morning gathering.

    As with the mentori-nakatsugi used during the previous fu-ji no kai, the small natsume was used either to preserve the matcha that was left over after filling the chaire for that morning's (scheduled) chakai, or was used as a receptacle into which the chaire was emptied at the end of that gathering (so the tea could be used later, to serve usucha).

    Regarding the kashi, yaki-mochi [燒餅] is dried mochi that has been sliced into pieces and then toasted over a charcoal fire (which softens it) -- usually served on a skewer (by which it may be picked up and eaten, since it will be too hot to handle with the fingers); iri-kaya [煎り榧] are the roasted nuts of the Japanese allspice tree; and shiitake [椎茸] are lightly salted shiidake mushrooms that have been grilled over charcoal.

==============================================

    Neither of the above kaiki show Rikyū doing anything “special” with regard to the utensils (other than, in both cases, using a lacquered container as the chaire -- suggesting that he was using matcha that had been ground for some other purpose, rather than tea specially prepared for this chakai).  Indeed, the entire point of labeling these chakai as fu-ji [不時] means that they were unexpected, and so nothing about them were pre-planned.  Rikyū simply used the utensils that were already present in his mizuya (including the lacquered container of leftover matcha).

²Ika ni mo hizō-no-dōgu nado [いかにも秘蔵の道具など].

    Ika ni mo [如何にも] means verily, certainly, surely, without a doubt (the expression intensifies the meaning of what follows -- in other words, resulting in the meaning “truly treasured utensils”).

    Hizō-no-dōgu nado [秘蔵の道具など]:  hizō [秘蔵] means to treasure, treasured.  These would not have to be meibutsu pieces -- and, indeed, the meibutsu sort of utensils are to a certain extent precluded by the circumstances (hence the selection of utensils that I showed in the photo which, while treasures, are certainly not meibutsu).  The meaning is utensils that the host holds precious, his personal treasures.  Nado [など] means "and things of that sort."

    The implication is that the host should use his treasured pieces -- which are not the things that he uses ordinarily, but those utensils on which he sets a special value, and generally reserves for special occasions.

³Isshoku mo ni-shoku mo dashi [一色も二色も出し].

    Iro [色]* is used to mean things of a similar kind, things belonging to the same class of (entity).

    Earlier (in part 7†) iro was used to referred to the “kinds” or “classes” of flowers, of which there are two kinds (iro):  woody flowers and grassy flowers.  Here, it refers to the “kinds” or “sub-varieties” of cha-dōgu [茶道具], of which there are many (the kakemono [掛物], the hanaire [花入], the chaire [茶入], the chawan [茶碗], and so forth, each of these types is a subset of cha-dōgu). __________ * The on-yomi [音読み] (original or “Chinese-style” pronunciation) of this kanji is shoku [色].

†The entry entitled Nampō Roku, Book 1 (7):  Flowers for the Small Room; and Flowers for the 4.5-mat Room:

http://chanoyu-to-wa.tumblr.com/post/175182365610/namp%C5%8D-roku-book-1-7-flowers-for-the-small

⁴Shosa [所作].

    This word may be translated in different ways, depending on the circumstances of its use.  In this case, shosa [所作] means the behavior, the posture, the way the chakai is “staged.”  This word (along with the idea of “staging” the gathering) does not appear in this context prior to the Edo period.

    The word is being contrasted with kokoro [心] (see footnote 6), which refers to the feeling or mood.

⁵Shin [眞].

    Here, since this passage is referencing is a machi-shū teaching*, the best interpretation of “shin” is “formal.”

    Thus, this phrase is generally understood to mean that at a fu-ji no kai, the arrangement of the room, or selection of the utensils (and their corresponding form of temae) should be quite formal. __________ *When dealing with teachings expounded by the orthodox school, the meaning is generally closer to “original.”  Kaisho [楷書], the square-style of writing, is not so much “formal” as “original” -- in other words, these represented the original or full-form of the kanji.  When the word “shin” [眞] (which describes the way these kanji are written) was borrowed by the various arts (such as chanoyu), the word retained its original nuance.  Only in the Edo period did shin come to be equated with “formal,” as it generally is nowadays.

⁶Kokoro [心].

    Here this word means something like the mood, the feeling of the gathering.

    Shibayama Junkō [柴山準行; 1857-1937]*, in his commentary on this passage in the Nampō Roku, suggests that the word kokoro refers specifically to the teishu's attitude as he hosts the gathering -- the host should be especially solicitous of the guests and their comfort at this sort of chakai†. __________ *In the context of chanoyu studies, Shibayama Junkō is better known as Shibayama Fugen [柴山不言], his literary name.  It is under this name that he has been referred to previously in this blog.

†Perhaps to make up for what is lacking in terms of more elaborate preparations.

⁷Sō [草].

    Again, since this is a machi-shū based argument, “sō” [草] should be interpreted to mean “informal.”

    The arrangements or setting (shosa [所作]) should be formal, while the feeling (kokoro [心]) should be informal.

⁸Kuden [口傳].

    With respect to this “shin” [眞] versus “sō” [草] conundrum*, Shibayama Fugen† argues that one can come to understand the kuden by considering two passages found (elsewhere) in the Nampō Roku:

◦ Koicha no temae ni ichi-dan to sō ari, usucha no temae ni goku-shin ari [濃茶ノ手前ニ一段ト草アリ、薄茶ノ手前ニ極眞アリ].

    “The koicha-temae is very sō; the usucha-temae is extremely shin.”

◦ Usucha ha kokoro wo sō ni shi, temae wo shin...koicha ha kokoro wo shin ni temae wo sō to kokoroe-beshi [ウス茶ハ心ヲ草ニシ、手前ヲ眞...濃茶ハ心ヲ眞ニ手前ヲ草ト心得ヘシ].

    “In the case of usucha, [you] should do things so that the mood is sō, [while] the temae should be shin...[but] with respect to koicha, the mood should be shin while the temae is sō -- this [distinction you] should understand.”

    In other words, while the mood during the service of usucha is informal (sō) -- the guests may chat quietly among themselves, and even the host may join in -- the temae itself should be performed very correctly [shin].  But in the case of the serving of koicha, the host should concentrate fully on producing a delicious bowl of tea, without allowing himself to be encumbered by the details of the “correct” way to perform temae -- “the temae should be thrown away” (temae wo sutete [手前を捨てて]), as the Hundred Poems puts it -- which is sō; but the mood in the room should be very formal, with the guests sitting attentively and paying attention to what the host is doing (shin).

