This is the home page of Lisa Joseph, known in the Society for Creative Anachronism as Saionji no Hana.
January 7, AS 46 (2012 CE): A humbling and gratifying number of SCA Japanese personae from throughout the Known World gathered in the Kingdom of the West to participate in the elevation of Saionji no Hana to the order of the Laurel. We may be a minority in the Society, but we are mighty in our love of what we do - and we network like mad.
Back row, left to right: Takamatsu no Fujiko (West), Hosokawa Hikaru (West), Dafydd McNab (West), Takeshi Reikoku (West), Hosokawa Sora (West), Fujiwara no Nagamochi (Northshield), Urtatim Al-Qurtubiyya (West), Owen Ap Morgan (West), Jake Kolojechik (Aethelmearc), Ishida no Kentarou Mitsumasa (An Tir). Front row, Abe Akirakeiko (Atlantia), Kevin Roche (West), Saionji no Hana (West), Ishiyama Haru (Aethelmearc), Ishiyama Gen'taro Yori'ie, (Aethelmearc), Erin Kelly (Aethelmearc), Ii Saburo Katsumori (Atlantia), Andrew Trembley (West). Photo courtesy of Andrew Trembley.
Saionji no Hana holds junior fourth rank in the court of the Son of Heaven, Hisahito-tenno, eighty-ninth Emperor of Japan, at whose behest she represents the people of his Empire and observes the ways of the people of the West Kingdom and other parts of the so called Known World. She is an accomplished poet and seamstress and dreams of returning to the gardens and palaces of The Storied Capital.
Saionji Shonagon currently resides in the quaintly redundant Province of the Mists in the Principality of the Mists less than a day's pilgrimage on foot from the birthplace of SCA civilization. She has been a cosmopolitan citizen of the Known World since 1995, with ties to the East Kingdom and friends pretty much everywhere else, thanks to the non-medieval miracle that is the Internet.
Writings on clothing and accessories:
A Brown Study: Tosenin's Kosode
An Informal Court Costume of Medieval Japan
Faking It: getting the look of Japanese textiles with stenciling or block printing
Kake-mamori - a traveler's amulet case
Karaginu Mo: Formal Court Costume of Medieval Japan
Samurai For The SCA Guy: A photo gallery
Wimples and Zukin by guest author Ki no Kotori.
Accoutrements for home and camp:
Honor, Harmony, Knowledge: a hanging scroll in Yamato-e style
The House of the Cheerful Monkeys - turning a wedge tent into a rustic Japanese pavilion
Kaga Chochin: creating a plausibly period Japanese lantern
Sugoroku table: an easy six-board chest for the carpentry impaired.
Poetry and other writings:
Heian Poetry Jam: The Poetic and Social History of Waka
Emaki: the illuminated manuscripts of medieval Japan
Original Poetry By Lady Makiwara
Tanka Challenge 2008 and 2009 and Tanka Challenge 2010
The editorial musings on a variety of subjects by She Who Sucks Least
The Japanese Thing: A Reasoned Response
Things They Never Told Me (Humor)
Taiko: speculation about early performance practice on Japanese drums and Practice taiko made from hardware store supplies.
Resources:
Online Resources for the Japanese Re-enactor and A Bibliography from Saionji's Library
Jehanne de Wodeford
is a 13th century Anglo Norman woman from a manor
in Wiltshire, England. Some of her writings on SCA subjects appear below.
An Argument for Authenticity
How to throw rocks really far: the fustibalus
Questions? Comments? Suggestions? Email me!
Copyright 2012 Lisa A. Joseph.