SHINSEI SEINARU MONASTERY APPLICATION
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Out-Of-Character (OOC) Section
IN-GAME NAME (IGN): A3h0Ta
DISCORD NAME & TAG: Verified_Idiot.
WHAT IS YOUR TIMEZONE?: CST
DO YOU HAVE A MICROPHONE?: Yes
DESCRIBE YOUR ACTIVITY ON THE SERVER:
Last week I was severely sick to the point I could not leave bed nor even talk. I am doing SO much better this week but now find myself on the school homestretch! I've been busier than I usually am prepping for finals, yet next week will be my last week and then I'll be almost entirely free for summer break. I usually manage to maintain a consistent time frame on srp with the average playtime of 7-9 out of ten and I would say I am good at informing my higher-ups when I do have no time. Unfortunately, I really haven't been active since it is the home stretch BUT I do truly hope that this is overlooked as I'll have a ton of server time I'm looking to dedicate into the shrine faction! I've got a lot of ideas I hope to share with the faction :) - SUMMARY: I'm going to be inactive for a week (basically today to Wednesday) but will be free for summer break after this time frame.
WHAT POSITION ARE YOU APPLYING FOR?:
Maiden
WHAT KNOWLEDGE DO YOU CURRENTLY HAVE OF SHINTOISM AND ARE YOU PREPARED/WILLING TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THE RELIGION?:
I'm not going to lie to you, I have a very basic range of knowledge on Shinitoism as it stands HOWEVER I am very willing to learn more. One of my favorite history courses was AP Human Geography which involved the learning of cultural (social) traits and how they fit into religion along with everyday life. This paired nicely with my personal interests as I tend to study categories like religion beliefs and taboos to medical disorders to law and order. I feel as though if I am accepted to work in the shrine, I'd personally be spending extra time looking into these characteristics as it also aids me in one of the main subjects I find interesting. I am currently on the college female football team and have slightly based my time off of SRP on the motto that we have, “Plugin warriors can be made, roleplayers cannot.” Now I know this quote sounds quite silly and out of pocket but this is how I try to view my placement when going into things I don't know much about, i.e. the shrine. Personally, I believe information can be taught to a person but it lands on the person to drive home that knowledge and utilize it to their advantage, which is what I believe I'm personally quite good at! Basically, I'm very willing and ready to learn anything I need to.
WHAT MAKES YOU STAND OUT FOR THIS ROLE OVER OTHER APPLICANTS?
As a writing/history nerd, one of my biggest focuses is (surprisingly, if you know me) on religion. While I do dabble in law MORE, I am usually also always researching religions or medical topics on the side. For this reason, plus the addition of writing some lore for the server, I have a decent baseline understanding of the religion that might stance me a bit higher than other applications. I have never liked this question as I am horrible at making comparisons about myself to others, yet, one of the main things that allows me to stand out from others is the sole fact that when I am passionate about something, I put my 120% in. Always. This can be testified to by many of the factions I’ve been in, ranging from Event team to caretaker. I always went above and beyond just to help a greenie with something new or a confused player with guidance. I don’t seek status from these interactions, moreso a natural gratification from my want to help others. One of my main goals in life is to show a leadership title and aid people as much as I can, for as long as I can and I feel like as a shrine worker I could fulfill this task wonderfully. I probably don’t have the best qualifications for this role, and I probably don’t even stand out–however, I will always hold a strong passion and I feel that is what has led me through my life thus far.
DO YOU ACKNOWLEDGE YOU WILL HAVE TO ATTEND MANDATORY TRAININGS TO BE TAUGHT MORE ABOUT SHINTOISM AND THE ACCORDING PROCEDURES?:
Yes, I do acknowledge this.
