Gackt as Kenshin - many words and six images

[wongkk.livejournal.com]

As the out-of-the-hat thing means that I'm not being greedy - hee! - if I post again to this challenge subject, I thought I'd offer some other “Gackt as Kenshin” items I've been working on.  Due to the 400 pixel width restriction of the layout here, I’ve had to resize and rework most of these so apologies for the eye-wateringly tiny size of the text.  I’ve put the text of the tiniest under the cut as well and, if anyone’s interested to see the full size originals, they’re in a companion post at my LJ. 

There are six of these (there were quite a lot more!) and I’m using a cut after the first one to save precious Inbox/f-page space.  However, I don’t want to post without a picture of Gackt so the first one stays on top.

So, first, an English syllabic (five-seven-five) haiku summary of my earlier entry (viz. Gackt and Kenshin sharing more than just clothes):

  

 

Second, another haiku, written because I think it must be lonely to be - like Gackt and Kenshin - a mountain in the landscape of the human spirit:

 

Third, a poem to reflect the way that Gackt becomes emotionally aligned with Kenshin (I wrote this after watching the “Ama kakeru ryu no gotoku” DVD) almost to the point of being a musical instrument in Kenshin's hands:

 

 

BETWEEN SCENES

 

Relaxed but not at peace, the face

shadowed in troubled reflection

a J-rock god preyed on by his role –

ornate cast of armour denoting

Dragon Incarnate and a connexion of years

exceeding four hundred.  He used to claim

his life began in fifteen hundred,

this modern minstrel and man of many parts.

 

His part of the moment – poet and warlord,

musician, equestrian, thinker and priest –

sits close to his heart, its song

with such sad concluding cadence

holding tight to the instrument which is

Gackt.

 

Fourth, a poem (previously posted to the Uesugi Gakuto LJ comm - hope the Mod there doesn't mind) to show how Gackt’s own discipline fits perfectly into the passionate control which seems to have hallmarked Kenshin’s temperament.  I have personified sake into Sake, as I imagine that Kenshin used it as a friend:

 

My desires I have threaded like beads

on the cord of my willpower;

they pass under my fingers, controlled,

quiet and as ordered as prayer. 

 

Silently, I recount their continued denial

as an anthem to my strength;

and, only when I converse with Sake,

do I let them drop from my grip.

 

 

Fifth, a poem (again, previously posted to the Uesugi Gakuto LJ comm) to show how Gackt and Kenshin can express themselves freely only in music, which does not share the limitations of the word:

 

THE POWER OF MUSIC

 

When I was yet too young to talk,

I understood the meaning of my mother’s song:

the gentle biwa instructed my student soul,

long before the tutor came to teach my tongue.

 

And now, they praise me for my battle-cries,

implore me to orate, pronounce and preach

when, all the while, my heart is beyond words:

the strings alone unlock its secret speech.

 

Sixth and last, an ironic dance-poem arising from the wonderfully complex expression on Gackt's face - I have no idea of the Fuurin Kazan plot at this point but wanted to show Gackt more than in control of his Kenshin role and at the height of his subtlety: here, Kenshin's listeners (minor clan chiefs who will not abandon their self-interest and belligerence) think that Kenshin is drunk on sake, so his response is to play badly as a private joke on them (they get the “music” they fully deserve):

 

PRELUDE

 

They are waiting for me to play,

Those quarrelsome foxes with their red fangs.

I will play them the tune they deserve –

A jangling dance for those who will not walk with others.

 

I will strike the wood for war;

I will slip the pitch for treachery.

I will pluck four fingered for greed

And howl instead of sing!

 

And they will embrace with glances

And say, “Hark! That’s Kenshin’s sake

Making such a din!”

When it is nothing but their own discord.

 

They are waiting for me to play

And I have been drinking,

But not enough to cover

The musk of their tails.

 

 

I'm sorry to give you so much at once, but the topic is such a wide one that I haven't been able to concentrate on any single aspect.  Hopefully you can find at least one of the ideas here interesting.

 

 

Comments

[karadin.livejournal.com]

please change the title to reflect that this submission is for the challenge, we are not taking submissions for the fanbook yet.

[wongkk.livejournal.com]

Sorry - I misunderstood (as usual!): thought the fanbook things had to be offered by 1st October.

This topic had me thinking of so many different angles (and hunting for the pix to match) and then my PC died so I had to find the scraps on about 7 different data sticks and glue them together. I was a bit too pleased to have managed to retrieve something - I should have re-read the instructions evidently! Sorry for the confusion. Hopefully it's better now.

[karadin.livejournal.com]

oh you were not wrong about the deadline, that is October one, I just don't want them titled for the com as 'for the fanbook' because we don't know what we will use yet.

[wongkk.livejournal.com]

I was "not wrong"? Makes a change for me! I think I need to invent a new font to mean "offered as a suggestion" - perhaps something semi-transparent (with a hint of a pink, self-conscious blush) which fades to total transparency if it gets stared at for too long ;)