Outen no Mon - Vol. 1 Ch. 5.5 - Volume 1 Omake

[MangaDex]

 

[Area__]

Ok, so now we 100% have all the content from volume 1.

I tried to keep the format from the original version, but making it left-to-right instead of right-to-left. I'm not sure I like it, but I don't know if I'll change it.

Man, these explanations have a ton of terminology. I hope I made the whole literature student explanation clear enough... But as hard as these pages are to translate, it's totally worth it because this man is hilarious.

If you're curious about Hongou-sensei, they are interview him in the ComicBunch-Kai Youtube channel about all kinds of historical topics (but a lot of them are Heian Period related because it's supposed to be promotion for Outen no Mon). They're only available with Japanese subtitles... which is a shame...

(No, don't look at me. I already have my hands full with the manga).

Anyway, next time we start with volume 2 for sure.

 

[Carmichael]

That's a lot of text, thanks for the translation!

 

[BalrogDeMorgoth]

Very interesting lore!

 

[the_Bear_from_Bearcave]

Ok, so now we 100% have all the content from volume 1.

I tried to keep the format from the original version, but making it left-to-right instead of right-to-left. I'm not sure I like it, but I don't know if I'll change it.

Man, these explanations have a ton of terminology. I hope I made the whole literature student explanation clear enough... But as hard as these pages are to translate, it's totally worth it because this man is hilarious.

If you're curious about Hongou-sensei, they are interview him in the ComicBunch-Kai Youtube channel about all kinds of historical topics (but a lot of them are Heian Period related because it's supposed to be promotion for Outen no Mon). They're only available with Japanese subtitles... which is a shame...

(No, don't look at me. I already have my hands full with the manga).

Anyway, next time we start with volume 2 for sure.

It's really interesting how Chinese their court, aristocracy and their customs still feels when read in a manga set in that period, compared to manga happening in later times, like during shogunate, or in period of instability before shogunate.

 

[sssr]

It's really interesting how Chinese their court, aristocracy and their customs still feels when read in a manga set in that period, compared to manga happening in later times, like during shogunate, or in period of instability before shogunate.

Eh? No. The Chinese court system was nothing like this. The Japanese Heian court was culturally (and even architecturally) Chinese, but their customs were unique to Japan. The level of sexual independence given to noblewomen would have been horribly mortifying to the Chinese aristocracy of the era, and the level of general female literacy would have been scandalous. Michizane's job is actually one of the most obvious differences. See, he's an imperial scholar whose only job is to be scholarly. He isn't even teaching anyone. He's only reading Chinese literature and philosophy all day and writing commentaries on them. There is no similar position anywhere in the Chinese court system. There were scholars in the court, but they all had civil service jobs to fulfill. The Japanese had this weird occupation simply because they were trying to absorb a foreign culture (unlike in China where everything Michizane's reading was native), so they created a class of people whose job was to "adapt" that culture into the Japanese context.

The major distinguishing factor in the imperial government itself is all the samurai running around with their bows and arrows. In Heian-kyo all security and military personnel were basically nobles and knights (samurai). They didn't have armed commoners anywhere because unlike in China where the imperial clan itself commanded a standing army, in Heian-era Japan the army was composed of the nobles, their serving samurai, and any peasant levies each noble could muster. In peacetime no levies could be mustered, so all the military and police jobs that professional commoner soldiers would normally fill in China had to be filled by nobles and samurai. Because Japan was far more feudal than China, they also had a larger proportion of members of the feudal clans who served as soldiers, unlike in China where military clans (junshi) served only as officers, so this wasn't a problem. Many samurai were serving as basically grunts.

 

[the_Bear_from_Bearcave]

Eh? No. The Chinese court system was nothing like this. The Japanese Heian court was culturally (and even architecturally) Chinese, but their customs were unique to Japan. The level of sexual independence given to noblewomen would have been horribly mortifying to the Chinese aristocracy of the era, and the level of general female literacy would have been scandalous. Michizane's job is actually one of the most obvious differences. See, he's an imperial scholar whose only job is to be scholarly. He isn't even teaching anyone. He's only reading Chinese literature and philosophy all day and writing commentaries on them. There is no similar position anywhere in the Chinese court system. There were scholars in the court, but they all had civil service jobs to fulfill. The Japanese had this weird occupation simply because they were trying to absorb a foreign culture (unlike in China where everything Michizane's reading was native), so they created a class of people whose job was to "adapt" that culture into the Japanese context.

The major distinguishing factor in the imperial government itself is all the samurai running around with their bows and arrows. In Heian-kyo all security and military personnel were basically nobles and knights (samurai). They didn't have armed commoners anywhere because unlike in China where the imperial clan itself commanded a standing army, in Heian-era Japan the army was composed of the nobles, their serving samurai, and any peasant levies each noble could muster. In peacetime no levies could be mustered, so all the military and police jobs that professional commoner soldiers would normally fill in China had to be filled by nobles and samurai. Because Japan was far more feudal than China, they also had a larger proportion of members of the feudal clans who served as soldiers, unlike in China where military clans (junshi) served only as officers, so this wasn't a problem. Many samurai were serving as basically grunts.

I meant that they still were culturally Chinese, in manga about later periods they don't really seem to pretend any longer they're still like China. Shogunate seems to be completely different world to me , with Chinese culture being like Latin in medieval Europe - it is there, you can notice it, but it's clearly only archaic influence.

EDIT: Also thanks for this deeper overview of the differences, it's nice to learn, especially since that period is rarely portrayed in manga. I only remember Heike Monogatari anime that was set in those times.

 

[DiaaaR]

Thank you for the chapter. Looking forward to the next one!