flemmings | Entries tagged with onmyouji

Have finished Silver Diamond 2. It is a terrible thing to fall into the hands of a Sugiura Shiho series, largely because one can't buy her online. bk1 doesn't deal with her publishers, Kinokuniya disclaims all knowledge of her books though they carry them in the bricks'n'mortar, jpqueen has nothing but random volumes, and I can have her from amazon.jp for lessee 108 + 36 base handling fee + 71.50 handling fee + shipping for 20 volumes by Fedex = not to be considered/ less than roundtrip train fare to NYC.

Which is a pity, because 20 volumes of a Sugiura Shiho series would be lovely winter reading. Must plan a spring trip to New York and raid Bookoff. And meantime I read Yumemakura's Seimei.

OTOH this is why my life is on stall. What was I doing three years ago? Reading Silver Diamond. What was I doing six years ago? Reading Yumemakura. Are there no new worlds to conquer?

Thinking back fifteen years to Christmas in Japan, a day rather like this. Morning coffee at Chat Noir, the muzak playing 'Past three o'clock and a cold frosty morn', and very nice too. Alas, in a coughing spell at work that afternoon, tore a whole bunch of intercostal muscles, and was very uncomfortable for several weeks after. Glad that's behind me, whatever. Here in TO, I open my present from

incandescens which is I Shall Wear Midnight. Happy holiday reading indeed, and thank you very much. Also the Ikea knife from

deepfryerfire which I'd forgotten about, since shortly after she said she'd buy it for me she fell into a moshpit and broke her elbow, IIRC. Lovely to have-- chopped veg for soup with its intensely sharp blade. Believe I'm supposed to give you a penny for it so it doesn't cut our friendship; shall do that when the PO opens again, some time in the middle of next week. PO employees are indeed the salaried leisure class in this country.
( And otherwise )

1. People have been putting up their Read This Year lists, and their Memorable Book of 2010 lists. I have no memorable books per se, but I did read eight Aubrey/ Maturins this fall. And then

kickinpants sent me a Winnie the Pooh e-card this morning (the real Ernest Shephard Pooh and not the evil Empire's cartoon version.) Which was lovely, but I found myself thinking by reflex, 'Pooh is a lot like Jack, isn't he? And Piglet...' is *not* like Stephen, no really he's not.
( Continuing... )

( One goes to shop )

What a good thing I don't work from home. I'd never get anything done. I need a net minder that cuts my access after half an hour.

Am reading the first Onmyouji set of short stories, which I somehow never finished back in '05. Probably because I started reading the manga version of same and was put off it, having failed to notice that very early on Okano began taking liberties with Yumemakura's stories: like shoving Sugawara no Michizane into them any chance she could get. Why she thought this was an improvement I can't begin to guess. Yumemakura's originals are nice tight little narratives. Okano's are all over the map and strike me as self-indulgent.

Seem to recall that SSBB has an historical issue coming up. Am tempted to rescue Fujiwara no Hiromasa's reputation from what both the manga and the movie did to it.

Finished Yumemakura's Seimei collection, Dragon's Flute. Must seriously wonder if Yumemakura has a Heian picker. Because, well--
( Cut for because wells )

Trailers and stats--

From

i_am_zan, previews for The Treasure Hunter, aka what Uncle Ming does to pay the bills.

( Cut for November book-chat )

(For a heart-stopping five minutes there I thought my Wordtank was dead. This is the Old Faithful that I bought in 1994. The glass of the screen has become scratched from contact with the entry bars, of all things, but it still functions beautifully. It's never rejected batteries like the spoilt-brat WT I bought in 2002, which took years to decide that alright, Energizers were OK but nothing else; and which is now dodgey in the buttons and on the point of expiry itself. So you can imagine how I felt when I pressed Old Faithful's On button and nothing happened.)
( But I was going to talk about Onmyouji )

Have finished Onmyouji 10, in which Seimei states several times that he's a swallow who's invaded the Dragon King's underwater palace to steal a jewel. This, to my ears, is too reminiscent of Peter Pan:

"Pan, who and what art thou?" [Hook] cried huskily.
"I'm youth, I'm joy," Peter answered at a venture, "I'm a little bird that has broken out of the egg." This, of course, was nonsense; but it was proof to the unhappy Hook that Peter did not know in the least who or what he was, which is the very pinnacle of good form.

