gurdymonkey (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
gurdymonkey) wrote2011-01-30 01:36 pm
gurdymonkey) wrote2011-01-30 01:36 pm
So beginneth the reign of Takeshi-no-miya and Sora-no-miya
Number of court ladies in white makeup: ALL BUT ONE (guardsmen do not count).
Number of people who thought Rolf looked like Anjin-san: PRETTY MUCH EVERYONE.
Number of people I helped dress, before/while I was getting my own oshiroi spackled on: FIVE.
Number of death threats I was required to issue : ONE.
Number of people swing-dancing to the taiko drumming: QUITE A FEW.
Number of women I supplied Neutrogena make-up remover wipes to: ALL BUT ONE.
Number of people having an awesomely wonderful time: ALL OF US!
Hit Thule fog on the drive up to Woodland Friday night, pretty much all the way from the Carquinez bridge into town, so I just had time to grab a salad at Denny's before heading over to the hall for run-throughs on the ceremony. I had printed out Ii-dono's translation of the bit of ceremony text in Romaji and English onto a sheet of legal paper, accordion folded it inside another sheet (so the print would not show through the back) and read it like a proclamation. The Masons' ritual room had ideal acoustics for this sort of thing: I had to process up the center of the room, drop to my knees to bow, rise and address the dais while still being heard at the back of the room. We ran through the entire ceremony at least three times. I presented a brief "How to walk, how to bow, how to kneel and bow" tutorial. There were several last- minute changes, including Takeshi's decision to substitute "Daimyo" for "Prince" occasioning a flurry of smart-phone searches for the Modes of Address page to figure out what alternative title to use for Sora. (Anyone caught making redneck "Sora-jo" remarks or jokes will be ordered to commit seppuku or I will eat their souls with wasabi and a bottle of junmai daiginjo.) I had originally practiced my part with the intention of delivering it in Japanese, then repeating it in English, but we tried it with the Herald "translating" each sentence after me and bandied about the idea of doing it with a translator.
We got through the rehearsal, departed for the Denny's on Main Street and found they'd just seated a party of 17 with no room for us. I ran over to the motel to check in (having arranged to split a room with Judith), then the entire group migrated to the Denny's two exits up the freeway. The earlier salad not having done a thing for me, I ended up having a burger at well after midnight. Judith and I crashed immediately at the motel, got a few hours sleep and woke up a little after eight, in time to get a decent breakfast (Denny's again!), stop at the store so I could pick up some cough drops, and get to site.
Could not get the bottle of tooth black open for love, money, or the efforts of the mighty Gilbert de Longspee, so resigned myself to going without. Helped several people dress before/during applying my make-up, then got into my own clothes, including knee pads, which made gartering up the hems of my nagabakama before the ceremony a lot easier. Yeah, there were some screwed up kosode collars. It's simple once you know how, but if you're new to doing it, it inevitably confuses some folks. (I have a couple in my closet that couldn't be fixed too, you know!) Most of them will be easy enough to fix at a later date, if the makers so desire. I told them all so, helped adjust things as best I could and reminded folks that all eyes should be on our royalty anyway, right?
Checked in at the "ready room," which was a landing at the top of a flight of stairs (ARGH!) to deliver the sake and appropriate serve-ware for the cup bearers. Sora-hime liked the Hana Awaka and did not care for the Moonstone Asian Pear, so now I know what to lay in for her and Tracy (cannot remember her SCA name!) They were all dressing, getting made up and had it more or less under control.
Talon was dying to volunteer to be my "translator." When I checked with Aurora, she said no one else had been tapped to do it yet. Investiture Court was 20 minutes away, I hadn't had a thing to eat or drink since the Denny's. So I pulled out my script, thank heaven I'd used a backing sheet for it, carefullyftore away the English portion and went looking for T, as he really, REALLY wanted to do it. The aforementioned death threat was made to ensure he not lose the only copy of his bit of script that I had. We ran through it, I told him to find his glasses and read it aloud a few more times again, double checked him on how to pronounce "Reikoku Takeshi", and said he should follow me in, wait until I made my bow, then he could come up alongside and "translate" at each sentence break.
