Current location:	Krimpen aan den IJssel, the Netherlands
Current mood:	happy
Current music:	The Last Samurai OST - Red Warrior
Entry tags:	larp, yoshida

DF Entry 2: Mud, blood and victory.
Sna's DF 2007 report
Or: Feeling 'Episch'

Starring:
Roland - Yoshida Kasumi, Daimyo of Clan Yoshida
Suus (ningyomatsuri) - Nanami Koyuki, First Mistress of Yoshida Daimyo & Hime
Mike - Yoshida Shiro, Samurai, Sensei of the Sword & Brother to Yoshida Daimyo
Lenny - Yoshida Jishin, Samurai & Sensei
Nico (nokey) - Yoshida Yasuo, Samurai, Sensei Unarmed Combat & Hatamoto
Erik - Yoshida Toshi, Samurai & Hatamoto
Mark - Yoshida Garou, Samurai
Geert (drahkan) - Yoshida Kaminari, Samurai & Sensei of Kyodo (bow)
Katinka (wannabe_bitch) - Yoshida Yomi, Samurai
Brian - Yoshida Masato, Samurai
Judith (anna_xanaphia) - Yoshida Kodachini, Samurai
Hans - Kitamura Matsuhide, Samurai & Guest of Clan Yoshida
Linda - Sonoda Akemi, Geisha
Annelies (spacegeest) - Yoshida Gina, Maiko Apprentice
Dennis - Yoshida Mogura, Smith & Bannerbearer
Gijs - Sakamoto Kiyoshi, Samurai & Guest of Clan Yoshida
Gert- (dj_fritz) Yoshida Ichero, Samurai
Willem - Sanjuro Yojimbo, Guest of Clan Yoshida
Yvonne (anemoona) - Yoshida Yuri, Miko
Simone (fyrane) - Yoshida Amaya, Miko
Myself - Yoshida Masuo, Samurai & Wannabee Hatamoto
(Kindly forgive me if I mis-spelled stuff or left it incomplete - ping me and I shall correct)

Almost the full Clan Yoshida of Drachenfest 2007 - Closest thing to a good group picture that I have found so far.




Day 1 - Getting in-character, Champion Fight & Meeting Old Friends
The second part of day one is of course devoted to the in-character bitty; while official time-in would be @ midnight, we just started meandering time-in a little earlier. First up was a thorough recon of the Green Camp itself. We were a lot further back this year as the camp was litterally filed to capacity and it was only due to the quick claiming of a spot that our early arrivals did that we had a place at all; this resulted in a huge camp and what amounts to a very high Fog of War (quite litterally: there was heavy mist, too). While we started our recon the Champion Fight was already underway, and Shiro only and an option to challenge the current warrior-champion; while it was a near fight, Shiro was bested, making our new champion a very competant warrior indeed... The new champion eventually turned out to be a member of Tarek's group, the Beastmen we had befriended the year before, and he was present, too. Of course we invited him to the Daimyo, and old bonds of friendship were renewed. Our Avatar was the same as last year, and I recognized her first by the coat, of course; also, Melion-san was once more leading the archers.
While there were many new faces in Green it appeared as if the upper command structure and most key members were no different then last year. After reporting to the Daimyo we had a bit of quiet before being sent on missions outside the camp. A small group went up to watch the ceremony and made contact with the Oni, who were also present. Shiro-sama and myself were unable to make contact with the King of Kargath, though, because he was not present that year. And with that our first bit of in-character night ended, and I retired to bed as the pervasive moist cold (misty, 13 degrees and a light drizzle) combined with a very long day made me very tired. Unfortunately it rained rather hard, and Lies' and mine pillows became damp from lying against the outer tent... still, we turned the bed around, threw towels over the pillows and slept on for a further dry night... Simone and Gert were less lucky and several others suffered some water damage.

Day 2 - Opening Moves, Dark Assault & Willem's oopsie
I woke up uncommonly late for a larp and hurried to the common room to hear the Daimyo's orders. We had several more scouting assignments now that it was light (though barely: heavy cloudcover, mist and/or rain all day) and there were a lot of things to plan. The Avatar, however, was very battle-lust-y this time around, so we were informed that we would take and hold an obelisk that that Red Camp was also after. We marshalled and moved out, claiming the obelisk without much trouble; red came up soon after but were dissapointed as we'd already taken the objective. It had started lightly raining, and the Green Army moved on to attack copper while the Avatar walked up to the Red Army and their Avatar; I, as ordered by the Daimyo, tagged along, and she managed to talk Red into helping us take Copper.




