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gurdymonkeyRather than dwell upon the irony of the term "productive cough", I am trying to enjoy all the positive feedback I had on my karaginu mo at Twelfth Night. (Pics and "dress diary" at http://www.wodefordhall.com/karaginumo.htm for your viewing pleasure.)
My first outing in Japanese dress in the SCA was the result of being sucked into the enthusiastic jetwash of two friends who were portraying Japanese and wanted me along at a themed event. So why am I still doing it five years later?
I confess! When else do I get to be beautiful, exotic and elegant? Why else would men across the Known World woo me with poetry? (And why are none of them my age, single AND living in my kingdom, I ask you? Sigh.)
The Imperial Court was occupied with what Ivan Morris refers to as a "cult of beauty", but it's a very different beauty than that of 21st century America. Figure flaws disappear under voluminous silks, mystery is heightened by the skillful use of a fan. Even under field conditions
when I don't do full make-up, I move more gracefully in Japanese dress - perhaps because I try to let it wear me instead of the other way around. I'm lucky to have good hair. I exploit it as much as possible - after all, Saionji would.
When Kass and James turned to me that day and said, "And you're coming too, right?" I sort of knew it could never just be Jehanne in a bathrobe. Not if I was going to do it correctly and with the respect it deserved. So I started doing my homework - and I got sucked in.
It was interesting. It was new. It was a chance to try on a different persona. And she's different all right. Saionji is high maintenance. She likes different colors than Jehanne does, and she accepts admiration as her due. She's a natural at writing poetry, while Jehanne finds it a chore. Nobody has ever said "Wow" when Jehanne walks by or blurted, "You look beautiful!" to Jehanne, but it happens to Saionji. It's supposed to.
The flip side of that coin is that I'm not Asian. I remember the sickening gut drop when I rounded a corner at Estrella and there was Duchess Tamsin, a Japanese American. She knew I'd been doing a Japanese portrayal but hadn't seen it before. I knew she would never say anything bad, but still, I couldn't help wonder, "Is this OK? Is she going to be offended?" To my profound relief, she threw her arms
around me, hugged hard and said it was so nice to see someone doing a period Japanese impression so well. Last year when Lord Vail, a native born Japanese, came out to October Crown from the Barony of the Far West, I felt the gut drop again when he approached the BC. We bowed, he said "Kosode beautiful," bowed again and presented me with a cell phone charm. I was so touched that my limited Japanese vocabulary flew straight out of my head and I was forced to thank him in English.
My first outing in Japanese dress in the SCA was the result of being sucked into the enthusiastic jetwash of two friends who were portraying Japanese and wanted me along at a themed event. So why am I still doing it five years later?
I confess! When else do I get to be beautiful, exotic and elegant? Why else would men across the Known World woo me with poetry? (And why are none of them my age, single AND living in my kingdom, I ask you? Sigh.)
The Imperial Court was occupied with what Ivan Morris refers to as a "cult of beauty", but it's a very different beauty than that of 21st century America. Figure flaws disappear under voluminous silks, mystery is heightened by the skillful use of a fan. Even under field conditions
when I don't do full make-up, I move more gracefully in Japanese dress - perhaps because I try to let it wear me instead of the other way around. I'm lucky to have good hair. I exploit it as much as possible - after all, Saionji would.
When Kass and James turned to me that day and said, "And you're coming too, right?" I sort of knew it could never just be Jehanne in a bathrobe. Not if I was going to do it correctly and with the respect it deserved. So I started doing my homework - and I got sucked in.
It was interesting. It was new. It was a chance to try on a different persona. And she's different all right. Saionji is high maintenance. She likes different colors than Jehanne does, and she accepts admiration as her due. She's a natural at writing poetry, while Jehanne finds it a chore. Nobody has ever said "Wow" when Jehanne walks by or blurted, "You look beautiful!" to Jehanne, but it happens to Saionji. It's supposed to.
The flip side of that coin is that I'm not Asian. I remember the sickening gut drop when I rounded a corner at Estrella and there was Duchess Tamsin, a Japanese American. She knew I'd been doing a Japanese portrayal but hadn't seen it before. I knew she would never say anything bad, but still, I couldn't help wonder, "Is this OK? Is she going to be offended?" To my profound relief, she threw her arms
around me, hugged hard and said it was so nice to see someone doing a period Japanese impression so well. Last year when Lord Vail, a native born Japanese, came out to October Crown from the Barony of the Far West, I felt the gut drop again when he approached the BC. We bowed, he said "Kosode beautiful," bowed again and presented me with a cell phone charm. I was so touched that my limited Japanese vocabulary flew straight out of my head and I was forced to thank him in English.
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no subject
Date: 2007-01-13 06:58 pm (UTC)I have news for you though: Saionji *is* you. She's not the you you typically are, not the you you're most comfortable being. But there is nothing that Saionji is that is fake, that isn't also part of Jehanne. She just lets the immensely practical and level-headed Jehanne rest for a moment and yield the floor to the beautiful, fascinating, and sickenly useless and high-maintenance Saionji. But don't ever believe that she's not you -- that you are not beautiful and fascinating and friggin' awesom. And best of all, she's only one part of you. And when she gets too demanding, you can put her in a box. ;)
As for the "not your age, single, and living in the same kingdom," have you not learned that the only love worth anything in the court at Heian-kyo is the hopeless, the forlorn, the unrequited or the impossible? Oh sweetie... how *very* Heian! xxx
no subject
Date: 2007-01-13 07:28 pm (UTC)I often make jokes about Saionji and Jehanne fighting - while it sounds like I'm a raving schizophrenic, it's just a way of compartmentalizing how I think about them. Jehanne's got writer's block, I'll let Saionji take a crack at that poem for Flieg's project. Hmm, weather for March Crown looks iffy, Jehanne gets to go, she's better able to cope. It all works. They're both me, just different bits of me. Saionji is the kind of girl it never occurred to me to be growing up.
You want hopeless and forlorn? How 'bout having an adorable twenty-four year old with beautiful brown eyes kneel at your feet and say how honored he is to meet you? He's been living among the gaijin too long - he kissed my hand! (He heard I was coming out for Kingdom Crusades and hitched a ride down from someplace in New England for the privilege.) About a month ago I lobbed a poem onto the Tousando board and got a very romantic reply - from an eighteen year old. Oy!
no subject
Date: 2007-01-13 07:31 pm (UTC)And you *know* how old that made her in modern terms!
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Date: 2007-01-13 07:44 pm (UTC)Maybe it's a hero worship thing?
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Date: 2007-01-13 08:45 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-01-13 10:03 pm (UTC)Otagiri is right, renown IS a very funny thing.
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Date: 2007-01-13 10:08 pm (UTC)Unfortunately, this can sometimes backfire terribly. See my rant entitled "The Sun, the Moon, the Stars..." ;)
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Date: 2007-01-13 10:14 pm (UTC)http://people.tribe.net/97dff04e-095e-44b0-8b7e-8d3430970be1/blog/50d6abef-b55f-47c7-a9a5-753dedeab2ef#comments
no subject
Date: 2007-01-13 10:24 pm (UTC)Or they just like to whine. Whining gets attention. Everyone likes attention. =)