Seimei has excellent form, but no sense. IIRC (If I'm Reading Correctly) at one point he has a snit fit because he was compelled (but what compelled him?) to make a declaration (to the empty night sky) that he's proud of being a human being and happy to have been born. This is somehow a blow to his dignity. Possibly because he's really a swallow.

Or maybe it's just that he *might* become a swallow. OTOH he might become a (tinkling) brass cymbal, with markings, that's confusingly called a mirror. Whatever, at book's end he has a honking big 'jewel' that looks like a bowling ball, which he gives to Murasaki Sue. Whose name means 'true kudzu'-- yes, the invasive vine that ate the American South. How appropriate. (And now I can't find the Japanese word for girlfriends who move into their boyfriends' apartments uninvited and take over the housework and laundry and whatever. My life is full of woe.)
( Further thoughts on my woeful lot )

One must write, to write. Hence this meme, ganked from all over.

1. Write down the names of 10 characters.
2. Write a fic of fifteen words or less for every prompt, using the characters determined by the numbers. Do NOT read the prompts before you do step 1.

1. Hakkai (Saiyuki)
2. Seimei (from the Onmyouji films)
3. Goujun (Saiyuki Gaiden)
4. Hiromasa (from the Onmyouji manga)
5. Keiki (12 Kingdoms)
6. Iason (Ai no Kusabi)
7. Ryuugyoku/ Dragon Gem (Youmi Henjou Yawa)
8. Kanzeon (Gaiden)
9. Sanzou (Saiyuki)
10. Wen Zhong (Woxin Changdan)
( May have fudged that 15 words thing )

So, Heisei Ghostbusters vol 2 is attempting to explain... something. Something vaguely onmyouji-ish but not exactly: in short, what it is the mysterious main character does. He's a 龍脈師, a 'dragon pulse master.' "We seek out and control the 地龍 (earth dragons) that run the length and breadth of the earth, and use them to expand the human world.' What are earth dragons, asks the naive uke character. "Earth dragons are a form of energy that runs concurrent with the lines of the dragon pulse". And then the dialogue gets lost in matters of plate tectonics and faults and sea-mounts and technical stuff I don't understand even in my own language.

So I go back to FMA vol 17, in translation; and here's May talking about alchemical transformation in Xin. And look look see! she's explaining what a Dragon's Pulse is too. 'The earth itself has an energy. Like a life force, the energy maintains harmony in the world. You could think of it as a river of power that flows in the ground like a pulse. By understanding the harmony of the pulse, it's possible to ride that flow and transmute something to a distant location.' At least there are no plate tectonics in FMA.

What there is, is a lot of 'feel bad and about to get worse' stuff that makes me reluctant to read further. Also another female general more-or-less (major-generals are superior to brigadiers and subordinate to full generals, is all I know.) My world is littered with female generals lately. Sumeragi's, Flora's Mamma, Peking Opera Wang generals, and of course Great Big Honking Spoiler which I will discuss under the cut. Granted it's a spoiler for something not generally (haha!) available, still. You have been warned.
( Read more... )

To report only that Heisei Ghostbusters is still tough and still wordy, but not nearly as tough and wordy as Okano's Onmyouji which covers the same territory; that Youmi Henjou 4 is reported by Japanese readers to be as obscure as later Onmyouji, which is midnight obscure; that the brush writing of Youmi Henjou (all of it, but 2 at the moment) makes me wonder if I'm reading the actual words correctly; that this Kouring series of Okano's is dear God The Forgotten Beasts of Eld manga-ized: my spirit faints within me at the thought of what so innately perverse a mangaka has done with what I recall as a fairly yang-type story; and that, ray of sunshine maybe, Sumeragi Natsuki has been translated into French.

