The Mask of Shosuro Atari

Shosuro Atari was raised in the holdings near the famed Shosuro Gardens, in the province of Shiro no Shosuro. Atari’s father is Shosuro Mishigawa, an accomplished playwright. Atari’s mother is Shosuro Sakura, a former courtier of the Otomo family.

Atari’s parents are the proprieters of The Silken Smile, a playhouse of infamous reputation whose stage often is the impetus for the loss of life, honor, or both of many moved to passion by the intensity of the works presented upon it. Sakura’s familial influences with the Otomo, and in particular her brother Otomo Banu, have thus far kept Imperial Magistrates from closing the theater.

Raised in such an environment, Atari at a very young age came to understand with fiendish clarity the crushing power of the spoken word, the deadly effect of gestures and posture. It was not long before he began to test himself against his peers, weaving patterns of discord among them that would invariably leave them at odds with one another or at the mercy of strong punishments applied by their parents. Once Atari wrote a play of his own, setting other children as actors. Directing the story and actions of his companions, he drove two of them involved in a mock duel with wodden boken to a fury of emotion so intense that the boys took the scene to heart. One of them lost an eye and took a facial scar that would last his life. Atari’s mother disciplined Atari harshly after working to make ammends with the boy’s family, but secretly she felt a great pride inside for him. Her son had shown his nature.

When the time came for Atari to be sent to his school, Mishigawa wanted him to be sent to the Shosuro Butei Acadamy to begin the path to his inheritance of The Silken Smile. Sakura objected, arguing that Atari’s true talents could be cultivated best at The Bayushi Courtier School. Eventually, Mishigawa relented, realizing his wife’s influence with the Otomo could perhaps carry his son farther than his own associations. When Sakura went to inform Atari of their decision, she found him near the koi pond of the family gardens sitting on the small bridge that crossed it. As she approached him, a dragonfly landed on his nose. Brushing it away, Atari laughed at it’s tickling. It was the only time Sakura had ever heard her son laugh in ernest.

Timeline of (Shosuro) Atari

• The Topaz Championship

• Atari’s Machinations following his gempukku

• (to be continued)