Clan Yoshida marching to war, with our compound in the background. Notice the red entrance gate, lovingly crafted by Lenny & Mark.


The Chaos kamp had already been levelled thanks to Gold attacking, but Copper was hiding behind a Magical Gate, which we first had to break to get in. In the meantime, however, Red Camp over the next hill had been attacked by Black while their army was away and their banner taken, stopping them from taking another banner until they regained their own... an Alliance was struck and Red-Green was a solid fact from that moment on, later joined by Silver. New warplans were made and it was clear that just after dinner we would march to war yet again; between the early afternoon and evening we mostly did diplomacy combined with slaying Orcs that were annoying our collective camps (Edit 17-07: found a movie of it - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZ19Q5JQJPs).
Around dinnertime the mist started swirling and the wind picked up, and with the day already been a rain and mudfest, we knew what to expect... stuff was brought in and we made sure that as many as possible tents were re-secured, though we were already counting on heavy weather. Blankets and munchies were brought into the common room, and we sat out our traditional Drachenfest Thunderstrom in the Common Room. We were getting horribly efficient at it, too *grin* Afterwards the Green Camp still wanted to attack Black, but we were warned rather late and turned up only to escort the Avatar from the Black Camp to ours with her carrying the Black Banner that had been conquered while we also had freed the Red Banner. With all dressed up and nowhere to go, we returned to the camp, sending Willem first to send word.
Annoyingly enough, Willem had not returned when we all did, and one of the ladies of the Fangs Unit (A unit of heavily armoured Elves we knew also from last year) came to us at right that moment letting us know that Willem had fallen up the hill and had been brought to the Maltezers, the German Red Cross who had a complete Mash unit style field hospital on top of the mountain near the Orgaplex. Katinka of course stormed out, so I tagged along and we only realized halfway up the hill that we had stormed out without weapons. Ah well. Up the hill we could not find him, so we spent 20 mins trying to find the fieldhospital, where they did not have a Samurai brought in. We searched some more, but could not find him, and it was tough to get word out through the SL's to track him. Katinka went up the hill again half an hour later, and in the meantime I made sure Willem had a place to lie down to inflating their aerobed; Willem came in a little later, before Katinka, finally having asked someone of Camp Green to help him. In the darkness everyone had probably just missed each other, but we were complete again. Willem, however, was pretty much out of commission, but could get away with a somewhat more sedentary role.




A good look at the kind of Sieging Action that Drachenfest sees...


Day 3 - Heavy Attacks, Battle of Honor & the Trouble with Normans
The day started with the now familiar Avatar ordering another attack, this time on the Normans, the biggest camp of Drachenfest, with Silver, Green and Red, and after preparing we went in... and all hell broke loose. With three armies on the March, almost all other armies deployed: Black and Grey reinformed the Normans, the Triumviraat tentatively attacked us, too, the Orcs just attacked everyone and Chaos joined Copper in kicking general mayhem together with the Blue pirate camp. We had to relieve a siege on the Red Gate with very few forces (Melion's archers, a detachment of Black Templars and the Yoshida), and returned to a tactical retreat and countersiege of the Green Camp. I was sent out as a runner to the Red Camp to get help by the Daimyo and fell unceremoniously in the mud in front of our gate faced by 200+ Normans, got up, casually beat the mud of my Hakama and with all due dignity casually sauntered to the Red Camp... with all the while my heart beating 120 rpm in my chest. Phew! I found the Green General there with some straglers, and formed up with Red to relieve the gate. With Red attacking and stopping the siege, Green sallied forth and after a very close fight we beat back the Normans and Chaos.
The morning continued to be restless, with 10 out of 11 camps maintaining a state of readiness to attack... but we just had lunch and got an invitation from the Oni to tea, at 8 in the evening, that night, in their compound in the Grey Camp (nominally our enemies now that they had sided with the Normans, but hey...). The rest of the afternoon saw a decreasing of the tension, mostly due to most armies suffering too many casualties to mount any kind of effective attack, but late in the afternoon we heard that the alliance wanted a new target: the Grey camp... and yes, you guess it, at 8.

