D8 ME - Art Festival: The Exhibit (Art contributions only)

[Asahina Hoshiko]

In the Dragon area, Hoshiko finishes assembling her work. Dozens of pieces of paper have been folded into dragons of different shapes and sizes. It's evident to a practitioner that at least three different origami bases form the foundations of the different individual pieces. The paper used is of many colors, though green predominates.

On a wide oval tray of sand, she pieces them together into a mountain, tails interlocking and all the variously shaped heads fitting cleverly to make the paper sculpture sturdy. Then the sand is smoothed and raked into gentle patterns.

Plucking one dragon from the overall sculpture to set alone on the sand, looking at the mountain, draws the eye and makes the puzzle of the mountain more apparent.

It's merely charming and clever beside the masterpiece of her artisan cousin, of course.

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D7 EM: Crafting for the art festival. VP for +1k1 3 raises on generic base 15 | 8k5 ⇒ 43 (TN: 30)

[Ichiro Himari]

Standing in the Boar area--off to the side, not far from the Crab--the hulk that is Ichiro Himari (with his equally massive yojimbo standing nearby) takes up a spot. Lifting a leg and standing on only the one foot, his single leg still a mighty pillar that roots him to the earth, he takes out a flute, one twice the size of a normal instrument; in his hands, it still looks delicate.

Fitting it to his lips, he breathes deeply, and he begins to play a delightful little jig evoking the grunts and snorts of the Heichi heraldic animal. It is clear from his expressions as he plays and his increasing disheveledness that he, at least, enjoys the performance.

(Result 29)
https://sakkaku.org/r/16384

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Think this, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=feEDRaAyk4k, but down an octave.

[Moshi Akane]

Standing north of the Crab and south of the Scorpion, east of where Himari does his "little" dance--because nothing about such a man can be little, can it?--Moshi Akane has servants place a stand. Onto it, she lifts a miniature pine tree, exquisitely trimmed, somehow in red needles to celebrate the Fox in their woods. It seems somehow to shimmer as if in sunlight.

(Result 42)
https://sakkaku.org/r/16386

[Kitsune Aiko]

Kitsune Aiko walks to a place in the room removed from the rest, and it will be observed that a couple of pieces of winter-dry grass fall from the train of her kimono as she does. Onto a small table there, she places a sheet of paper that shades through many hues of green, expertly folded into the shape of a mantis whose pincers are raised and whose wings are spread, making itself the biggest that it can be.

(Result 38)
https://sakkaku.org/r/16387

[Gusai Rioshida]

Gusai Rioshida swaggers up to where the Suzume Hills would be, did he bestride the Empire at such a scale, and flings thin ropes over the ceiling beams. To each corner, he ties the corner of what, when raised and tied off, is intricately braided lines of varying weights that depict a sparrow flying from the net, even as it is still the net.

He looks around at the others in attendance and their works, and his mouth quirks into a smirk for a moment with a smug "hmpf" before he withdraws.

(Result 55)
https://sakkaku.org/r/16388

[Suzume Ryobu]

Taking small steps, Suzume Ryobu walks to the place marked out as the Imperial Capital--then takes two steps to its east, where a table awaits. Upon it, she places an arrangement of vegetable greens, a reminder that beauty inheres even in the humble, speaking to the Kasuga. So doing, she bows and begins to mingle.

(Result 26)
https://sakkaku.org/r/16389

[Kasuga Izumi]

For her part, Kasuga Izumi strides confidently to the northwest corner of the room, leaving upon a stand there a shard of ivory—it *is* ivory, right?— depicts a mighty fortress in the snowy mountains of the Badger. When she sees the piece on the Sparrow, her eyes narrow, and she makes her exit from the exhibit.

(Result 25)
https://sakkaku.org/r/16390

[Heichi Batsuda]

Lord Heichi's contribution is a glorious painting featuring exquisite brushwork. A wide landscape painting, it features a view of the sun rising (about halfway to apogee), casting its golden light above the Valley of the Cenipede, though the valley itself is more of a suggestion between the (curiously round-topped, proud, bottom-heavy, and majestically smooth) mountains on each side. These great boulders sweep down to the crease of the famed Moshi terrace-farms near the base facing the viewer. The mountains are without blemish, save for a single dark spot high on the right cheek, which seems to suggest a dwelling of some type, though it is so small (a consequence of scale) as to be unclear.



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Artisan: Painting 7k4
A painting of a sunrise over the mountains, recognizable as those surrounding the Valley of the Centipede (Result 50).

https://sakkaku.org/r/16385

[Shiba Ryushi]

Ryushi decided to add more music to the fray and played another piece dedicated to the monks that are always tending to the temples. It wasn't as good as the previous one but still passable.


D8 ME Another festival piece in the shamisen perform shamisen 0VP 0CR | 7k4 ⇒ 26

[Shosuro Reiko]

Standing atop a small platform close by to the Crab portion of the festival, Reiko spent the mid and late evening performing both parts of the two act play, Tofu Sheds Tears When Cut: an avant-garde piece in an almost surrealist style that had caught some favor among the younger generations of Crane who had known only a time when they had lost their primacy in court. The play serving as a comedic outlet for negative feelings and ending with an optimistic note while scandalously being more overt than a more delicate arrangement typical of Crane playwrights.

Written as an operetta, because of course it was, Reiko's rendition of Tofu lacked the orchestral accompaniment that a fuller performance would have featured though it did allow the Shosuro to feature a collection of masks that the actress was able to quickly change to play almost all the roles called for with a sweep of the hand or a fan.

She thought that would play better to Crab sensibilities, as she was told they had a preference for less artsy-fartsy productions and more spectacle.

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D7 - ME - Acting Performance! | 7k4 ⇒ 28

EDIT: I was informed that the clan assigned for the Scorpion was the Crab. Changes were made to reflect this so as to not go against the grain.