Tokyo Taisho, 1919 (chapter 2) - The Okiyama
Sorry for the long absence... it's tough in RL (and not only, K8 made it quite disrupting lately with Ryochan's departure & solo comeback, but anyway). I hope you enjoy!
Title: Tokyo Taisho, 1919
Author: lalois
Fandom: Kanjani8, Arashi, others
Pairings: RyOhkura + others to come
Rating: from PG to NC17. Chapter is PG
Length: chaptered story
Words: 1649
Genre: historical AU, gender-bender, romance, drama, flirting, ust, angst, smut, introspection, hurt/comfort
Disclaimer: sadly I don’t own anything about Kanjani8, just my worship for my OTP.
Prompt/Summary/Background: Early twenties, Osaka/Tokyo. Ryo gets invited in Tokyo by his longtime childhood friend Jun. There, he'll get to know a whole new world.
Written on: December 2013 - January 2019. Chpt translated as of April 2019.
Previous chapters: -1-
Also available @ Ao3, LJ, DW
**
Ryo
Tokyo is big indeed. It's huge and unrecognizable, nevertheless magnificent.
This city is increasing its speed to mark the pace of the changing environment; while I am here, I can easily determine how the things that happen in Tokyo reverberate like a giant wave on the whole country of Japan. Maybe the farmers outside the city cannot grasp it yet, but it's happening already.
I left Tokyo to go back to my native Osaka, and I do not wonder whether Jun might have never stopped asking himself the reason why.
Tokyo is a living heart, indeed.
It's rather difficult not coming to love Tokyo, and quite deeply, also.
Once we have left my luggage at Jun's place, we take a stroll until we reach the Nihonbashi bridge, unchanged from when I had left it in 1911, brand new and freshly built back then. We do take our time at Tsukiji fish market and we talk for long, walking through the amazing gardens in Hama-Rikyu first, and those surrounding the Imperial Palace next. We go further down, visiting the Zojoji temple, and then up in Jimbocho neighborhood, before coming back to explore a little bit of Asakusa.
I am not tired, not even when our tour is over, but Jun decides it's right the time for me to get introduced to his place, the Okiyama; he doesn't want to explain it to me in any other way. He wants me to see with my very eyes.
It's a spacious building, with a sign, -he explains to me- having been penned in elaborated western fonts; to one side outside there is private access to the ambiances when Jun lives, and my friend does send me upstairs, in the room he wishes me to appropriate for myself.
"Welcome to Tokyo, Ryo," I tell myself once I've been left alone.
I look outside the window and realize once more how it's so much different from Osaka, here: boulevards in Asakusa do lean towards infinity already. Jun merely started giggling when I told him how vibrant I had now found the capital city.
He has confirmed me that the streets are swarming with people starting from the very first hours in the morning, and the buzz does not cease until very late in the night. I cannot wait to see that with my very own eyes, to tell the truth.
When Jun accompanies me inside his club, I am bewildered and left with my mouth open.
It is an incredible mélange of elements taken from the Japanese traditional culture with some other bizarre details taken from a culture that did not belong to our world until maybe a decade ago. There are several paintings hanging from the walls, and Jun explains me they all come from Europe.
"They're not worth that much money, their authors are not famous," he tells me shrugging. "At the beginning I had put them there and I meant to replace them soon with more valuable ones as soon as the business would have started being nice enough; but then our clients got particularly fond of them, and so I didn't feel like replacing them anymore."
I do notice there are also several pieces of stained glass here and there, and huge mirrors that makes the main hall overflow with interesting sparkles and reflections; the lights do look soft, however, and the whole atmosphere is quiet and calm.
When I do ask him for which purpose the whole stage opposite the entrance has been placed, Jun bursts out laughing.
"That's where the girls perform, of course. It's the true big heart of this place," he goes on, grinning merrily when he notices my furrow. He then disappears in the corridor, and when he's back he's being preceded by a group of maidens wearing elaborate kimonos, bowing in front of me.