    Consequently, with respect to the fu-ji no kai, the way things are done, the way the gathering is staged, should be shin; but the atmosphere in the room should be sō.  This is what the machi-shū teaching means (and this is the thrust of the kuden).

    In the Hundred Poems, however, there is a verse (which is already present in the earliest manuscripts) that addresses this issue squarely -- and shows that such ruminations are really beside the point:

◦ Fu-ji nado no kyaku no kitaraba temae wo ba, kokoro sa sō ni waza wo tsutsushime [不時などの客の來らば手前をば、心さゝうにわざをつゝしめ].

    “In cases such as when no one was invited, yet a guest happens to arrive, with respect to the temae:  on such [occasions] the mood‡ should be casual, while the way of doing things should be modest and restrained**.”

    Ultimately, though this advice differs pointedly from what the machi-shū were teaching, the poem describes very clearly the secret teaching regarding the host’s response to the arrival of a guest who was not formally invited -- according to the orthodox tradition:  when a guest arrives who was not expected, the host should be casual and welcoming (rather than nervous -- and inclined to overreact), and he should do things simply, without pretending that he has made special preparations as if anticipating this chakai††.

    This is what Rikyū did -- he simply used what was on hand without doing anything to impress the guests.  If the reader can come to understand the mind behind his actions, he will fully understand the kuden. ___________ *In other words, the argument (made in this entry) that the staging of the fu-ji no kai should be “shin” while the mood of the gathering should be “sō.”

†See footnote 6, above.

    The reader should recognize that Shibayama Fugen accepted the entirety of the Nampō Roku as being Nambō Sōkei’s creation, rather than understanding that portions of the text were spurious additions introduced in order to make the teachings contained in this collection better resemble the practices and norms of the machi-shū style of chanoyu that was practiced in the early Edo period.

‡Kokoro sa [心然]:  kokoro [心] means feeling or mood; sa [然] means “so,” “like that,” “in that way” -- in other words, “the way that the mood should be.”

**Tsutsushimu [愼む] (the kanji is composed of the elements “kokoro” [心 =忄] and “shin” [眞] -- and it may be this similarity, especially when the word was handwritten, that resulted in its being confused with the kanji “shin”, on which the meaning of the machi-shū‘s teaching turns) means to be prudent, to be discrete, to be circumspect, to be modest.  These attributes are virtually the opposite of being rigidly formal, or doing things for show.

    Which is to say that using precious utensils for the sake of amusing the guests (or drawing their attention away from the lack of detailed preparations in other areas) is not really appropriate to the nature of the fu-ji no kai.  Since the gathering was unplanned, the best idea is simply to make use of what things are on hand in the mizuya (anyone who practices chanoyu regularly will habitually set up the mizuya with an appropriate selection of utensils each day when the water is drawn at dawn), without trying to do anything out of the ordinary, and then just use them to serve tea simply and modestly.

††Dragging out precious utensils may be considered overreacting, and it can give an odd feeling -- as if the host had somehow anticipated the guest’s visit.

    Of course, the machi-shū‘s fu-ji no kai was not really of this sort.  It was an ordinary, pre-arranged gathering (even if the host and guests pretended otherwise), since by the Edo period it was almost inconceivable that guests could be received for chanoyu without (at the very least) sufficient notice so that the host could clean the roji and chashitsu, do the necessary shopping and cooking, and grind the matcha.  Even if the guests were invited spontaneously, their arrival would be subtly delayed (perhaps for several hours) -- while someone ran ahead to finalize the preparations.

    And yet, it is here that we can understand one purpose of san-tan san-ro [三炭三爐]:  if the ro is prepared at dawn, and maintained throughout the day, always in a state of readiness so that the addition of a couple of pieces of charcoal will suffice to return the kama to a boil, if the host habitually wakes up at dawn to draw the water, clean the room and the utensils, and grind some tea, then he is always ready for the advent of a guest who was not invited.  For a person dedicated to chanoyu, this was (and is) the way to live his or her life -- in a constant state of readiness to welcome a guest and serve a bowl of tea, day in and day out, over the passage of the seasons and the course of the years.

[chanoyu-to-wa]

Nampō Roku, Book 4 (10):  Concerning the Chigai-dana [違棚].

10) With respect to the chigai-dana [違棚], the mie [三重] variety is the original type¹:  [consequently] this [kind of chigai-dana] is also known as a mitsu-tana -- [a tana with three levels]².

    Nevertheless, [chigai-dana] with two [levels]³, and also with [only] one⁴ also exist.

_________________________

¹Mie hon-shiki nari [三重本式也].

    The three levels (mie [三重] means three layers or, as in this case, three levels) are the upper shelf, the lower shelf, and the shelf* beneath that forms the top of the ji-fukuro.  This was the original form of the chigai-dana, particularly when it was located in a private study.  The shelves were used for books and papers, with more private things deposited (often in a locked wooden chest) in the ji-fukuro.

    Care must be taken when interpreting this entry, since the terminology employed here does not agree with that used in the present day, and, for this reason, I have decided to include the sketches singled out by Shibayama Fugen, as representative.

    With respect to the mie chigai-dana [三重違棚], the following two sketches† are cited by Shibayama in his commentary:

___________ *Perhaps including settings where it is located beneath the pair of staggered shelves, as in the Dōjin-sai.  However, this is not entirely clear from the explanation that is given here -- which differs from what is more commonly said about the chigai-dana.

    We must remember that Book Four of the Nampō Roku is based on a series of notes that Jōō wrote down (perhaps surreptitiously) while listening to a discussion on the decoration of the shoin, by some of the other guests who were present at one of the Shino family’s kō-kai [香會] (incense-appreciation gatherings).

    Regarding the kō-kai, I would think it is important to mention that it appears that the gatherings hosted by the original (Korean) Shino family (which became extinct toward the end of the sixteenth century upon the death of Shino Shōha [志野省巴; 1502 ~ 1571] -- the present family continues through the descendants of one of Shōha’s Japanese disciples) were similar in character to the chakai -- that is, the guests assembled to simply appreciate sniffing the incense.  The modern competitive gatherings, which were based on Heian period incense games, do not seem to have figured into the original family’s conception of the incense gathering (suggesting that their intention was to preserve a form of the activity that had evolved on the continent:  sniffing kyara seems to have been approached as a way to purify the sense of smell, and so enable the participants to enter samadhi through this senseᵃ).  These things appear to have been introduced to the “Shino school” by the Japanese iteration of the family.  Thus, the way that the modern tea schools approach the inclusion of incense-appreciation during the chakai -- where kyara is appreciated, and nothing else is done about it -- preserves the original Shino concept, albeit in a rather truncated format. __________ ᵃEach of the different methods of entering samadhi involves purification of one of the six senses (seeing, smelling, tasting, touching, hearing, and thinking).  Za-zen [坐禪], for example, helps one achieve samadhi through the purification of the sense of thought.