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In-Character (IC) Section
SECTION 1: Character Details
CHARACTERS FULL NAME: Mio Ishida
CHARACTERS TITLE (E.g. Mr. Mrs. Miss): Miss
CHARACTERS AGE (E.g. 21-80): Twenty-four
CHARACTERS MARITAL STATUS: Single
CHARACTERS NATIONALITY: Japanese and South African
CHARACTERS PHONE-NUMBER: [81+] 030-512-1245
WHAT IS YOUR MOTIVATION FOR APPLYING TO WORK AT THE MONASTERY?:
“When I was small, my family resided in a very sirenic—not to be confused with serene—and blasphemous area that consisted of liars, criminals, and misfortune. My family had very little money and could only afford to live in the less fortunate town in South Africa called Soweto. Though the town now gains much economic traffic, we grew through a very hard time of limited accessibility to the average living needs. My mother grew up in Soweto and had me there, staying close as it was her hometown, despite later having the capability to move. When uprisings started to occur over political issues with denial of education, she decided it was finally time to move us away with my father to Japan to live with his family. It was at this time that we moved to Kashiwa and started helping upkeep the Hondoji temple. My father is family friends with the Daikannushi, as he donned the honorary title of caretaker. How does this correlate? I aspire greatly to be like my father. He was the one who brought my family from hardship and started a foundation for us in Japan, giving my family a unique opportunity that would have never been possible. The opportunity to raise my sister properly. If I and my sister hadn’t been given a new start in Karakura, I’m not entirely sure myself where we would be residing now. I only wish the best future for the two of us.”
TELL ME WHAT HISTORY AND INFORMATION YOU KNOW ABOUT THE SHINSEI SEINARU MONASTERY:
“While I do know quite a lot about the shrine in general, I am not well acquainted with the Shinsei Seinaru Monastery and its background. I’ve been told certain little details about the time from different figures around Karakura yet haven’t been able to properly piece together yet a good summary. For this reason, I took some extra time and dedicated my efforts towards studying at the shrine to gain some additional knowledge. I do however hope to obtain a larger expansion of my historical knowledge of Karakura. Originally established as a Buddhist temple in 744, the Shinsei Seinaru Monastery soon converted to Shintoism. Due to a priest-led uprising, it was destroyed by fire in 1176 and reconstructed in 1228. It continued to stand for an additional 350 years until the Japanese warlords of the era destroyed it a second time as a warning, sparking rioting throughout Karakura. Constructing the Kisune monastery with the emergence of the kabukimono was the proud religious practice of patriotic families. In 1617, the monastery was reconstructed as the Shinsei Seinaru Monastery by the Moritachi clan, Saiky households, and Nashima branches under the leadership of Kazuya Saiky. The monastery is still standing and is regarded as a significant location in the history of Karakura. In present times, Chiharu Yamatsumi acts as the guardian over the shrine. Kamis of Karakura often travel in and out and have done such over the time periods that the monastery has been around/rebuilt.”
WRITE A LETTER TO THE MONASTERY LEAD :
“To Mitsue-Shiro Madame Koizumi Saiky: Salutations Madame Saiky. I find it greatly admirable of the rank you have personally managed to find yourself in on such short notice to the leap from our past Kannushi of his resignation. It's hard to lift up such a position in short notice and I find you a great admiration. My life has been built up and surrounded by the shrine for as long as I can remember now because my family tended to a smaller shrine outside of Kashiwa for a few centuries, I a decade. It is now my personal life goal to aid and work with Karakura's Shinsei Seinaru Monastery as long as I am journed to. Me and my younger sister moved to Karakura in faiths of turning a new page to the next chapter of our lives and hope to offer our commitment to the the monastery for as long as we can. Thank you for considering my application. In best regards, Mio Ishida.”
