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My Experience at The Tempest (少年社中) + Meeting Imata Taira!!

On Monday I saw Shonen Shachu’s 25th anniversary production of The Tempest in Tokyo! Overall, I had an amazing experience, and even got to meet IMATA TAIRA HIMSELF!!! And speak to him, which was unreal. Details below, but also spoilers for the play! 

First off, I got my ticket through the lottery system, and somehow I ended up with a fantastic seat on the first floor! I haven’t had great luck with random seats in the past, but this time I sure did. It was a pretty small theater with excellent acoustics. The set was minimal but well utilized. I was really excited about the costumes after seeing all the glittering visuals on the official website (see here), but for some reason, the actual costumes they wore for the play were completely different and noticeably lower quality. I was particularly disappointed that the women’s costumes had major downgrades. On the bright side, Hiroshi Yazaki (playing Kagura/Prospero) got an even better costume than the one he wears in the official posters. He looked like a prince! 

As for the story, I can’t say I was the biggest fan. However, this is probably on me more than the production lmao. Because it’s called The Tempest, I assumed that this would simply be a production of Shakespeare’s The Tempest. However, as I quickly realized while watching the show and growing ever more confused, this is not the case!! It’s actually an original show about a theater group dealing with the loss of one of their members, reckoning with what it means to be an actor and bringing happiness to people, following their love for acting, etc., all while they put on a production of The Tempest. Scenes from Shakespeare’s Tempest are therefore interwoven into the play, and sometimes I admit I had a hard time understanding what was going on (the many time skips/flashbacks didn’t help on this point lol). Honestly I should have read the plot synopsis ahead of time, but because I assumed it was just the basic Tempest I didn’t bother– oops. 

There were points where I was quite invested and moved, but overall I wouldn’t say the flow of the story was particularly great. However, my experience was also limited by my intermediate Japanese, and I’m sure a lot of it went over my head. 

I think all of the actors did an amazing job! Imata Taira was definitely a highlight, and he portrayed a very troubled, grieving, angry character with artfulness and incredible intensity. Seeing him, along with Yazaki and Shogo in person, was absolutely unreal. As a long time Hakuouki fan, going from first seeing them on my computer in Hakumyu 8 years ago to watching them in person in Japan is a dream come true. 

Now, let’s get to the most exciting part– I MET IMATA TAIRA!!! AND SPOKE TO HIM!!!! AHHH! Basically after the show there was a special line where you could go to buy a piece of merch and talk to Taira for a moment. I had no idea they would be doing this so I hadn’t prepared anything to say to him, and I was SO nervous!! Turns out I needn’t have worried though, because Taira is such a lovely person and it was a great interaction. First of all, when the person in front of me moved on and I stepped up, Taira’s eyes went comically wide and he let out a gasp. I was expecting some level of surprise because I was a foreigner (blue eyes, red hair, etc.) at a completely Japanese play, but he was seriously taken aback. I spoke to him entirely in Japanese, of course, and thanked him for a wonderful performance, but he was just kinda scrambling for words and saying stuff like “Ah I’m so sorry I don’t know English!!”. He was so sweet and even bowed and put his head to the table and apologized for not knowing English T-T. I told him that even though my Japanese isn’t great, the power of theater is such that you don’t need to understand the words to be moved, and he thanked me again and even gave me his best “thank you!” in English too! He was so incredibly kind and genuine, and I found his reaction to be hilarious. It seemed like he was just as nervous to speak to me as I was to speak to him! Absolutely amazing experience!!!! The whole thing still feels absolutely unreal to me. I never thought I would have the opportunity to actually speak to one of the actors who has meant so much to me over the years. What a wonderful way to start off 2024 :) 

If anyone wants to chat about the play or has any questions about seeing it, feel free to PM anytime!

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Trip to Mibu-dera

I accomplished my long-time dream of visiting Mibu-dera today! The Shinsengumi lived there for a couple of years in their early days ^-^ We couldn’t take any photos inside, but here are just a few of the photos from the day (please excuse my subpar photography lol):

Although we couldn’t take photos inside, I want to mention that the inner part of the main temple was absolutely gorgeous. It was ornately decorated and houses a Buddhist statue that dates back to the Heian period. 

In a room on the side of the temple you can see Hijikata and Kondo’s swords, as well as some of their letters. My kanji is limited and I couldn’t take out my phone for translation help, so I’m slightly embarrassed to say that I ended up asking some of the other museum patrons to explain things to me in more simple Japanese. Thankfully, people were really nice and I was able to learn a lot more thanks to them :)

I ended up buying a goshuincho and a bag from the gift shop. For those who don’t know, a goshuincho allows you to collect signatures from the various shrines you visit. The signatures serve as wonderful souvenirs to show where you’ve visited. Today alone I ended up collecting three signatures between Mibu dera, an enmusbi shrine, and then the Go’o shrine near the Imperial Palace. 

I worked hard touring Mibu dera, so of course I had to treat myself to some Shinsengumi ice cream afterward haha.

As you can see, the ice cream is blue and white, and the little cookie has Makoto inscribed onto it! The ice cream flavor was simple and milky, and the cookie had a pleasant almond taste. It was really refreshing and I recommend it! The shop is called Dandara Coffee and it’s right next door to the temple. 

I still intend to go to the Yagi house and various other Shinsengumi spots around Kyoto, but luckily I’ll be studying here until May so I’ve got time! If you have any recommended spots in Kyoto or the surrounding areas (Shinsengumi-related or otherwise), I would love to hear them :D

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Is it too late for this meme?

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Hakumyu Fan Community (#2!)

Heya.

