Tsubasa RC Chapter 155 translation

[inarikami]

I huffed and puffed a lot about the new POTC installment, but after checking some original clips on YouTube I'm beginning to think that 60% of the suckiness was really the fault of the dub after all. O_o A second viewing might help...? Curse you, multiplex cinemas!

Comments

[starlady38]

Nicely done. Thanks for the translation!

You know, in some really old, pre-historical societies, there were in fact sibling monarchies. Even Japan may have had them for a while. Usually, however (at least in Japan), it was a brother-sister monarchy, not brother-brother. And at times in Roman history there were co-emperors, too. Interesting.

[inarikami]

Oh right! I remember roman co-emperors now that you mention it. :)

In Japan however, there was always one emperor/empress and the regent (in case of an empress, her brother or other in-law), who was responsible for dealing with the bureaucratic stuff, while the emperor/empress is always the figurehead.
Ancient Japanese law clearly states, "no two kings".

Though we can disregard this as this whole Valerian Country seems to be rather based on the European concept, which could leave room for the sibling monarchy.

[starlady38]

yeah, and after I posted that, I thought of the Ptolemies in Egypt marrying brother to sister.

In Japan, though, I was thinking of the Kofun period and before: early Yamato, proto-Yamato, and pre-Yamato. Let me preface that (or rather, end that) by saying that my knowledge of the history of that period is abysmal, and I'm thinking of a book about The Tale of Genji I read which talked about this, so both I and the book could be wrong. :)

[inarikami]

Just for fun, 'cause it's nice to have ppl who are interested in this: ^^

Kofun-period is actually before Yamato. :) Yamato is called Yamato because of the Yamato-taikoku, a kingdom like state with scattered tribes that were united by an empress.

It's interesting that this should be in a book about the Tale of Genji, since that's already way into the Heian period, in which the whole state structure was different. The "no two kings" rule actually comes from the first written "constitution" of Japan (which I had the pleasure to read in the original, brr), that was written around 610. The state structure and law changed in 645, but the "emperor/empress + regent from an influential blood-related family" system goes way back before that.

(Sorry for the too much info, but I just took a semester-long class on this and learnt way more about the topic than it's healthy. xDDDD) *sucks at Egyptian history though*

[starlady38]

Well, the Ptolemies were originally Greek, not native Egyptian, so it's not "Egyptian" like King Tut and all that. ^_^

Yeah, I've always been unclear as to when exactly the Kofun period ended--most of my charts say it was the Kofun period and then the Nara period right after that, but it's never seemed very satisfactory; a lot happened from the beginning of Kofun until 710. 645 was, what, Prince Shotoku's reforms and the founding of the Fujiwara family?

The book about Genji made the point that when Genji returns from Akashi and he and Fujitsubo are essentially calling the shots in the capital it's something of an echo of earlier patterns of brother-sister rule, so yes, different state structure indeed. ^_^

[inarikami]

Wah, you're right! *fails at ancient history* D:

645 is the Taika reform (the change from the ujikabane state structure to the ritsuryou law/state structure), attributed to Prince Naka no Oue and regent Nakatomi no Kamatari, later called Fujiwara. Shotoku is earlier, around 610. He was the one who compiled that "constitution". He was Empress Suiko's regent.

[starlady38]

I like your icon.

Yeah, I get all these princes mixed up. ^_^