"I have the honour today of introducing you all to a very special person, besides being also a talented cloth merchant. Nishikido-san is a dearest friend coming straight from Osaka, and he will stop by our place for a while. Please do treat him nicely, okay?" he concludes, winking at me.
When the women do raise up from a second curtsy and I meet their faces, I do understand the flick of amusement flashed on my friend's face.
They're no girls at all. It's a group of men of extraordinary beauty I have before my eyes, dressed up to resemble some elegant geisha or, more probably, onnagata.
I blink, vaguely perplexed, because I do still not understand. We are not at the Kabuki Theatre now; then why are these people here?
Jun intercepts my bewilderment and does probably also read into my silence, as I try to avoid any awkward question; he beckons to them to move and go on stage, where they take position and then stop, waiting for further instructions.
Jun courteously takes my arm and invites me to sit down in the first row of seats, before the stage. Then, a dance begins.
A dance that has me completely astounded.
I was at a loss for words before this already; now, I do honestly not know where to get hold on some.
I turn to face Jun, seeking for help.
"I had this performance prepared especially for you," he explains me with a seraphic smile. "I knew you needn't that many words, and that you would have immediately grasped why I do utterly love what I do here in Tokyo."
"It was... incredible," I babble slightly confused, turning towards the group. "It has been... whoah."
One of the -so-called- maidens smiles enthusiastically at me, only to receive a severe reprimand look from one of her colleagues, the one with porcelain white skin. It's an almost fleeting motion; enough to have me smile, though. I reckon Jun will have a lot to tell me about, because there's so much more than onnagata, here. And I'm very curious, now.
"Can I introduce them to you? Under their stage name, of course."
I stand up from my seat and bow profusely at them.
"Ai-chan plays the shamisen," Jun begins, while a young man with a sweet smile and a beautiful light green robe bows in returns.
He's wearing a light brown hair wig with a modern shoulder length hairstyle. I notice no-one of them wears Japanese style make-up. They have blushed eyes instead, and wear lipstick and long hair wigs set in different Twenties-style. The contrast with their geisha kimonos is huge and yet appealing.
"Nina and Satoko do often dance together, they're inseparable," Jun goes on while walking towards the couple of dancers before the group. I do not know whether I should think at them as men or women, but they do all seem rather at ease while Jun refers to them as girls.
"Yoko is our porcelain white skin beauty," he explains further, "while I guess Chibichan might have a crush on you already, my dear friend."
"Matsumoto-san, this, I cannot-"
"Chibichan's smile is an incredible one indeed," I intervene, bowing again. She's petite and pretty in her robe, whose shades go from the faintest indigo to the darkest palettes of blue. I can see her blush under the heavy pink make-up.
"Lastly, but no less important, I suggest you not to get enchanted by Yuuchan. Should that happen, you might risk not wishing to go back to Osaka anymore," Jun concludes giggling softly, while the last unknown maiden looks at me with piercing eyes. She's undoubtedly very attractive, with long blond ringlets that suit particularly her doll-like face.
"Diva is not here right now, of course. She's getting ready for the show expected for tonight," Jun tells me then, "where there's already a reserved seat for you, in the front row. Of course."
"Diva?" I foolishly repeat.
"Sure, Diva, you heard right. She's the reason why this club gained such fame through the time," Jun explains me, with dreamy eyes.
When we do take leave of the maidens and we dwell on talking for long in private in Jun's adjacent bureau, he mentions something more; how the idea struck him after re-uniting with university fellow friend Ninomiya, sometime after finishing his studies. He also tells me how he deeply wished to help him and put to good use his own passion for art and modern shows at the same time. He promises telling me further about this cabaret club in the next few days, as soon as my business will allow me to.
I do leave the Okiyama before the night falls, and that is when a person I do not recognize appears on the threshold, dressed in particularly sumptuous clothes. Long dark brown curls do frame a face with irregular yet very fine features. I guess it's another guy, the one I'm having before my eyes. What's more, a quite tall one.
Jun swiftly ensures taking some cumbersome furoshiki and a magnificent, folded brocade from the hands of such young man; there's a moment, then, when our eyes do meet.