I just about had time to drop my nagabakama hems and get organized when the called court. I processed in, went to my knees, rose as the Herald asked what business I had, unfolded my "proclamation" and wondered briefly where the hell Talon was because I couldn't see him.
O-oujisama, gozonjinasai! O-inochi wa kono tsuyu no yo ga owarou to nasai. From directly BEHIND me, I hear "Know, oh Prince, that thy time of precedence upon this mortal plane draws to a close." Clear as a bell, "precedence" pronounced correctly. Tadaima, orosh(i)kute orosh(i)kute, sensou no shiken (w)o tsuuka suru to Sinagawa to yu "West" no koukoku ni kenryoku (w)o eru Swan-kyo ga otemae ni maitteori. (There comes before you now, terrible in his grandeur, Lord of the Swan, who has passed through trial of combat to seize the temporal power of Cynagua, Principality of the West.) Toji no dentou ya houritsu de okonau you ni kare no shihai no jikoku ni naru to Swan-kyo wa Sinagawa no ouji tosh(i)te shoutou na chi-i (w)o shuuchou shiyo! (This being the hour of his ascendancy as proclaimed by the laws and traditions of this land, the Lord of the Swan now claims his rightful place as Prince of Cynagua.)
I moved to the left of the dais, went to my knees and maintained "shin" through the Investiture of my Prince and Princess. They absolutely nailed their bits of ceremonial speech and looked resplendent and dignified in blazing orange. (And ok, yes, the Knight Counselor's shaggy hair and beard does bear a passing resemblance to that of Richard Chamberlain in Shogun.)
Did I mention the taiko? Micah plays with Sonoma County Taiko and they played for the processions and during the break between Investiture and First Court. Seamus instigated swing dancing at the back of the hall, which is less anachronistic than you think, given the history of modern taiko performance. Dignity thrown to the wind, I found myself attempting to drum on the back of a seat with my fan. They were wonderful, most folks stayed in the hall to watch (and dance!) and everyone enjoyed it.
Kevin of Windy Meads (mundanely Japanese-American) had made himself a lovely burgundy hitatare kamishimo and asked me to see if I could put his hair up for him. His hair completely defeated my attempts to do a "tea wisk" with a mere elastic hair tie that would only go around the mass twice. I told him we'll have to try it sometime with a bit of gel and a good length of cord. And get around to that long promised Go game.....
I thanked Talon least twice I can remember during the blur that was the rest of the day - he did, after all, come through for us. Rolf thanked me for the second time (the last having been at Denny's the night before). When he and Aurora were crowned King and Queen, they did this huge equestrian procession, complete with carriage. They're all about Go Big Or Go Home and he told his squire, "If you're gonna do a Japanese reign, DO a Japanese reign."
I was told several times that my face looked blue - it was doubtless reflecting off my glistening ice-blue, jinken brocade uwagi. I also got a lot of compliments on my "speech." I guess my attempts to make it sound like actual meaningful sentences succeeded. The acoustics helped a lot too.
Alfar, Kiffany and their crew produced a delicious, Western-style feast. (Kiffany confessed they'd considered trying to do a Japanese feast, but didn't have time to research it and attempt to do it properly.) Singinius was making the rounds with a bottle of Suntory Yamazaki, a 12 year single malt that I got to taste. Surprisingly smooth and clean, along the lines of the Dalwhinnie.
My Prince and I shared a cup of the Moonstone Asian Pear. As Her Highness didn't care for it, the rest came home with me. I am certain I can make it go away at Estrella. I also confessed that the reason his eboshi wasn't finished was that I'd been making something else - and presented him with his jinbaori. Their next event won't be until after Estrella, which means (a) I do not have to attend them AT Estrella and (b) I can get the eboshi and Sora-hime's jinbaori to them at Golden Rivers Championship.