    The bon-san [盆山] that are occasionally mentioned in the Nampō Roku, likewise, were used in a meditative exercise that involved looking at the bon-san, as it was arranged in its tray of raked sand, allowing the mind to be drawn into it.

    The search for samadhi was not always associated with the violent rejection of materialism, as it became following Takuan Sōhō’s introduction of the thinking and practices associated with the Korean Jogye Jong [曹溪宗], that had been developed at the Tongdo-sa [通道寺], in the early seventeenth century.

†These sketches are found at the end of Book Four.  Note that I have removed the various notations that are found on the originals (since these are irrelevant to the matter with which the present entry is concerned).  These things will be discussed at the appropriate time, later.

²Kore wo mitsu-dana tomo-iu nari [これを三ツ棚共云也].

    Tomo-iu [共云 = とも言う] means something like “also called,” or “also known as (mitsu-dana).”

    What this statement seems to be saying is that this kind of tana is known either as a chigai-dana (with three levels), or as a “mitsu-dana.”

³Futatsu-dana [二ツ棚].

    The name futatsu-dana [二ツ棚] is constructed in the same way as was mitsu-dana (see the previous footnote).

    This refers to a pair of staggered shelves without a ji-fukuro beneath.  While many people use the board floor underneath the chigai-dana for the display of objects (indeed, this was the prototype of the ita-doko [板床], or board-floored tokonoma), the floor was not considered to be a tana.

    Here, Shibayama Fugen cites three examples (though I must add, I have my doubts about the last one*):

___________ *Since these sketches are cited only by Shibayama, and not by any of the other commentators -- specifically Tanaka Senshō -- this suggests that this represents Shibayama’s own opinion.  (The sketches are not accompanied by any comments -- other than the names of the objects arranged on the shelves -- in the original.  And while Tanaka also shares the traditional comments that were enunciated by the group of scholars based in the Enkaku-ji, none of that material is concerned with analyzing the shelves in this way, leading me to conclude that these are simply Shibayama’s personal speculations.)

    According to my understanding, the last one might be considered to be a type of mitsu-dana, since there is a ji-fukuro beneath.  As with the fukuro-dana, the shelf formed by the ceiling of the ji-fukuro is usually considered to be a shelf.

    Yoshimasa’s Dōjin-sai [同仁齋] features a somewhat smaller version of this same sort of chigai-dana.

    These distinctions appear to be unique to the Nampō Roku, by the way.  They are not found in any other period documents (of which I am aware); nor in the material on which the discussion overheard by Jōō was actually based (i.e., the writings of Nōami and Sōami).

⁴Ichi-men-dana [一面棚].

    Ichi-men [一面] means “one-sided,” so an ichi-men-dana [一面棚] is a tana with only one shelf.

    In this case, Shibayama Fugen mentions only one example*, that shown above.  Note that a wooden floor is present under at least part of the shelf, as in the case of the futatsu-dana; and, as in that case, the floor is not counted as a tana, even though it is often used for the display of things like a ha-cha-tsubo [葉茶壺] -- or, as in the above example, a suzuri [硯] resting on a pack of ryō-shi [料紙] (writing paper). ___________ *While these sketches ultimately derive from Sōami’s O-kazari Ki [御飾記], certain details have been changed so that they illustrate points mentioned in this book.  In this particular instance, the ichi-men-dana in the above sketch was originally represented by an oki-dana that was simply placed on the oshi-ita.

     The version of Sōami’s original sketch of this arrangement, as found in the manuscript preserved by the Imai family, is shown above.  (Please note the degree of simplification between the two, since this is a very representative example of how the earlier gokushin-based practices were being “reinterpreted” through the medium of the machi-shū’s wabi-cha of the mid-sixteenth century.)

[kaikeidou-backstage-blog]

Record of Kaikeidou Servants (excerpts 7 through 10)

Excerpt from the Sea God Bookstore's "Record of Kaikeidou Servants:" a text whose author and editor are both unknown.

Misty Karen of the Kaikeidou Kinryu (金流)

Species: Mermaid Ability: Same capabilities as your average mermaid Human friendship level: Medium Danger level: Low

● I love her. She comes to my quarters quite often.

● ↑ Y' sure that's not just because you practically drag her over there half the time?

● Ah, ahaha... well. Tsushima and Iroha are the ones who take care of the Kai sisters' minor hospitalities; little Kinryu here is the one who coordinates the fairies backstage, such as in the dressing room, kitchen and so on. She's always prompt and business-like when she's in charge, and she never misses a practice session for her on-stage perfomances, either. She does a whole lot of work, basically, in lots of different roles. When she's done for the day, though, she sort of acts like a baby around me and Sister Hananishiki, and her speech gets remarkably uncouth. She's also learned a great deal of knowledge and technical expertise from Eldest Sister Owari in addition to being doted upon by her, so in a way, she's probably the most knowledgeable Kai sister.

● If I had to say, it's the sisters from Kinryu on upward who we're best acquainted with. Owari is often looking after her well-being, and she talks to Megumi and I quite often. She's about on par with Megumi when it comes to keeping the Kaikeidou and its hospitality afloat. Megumi also has her role as a performer to attend to, so when little Kinryu takes care of things backstage, I think it's a big help to Megumi as well.

● Ah, well... yep, our Great Mother basically summed it up. Mm-hm. Also, when she's working backstage with me, sometimes her facade slips a little? She's got it together when it comes to work, but she's actually pretty-- what's the word. Sloppy? Lazy...? She might be capable, but "a friend to all is"... well. You get what I mean, right?

● I usually strike up a conversation with her or Megumi when I'm bored, I guess. Her best quality, I'd say, is that she knows how to put on a good business face. Like, when I asked this one errand of her, she did a perfect job just like I asked for. "What was that errand?" Now that, I can't tell you.

The Deep Sea's Expressivo Fuuka (風花)

Species: Mermaid Ability: Same capabilities as your average mermaid Human friendship level: High Danger level: N/A

● Fuuka is the kindest soul out of all of us sisters. She might a little unreliable at times, but with my and our Eldest Sister's help, her skill at dancing is absolutely first-class. Her heart holds a sheer, intimate passion for dance, and she shows a wonderful attention to detail when performing. She's also got this soft, airy nature that I and Eldest Sister Owari lack, which makes for an excellent cushioning layer between us and our younger sisters.