Deep within such unbreakable gaze, it's as if myriads of twinkles are flickering there; a thousand sparkles I cannot seem to apprehend thoroughly. I quickly look away, quite shaken by those mysterious irises.
"Diva, he's my good friend Ryo, the cloth merchant Nishikido-san. Ryo, you're being introduced to Diva. Our stupendous star."
He -or, in other words, she- bows courteously at me, without a word. She gets past me then, and Jun accompanies her inside, greeting me bye once again.
I leave the Okiyama right next, not before having promised Jun I will be back soon. I had thought about going to the Senso-ji temple for a brief visit, to pray for my business here, but the truth is I now need to walk on my own for a little while.
I need to shake off myself the sensation that those eyes left upon me.
**
Notes:
1. Onnagata (or Oyama): men that play women's roles in kabuki stories.
2. Shamisen: a 3-stringed traditional Japanese musical instrument, often played by geisha
3. Furoshiki: a traditional square wrapping cloth used to transport clothes, gifts or other goods.
4. About the girls: Ai-chan is Aiba Masaki, Nina and Satoko are Nino and Ohno (Arashi), Yoko is Yokoyama Yuu, Chibichan is Yasuda Shota (Kanjani8, from an anecdote of when Ohkura once called him so) and Yuuchan is Tegoshi Yuya (NEWS). Diva is -of course- Ohkura Tadayoshi (Kanjani8).
5. All the Tokyo tourist spot mentioned in the chapter do still exist nowadays, apart for the Tsukiji Fish Market that recently moved to Toyosu: the beautiful Nihonbashi stone bridge in the district that now bears the same name, the Hama-Rikyu gardens and the Imperial Palace ones are still there, in the heart of Tokyo.
The Zojoji temple is the Buddhist one beside the Tokyo Tower in Minato district (in 1919 the tower had not been built yet!), while Jimbocho is a small district right above the Imperial Palace, in the Kanda area, famous for being Tokyo's book town, very close to several universities.
In Asakusa we do find the Sensoji temple with its impressive Kaminarimon entrance and the Nakamise dori; it's the oldest temple in Tokyo, more than 1000 years old.
chapter 3
Title: Tokyo Taisho, 1919
Author: lalois
Fandom: Kanjani8, Arashi, others
Pairings: RyOhkura + others to come
Rating: from PG to NC17. Chapter is PG
Length: chaptered story
Words: 1649
Genre: historical AU, gender-bender, romance, drama, flirting, ust, angst, smut, introspection, hurt/comfort
Disclaimer: sadly I don’t own anything about Kanjani8, just my worship for my OTP.
Prompt/Summary/Background: Early twenties, Osaka/Tokyo. Ryo gets invited in Tokyo by his longtime childhood friend Jun. There, he'll get to know a whole new world.
Written on: December 2013 - January 2019. Chpt translated as of April 2019.
Previous chapters: -1-
Also available @ Ao3, LJ, DW
**
Ryo
Tokyo is big indeed. It's huge and unrecognizable, nevertheless magnificent.
This city is increasing its speed to mark the pace of the changing environment; while I am here, I can easily determine how the things that happen in Tokyo reverberate like a giant wave on the whole country of Japan. Maybe the farmers outside the city cannot grasp it yet, but it's happening already.
I left Tokyo to go back to my native Osaka, and I do not wonder whether Jun might have never stopped asking himself the reason why.
Tokyo is a living heart, indeed.
It's rather difficult not coming to love Tokyo, and quite deeply, also.
Once we have left my luggage at Jun's place, we take a stroll until we reach the Nihonbashi bridge, unchanged from when I had left it in 1911, brand new and freshly built back then. We do take our time at Tsukiji fish market and we talk for long, walking through the amazing gardens in Hama-Rikyu first, and those surrounding the Imperial Palace next. We go further down, visiting the Zojoji temple, and then up in Jimbocho neighborhood, before coming back to explore a little bit of Asakusa.
I am not tired, not even when our tour is over, but Jun decides it's right the time for me to get introduced to his place, the Okiyama; he doesn't want to explain it to me in any other way. He wants me to see with my very eyes.
