The Eerei Page

Who is "Eerei" anyways? Eerei is the affectionate nickname given to the House Tora banner once it was given a skull for the top of it's pole back in '99, making it look kind of like a person.

What the hell does "Eerei" mean? It is a Japanese word for 'spirit of the war dead' and it is pronounced "E-Ray." As of the end of 2003, he looks pretty much like this, except for the bell, which has gone missing.

    Eerei has evolved quite a bit over the past few years to look like he does now. But to learn how he came to be, you must first go back before he existed.
     Eerei's body piece, the official House Tora banner, was designed and drawn out by Damashi of Tora a few weeks before the first event we ever offically attended as a household, Fall Potrero '98. It was then tooled into the leather by Jin-Yoshi of Iga (another founding house member), who also dyed it the blood-red color of the historical buccaneers which we would be portraying. We brought it to Fall Potrero and propped up the banner with some sticks we had brought along for that purpose. It wasn't very sturdy, but managed to stay up most of the war. Due to the anticapted high winds at our next event, Stark Wars III, we left it at home and brought a Tora flag instead. It was then that Damashi decided to build a permanent pole stand for the banner, so it could go to every event. He fashioned a cross-piece out of PVC pipe and covered it in brown electrical tape so it wouldn't look too mundane. So by Spring Potrero '99 (the next war we attended) the banner could stand proudly against the wind. The cross piece design kept bugging Damashi, though. It needed something on top.
     Later that month, in May of 1999, Damashi's mundane alter-ego was working as a bouncer for a rock festival when he spotted a vendor selling resin tattooed skulls. Suddenly, he knew what had to be done. Purchasing one of the skulls he took it home and painted it with the katakana for tora in two of the tattooed sections. He also added a sai in the middle of the forehead to symbolize the warrior aspects of the Clan. After drilling the hole in the bottom of the skull to affix it to the banner, Eerei was born. (Fun Eerei Fact # 1: When Eerei was first drilled, Damashi went about 1/4" too deep. If you look into Eerei's mouth you can see the edge of the hole drilled through.)
(Fun Eerei Fact # 2: Eerei never sat on the PVC banner for which he was intended. By June it was time for Dreiburgen Summer Arts and to enter Eerei as an exhibit he had to become more period.)

DSA and the birth of Eerei: The first offical event Eerei appeared at was Dreiburgen Summer Arts 1999. Unfortuneatly, we have no pictures of this event. But Eerei had been moved on to a piece of bamboo for a stalk, although his 'arms' were still PVC (albeit hidden by the leather.) On the base of his bamboo were the names of all the early house members painted in the same blood-red color as the banner, and a new 'portable hole' had to be custom made so he could stand up. Eerei won a few baubles and coins as part of a combined display with Ulfblood's artwork.

The earliest known picture of Eerei, as Eerei, is at Darkwell XI, where he had to hold the Clan Darksail noose with Duncan's underwear becuase there were no trees to hang it from. Shown here at Sunset:

It was later that year at the House Tora 1 year Anniversary that Eerei first started getting 'dressed up' and photographed, when we put a party hat on him for the group photo. It was the next day when this photo was taken of Eerei 'flying a kite', which was a plastic bag tied to a rope that got caught on him during a wind storm.
(Eerei Fun Fact # 3: Bamboo rots. That and House members come and go. So a succession of bamboo poles came and went, sans member names, over the next 2 years.)

By Spring of 2000 Eerei had gotten some metal 'hands' to replace the PVC ones. He also started holding a bone fetish in his right hand which had a rune and the words "No harm shall come to you in water" on it. (Eerei is afraid of drowning.) At Darkwell XII we decided to leave Clan Darksail (And Tora!) at home and portray a leper colony. But no one had the heart to leave Eerei at home as he had become so much a part of the Clan. So we erected his skull up on to a spetum and wrapped him in bandages to keep him in place.

Lost and Found: By Christmas time 2000 Eerei had gotten another fetish for his left hand, a Maori tribesman good luck charm brought to him from New Zealand. He was entered in the Dreiburgen Yule Banner contest as a joke wearing a santa hat, tinsel, tree ornaments and a candy cane in his mouth. Beacuse nobody else in the barony entered, Eerei won by default! Later that night at Chushin's he was thought stolen but later was found placed in the back of Jaide's car by a good samaritan.

Dreiburgen Summer Arts rolled around again in 2001, 2 years after Eerei was born. Damashi decided to enter him again, but first wanted to make him sturdier and better. So Eerei got a solid wood pole for the first time in his life, with fixed (non-removable) arms and a dark brown stain. This time the kanji painted (in white) on the banner was more universal, the First Oath of Bushido: "Honor Those Who Came Before You." Here he is shown being painted (left) and at the show (right). Nobody but Tora loves Eerei, and all we won were some sticks, a rock, and a piece of plant.

Eerei got the remainder of his acoutremonts at The House Tora Three Year Anniversary, known as "Tora III". Jin-Yoshi got him a Bhuddist bell (which had to have the wind tag removed because it drove the rest of the crew up the wall), and Mary made him a necklace. All of which he is wearing in the picture at the top of the page. He is also known to wear a Tora III bracelet on his right 'wrist.'
So now you know the Story of Eerei; at least so far. Below are some random pics of Eerei taken over the past 5 years.

Eerius Leperus at Darkwell XIII

Musketeer Eerei at Estrella XVII

Damashi's Eerei mask at Dreiburgen Anniversary

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Pre-Eerei. The 'body piece' which was the original house banner, shown here on the day it was tooled and dyed, still drying on the newspaper on Damashi's kitchen table.

Eerei dressed as "GhostRider" at Lord Madog's 'Superheros & Supervillians' Party

Eerei adorns the leper colony sign at Darkwell XIV. Inset: Holding the lamp to light the way to the Ugly Toga Party.

Dreiburgen Yule 2003