Round Three Theme Challenge

[tarigwaemir]

The mods have compiled five sets of themes for this round, along with links to some resources:

HISTORICAL

1. Heian (794-1185 AD)
   
   • Wikipedia
     
   • Ancient Japan
2. Muromachi (1336-1573 AD)
   
   • Wikipedia
3. Tokugawa/Edo (1603-1867 AD)
   
   • Wikipedia
     
   • Edo Japan, A Virtual Tour
4. Meiji (1868-1912 AD)
   
   • Wikipedia
     
   • History, 1800 to Present
5. Showa (1926-1989 AD)
   
   • Wikipedia
     
   • History, 1800 to Present

General Japanese history resources:

• Wikipedia
  
• The History of Japan
  
• History of Japan: An Annotated Directory of Internet Resources
  
• Japanese History: Overview

IGO TERMS

1. Ko (also see: ko threat, ko fighting, triple ko)
   
2. Tengen (also see: tengen openings)
   
3. Hane (also see: hane-kaeshi, double hane, hane-tsugi)
   
4. Atari (also see: atari go)
   
5. Tesuji

General go terminology resources:

• Wikipedia
  
• Go Glossary

TECHNOLOGY

1. Cell phone
   
   • Hi-tech Japan - Mobile Phones
     
   • "In Japan, barely a ripple: Apple's cellular move"
     
   • Cell Phone Gaming in Japan
2. iPod
   
   • "Year of iPod in Japan"
     
   • "iPod takes Japan by storm"
3. Television
   
   • Japanese Television
     
   • Live Radio and Television from Japan
     
   • Television in Japan
4. Computer
   
   • Japan's Generation of Computer Refuseniks
     
   • Machine Learning in Games
5. Video games
   
   • Hi-tech Japan - Video Games
     
   • Japanese Game Developers - The Big Four
     
   • Gaming in Japan
     
   • Gaming in Japan: An Odyssey

General technology resources:

• Science and Technology - Trends in Japan
  
• Japan Media Review

ARTBOOK
(Click on the thumbnail to see the full-sized image. Thanks to murinae for the original idea.)

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FIVE
(For this particular theme set, you may choose to either use all the themes in one category or one theme from each category.)

1. CULTURE
   
   1. In East Asian tradition, there are five elements: water, fire, earth, wood and metal.
      
   2. The Japanese names for the five days of the week, Tuesday through Saturday, come from these elements via the identification of the elements with the five planets visible with the naked eye.
      
   3. The traditional Japanese calendar has a five-day weekly cycle that can be still observed in printed mixed calendars combining Western, Chinese-Buddhist and Japanese names for each weekday.
      
   4. The Torah contains five books--Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy--which are collectively called the Five Books of Moses.
      
   5. The Five Tiger Generals of the Kingdom of Shu during the Three Kingdoms period in China were Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, Zhao Yun, Ma Chao and Huang Zhong.
2. LANGUAGE
   
   1. "Five" is a slang term for the British Security Service, MI5.
      
   2. Pentameter is verse with five repeating feet per line.
      
   3. The Famous Five is a fictional group of child detectives, composed of four children (Julian, Dick, Anne and George) and their dog Timmy, from an Enid Blyton series.
      
   4. Quintessence, meaning "fifth element", refers to the elusive fifth element that completes the basic four elements (water, fire, air and earth).
      
   5. In the United States legal system, the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution can be referred to in court as "pleading the fifth", absolving the defendant from self-incrimination.
3. HISTORY
   
   1. 5 AD
      
   2. 1905 AD
      
   3. 2005 AD
      
   4. 2055 AD
      
   5. 2555 AD
4. MATHEMATICS
   
   1. Five is a prime number.
      
   2. Five is also the fifth number in the Fibonacci sequence.
      
   3. There are only five Platonic solids: tetrahedron, cube, octahedron, dodecahedron, and icosahedron.
      
   4. A five-pointed star can be constructed by connecting all the vertices in a pentagon.
      
   5. The Roman numeral system is a quinary system, representing the number five as V.
5. MISCELLANEOUS
   
   1. There are five oceans in the world: Pacific, Atlantic, Indian, Southern and Arctic.
      
   2. The five senses are sight, smell, hearing, touch and taste.
      
   3. The five basic tastes are sweet, sour, bitter, salty and savory.
      
   4. In Tarot, the fifth card is the Hierophant.
      
   5. There are typically five members in a Super Sentai team.

In order to make the theme challenge a little more difficult this time around, so we will be judging your theme usage on the following criteria:

1. Frequency: how often is the theme explicitly referenced in the story
2. Accuracy: how accurately has the theme been used
3. Purpose: how integral is the theme to the story
4. Execution: how smoothly the theme has been incorporated into the story
5. Creativity: how creatively the theme has been interpreted

For each theme you include in your submission, we will assign a point value from 1 to 5 for each of the above criteria. All the points for all the themes will be added up, and the writer with the highest number of points will be awarded a prize for their efforts. Since we realize that all of these criteria are highly subjective, both silvermuse89 and I will do our evaluations independently and take the average to determine the point totals.

The theme challenge is by no means mandatory, although we hope that it'll provide you with inspiration for your writing. The winner of the theme challenge will not necessarily be the person who uses the most themes, so please don't feel obliged to cram in as many themes as you can. Rather, we hope that you will take a group of themes that you find interesting and use them to write a great story.

If you decide to take on the theme challenge, please remember to list the themes you've included at the beginning of your fic! (See the updated rules for more information.)

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