Drama at the ochaya

Kaylin chan's debut ochaya opening was a great success. A little bit of drama on the role play front! I did the cat/oni story...

Trish's debut direction was awsome

Beautiful debut by Trish chan. Pink was a great choice. Nice background and dancing with blossom twigs for the outside pair. Large bunches of flowers on stage. Dances looked in sync throughout! 3 good stories. A bit of audience participation. Lovely evening... (The obi for this outfit needs placing on the spine! It moved around too much while dancing.)

Toro nagashi finished

Had another go at the toro nagashi. Made two styles, with a frame and with bamboo sticks. HP chan has made some lovely ones as well. Hope they stack up against the competition...

Good tea house numbers

Yoneyu opened the tea house while I was in a crashing phase. Every TP ended in a crash. Was trying to get back to my lantern I'd left at the build site. Request came for a koto player so I obliged. A good crowd. Had a couple of dancers...

First lantern build

Had a first stab at building. HP chan knocked one out in a few seconds! Need to put the edges round the paper. The switch on switch off works well, by clicking the paper sides.

Moved shops

HP chan has found a bit bigger place at Little Yoshiwara so we moved yesterday. Rug is too big for the shop! So will have to make a smaller one. Made some pictures for the wall, set them at 10$L a piece. Am in the Wednesday show directed by Trish chan. HP chan is musician. I've made the cat in long boots story. Translated Japanese version on the Internet was quite poor. Lots of problems with the articles, not a surprise as the Japanese language does not have articles! Will need to get a pink kimono out for the show... Update: made a 6 x 3.5 meter rug with the embroidered crane image.

Minarai in the tea house

Promotion: Opened the tea house so Alena chan could get another tick in the box for her promotion. 1 custome Kae san who has build a superb space ship. Chiu chan notched up an ochaya performance as well.

Visitor

A visitor to the sim. Showed her around. Very impressed with the range of items in our sim. Had a bash at the sumo!

Misedashi

Misedashi performance followed the san san. There was a little play put on which was very well done. HP chan played music.

Osho in blue...

Saturday show at Osho was well received. A nice crowd and a chance to wear blue once more. 2 of my little sisters performed as well.

San san...

Another chance to be the great oneesan again. Yoneyu, my little sister got her little sister promotion form minarai to junior maiko. The san san ceremony is where the new maiko gets their new name and is bond to their oneesan.

Next kabuki performance

Performance planning our next kabuki show has begun. Looks like it'll be on August 22nd, my sister's birthday!

Tea house customers

Promotions in the offing so I opened the tea house to get some of my little sisters a tick in the box for their promotions. Was an earlier than usual opening (10 a.m. SL time) Maybe we can try again at that time. Had a steady stream of customers with lots of interaction from Claud san. Claud san wanted a story and was impressed. Dante chan did the story while dancing and I played koto. Claud san said did not like poetry but the computer haiku talk changed things! Finished off with the fire coat story, again impressed...

Great show by Jael chan

Jael chan directed another terrific show. No pictures taken as it was a laggy old evening and I was running the dance HUD so did not want to crash. 5 people dancing and many new folks delivering the stories so would have been bad news to crash. My story was last so fingers were well and truly crossed for an hour. Ghiri san was there, long time no see. Some new folks in the audience and some good tips. Started sketching a toro nasagi for the lantern competition, will not be easy! Here's the story I told:

“The man with the sharp nose”.