*sigh*

So three Samurai, including moi, went to the Grey Camp to explain the situation to the Oni. They wanted us to give our weapons at the gate, but the intervention of the Mummy Leader of the Grey Camp who remembered our honorable behaviour the years before rendered that moot and we had a nice escort to the Oni, who we explained the predicament. The Oni decided, as Oni of the Kami of War, that we would meet on the battlefield, and with that started the most surreal larpscene I have ever been part of. After dinner we talked to our Avatar about our honor duel with the Oni and she swore she would give us the space to do just that, and we also had the blessing of our general who was pretty happy that we would deadlock the Oni, who had quite the reputation as being badass.
While the three armies were deployed outside the gates we marched to the Grey Camp, the Alliance Fighters just behind us, and walked up to the camp in a wide line. The Oni were waiting for us and went to get the rest of the group waiting inside, while behind us the three armies waiting to lay siege to the camp... having 400+ people behind you going "what are they doing?" & "why are they standing there...?" was pretty cool. Oni-Ichi, the leader, agreed to our honor duels and was guided out of the sieged gate of Grey by an escort from our Avatar herself.




Clan Yoshida, formed up just outside the Grey Camp.





The Oni, having marched out to meet us. In the background the armies of Green, Red and Silver are forming up to attack the Grey Camp.





The Meeting and Discussing of Terms between Oni Ichi and Yoshida Daimyo. In the background stands the Silver Avatar, who offered both our groups membership in his camp, to "show my men how it is done". We politely declined.


We formed up in two lines, bowed and picked our opponents, which we would fight one by one based on seniority. Our Daimyo, being first of course, immediatly fought Oni Ichi, and we drew quite the crowd while all around us armies moved to and from the gate of Grey. Nobody, however, entered our sacred dueling space, helped by our tight lines and no less then four Avatars watching the fight: our own, of course, joined by Red, Silver and later Black, who came to talk with his 'sister' but stayed for the fight. And it was cool to watch, too. Each Oni had a very distinct style, as each of us. The opponent fighting Shiro started with his Katana in his Saya (= scabbard), only drawing when Shiro attacked; Yasuo-san fought a beautiful staff vs. staff battle with Oni Des; Yomi had a flawless kill by making a perfect hit with her Wakishashi across the opponents chest and he just fell down... I myself fought an Axeman, besting him only just. All the while still the battle waxed and waned, and even Orcs left us alone. Three, however, nearly violated the space, with two being Windblasted out by our camp's Champion, and one slain by our Avatar herself, who appearently did not like the Bakamono-smell either. In the end, only a single Oni stood, and with her we made the appointment to have tea later that evening; the Grey Camp, in the meanwhile, had fallen, and it was an hour and a half later with the Sun nearly having set.

Wow.

So now it was prepping for Teatime for us, with us getting Nanami and the Shiro, Daimyo and Hime all dolling up in their finery in the dark and all the mud that the DF grounds now had after days of rain and fighting. A challenge, indeed. But it was quite beautiful; I was one of the Samurai tagging along with the group, and we were greeted by the Oni with all due dignity, having tea, water and a good conversation despite the mud and the Grey Camp still reeling from being taken.




Sharp Contrast: the Daimyo and the Hime inside, with most of us still outside or on guard. Had a wonderful time with the great players of the Oni during that scene; notice the wonderful matching clothing that took I think Suus, Simone, Gert and Gijs a lot of work...


After the tea a few Samurai, the Hatamoto, the Daimyo and the Hime prepared to shop while the rest of us went back to the camp, where we were accosted by Normans trying to rob us. Suffice to say they did not succeed, but we were worried that the Daimyo might suffer the same fate when he would come down the hill, so we formed a warparty and went back. The entire field was a running battle, though, and we got split up; it were Kaminari and me who found the Daimyo and let him know, and we made our way back to the camp, picking more people up and impromptu teaming up with the Fangs from Green as a strike-group to take them out should they try again. We got back in the camp after over an hour, and while we were OC rather pissed at poor in-game and out-game behaviour (and later recieved apologies) in the end everyone was back safely and in a more or less okay state.

