innumerable far worlds are coming up.

recolle information, version au of the au

2018-07-01T13:18:49Z

CANON: Bungou to Alchemist
CANON NAME: Koutarou Takamura
CANON AGE: 73 (March 13, 1883 - April 2, 1956)

WORKSHOP: Comment over here

RECOLLÉ STATS
AU NAME: Koutarou Kurashiki
AU AGE: 30
DoB: March 13, 1988
HEIGHT: 168 cm
LANGUAGES: English & Japanese
FAMILY: Father, mother (Akane > physix ), brother (Souji > tarotcards ), son (Garfield > thebeastwithout).
SNS: @lemonleaves

JOB: Elementary school art teacher
HOME: Birch Hills, third floor, Apprassage (close to Viea Village)

CLOTHES: Modern and western clothing. Might sometimes wear traditional Japanese clothes.

PERMISSIONS

[OOC]
Backtagging: Yes.
Threadhopping: Yes.
Fourthwalling: Yes.
Offensive subjects: Um not really.

[IC]
Hugging this character: Yes.
Kissing this character: Yes.
Flirting with this character: Yes.
Fighting with this character: He'll try his best to avoid fights but if it comes to it, sure. He's a martial arts champion though.
Injuring this character: Minor things are ok without asking, but if you'd like to injure him more, ask first.
Killing this character: Maybe, but I'd like to talk about it first.
Using telepathy/mind reading abilities on this character: I suppose so, sure.
Warnings/Triggers: Somewhat messy family? Chieko's death is a sensitive topic. Lemons?

comments

recolle bingo

2017-06-24T21:11:01Z

PLOTTING | SEARCHES | EVENT TOP | OPEN POST

1-1: Find someone with a sibling & hang out with that sibling.
1-2: Share a difficult Retrospec memory.
1-3: Go to the Towers and purchase something from Jim's retistry to be sent to Jim. ✔
1-4: Play a prank on an authority figure.
1-5: Build a sandcastle at the beach at least as tall as you.

2-1: Paint your fingernails in neon colors with a summery pattern.
2-2: Sing a ballad to a stranger. ✔
2-3: Spar with someone.
2-4: Grant a stranger one wish. ✔
2-5: Challence a stranger to a duel of your choice. ✔

3-1: Play hopscotch.
3-2: Purposefully dial the wrong number and have a conversation with a stranger. ✔
3-3: Cover yourself in body art and pose as a mannequin for a day in Tisse.
3-4: Spend the day with a friend of a friend you've never hung out with before.
3-5: Use your powers around someone new. ✔

4-1: Steal someone's retrospec item. (give it back later)
4-2: Take a turn on a coin operated children's ride. ✔
4-3: Compose a NICE ode to Janet and share it with someone.
4-4: Go caroling but only sin Never Gonna Give You Up.
4-5: Go firefly catching at night. ✔

5-1: Have a chocobo race.
5-2: Share a memory you've never shared before with a stranger. ✔
5-3: Start a rumor about someone and spread it to at least five people, 2, 3, 4, 5. ✔
5-4: Create a human chalk outside on the sidewalk of a public place with someone lying in it. ✔
5-5: Find someone who broke into Retrospec and slap them.

comments

visualosities

2017-04-16T17:38:52Z

comments

canon history

2017-02-03T22:10:22Z

Koutarou was born in 1883, in the Shitaya neighborhood, Asakura district, Tokyo, Japan. His real name was Mitsutarou, Koutarou was the penname he chose and is the alternate reading of Mitsutarou.

He was the first son of a famous wood sculptor employed by the Meiji court specializing in Buddhist objects called Takamura Koun, and his wife Waka (later Toyo); they also had at least one more son called Toyochika. Toyochika would, together with Senroku Kitahara, founded the avant-garde craftsmen's group called Mukei (Formless). His father sent him to Tokyo Fine Arts School in 1897, when the boy was 14, to study oil painting and sculpture with the intentions of his son following in his footsteps. At the age of 5, Koutarou had been given a set of chisels by his father for this reason. Before starting school, his father had taught him in his studio. Already during that time, Koutarou had become interested in literature and had started writing and publishing haiku and tanka poems. His father was a professor at the school while Koutarou attended it. During his time at the school he joined a literary circle called Meisei, organized by Yosano Tekkan, to which he contributed poems, mainly in tanka form.

He graduated with a degree in sculpture in 1902, and did post-graduation work focused on Auguste Rodin's work. After he completed it, he re-entered the school in 1905, this time in the Western Painting department. He also studied anatomy under Mori Ougai, who would become a literary colleague in a literary gathering later on, at one point during his academy years.

Thanks to the professor of Western art history and aesthetics, Iwamura Tooru, Koutarou's father allowed Koutarou to go study abroad. In 1906, he left Yokohama for New York, arriving at Grand Central Station about a month later, but the two New York sculptors to whom Iwamura had written letters of introduction to did not accept him as an assistant. He was instead hired by Gutzon Borglum (who would become famous for the Mount Rushmore National Memorial). In the meantime Koutarou attended the Art Students League of New York City, where he won second prize in an annual competition, which freed him from having to pay tuition for the following year. During his time at the League, he quarreled with his instructor almost every day, and he "disliked extremely the vulgar, what you might call the American, taste." He also often picked fights with Americans who called him "Jap" and got the best of them. He felt greatly alienated in the West, as a Japanese living abroad, but was still a dedicated student.

