AUs are so much fun

[insaneneko]

One of the doujinshi I read the past several weeks was a Hikago Heian fic, "Chirikau hana ni." I picked it up because the cover was pretty (as can be seen above). I also liked the back cover:



Looks like the two of them are children playing that kick ball game the nobility used to play back then.

The story was actually pretty decent, even though some of the more unbelievable elements were so fannish it was laughable. It was a bit hard to read because the author made an effort to make the courtiers use the old ways of saying things...which I'm not that familiar with. In any case, Hikaru and Akira had their identities the same as in the game, as Konoe no Hikaru the guard and Kamo no Akira the onmyouji, but they both turn out to actually be very high-born.

My favorite part has to be after Akira kind of forcefully engages Hikaru into sex. Hikaru wakes up, is groggy and not really aware. Akira is solicitous, asking him if he wants water or if he feels any pain. Before Hikaru slips back to sleep Akira gets him to eat a piece of mochi...and that rang bells in my head. In Heian days there wasn't so much a formal wedding ceremony as a custom of eating mochi after the first night together to indicate a marriage. Oh Akira. XDXD

In any case, I ended up doing a whole bunch of research in regards to this. I found a nice site in Japanese explaining in more detail Heian marriage customs. I also discovered that the title of the doujinshi is taken from a line of waka by Ki no Tsurayuki in the Kokinshu (116, to be exact). There's a nifty site with all the poems from the Kokinshu and explanations of their meanings (in Japanese) (116 here). I couldn't find an online translation of the verse, unfortunately (But I did find a site with a lot of his other poems in Japanese, romaji and translated, here). And I've forgotten virtually all of my classical Japanese. :P

Speaking of classical Japanese, I thoroughly enjoyed reading a blog post in which there is much fanboying over The Pillow Book by Sei Shonagon. I must confess that I haven't read that particular book yet. I really should.

And back to regular old fangirling:

100 Ways by Castalia is a list of ways Yuki loves Shuuichi. Not done yet, but what's there is hilarious. Yuki is just...so...mean. But his meanness is really funny, and at times very understandable.

I want: Damn cute Soubi doll *_*