This is the home page of Lisa Joseph, known in
the Society for Creative Anachronism as Saionji no Hana. 
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.
Who were the Saionji?
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. She was elevated to the Order of the Laurel in 2012 for her research into the arts and history of medieval Japan.
Clothing and accessories:
A Brown Study: Tosenin's Kosode
An Informal Court Costume of Medieval Japan
Doing Rapier In Japanese Style
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.
A glossary of textile embellishment techniques
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
Japanese Art Resources for the SCA Scribe
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
(Photos: Top left, the Phoenix Hall, Byodoin, Nara. Top center, me in full sail
at West Kingdom Twelfth Night, photo courtesy of Pete Good. Top right, a charm
at Yasaka Jinja shrine, Kyoto.
Playing with the pretties at the Costume Museum in Kyoto, photo by Joshua
Badgley. Sanjusangendo temple, Kyoto.
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 2015 Lisa A. Joseph.