BACKSTORY (100+ Words):
In a land of waste and broken heritage resided a woman of certain nobility and fierce upbringing named Amahle Kumalo, Mio's mother, a woman of vogue and virtue. Except, the reason she ranked these titles didn't apply to her narrative. Amahle, as described by Mio, is one of the most loving, caring, and merciful people known to earth, very similar to her father. Though, Kumalo was donned this title after years of tough voyage that she presumably faced alone. Amahle grew up in a small suburb called Sharpeville located in the Soweto region of South Africa and lived a relatively normal life, though having to face certain tragedies as she grew older. Her righteous titles were given to her after a certain riot in which she helped deterred from her town with the aid from others, having the loudest vocal offering compared to anyone else at the riot. Though this is a true story, Amahle refuses to take claim over the title. One particular Sunday she was traveling with her family a bit further up in South Africa when she met Shin Ishida, Mio's father. In 1999, Mio was born and her name was donned upon her due to its meaning for beauty and the time frame she was born in, the African spring season (the two parents wanted to mix their cultures). Amahle wished to raise Mio in Sawato yet Shin didn't think of this as the greatest idea, later agreeing to her terms and stating Shin always had a spare room in Japan that they could visit anytime.
Amahle's life was moving wonderfully with her husband and daughter until more and more riots began uprising in the region. It had gotten to become focused on education as most citizens were denied the right due to a large variety of reasons. Amahle unfortunately realized that if she wanted a safe future with stable education for her daughter they would have to move, and so they did. Four years after Mio was born, the family of three moved to Kashiwa, Japan where they resided in the Hondoji temple as Shin was close friends with the leaders. Over time, Mio grew up in a better environment, though having to face bullying from children resided near the temple's grounds. These children often placed focus on Mio because of her strange accent and word pronunciation which she learned from her mother's mannerisms. After a few years, the bullying she faced began to grow significantly worse as the children began to target her outside of the temple and in a physical manner. It has gotten to the point that as a now seven year old her parents had to chase them away constantly.
Shin sat down with Mio one day and spoke with her in a calm manner about how to deal with the situation. The next time the boys came to pick on Mio and physically harass her, she now had a certain defense for herself. Shin had started teaching Mio a mixture of Aikido and Kendo techniques (which she still practices to this day). After the day she had retaliated against the boys, it ended with them refusing to speak to her for a multitude of years, and thus ending the bullying. In later years when Mio was around 10, her little sister was born in Kashiwa. The girl has faced similar bullying to Mio from the same boys as they decided to take their revenge on the younger one of the pair. After years of continuous annoyance, Mio finally decided she had to act up and deny the boys any more privilege to hurt her sister. While her father utilized martial art styles that Mio learned easily, her sister was much weaker and more fragile, so Mio taught her another way to win any battle. Her mother focused on educational activities to gain her knowledge of the world and put these tasks onto Mio to also learn, having placed importance in Japanese, English, and Zulu.
After teaching her sister a way to deal with the bullies in a non physical way, Mio went to deal the final blow to these scoundrels. Though, she wasn't entirely ready for what she received. One of the boy's was carrying a small glass bottle in his position and decided to shatter it against Mio's shoulder, causing an enormous amount of glass to crash into her skin. To make the situation worse, one of the boy's had lodged a piece of glass further into her collarbone to scare the girl off. Through tears and much blood, she kept fighting to redeem her sister, ending up with a physical intervention from her family and the shrine keepers. At this point, Mio looked to a new life and decided to follow in her father's path by studying up everything she ever needed to know about the shrine, then later learning about Konohanasakuya-hime who she happened to be named after. When Mio had graduated, she was done with both Sawato and Kashiwa, deciding to move out of the small town to a different Japanese island when she established enough money. The girl and her sister then moved to Karakura to start anew, having a permanent scar across her collarbone that marks the events which forced her to move from fear.
Notes: Born in Soweto, limited education, mother had rough time, mother met Japanese father, moved due to riots—grew up in Kashiwa, Mio bullied, belonged honorarily to the Hondoji Temple, Mio bullied in temple, father gives advice, sister born, sister bullied, Mio defend, harmed—Mio take sister and leave for a few years, visit Karakura, Mio moves into Karakura with the help of sister
What duties do Shinto Priests and Maidens have?:
Maidens act mostly as caretakers of the shrine, doing a whole line of things. Some of the various activities that they do range from assisting with shrine functions, cleaning up and preserving the shrine, and serve omikuji fortune tellings all the way to preforming ceremonial dances and selling shrine souvenirs at bigger events. Particular maidens may be tasked with additional roles that are specific to that maiden and might vary from one to another, this also applies to priests.
