Tsutomu Fujisawa (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
academicsandbara) wrote2012-03-14 04:30 pm
academicsandbara) wrote2012-03-14 04:30 pm
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kaidanrpg
☯ mun ☯
| name | Kouga
| age | 18
| e-mail | jbachkurinskiy@yahoo.com
| aim/msn/other | AIM: kougamyazawa |![[plurk.com profile]](https://plurk.com/favicon.ico)
kougamyazawa
| time zone | GMT-5
| current character(s) | N/A
| canon | Original Character
| character name | Fujisawa Tsutomu
| character age | 20
| personality | In a nutshell, Tsutomu is a meek and humble man who hides his stress behind a timid smile. Tsutomu grew up in a society where humility and modesty were expected and likely mandatory. Growing up half of his life with only his mother, he learned many of his accepted behaviors and traits from her. Since his mother was very quiet and kind, Tsutomu grew up in a mostly calm and peaceful household. Since then, he has shown modesty and humility as he went on in life. Though he did learn how to behave on the outside, he certainly wasn't restrained on what he was allowed to think or believe on the inside. Even for such a quiet man like Tsutomu, he had opinions on things that he always kept to himself. Conformity was a big thing and he didn't want to stand out.
Tsutomu tries hard to keep a neat appearance in public. You will almost never catch him with messy hair, loose sashes, dirty or wrinkled clothes, and other things considered messy and slobby. Not just appearance, but behavior and manners as well. He rarely raises his voice in front of others unless necessary, and almost never tries to cause a scene. Underneath that shy exterior, however, is a stressed out young farmer struggling his way through life in his village. Inside his mind is someone more honest about the things around him, and with his life. Following his shy nature, he tends to avoid interaction with others when necessary. Not to say he is a completely asocial man, but he does have a difficult time relating to others. Because of this, he often quietly judges them in his own view. Specifically, he would think of how rude someone is being without thinking that they might have had a bad day, or how unclean someone is without thinking that they were in a hurry to get out of the house.
Getting deeper into that, a few things could explain why he's rather shy and distant when it comes to interacting with others. After his father's disappointment and death, Tsutomu had blamed himself for it. Because of this, he is somewhat afraid to form new relationships. He always fears that he'll somehow disappoint his new friends, and in the end they will leave him, just like his father did. Overall, he somehow has formed trust issues, which again he represses by being friendly to those around him. While he does appear friendly, he also tends to be aloof while doing so since he normally doesn't interact much with others. He is courteous and kind to everyone he does get the chance to interact with, but he tries to keep it at small talk and acquaintance level.
Be that as it may, there will be a few times at some point in his life where he does befriend someone. He'll be surprised at first at how he could ever form a relationship higher than acquaintance with someone, but as interaction with that person progresses, he'll gradually turn from distant to kind of the exact opposite. He'll grow protective and maybe even clingy towards his new friends. Since the news of his father's death, right after his big fight with his mother happened so suddenly, without any knowledge prior to the event, Tsutomu blames himself and feels paranoid that he'll one day do something that will anger his friends and cause them to leave him abruptly as well. He would be devastated if that ever happened.
Tsutomu has formed morals and views based on events happened in his past. As a child, despite being around his mother much more often than his father, he still followed some views from his father since he looked up to him for so many things. Atsushi, like many Japanese citizens, had gender expectations. For instance, he wasn't exactly fond of Tsutomu cleaning and doing housework since he believed for it to be a woman's job. One thing he would always do is tell Tsutomu that he is being unmanly whenever he cries. Because of this, Tsutomu didn't cry as often, no matter how much he hurt himself, or whom has hurt him. He felt like a 'cool guy' whenever he avoided weeping and sobbing. To this day, he rarely ever cries, but not because he feels it is 'cool' to do so, but because he feels crying is a weak and unmanly reaction. With this nagging hope deep in his subconsciousness that his father is watching him, he feels as though he must continue to 'man up' and not show weakness.
Balancing work and studying, he almost never has any time for leisure activities, and when he does, he spends it caring for his dog. With the lack of a social life, he's very clumsy and awkward when it comes to social situations with new people. And when he's alone, he generally converts his stress into either being troubled and a worrywart, or easily irritated and cranky. While rare, a close friend of Tsutomu's could probably catch him in a grumpy mood, and that is only if they ever catch him somewhere private, like his home. Point being, he is good at hiding his stress and moods when out in public.