Day 4 - Final battle, Victory & Ambush
It was early morning when we all woke up and prepared for the ritual. Just after 9 everyone was up and running and we were practicing our Kata for the ritual, and close to 10 we marched out of our camp and up the hill to do our Ritual. The Oni came and spectatored, and we held a quick, effective ritual, with a Kata, a duel between a Yoshida and an Oni and very little of the posturing and self-important blab that you mostly hear in rituals. It was fitting.
We went shopping afterwards in the village, also setting a matter of honor for the Samurai as a city guard had accosted one of our own the night before. The shopping was good, and after pancakes with chocolate for the ladies and a cup of fresh coffee for me I enjoyed the fantastic view, the beautiful sun and the good company. Still, our little Hime was able to cause quite the stir when she went up with Amaya to the bathroom and then proceeded to walk on her own, without bodyguards, in the village. Shiro was cursing loudely and complaining about not being her nanny while the Samurai spread out to find them; we found them quickly, luckily, and the Daimyo quickly restored order after Nanami Koyuki looked suitably chastised. And so it begins...

We finaly tracked down the City Guard, and they promised to make amends, but we had to get down the hill again, for soon the preparation for the end-battle would begin. Later Kaminari and Shiro were sent up to settle the matter in an honor duel, and in the end both the City Guard as a Pirate who had tried to interfere in the Arena lay dead, and honor was satisfied. Back in the camp our Camp Council started to explain the battle-tactics: camps could be taken our in one of two ways, one of them being to 'kill' all their members (who'd spawn back in their own camp but then be out of the battle), the other was to conquer the banner of the opposing camp and take it to the Ritual Circle atop the hill. Then that faction could not win any more, but their fighters were free to do what they want until they would die or retreat to their own camp. Green would align itself with Silver and Red, its direct neighbours and longtime allies, against all comers. If that alliance stood until only three were left, Silver would face Green and Red, and if that still stood, Green would face Red to decide the winner. If at any time one of the camps would lose their banner, their warriors would join aligned camp to give the ally the best chance of victory. So it was said, so it was done.
We started gearing up and preparing for the battle, coordinating with our General, and everyone started getting into armour, close to 4. Luckily the battleground was in front of our collective camps instead of the long march that it was last year, so even our ladies could watch it from the gate... I borrowed Yasuo-San's staff as he was going to go ranged, joining Amaya, Yomi, Kodachini and Kaminari in supporting fire and prepared for an extended slugfest. I was one of the last to enter the battle with Shiro-sama as I helped him into his armour, but we were early enough to see most of the initial deployment, taking our ease and doing some last minute tactics, buffing and bowing to our O-Kami. After that, the bit that I hate the most about any mass-combat: the waiting.




Green camp during warbriefing. Few Yoshida present because we were still donning our armour.


Still, we did not have to wait very long, as suddenly a canonshot thundered over the battlefield, followed by another, and another: the SL's way of signalling the battle had begon. Right about that time we saw the familiar flags of the Oni coming up from behind Grey, nominally an enemy, and move towards the battlefield. Just like last year they would not fight in the big endbattle due to their distinct flags which could pose a hazard to the combattants, and that is why they would suicide-charge again this year... but we had other plans. The Daimyo gave the order and we formed up, marching towards them, which is what they also had hoped. We both deployed in a wide, singe line, bowed politely, drew weapons and charged, while all the other armies of DF just looked at it. THAT was 'Epischhhh!', to coin a phrase, and we finished it mostly honor duel style, winning the small first battle and drawing first blood. Camps on both sides were egging alternatively the Oni and us on, and it really set the mood for things to come.
We regrouped to the Green army, healed back up and were barely done before the Green Army started rolling up the hill to join with Red to drive out the Blue camp, who promptly folded and went farther up the hill to stand with the Black and Orc camps. We had a quick skirmisch with three groups of Orcs, of which the last managed to down me with a vicious attack, but as all three were driven off I was put back on my feet and rejoined the line in short order. We plugged holes on our advancing line, shielding the main offensive from flanking groups of Black Camp skirmishers and scattered Orcs; our General sent us up to punch a hole for the Red Camp, and we started wading through the Orcs, taking our what was either the Chieftain or the Orc Avatar and his attending skirmishers, as can be seen in this Youtube footage (notice the blue and red streaks from 5:40 up). The General of Red tried to order us around too, appealing to our honor, but as we had direct orders from the Avatar, the matter was settled swiftly. Within an hour the Hill was ours, with the main forces of Chaos and Black defeated.




Yoshida Toshi, Hatamoto of Clan Yoshida, taking on a Chaos Knight.