It's a spacious building, with a sign, -he explains to me- having been penned in elaborated western fonts; to one side outside there is private access to the ambiances when Jun lives, and my friend does send me upstairs, in the room he wishes me to appropriate for myself.
"Welcome to Tokyo, Ryo," I tell myself once I've been left alone.
I look outside the window and realize once more how it's so much different from Osaka, here: boulevards in Asakusa do lean towards infinity already. Jun merely started giggling when I told him how vibrant I had now found the capital city.
He has confirmed me that the streets are swarming with people starting from the very first hours in the morning, and the buzz does not cease until very late in the night. I cannot wait to see that with my very own eyes, to tell the truth.
When Jun accompanies me inside his club, I am bewildered and left with my mouth open.
It is an incredible mélange of elements taken from the Japanese traditional culture with some other bizarre details taken from a culture that did not belong to our world until maybe a decade ago. There are several paintings hanging from the walls, and Jun explains me they all come from Europe.
"They're not worth that much money, their authors are not famous," he tells me shrugging. "At the beginning I had put them there and I meant to replace them soon with more valuable ones as soon as the business would have started being nice enough; but then our clients got particularly fond of them, and so I didn't feel like replacing them anymore."
I do notice there are also several pieces of stained glass here and there, and huge mirrors that makes the main hall overflow with interesting sparkles and reflections; the lights do look soft, however, and the whole atmosphere is quiet and calm.
When I do ask him for which purpose the whole stage opposite the entrance has been placed, Jun bursts out laughing.
"That's where the girls perform, of course. It's the true big heart of this place," he goes on, grinning merrily when he notices my furrow. He then disappears in the corridor, and when he's back he's being preceded by a group of maidens wearing elaborate kimonos, bowing in front of me.
"I have the honour today of introducing you all to a very special person, besides being also a talented cloth merchant. Nishikido-san is a dearest friend coming straight from Osaka, and he will stop by our place for a while. Please do treat him nicely, okay?" he concludes, winking at me.
When the women do raise up from a second curtsy and I meet their faces, I do understand the flick of amusement flashed on my friend's face.
They're no girls at all. It's a group of men of extraordinary beauty I have before my eyes, dressed up to resemble some elegant geisha or, more probably, onnagata.
I blink, vaguely perplexed, because I do still not understand. We are not at the Kabuki Theatre now; then why are these people here?
Jun intercepts my bewilderment and does probably also read into my silence, as I try to avoid any awkward question; he beckons to them to move and go on stage, where they take position and then stop, waiting for further instructions.
Jun courteously takes my arm and invites me to sit down in the first row of seats, before the stage. Then, a dance begins.
A dance that has me completely astounded.
I was at a loss for words before this already; now, I do honestly not know where to get hold on some.
I turn to face Jun, seeking for help.
"I had this performance prepared especially for you," he explains me with a seraphic smile. "I knew you needn't that many words, and that you would have immediately grasped why I do utterly love what I do here in Tokyo."
"It was... incredible," I babble slightly confused, turning towards the group. "It has been... whoah."
One of the -so-called- maidens smiles enthusiastically at me, only to receive a severe reprimand look from one of her colleagues, the one with porcelain white skin. It's an almost fleeting motion; enough to have me smile, though. I reckon Jun will have a lot to tell me about, because there's so much more than onnagata, here. And I'm very curious, now.
"Can I introduce them to you? Under their stage name, of course."
I stand up from my seat and bow profusely at them.
"Ai-chan plays the shamisen," Jun begins, while a young man with a sweet smile and a beautiful light green robe bows in returns.
He's wearing a light brown hair wig with a modern shoulder length hairstyle. I notice no-one of them wears Japanese style make-up. They have blushed eyes instead, and wear lipstick and long hair wigs set in different Twenties-style. The contrast with their geisha kimonos is huge and yet appealing.
"Nina and Satoko do often dance together, they're inseparable," Jun goes on while walking towards the couple of dancers before the group. I do not know whether I should think at them as men or women, but they do all seem rather at ease while Jun refers to them as girls.