Long, long ago
there lived a young fisherman in a village.
One day he said to his mother when he went fishing for forty days
at sea with his fellow fisherman in a big boat,
"Mom, set fire on this house on twentieth day from my departure."
"What are you talking about?
I can't do such a crazy thing." said his mother.
"Mom, I have a great idea.
Please do set alight and burn this house."
On the very twentieth day from his departure,
as she was told to by her son,
she set fire to her house and it burnt to ashes.
Meanwhile, out at sea on that evening, he said to his fellows,
moving his nose.
"I smell something burning.
Oh My God!
It is my burning house's smell.
My house is burning."
"It's nonsense.
It is more than 400 kilometres from your house to this boat.
It is absolutely impossible to smell your house burning." said his fellows.
They returned to their village in another twenty days
only to discover the young man's house was burned down twenty days ago.
"What you said was true.
What a wonderful sense of smell you have!" said everyone.
"It's unbelievable.
I'll test him again." said one of his friends
and a few days later he threw a load of charcoal into his well.
At the same time a villager happened to pass by.
"Why are you throwing charcoal away into your well?" asked the villager.
"I'd like to test the famous young man's nose." answered the man.
The villager came across the famous fisherman who had a good nose
on his way home and said to him.
"Young man, now you are so famous in this village for having a sharp nose.
When I passed by a well,
I saw someone throwing charcoal into it
for the purpose of testing your nose."
Soon the young man was called by the very friend of his.
"Young man.
Excuse me, but would you do me a favour?
I know you have a wonderful sense of smell.
The other day a load of charcoal of mine suddenly disappeared.
I searched everywhere, but I couldn't find it.
So would you mind finding charcoal with your sharp nose?"
"Of course, not.
It's a piece of cake." said the young man and went to the well,
pretending to smell.
"I smell charcoal in this well." he said
and the charcoal was found.
"What a wonderful sense of smell he has!" said everyone there in surprise.
He became much more famous for having a sharp nose than before.
Soon the lord became ill.
Doctors tried to cure him of his disease but in vain.
One day the young man had a message from the castle;
"Young man.
We hear you have a sharp nose.
The lord has been ill for a long time.
I hope you'll smell out the cause of his disease with your sharp nose.
If you can, we will give you much reward."
There was no reason to refuse the offer.
Though he was at a loss as what to do,
anyway he made his way to the castle.
When he came to a big pine tree,
he overheard two TENGU
(Japanese long-nosed goblins)
talking with each other.
"Why not play a trick on the man under the tree?"
"No.
We won't.
He is a famous man for a sharp nose and he'll go to the lord.
If we play a trick on him,
we'll be severely punished by the lord.
But I wonder how he can find the key to solve the problem.
The disease results from a frog under a big stone in his garden.
If they remove the frog from under the stone
,the lord will be better.
Who knows it?" they said
and flew away towards the mountains.
On meeting the lord in the castle,
he pretended to smell,
looking toward the garden
until he went to the big stone.
"I smell a frog under this big stone.
The disease results from the frog." he said,
pointing at the stone.
His men removed the stone and found the very frog,
and set it free.
To their surprise,
the lord stood up from his bed.
The young man was given much money and many straw bags of rice.
He was given the name,
'Mr. Good Nose' by the lord.
And that ends my tale for today…

"Spirit of Obon" Haiku Contest

Dante san is holding an Obon related haiku contest.

Shin Tao Haiku Retreat and Library of Haiku welcome submissions for our Haiku Contest on "the Spirit of Obon", for our Obon Festival August 7, 8, 9. The deadline for submissions is Aug 2, midnight, slt. Rules for the contest are the following:

The 2009 Obon Festival Haiku Contest

The Spirit of Obon
deadline: Aug 2

We are currently accepting entries for our haiku
contest on the theme "the Spirit of Obon". This
contest is open to any SL poet who wishes to
participate. For the purposes of this contest, we
are accepting any Haiku, Senryu, or Tanka.

Will put my haiku here for this event:

Obon, a time for family reunions.

My offspring grey and
wrinkled, home again. Tears well.
This my last Obon?

Tired feet treading on
familiar tatami.
Home again for Obon...

One more year slipped by.
Family room full once more,
happy memories...

A haiku related to the dancing part of Obon.

Enthusiastic
drummers up on high.
Obon beats again.

More to come...

Toro nasagi build...

Competition. Dante san is running a compeition to build a Toro Nasagi for Obon. 8 prims allowed. They are the candle lanterns that get floated down river, holding ancestor's spirit. Here's an example picture. Not sure how to make a hexagon yet as I've not seen that shape in the build list of objects... Square ones will be easier!

Yann san returns

Wonderer returns. First time we've seen Yann san for a few months at the ochaya. Yoneyu did the serving. I played koto and told a backup story from the SL opera show last week.

Plan b

Fantastic. Kaylin chan put glass walls around to stop the river push! Plan b is to sit on the bridge. Should be ok sitting. Not get pushed around.

Glass protection!

Fabricated a glass tube to stand in so I don't get pushed around when I'm AFK. It's 2 meters diameter and 3 meters high. Someone keeps dumping me in the river over night! One picture shows you can't see the transparent tube. The others show objects owned in red (CTRL ALT T). Have set my home to inside the tube.

New shop up and running

HP chan found a new place for a little shop. We got 50 prims. Spent the evening making up boards. Included a free pose stand, a giant geta, and the crane rug to top it off. Fingers crossed we cover the rent...

