Out-Of-Character (OOC) Section
IN-GAME NAME (IGN):
Yourdepresso
DISCORD NAME & TAG:
Satan#4979
WHAT IS YOUR TIMEZONE?:
EST
LIST ANY PREVIOUS BANS:
N/A
DO YOU HAVE A MICROPHONE?:
Yes
DESCRIBE YOUR ACTIVITY ON THE SERVER:
I have played SRP pretty much for a while. I joined SRP around June 22, 2021. For about a year and a few months or so now and I still enjoy coming online every day, I was on for about 8 to 9 hours on different accounts though due to personal reasons, I decreased it to 1 to 4 hours a day, sometimes increased. I tried to keep myself involved through SRP discords and the server itself and try to be positive about most things. It's to the point that I will mess with my current faction and try to set up bonding times with them. I have been interacting and roleplaying with other players and to keep myself active and involved, my activity may decrease or increase depending on how long I have been interacting with other players and how often I may feel about how long to stay.
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?:
Though I don’t know a lot of it, I learned chunks of Shintoism in the past and am currently inspired to apply, the main beliefs of Shinto are the importance: of purity, harmony, respect for nature, family respect, and the lower rank/position to the individual before the group. There are many Shinto gods or spirits and these have shrines dedicated to them where people offer food, money, and prayers.
The purpose of most Shinto rituals is to keep away evil spirits by purification, prayers, and offerings to the Kami. Kami are the deities, divinities, spirits, phenomena, or holy powers, that are revered in the religion of Shinto. However, I am willing to learn more about the religion than I do currently as I am more than happy to learn about new things in this religion, I am not used to in the history of Shintoism.
WHAT MAKES YOU STAND OUT FOR THIS ROLE OVER OTHER APPLICANTS?
This stands me out for this role over other applicants because I am someone who mainly looked into maidens along with priests for a long time and knowing the religion through asking any other shine stuff a while ago as a remembered that information and solely looked into the culture and religion of how Japan set it up and assuming that it's probably similar to it as it is somewhat inspired and influenced by Japan.
However I'm a very communicable type of person and try to do my best in many situations, however, though I will try to learn things that may be necessary and I'm not able to ask for their help as other people may be offline or not able to, I am a hard worker who can probably learn fast-paced depending on the content that was given to me and how able it is to simplify it into my own way to remember for the long term.
DO YOU ACKNOWLEDGE YOU WILL HAVE TO ATTEND MANDATORY TRAININGS TO BE TAUGHT MORE ABOUT SHINTOISM AND THE ACCORDING PROCEDURES?:
Yes, I know that I will have to attend the training and be taught more about Shintoism along with the modern procedures that you may have laid out for the new people and lore. If I do end up having to be active I will tell the people who will be training me ahead of time if possible if it's not an emergency that randomly pops up. However, I'll take any consequences that may be needed or my lack of attending certain training sessions of me not being on during that time.
In-Character (IC) Section
SECTION 1: Character Details
CHARACTERS FULL NAME:
Nanako Morohoshi
CHARACTERS TITLE (E.g. Mr. Mrs. Miss):
Miss
CHARACTERS AGE (E.g. 21-80):
22
CHARACTERS MARITAL STATUS:
Unmarried - Single
CHARACTERS NATIONALITY:
Korean - Japanese
CHARACTERS PHONE-NUMBER:
030-328-3165
WHAT IS YOUR MOTIVATION FOR APPLYING TO WORK AT THE MONASTERY?:
Even though I have never been a shrine worker in my long lifetime, I was always interested in being a Maiden, even though I may have been born in South Korea, I was moved to an area that had many shrines along with traditional buildings in general, my great grandmother within my mother’s side was very interested in Shintoism and slowly taught me certain rituals people learn in general and what they should know throughout my childhood. I want to follow my grandmother’s steps but take a big step for myself and go for the long shot, I feel like I have been missing the culture and religion that my family on my mother’s side have had and open my mind more to the possibility of different practices and different roles people may have in this monastery. I am an eager learner who always yearns for more knowledge of my interests and hopes to be a good ‘student’ of my higher-ups or people who may teach me new things.
