Ôoku vols. 2-5

Yoshinaga Fumi. Ôoku. 6 vols. Tokyo: Hakusensha, 2006-10.

Volumes 2-5 of this excellent, discomforting, pointedly skeevy manga back track from the time period of the first volume (the 1720s) to the 1630s, when the "red pox" first begins ravaging Japan and the retainers of the shogunate begin taking extraordinary measures to preserve what the first two generations of the Tokugawa have built. It ends with the future Yoshimune's only meeting with current shogun Tsunayoshi, in the early 1700s.

( Warning for discussion of rape and of highly dub-con situations )

I'll need a unicorn chaser before I tackle the next two volumes, but this is a brilliant manga.

Kobato Drop 23F translation

This is the second-to-last chapter of Kobato. *sigh* My help_japan and Gate 7 04 translations are in progress, and will be posted/sent on ASAP.

( The hands remain empty. They are constructing an osier basket /Just now, and across the sunlight darkness is taking root anew/In intense activity. )

Gate 7 04 translation

As usual, I will post this to the comms when I'm finished. As usual, that should be by Friday or Saturday. Page numbers follow the scans. ETA: Added in a speech bubble on p. 43 thanks to Anon.

For those looking for some historical background, you could do worse than starting with the Wikipedia article on the Sengoku period and following the links as you fancy. W. G. Beasley's one-volume history of Japan, The Japanese Experience, is also a standard undergraduate text. /eta

( You shall never have seen it just this way /And that is to be your one reward. )