In the event someone does befriend Tsutomu, they can notice a few side quirks about himself:
Tsutomu is very intelligent. Because he's aspiring to be a traveling merchant, Tsutomu works hard to gain the necessary knowledge such as learning about cultures and languages. Though he may be more naive than wise, he is certainly very knowledgeable about academic studies. He will share some trivia on occasion during a conversation. In conclusion, it's very easy to say he is a nerd.
He is a neat freak. He believes that cleanliness is an important quality when it comes to good impression. Possibly a trait picked up from his mom, Tsutomu's home is kept neat and tidy. He'll get a bit turned off if he sees a messy room. Not just locations, but people, too. He works hard to keep himself clean and trim. It's almost impossible to catch him with a messy head of hair, or tattered/dirty clothes. As a neat freak, he is very much afraid of vermin, mainly spiders. The very sight of a spider will cause him to shriek. He had been bitten by a spider as a child, which could explain why he hates spiders more than any other irritating insects such as hornets and termites.
He is actually very sexual once you get to know him. Especially around types he finds ideal and appealing. He'll be willing to have sex as long as he and his partner are somewhere private as well. Exhibition is a huge no-no to him. He tries to keep this sexual side of him hidden, especially in public, but he will be much more relaxed when in private and with someone he trusts. People caught making a move on him in the open will be asked to stop. And if they are persistent, they'll be asked to take him somewhere private and continue.
As it is common for Japanese citizens, Tsutomu respects people more who are older than him. While he isn't rude to those younger, he may look down on them as inferior, therefore will be more stern to them if they disrespect him
| background | Tsutomu was born in the village of Yamabou-Mura, to his parents Atsushi, a poor samurai, and Midori Fujisawa, the owner of her own textiles and tailoring shop. As an only child who grew up in a modest house, he wasn't exactly the richest guy in town. Considering his father was constantly in battle and roaming the streets of the village, he was with his mother more often, so many of his manners, skills, and opinions formed from her. He was taught how to clean and a little bit of how to cook. He couldn't do much, since he was just a child, but he worked hard to help his parents anyway he could. His mother was very meticulous when it came to cleaning, so he learned to be a neat freak, just like his mother. Despite loving his mother, he also loved his father dearly. He was always hoping to see him when he came home, which wasn't often.
Atsushi Fujisawa was a samurai who patrolled a part of the village. Not neccessarily a famous one, but he did have some recognition by some of the villagers. When Tsutomu was born, Atsushi had every intent of turning him into a samurai, as was tradition. He made tsutomu his apprentice and taught him the basics. Sadly, Tsutomu wasn't mastering the sword quite as well as his father had hoped, and took an interest more in sewing with his mother. Atsushi was rather dissappointed by this, but thought nothing of it, assuming Tsutomu will learn to be a man later on. When he wasn't a samurai, Atsushi liked playing the koto during his free time. Tsutomu took interest in the instruments, and Atsushi decided to let him have a go. After a bit of playing, Tsutomu discovered that he had talented hands. As they practiced together, Tsutomu's father became his hero, and Tsutomu aspired to be a musical samurai, just like Atsushi was. Tsutomu practiced everyday from that point on.
When Tsutomu turned eight, a war broke out, and his life started to get a lot more difficult. They had to cut down on a lot of necessities. Bills were piling up, and debts were needed to be paid. Tsutomu's father patrolled longer hours, went into battle constantly, and grew a lot more rough and ill-tempered. Many times when he came home, he refused to teach Tsutomu the koto. Tsutomu then grew closer to his mother, who always tried to go on his side when the father got into a bad temper and started an argument. This kind of hell went on for two years, and it only got worse from there. One night, When Tsutomu was ten, Midori and Atsushi had a very terrible argument right before Atsushi was forced to go into battle. Tsutomu wasn't really sure what the fight was about, for he couldn't understand much. What he did understand, was that during their fight, Atsushi kept mentioning what a pathetic weakling his son is, and how he is disappointed in him. Hearing that devastated Tsutomu, and made him feel like a worthless being to his father. At the climax of their fight, his father yelled "Enough!" and walked out the door, into battle. After a week, Midori and Tsutomu gained terrible news that Atsushi had died in battle. From that point on, Tsutomu grew mixed feelings for his father, mostly betrayal and sadness. His dreams of becoming a samurai had been crushed, and he didn't' want anything to do with the koto anymore. Since Atsushi didn't take his koto with him, so it was left to collect dust.
