Endnotes:
A mitsutomoe is a pattern motif that looks vaguely like a whirlpool, a circle divided into
three (mitsu) comma-shaped drops (tomoe). There's a nice page at
http://www.mii.kurume-u.ac.jp/~leuers/trinity.htm with pix and a discussion of various
possible interpretations within Shinto: the unity of the three realms of the gods, the three
primal elements, and other fundamental sets of three. (Fox, tanuki, and weasel?
Naaaaah...)
You can see mitsutomoe scattered all over the background in the second episode
of the first RK OVA, while Kenshin is struggling with his ambivalence about
you-know-who. In the Imperial treasures of sword, mirror, and jewel, the jewel
(magatama) is also supposed to be a comma-shaped drop, or a necklace made of
them. And to increase the polysemy, the etymology of _tomoe_ is apparently
based on the concept of a sprouting seed, the same shape as a raindrop or a flame.
(Revised note: oops, I mistakenly assumed that the etymology I'd already seen for Sailor
Saturn's surname would apply to Ms. Yukishiro's personal name as well; see
http://antares7.prettyodango.net/articles/npf/index2.html for the former. "Our" Tomoe's
personal name is a completely different kanji which originated as a pictograph of a snake,
according to zhongwen.com's listing of that single four-stroke character as the Chinese
_ba_. Much geekery deleted about Japanese legends about Melusine-like serpent brides,
or women sacrificed as brides to the serpent-god of the local river to prevent floods (the
bloody rain?).)
So after having had the first chapter spontaneously splat itself into existence as a
collage of symbolic images from the OVA, I started to think the premise over a
little more carefully. Elbereth's webpage on the OVA's subtextual themes (
http://members.fortunecity.com/elbereth1/KenshinOVA2e.html ) was a tremendous
inspiration from the start. The chapter titles are geeky semantic games based on stuff in
the above paragraphs. Aside from the fairly obvious shifts in narrative focus, the chapter
divisions are also based to some extent on the Kenshin/Akira/Tomoe triangle. (Enishi has
his own manga arc. The kid can take care of himself.)
Some specifics from chapter 3:
Technically, traditional Japanese bells were rung by hitting them from the outside with a
log, but Western-style bells with internal clappers would've been introduced by this time.
(Revised note: well, the big freestanding bells needed to be whacked with a stick, but
there were also clusters of small handheld bells, _suzu_, rather like modern-day jingle
bells with a round thingy bouncing around inside each one.)
Houzuki is the plant ADV decided to subtitle as "ground-cherry". Weirdos. The more
usual name for it in English is "lantern plant". Apparently they're common altar
decorations for the summer Obon festival, when families try to send their ghosts to rest.
Also, you can blow into the empty pods and make a loud noise. Ahem.
If you've made it all the way here, thank you for reading to the end, and I hope you've
enjoyed it. A review would be nice, but it's not like I can chase you down and beat one
out of you ^_^
A mitsutomoe is a pattern motif that looks vaguely like a whirlpool, a circle divided into
three (mitsu) comma-shaped drops (tomoe). There's a nice page at
http://www.mii.kurume-u.ac.jp/~leuers/trinity.htm with pix and a discussion of various
possible interpretations within Shinto: the unity of the three realms of the gods, the three
primal elements, and other fundamental sets of three. (Fox, tanuki, and weasel?
Naaaaah...)
You can see mitsutomoe scattered all over the background in the second episode
of the first RK OVA, while Kenshin is struggling with his ambivalence about
you-know-who. In the Imperial treasures of sword, mirror, and jewel, the jewel
(magatama) is also supposed to be a comma-shaped drop, or a necklace made of
them. And to increase the polysemy, the etymology of _tomoe_ is apparently
based on the concept of a sprouting seed, the same shape as a raindrop or a flame.
(Revised note: oops, I mistakenly assumed that the etymology I'd already seen for Sailor
Saturn's surname would apply to Ms. Yukishiro's personal name as well; see
http://antares7.prettyodango.net/articles/npf/index2.html for the former. "Our" Tomoe's
personal name is a completely different kanji which originated as a pictograph of a snake,
according to zhongwen.com's listing of that single four-stroke character as the Chinese
_ba_. Much geekery deleted about Japanese legends about Melusine-like serpent brides,
or women sacrificed as brides to the serpent-god of the local river to prevent floods (the
bloody rain?).)
So after having had the first chapter spontaneously splat itself into existence as a
collage of symbolic images from the OVA, I started to think the premise over a
little more carefully. Elbereth's webpage on the OVA's subtextual themes (
http://members.fortunecity.com/elbereth1/KenshinOVA2e.html ) was a tremendous
inspiration from the start. The chapter titles are geeky semantic games based on stuff in
the above paragraphs. Aside from the fairly obvious shifts in narrative focus, the chapter
divisions are also based to some extent on the Kenshin/Akira/Tomoe triangle. (Enishi has
his own manga arc. The kid can take care of himself.)
Some specifics from chapter 3:
Technically, traditional Japanese bells were rung by hitting them from the outside with a
log, but Western-style bells with internal clappers would've been introduced by this time.
(Revised note: well, the big freestanding bells needed to be whacked with a stick, but
there were also clusters of small handheld bells, _suzu_, rather like modern-day jingle
bells with a round thingy bouncing around inside each one.)
Houzuki is the plant ADV decided to subtitle as "ground-cherry". Weirdos. The more
usual name for it in English is "lantern plant". Apparently they're common altar
decorations for the summer Obon festival, when families try to send their ghosts to rest.
Also, you can blow into the empty pods and make a loud noise. Ahem.
If you've made it all the way here, thank you for reading to the end, and I hope you've
enjoyed it. A review would be nice, but it's not like I can chase you down and beat one
out of you ^_^