TELL ME WHAT HISTORY AND INFORMATION YOU KNOW ABOUT THE SHINSEI SEINARU MONASTERY:
From the information I could gather, I know the shrine was built in June of 744. Though an unfortunate fire had happened and caused the Kamis to be upset with the city and caused rainfall that happened and bad weather we received for being upset that the Shrine had burnt down on the behalf of the citizens, at least what I could find. Originally, it was a Buddhist Shrine or an olden Shrine that I am not too aware of but slowly adapted over time to be the Monastery it is currently.
WRITE A LETTER TO THE MONASTERY LEAD :
Dear Monastery Lead,
I hope this letter reaches out to you and with safety, I am requesting to be a Shrine Maiden of the Monastery, even though I may not have too much-intended information on the Shrine along with the said history of the Shrine, I strive to learn more and eventually grow as a person in general with the new knowledge you possibly can give me with the religion and city that I must know of, though it may be hard at the first part, I will be a hard-worker and work for my possible role I can get and assist around the shrine much as possible, along with polishing my old knowledge on rituals if anything had adapted and changed within this part of Japan. Please consider me a possible fit to become a part of your Monastery, I wish you a lovely evening or morning, and I hope to work with you in the mere future.
Yours sincerely,
Nanako Morohoshi
BACKSTORY (100+ Words):
She was born in South Korea with her two parents in Seoul. Great grandparents were into a religion within Seoul as they often visited different shrines within the city. However her parents didn't want to get into a religious type of lifestyle as they were afraid that she wouldn't be able to grow overall as a scholar, though she testify against distant noise went with her great-grandparents that she had a close bond with them throughout her life due to her being interested intrigued and different topics that they would talk about to her, go at this time she was struggling with Korean these topics had opened up different possibilities that she started to talk more often in Korean. The topic of her grandfather being Japanese came up as she saw you learn about Japanese different religions including Shintoism.
She was so interested she started to look into different religions and read about them and books if they were ever documented, she never thought of herself to be someone that would be so intrigued by it as she's also into law. She would spend these hours just reading about the two histories of things that were later on overturned or established as a law to the public.
Later on, when she became a senior in high school, she started to learn about different possibilities of different jobs she could take, she was with someone at the time that was also going to Major in law but slowly throughout the years of getting into college as a freshman to a sophomore she slowly realized it wasn't a thing for her. She wanted something new and not so repetitive over and over again in the same college just to learn about the law, learning about it and how to use it within different court cases. She didn't want to become a lawyer, she was intrigued by the laws but didn't want to become someone who would then forth the laws just for someone else to get a simple plea of being innocent.
She wanted to move to a new place in a new area that has the possibility of being free of everything of her troubles, sadly though she ended things with her partner as their alignments with things didn't really match with each other as he wanted to keep her within the law and graduate together as lawyers. She collected the money that she had at the time and moved to Japan, it took her a few years to get along with the language as she learned Japanese she started traveling to different parts of Japan as she learned about the religion that they also somewhat interested her that she never learned of, Shinto, she kept traveling around until she reached Karakura. She traveled around to see different shrines and different types of temples where she could possibly learn and achieve her goal of getting immersive within the religion. Sadly though the religions and how they practice are not to her suitable interests in learning, she enjoys different types of opportunities but they didn't match her.
SECTION 2: Self-Knowledge Details
What duties do Shinto Priests and Maidens have?:
For starters, Shinto Priests are in charge of purification rituals: in which salt is sprinkled on priests or worshippers, or on the ground to purify them. Along with other services that are offered at the Monastery, occasionally going out into the city. Though Maidens also go out into the city a few times around, however, their duties often will remain in the Monastery and not travel out of it. Their duties and tasks can differ from performing both morning and evening rituals to general groundwork around the Shrine. A maiden is generally an assistant or low-level priest, and these days, their role is pretty tame. They work the gift shops, answer questions citizens may have, etc.
What are the steps needed to be taken at the purification trough before entering the Shrine?:
To bow before each Torii gate before entering the Shrine as it is quite customary to do so. After doing this you must wash your hands and mouth in the basin that is provided before entering the Shrine. To begin the cleansing, you must scoop water with your right hand and pour the water onto your left, repeating the said steps with the other hand while switched. To wash the mouth, you must pour the water into your mouth before spitting it onto the rocks or away from the water source to prevent any illnesses or possible diseases passed from the source of water that is given.