He did not stay in New York for that second year, and with the special prize money that Borglum, an instructor at the school, gave him, he moved to London in June 1907. He had intended to work and earn some money in New York before going to Paris to study seriously, but he was not overly impressed with New York or London. He was, despite that, an inexhaustible student of art and language. In London, he developed relationships with Bernard Leach and Ogiwara Morie. At some point, he also lived in Italy.

Paris, where he lived from June 1908 to May 1909, was different. Paris, he found to be a profound experience, and would later say that it was "the place I became an adult." It was a spellbinding city to him and it profoundly changed his outlook on life and art. He was never, however, high-handed about Paris. He was exhilarated by everything he saw and experienced, while in a perpetual state of doubt and despair. He wrote in an unmailed letter that he published after his return to Japan, that he constantly had to remind himself that he was in Paris; so engrossed was he chasing strange and beautiful things, he said, that at times he forgot it would hurt if he pinched himself. In Paris he saw an exhibition of several hundred drawings, all of nude women, by Rodin. Koutarou was moved beyond "simple words" although he was aggreived to feel that he did not possess the kind of "animal electricity" that the master had.

While in Europe, Takamura read Baudelaire, G. Apollinaire, and other poets and translated a number of their works into Japanese. He was in Paris during the same time as Arishima Takeo.

The reason for his exhiliration with Paris was the art, and his despair was a racial inferiority complex. It was this inferiority complex that made him cut his stay in Paris short, to less than a year, even though he had planned on staying there for several years or more. He returned to Japan in June 1909, a land he had longed for and dreaded to return to at the same time.

Rodin's influence on Koutarou was decisive. He became inspired by the works of art he saw in the West, particularly the impressionists, and his works was inspired by both Western and Japanese works. He always tried to move beyond his father's vision, even as he respected his father's skill as a craftsman and was partially inspired by him. But they had their disagreements regarding art and their relationship was strained.

He frequented Yoshiwara brothels, and one time he fought with a friend over a prostitute whom he called Mona Lisa. He became a pest to the art world. His article "A Last Glance at the Third Ministry of Education Art Exhibition," published in January 1910 and regarded as the first full review of its kind in Japan, is also a model of sarcasm, must have been infuriating, painful and even destructive to the artists whose works became Koutarou's targets. He was also close to the Shirakaba (White Birch) Society, which had members such as Shiga Naoya, Mushanokouji Saneatsu, Yanagi Souetsu, Satomi Ton, Arishima Takeo, Nagano Yoshirou, And Barnard Leach, who was the only Western member of the Shirakabaha. Koutarou contributed art to the magazine that the Shirakabaha ran, though puplication ended after the Great Kanto Earthquake in 1823. He wrote a piece for their Rodin's Birthday Issue in 1910.

He became a member of the Kinoshita Mokutaru's Society of Pan, a group of self-styled "decadent" writers and artists created to promote aestheticism and art for art's sake, who met in a tavern kept by a fellow aesthete. While many of the members enjoyed the time drinking, resulting in a lot of fights and the police watching them (according to rumors), Koutarou was one of those who didn't drink much and tried to keep the rowdy members in line so they wouldn't bother other people. Their magazine was edited by Nagai Kafuu and Sawaki Kozue, and was called Mita Bungaku (published at Keio University) through Shinshisha, which was considered the rical of Waseda Bungaku. Other contributors were Tanizaki Junichirou, Nagata Mikihiko, Suzuki Miekichi, Morita Shohei, Chikamatsu Shuko, Satou Haruo, Kubota Mantarou, Osanai Kaoru, Izumi Kyouka, Minakami Takitarou, and Tamura Toshiko, Watsuji Tetsurou, Kitahara Hakushuu, Nagata Hideo, Ishikawa Takuboku, and Yoshii Isamu. The group was devoted to the pursuit and enjoyment of sensual beauty. The city rather than the country, and foreign countries instead of Japan, drew their interest; they found solace in Bohemian cafes and bars. Imaginary worlds were deliberately created in order to seek liberation from the pains of reality. Social concerns were rejected. The sensitive perception of formal beauty became allimportant. The writings were chic and flashy. Too frequently without substance, the writers were attacked by critics like Abe Jiro and Akagi Kouhei; Ishikawa, Kitahara, and Kinoshita soon fled the group. Koutarou did as well, once he met his future wife. During his time of decadence, Kitahara was one of his companions in revelry.

It is thought that Koutarou, alongside Ogiwara Morie, laid the foundations of modern sculpture in Japan. Beyond sculpting and poetry writing, Koutarou sometimes was an art critic, as well as one of several who translated and published Western works in Japanese. He wasn't very good at writing prose, the writing tending toward the awkward. He had written traditional poetic forms before, but after his return to Japan he started to write in free verse instead, which he is said to have been one of the first Japanese poets to do. He wrote a lot of non-traditional, provocative works. His first poem of note, The Lost Mona Lisa, published in 1911, was about the disappearance of a prostitute.