● She might seem kinda flaky, but you can't help but sigh dreamily when she's perfoming her dances... I've been trying to reach that level of finesse too, but in the end, Sister Fuuka's got this je-ne-sais-quois that I just can't imitate. Also, since dancing is her exclusive specialty, I hear she strolls around and visits all our little sisters when there's no guests visiting. Although... now that I think about it, I don't remember ever seeing her near Kuronami and Kiyokawa's gate...?

● ↑ I imagine that's because she doesn't know how to open it. Kuronami and Kiyokawa's door leads to different places depending on the key you use and the method by which you use it; Fuuka doesn't know which methods lead to which places. Although, I suppose it's more that nobody's told her yet.

● ↑ What...? Why, Eldest Sister, that's the first I've heard of that! By all means, please tell me how to open it the next time I come over!

● She devotes herself to her studies day in and day out, in the name of bettering the Yaobi Banquet Dances. She's the sole sister with absolutely no fighting capabilities, but that's because all that talent of hers goes towards her passion for dance. Her usual demeanour, too, is polite and tranquil; the phrase "yamato nadeshiko" perfectly suits such an adorable daughter as herself.

● If Kinryu's the expert when it comes to all the backstage work, Fuuka is without a doubt the leading lady on-stage. She's absorbed every dance that I, Owari and Hananishiki worked to refine, and can perform them all perfectly. You can hardly imagine how extravagant she is just based on her usual timid demeanour. It's a sight to behold. Of course, whenever she's not dancing, she's Owari's second-favorite dress-up doll or danmaku partner after Kinryu... like, try being a little nicer to her, maybe?

Servant of the Feast Hananishiki (花錦)

Species: Mermaid Ability: Same capabilities as your average mermaid Human friendship level: High Danger level: Medium

● She's the practical eldes... um, I mean, wonderful elder sister to the siblings of Kai. In addition, she's the only one of us who can speak directly and frankly with Eldest Sister Owari. It feels like she always talks to us with a soft, laid-back sort of accent. Also, she's a little taller than even me, and she's got this really beautiful impression to her. Sometimes I play the princess during plays, and Sister Hananishiki plays the prince or the charming hero; whenever she does, she looks startlingly handsome. She's very enchanting, I suppose would be the word.

● ↑ Yes, she's very well-suited for male roles. Figureatively speaking.

● ↑ ...I beg your pardon, Eldest Sister?

● The sole sister who can rebuke Owari, and the Kaikeidou's stage director as well. She also has superb communication skills, cultivated through communicating with her superiors Lady Mikoto, Megumi and Owari. Her tone always seems to suggest hidden significance to her words, but she's only ever actually hinting at something about 1 in 10 times.

● She may be the second eldest, but she's still a step below Owari in the end. She's got wisdom, don't get me wrong; she just doesn't have all the technical know-how to go along with it. But the way she carries herself, and her aptitude for the skills she does have, are totally amazing! She's absolutely got the dignity of a next-to-eldest sister.

● Miss Hananishiki's always a really, rea~ally big help when we want to interview someone~. We even requested her assistance with this very report, too! ...Huh? You, er, haven't heard about any of that? Hey, Negoro~o? You did ask for permission on this, didn't yo~ou?

The Eldest "Sea" Sister Owari Kai (海 尾張)

Species: Divinely-constructed mermaid Ability: Essential quality of governing the Kai sisters / Capable of expressing herself through dance Human friendship level: High Danger level: High

● She's our eldest sister! ● She's, like, our eldest sister...

● Yeah, she's our Eldest Sister. ● Oh, yes, our Eldest Sister.

● She's our Eldest Sister, all right! ● Indeed, she is our Eldest Sister.

● Miss Eldest Sister. Yes. ● Um, yes, our Eldest Sister. Ahaha... ● Yessir, she's our Eldest Sister...

● ↑ I know I instructed you all to "refer to me as your Eldest Sister," but really?

● She is my second daughter, after Megumi. Also, despite her nature as a mermaid youkai, she is capable of having a divine presence as well. "Governing the sisters" is a natural quality that she was born with, and "expressing herself via dance" is an ability that she gained and honed for herself. I actually thought we'd have to wait until a later child of mine for one of them to be able to have a divine nature, but even though she was the firstborn after Megumi-- that is, the very first one we gave life to as part of our plan-- she succeeded purely and genuinely. She's been through various hardships as a result of that as well, but her younger sisters seem to understand that. It gives me great relief to see how they look up to her.

● I'm hardly a match for Lady Mikoto or Lady Otohime in the first place, and Megumi always has her hands full running the show with the sisters. And since Suzuri and Minamo are guarding the front gate in my stead nowadays, I've got plenty of free time. So, when I'm particularly bored, I march on down to her room and have a bout or two. I've long since gotten total control of my abilities, but hers still have a few quirks to them, so I never get tired of watching her.

● Like, I was pretty bored too at the time, but to think that she'd even make use of me in her plan to keep the Kaikeidou existing! I guess if anyone can put their money where their mouth is, it's the eldest of ten entire siblings. Well, even with that aside, it was really fun to have all sorts of different people come over. ...Hm? Wait, you don't know the specifics of how "Servants of the Feast" turned out? Maybe I ought to have these two little journalists publish a written version with a few revisions, then?

[kaikeidou-backstage-blog]

Record of Kaikeidou Servants (excerpts 1 through 6)

Excerpt from the Sea God Bookstore's "Record of Kaikeidou Servants:" a text whose author and editor are both unknown.

Innocent of the Kaikeidou Minamo Kai (海 みなも)

Species: Mermaid Ability: Same capabilities as your average mermaid Human friendship level: Low Danger level: Medium

● A mermaid living at the Kaikeidou in the deep sea, who guards the front gate with her sister, Suzuri Kai. ...That being said, though, the Kaikeidou hardly gets any visitors in the first place, so most of the time she's just playing tag with Suzuri near the gate. A young mermaid, who's still full of innocence.

● She simply looks like our adorable baby sister for the majority of the time, but when outsiders appear at the front gate, she attempts to chase them off. Her expression at those times, though, hardly looks like that of a young girl. Not rage, but a frigid lack of emotion. Like she's only thinking about carrying out her duties. Reminiscent of how children taught only to fight show no hesitation when the time comes for them to kill.

