Kami - as "Link"

Kami and Mom decided to make and finish Kami's Link costume this summer. She loves to dress-up and do cosplay. Link is a character from the video game Zelda. There are also books about his adventures as well. There is a picture of Kami sitting and playing a Ocarina just like Link does. Kami looks really great!! FYI- this is a picture of what the real "Link" looks like.
Enjoy the pictures!!





Kami has a smaller Ocarina and she can play it very well.


This is a picture of Kami's Shield that Link carries. Kami made it from scratch, It looks perfect to me!! The sword is still in the making.

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Here is a little history lesson on the Ocarina.

The ocarina [ah-kah-ree-na] belongs to a family of wind instruments called vessel flutes. These globular, whistle-like instruments date back at least 6,000 years, existing in many cultures around the world in a varieties of different forms and tunings. They were most often made of clay but some were made of wood, gourds and bone. The ancient Chinese vessel flute "Xun" (pictured above) was of particular importance to Chinese song and dance traditions. The earthen egg-shaped instrument was played by blowing across an opening at the top and covering or uncovering finger holes for different pitches. These ocarinas, along with various tutorials and music books, became very popular in the USA and around the world. It was around this time that the peculiar pipe earned its American nickname, "the sweet potato", for its sweet sound – and because it resembled a sweet potato with a mouthpiece. The US government supplied troops with plastic ocarinas to boost morale during World War II.
The English fingering system, developed by John Taylor in the 1960's, uses only 4 finger holes to play an entire octave. This discovery made much smaller ocarinas possible.
In recent years, demand for ocarinas has dramatically increased as a result of the popularity of Nintendo's 1998 hit video game, "The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time", in which the forest child hero, Link, often plays a magical ocarina.

Although technical advances and growing popularity have brought the ocarina into the 21st century, this unique instrument still possesses the original mystique and simple charm that has identified it since its ancient origins.