Indefinite Hiatus

Original Characters for APH Japan + Japanese Archipelago Ask Box is OPEN Archipelago Information + Directory and FAQ in links **Any ask not directed specifically at a character will go to mainland Japan.

[ask--nihon]

Rest in peace for now, great blog.

[askbelgie]

{ I’ve decided that the outcome of the Belgium/Japan match will decide if I continue with @ask–nihon

If Belg wins, the blog goes on Indefinite Hiatus

if Pan wins, I’ll start updating the blog again }

[hoork]

everyone’s drawing dragons and i’ve been listening to jrock all day so i decided i wanna try to draw a japanese dragon looking badass like people draw western dragons

[ask--nihon]

The Battle of Baekgang (27-28 August, 663)

Also known as the Battle of Hakusukinoe in Japan, the Battle of Baekgang was the kingdom of Baekje’s last revolt against Silla and the Tang Dynasty after being completely crushed. The Japanese casualties were heavy, and it marked the end of any Japanese friendship on the Korean peninsula.

One could argue that this battle set into motion the blood feud between Japan and the Koreas that continues to this day.

Asuka Event END

[ask--nihon]

[ask--nihon]

{ goal for this week: actually finish the asuka event

then we’ll see if the blog will go anywhere else }

[ask--nihon]

{ Hi I’m only half dead I swear

Have something from an Avatar AU I’ve been thinking about for ages

Avatar Takeshi of the Fire Nation is one of my favorite concepts }

[ollithemess]

I think I have to agree with Takeshi on this one- Bunko is probably the most beautiful woman in the world.

This lovely personification of Osaka belongs to @ask–nihon, who incidentally is doing a really cool event at the moment! Go check them out!

[ask--nihon]

Information about Silla invading Saikaido was a diversion...

He’s going straight for Baekje with Brother helping him... I need to help him. As soon as I possibly can.

[ask--nihon]

@ukigumoshi

hi i need this quiz for science purposes

{ here u go my friend }

[ask--nihon]

{ I want everyone to know I took a dumb “What Japanese city are you best suited for?” quiz and I got Kyoto

I can never escape Takeshi-- }

[ask--nihon]

{ Before this event starts getting into the action and battles, I want to make it very clear that this blog has a very clear bias, because it’s a story being told from a very biased character.

Any portrayal of another group of people you see here is from the very skewed lens of a very young Takeshi, and his views do not represent mine at all.

This is to mean specifically: Takeshi has a very particular view of the K//oreas and Koreans as well as the Chinese. Those views are not inherently right, and I do not condone them. But they are how he thinks and feels. 

This period is important because it sets in stone a bitter feud between J//apan and the rest of East Asia that continues into the modern day. This event is directly from the Japanese perspective, do it’s going to be immensely skewed in that favor simply because of who the character being followed. Please keep that in mind when you ask Takeshi questions. Nothing he says or feels now is an excuse or a call for sympathy for anything the nation of Japan does in the future, it’s simply how he feels in this moment. }

[ask--nihon]

// : oooo do you have any other facts on the clothing of the period? Or just want to share more of the fabulous designs you've made? Fashion history is one of my favorite topics to learn about, and I admit to not being super versed in historical clothing from Japan

{ Despite it being a really important period, it’s been IMMENSELY difficult to find good fashion references. Everything I’ve drawn so far is bits and pieces I’ve thrown together and tried my best to improvise with, probably the most accurate complete outfit is Takeshi’s and even then it’s commoners clothes + immensely regal colors and I don’t know how well that would have flown, or if they were able to produce the particular hues I’m using let alone if the color coordination is right. I’ve only found a couple visual aids, and some I’ve had to spitball and hope from the best with Pinterest because it’s the only place with dated women’s aristocratic fashion. And it’s so hard to find things specific to particular areas, I’m not 100% sure how they dressed in Kyushu or Shikoku. 

During this time in Japanese history they were JUST beginning to develop a writing system, so detailed records hadn’t been fully kept just yet. I think that’s why the Heian period has so much more in-depth cultural records and detailed fashion history; there’s a lot of written records and art of it.

The few things I CAN tell you that I haven’t already shown or talked about is that during this period, the kimono as we know it didn’t exist yet! But this is around the time the proto-kimono starts to develop as sewing develops! I don’t think a recognizable kimono emerges until the Heian period, which is the period immediately after Asuka }

[ask--nihon]

{ Unrelated to anything but I just started watching Aggretsuko

She’s Hanako }

[ask--nihon]

how do the provinces + the capital feel about Yamato at this point in time?

[ask--nihon]

WHERE ARE MY HOKKAIDO BABS

{ For the most part Hokkaido was doing their own thing. BUT there’s a story that was recorded in the year 720 CE about a voyage taken by a navy fleet in 658 and 660 that contains what is generally assumed to be the first ever written record of Hokkaido. It’s not known for sure if Hokkaido was the actual land the fleet traveled to, though, or if the people they met really were Ainu tribes. }

[ask--nihon]

{ By the way: Japanese clothing, at least with their governmental hierarchy at the time, was very color coded

All of the provinces + the capital wear blue because it’s the second highest color. The highest color is purple, which only the nation himself is allowed to wear.

The color hierarchy (from highest to lowest) is purple, blue, red, yellow, white, and black and is based on Confucian virtues. Common people were not allowed to wear any of these colors as they are reserved for the aristocratic class }