● Out of all the little sisters, I think she's probably the most adorable? I mean, duh, she's the runt of the litter so of COURSE she's cute. But even that aside, she's... what's the word. Childlike? Oh, and she gets called to hang out with our Eldest Sister the most out of anyone here. Aside from m-- *cough* aside from SOMEbody, of course. She comes back wearing a new outfit every time. I think the most recent one was... like, a white dress and a blac (*The text is cut off here.)

● Our Eldest Sister certainly does dote upon her. Also, despite her youth, the dances she performs as a pair with Suzuri are quite the spectacle t' behold.

● The most pure of all my sisters, and the most innocent. For a gate guard, though, that works out just fine. On her own, she can't quite stand up to that clam youkai's ability, but together with Suzuri there's no trouble at all. Above all else, she has a mercilessness to her that Suzuri just can't match. She probably ranks second-highest out of all of us sisters, in that regard.

● I come by the front gate and talk to the two of them from time to time, but every time, I find myself wanting to sit them down on my lap. They quite like it; in fact, they want to sit on my lap so often that I can't help but spoil them. Oh, but now that I think about it, it's more often Minamo who asks. Suzuri's... a little more precocious, perhaps?

● She's my little sister and we're real good friends!

Downer of the Kaikeidou Suzuri Kai (海 すずり)

Species: Mermaid Ability: Same capabilities as your average mermaid Human friendship level: Low Danger level: Medium

● Ninth of the ten sisters of Kai. She guards the Kaikeidou's front gate with the youngest sister, Minamo. Her eyes are sullen-looking, so she gives off a somewhat listless impression, but when she and Minamo are playing tag out front, she looks like any other excitable young girl. Also, Minamo tends to end her sentences with "nano", and Suzuri ends hers with "desu". Whenever they're both talking, it's practically a little chorus of "nano desu"s, which comes off as really immature. Maybe they should drink more milk?

● She's my big sister, and we're like, twins almost!

● Oh, she used to come by with Minamo all the time... I feel somewhat sad about that.

● She's a little precocious, but she's a good kid. Always listens to what her big sisters tell her, y'know? She always looks kind of moody, but that's just the way her face is. Lemme tell you, when she's eating tasty food, or playing with something fun, you would not believe the smile on her f-- OW! Hey, Suzuri?! Being embarrassed doesn't mean hitting is okay, you know?!

● I don't usually interact with the littlest ones unless we're all gathered for a meeting, but during those meetings, she and Minamo are always sitting by our Eldest Sister's side. They scoot up next to her like little guardian dogs; they're usually a little nervous with all the formality, but it's still just so cute.

● She's usually guarding the front gate with Minamo. She may seem a bit precocious, but with how she still wants to sit close to me from time to time, or to go visit her big sisters, you can tell that she's still a young girl. Oh, and unlike her sister, she can create these small whirlpools! Right now, nobody really understands the principle behind how they work.

Coquette of the Kaikeidou Iroha Kai (海 いろは)

Species: Mermaid Ability: Same capabilities as your average mermaid Human friendship level: Medium Danger level: Medium

● One of the sisters of Kai, tasked with duties such as patrolling the Kaikeidou's interior, performing at feasts, serving food, and other out-in-the-open hospitality for guests. She's natural and innocent in a different way from Minamo, and serves as a symbol of good cheer amongst the sisters. You can often see Tsushima, who's on food-serving duty with her, being dragged along by Iroha's exuberance in various places throughout the Kaikeidou. Also, since Iroha and Tsushima's basic outfits are coloured orange, autumn red and so on, older sisters like Hananishiki often refer to them as "the oceanic Aki Sisters". Or not.

● From morning 'til night, that cheery attitude of hers just doesn't quit. Plus, if she were just making a big racket by herself, then I wouldn't mind, but what makes her hard to deal with is that nine times out of ten, I get dragged into it too. And then if some commotion ends up happening, I get scolded right alongside her...!

● ↑ Well, you always start snacking when you go in the kitchen, Sis, and you only take cleaning duty about once in every ten times, so coming from you...

● ↑ Shut uuuup

● Much like our two youngest sisters, they form an excellent defensive line. The greatest peace of mind that Kiyokawa and I can enjoy, after all, is when we have nothing to do. Additionally, Iroha, Tsushima and the two youngest are all irreplacable valuable to Kiyokawa. Indeed, to the point where she'd protect them no matter what the cost.

● A cheerful little sister, always refreshing to be around. Iroha always responds to my summons, albeit somewhat reluctantly. She often argues with her elder sister Tsushima, but in spite of appearances, the two are close friends. The one thing that's a pity, I suppose, is that whenever I call them to come spend time with me, Tsushima alone doesn't respond...

●When we're doing preparations here in the backstage area, Iroha and Tsushima are the sisters we can count on most. We often find ourselves entrusting them with many things, but Iroha always follows through with that natural optimism of hers. She's a lifesaver, really. Also, Eldest Sister, would y'mind telling me about that in a little more detail later?

The Deep Sea's Little Big Sister Tsushima Kai (海 つしま)

Species: Mermaid Ability: Same capabilities as your average mermaid Human friendship level: Medium Danger level: Medium

● She doesn't come to spend time with me very often...

● Tsushima and Iroha do so much. Always helping with the cleaning here and there, sometimes serving food for our guests, sometimes performing on stage as dancers... when it comes to sheer volume of work, they're probably at the top of the ranking amongst us sisters. Sometimes, though, Tsushima does quietly skip out on work, or plays pranks here and there, or gets up to mischief with her sister. Hananishiki-san does get mad and scold them for it most of the time, though.

● Tsushima, huh? She's pretty flippant, but you can't fault her for it. She plays tag and danmaku with me a lot when she comes over to my and Kuronami's area. Her danmaku with Iroha is really cheery and bright, though; it's fun to watch, but also makes me feel a little jealous? Oh, and unlike Iroha, she looks kind of embarrassed whenever she calls me "Big Sis." I can't even BEGIN to tell you how cute it is!

● ↑ Have mercy. Look, she's already huddled in the corner with her face beet-red.

● She's the oldest sister out of the lower four (at least, that's what I call them). Since she's more or less responsible for the younger kids, it seems like a pretty tough position to be in, but I think her work ethic more than lives up to that role. She cuts corners every so often, but... well, it's not a huge issue, and if I think of it as her way of taking a breather, I don't mind. Plus, Hananishiki usually picks up after her anyway.

● She can be sort of mischevious, much like Iroha, but you can easily see how much effort she puts in. Compared to Iroha, she's a little awkward and beats around the bush, but I'd say that's just another one of her charming qualities.