Life was very difficult after that day, since they grew much poorer without their samurai. There was no father of the family, and Midori had to work harder as a tailor. Since Tsutomu was taught how to clean and cook a bit by his mother, he took care of the housework while Midori maintained the shop. Whenever Tsutomu wasn't busy, he would help his mother with her job They lived in a small house, with a grove of silkworm infested trees they harvested silk from. Later on during his adolescent years he became a bookworm, forming a love for knowledge and trivia, mostly Japanese history and politics. This had increased his intelligence. His mother was proud, and had many views for Tsutomu's future, including taking over the shop and finding a wife. Tsutomu grew to be very close to his mother, and he would do anything to make her happy. But the samurai inside him still haunts him to this day, nagging at him to pick up the sword again. Unfortunately, her other dream of him finding a good wife was unable to be achieved, because after seeing a few girls, he realized he wasn't attracted to them in anything more than platonic. After he broke up with his last lover, he noticed that there were a few boys in his village that he had an attraction to. Around that time he realized he was gay. At first he was in denial of it, since homosexuality wasn't acknowledged as a thing in Japan, and he promised his mother he would find a good wife who will bear children for him. He keeps trying to find a good opportunity to tell her about his orientation, but she'd always intervene with "You will find a good wife someday". To this day he is kind of secretive about his orientation, because he would feel devastated for his mother if she ever found out. That, and every man in the village was expected a wife and kids.
All difficulties aside, Tsutomu grew as different interest as he was raised in Yamabou-Mura. He had heard of other villages in Hojo who were in need of silk and fabrics. He formed an idea of becoming a traveling merchant, selling his own line of clothes and fabrics. Excited, his interest in sewing clothes grew to a high level, and he worked twice as heard to learn the art of sewing. Aside from sewing, Tsutomu also stayed up at late hours of the night, studying and learning languages. While it was an outrageous idea at the time, Tsutomu imagined of going to different lands to trade and sell there. Due to this schedule, the dark bags under his eyes show his exhaustion.
When Tsutomu turned nineteen and made his first kinagashi, Midori was proud of her son, and bought him an Akita. He named it Orenji, due to his nearly-orange colored coat, but later on changed it to just Renji. Since then, Renji had become his best friend, and Tsutomu had formed a love for animals. Renji was a smart dog, and learned all of his tricks easily. He soon became a big help to Tsutomu, helping him with his chores. On an unfortunate night, Renji attracted wolves to his backyard, endangering him and his master. Tsutomu got bitten hard on his left arm trying to protect Renji. Not wanting to worry anyone or get in trouble with those whom have heard he brought wolves, he treated his wound himself. It has healed since then, but it still hurts whenever he uses his left arm too much. Lucky it wasn't his dominant arm, but it still caused him trouble, especially when he had to endure pain in public to keep it a secret.
At his current point in life, Tsutomu helps his mother with her shop. He has his own house: a small, modest hut. He helps his neighbors harvest rice in the rice paddy near his home. He wakes up in early morning hours to walk to his mother's shop and help harvest silk.
| timeline | N/A
| character species | human
| class | villager/peasant.
| affiliation | Neutral
| abilities | Tsutomu can play the koto. If given a string instrument he has never played, he won't get it as first but can learn quickly. Tsutomu doesn't have an exceptional ability with swords, but since his father was a samurai whom had taught him a little bit, Tsutomu can use a sword well enough to at least defend himself from wild animals and lowly rascals and thieves. He is able to write beautiful calligraphy from years of practice. Long story short, he's very skilled with his hands.
| equipment | An old wooden sword left by his father, his trademark red kinagashi with lotus flower pattern which he almost always wears, and his dog Renji.
☯ samples ☯
| youkai scroll sample |
To the woman who had visited my shop two nights ago-
Fellow customer. Please forgive me for not addressing this sooner. I haven't realized until now. Your order was for a silk yukata dyed blue, am I correct? I have to tell you in terrible inconvenience, that the necessary ingredients needed to make the blue dye have run out. At this time, I must inform you that your order will be delayed. If you would rather have it not be delayed, I can make your yukata in a different color if you woudl prefer. Right now I have an abundance of rose red, sunray yellow, and forest green. Please reply to me in person or through the scroll with your answer.
