Tetsuyama

Tetsuyama

The Tetsuyama is a dormant Amtgard household, dedicated to an Asian theme and improvement of its members.

History of the Tetsuyama

The roots of the Tetsuyama are in the Genji, a SCA household made up of players with Japanese personas. The SCAdian Genji have gone through many permutations, sprawling out over several LARPS/LACS and performing volunteer service (judging by their web page at, they have also gone dormant).

In the 1990s, Sir Auromax brought the Genji to the Iron Mountains, leading to an Asian Renissance, which eventually cooled. Around the turn of the century, interest picked up again, and the Tetsuyama Genji were formed, with a fairly strong fantasy theme. The Tetsuyama were associated with the Genji, but the Tetsuyama emphasis on fantasy and improvement (and lack of emphasis on class structure and volunteer work) led to difficulties with the "main" Genji, and eventually to a break between the Tetsuyama and the Genji. After the break, the Tetsuyama continued to dress and play white-guy samurai, but the advent of real-life caused many Tetsuyama members to lose interest, and the household went dormant.

Here is a quote from the first post on the Tetsuyama list, from Sir Auromax:

When I came up with the idea to bring the Genji into Amtgard, it was based on the SCA Genji. That was a long time ago. With in the last 2 years (or so) I decided to rekindle that idea. At that time, the SCA Genji were disbanded, or so I thought. A short time later, I found that the SCA Genji were alive and doing well. Now that poses a BIG problem. We had already worked out a system (Rings) and a pseudo governing body. It totally goes against what the Genji in the SCA have worked out. Also, the SCA Genji are no longer the SCA, they are Genji plain and simple. They have members from all over: Adrian Empire, SCA, Vampire Groups, Cronos, and other various LARPs.

Structure of the Tetsuyama

The "Big Men" in the Tetsuyama are the Rings, who each act as sort of a Guildmaster/Guide for certain areas of Japanese life, culture, and Amtgard. There are five Rings, based on the structure of Miyamoto Musashi's seminal classic, Go Rin No Sho, the Book of Five Rings. The Rings, and their duties, are: + Mizu (Water) - Tomosuna, responsible for teaching Battlefield Tactics and Amtgard Service. + Chi (Earth) - Guy, responsible for teaching Armoring and Courtly Etiquette. + Ka (Fire) - Kenichi, responsible for teaching Single Combat and Japanese History and Philosophy. + Kaze (Air) - Yokujin, responsible for teaching Ranged Combat and Image/Persona. + Kyuu (Void) - No Void ring was ever decided upon.