Summer show at SL Opera House

Here are some pics from the show today. Good crowd, nice music, and performances as usuall from the okiya. I just danced today but had back up stories in case of no shows...

Wanderer to the tea house

A Japanese guy came to the sim. I showed him round and did a Japanese story for him in the ochaya.

SL Opera House show tomorrow

masumi san has organized a show at the SL Opera House. We'll be getting matching yukata, probably Geisha Dreams ones. Yes, have the burgendy yukata and peony fan.

Heian show was terrific

Wonderful, the only word for it. Jael chan produced a terrific show. 7 of us in the same kimono. A seamless set of 5 scripts, and HP chan back on music... Here's a few pictures.

Tea house customers

Contacted my little sisters. Dante chan needs tea house openings so we opened the tea house. A couple of customers and a tick in the box for promotion. Dante chan had a lovely sweetaholic kimono on. Added a new tune to my koto. There's a talk on the heian period straight after the 2:30 p.m. show...

New kimono for next show

Jael chan's next show looks like a stunner. 5 dancers with scripts and heian kimono provided. And paid for kimono and fans @ 600$L. We'll be using the poofy sleeved version. I honed my script to fit the 9 minutes allocated.

HPDAA chan is back, yay....

Yay, my little sister is back after hospitalization. Fingers crossed for a full and speedy recovery.

After the buzz of the festival weekend no one came to the tea house opening.

Haiku at the festival - results

A rather disappointing number of entries, 4! With 4 categories, spring summer autumn and winter that was a poor show. 1 summer entry, 1 spring, and 2 winter, so two winners were easy to decide. Only had to differentiate the 2 winter ones and a unanimous decision was easily reached.
Here are the results of the jury!!!

Little Yoshiwara Festival Haiku Contest 2009
Prizes
**********************************
Winner Summer - Viriane Villiers:
**********************************
Green grass gone - blazing
summer sun the scorching thief.
Heaven weeps a tear.

**********************************
Winner Winter - Akemi Ireto
**********************************
a stone, silent, sits
at the bottom of a stream
alone, in twilight

**********************************
Second Winter - Akemi Ireto
**********************************
her beauty, red lips
flowers frozen in winter
memory of love

*********************************
Winner Spring - Zarah Svoboda
*********************************
Sakura blossoms
the tears for a love untold
soundless, fall unseen.

*********************************
Doumo Arigatou Gozaimasu

Geo Netizen and Lezlie Latte

Fishing contest

Grrr, came 4th. Went to take the day out and ran out of bait so was out of the trophies. Nearly caught up to 3rd place. Was a 90 minute contest. Viriane was winner with 317 points, Larry second and Tenshi 3rd. Now it's off to the Haiku contest.

Falln Angel - What's in the box

Nipped back to FA to try and find the elusive prizes. They must be the well hidden ones I'm missing. Was real lucky to guess this kimono on the first go!! There's a fun "What's in the box" game where you guess what in the box funnily enough! Looks like today will be a good one. The owner was at the store and smiles knowingly... Am off to the Isle of Wight for th day in a few minutes. Hopefully back before the festival fishing contest starts.

Falln Angel treasure hunt

A 3 day hunt. Some terrific prizes to find for just 1$. 30 prizes and i need 6 more to complete them all... Some are out in the open, others very well hidden. Mostly kimono, some fans and skins. Also a game there to guess what is in the box. Pictures are an example kimono prize and the small bags we hunt for with the prizes in...

Noh play

A wonderful spectacle after the horse race. masumi san has put a lot of effort in on this one. Sadly had to go to bed after this one so missed the dojo combat events.

Horse race exciting

First time at this. Two lap races around the sim. Yoneyu won the first 3 races so collected the 1000$ prize. I guess performance is related o computer power. I was second in all 3 races. There was then a 4th race for the 2nd place prize. I lead both laps all the way then the 2nd horse jumped over me to win by flying!!!!!! Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. What a $%^&* cheat. Last race was for 3rd place prize. Just me and one other horse. Neck and neck for a while then I consolidated the lead. She came back at the death and nearly pipped me. So 250 prize for 5 races. 4 second places and a win. Was fun and made the laptop very hot with all the graphics processing going on.

Osho show on modern China

A busy day yesterday!! Next show was one on modern China. I wore a Chinese outfit from a previous session and did a talk on Chinese cities. Well received. Horse racing next...