The Deep Sea's Athlete Kiyokawa (清川)

Species: Mermaid Ability: Same capabilities as your average mermaid Human friendship level: Unknown Danger level: High

● She's the youngest out of the sisters who have kanji names, and often gets treated like one of the little sisters when they're all gathered for a meeting. Perhaps as a reaction to that, she loves her younger sisters dearly, and can often be found interacting with them when she's not on backstage guard duty. Her role as a guard doesn't involve much physical activity, but her strength and stamina are beyond compare. She's tough enough to play with all four little sisters at once without breaking a sweat. Also, she's not as cautious or adversarial as Kuronami, but if someone hurts her little sisters, she'll show them no mercy. NO. MERCY.

● One of our little sisters, who guards the backstage door with Kuronami. The room in front of the backstage door is really spacious, because Kiyokawa always jumps and runs around so much that we had to ask a certain friend of ours to expand the space in there. Honestly, I'd appreciate it if she could follow Kuronami's example and settle down a bit... huh? You say her mischief reminds you of me...? Please don't joke like that, Eldest Sister.

● The four youngest sisters, despite their idiosyncracies, all have relatively pure natures. From Kiyokawa on upward, unfortunately, they all have a strong sense of individuality, so they can be quite a handful. She hasn't even been wearing her kimono lately, let alone letting me help her put it on. It can't hurt to open your heart to your big sister a little more, you know?

● She charges ahead recklessly and loses control quite often, but for an immovable guardian like myself, a fast-moving spear is quite the reliable partner. When our younger sisters are busy elsewhere and the two of us have free time, she spends the whole time talking fondly about them. In a worst-case scenario, she'll spend the entire day going on like that. Also, she probably has the strongest reaction out of all of us when someone upsets her, so perhaps that's also one of her standout qualities.

● I'd say she's the most free-spirited out of all us sisters. She's not quite one of the youngsters and not quite one of us grown-ups, so she always sort of has her head in the clouds. Like she doesn't know quite where she ought to be... so, I head out to visit her and see how she's doing from time t' time. Kuronami is rock-steady when it comes to her role, but Kiyokawa seems like she's searching around for what her role ought to be. I reckon that difference between them is exactly what makes them such a good team.

Gatekeeper of the Kaikeidou Kuronami (黒波)

Species: Mermaid Ability: Same capabilities as your average mermaid Human friendship level: None Danger level: Medium

● Guardian of the gate to the Kaikeidou servants' backstage area. Amongst us ten sisters, she's the fifth eldest. She has a very stern personality, and would likely sooner die than let anyone through without permission... in that sense, she's head and shoulders above even her fellow sisters. However, perhaps out of excessive loyalty to her duty, she doesn't move an inch from the backstage entrance except when I call for a group meeting. As such, she almost never interacts with the other sisters, and her sisters, too, feel an enigmatic impression from her. Now, the six eldest sisters each have their own room, and the youngest four share their rooms in pairs; as such, Kuronami has a room all to herself, but... well, just have a look. As you can see, she doesn't keep anything to sleep on at all. We take humanoid forms, so I hardly think it would hurt to live a more human-like lifestyle...

● She talks to little Kinryu in front of the backstage door sometimes, but aside from that, I've never seen her talking to any of the other sisters. Even during our occasional group meetings, she somehow looks like she feels out of place... I've been thinking lately about what I can do to be more of a sister to her.

● Ah yes, Kuronami. She probably 'fits in' the least out of all the Kai sisters, but from us non-sisters' perspective, even that makes for a somewhat adorable quality. Also, she's not so uptight as to cause any concern for those around her. She may not make use of her room, but she still keeps various things in her pockets to pass the time with. I caught a glimpse of it just this once. She was...

● ↑ Oh, oh, those! Yeah, a while ago she was weaving friend-- *suddenly muffled*

● I guess I don't really see what everyone else does in her? Maybe it's just because I check in with her a lot, since I'm the backstage coordinator and all, but I see her talking about silly stuff with Kiyokawa a lot, and sometimes she practices... kenpo forms, I think? Just passing the time in her own way, you know. Also, it's superrare, but I've seen her a few times just casually walking off to somewhere. Where could she be going?

● A stern and taciturn guardian. As Owa... *ahem* as that girl says, she can sometimes be stern to the point of being inflexible, but all the sisters who understand her seem to hold her in the highest of confidence. After all, it's for precisely that reason that she was chosen as the other bearer of the keys Lady Otohime prepared.

● ↑ About that. She may be in charge of the keys, but could you tell her to stop making storage rooms for her knitting projects all willy-nilly?

[kaikeidou-backstage-blog]

Kaikeidou Ibun: M.c.s. - Tale of Shrine Migration, part 3

♪： Miss Shrine Maiden of Watatsumi (NicoCommons) (YouTube) "...And so, Lady Otohime went off to do an inspection of the outside world." "Did she really? I do worry that we may be causing her trouble..."

 Megumi informed Mikoto of Otohime's proposition. Mikoto, after receiving said message, replied somewhat apologetically.

"For now, let's just leave the location up to Lady Otohime. In the meantime, we'll get things ready for the shrine's construction."

"Yes, quite."

 Just as the two of them came to an agreement and made to leave, Mikoto clapped her hands together, apparently having remembered something.

"After that... we just have to recruit a human who can gather faith for us, and we'll have the perfect conditions to establish the branch shrine." ".....Huh?"  Mikoto's comment came completely out of left field for Megumi, who rubbed her eyes and stared at her.

"Um... Lady Mikoto, this is the first I've heard of that."

"Oh, did I not mention it? Well, I figured that if we want to obtain faith, it would be good to have someone who'll bear that role for us... that is to say, a human who would serve as a shrine maiden."

"Aaaa human?"

"Aaaa human."

"Can't we get away with using a mermaid? I mean, ningen, ningyo, it's only one syllable off..."

"Well, um... I'm not exactly an expert, myself..."

 First a location in the modern world, then the shrine's main building, and now this. Another problem for the new Kaikeidou to address had just sprung up. ......  Elsewhere, at a certain spot in the modern world. Otohime-- looking for all the world like a human child-- stood where the sunlight filtered through the tree leaves, her eyes fixed on a certain spot.

"...Yep. This is definitely gonna be it."

 She turned on her heel to look at the ocean, with its faintly-crested waves, and the seashore, burning both into her memory. This was her intended location for the Kaikeidou, and the foundation of her latest "idea". "Um, excuse me-- are you perhaps a tourist?"  As Otohime gazed at the sea, a young woman could be heard calling out to her. As soon as Otohime heard this, the corners of her mouth turned up, and she had to fight back the urge to laugh joyously right then and there. She turned to the woman in question, with a tranquil expression hiding her inner excitement.

