February Entry: the Gempei War

[Gamerprinter]

Bring on Bongo and Bungo!

Weren't they provinces in that part of Japan? My dim recollection from playing 'Shogun total war' what a beautiful game that was, more of a work of art.

If you mean the Risk like board game, Shogun - I've played! This is one of my favorite board games!

Actually, though the stoners might like "Bongo", that was not a province of Japan, you probably mean - Bingo and Bungo, both in fact will be provinces on this map.

Actually Bungo has some significance in the Gempei War. Yoritomo's younger brother served as his chief general and after assaulting the main Heike forces on Honshu, he tried to get to Shikoku to crush the Heike homeland in Yashima, but didn't have any ships to get there. Sea Samurai from Bungo came to join the Minamoto cause with 60 ships, which were used to get to Shikoku.

Yoritomo's brother was Yoshi-tsune (I placed a dash in the middle of his name, so the profanity filter didn't "bleep" out his name!) Yoshi-tsune was considered the greatest samurai warrior of all time.

Yoritomo's youngest brother also fought for him as a general, his name was "Noriyori", but that name sounds like his companions should be... Biffer, Boffer, Bombor and Thorin Oakenshield!

OK, I added all the rivers into the map with this WIP, looks like I can start placing Ukiyo-e mountains next, followed by provincial borders, then city and castle symbols. The socio-political symbols beyond borders will come after that.

Gempei Region and its rivers!

GP

### Latest WIP ###

[Ascension]

Some of your river branches aren't connected to the trunk, if you already know this then nevermind

[Gamerprinter]

As I mentioned in the first post, I chose to do the Gempei war, as its partially related to my favorite Japanese ghost story (more of a weird tale, though).

Prologue, Japanese ghost and folklore stories were not considered worthy of literature by the upper classes of Japan and were never collected by them. An Irish American, named Lafcadio Hearn was appointed the American ambassador to Japan in the 1890's. He fell in love with the culture and the immaterialistic philosophy of the Japanese, both of which were fading with the modernization efforts in the country at the time - to his dismay.

Hearn began to travel round the country searching for the folk tales and ghost stories that he was convinced would be lost in the transition. So he started collecting them. He was so successful, after his ambassadorship, he remained in Japan, was adopted into a Samurai family, was renamed Koizumi Yagumo and became the Grimm of Japan, known by all, especially the children of Japan to this day...

Mini Nashi Hoichi (Hoichi the Earless)

There was a blind Buddhist monk, named Hoichi who was famous for his skill at playing the Samisen (kind of a Japanese banjo) and would travel from temple to temple entertaining the priests and local lords where ever he traveled.

He was visiting the temple of one of his friends, which was located in the Shimonoseki region - the straits between Honshu the great island and Kyushu in the south. (On the map, this is the narrow straits on the far west side.) When he arrived at the temple, he found his friend on the way out, attending to his local lord over some legal matters. His friend asked Hoichi, to make himself at home, he would return later that night.

Bored, Hoichi decided to walk along the beach and enjoy the fine weather. After a few miles walk he heard some noises, like a celebration of sorts just off the beach. He could tell there were samurai and lords and ladys about.

A samurai asked who he was and he told them. "My lord will be pleased for some entertainment." and he led Hoichi to his honorable lord.

Because, Hoichi was in Shimonoseki, which was the site of the Battle of Dan no ura, he thought he would play the Song of the Heike, which is a long classical poem about the ending days of that great clan. He played for hours and the lord and his lady cried at story and the wonderful music played by Hoichi. They thanked him, but demanded he return on the following night to play again.

When he returned to the temple, long after nightfall, his priest friend asked where he'd been. Hoichi told him. His friend stated, there are no lords here along the beach, where was this party at. So the next day, Hoichi took his friend to where he had been. Hoichi, being blind, did not realize that he gave his concert at a local cemetary, where the last of the Heike, killed at Dan no ura laid.

Hoichi's friend, in shock, said, if the ghosts want you to return he must not be found, as tradition stated the ghosts would kill and consume him if he returned. So he began to write holy scriptures all over Hoichi's body, which would make him invisible to the undead. Before he could finish the task, however, a messenger from his local lord demanded his attendance. So Hoichi's friend had his lesser acolytes finish the script writing.

Unfortunately, the acolytes forgot to do Hoichi's ears.

Late that night, a samurai ghost appeared at the temple in search of Hoichi. Only a pair of visible ears could be seen by the ghost, who knew he must do his appointed task and bring Hoichi with him. So, the ghost grabbed Hoichi's ears and pulled them from his head. Despite the pain, Hoichi kept silent...

The next morning, Hoichi's friend returned to find Hoichi bleeding profusely and near death. Though he survived this encounter, he was forever known as Hoichi the Earless.

That, my friends, is the strange tale of Hoichi! I hope you enjoyed it!

GP

[Gamerprinter]

Some of your river branches aren't connected to the trunk, if you already know this then nevermind

I do, doing the rivers on this complex coastline object was actually pretty tough, though I got it to work. I will be hiding those mis-branched rivers with the mountains and forest objects, or I might try to fix them - which might be harder than I want it to be.

Thanks for noticing - I noticed too, right away.

GP

[Gamerprinter]

@Ascension - I fixed the rivers, easier than I thought!

I started to play around with colors. I'm kind of liking the sea, something like parchment, but more painterly. Still more to do when I composite this with the final background paper glued to a reed mat I think.

I started placing mountain objects. I'm going to need more smaller ones and perhaps I'll start creating hill objects too. Lots to go yet.

I'll do higher resolution, later in the thread, once its more complete.

WIP so far!

GP

### Latest WIP ###

[Ascension]

I like the water too. Hope this doesn't get overcrowded

[Gamerprinter]

I like the water too. Hope this doesn't get overcrowded

Maybe I should back off on some of these mountains and/or shrink them a bit. You're right its going to get crowded otherwise, when I get borders, labels, socio-political symbols it might be a tight fit.

I'll see as I start to populate it with that kind of stuff.

GP

[Hoel]

You're going for the japanophile vote there i see.
I like your mountains, but as you've realised, they're too big.
Cool idea with the water!

[Steel General]

Yup I'm liking the water too...and I agree the mountains are just a bit big.

I think this is going to be really cool once it's finished.

[Gamerprinter]

You're going for the japanophile vote there i see.
I like your mountains, but as you've realised, they're too big.
Cool idea with the water!

You started it, Hoel, with your historical Karlborg fortress last month. I decided I wanted to try something historic. If I were working on Varangian Guard Quarters at Constantinople, I'd be a Swedophile!

Since, I am half Japanese as already mentioned and working on my Ukiyo-e set of symbols, I thought it fitting to try a map of ancient Japan. Besides I promised to do a map with my objects so here it will be.

Actually, though I knew some of the history to the Gempei War. In trying for more accuracy I'm actually learning lots. The next problem I'm running into history-wise anyway, is that many of the familiar cities of this part of Japan either didn't exist yet, or were called something else. For instance, I don't see a reference for Osaka or Hiroshima at this time, yet both major cities are in this map area. Kyoto (which is important to the story) is called Heian-kyo at this time. A Taira city south of Kyoto, in what is now Kobe, was called Fukuhara-kyo (also part of this storyline.)

So I'll be populated the rest of the region, with cities that I am not sure existed in 1184 - 1185 the date for this mapped area.

So nobody enjoyed my little story above (Mini Nashi Hoichi)? I plan to relate a few more Gempei War specific stories as the thread moves along. Some interesting stuff!

I am reworking the mountains now, as well as placing the provincial borders just to see how crowded the islands are going to get.

GP