There's a fourth volume of Youmi Henjou Yawa.

It came out two and a half years ago.

Why was I not informed of this?

Have ordered along with the maddening vol.3. And because I'm acquainted with the infinitely treacherous ways of mangaka, I ordered a Hatsu Akiko with it. And because I'm still train lagged, didn't order the Hatsu Akiko I'd intended to. I mean, it's good, or looks good in its Chinese version, but it isn't the one with the Chinese stories. Dommage. There's still a fourth volume of Youmi Henjou and who knows what it might tell me.

The Night Revels of Minister Han Xizai was painted in the 10th century by Gu Hongzhong (another representation with linked closeups is here.) 'Painted in five panels' doesn't mean 'reproduced in five panels.' Good, that's cleared up.

Wandering about NY on Monday, trying to locate Kinokuniya while passing Saks 5th Avenue here or observing the mouth-watering sales on denki seihin there, I realized that many people come to NY to shop for, well, other things than I come to shop for, certainly. But these days, with cheap bk1 shipping and increasing numbers of- feh- translated manga not only at Kino but at Bookoff itself, I don't really come to buy manga anymore. (Though I'm sorry to have missed Kino while I had US money during loonie-daka-- Saiyuki Reload and Onmyouji and Ravages of Time would have been mine without waiting for shipping. OTOH I'd probably have bought a new Wordtank for heart-stopping prices, just for the ability to see what it looks like and does, and there goes my VISA. Sai Weng's horse and all.)

( No, what I really go to NY for is... )

Yesterday afternoon the mug of the last few days blows away in a deluge and a restrained thunderstorm; the wind ripples the leaves, the sun appears among baroque clouds, and in the returned coolness I can think sensibly again. So of course the first thing I do is very sensibly go over to Markham St and spend upwards of $40 on English translations of manga I already own in Japanese; and then take me out to dinner to read them. Cause, you know, I just want to see what they're like. Curiosity emptied the bank account, is what.
( Results: pass with honours; could try harder; utmost fail )

Yes, yes, I know there are things that will let you archive ljs, or even turn them into hardcover books if so minded. I don't want to archive an lj. I want a way of preserving the back entries at

paleaswater's pitas blog, because they're a treasure trove of useful insights, comments and links. And ghastly moments where she says ( something I'd forgotten completely )

So I'm translating a Seimei story in which a lady abandoned by her lover goes off and asks a pair of dragon rain gods to turn her into an oni so she can revenge herself. Why ask dragons for this kind of favour? Who knows. That's what's in the noh play the story's based on. (Next question: does Yumemakura ever make up original stories in all that 'think think think'ing he does, or does he always crib from Zeami? Answer: do not ask.)
( Cultural considerations, plus spoilers for the story Kanawa )

In the Onmyouji manga, I believe, Hiromasa thinks to himself, after being introduced to Mitsumushi (mysterious insect), 'Sounds itchy.' This is because her name sounds like mizumushi (water insect), the Japanese version of athlete's foot. Japanese versions of Stuff Here come in two varieties- infinitely more delicate, as with daffodils, maples, and daphne, and indescribably more gross, as with cockroaches and cicadas. (Japanese cockroaches- gokiburi- are two inches long, have wings with which to fly, and are attracted to light. OTOH they're actually kind of pretty in their shellacked-back fashion. Cicadas- semi- are louder there- much much louder: like miniature buzzsaws- and I miss the sound of them. But oh my God yuck are they BIG and UGLY in the flesh.) (Am reminded of the woman who said she'd never seen anything to resemble Japanese insects, even after living in Tanzania for three years.)

And so with mizumushi. I'm convinced I picked up a systemic case of it there because it flares up here periodically when I forget to dry between my toes ~~with a hair-dryer~~. It laughs at western fungicides and it drives me nuts. I am currently being driven nuts. Just FYI.