How are offerings to a Kami performed?:
You first present your offering box. The most common offerings are yen, however, within the offerings, there's a box for said yen. You slip the yen into the box then ring the bell once, you bow twice then clap your hands twice shortly after, praying isn’t mandatory but it is optional if it was that intention, after this, you bow once more and then state your leave after the offering.
How do you perform a tea ceremony ritual?:
A traditional Japanese Tea Ceremony involves preparing the room according to the season and the time of day the event is being held. This can also include changing the Japanese mats, switching out the types of tools used, and rearranging the room. A basic tea ceremony can just involve cleaning the room and ensuring that all supplies are available. Once guests are settled, the host will bring in the Japanese tea ceremony set. The host will proceed to ritually cleanse each tool, including the tea bowl, and whisk carefully to preserve the expensive tools' lasting. Depending on the occasion they will also offer different types of light foods.
Following the cleansing of the tea tools, the host will then prepare a thick matcha tea in the tea bowl. Thick matcha tea is blended in a ratio of 3 teaspoons of matcha to 1 cup of hot water. This thick tea is kneaded and mixed with the matcha whisk and is then passed to the guest of honor to take a sip. The guest will then clean the bowl with their cloth or napkin, and then pass the tea bowl to the second guest as it's passed around while turned around 90 degrees. This continues until everyone has had an opportunity to drink from the same tea bowl. It is common for each guest to compliment the host while sampling the tea as it shows the respect that they enjoy it.
Once everyone has sampled the thick matcha tea, it is then returned to the host for cleaning, this will end the formal portion of the tea ceremony. At this time, the host will prepare thin matcha tea. This is blended in a ratio of 1 tsp matcha to 1 cup hot water and is whipped with the bamboo whisk until it is smooth before being served to guests. After all, guests have sampled the thin matcha tea, the host will clean the tea set a third time.
It is common for the guest of honor to request to examine the utensils at this point, to examine the craftsmanship of the tools. These can then be passed around for admiration as sometimes these tools are priceless antiques. Finally, the tea ceremony has ended and guests will depart the tea house. The host bows to each guest as they depart.
Explain what a Tamagushi, Ofuda, and Kagura Suzu are and what they're used for:
Kagura Suzu is meant to resemble a branch with berries on it, the Kagura Suzu is used by shrine maidens to perform the sacred kagura dance, and enhance it with the sound of the small bells. Attached to the bottom is a series of 5 long colorful ribbons representing 5 directions and aspects of the soul.
The Five Directions
Purple
North Direction. It corresponds to Aramitama, the rough or violent, aggressive aspect of our souls.
White
West Direction. It corresponds to the Nigimitama, our souls' kind, gentle, goodness.
Yellow
Solar Center. It corresponds to one's soul
Red
South Direction. It corresponds to the Sachimitama, one of the two aspects of the soul that gives blessings.
Green
East Direction. It corresponds to Kushimitama, one of the two aspects of the soul that gives blessings
Ofuda is a Paper or wooden talisman created and used by a shrine maiden. as a vessel for the containment of divine Ki, not unlike how a spell scroll would work. There are two basic constructions of an ofuda. First is the standard paper slip ofuda, which features the name of the kami whose energy infuses it, the name of the type and purpose of the ofuda, and a seal for the shrine from whence it was made.
Tamagushi is a green type of leaf from evergreens. I wasn’t taught too much about what the Tamagushi represented and how it was used.
(OPTIONAL) Based on your character; which other Kami would they worship?:
Amaterasu-omikami, She believes that the high Kami, Amaterasu-omikami should be worshiped due to the folklore she had learned of her, she believes that Amaterasu is the great and glorious goddess of the sun and helps people with the guidance of the land, crops growing, and much more. Though she is an embodiment of the rising sun and Japan itself, she is the queen of the kami and ruler of the universe. The power of Amaterasu, the Shinto sun goddess, is to bring light to all the world. If the world is left in darkness it would cause chaos for many.
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