From the court presentation:
"Among my studies, I have reason to find the theological teachings around the soul's travels, one life to another, ever learning, hopefully growing, to be some of the most fascinating." She pauses a moment letting the curious wonder where this could possibly be going. "But the court desires entertainment, not a theological lecture, right? Part of those lessons was to look at objects that have been passed down to us in a different light, considering what the person who held it had been like and where they might be when born into this realm again."
"In that spirit, I propose a light picnic before court on <Day 9>. Rather like a moon viewing in that we should have some interesting objects to ponder, write poems about, share our favorite tales of rebirth under this winter sun, rather than saving all such tales for the dark as we blow the candles out one by one." She looks around the court, or seems to, dark eyes finding something in all those faces. "Rather than chill ourselves with contemplation of going into the darkness, I wish to warm ourselves thinking of what it means to emerge back into the light."
The setup will be a light picnic in the LM with seating. People will bring objects that might be interesting, other people will tell stories about them or write poems about them.
For organization: I'd like folks to post here with intent and the object + its brief description (say 2 sentences).
As an example, Hoshiko plans to bring her something many greats-grandfather Isawa Gobo's fan. It remained in her family as they followed Isawa Asahina and she sometimes wonders how his spirit has fared in all these generations.
Setting these up early lets folks see something they may want to respond to, leading to
For organization: #2 Post to 'claim' an object. the story/poem/song should in some way relate to reincarnation. It doesn't even have to do with the person tied to the object here. If the fan reminds you of a favorite folktale where the hero has a fan, go for it. Make rolls or not as you feel like. It's meant to be fluffy fun.
If there's more people looking to tell stories than there are objects...feel free to make up an object brought by one of the NPC delegates.
With the Empress's death, we're aiming to keep things respectful and on the lighter side, vs. tales of people suffering terrible punishments and reincarnation as a snail for their terrible acts in life. A tale of the country bumpkin who is very solicitious of the snail that set up house in their grandfather's favorite sake cup, because they believe that may be grandpa is fine.
Yuna: The object she will bring will be a gold hair comb with an image of a ship's wheel and a gold and red fish. This belonged to her great-grandmother, an earth shugenja Yasuki, who trained with the Kuni before marrying into House Ageki as part of a trade deal.
Shiori: a one-eyed doll that is said belonged to a great-grand uncle of hers. This doll is much like a Daruma doll in look and cultural purpose in the Crab Clan, supposedly originating from the Kuni. The paint has aged to a brick red but it seems otherwise well taken care of.
Shinnosuke: a tenmoku style tea bowl produced in House Tanaka's oldest ceramics workshop, one of several his grandparents liked to use regularly while they were alive.
Hoshiko: Fan: Painted mostly black, so the negative spaces form the image from the underlying warm gold silk. A bare winter cherry tree, with dry grasses at it's base. Plump buds along the gnarled branches hint at the bloom to come. Example of the technique Great-great... grandpa Isawa's fan.
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