(OTOH the labels on the fungicides make me blink. 'Use twice daily. Effective within 4 **weeks**.' Huh? It was three days in my youth. Global warming and fungicide-resistant athlete's foot. The world is entering its latter days.)

So I think about translating Kanawa, the iron ring, which Whatserface in the movies wore on her head. But it's full of poetry in medieval Japanese. Odd poetry, not in tanka form, with repeated lines. I google the first line, find two mentions in Japanese, relating either to Izumi Shikibu (but it's *not* in tanka form...) or noh plays. Google Kanawa itself and get much info on Dame Kiri until I add 'noh', and bingo. ( Read more... )

Ha. The Flow does it again. In this case it does it retroactively about twenty years, which is kind of cool.
( Cut for Onmyouji Hiromasa geekery )

My translator's conscience pricks me. I have to wonder if Yumemakura's Seimei really sounds as much like Sherlock Holmes as he does in my translation. ( Read more... )

I've been vaguely aware for the last six months or so of people saying WA4, oh where is the translation of WA4, does anyone have a translation of WA4? to which I respond FINGERS IN EARS LALALA I DON'T HEAR YOU. The trouble with WA4? It has this important untranslatable word I can't decide how to translate. The word might well be the 'kotodama' 言霊 that shows up on the third page of the story. The spirit/ soul of words and how saying a thing can make it real and a bunch of related animistic Japanese ideas. Except kotodama isn't the problem word. It's the 'tsumaranai' that also shows up on the third page and that I couldn't translate without a footnote so it's easier not to.

Equally I was desultorily translating a Yumemakura story but couldn't bring myself to go back to it. Partly a problem of how to phrase a longish quote from Konjaku Monogatari in middle English to parallel the medieval Japanese of the original and *not* sound idiotic when I translate Yumemakura's modern Japanese paraphrase right afterwards, and partly because translating = yuck boring and-besides-my-teeth-hurt. (They do. It does. Whichever. Ow ow ow.)
( And kickinpants gave me a manga for Xmas )

A long weekend (I *will* not work Monday, I *will* not- and other famous last words.) Third week of headcold now moving into lungs, provoking (again) spasmodic coughs and dynamite sneezes; heavy, logey, head hurts hurts hurts. What to do? What can anyone do?

Why, translate Yumemakura, of course!
( God, why me? )

Now, see, this I feel nothing particular about, beyond a mild relief that I finally managed to finish a fic. Otherwise it might as well be one of my articles or reviews: it doesn't get anywhere near to where I live. Seimei stories don't because Seimei stories need me to construct a plot for them, and the intellectual exercise of putting together a plot distances me from the story. Necessarily such stories aren't any great pleasure to write either, and sadly aren't even much fun to have written. It follows that this is the only kind of fic I'd write for someone else's pleasure rather than my own, and if people wanted to discuss it or critique it I'd be utterly unmoved.

Whatever,

paleaswater expressed a civil wish that I'd write more Yumemakura pastiche, so here it is. And I do like certain things about it after all, so I'm glad I did.

Mother of a head cold on top of the leg. Misery indeed.
( My life as an invalid )

( Trying not to spoil too much for the as yet unread )

Ah well. I suppose I'm happy that my mind remembers something I read four months ago in Japanese and trots it out at need when I want to write a story. I just wish it came with a citation so it doesn't look so much like plagiarism.
( Betrayal by subconscious )

Mhh well. Not as good as I'd hoped it would be, and only partly a Yumemakura pastiche. Here.