With respect, Fujisawa Tsutomu, of the textiles shop.
| prose sample |
Sun rays sneaked in through the holes in the walls. Those rays had crept up and touched the exposed body of the young man asleep at his study desk, eyelids twitching in uncomfortable rest. Soon, the sounds of birds chirping had made their way into the room, waking not Tsutomu, but his trusted dog friend. Renji always woke up before his master. The sound of shuffling feet and activity grew louder and louder as morning came, making a terribly annoying racket, at least that's how Tsutomu saw it. Once Renji had figured out that the outside noise was doing little to awake the man from his late-night studying slumber, he whimpered and decided to wake the guy himself, by licking his face with his drooling tongue. "Nnn...I'm up..." Tsutomu mumbled, stirring from his sleep. He groaned loudly to the feel of a sore body as he sat up from his sleeping position. Yet another night he had fallen asleep at his desk. The soreness of his body had killed a significant amount of motivation he had to go to work. The only part of his motivation left was that he needed money. And to get money, he needed to work. Grumbling, he eventually stood up and stumbled his way to his backyard to collect water. After filling up a small wooden tub, he washed his face in the well and then went to his small kitchen to prepare tea. He stared a good two minutes at the old koto sitting in the corner of his room before shaking his head and straightening his kinagashi.
With that done, he moved to the mirror and looked at his reflection, with dark bags under his eyes. It worried him a little, making him think he could turn away customers with such a stressed-looking face. He then decided to worry about it later, and proceeded to comb his black hair. Once everything was ready, he took his dog, and headed out. He spent hours at his mother's silk farm, collecting silk for her daily sewing, as their fabrics were popular during this season. Unfortunately, her mother had grown sick from the cold, and so he did her chores for her as well. Once he was finished, he was a complete mess and he ended up dirty and exhausted. Since his mother's cold was weakening her for the day, she had no choice but go take a rest in her bedroom, leaving Tsutomu to watch the shop. He wanted to take a quick trip to a natural hot spring to clean himself up, but it was too late. There was a sound of footsteps coming into the shop, and so he had to take care of the potential customer walking in. He didn't want to of course, seeing as he was going to be presenting himself in his dirty kinagashi that was wrapped loosely around his lean body. Still, dirty shop owner was better than no shop owner at all. He scrambled over to the customer, got on his knees and hands, and performed his highly respectful bow.
"Please, pardon my untidy appearance. Welcome. How may I be of service?" He said, not looking at the visitor just yet.
| name | Kouga
| age | 18
| e-mail | jbachkurinskiy@yahoo.com
| aim/msn/other | AIM: kougamyazawa |
| time zone | GMT-5
| current character(s) | N/A
| canon | Original Character
| character name | Fujisawa Tsutomu
| character age | 20
| personality | In a nutshell, Tsutomu is a meek and humble man who hides his stress behind a timid smile. Tsutomu grew up in a society where humility and modesty were expected and likely mandatory. Growing up half of his life with only his mother, he learned many of his accepted behaviors and traits from her. Since his mother was very quiet and kind, Tsutomu grew up in a mostly calm and peaceful household. Since then, he has shown modesty and humility as he went on in life. Though he did learn how to behave on the outside, he certainly wasn't restrained on what he was allowed to think or believe on the inside. Even for such a quiet man like Tsutomu, he had opinions on things that he always kept to himself. Conformity was a big thing and he didn't want to stand out.
Tsutomu tries hard to keep a neat appearance in public. You will almost never catch him with messy hair, loose sashes, dirty or wrinkled clothes, and other things considered messy and slobby. Not just appearance, but behavior and manners as well. He rarely raises his voice in front of others unless necessary, and almost never tries to cause a scene. Underneath that shy exterior, however, is a stressed out young farmer struggling his way through life in his village. Inside his mind is someone more honest about the things around him, and with his life. Following his shy nature, he tends to avoid interaction with others when necessary. Not to say he is a completely asocial man, but he does have a difficult time relating to others. Because of this, he often quietly judges them in his own view. Specifically, he would think of how rude someone is being without thinking that they might have had a bad day, or how unclean someone is without thinking that they were in a hurry to get out of the house.
Getting deeper into that, a few things could explain why he's rather shy and distant when it comes to interacting with others. After his father's disappointment and death, Tsutomu had blamed himself for it. Because of this, he is somewhat afraid to form new relationships. He always fears that he'll somehow disappoint his new friends, and in the end they will leave him, just like his father did. Overall, he somehow has formed trust issues, which again he represses by being friendly to those around him. While he does appear friendly, he also tends to be aloof while doing so since he normally doesn't interact much with others. He is courteous and kind to everyone he does get the chance to interact with, but he tries to keep it at small talk and acquaintance level.
