Miko yumihei butai.

 

For those readers who can't read Japanese, the title of this post translates to "Shrine Maiden Archer Unit", a most literal description.

The Miko were/are* the priestesses who work at Shinto shrines throughout Japan. In pre-history and ancient times their role could be seen as shamanistic, by the more organised feudal period, and certainly in modern Japan, they are now viewed as a role in daily life. Tending to the spiritual side of society, such as performing sacred cleansing and the sacred Kagua dance.

For my purposes, I've had the Test of Honour miniatures knocking around the project boxes for a few years ( think I picked up the two kneeling women just before the pandemic started).

Rather then paint them in all different coloured dress, I chose to do a unified unit of archers using them, after seeing this artwork from the Legend of the Five Rings** card game, a setting which I am a fan of.

The red Hakama (pleated trousers) and white Kosode (kimono like jacket) are the traditional dress of the Miko, something which seemed like a trope of anime, but turned out was/is* their actual outfits.

The miniatures are armed with an Azusa Yumi which is a sacred bow made from the Japanese Cherry Birch trees called 'Azusa'. They are used in Shinto rituals and it is believed that merely the twanging of the bowstring will frighten ghosts and evil spirits away from a house.

These particular ones were made by using the plastic bowls from the Warlord miniatures Ashigaru models as the plastic is more survivable then the thin metal ones which they came with.

I used the different colours for the bows as just as with the armour of the time, Japanese weaponsmiths also lacquered things such as bows and the handles of weapons before wrapping them with silk cords, this give some variety to a homogeneous unit.

The Nobori banner is based upon this banner from a shrine in Japan, I liked the black and white aspect as a good contrast to the bright red of their Hakama, but didn't feel I could freehand the Mon (symbol) well enough to do it justice, so I'm happy enough with the plain black and white banner.

(They match rather well with my actual Sohei warband too).

Finally I took a group photo, without the scenery to really show them off.

These ladies will feature as a section of a warband in games of Test of Honour.

However, they may get some reinforcements in the shape of some 3D printed troops at some point, as I have been looking at Pike and Shotte by Warlord Games, and may have downloaded their Samurai army list...this could be dangerous for the wallet....

Jikai made, yoiichinichiwo...

(Until next time, have nice day...)

*I say "were/are" and "was/is" because in most things that we talk about with "historical" wargaming the subjects are long gone.

Miko on the other hand are a regular part of modern Japanese life and still tend Shinto Shrines, as well as travel for public duties relating to the state religion of Japan.

**The best description I ever heard of L5R is that is it a "White Guys idea about what is cool in medieval Japan".

This is apt to some degree, given that there are samurai, a great wall of China analogue. The empire of Rokugan is basically mainland China.

One of the clans are Mongolian cavalry Samurai, another are all Tibetan/Shaolin monks. There are dragons, Oni (demons), ghosts, Bakemono (goblin's), and all sorts of supernatural legends from all over the far East thrown into the mix.

It makes for fun reading.