Kunoichi

Ninja 3

Kunoichi s a modern term for a female ninja or practitioner of ninjutsu (ninpo).

The term is thought to derive from the names of characters that resemble the three strokes in the kanji character for woman ( onna); said in the order they are written: ku (く) – no (ノ) – ichi (一). Early literary quotes include Enshū Senkuzuke Narabini Hyakuin (遠舟千句附并百韵?) (1680) as well as Maekuzukeshū (前句付集?) (1716), which specifically associates the word with the kanji 女 supporting the etymology. The “くノ一” writing requires the use of one character from each Japanese character set – first hiragana, then katakana, then kanji. While hiragana and kanji can exist in the same word, katakana generally cannot appear in conjunction with the others. There are exceptions to this, for example in “ゴミ箱” and “消しゴム”.

Female ninja are mentioned in Bansenshukai, a 17th-century Japanese book compiling the knowledge of the clans in the Iga and Kōga regions devoted to the training of ninja. According to this document, the primary function of female ninja was espionage, finding legitimate service positions in the households of enemies, to accumulate knowledge by gaining trust or overhearing conversations. One historically accepted example of this is Mochizuki Chiyome, the 16th century noblewoman with ninja roots who was tasked by the warlord Takeda Shingen with recruiting women to create a secret network of a few hundred female spies.

[Wikipedia]

Ninja 5

Sometimes if you just put on one item, you immediately get an idea what you want to do with it… I am sure all of you had that happen at least once. Something like this happened to me when I put on the “Isis” collar and skirt from [sys].

When I put it on, I immediately had the vision of a ninja/asian inspired look. I remembered the awesome “Mei” hair from EMO-tions – that was sold on the south-asia inspired round of On9 – which I decorated with the cool “Albedo Horns” from Ayashi.

To cover my chest, since the feathers of “Isis” collar did not reach down far enough, I used the “Tigress Top” from Apple May Design. As it is a mesh body applier it fit perfectly under the feathers. Certainly a tattoo cannot miss when I style something like this :p This time I wanted something special and so the silver “Genius” tattoo from White Widow was the perfect match. I never made a secret out of it, that White Widow is my favourite tattoo brand… did I? *grins*

Ninja 6

I thought a little bit until I got the idea… but certainly a warrior needs some armor 😉 At least some that looks great for the pictures*giggles*

[LAB737] makes the most amazing armor parts I ever saw. So detailed and as well used looking makes them very realistic and I could not resist to add parts of the “Dragoon” armor to my left arm.

Ninja 2

Now the most complicated to get good pictures – I needed a good Katana and as well cool poses which did not just look like fighting. Certainly I could have sat hours and hours and make me some but then… still the good Katana would be missing since I just had som super old prim ones who kinda looked disgusting for nowadays standard. So I did what I usually do when I am looking for something special… I went to SL Marketplace 🙂

Ninja 4

I found a very little store, with just a few items for sale on MP and instantly fell in love with the “Katana Pose Collection”. A whole set with many variations of 10 different poses and 2 amazing handcrafted Katanas. Even more I was surprised that they were made for a female warrior, so exactly what I wanted. The poses do look more show or performance like than, fighting itself and so they were the perfect animations for the pictures.

Ninja 1

First I tried to build me a photo set, but soon I realized – I do not have the right items nor the knowledge of buildings and sceneries, that would suit the ideas and satisfy the styling. I jumped into the SL search and looked for places with key words like: japanese, warrior, ninja, katana and many more until I found “Kowloon”, a little island, which was empty when I arrived but the buildings and the garden was incredible beautiful. While I was shooting, the sim filled up more and more, but I did not see anyone around me and I became curious. I started to cam around, to spy silently, when I found an arena with a hell of a lot people who had begun a fight. I was so excited to see that, to see them fighting with Katanas and all kind of asian weapons, that I stopped shooting for a bit and just watched without disturbing them. I had so much fun watching them, that I nearly forgot to finish my shooting. It was an amazing afternoon and as well a lot of fun and I enjoyed the trip to a past time, that is totally new to me.

Ninja 7

Details

Outfit: [sys] – “Isis”

Top: Apple May – “Tigress Top” (mesh body applier)

Hair: EMO-tions – “Mei”

Horns: Ayashi – “Albedo Horns”

Armor: [LAB737] – “Dragoon”

Shoes: [MODA] – “Erica”

Tattoo: White~Widow – “Genius”

Makeup: Madrid Solo – “Raven’s Fight”

Lipstick: blackliquid – “Lip Line”

Poses & Katana: [Quixotica] – “Katana Pose Collection”

Location: Kowloon

Model & Photographer: Wicca Merlin

Ninja 8

The Afternoon of a Faun

Faun 1

The Afternoon of a Faun

These nymphs that I would perpetuate:

so clear

And light, their carnation, that it floats in the air

Heavy with leafy slumbers.

Did I love a dream?

My doubt, night’s ancient hoard, pursues its theme

In branching labyrinths, which being still

The veritable woods themselves, alas, reveal

My triumph as the ideal fault of roses.

Faun 5

Consider…

whether the women of your glosses

Are phantoms of your fabulous desires!