It's come to the attention of a number people in the Hakumyu and Hakuoki community that the original hakumyu fancom's been inactive... so we started a new one. We're hoping that it can provide people the means to enjoy Hakumyu and a number of people here on tumblr (not everyone's been confirmed or accepted the invites so I decided against tagging 😂) have been contacted about mod/maintainer positions so they'll be able to accept membership requests and also assign people with mod capabilities should any of the existing mods become inactive.

Most of the rules from the original fancom have been carried over and adapted, including how you'll have to comment on the modpost (currently the sticky post) first before being accepted into the community.

Anyway, membership is now open and the group is here: https://hakumyu-fancom2.livejournal.com/

Yaisa!

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Hello everyone!

I've made English subtitles for Hakumyu Shinkai Saito-hen! You can find it along with the show itself + the behind the scenes video in the attached Google Drive link. If there are any problems with the link, the files, the subs, or anything in any way, please don't hesitate to contact me! If not, please feel free to hit me up to talk about, I dunno, Hakuouki or something anyway if you want lol.

Enjoy!

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New meme for your enjoyment

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Harada no…

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same energy:

photo credit: twitter @m_hakuoki

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ミュージカル『薄桜鬼 真改』山南敬助 篇 Newest Cast Visuals (from m_hakuoki on twitter)

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New visual for Haku-myu LIVE 3… looks a bit like 薄桜鬼 遊戯録 隊士達の大宴会‘s limited edition box art

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Hakumyu Saito Shinkai Merch

Last week the Hakumyu Saito Shinkai goods I ordered came in! The DVD is being relased sometime this month, so for now it’s just photo sets and such. I wanted to show a bit of what I got! 

First up I got the official pamphlet, which is full of lovely photos. I’d really reccomend getting it if you can! The Chizuru and Hijikata photos towards the bottom with the writing came included with it. I also bought the full set of cast photos, as well as individual photo sets of Saito, Kazama, Heisuke, and Sannan (see below).

Don’t they look great? I just adore all of them! Lastly, I also bought 3 blind bromides. Basically they’re like 1/3 of the price of a normal bromide, but you don’t know what character or pose you’re gonna get, which is fun! 

I ended up with Saito, Harada, and Sannan! Saito and Harada are great and all, but I was most excited to pull Sannan!! I absolutely stan Teruma (Sannan-hen when?) and flowers in the background look so beautiful! 

If you love Hakumyu and can afford to support the production through buying merch and/or the DVD, I highly reccomend it! You can order the DVD here: https://www.animate-onlineshop.jp/pd/2072303/

And you can see all the other products they have for sale (like photo sets) here: https://www.animate-onlineshop.jp/products/list.php?mode=search&smt=%E3%83%9F%E3%83%A5%E3%83%BC%E3%82%B8%E3%82%AB%E3%83%AB+%E8%96%84%E6%A1%9C%E9%AIf C%BC+%E7%9C%9F%E6%94%B9+%E6%96%8E%E8%97%A4%E4%B8%80+%E7%AF%87

If you live outside of Japan, you’ll need to use a proxy to ship them to you. I use From Japan, which was reccomended to me by another fan and has proved very reliable! 

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Hakumyu Shinkai Saito-hen 2L Animate Reservation Bonus Bromide

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A detailed description of the Battle of Ezo, and how Hijikata tried to take over an enemy battleship by pretending to be American.

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“The ways of love, if you know it, you are lost, if you know it not, you will not get lost”

—

Hijikata Toshizo

Original: 知れば迷いしなければ迷わぬ恋の道

Read all of Hijikata’s haiku poems here: https://shinsengumi-archives.tumblr.com/post/683071924948058112/hijikata-toshizos-haiku-poems

image source: WhiteWind歴史館

fushigi-dono:

He who has fallen in love invariably falls into “mayoi” (lost in confusion or disillusion), and our lover-hero was clearly familiar with this feeling. And he who does not fall in love does not suffer from doubts and delusions, although it is not clear what he is doing in this case “on the road of love”. Maybe he just goes to fun neighborhoods

This is the only haiku in the entire collection that has the word “love” in it. And it’s the only haiku circled. Hijikata Megumi explains: “Many people think that because Toshizo circled this poem, it means he was especially fond of it. But in fact, in the world of haiku poets, circling means that the poem was rejected. So he sort of crossed it out, saying, "Don’t mind me, I wrote a rubbish poem. Hoshida Kei remembers how in "Moeyo Ken”, Okita giggled at all the haiku except this one. And he adds: “If Toshizo had chosen love and family life, perhaps the history of the Bakumatsu would have been very different.”

Next to this rejected poem is almost the same poem, in which “love” is replaced by “law”

WhiteWind歴史館:

If you know, you are lost If you don’t, you won’t be lost the path of love

It is funny just to imagine what kind of face “that Hijikata Toshizo” must have had when he wrote these haiku.

In Shiba Ryotaro’s novel “Moeyo Ken”, there is a scene in which Okita Souji comes across Toshizo composing a haiku as “Hogyoku”, and he is scornful and appalled. This may be one of those scenes where even if you are not Okita, you would have a hard time commenting, “Oh dear…” (laughs).

Perhaps Toshizo himself thought, “I really shouldn’t have done this,” and composed another non-love haiku next to this one, using similar words. This phrase, which he wrote on a piece of paper, was not scribbled out; rather, it was deliberately circled.

Apparently, this is called “mise-gechi,” which means to erase the part to be deleted so that it is visible, but to us, it looks as if he is insisting, “This part is important!”

Both before and after the formation of the Shinsengumi, Toshizo was a "man of love”. There must have been a time when he was unsure about his decision on the most important event in his life. If Toshizo had chosen love, the history of the Bakumatsu might have looked very different.