In summary, things went off smoothly, everyone had a good time, and the reign is off to a memorable start.
Today is officially a lazy day.
Number of people who thought Rolf looked like Anjin-san: PRETTY MUCH EVERYONE.
Number of people I helped dress, before/while I was getting my own oshiroi spackled on: FIVE.
Number of death threats I was required to issue : ONE.
Number of people swing-dancing to the taiko drumming: QUITE A FEW.
Number of women I supplied Neutrogena make-up remover wipes to: ALL BUT ONE.
Number of people having an awesomely wonderful time: ALL OF US!
Hit Thule fog on the drive up to Woodland Friday night, pretty much all the way from the Carquinez bridge into town, so I just had time to grab a salad at Denny's before heading over to the hall for run-throughs on the ceremony. I had printed out Ii-dono's translation of the bit of ceremony text in Romaji and English onto a sheet of legal paper, accordion folded it inside another sheet (so the print would not show through the back) and read it like a proclamation. The Masons' ritual room had ideal acoustics for this sort of thing: I had to process up the center of the room, drop to my knees to bow, rise and address the dais while still being heard at the back of the room. We ran through the entire ceremony at least three times. I presented a brief "How to walk, how to bow, how to kneel and bow" tutorial. There were several last- minute changes, including Takeshi's decision to substitute "Daimyo" for "Prince" occasioning a flurry of smart-phone searches for the Modes of Address page to figure out what alternative title to use for Sora. (Anyone caught making redneck "Sora-jo" remarks or jokes will be ordered to commit seppuku or I will eat their souls with wasabi and a bottle of junmai daiginjo.) I had originally practiced my part with the intention of delivering it in Japanese, then repeating it in English, but we tried it with the Herald "translating" each sentence after me and bandied about the idea of doing it with a translator.
We got through the rehearsal, departed for the Denny's on Main Street and found they'd just seated a party of 17 with no room for us. I ran over to the motel to check in (having arranged to split a room with Judith), then the entire group migrated to the Denny's two exits up the freeway. The earlier salad not having done a thing for me, I ended up having a burger at well after midnight. Judith and I crashed immediately at the motel, got a few hours sleep and woke up a little after eight, in time to get a decent breakfast (Denny's again!), stop at the store so I could pick up some cough drops, and get to site.
Could not get the bottle of tooth black open for love, money, or the efforts of the mighty Gilbert de Longspee, so resigned myself to going without. Helped several people dress before/during applying my make-up, then got into my own clothes, including knee pads, which made gartering up the hems of my nagabakama before the ceremony a lot easier. Yeah, there were some screwed up kosode collars. It's simple once you know how, but if you're new to doing it, it inevitably confuses some folks. (I have a couple in my closet that couldn't be fixed too, you know!) Most of them will be easy enough to fix at a later date, if the makers so desire. I told them all so, helped adjust things as best I could and reminded folks that all eyes should be on our royalty anyway, right?
Checked in at the "ready room," which was a landing at the top of a flight of stairs (ARGH!) to deliver the sake and appropriate serve-ware for the cup bearers. Sora-hime liked the Hana Awaka and did not care for the Moonstone Asian Pear, so now I know what to lay in for her and Tracy (cannot remember her SCA name!) They were all dressing, getting made up and had it more or less under control.
Talon was dying to volunteer to be my "translator." When I checked with Aurora, she said no one else had been tapped to do it yet. Investiture Court was 20 minutes away, I hadn't had a thing to eat or drink since the Denny's. So I pulled out my script, thank heaven I'd used a backing sheet for it, carefullyftore away the English portion and went looking for T, as he really, REALLY wanted to do it. The aforementioned death threat was made to ensure he not lose the only copy of his bit of script that I had. We ran through it, I told him to find his glasses and read it aloud a few more times again, double checked him on how to pronounce "Reikoku Takeshi", and said he should follow me in, wait until I made my bow, then he could come up alongside and "translate" at each sentence break.