Henh. So I've been going around saying Ohh I wish I could write an Onmyouji fic ohh if only I had a Yumemakura plot I could write an Onmyouji fic ohh I wish I could think of a Yumemakura plot ohhh. Then as I was bicycling somewhere or other yesterday, a Yumemakura plot came to me, like that, details complete, with a few pictures besides. And I think it's going to be a really good story. I have that feeling.
( nazenara (= and the reason for that is...) )

Oh man, this is so cool. So you see, one of my favourite hanga artists is Yoshitoshi, who lived in late Meiji and was mad (which never hurts.) Back in the days when I was rich, more or less, and hanga were cheap, more or less, I bought a handful of his works. His most famous series is probably The Hundred Aspects of the Moon, which shows various historical people in various scenes with moonlight. Hanging here and there in the house I have the poet Tadanori, the biwa-playing exile Semimaru, and the demon-slaying Yorimasa. (Sorry about the colours of that last one. None of the online versions look like mine.)

Somewhere I have a booklet that lists the other 97 hanga in the series with marginal notes about these infinitely confusible characters. If they're not Heike they're the Ashikaga shogunate about which I know nothing- missed the Taiga drama, yes. Or Sengoku Jidai generals or Nara period ambassadors to China. So the names, shall we say, never registered. I forget what I was looking for online this evening when I discovered that no.20 in the series is none other than Minamoto no Hiromasa playing his flute at the Suzaku Gate.
( Read more... )

So while vice-Fearless Leader is netless in Hawaii and can't respond, I shall natter about Onmyouji fic.
( Natter )

I had the sudden urge to start finishing Angel Sanctuary (because there's at least five or six manga left to go, longer than some series) but when I looked to see where I left off and to find a familiar plot point... I couldn't. Apparently I've never seen any of this before. That means I have to re-read AS in its entirety. So, you know, laters.

Because the Onmyouji novels are much better anyway. Finished the story that Onmyouji 1 was largely based on, with chivalrous!Hiromasa being more generous than most western paladins ever were (possible exception: Let never a man a-wooing wend that lacketh thinges three/ A store of gold, an open heart, and full of charity) and now the plot-bunnies are raising snuffly noses from out the deep grasses around Seimei's house. I wait only for them to emerge. In time, all in good time.

It appears to me that I'm no longer a gut writer ('gut' here used partly as a euphemism and partly not.)
( Sadness... )

When you're weary, feeling small, when tears are in your eyes etc etc...

read shounen. It helps though I'm damned if I know why. This week saw me galloping through much of Belne's oeuvre, and I like Belne, I do, even when she isn't drawing singing eggplants or indulging her thing about Salome. But Belne feels like eating egg whites or something. A little FMA (vol 6, when the only other bit I've read is vol 1) fills the stomach marvellously. Possibly just the change in diet. If I did a marathon read of Freeman Hero as I keep intending to I might feel different; equally if I went back to hacking through Onmyouji the manga. ('Something's happening here and you don't know what it is, DO YOU, Mr Jones?') But for the moment, FMA it is.

Otherwise my shoulders hurt and the story is being difficult and the universe continues to unfold as it should.

Happy birthday

deepfatfire!

OK- yesterday. Amongst the bumpf mail was a PO card, Final Notice (and first) for a package that required $8.50 of customs. Peculiar, because

mvrdrk's package had arrived in the morning, quite properly left between the doors by package delivery (and thanks, L!) So I rode on down to my local PO, three blocks away- to discover on closer inspection that the package was at the Wychwood outlet, waaay up the hill and a subway stop over.
( The vicissitudes of the postal service )

Reading Yumemakura's Seimei, vol 4, get to the atogaki. "I have never once in my life had the experience of just going about my daily affairs and minding my own business, when suddenly hallelujah! the idea for a story descended on me from heaven. Not once." Not sure what to say to that, except possibly Sucks to be you. "The best way to get an idea for a story is to think about it. Just think. Focus your attention on it and think think think."
( Boooring )

I'm foolishly and fannishly pleased, here in Onmyouji vol 2 (manga), to see that when an Onmyouji is summoning aid he calls on a bunch of heavenly types starting with our friend Tenpou. Googling this I find ASCII art of an onmyouji casting his spell:

【四神相応】
　　∩＿　　　　　
　 [|＿＿]　　　　　南斗北斗三台玉女
　（ | ´∀｀）＿　　　左青龍避万兵
　 |￣|つ￣|　 |つ　右白虎避不詳
　 | ノ　　 | |_ノ　　前朱雀避口舌
　 |ー――|　　　　後玄武避万鬼
　/＿＿＿|　　　　前後輔翼　急々如律令！
　（＿_）＿）　　　

That's him being protected by the four guardian beasts and a few of what I assume to be Daoist types as well. To be found at this site. The top right box there gives you the henpai spell that names the Tenpou-tachi, though I don't see how that scheme a) works or b) has to do with ASCII art. You'll need Japanese enabled of course. (I notice that Tenpou's 天蓬 left out of this version and replaced with 天逢. Either a variant or a typo, I think.)

Writing is like travelling, really. Some of it's like biking, nice to do even if you don't go that far. Some of it's like a train ride, fun and satisfying and taking you a good distance as well. That's the kind I prefer. Occasionally it's a car trip, not much fun and a bit tiring but at least you get where you're going. But increasingly for me it's walking, and not just walking but walking when your feet hurt. It's tiresome and slow and accomplished a deliberate step at a time and really all you want to do is sit down and ~~play solitaire~~ rest but if you do that you never get anywhere, so you keep on plodding. Which is where I am now. When I'm doing it sometimes I get a little distracted by things seen on the way, but inevitably it comes back to aren't we there yet? And we never are.
( She said, 'I'm tired of the war' )

My bouts of employment are sporadic and when they happen in the wintertime tend to waste me completely. That's partly about early morning darkness and mostly about not being able to bicycle at least to the subway and having to get up anywhere from 45 minutes to an hour early. I was employed last week and am consequently completely wasted today in spite of my sedate and early New Year's Eve.
( Notes from underground )

I have vol.6 of Okano's Onmyouji. If vol.6 is anything like any of the other volumes then I merely wish to note that Onmyouji is not a manga, it's an info dump. 'Elementary Onmyoudou, its Principles and Practices: an intensive course for the beginner.' Poor Hiromasa has nothing to do but sit in the ox-cart for pages and pages while Seimei instructs him in which element conquers what element if a certain place is in the north-west corner of the palace on a day when the wind blows from the east, while the reader's head spins. To say nothing of that long discursus about which jinja are built where in N-E Kyoto and how they all line up with the meridian of the sun at the summer solstice or something- information which to date has no bearing on the story at all.
( But I plug away... )

I've been watching Onmyouji 2. A little late in the day the penny drops in re: Hiromasa, and I think where have I seen that dorky expression before? Unh-hunh, Li Seitan in Youmi Henjou Yawa, drawn by no-coincidence the Onmyouji mangaka. Checking out my one volume of Onmyouji (and still not getting past the opening obscure episode wherein Seimei instructs goggling Hiromasa in the geometrical properties of the onmyou tradition) I find yes theatrically overdone Hiromasa and dryly ijiwaru Seimei. I fancy the movie is merely being true to its manga roots.

I also discover a hilarious western review of Onmyouji 2 by someone with evidently no knowledge of history, kyougen, or much of anything else. The Tokugawa Mikado and the daimyou officials, huh? to say nothing of "We witness the official's body being thrown, screaming, with incredible force from his palladin." An official might well scream when ripped apart from his paladin in presumed mid-intercourse. Whether seme or uke, the experience cannot fail to be painful.

(Have to test-drive this new screen thingy.)

Henh. So I nearly went out tonight. Bicycling past a midtown church saw they had some Consort playing Dowland's Book of Ayres this evening. Hmm, I thought, interesting, I should go since I never go out these days, hope they have some vocals with it cause Elizabethan lute music alone bores me almost as much as Baroque harpsichord music. Returned home discovered a Higuri You dj I'd promised to translate for someone, did, and in the wake of that as I was making myself a sandwich suddenly thought Dowland. Mr. Boredom himself. Forget that- Campion is *my* man.

So I shall stay in. And either watch Onmyouji or continue deciphering A Hundred Ghosts Travelling By Night. You may guess which.

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