He met a woman called Naganuma Chieko, an oil painter and member of the early feminist movement Seitosha born in the town of Adachi (now the city of Nihonmatsu, Fukushima Prefecture), the eldest of six daughters and two sons. She had the reputation of being a rebellious artist, and she, for example, drew the back cover of Seitosha's magazine's first issue. In 1912 he became one of the co-founders of the Fusain-kai group of artists alongside Kishida Ryuusei among others. In February 1914, he married Chieko and they lived a happy life in poverty. To him, Chieko was a saviour from the decadence that he had become wrapped up in, and from himself. Their marriage was founded on the principle of sexual equality with both partners pursuing their own artistic careers; they shared the chores and the atelier Koun had built for Koutarou. How successfully they were able to keep to this principle has been subject to debate, but there is no doubt that their type of relationship was unconventional and advanced for their time. Because they had little income, he sculpted during the day and wrote articles during the night. From time to time he was forced to borrow a fair amount of money from his father to keep them afloat. As Chieko's name was not added in the family register at marriage she was not, as far as Japanese law was concerned, Koutarou's wife, which gave her more freedom as an artist and as an idividual. The same year, he published his first collection of poems, called The Road Ahead (alternatively called The Distance of the Road, was influenced by the French symbolists and challenged conceptions of poetry by using subjects and diction that were not traditionally considered appropriate. This work became one of the two landmarks in modern Japanese poetry, showing a mastery of colloquial language for the first time. The other is Howling at the moon by Hagiwara Sakutarou, which came out in 1917. At a point, Koutarou bound/edited Nakahara Chuuya's poem collection.

He went on a few trips together with Chieko, once to Pompeii where they went on a tour on Vesuvius' crater, and once in 1933, to Kusatsu, where they visited the onsen, which Koutarou visited once before, in 1927.

In the 1920’s he published the collection Wild Beasts, many of whose poems expressed social motifs. Koutarou felt, along with many others then and later, that the modernisation was occurring not by organic evolution but almost by imposition and something valuable and quintessentially Japanese was being lost in the process. Nevertheless one introduction from the West that Takamura embraced was the concept of personal freedom. It cannot be overestimated how this put him at odds with the rest of a still rule-bound society. Koutarou was aware that he had persuaded Chieko away from a typical social marriage, into a more free-wheeling artistic life, and that she would be subject to dismay, bewilderment and outright opposition from those who felt that she was behaving strangely and felt threatened by it. Koutarou saw social conventions as unnatural "like standing rigidly to attention" , he wanted to be true to himself and believed in "living naturally and freely/Like the blowing of the winds, like the flying of the clouds". Nature was seen as a moral positive - even though it could mean exposing oneself to loneliness cut off from the rest of society.

Koutarou was part of a literary faction called Myoujou, or the Morning Star, and he contributed to the magazine, which was the organ of a circle called Shinshisha (New Poetry Circle). The magazine's style was inclined towards a sensual style in the romantic movement. It was founded by Yosano Tekkan, and other contributors included Yosano Akiko, Ishikawa Takuboku, Hakiwara Sakutarou, Iwano Homei, Kitahara Hakushuu, Noguchi Yonejiro, Kinoshita Rigen, and Satou Haruo. The magazine was advised by Mori Ougai, Ueda Bin and Baba Kocho, with Yosano Tekkan remaining as editor-in-chief of the publication. Myoujou was short lived, as internal dissension dissolved the Shinshisha literary circle. Many of its original members helped create a successor literary journal, Subaru (The Pleiades). Among the most notable founders are Tekkan, Mori, and Akiko. Koutarou was one of the contributors to Subaru as well as Ishikawa, Hakushuu, Kinoshita Mokutaro, and Yoshii Isamu. His piece A Green Sun was published in Subaru.

In 1929, Chieko was diagnosed with symptoms of schizophrenia and Koutarou did his best to care for her in any way possible for three years as she descended into madness. Her mental illness was agonising. Koutarou was losing the Chieko he knew while she was still there. During this time she attempted to commit suicide by poison; beside her easel stood a basket of fruits as if prepared for a still life painting. Her increased violence toward him - her violent, swearing, suffering from hallucinations and deep despair - became, in the end, too physically dangerous and he was forced to put her in a hospital in 1935. In 1938 he was briefly institutionalized for the same disease. Chieko died of tuberculosis the same year, briefly returning to her old self while se gave her a lemon she had wanted. Although the cause for schizophrenia was not well understood at that time, but Koutarou later would surpect that their pursuit of Western ideals had strained Chieko's none too strong nerves.

In 1941, Koutarou published a book of poems about Chieko, called Selections of Chieko, which was filled with poems about her and his love for her that he had written during and after their marriage. This book has, ever since it's publication, been a best-seller and is the longest-running best-seller in modern Japanese poetry. He was one of the Japanese writers who could really think in poetry.

About the time Chieko showed the first schizophrenic symptoms, Koutarou's views on art began to take on nationalistic overtones and, as Japan's expansion of its war against China in the thirties became the frequent target of worldwide criticism, he became more nationalistic in his writings. Koutarou became one of the strongest advocates in the literary and artistic world for Japan's militaristic policies. As though his earlier racial inferiority complex had been stood on its head, the admirer and promoter of Western ideals turned himself into a facile user of trite, tawdry, and dangerous military slogans. During the Second World War, Koutarou acted as the head of the Japanese Literature Patriotic Association. During the war, his studio in Tokyo was burned down. While Chieko's fall into madness was a private ordeal, Koutarou's turn to jingoism had social consequences which, to some, were extremely grave.

A few months after Japan's defeat in the war, the literary critic Odagiti Hideo frontally attacked Koutarou's "unprecedented," "despicable" change in stance, his "degradation." He charged him with "war responsibility" of the "first order." He was not the only critic who wanted Koutarou to be prosecuted as a "cultural war cirimnal" for his writings.

Partly in response to the accusation, and because he took the defeat of Japan hard, Koutarou secluded himself for seven years in a ramshackle hut in a remote village in Hanamaki, Iwate Prefecture, northern Japan, to come to terms with the guilt he felt over having encouraged young soldiers to battle and thus leading them to their deaths. He fled Tokyo through a connection with Miyazawa Kenji. He returned to Tokyo in 1952, seven years later, to work on a large bronze nude of Chieko that is still standing at Lake Towada, northern Honshuu, today. He finished the piece in 1954. At the beginning of his self-imposed exile he wrote an apology of sorts, a sequence of twenty autobiographical poems called A brief history of imbecility.