Faun, the illusion flees from the cold, blue eyes

Of the chaster nymph like a fountain gushing tears:

But the other, all in sighs, you say, compares

To a hot wind through your fleece that blows at noon?

No! through the motionless and weary swoon

Of stifling heat that suffocates the morning,

Save from my flute, no waters murmuring

In harmony flow out into the groves;

And the only wind on the horizon no ripple moves,

Exhaled from my twin pipes and swift to drain

The melody in arid drifts of rain,

Is the visible, serene and fictive air

Of inspiration rising as if in prayer.

Relate, Sicilian shores, whose tranquil fens

My vanity disturbs as do the suns,

Silent beneath the brilliant flowers of flame:

“That cutting hollow reeds my art would tame,

I saw far off, against the glaucous gold

Of foliage twined to where the springs run cold,

An animal whiteness languorously swaying;

To the slow prelude that the pipes were playing,

This flight of swans — no! naiads — rose in a shower

Of spray…”

Faun 6

Day burns inert in the tawny hour

And excess of hymen is escaped away —

Without a sign, from one pined for the primal A:

And so, beneath a flood of antique light,

As innocent as are the lilies white,

To my first ardours I wake alone.

Besides sweet nothings by their lips made known,

Kisses that only mark their perfidy,

My chest reveals an unsolved mystery…

The toothmarks of some strange, majestic creature:

Enough! Arcana such as these disclose their nature

Only through vast twin reeds played to the skies,

That, turning to music all that clouds the eyes,

Dream, in a long solo, that we amused

The beauty all around us by confused

Equations with our credulous melody;

Faun 7

And dream that the song can make love soar so high

That, purged of all ordinary fantasies

Of back or breast — incessant shapes that rise

In blindness — it distils sonorities

From every empty and monotonous line.

Then, instrument of flights, Syrinx malign,

At lakes where you attend me, bloom once more!

Long shall my discourse from the echoing shore

Depict those goddesses: by masquerades,

I’ll strip the veils that sanctify their shades;

And when I’ve sucked the brightness out of grapes,

To quell the flood of sorrow that escapes,

I’ll lift the empty cluster to the sky,

Avidly drunk till evening has drawn nigh,

And blow in laughter through the luminous skins.

Faun 4

Let us inflate our MEMORIES, O nymphs.

“Piercing the reeds, my darting eyes transfix,

Plunged in the cooling waves, immortal necks,

And cries of fury echo through the air;

Splendid cascades of tresses disappear

In shimmering jewels. Pursuing them, I find

There, at my feet, two sleepers intertwined,

Bruised in the languor of duality,

Their arms about each other heedlessly.

I bear them, still entangled, to a height

Where frivolous shadow never mocks the light

And dying roses yield the sun their scent,

That with the day our passions might be spent.”

I adore you, wrath of virgins-fierce delight

Of the sacred burden’s writhing naked flight

From the fiery lightning of my lips that flash

With the secret terror of the thirsting flesh:

From the cruel one’s feet to the heart of the shy,

Whom innocence abandons suddenly,

Watered in frenzied or less woeful tears.

Faun 3

“Gay with the conquest of those traitorous fears,

I sinned when I divided the dishevelled

Tuft of kisses that the gods had ravelled.

For hardly had I hidden an ardent moan

Deep in the joyous recesses of one

(Holding by a finger, that her swanlike pallor

From her sister’s passion might be tinged with colour,

The little one, unblushingly demure),

When from my arms, loosened by death obscure,

This prey, ungrateful to the end, breaks free,

Spurning the sobs that still transported me.”

Others will lead me on to happiness,

Their tresses knotted round my horns, I guess.

You know, my passion, that crimson with ripe seeds,

Pomegranates burst in a murmur of bees,

And that our blood, seized by each passing form,

Flows toward desire’s everlasting swarm.

In the time when the forest turns ashen and gold

And the summer’s demise in the leaves is extolled,

Etna! when Venus visits her retreat,

Treading your lava with innocent feet,

Though a sad sleep thunders and the flame burns cold.

Faun 8

I hold the queen!

Sure punishment…

No, but the soul,

Weighed down by the body, wordless, struck dumb,

To noon’s proud silence must at last succumb:

And so, let me sleep, oblivious of sin,

Stretched out on the thirsty sand, drinking in

The bountiful rays of the wine-growing star!

Couple, farewell; I’ll see the shade that now you are.

[by Stephen Mallarme

Translated from French by Henry Weinfeld and Mark Ebden]

Faun 2

Details

Pants: [sys] – “Comox Pants” – NEW @ Gen Neutral

Top: [sys] – “Rio t-Shirt”

Shoes: GizzA – “Combat Boots & Socks”

Armor: [LAB737] – “Ram Armor”

Horns: Wasabi Pills – “Inferno Horns”

Hair: EMO-tions – “Amare”

Face Decor: The Forge – “Face Chain”

Tattoo: [White~Widow] – “Criminal”

Makeup: +Nuuna+ – “Ere Makeup” & ” Hlaftone”

Location: Crest of Vrek’mar

Model & Photographer: Wicca Merlin