Six-Gun Samurai

[dime_novel_hero]

Scheduling caused me to miss a few months of Cowboy Action Shooting at Logan’s Ferry but I was finally able to get back in July and I premiered a new costume.

I have pretty much always carried a katana as part of my costume (my persona was a US Aeroship Cavalry observer during the Boshin War) but I decided to go all out. The hat was the first item, and in spite of having to work the wicker to fit my oversized cranium, I was able to get it to stay on my head. I like it quite a bit, even out of context, wearing it while I cut the grass.

I ordered the shirt from Japanda.com but they never delivered and failed to communicate so PayPal refunded my money. Instead, I found a similar vintage style shirt from Darcy Clothing in East Sussex (link). This one is an actual late-19th Century undergarment design. And 100% cotton makes it very nice. I may order another one (or two).

The yukata I got from Eiyō Kimono and it is also 100% cotton (link). Their sizing chart says to order one or two sizes larger so I did and it fit just the way it should. I also ordered a hakama from them (link), upsizing as they recommended. This turned out to be a little large, part of the reason I’m not wearing it in this picture. I also couldn’t get the hakama to work properly with the gunleather.

The menpō was also from Eiyō Kimono (link). It came with a “one size fits all” mask base that was supposed to be secure and breathable but it dit not even fit around my head. That was expected so I added some small adhesive pictures hangers and elastic so that I could attack it to my face.

On site, there were a number of compliments. I’m sure some didn’t know what to make of it but, should anyone have asked, I was fully prepared to talk about “A Fist Full of Dollars” being a remake of “Yojimbo”, “The Magnificent Seven” being a remake of “The Seven Samurai”, “Red Sun” staring Charles Bronson and Toshiro Mifune, “Sukiyaki Western Django”, the “Unforgiven” remake with Ken Watanabe, and the “Westerns and Samurai” course I took in college from noted film critic and angler Keiko McDonald.

Instead, I fell into a discussion about cultural appropriation where my interlocutor felt it important to cite that the Native Americans engaged in war and slavery, some particular sports ball team’s Indian mascot was acktually honoring some particular Native American, and people should laugh more and be offended less.

Sigh.

There was no way I was going to be able to shoot with the swords, so they went in the gun cart right away. I only wore the menpō in the time before the stages but wore the mask at the loading table because in 2020, only a few matches were canceled because of COVID, then it was back to usual without anyone ever masking or social distancing.

As the stages progressed, I was doing pretty well. My previous issues with loading the M1887 shotgun had been somewhat addressed and my times were pretty good. Half way through, it was looking like I might be able to have my first clean match. It was not to be, though, as I was getting hot and tired overall. Three misses, but only one in each stage.

Overall, I was 21st out of 28 shooters. In each stage, I was running in pretty much the same relative place. A significant improvement over my last match. The top shooters were able to post times half that of mine but, because I shoot Duelist, that is going to necessarily take more time. I won in my category, which means absolutely nothing when you are the only person shooting Duelist.

The woven hat is so much cooler than any of the “cowboy” hats I own. I’m going to be wearing that more often.