Koutarou died in 1956, at age 73, from pulmonary tuberculosis. Koutarou always considered himself first and foremost a sculptor, but he is more highly regarded as a poet who helped redefine the landscape of modern poetry. His most significant poetry is in free verse. In particular, his love poems to his wife garner the greatest praise for their moving emotional content and for their clear expression. His poetry were rooted in genuine everyday speech, and he also had great attention to sound, though not as much as Hagiwara Sakutaro did. The Takamura Museum is about 150m from the hut, which is not walled the Takamura Sanso.

A long time after his death, beings known as Taints are erasing well-known pieces of literature from the world, and from people's memories. A person simply called The Librarian (or Miss Librarian by some) uses alchemy to transmigrate/summon authors from their works to defeat the Taints and save the literature, and Koutarou is among one of these authors. He gained a youthful appearance as he was summoned, and also gained skills with a gun - though he was already proficient in martial arts. Now he lives in the Imperial Library with the other transmigrated authors, and when he doesn't delve into books to fight Taints, he crafts artworks mainly out of wood but also out of bronze, and he also paints. His room is overflowing with art and he often gives away pieces to other authors. He also writes more poems, and plays with the other authors. He is particularly fond of playing in the snow.

comments

recolle relationships

2017-01-31T21:07:00Z

⋗ ⋗ ⋗ KEY ⋖ ⋖ ⋖
❦: attraction	✿: positive	⚔: negative	✠: its complicated

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comments

recolle threads

2017-01-31T21:06:15Z

Fashion

2017-01-31T18:59:18Z

Stuff to be gathered. Have his BunAl outfits for reference for the time being. He has regained the yukata but not the other one. Click the pictures for bigger sizes.

-

comments

recolle information

2017-01-31T18:35:41Z

CANON: Bungou to Alchemist
CANON NAME: Koutarou Takamura
CANON AGE: 73 (March 13, 1883 - April 2, 1956)

AU OF AU: Info over here

DROPPED: September 1, 2018

RECOLLÉ STATS
AU NAME: Koutarou Takao
AU AGE: 30
DoB: March 13, 1988
HEIGHT: 168 cm
LANGUAGES: Japanese & English
FAMILY: Father, three older sisters, deceased mother. Stepmother, younger stepbrother. In-laws. Nephews & nieces.
SNS: @lemonleaves

JOB: Fulltime Painter & part-time art teacher at Recollé U (twice a week; tuesdays & thursdays; 13-15 PM) & Elementary (twice a month; 2nd & 4th tuesday; 10-11 AM)
ATELIER: Lemon Leaf, Apprassage (just by Enprise & Tisse)
HOME: Birch Hills, third floor, Apprassage (close to Viea Village)

CLOTHES: Generally traditionally Japanese and paint paint stained. He has other stuff and wears other stuff too, but most of that is also paint stained.

PERMISSIONS

[OOC]
Backtagging: Yes.
Threadhopping: Yes.
Fourthwalling: Yes. And history-walling? History-walling, is that a thing?
Offensive subjects: None really.

[IC]
Hugging this character: Yes.
Kissing this character: Yes.
Flirting with this character: Yes but he is caught up on other!Koutarou's wife.
Fighting with this character: He'll try his best to avoid fights but if it comes to it, sure. He's a martial arts champion though he doesn't talk about that very much.
Injuring this character: Minor things are ok without asking, but if you'd like to injure him more, ask first.
Killing this character: Maybe, but I'd like to talk about it first.
Using telepathy/mind reading abilities on this character: I suppose so, sure.
Warnings/Triggers: Somewhat messy family? Chieko can be a sensitive subject. Lemons?