Be that as it may, there will be a few times at some point in his life where he does befriend someone. He'll be surprised at first at how he could ever form a relationship higher than acquaintance with someone, but as interaction with that person progresses, he'll gradually turn from distant to kind of the exact opposite. He'll grow protective and maybe even clingy towards his new friends. Since the news of his father's death, right after his big fight with his mother happened so suddenly, without any knowledge prior to the event, Tsutomu blames himself and feels paranoid that he'll one day do something that will anger his friends and cause them to leave him abruptly as well. He would be devastated if that ever happened.
Tsutomu has formed morals and views based on events happened in his past. As a child, despite being around his mother much more often than his father, he still followed some views from his father since he looked up to him for so many things. Atsushi, like many Japanese citizens, had gender expectations. For instance, he wasn't exactly fond of Tsutomu cleaning and doing housework since he believed for it to be a woman's job. One thing he would always do is tell Tsutomu that he is being unmanly whenever he cries. Because of this, Tsutomu didn't cry as often, no matter how much he hurt himself, or whom has hurt him. He felt like a 'cool guy' whenever he avoided weeping and sobbing. To this day, he rarely ever cries, but not because he feels it is 'cool' to do so, but because he feels crying is a weak and unmanly reaction. With this nagging hope deep in his subconsciousness that his father is watching him, he feels as though he must continue to 'man up' and not show weakness.
Balancing work and studying, he almost never has any time for leisure activities, and when he does, he spends it caring for his dog. With the lack of a social life, he's very clumsy and awkward when it comes to social situations with new people. And when he's alone, he generally converts his stress into either being troubled and a worrywart, or easily irritated and cranky. While rare, a close friend of Tsutomu's could probably catch him in a grumpy mood, and that is only if they ever catch him somewhere private, like his home. Point being, he is good at hiding his stress and moods when out in public.
In the event someone does befriend Tsutomu, they can notice a few side quirks about himself:
Tsutomu is very intelligent. Because he's aspiring to be a traveling merchant, Tsutomu works hard to gain the necessary knowledge such as learning about cultures and languages. Though he may be more naive than wise, he is certainly very knowledgeable about academic studies. He will share some trivia on occasion during a conversation. In conclusion, it's very easy to say he is a nerd.
He is a neat freak. He believes that cleanliness is an important quality when it comes to good impression. Possibly a trait picked up from his mom, Tsutomu's home is kept neat and tidy. He'll get a bit turned off if he sees a messy room. Not just locations, but people, too. He works hard to keep himself clean and trim. It's almost impossible to catch him with a messy head of hair, or tattered/dirty clothes. As a neat freak, he is very much afraid of vermin, mainly spiders. The very sight of a spider will cause him to shriek. He had been bitten by a spider as a child, which could explain why he hates spiders more than any other irritating insects such as hornets and termites.
He is actually very sexual once you get to know him. Especially around types he finds ideal and appealing. He'll be willing to have sex as long as he and his partner are somewhere private as well. Exhibition is a huge no-no to him. He tries to keep this sexual side of him hidden, especially in public, but he will be much more relaxed when in private and with someone he trusts. People caught making a move on him in the open will be asked to stop. And if they are persistent, they'll be asked to take him somewhere private and continue.
As it is common for Japanese citizens, Tsutomu respects people more who are older than him. While he isn't rude to those younger, he may look down on them as inferior, therefore will be more stern to them if they disrespect him
| background | Tsutomu was born in the village of Yamabou-Mura, to his parents Atsushi, a poor samurai, and Midori Fujisawa, the owner of her own textiles and tailoring shop. As an only child who grew up in a modest house, he wasn't exactly the richest guy in town. Considering his father was constantly in battle and roaming the streets of the village, he was with his mother more often, so many of his manners, skills, and opinions formed from her. He was taught how to clean and a little bit of how to cook. He couldn't do much, since he was just a child, but he worked hard to help his parents anyway he could. His mother was very meticulous when it came to cleaning, so he learned to be a neat freak, just like his mother. Despite loving his mother, he also loved his father dearly. He was always hoping to see him when he came home, which wasn't often.