The Green Avatar on the battlefield, holding the banner aloft, escorted by Clan Yoshida and Tarek's Beastmen


Still, the day had not been won. Skirmishers, Orcs and elements from Camp Copper and the City Guard attacked from behind, forcing us to defend the hill we had just taken and creating a siege situation.
So we were off fighting downhill. Again we really excelled at the hit-and-run skirmish, supported by Melion's crack archers, and the many honor fights that were fought around us mirrored the way that we wanted to fight; our Daimyo himself too no less then 12 heads in honorable combat - I myself only took 4 *grin*. While fighting a line, however, I was defending the flank of a small group of Green's rare full-plate-and-shield fighters; this did not sit well with the opposing ranks as I was struck down by an assasin with Level 10 Poison; I immediatly fell unconscious and was dragged to the healers, who unfortunately could not do much for me... it was in the end the intervention of the Avatar herself that saved me from going under and being out of the fight. Still, in the time I had been unconscious, the tenacious Green defense and Red's troops, combined with Silver's armor plated steamroller had cleared the battlefield on top of the hill, and we still stood. Clan Yoshida healed up and joined Tarek's group who was defending the Avatar; several hostile groups looked ready to try something on our Avatar, but the 25+ men and women defending her deterred all attempts while she could move freely over the battlefield.




The Sunlit Battlefield, just to give an idea of scale...


The Triple Alliance then faced its next challenge: down the hill the troops of the Triumvirate and the Gold Factions had reformed and were marching on us, so Silver went around in a Flanking move while Green and Red advanced on the main group. The enemy made a run for Silver, but alliance forces were fast enough to isolate one small group and completely encircle the main group with their Banner and Avatar. He called out for a truce, though, so the Avatar group (which now not only included our own Avatar, but also the Red and Silver Avatars) moved closer to the battle line and had a good chat, but the parley did not result in Gold's final surrender, so the fight continued until the banner was taken and brought up to the ritual circle. Eight armies out of the race, with only three remaining.
The Silver Avatar bade us fare well and joined his own forces, reforming on the hill. He was defended by the fanatical Black Templars, a group of Italian Fighters indeed mirrored on the well-known Warhammer 40k Space Marine Chapter. We had fought side by side several times, and their sense of honor was much like our own; when I reported this to our own Avatar and the Avatar of the Red Camp they remarked that it would be polite to offer them the option of surrender, but when I remarked they would not yield they simply nodded. The bulk of Silver charged Red, while the Avatar-group was taken by most of the Green Camp. After about 10 minutes, Silver was out of the fight as well. Just two more.




The Black Templars: solid allies, fearsome foes.


The Red Avatar bowed once and walked over to his own forces, for we now know it was time for one, last battle as both lines formed up: Green on the Hill, Red below it. We stood there, watching each other, and then the Red camp, on the command of its Avatar, charged. We flanked Red and started doing serious damage when we were appearently deemed a threat and to the man overwhelmed. I myself was struck down by no less then three people, but Red kepts its honor by not giving the 'Totenschanz', the Death Blow, as we were still their allies and only fighting to decide the winner. Luckily I was healed by the girlfriend of Melion, the Archer Captain, and was able to help our own healers get Clan Yoshida back on its feet, and after 7 minutes we were mostly back on our feet; Mogura-san, our banner bearer, had even fallen in such a way that our banner had never even touched the mud, and we got ready to get back stuck in when I noticed a detachement of Green having split of from the main fight and running... with the Red Banner! If that reached the ritual circle, we would win, despite our numerical disadvantadge! I pointed out the mad dash of our archers up the hill, but our Daimyo chose to attack the main lines in order to keep the Red's distracted. I had just struck down two armoured knights by hamstringing them and we were just starting to get overwhelmed once more when again the canonblasts sounded. The banner had reached the Circle, and Green had WON!

We had actually _WON_!