comments

recolle regains

2017-01-31T17:17:34Z

REGAIN REGISTRY
koutarou takamura

memories

(17/02/16) Vesuvius Crater Rim Walk with someone important.
(17/03/03) Carving a white paddy-bird out of wood for his wife.
(17/03/08) Resting in a bed in a three-bed infirmary with plenty of books in it and beautiful carvings on the wooden beams etc, talking to a tall brown-haired man called "Mori-sensei".
(17/03/14) Koutarou's wife was a member of the Seitosha movement, and made illustrations for the Seito (Bluestocking) magazine.
(17/03/16) His wife was an original and modern woman for the time, a lot different from other women. They pursued a different lifestyle together.
(17/04/13) Being created from paper and ink.
(17/04/15) Wielding a rifle with reluctant ease.
(17/04/28) Witnessing and trying to stop a fight among some drunk members of the {Society of Pan} outside an old izakaya. He doesn't know the name of the group though.
(17/05/07) Participating in a Book Delve together with three other vague people, in the old-fashioned scenery with floating sky letters.
(17/05/27) Encountering Chuuya bullying Dazai and trying to mediate between them. The "stupid Peach Blossom" nickname is included.
(17/05/31) His Master played an important part of the carving of Mount Rushmore.
(17/05/31) The Crippling Beast Master Taints.
(17/06/09) Fighting the above Taint together with Tanizaki Junichirou, Ozaki Kouyou, and Mushanokouji Saneatsu, but without remembering their names or identities, only their voices, appearances, and the weapons in their hands.
(17/06/09) The above group getting pretty beat up by the Taint, bleeding ink etc included.
(17/06/11) The Taints are obstacles to writers given solid form. Writer's block, jealosy, corrupted/ineffective ink, etc.
(17/06/11) They're fighting to save something important from the Taints.
(17/06/14) His conversation with Kenji.
(17/07/03) Catching cicadas during the summer, in the woods of Yanaka Tennouji, as a child.
(17/07/08) He's really good at writing poetry, and it sold pretty well.
(17/07/09) His studio being on fire.
(17/07/15) Mitsutarou is given permission from his father to go abroad, to go to America, England and France to study art and sculpture.
(17/07/20) Dying from pulmonary tuberculosis.
(17/07/24) The time he's forced to institutionalize his his wife for schizophrenia.
(17/07/25) Being Transmigrated, with Tokuda as Delver.
(17/08/05) Hearing voices in his head; specifically his wife's, after she was gone. Mostly heard in nature.
(17/08/10) Alchemy was used to transmigrate him.
(17/08/24) His wife's maiden name: Chieko "Chie-san" Naganuma.
(17/09/04) Attempting to summon Ibuse Masuji during his event.
(17/09/04) Living between 1883 and 1956.
(17/09/18) Being admitted to a mental hospital for schizophrenia for a while.
(17/09/19) Being taken to the library's infirmary to get help after getting messed up, by Mori in his doctor mode.
(17/09/24) Realizing that it probably (most likely) was his fault that his wife got schizophrenia.
(17/10/03) Sketching birds in the mountain woods, near the mountain hut he secluded himself to after the war.
(17/10/10) His wife gave him the gloxinia (that Retrospec sent him).
(17/10/24) His Desperation quote from the tainted book delves: "I've decided to defeat you, so I won't hold back...!"
(17/10/28) Because Koutarou and Chieko had little income, he sculpted during the day and wrote articles during the night.
(17/12/03) Knowing someone by the name Sakutarou; no context, surname, or face connected.
(17/12/23) His real name, Koutarou Takamura, and that he's a woodcarver who also painted.
(18/02/14) Living alone in a tiny cottage that he borrowed from Miyazawa Kenji, in the middle of nowhere in the mountainous countryside, after his wife's death.
(18/03/06) That he went to live in the countryside because of guilt for things he had written during the war, and because he wanted to hear Chieko's voice again.
(18/04/01) Some time after she was diagnosed with symptoms of schizophrenia, Chieko attempted to commit suicide by poison; beside her easel stood a basket of fruits as if prepared for a still life painting.
(18/04/05) The poem Fear. ( x )
(18/06/01) The train trip through Switzerland, St. Gotthard's Tunnel, to Milan, when he took a trip to Italy while he lived in Paris.
(18/06/17) Koutarou's Breakdown quote: "I wasn't wrong... For Sure."
(18/06/06) Three-Way Snowball Fight Recollection. ( x )
(18/06/08) Painting and carving alongside Satou Haruo.
(18/06/29) Chieko's death.
(18/06/29) First wiriting his poem Lemon Elegy. ( x )
(18/07/11) Trying to limit Ishikawa's drinking in the library bar.
THING

abilities

(17/03/13) Minor Ink Healing: If he drinks ink, any minor injuries he has heals. Things like scrapes, bruises, and light wounds.
(17/07/30) Full Ink Healing: Any wound can be healed with ink (unless they're fatal). The worse wound, the more ink is required. Wounds can't heal the normal way any more.
(17/08/15) Gunmanship.
(17/08/17) Poetry writing skills.
(18/06/13) As a book spirit takes damage, their tether to reality weakens. Physical damage causes mental instability, and an already unstable mind makes the spirit corrode more quickly. Past a certain point of corrosion, they descend too deeply into madness and can't function (especially in battle) until they're healed. Past that point, they fall apart into nothing but ink and have to be summoned again. In Recolle terms, this would be a standard death.
THING

items

(17/04/07) Alternate outfit no 1 ( x )
(17/04/07) Book that turns into a rifle ( x )
(17/07/06) The letter he sent to Arishima ( x )
(17/07/06) Photograph of his wife ( x )
(17/07/06) Photograph of his wife ( x | x )
(17/09/11) Alternate outfit no 2 ( x )
(17/10/10) Large gloxinia
(17/12/05) The drafts to Bleak Homecoming ( x )
(18/03/12) Sweet Tea Party suit ( x )
(18/06/20) The text for Italian Pilgrimage ( x )
(18/06/20) The text for Cathedral in the Thrashing Rain ( x )
(18/06/20) The text for Hunger for the Human Body ( x )
THING

appearance

(17/06/15) Ink instead of blood. It can be turned into ink that can be written with.
THING

comments

recolle contact

2017-01-31T17:15:14Z

koutarou kurashiki

Let my art be the sound of my soul / Let it reminisce of the good times / Let it scribble the lines of the bad times / Let it bloom with excitement / Let my art be a representation of me / Just let it be me

VOICE | TEXT | VIDEO | ACTION

~~lemon leaf (landline)~~

This is Takao at Lemon Leaf at [street #, Apprassage]. I apologize for not being able to take your call at the moment, but leave a message and I will get back to you as soon as I'm able to.

VOICE | ACTION

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Recolle History

2017-01-15T18:23:49Z

General History:

The first son of Takao Hironari and Takao (née Kawaguchi) Chiharu and their fourth and youngest overall, Koutarou has three sisters. The Takao family is an old, traditional family that lives in an older part of Kawasaki, Kanagawa, Japan, and runs a martial arts dojo.
His name means "grand, shining son" and his father gave the name to him because he had high hopes for him. And he was his long-awaited son. He started teaching Koutarou martial arts even before he could walk and was very set upon Koutarou's path.