Atsushi Fujisawa was a samurai who patrolled a part of the village. Not neccessarily a famous one, but he did have some recognition by some of the villagers. When Tsutomu was born, Atsushi had every intent of turning him into a samurai, as was tradition. He made tsutomu his apprentice and taught him the basics. Sadly, Tsutomu wasn't mastering the sword quite as well as his father had hoped, and took an interest more in sewing with his mother. Atsushi was rather dissappointed by this, but thought nothing of it, assuming Tsutomu will learn to be a man later on. When he wasn't a samurai, Atsushi liked playing the koto during his free time. Tsutomu took interest in the instruments, and Atsushi decided to let him have a go. After a bit of playing, Tsutomu discovered that he had talented hands. As they practiced together, Tsutomu's father became his hero, and Tsutomu aspired to be a musical samurai, just like Atsushi was. Tsutomu practiced everyday from that point on.
When Tsutomu turned eight, a war broke out, and his life started to get a lot more difficult. They had to cut down on a lot of necessities. Bills were piling up, and debts were needed to be paid. Tsutomu's father patrolled longer hours, went into battle constantly, and grew a lot more rough and ill-tempered. Many times when he came home, he refused to teach Tsutomu the koto. Tsutomu then grew closer to his mother, who always tried to go on his side when the father got into a bad temper and started an argument. This kind of hell went on for two years, and it only got worse from there. One night, When Tsutomu was ten, Midori and Atsushi had a very terrible argument right before Atsushi was forced to go into battle. Tsutomu wasn't really sure what the fight was about, for he couldn't understand much. What he did understand, was that during their fight, Atsushi kept mentioning what a pathetic weakling his son is, and how he is disappointed in him. Hearing that devastated Tsutomu, and made him feel like a worthless being to his father. At the climax of their fight, his father yelled "Enough!" and walked out the door, into battle. After a week, Midori and Tsutomu gained terrible news that Atsushi had died in battle. From that point on, Tsutomu grew mixed feelings for his father, mostly betrayal and sadness. His dreams of becoming a samurai had been crushed, and he didn't' want anything to do with the koto anymore. Since Atsushi didn't take his koto with him, so it was left to collect dust.
Life was very difficult after that day, since they grew much poorer without their samurai. There was no father of the family, and Midori had to work harder as a tailor. Since Tsutomu was taught how to clean and cook a bit by his mother, he took care of the housework while Midori maintained the shop. Whenever Tsutomu wasn't busy, he would help his mother with her job They lived in a small house, with a grove of silkworm infested trees they harvested silk from. Later on during his adolescent years he became a bookworm, forming a love for knowledge and trivia, mostly Japanese history and politics. This had increased his intelligence. His mother was proud, and had many views for Tsutomu's future, including taking over the shop and finding a wife. Tsutomu grew to be very close to his mother, and he would do anything to make her happy. But the samurai inside him still haunts him to this day, nagging at him to pick up the sword again. Unfortunately, her other dream of him finding a good wife was unable to be achieved, because after seeing a few girls, he realized he wasn't attracted to them in anything more than platonic. After he broke up with his last lover, he noticed that there were a few boys in his village that he had an attraction to. Around that time he realized he was gay. At first he was in denial of it, since homosexuality wasn't acknowledged as a thing in Japan, and he promised his mother he would find a good wife who will bear children for him. He keeps trying to find a good opportunity to tell her about his orientation, but she'd always intervene with "You will find a good wife someday". To this day he is kind of secretive about his orientation, because he would feel devastated for his mother if she ever found out. That, and every man in the village was expected a wife and kids.
All difficulties aside, Tsutomu grew as different interest as he was raised in Yamabou-Mura. He had heard of other villages in Hojo who were in need of silk and fabrics. He formed an idea of becoming a traveling merchant, selling his own line of clothes and fabrics. Excited, his interest in sewing clothes grew to a high level, and he worked twice as heard to learn the art of sewing. Aside from sewing, Tsutomu also stayed up at late hours of the night, studying and learning languages. While it was an outrageous idea at the time, Tsutomu imagined of going to different lands to trade and sell there. Due to this schedule, the dark bags under his eyes show his exhaustion.