Red, to its credit and honor, immediatly stopped fighting and started congratulating us: we had come this far together and we know it would be one of us. The remaining wounded were healed, and last down the hill was Melion, the Archer Captain who had gotten the banner up the Hill. The shouts of victory were heard far and wide and the feeling in the air was fantastic. I myself walked through the Red and Green lines, congratulating and thanking them for a very, very good fight and happy with such an uncontested victory. We then started the slow trudge back to our own camp, and noticed the sun was setting. No wonder we were hungry... we had been on the field for nearly five and a half hours! We formed a half V-wedge near our gate to honor our general, the hero of the day Melion and of course our O-Kami, the Avatar of the Green Camp, and the members of the Green kamp mirrored our action by joining us. This was _OUR_ victory, and we had all worked hard for it; the Avatar stated similar sentiments after the long battle in her dedication speech, holding the unconquered Green Banner proudly over her head. After honoring our own camp, we walked to Red to honor and thank them, and once more our Alliance's battlecry "Grun und Rot, bringt dem Tod" echoed over the field, this time for the last time in a while. It was quite the party.
We slowly walked back from the Red Camp, and our tiredness showed. Still, with the light of the red, setting sun Roland got a bit poetic and we all were quite 'mellow'. Slower then usual we entered our gate in the two by two formation and walked to our compound; it was then that we were brutally ambushed. Attacking us all at once and striking without remorse, we were denied entry of our compound and found ourselves facing one more fearsome foe to conquer: the Miko. Our sweet templemaiden Yuri, aka Yvonne, had a nefarious plan: the Shinto faith considered blood and gore unclean, especially dead bodies and our battlefield oddities, and we had to be ritually purified before we were allowed entry. Sixteen buckets of water stood before the tent, and we dutifully sat down, stripped, kneeled and awaited the purification, being very stoic about it. In the meantime, of course, our dear Miko, Maiko and Hime had trouble keeping their faces straight as one by one we were purified with salt and then have the water cascade down our bodies... we endured it all and entered the house all purified and clean.

And yes, it is on tape.

The ladies, bless them, had already prepared most of the food so we could wok it straight away, and we enjoyed a decent mail in the beautiful early evening, with several falling stars gracing the immaculate sky. Our Avatar came by, too, thanking us for the battle, and we had a few more visitors before we could eat, but when we did it was a meal well-deserved. After dinner it was cosy in the common room, with a German Go-player facing off against Willem and the rest of us drinking tea and alcohol-related beverages in semi-in-character states, and slowly I found myself drifting away. Sleep came easy that night, and with that, my in-character Drachenfest ended.




One last look at the Green Gate with the captured banners of the Black and the Blue camps.


Day 5 - Aftermath, Cleanup & the Voyage Home
Close to 6 in the morning I got up because I needed to go to the bathroom and saw the field and the camps for the last time in their IC state, in the light of the rising sun. I curled back in till 9, finding Yvonne already awake and most Yoshida's coming to breakfast in one's and two's. Enjoying my morning coffee I made plans for the packing and went to get my car as soon as Linda was awake. We walked down the hill with Suus and Eric, already afterdipping, and enjoyed the beautiful forest and sun to the fullest. Once my car was on the ground the packing began in earnest, and after noodles and Roland taking charge most was packed around 3, with just last details being taken care of.
Linda, Nokey, Lies and myself then went into my car to visit the Oni together with the rest, and we had a good chat with the kewl group that had given us so much good play. Then we climbed in the car and started the long voyage home. We drove the first two hours till just after Dortmund when I declared dinnertime, and we ate where we had also been last year. Again, hot flowing water and clean bathrooms were met with much rejoicing, and just as we left a few more Yoshida came in. We drove on, however, to Oberhausen and decided how to cross the border around 7. It was just after 8 when we entered the Netherlands via Venlo, driving to Eindhoven to get on the A50 to Veghel. We got there just after 21:30, dropping off the cart and Linda. After losing the cart Prima could go 120 kph again, and without much ado I drove via Heeswijk-Dinther to Den Bosch and then via the A2 and A15 straight to Rotterdam, where we dropped off Nokey. Then it was finally time to go home myself and just before 12 I arrived home, showered and crashed on the bed. Sweet Oblivion.

The other LJ entries on DF 2007 (at the time of writing)
Yvonne: http://anemoona.livejournal.com/32227.html
Annelies: http://spacegeest.livejournal.com/1141.html

Big thanks to Dirk of the Oni, Ralph of the M*a*s*h and Sirgal of Camp Green for their kind permission and great pictures!



And that was it, really. I must say that this was a great vacation, and one that I will cherish for a long time. It was just truly magical... The Yoshida are a good, adult, responsible group that works well, is chill, and gets a lot done both IC and OC. I love it. And to round it all up, there is one of my favorite Haiku's, from the same hand as Mike's faves.


Clouds appear
and bring to men a chance to rest
from looking at the moon.


My dear Yoshida, thank you all for a very special experience.

Ps: does this meet your satisfaction, Mr. nokey-san?

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