His parents arranged for a wife for him since he was young but he doesn't know if he's met her.

Hironari has trained all his children in martial arts and they are all champions. Koutarou as well as his sisters; Ichiko (36, 30/9), Kayoko (33 34, 5/7), and Naoko (31, 7/1).

He became very skilled at martial arts and won a lot of prizes, as well as a lot of recognition. He was expected to become as wellknown as his parents, and to take over his father's dojo.

Koutarou didn't really have all that much interest in martial arts though, he was more interested in painting. His parents didn't think much of it at first and bought him sketchbooks and pens, but then it was less appreciated when he said that he wanted to be a painter.

He often snuck out of the house to draw in secret after it was clear that his parents had other things in mind for him, and he wandered around much further from the house than he should.

He secretly self-studied art while he lived in his parents' home, being forced to keep up with the martial arts every day.

At 16, he went on his worst date ever.

At 19 he got into Recolle University, having applied in secret, and moved to attend their Arts Program. He packed up what art supplies he could carry, and some clothes and whatever else was asbsolutely necessary that he couldn't buy in Recolle and left while his parents were out. They would have never let him go, though he did feel guilty about leaving without saying goodbye properly.

His parents tried to convince him to come back at first but it didn't take long before he was considered a Disgrace and a Disappointment. He doesn't really talk about them or his martial arts past.

He moved into a dormitory at the Recolle University campus.

During his studies he part-timed at an art cafe, and once he got better at English, did some tutoring gigs teaching Japanese.

His mother died from tuberculosis 3/19, a few days after Koutarou's 20th birthday. He went home for the funeral but has not been to Japan since. He was disowned at his mother's wake and was not in a good state of mind when he returned to school. He supposes that the engagement was canceled because of his being disowned.

He met his girlfriend Ashlee Cirillo during his university days. She works at a restaurant and their anniversary is 12/20.

He also gained some level of recognition as a painter during his university days and since he graduated, he has had enough commissions to get by without any trouble. He considers himself lucky thoguh he isn't too fond of having motives etc decided for him.

He moved away from the dorm and lives in Birch Hills now. His girlfriend still lives in her dorm, but she stays at his place often when he's not in his atelier.

He also has gotten himself part-time jobs as an art teacher at the university (once a week) and elementary school (twice a month).

He has been hearing from his siblings, during the few times he talks to them, that his father has found a new woman some six years ago whom he has married.

Sometimes he trains martial arts, but that's to stay fit. He also goes out running and to the gym.

He always carries at least one, often three, sketchbooks in his bag, alongside pencils, id, keys, and various random things.

He does not keep regular hours and sleeps whenever he needs and eats when he remembers to.

Visits the animal shelter irregularly (because of deadlines and distractions) but a fair bit.

His family is pretty low-tech, they don't have a tv or computer for example, and they only have the one old phone. His sisters does have cellphones these days though.

He's dabbling in all kinds of art styles but focus on oils, ink, aquarelle, and a mix of Japanese and Western styles.

Played Characters Relations:

Chuuya Nakahara: Koutarou's cousin who was adopted away after his parents died. They met in Recolle and Koutarou visits Chuuya's bar.
Yuri Plisetsky: Koutarou's new step brother, a lot younger than he is. Koutarou doesn't know him by any other name than Yura and doesn't know that he has met him before.
Kiyomitsu Kashuu: Met him during one of the times he snuck out of the house to draw in secret, way back in Japan.
Hitori Togusa: Koutarou's roommate from his university days, and his oldest friend in Recolle. Also, his best friend.
Gwendal von Voltaire: An acquaintance from the animal shelter. Koutarou thinks he's sort of cute.
Mikoto Mikoshiba: Neighbour and friend, the owner of a flower shop. Koutarou thinks Mikoto does the best flower boquets. He's so cute. And so is his cat.
Jack Dawes: While he was wandering the university as a student, Koutarou met Jack at Jack's department when Koutarou drew the departments robotics etc.
Remus Lupin (John R. Lunise): A teacher at the university that he met while he was a student. He drops by to see him when he's at the school.
Caelum Lunaire (Ainsley Menodora): A teacher at the elementary school where Koutarou part-times. He's gotten to know her a bit over time, and they're sort of friends.
Yato (Yaboku Tomioka): A homeless guy that comes to hang out and do various art projects at Koutarou's atelier. Koutarou feeds him a fair bit.
Shuji Miwa (Hizuru Miwa): The son of a teacher that Koutarou works with, as well as a boy he knows from visiting the bakery that he works at.
Fai D. Flourite (Fiacre "Fai" Lachanche): A dear friend who once crashed and burned; Koutarou helped him out a lot back then.

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recolle application

2017-01-12T18:24:15Z

PLAYER
YOUR NAME: Hotaru
18+?: Yes
CONTACT: hailingjavelin
CHARACTERS IN GAME: n/a
RESERVATION LINK: here

CHARACTER: CANON SECTION
NAME: Koutarou Takamura
AGE: 73 (appears to be in his mid-20ies)
CANON: Bungou to Alchemist

CANON HISTORY: link

CANON PERSONALITY:
Koutarou is a person that has a tendency to wear a gentle smile on his face. This is because he is a very gentle person, who genuinely enjoys spending time around others. There is no ill-will in this one. He is kind without wanting for anything in return, and he’s friendly and cheerful. He has no problem talking to people, not even strangers, and is not bothered by extended silences most of the time. He likes children and often plays with them, as well as the authors that have been reincarnated as children because of their affiliation with children's books. He is also very generous and since he doesn’t waste a lot of money on himself except for art supplies, he sometimes gets gifts for his friends, and in some cases ends up lending money to other authors, like to Ishikawa Takuboku for example. (Ishikawa-kun needs to start return the money that he owes him one of these days though.) But just a little, and not all that often. So he is very caring, and was caring in life too, particularly toward his wife. He always was very dedicated to her, even after her death. After her death he collected a book filled with love poems dedicated to her, written from the time of their courtship to after her death. He is dedicated to his friends as well, and looks after them, but no one could ever compare to his wife. He took care of her during her illness until her death, and was heartbroken once she passed. Besides knowing plenty about taking care of others, he knows a lot about healthy food and cooking because of this.