"Mm? Oh man, sorry, couldn't hear you over the wind. Are you someone from around here, by any chance?"

"No, I'm just a student passing by here. Are you on vacation?"

 At Otohime's response, the young woman repeated her question. Otohime replied to the question she'd already heard with an answer that she'd already prepared.

"Well, I guess you could say that. I was hoping I could find someone who knows the lay of the land around here? Ask them a few questions, y'know?"

"Mmm... I am visiting this town as a student, but I came from elsewhere too, so compared to everyone else..."

"Hm~mmm..."

 The young woman answered Otohime with an awkward smile. Otohime didn't speak to her any further; she just gazed off into space absently. After briefly watching Otohime where she stood, the young woman, too, walked away in silence.

 And, as she watched the woman leave out of the corner of her eye, Otohime could hardly contain her excitement.

 Everything had been in line with Otohime's stratagem from the very beginning.

 The plan to move to a new location,

 the decision to use this particular spot,

 and the person who had talked to her, too... ...... "Lady Mikoto, are you gonna, like, move away?" "Lady Mikoto, are you really gonna go bye-bye?"

 Mikoto was speaking with the youngest Kai sisters in the Kaikeidou's entry hall. Minamo, the youngest of them all, was sitting on her lap, and Suzuri was clinging to her left shoulder. She was the spitting image of "the mother of the ocean", perfect and unmistakable.

Innocent Gatekeeper Minamo Kai

Immature Gatekeeper Suzuri Kai

 Following Mikoto's earlier discussion, the sisters both wore concerned expressions. Despite Mikoto's actual intentions, it appeared that they had taken the concepts they'd discussed literally.

"No, don't worry. I will always be here in the Kaikeidou. I'll still be right here with all of you, too."

 Creating a branch shrine involved splitting off the resident god's power; the divided units can then each provide 100% of the god's original power. As such-- if the shrines were constructed properly-- it was possible to create infinitely many shrines with exactly the same strength. Thus, even if Mikoto remained in the Kaikeidou, her divinity in the modern world's branch shrine... and, of course, Mikoto herself... could continue to exist. That was why Mikoto said she'd be right there with them "too".

"That aside, I'm surprised that we actually need a human's power. Even though both Lady Mikoto and Megumi bear the name of Yaobikuni..."

 Kasumi Shindou raised a concern of hers, while sending up a cloud of bubbles.

"That's just the way things are. Even if Yaobikuni has a well-known mainstream presence, I am a sea goddess, and Megumi is a mermaid. Just like how Kasumi is a shen, we each have a species whose constraints we must adhere to."

 Mikoto answered with a noncommittal smile, as if she didn't quite know what expression to make.

"If Gensokyo has no need for an ocean, I believe that getting back on our feet and setting our sights on the modern world will give the Kaikeidou deeper significance. Also..."

"Also?"

 Mikoto trailed off, and Megumi inquired further.

"All of us, from youkai to sea gods, need humans who can acknowledge us. No being can exist without humanity, after all."

 This was also the reason that the ten sisters of Kai were born.

 The Kaikeidou was beneath a deep, deep ocean. The span in which humans could forget about its existence, too, was extremely short. It was for that reason that they had previously welcomed a human visitor, paralleling the legend of Urashima Tarou. The Kaikeidou was able to maintain its current form as a result, but they had no idea when that could break down again. After all, they had no idea how long those humans (plural) would remain alive.

 At Mikoto's words, Megumi clapped her hands in realization.

"Oh, I get it! If we recruit a shrine maiden, we'll receive really strong acknowledgement. So both our Great Mother's power and the Kaikeidou's existence will become stronger too!"

"Yes, that about sums it up. Though, of course... we do have to find the all-important human in question, first."

 Megumi at last expressed strong assent, but none of the Kaikeidou's residents still had any idea where to find a shrine maiden who'd volunteer to work at this deep-sea Dragon Palace. Mikoto and the others, beginning to feel as if they were just spinning their wheels, let out a chorus of sighs. " " "*Sigh*..." " " "My, my, my! What's with these long faces, everyone?"  Just as the three sighed in unison, the familiar voice of a guest rang out from beyond the sea's depths.

"Hey, look, it's Lady Otohime!"

"Lady Otohime came back...!"

"Hey there, Minamo and Suzuri! You know, it's almost a shame you two aren't twins, with how similar you look."

 Otohime Kanpukugu rustled Minamo and Suzuri's hair as they ran up to welcome her. Her expression was soft and friendly, as if to say that everything was going according to plan.

"Welcome back, Lady Otohime. Did you enjoy your sightseeing in the outside world?"

 Mikoto gave a deeply reverential bow; not as a goddess, but as the leader of those who waited upon Otohime first and foremost. Megumi, Kasumi, Minamo and Suzuri bowed as well, following her lead. Otohime casually waved off the formal welcome, and began speaking to Mikoto.

"Well, for starters, I've found a potential site. It's not that far away, and as luck would have it, there's already a shrine related to Mikoto there too!"

"Oh, that sounds just wonderful. I'm so dearly looking forward to seeing it. Incidentally..."

 Just as Mikoto started to talk about the Kaikeidou's shrine maiden, Otohime stuck her hand out in front to signal her to stop.

"No need to worry about that! While I was looking for a good spot, I found a good human too. I think she'll fill the role of the Kaikeidou's administrator perfectly."

"Administrator... Lady Otohime, did you also realize that the Kaikeidou needs a human representative?!"

 Otohime's statement came as a shock to Megumi. Mikoto, too, couldn't help but raise a hand to her mouth in surprise.

"Eh, yeah, y'know. Not to say that I wasn't also searching for a human 'cause I wanna see a flashy shoot-out like with Owari and friends from before, though."

"I, ah, I see..."

 Otohime's joyful expression brought Megumi just a little bit of unease.

"...Well, leaving that second half aside, just what kind of human was she...?"

"Ah, well, you see..." ...... The sea of the modern world was calm.

Despite how its depths were rumbling, in anticipation of the coming banquet.

The wind of the modern world was excited.

Together with the sea goddess, for their ancestral god was listening to their song.

A girl of the modern world was gazing out.

Upon the sea that she was, however distantly, related to. Alright, then. I s'pose it's about time for us to get up and about. You youngsters want to see a nice spectacle soon too, don't you? In that case... Just hold on for a lil' while while we get the banquet started. ------- ---- -

[kaikeidou-backstage-blog]

Kaikeidou Ibun: M.c.s. - Tale of Shrine Migration, part 1

♪： The Goddess's Capricious Shrine Migration (NicoCommons) (YouTube) "A sh--! A shrine migration... you say!?"

