Memories of Benzaiten (Music Overhaul)
A historical overhaul of practically all music and effects in the game with the exception of the Boshin period(FOTS) also includes Fourstriders Zen so please make sure to head over and give his mod some love and endorse. Video’s are just a few example’s of used tracks. I’m also looking into if its possible to add entirely new tracks to the game past just the vanilla ones as I’d love to add more variety to camp seasons and battles especially as their are some songs I’m torn on where I want to add them but there’s not enough tracks.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2248158681&searchtext=zen
This project dates back a good 3 or so years and started with me being unable to pick any one singular music mod as there was always songs that were thrown in that bothered me that wouldn’t fit the period. Initially this project was called "Saki Den Classics" hence the main menu song. Note:There is 1 single song I’ve included that can be considered as not period accurate but its too freaking banger in battle, if requested I” release a dif version with that song replaced with something more period friendly. The song in question is the Main Theme of a game called Samurai Bloodshow and is the last video hopefully I can change ur mind of this banger.
Thusly I began my journey at TW:Center and dove into the Shogun 2 forms, and discussions! I now needed to think and do some research but I also needed to keep variety in mind rather then have all the music an ost’s be various renditions of what would have been played. This painstakingly crafted mod is the result of me listening to so many different taiko drum variations, Kabuki and NOH plays and acts, learning about Benzaiten with her biwa and learning the emotions conveyed through this art. Let me first clarify that I am by no means an expert I just genuinely enjoy learning about history. One of the toughest barriers I faced when looking into stuff was the language barrier and recording degradation, there were some really cool recordings from like the 1800’s of a traditional Tea Ceremony and a couple of plays however the audio was in no shape to be put in the game. If any Japanese or History buffs have any suggestions please lmk.
FOTS Eventually?
Yes! I’m just trying to sort thru some songs as there is a wealth of genuine good recordings, renditions and emulations of music from that period. Cannot wait to introduce ya’ll to Oppekepe an amazingly fresh perspective view of what some in Japan thought of Westerners, honestly its a great hilarious song and I must include it. Will put a video sample of it.
Ok but, who’s Benzaiten?
She is the Shinto/Buddhist Goddess of music,art,eloquence and water and one of Japan’s 7 Gods of luck, and is credited with creating sanskrit. Shes very often seen accompanied by Gozuryu and plays a biwa.
For thousands of years the ruthless five-headed dragon Gozuryu plagued Koshigoe and the people suffered under his reign even as he demanded sacrifices. Until one day, Benzaiten descends from the sky and Enoshima island rises from the sea to become her dwelling. The dragon had become smitten with her and asked for her hand however she refused unless he could renounce his evil ways. Ashamed of what he’d done he vowed to relinquish his ways and become a guardian spirit of the island and protects it. Today they say he transformed into the islands mountains and hills.
One of the screenshots I’ve included above is some Ukiyo art of people making their way to Benzaitens Shrine ⛩ on Enoshima Island. Its called "Pilgrimage to the Cave Shrine of Benzaiten" while the second is an illustration of her from the Edo period by Aoigaoka Keisei.
Credits
A big thank you to Fourstrider for allowing me to merge his Zen button effects.
I’d like to offer a big thank you to a little forum on TW:Center "The Traditional Japan Music" mod, I learned alot of my resources from there and some of the excerpts from Kabuki or NOH plays are from that mod. Unfortunately all links to download that OG mod are dead today but regardless the mod inspired me to create my own version.
"Samurai Esthetics" youtube channel. As so much of their uploaded music I couldn’t find in any other place online, unfortunately this user isn’t the original artist of some of these tracks so tracking them all is a bit tough however I’ll put below artist I could find and track as some of these could possibly be private artists as traditional performances especially in Kyoto can be invitation only and recording isn’t allowed.
Some of the tracks are excerpts from plays then tracks
Artists
Samurai Strings
Ensemble Nipponia
Makiko Masugi
SEGA Sound Team
Various Independant and private sources