I just about had time to drop my nagabakama hems and get organized when the called court. I processed in, went to my knees, rose as the Herald asked what business I had, unfolded my "proclamation" and wondered briefly where the hell Talon was because I couldn't see him.
O-oujisama, gozonjinasai! O-inochi wa kono tsuyu no yo ga owarou to nasai. From directly BEHIND me, I hear "Know, oh Prince, that thy time of precedence upon this mortal plane draws to a close." Clear as a bell, "precedence" pronounced correctly. Tadaima, orosh(i)kute orosh(i)kute, sensou no shiken (w)o tsuuka suru to Sinagawa to yu "West" no koukoku ni kenryoku (w)o eru Swan-kyo ga otemae ni maitteori. (There comes before you now, terrible in his grandeur, Lord of the Swan, who has passed through trial of combat to seize the temporal power of Cynagua, Principality of the West.) Toji no dentou ya houritsu de okonau you ni kare no shihai no jikoku ni naru to Swan-kyo wa Sinagawa no ouji tosh(i)te shoutou na chi-i (w)o shuuchou shiyo! (This being the hour of his ascendancy as proclaimed by the laws and traditions of this land, the Lord of the Swan now claims his rightful place as Prince of Cynagua.)
I moved to the left of the dais, went to my knees and maintained "shin" through the Investiture of my Prince and Princess. They absolutely nailed their bits of ceremonial speech and looked resplendent and dignified in blazing orange. (And ok, yes, the Knight Counselor's shaggy hair and beard does bear a passing resemblance to that of Richard Chamberlain in Shogun.)
Did I mention the taiko? Micah plays with Sonoma County Taiko and they played for the processions and during the break between Investiture and First Court. Seamus instigated swing dancing at the back of the hall, which is less anachronistic than you think, given the history of modern taiko performance. Dignity thrown to the wind, I found myself attempting to drum on the back of a seat with my fan. They were wonderful, most folks stayed in the hall to watch (and dance!) and everyone enjoyed it.
Kevin of Windy Meads (mundanely Japanese-American) had made himself a lovely burgundy hitatare kamishimo and asked me to see if I could put his hair up for him. His hair completely defeated my attempts to do a "tea wisk" with a mere elastic hair tie that would only go around the mass twice. I told him we'll have to try it sometime with a bit of gel and a good length of cord. And get around to that long promised Go game.....
I thanked Talon least twice I can remember during the blur that was the rest of the day - he did, after all, come through for us. Rolf thanked me for the second time (the last having been at Denny's the night before). When he and Aurora were crowned King and Queen, they did this huge equestrian procession, complete with carriage. They're all about Go Big Or Go Home and he told his squire, "If you're gonna do a Japanese reign, DO a Japanese reign."
I was told several times that my face looked blue - it was doubtless reflecting off my glistening ice-blue, jinken brocade uwagi. I also got a lot of compliments on my "speech." I guess my attempts to make it sound like actual meaningful sentences succeeded. The acoustics helped a lot too.
Alfar, Kiffany and their crew produced a delicious, Western-style feast. (Kiffany confessed they'd considered trying to do a Japanese feast, but didn't have time to research it and attempt to do it properly.) Singinius was making the rounds with a bottle of Suntory Yamazaki, a 12 year single malt that I got to taste. Surprisingly smooth and clean, along the lines of the Dalwhinnie.
My Prince and I shared a cup of the Moonstone Asian Pear. As Her Highness didn't care for it, the rest came home with me. I am certain I can make it go away at Estrella. I also confessed that the reason his eboshi wasn't finished was that I'd been making something else - and presented him with his jinbaori. Their next event won't be until after Estrella, which means (a) I do not have to attend them AT Estrella and (b) I can get the eboshi and Sora-hime's jinbaori to them at Golden Rivers Championship.
In summary, things went off smoothly, everyone had a good time, and the reign is off to a memorable start.
Today is officially a lazy day.
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Thank you for all the behind the scenes and in front reporting. Sounds like it was what the SCA is about.
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