Priests are more on the technical side of the shrine compared to the maidens. Most of the tasks that the priests preform are quite similar to the maidens, differing from a few. Priests tend to have a spiritual connection to the shrine that relate to the shrine’s kami. For this reason, priests are given the privilege of preforming certain tasks such as rituals, spiritual cleansings, and act as helpers to the kami.
What are the steps needed to be taken at the purification trough before entering the Shrine?:
Pour water over your left hand using the provided ladle that you are holding in your right hand. Next, clean your right hand by repeating the procedure with the ladle in your left. After cleaning both hands, fill the ladle again and lift up the ladle with your right hand. Pour the water into your left hand, pour the water into your mouth, and slowly gargle the water to rinse and cleanse your mouth. Ensuring to never bring the ladle directly to your mouth is very important. Spit out the remaining water from within your mouth onto the rocks to the side. Lastly, carefully tip the ladle vertically and allow it to trickle down the handle so that the water within purifies it to its previous state. End your purification by returning it (the ladle) to its original location ready for the next user to repeat the process in the pavilion’s temizuya baison. Make sure no water splashes into the baison during the entire process.
How are offerings to a Kami performed?:
Put the yen offering in the saisen (offering box) first if you want to give money. However, if you want to give a physical object (like food or drink) place the offering next to the box so the kami can accept it if it isn't money. In the past, the kami mostly received a supply of seasonal foods, salt, water, or types of rice and sake. If your offering is in fact physical like food or drink, give meals and beverages to Shinto priests, who will then offer the feast to the gods. Prior to offering the meal in accordance with tradition, the priest purifies himself. To properly pay respects to the kami, upon positioning your offering so that it faces the box, turn around and tap the bell behind you to call the kami to the offering.
How do you perform a tea ceremony ritual?:
Each guest is given a cup of hot water, sakurayu, kombu tea, or roasted barley tea. Once everyone has arrived and completed getting ready, they all go to the roji's outdoor waiting bench and wait to be called by the host. After a quiet bow between the host and guests, the visitors make their way to a stone basin known as a tsukubai, where they wash their hands and rinse their mouths as part of a ritualistic cleansing. From there, they walk along the roji to the tea house. After taking off their shoes and going through the little "crawling-in" entrance (nijiri-guchi) to enter the tea room, they are seated seiza-style on the tatami in order of status after inspecting the objects put in the tokonoma and any tea equipment set up in the space. The host enters the tea room, greets each person, and then responds to inquiries from the first visitor regarding the scroll and other objects. After the final guest has taken their spot, they close the door audibly to notify the host. Now, the tea ceremony can be held.
The host and the visitor who is served tea exchange bows. In a show of respect for the host, the guest then bows to the second visitor and raises the bowl. Taking a sip and complimenting the host on the tea, the guest rotates the bowl so as not to drink from its front. The guest gives the bowl to the second guest after wiping the rim clean after having a few drinks. Following a round of repetitions until every guest has had tea from the same bowl, each is given a chance to inspect the serving dish before it is returned to the host, who then cleans the equipment and exits the tea room. Next, the host replaces the charcoal and rekindles the fire. This marks the transition from the formal portion to the relaxed part of the event. The host will then go back to the tea room to bring in additional sweets, typically higashi, to go with the thin tea, a smoking set , and sometimes cushions for the comfort of the guests. Following that, the host will proceed to make a separate bowl of thin tea for every visitor. In contrast to earlier parts of the gathering, where communication is restricted to a few formal remarks made by the host and the first visitor, in the usucha phase, following a similar ritual exchange, attendees are free to converse casually.
The host then cleanses the cutlery before putting them away after every visitor has finished their tea. The main guest will ask the host whether the visitors may inspect a few utensils, and then every guest will take a turn inspecting everything, including the tea caddy and the tea scoop. (The purpose of this inspection is to honor and appreciate the host). Guests often handle the valuable, irreplaceable, handmade antiques with great care and devotion, using a unique brocaded cloth to protect them. After the host's collection of the utensils, the guests depart from the tea house. The event ends when the host bows from the door. Depending on the kind of event, how many people attend, and the tea and meal selections, a tea party can run up to four ish hours.
