This is one thing I will never use in my campaign as it goes against everything I have ever believed about L5R. Having an artisan make jokes about samurai at court, just doesn't fit for me. It is too "medieval fantasy setting" for me and with the social stratifications, I cannot see it happening in my campaign.

I know that there are many jibes and slights that are all part of the maneuvering at court, but I thought adding a Jester was just too much for me. Many people may like it and that is fine, great having options in all games.

I dunno but at our table, we have this saying that "The sharpest blade in a samurai's daisho is sarcasm" and the Kakita Jester is really just taking this to its logical conclusion.

To be fair, Kakita jesters are hardly a new thing. This was a canon spinoff of the Artisan school and were more akin to satirical kabuki performers than motley suit and jingle bells buffoons (which, I agree, would be ridiculous). I don’t know yet what the 5e rendition is like so I reserve my judgment about that.

You really do a good jester Kakita-san! Maybe you should focus on that instead of dueling.

Without access to EE: is this a sadane-type thing?

As Franwax stated, these are not necessarily the rainbow-clad, raucous buffoons so often seen. They served as advisers, entertainers, and storytellers.

They also were the proverbial life of the party, ensuring everyone has a good time. While entertainment could sometimes be bawdy, I imagine it would be easy enough to focus on their function as "social lubricant". They could keep the peace between disparate parties at social gatherings, but also loosen inhibitions (and maybe gather intelligence) through song, scene and sake...

(cribbed in part from: en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taikomochi )

seems like it. Not madcap. more sardonic.

Have you seen Ran? Kyoami is the jester character from King Lear transported to warring warlords in Japan.

Court Jesters have been mentioned since 1ed as others have said, and Ikoma Bards are able to serve in much of the same function also since first edition. The various types of jester in Japanese history were usually less subtle and ran more towards the bawdy and party hyping sort. Also, historical Japanese jesters are not historically known to have permission to mock their lord, but such situations while popular points in fiction and call outs in history were generally rare in other cultures. However in Japanese courts a jester mocking others indirectly or with innuendo was permissible if their lord found such entertaining. A functionary, guest of lower status, or audience seeking subject of the court generally had little recourse against it depending on the power of the specific lord. Even so, most of those mocked were not present or generalized figures.

Historical Chinese jesters run the full gamut as anywhere else, and would provide more inspiration for the presented type of jester. Various periods of Imperial China are a source inspiration of elements in L5R. Fiction, Japanese and otherwise, provides more inspiration for these jesters and L5R has never shied away from completely made up elements or taking from very far removed cultures either.

Personally I do enjoy some elements that contrasts with and highlights the socially expected stoicism of samurai in Rokugan.

6 hours ago, Tonbo Karasu said:

Have you seen Ran? Kyoami is the jester character from King Lear transported to warring warlords in Japan.

He is also a non-person, not a samurai. Part of the Tragedy is that Kyoami shows more honor and filial piety than Hidetora's samurai children.

Yes, Ran is always the example I point to when players ask about the jesters because the word jester comes with a lot of assumptions in western culture.

On 12/15/2018 at 6:38 AM, Franwax said:

To be fair, Kakita jesters are hardly a new thing. This was a canon spinoff of the Artisan school and were more akin to satirical kabuki performers than motley suit and jingle bells buffoons (which, I agree, would be ridiculous). I don’t know yet what the 5e rendition is like so I reserve my judgment about that.

The 5e version is of a sardonic/sarcastic quipping person, who mainly aims their words at visitors, but can do so at anyone (including their lord, which is the one part I'm slightly iffy about). They are specifically mentioned to NOT wear garrish costumes, like a stereotypical jester (as demonstrated on the Joker card), but it doesn't say they can't ham it up, including costuming, if they choose.