He may be known as a poet rather than an artist, but he considers himself first of all a carver. He is a very talented carver as well as a painter, and is very skilled at calligraphy. His room at the Library is filled with artworks created by his hand, so much so that it’s overflowing and all of it is fine art. He often gives away works to the other authors, and to be honest he has so much art and continues to make even more art that he doesn’t mind if the other authors come and take whatever pieces they may want. Sometimes he does exchanges too, and he treasures the works gifted to him by other authors very much. When it comes to times when he finds wood suitable for carving he gets tunnel vision and can’t focus on anything else, it can be a bit troublesome when people are trying to talk to him. He can similarly get wrapped up in carving as well. He often goes outdoors to look for inspiration, and does a lot of fieldwork to draw what he wants to carve. He spaces out a lot, indoors and outdoors, when thinking about what he would like to craft or paint, or when seeing something he would like to turn into a piece of art. Most of his money never actually goes to himself, instead he uses it for art supplies. Or for gifts for friends - for example he has bought blocks of wood with lovely scents for others before, because they have refreshing or calming scents. He’s not very self-indulgent, preferring to use his money for other things and on other people than himself. He always wants to improve himself, and grow as both an artist and as a person. He treasures the actual process of creating a piece of art more than the finished product, and isn’t actually interested in selling things at high prices or commercial work. It was because of his and his father’s different opinions on commercial work (among other things) that a rift grew between them. He was very disappointed in himself when he had to accept commercial work to survive, and he wrote poetry during those times to get somewhere to place his free creativity.

Because he has traveled a lot and met a lot of people, he doesn’t have very many problems with eccentric people. In the first place, he’s a patient person by nature. Back in the day when he was part of the Society of Pan, he was one of few that didn’t get drunk enough to get loud and rowdy or pass out, and he was very good at taking care of those that did pass out, and to placate the people they bothered because of the rowdy loudness that erupted as time passed. He is very good of taking care of people in general, and worries for others, particularly for the kind of people prone to get into trouble a lot. He is helpful and wants to help people that he doesn’t know too.

Although he is well-versed in martial arts, he doesn’t really want to fight. Actually, he really doesn’t want to fight. Though, he knows that he needs to fight Taints to protect literature from being destroyed and erased from people's memories, and once he has actually decided to to defeat someone he won’t hold back. And he doesn’t want to die (again) himself, which is some incentive to fight. But fighting though… He really doesn’t like fights. During the second world war, he was an advocate for young soldiers heading to battle, and wrote a lot of pro-war texts. But once it actually sank in how many lives had been lost - and how many had been lost because they read what he had written and been inspired - he sort of despaired and was overwhelmed with guilt, so he ran away from Tokyo and went into seclusion to think about what he had done, as well as to escape it and the looks he was given. He had caused a lot of families to lose their sons, after all, and to him, family was very important. So when fighting taints, he is plagued by those complicated feelings. But he is set on the fact that war is a harbinger of sorrow, and that people should not wage war upon each other.
SKILLS/ABILITIES:
Ink Healing: Since the summoned authors are basically ink and paper (and will return to such once their duty is over) drinking ink can heal any woulds except fatal ones.
Gunmanship: Gained when he was summoned from his book. He's an excellent gunman, for the sake of fighting taints.
Gun summon: Basically, these summoned authors have books that can turn into weapons. In Koutarou's case, he can turn the book into a steampunk rifle.
Martial arts: Knew how to use martial arts since sometime before his death.
Carving & sculpting: His main trade while alive. He's an excellent carver and bronze sculptor, and has made many sculptures and carvings, and he's continued since being summoned to the Library as well.
Painting & calligraphy: He also is a great painter and is skilled at calligraphy
Music: Talented at violin, mandolin, piano, and organ.
Writing: Although he considered himself a sculptor, he is more known as a poet. He writes great love poems and the book with love poems to his wife is still one of the most best-selling poetry books in Japan.
Linguistics: During his studies abroad, he learned at least both English and French.
Chores: Cooking, cleaning, laundry, all those things. Though he's not used to the modern machines used for it, he's good at chores, since he split them with his wife. He's also good at healthy cooking.

CHARACTER: AU SECTION
AU NAME: Koutarou Takao
AU AGE: 28
PHYSICAL DIFFERENCES: He's human (well. not any more ^see Ink Healing^ but he was) so appearance-wise, he's all the same.