Explain what a Tamagushi, Ofuda and Kagura Suzu are and what they're used for:
Tamagushi - Tamagushi is a type of Shinto offering that is fashioned from a sakaki tree branch and decorated with shide strips of washi paper, silk, or cotton. During Japanese weddings, funerals, miyamairi, and other festivities in Shinto shrines, shrine maidens or kannushi priests customarily offer tamaguchi to the kami. Tamagushi is a symbol of our genuine spirits and emotions. The evergreen, also known as sakaki in traditional usage, is a symbol for the enduring quality of our souls and spirits as well as our bond with the natural world. Sakaki and other evergreens are thought to have cleansing properties. The shide itself is a symbol for spirit and energy, the metaphysical aspect of reality.
Ofuda - An ofuda is a talisman in Shintoism that can be fashioned from paper, metal, wood, or fabric. Ofuda, which are thought to be endowed with the power of the gods or Buddhist figures worshipped there, are often observed in both Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples. Certain types of ofuda are worn on an individual or placed on different areas of the house, including gates, doors, ceilings, or kitchens, and are meant to serve a specific purpose (like protection from disaster or misfortune, safety inside the home, or finding love).
Kagura Suzu - When performing kagura dance, an assortment of twelve to fifteen bells on a short staff are known as kagura suzu. The set has two bells on the top tier, four bells on the middle tier, and six bells on the bottom tier, all of which are hung from a central handle by coiled brass wires. Kagura is the term used to describe Shinto instrumental music, songs, and dances that are presented at temples and shrines.
(OPTIONAL) Based on your character; which other Kami would they worship?:
Konohanasakuya-hime (Asama no Okami), the blossom-princess.
A smallpox epidemic ravaged Kamiide, a tiny town in the Suruga Province. There was a young boy named Yosoji living in the village, along with his sick mother. Yosoji visited a fortune teller to cure his mother, and the fortune teller advised him to give his mother water from a little creek close to Mount Fuji. When Yosoji went to the river the following day, he didn't sure which path to take and ended up coming across three. From the forest, Yosoji saw a small girl in white who led him to the stream. Yosoji got his mother to sip some water he had gathered up from the creek. When Yosoji returned to the spot where the three roads converged a few days later, he saw the girl in white again. She promised to meet him there when he returned in three days. To treat all the villagers, she informed him, it would require five journeys to the stream. Many of the other villagers also recovered after Yosoji's mother had made five journeys. The locals expressed their gratitude to him, but he felt that the girl in white was the one who truly deserved all of it. He then returned to the creek to thank the girl in white. But when he got there, he saw the girl was gone and the stream had entirely dried up. In order to express his gratitude to the girl for her deeds, Yosoji wished that she would come forward. The girl appeared in front of him, Yosoji expressed his sincere gratitude to her and asked to know her identity in order to let the people know who they should be thanking. After saying goodbye to Yosoji, the girl in white declared that it didn't matter who she was. Then she threw a camellia branch over her head, and a cloud lifted her from Mount Fuji. When Yosoji saw the woman, he realized she was the Goddess of Mount Fuji, also known as Konohanasakuya-hima.
Firstly, Mio’s name quite literally means “beautiful cherry blossom” as translated from its corresponding kanji 美桜. Ishida has always loved this tale for its values of redemption and health, as it relates closely to the generosity her own family faced when younger. Mio wishes to eventually work for either an Asama or Sengen shrine to fulfill the duties of her most favored and valued kami, though she greatly treasures the work of Chiharu Yamatsumi as well. When working for the Hondoji temple, she was always wandering among the halls and listening to stories that the members told, deciding to catch up on some stories of her own by learning about some of the interesting tales that other shrines had to offer. If it wasn’t for her found love of Konohanasakuya-hime, Mio may not have ended up with such a strong devotion to Shintoism.