"Yoko is our porcelain white skin beauty," he explains further, "while I guess Chibichan might have a crush on you already, my dear friend."
"Matsumoto-san, this, I cannot-"
"Chibichan's smile is an incredible one indeed," I intervene, bowing again. She's petite and pretty in her robe, whose shades go from the faintest indigo to the darkest palettes of blue. I can see her blush under the heavy pink make-up.
"Lastly, but no less important, I suggest you not to get enchanted by Yuuchan. Should that happen, you might risk not wishing to go back to Osaka anymore," Jun concludes giggling softly, while the last unknown maiden looks at me with piercing eyes. She's undoubtedly very attractive, with long blond ringlets that suit particularly her doll-like face.
"Diva is not here right now, of course. She's getting ready for the show expected for tonight," Jun tells me then, "where there's already a reserved seat for you, in the front row. Of course."
"Diva?" I foolishly repeat.
"Sure, Diva, you heard right. She's the reason why this club gained such fame through the time," Jun explains me, with dreamy eyes.
When we do take leave of the maidens and we dwell on talking for long in private in Jun's adjacent bureau, he mentions something more; how the idea struck him after re-uniting with university fellow friend Ninomiya, sometime after finishing his studies. He also tells me how he deeply wished to help him and put to good use his own passion for art and modern shows at the same time. He promises telling me further about this cabaret club in the next few days, as soon as my business will allow me to.
I do leave the Okiyama before the night falls, and that is when a person I do not recognize appears on the threshold, dressed in particularly sumptuous clothes. Long dark brown curls do frame a face with irregular yet very fine features. I guess it's another guy, the one I'm having before my eyes. What's more, a quite tall one.
Jun swiftly ensures taking some cumbersome furoshiki and a magnificent, folded brocade from the hands of such young man; there's a moment, then, when our eyes do meet.
Deep within such unbreakable gaze, it's as if myriads of twinkles are flickering there; a thousand sparkles I cannot seem to apprehend thoroughly. I quickly look away, quite shaken by those mysterious irises.
"Diva, he's my good friend Ryo, the cloth merchant Nishikido-san. Ryo, you're being introduced to Diva. Our stupendous star."
He -or, in other words, she- bows courteously at me, without a word. She gets past me then, and Jun accompanies her inside, greeting me bye once again.
I leave the Okiyama right next, not before having promised Jun I will be back soon. I had thought about going to the Senso-ji temple for a brief visit, to pray for my business here, but the truth is I now need to walk on my own for a little while.
I need to shake off myself the sensation that those eyes left upon me.
**
Notes:
1. Onnagata (or Oyama): men that play women's roles in kabuki stories.
2. Shamisen: a 3-stringed traditional Japanese musical instrument, often played by geisha
3. Furoshiki: a traditional square wrapping cloth used to transport clothes, gifts or other goods.
4. About the girls: Ai-chan is Aiba Masaki, Nina and Satoko are Nino and Ohno (Arashi), Yoko is Yokoyama Yuu, Chibichan is Yasuda Shota (Kanjani8, from an anecdote of when Ohkura once called him so) and Yuuchan is Tegoshi Yuya (NEWS). Diva is -of course- Ohkura Tadayoshi (Kanjani8).
5. All the Tokyo tourist spot mentioned in the chapter do still exist nowadays, apart for the Tsukiji Fish Market that recently moved to Toyosu: the beautiful Nihonbashi stone bridge in the district that now bears the same name, the Hama-Rikyu gardens and the Imperial Palace ones are still there, in the heart of Tokyo.
The Zojoji temple is the Buddhist one beside the Tokyo Tower in Minato district (in 1919 the tower had not been built yet!), while Jimbocho is a small district right above the Imperial Palace, in the Kanda area, famous for being Tokyo's book town, very close to several universities.
In Asakusa we do find the Sensoji temple with its impressive Kaminarimon entrance and the Nakamise dori; it's the oldest temple in Tokyo, more than 1000 years old.
chapter 3