AU HISTORY:

Koutarou was born in Japan, his family is traditional, live in a traditional house, and have a dojo.
He is the fourth child out of four, and the first and only son. So he has three sisters. He has a cousin called *Chuuya who was adopted away after his (Chuuya's) family died.
His name means "grand, shining son" and his father gave the name to him because he had high hopes for him. And he was his long-awaited son. He started teaching Koutarou martial arts even before he could walk and was very set upon Koutarou's path.
His parents arranged for a wife for him since he was young but he doesn't know if he's met her. He left before any marriage happened.
Koutarou didn't really have all that much interest in martial arts, he was more interested in painting. His parents didn't think much of it at first and bought him sketchbooks and pens, but then it was less appreciated when he said that he wanted to be a painter.
He often snuck out of the house to draw in secret after it was clear that his parents had other things in mind for him, and he wandered around much further from the house than he should. During one of those times he met *Kashuu Kiyomitsu.
He self-studied art while he lived in his parents' home, being forced to keep up with the martial arts every day.
He became very skilled at a variety of martial arts and won a lot of prizes, and a lot of recognition and he was expected to become as wellknown as his parents, and to take over his father's dojo.
Then at 19 he got into Recollé University, having applied in secret, and moved to attend their Arts Program. He packed up what art supplies he could carry, and some clothes and whatever else was absolutely necessary that he couldn't buy in Recollé and left while his parents were out. They would have never let him go, though he did feel guilty about leaving without saying goodbye properly.
His parents tried to convince him to come back at first but it didn't take long before he was considered a Disgrace and a Disappointment. He doesn't really talk much about his martial arts past or his immediate family.
He became roommates with *Togusa during his school years.
During his studies he part-timed at an art cafe, and once he got better at English, did some tutoring gigs.
His mother died from tuberculosis about a year after Koutarou had left home. He went home for the funeral but has not been to Japan since. He was disowned at his mother's wake and was not in a good state of mind when he returned to school.
He met his current girlfriend during his university days.
He also gained some level of recognition as a painter during his university days and since he graduated, he has had enough commissions to get by without any trouble. He considers himself lucky though he isn't too fond of having what to paint decided for him.
He moved away from the dorm and lives in Birch Hills now. His girlfriend still lives in her dorm, but she stays at his place often when he's not in his atelier.
He also has gotten himself part-time jobs as an art teacher at the university (once a week) and elementary school (twice a month).
He has been hearing from his siblings, during the few times he talks to them, that his father has found a new woman. He didn't get an invitation to the wedding but he wouldn't have gone either way. She has a son called *Yura (actually Yuri) that also lives in Recollé and although Koutarou has met him he doesn't know that they're step-brothers.

Permissions given from all players of played characters given and things discussed.
AU PERSONALITY:
Koutarou remains a kind, calm and caring, artistically inclined person even with his new history. He is friendly, not afraid of seeking to talk to people even if they are complete strangers, and he is very patient, which is ideal around people such as children or people with some temper. And considering he teaches children at times, his even temperament is pretty useful.

He is not a carver now, instead he is a painter. Where he earlier got tunnel vision in regards to wood for his sculptures, he now gets that focused when it comes to art tools such as canvases and paints. Once he wrote a lot of poetry, using it to express his various feelings when he was forced to take commissions to survive instead of creating the art that he wanted to create, but now Koutarou doesn't write as much. He still enjoys poetry though, and goes to poetry nights to listen to others read their words, though he never really read his own in front of others. Instead of words flowing on paper or wood changing shape by his hands, images appear on paper, canvases, or on whatever is at hand to create images on. He constantly draws, easily distracted by what his mind tells him to draw. Sometimes he stops in the middle of the road, wholly absorbed by what he feels almost compelled to draw, which he knows might cause trouble for others because he will later apologize for the inconvenience he may have caused. He loiters around at places a lot, and has more than once been told by police to go back home, or to not be in one place or the other because it's private property, or such things. Not that he means to enter places where he's not allowed to be, he simply ends up there on occasion.

Because he has studied martial arts for a big part of his life, he is very skilled in fighting. He put most of it behind him though, when he moved to Recollé. He goes to the local dojo or spars with a person or two that he has gotten to know over the years once in a while simply to stay in shape. He may be a painter, which isn't technically a job that involves a lot of exercise, but it's pretty good to work out and since he's familiar with martial arts, he may as well. He does try to run each morning when he's not occupied but it's not entirely enough to satisfy him. He has been leading a very athletic life thanks to his family and staying still too much doesn't sit well with him. Still, he doesn't talk about his accomplishments within the martial arts world, preferring to keep that part of his life fairly separate from his current career. It's not that he has to, but he never pursued martial arts out of his own choice and it's much more fun living in Recollé than in Japan.

He's not constantly feeling a sense of loss due to the death of his wife, instead he's very loving and respectful towards his current girlfriend, even though she tends to be busy most of the time lately. He'll always try to get in some extra time with her when they're both free, and even when he's not with her, he'll often draw her portrait. He's been dating her for some years now, but he's still very much a fool in love, as if the love is brand new.

His relationship with his family isn't the best, although it's not as if he intentionally distanced himself from them. He simply wanted to pursue his dream, and when they didn't approve of it he decided to take matters into his own hands because despite his patience there are limits and even he is a stubborn person. He doesn't talk with his father and has never spoken with his father's new wife. He rarely speaks to his older sisters but it happens once in a while and he gets updates from them, on how the family is and what has happened in the Japanese martial arts world since the last time they spoke. They have told him a little about his new step-family, but it's really not much information at all. They sometimes ask about how he's doing but no one tends to go into detail. He feels regretful about falling apart from them all, and resents his father to a degree for disowning him because of the path in life he chose for himself differed from the path his father wanted for him, but not once has he regretted heading down the artist path.

SAMPLE

TDM, TDM.

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2017-01-06T05:31:23Z

TAKAMURA KOUTAROU

recollé history cmo visuals hmd art

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RECOLLÉ

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HISTORY

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