 It started with Mikoto suddenly calling for an assembly. Mikoto, Megumi and the ten Kai sisters, as well as Kasumi and Otohime... all of the Kaikeidou's various residents were gathered in the grand parlour. Mikoto had spoken with the same soft expression she usually wore. The Sisters of Kai Minamo Kai Suzuri Kai Tsushima Kai Iroha Kai Kiyokawa Kuronami Kinryu Fuuka "Yes. It's all well and good that we've settled down in this sea we built in Gensokyo, but we're falling on hard times. What with all these pre-existing gods, various indigenous deities... not to mention Buddhism and all the rest... with so many legends and folk tales making their way in, we can't maintain the Kaikeidou's existence no matter how much acknowledgement we get."

 The religious climate of Gensokyo... it was something that had become abnormally complicated in recent years. Starting with the indigenous gods who had arrived several years prior, many different faiths had been migrating into Gensokyo en masse. As a result, it was becoming more difficult for new faiths to join in... and the Kaikeidou's sea god worship was no exception.

"But where would we migrate to? We're not just going to move a few meters to the side and be like 'okay, done'... right? We're not exactly the Ise Shrine, after all."

 Megumi hesitantly posed a question to Mikoto. It was easy enough to suddenly suggest a migration, but nobody really knew what that would involve. If Megumi, the leader of the mermaids, didn't know, then the daughters beneath her would hardly have any idea either.

"That's true... in that case, why not move to the modern world?"

"Um, we're here in the first place because we became things of fantasy in the modern world...?"

"Oh goodness."

 The Kaikeidou (Mikoto's principal object of worship) was located in one of Gensokyo's lakes, which had been made to evolve into a small ocean. And the building itself was deep at the bottom of that ocean... which made it almost impossible for humans, who they needed to gather faith from, to visit. It was a shrine that stood on forbidden ground.

 Some time prior, they had invited in a human who'd coincidentally gotten lost in the ocean, which allowed them to just barely secure some human faith. But after that, no further guests had visited the Kaikeidou. Amongst mere humans-- particularly in this land, where diving equipment didn't exist-- there was hardly anyone who could manage to follow in the footsteps of the bathyscaphe Trieste.

"Also, moving out of here so casually would be, well..."

 Having understood Mikoto's general point, Megumi trailed off her sentence while looking in the Kai sisters' direction. Chief of the Kai Sisters Owari Kai

"......."

 Megumi's line of sight turned to Owari, the eldest of the ten sisters. Owari had a questioning look on her face, but whatever she was thinking about, she didn't say it out loud.

 It was only natural. She and her sisters had been born to sustain the current Kaikeidou, and had made quite an effort in that regard. It was hardly surprising that she'd be dissatisfied at the idea of abandoning the current shrine.

"...It would be rather disappointing to our sisters."

"Mmm~mm..."

 At Owari's concerned expression, Megumi and Mikoto both furrowed their brows.

 Owari's wasn't just concerned from the standpoint of the Kaikeidou's continued existence. It was also from the standpoint of being the eldest of the ten Kai sisters. If they set off for a new land, gathering worshipers there would be the sisters' job. She had already saddled her younger siblings with dancing, guest reception and so on just as part of her own personal goal, so she didn't want to put any more unnecessary burden on them.

"...Great Mother, I humbly ask your permission to speak. Even if you wish to migrate, we cannot build a shrine in a completely unknown land. And with our faith being as shallow as it is, I fear that pushing ahead with a migration could instead bring ruin upon us..."

 At Owari's words, clearly filled with various complicated emotions, Mikoto and Megumi tilted their heads even further to the side.

"That's very true... It would be downright cruel to abandon this place after Owari and the sisters worked so hard to build it. And there is indeed the question of whether we could gather new faith to begin with..."

 Nearly everyone in the room breathed a sigh of relief. ...But there was one single person who clashed with that atmosphere. "Why don't you just build a branch shrine?" Avatar of Cause and Effect Otohime Kanpukugu Embodiment of Illusions Kasumi Shindou

 Otohime Kanpukugu... the one who created the ocean in which they had built the Dragon Palace, which in turn served as the Kaikeidou's base foundation. She quitely said those words while accepting tea poured by Kasumi Shindou, the Kaikeidou's resident youkai clam.

"A branch shrine?"

 At this sudden and unexpected suggestion, Mikoto turned to listen to Otohime with rapt interest.

"Hm? Yeah. We make this Kaikeidou here in Gensokyo the main shrine, and make the new Kaikeidou its branch shrine. Then if we just split Mikoto's divinity between each, we can maintain the branch shrine with faith from here!"

 This wasn't an ability that was unique to Mikoto. All divinities divide themselves as more new shrines are built for them, and the divided units come to hold the same power as that which resides in the main shrine. Otohime's proposal was for them to make use of that.

 This means of transport was used by many gods that had come to Gensokyo. If either branch became stronger, it could be converted into the new main shrine, further strengthening its faith. By abandoning an obsolete branch and building a new one-- perhaps even several new ones-- a god could continually move to places where their faith was stronger.

"Basically, if we build a new Kaikeidou elsewhere while keeping this one, we won't have to worry about faith while this one's still intact. And if the branch shrine's faith becomes stronger, we can borrow it to strengthen the Kaikeidou here as well!"

"I see. So even if it's in an uncharted land, building a new shrine shouldn't pose any problem..."

 Mikoto's expression grew brighter at Otohime's proposal. At the same time, to her side, Megumi's expression grew slightly suspicious. (Not at an angle that Mikoto could see, of course.)

"Well then, let's do just that! We shall build a new branch Kaikeidou in addition to this one. Then Owari and the other sisters can still maintain a decent role as managers on this end."

 With her plan now proceeding in an unexpected way, Mikoto gave all the sisters a radiant smile. Megumi, on the other hand, began silently communicating with Kasumi, who was still seated next to Otohime.

(You *knew* this was gonna happen, didn't you? Why aren't you saying anything?) ('S fine, isn't it? It's a method by which we can give the Kaikeidou the strength it needs.) (My work schedule is gonna go through the *roof*!) (So you're okay with letting our Great Mother's wishes go to waste?) (Oh, for... come on, don't put it like that. ...That aside, though, just what is Lady Otohime planning?) (Who knows? The thoughts of a heavenly... well, *otherworldly* being, are too lofty for those who live on the ground to comprehend. Let alone us residents of the deep sea.) (Are you really sure that's something to laugh about?)