When Tsutomu turned nineteen and made his first kinagashi, Midori was proud of her son, and bought him an Akita. He named it Orenji, due to his nearly-orange colored coat, but later on changed it to just Renji. Since then, Renji had become his best friend, and Tsutomu had formed a love for animals. Renji was a smart dog, and learned all of his tricks easily. He soon became a big help to Tsutomu, helping him with his chores. On an unfortunate night, Renji attracted wolves to his backyard, endangering him and his master. Tsutomu got bitten hard on his left arm trying to protect Renji. Not wanting to worry anyone or get in trouble with those whom have heard he brought wolves, he treated his wound himself. It has healed since then, but it still hurts whenever he uses his left arm too much. Lucky it wasn't his dominant arm, but it still caused him trouble, especially when he had to endure pain in public to keep it a secret.
At his current point in life, Tsutomu helps his mother with her shop. He has his own house: a small, modest hut. He helps his neighbors harvest rice in the rice paddy near his home. He wakes up in early morning hours to walk to his mother's shop and help harvest silk.
| timeline | N/A
| character species | human
| class | villager/peasant.
| affiliation | Neutral
| abilities | Tsutomu can play the koto. If given a string instrument he has never played, he won't get it as first but can learn quickly. Tsutomu doesn't have an exceptional ability with swords, but since his father was a samurai whom had taught him a little bit, Tsutomu can use a sword well enough to at least defend himself from wild animals and lowly rascals and thieves. He is able to write beautiful calligraphy from years of practice. Long story short, he's very skilled with his hands.
| equipment | An old wooden sword left by his father, his trademark red kinagashi with lotus flower pattern which he almost always wears, and his dog Renji.
☯ samples ☯
| youkai scroll sample |
To the woman who had visited my shop two nights ago-
Fellow customer. Please forgive me for not addressing this sooner. I haven't realized until now. Your order was for a silk yukata dyed blue, am I correct? I have to tell you in terrible inconvenience, that the necessary ingredients needed to make the blue dye have run out. At this time, I must inform you that your order will be delayed. If you would rather have it not be delayed, I can make your yukata in a different color if you woudl prefer. Right now I have an abundance of rose red, sunray yellow, and forest green. Please reply to me in person or through the scroll with your answer.
With respect, Fujisawa Tsutomu, of the textiles shop.
| prose sample |
Sun rays sneaked in through the holes in the walls. Those rays had crept up and touched the exposed body of the young man asleep at his study desk, eyelids twitching in uncomfortable rest. Soon, the sounds of birds chirping had made their way into the room, waking not Tsutomu, but his trusted dog friend. Renji always woke up before his master. The sound of shuffling feet and activity grew louder and louder as morning came, making a terribly annoying racket, at least that's how Tsutomu saw it. Once Renji had figured out that the outside noise was doing little to awake the man from his late-night studying slumber, he whimpered and decided to wake the guy himself, by licking his face with his drooling tongue. "Nnn...I'm up..." Tsutomu mumbled, stirring from his sleep. He groaned loudly to the feel of a sore body as he sat up from his sleeping position. Yet another night he had fallen asleep at his desk. The soreness of his body had killed a significant amount of motivation he had to go to work. The only part of his motivation left was that he needed money. And to get money, he needed to work. Grumbling, he eventually stood up and stumbled his way to his backyard to collect water. After filling up a small wooden tub, he washed his face in the well and then went to his small kitchen to prepare tea. He stared a good two minutes at the old koto sitting in the corner of his room before shaking his head and straightening his kinagashi.
With that done, he moved to the mirror and looked at his reflection, with dark bags under his eyes. It worried him a little, making him think he could turn away customers with such a stressed-looking face. He then decided to worry about it later, and proceeded to comb his black hair. Once everything was ready, he took his dog, and headed out. He spent hours at his mother's silk farm, collecting silk for her daily sewing, as their fabrics were popular during this season. Unfortunately, her mother had grown sick from the cold, and so he did her chores for her as well. Once he was finished, he was a complete mess and he ended up dirty and exhausted. Since his mother's cold was weakening her for the day, she had no choice but go take a rest in her bedroom, leaving Tsutomu to watch the shop. He wanted to take a quick trip to a natural hot spring to clean himself up, but it was too late. There was a sound of footsteps coming into the shop, and so he had to take care of the potential customer walking in. He didn't want to of course, seeing as he was going to be presenting himself in his dirty kinagashi that was wrapped loosely around his lean body. Still, dirty shop owner was better than no shop owner at all. He scrambled over to the customer, got on his knees and hands, and performed his highly respectful bow.
"Please, pardon my untidy appearance. Welcome. How may I be of service?" He said, not looking at the visitor just yet.