Sorry for not responding to comments. Right now I’m on vacation, so it’ll be awhile before I get around to replying to them. Apologies for the delays.
(this post will be deleted when I return from vacation)
March 16, 2009
Sorry for not responding to comments. Right now I’m on vacation, so it’ll be awhile before I get around to replying to them. Apologies for the delays.
(this post will be deleted when I return from vacation)
March 17, 2009 at 10:34 am
hi charmian, happy vacation .here in india we celerebrate spring as HOLI-colours festival .see u soon. bye-indian ryuuki fans.
March 28, 2009 at 9:54 pm
http://hi.baidu.com/%D0%C7%C6%DA%B6%FE%B5%C4ruby/blog/item/18ad1ede0022c85c95ee37d7.html
enjoy ^^
March 30, 2009 at 2:57 am
hi charmian. i was reading one of your entry where you were wondering about the “Sa Sakujun broke open a shrine” thing.
this is what i think: in vol.5, feast of the dark moon, when kokujun was locked in the secret cell in the shrine of the Sa manor, it seems it was sakujun who gave kokujun the knife with which kokujun’s father killed kokujun’s grandfather. that means that sakujun had entered the shrine, before Shuurei and 春姬 came down there.
what i can guess by reading the chinese translation of vol.14 is that, 雨师 and 风伯 had been trapped in that shrine (not sure who did that, probably the Hyou clan, when they were trying to catch barahime?), and after sakujun broke the shrine, 雨师,风伯,along with other spirits that were sealed there, came out. Kuro and Shiro have been following Shuurei ever since. (the first time the two balls made a clear appearance in the books is in the 2nd story of gaiden2, and the story happend in the autumn just following sakujun’s death) while to stop other evil spirits from running away from the shrine, sa enjun, well, his soul, went down there, where even shou taishi can’t reach.
but i don’t know whether sakujun broke the shrine on purpose or by accident, and how much he knows about the secret of shuurei. have you read the short story「深き眠りの水底で」? in the story, sakujun and riou jr. had an unexpected meeting, and it seems they had know each other before.
just as sai yukimo once said, the main role of the 茶州篇 was not sakujun, but kokujun. sakujun’s actions was not well explained there. i’m looking forward to his reappearance. ryuuren and sakujun are the 2 male characters i love most. heehee, i hope the cover of vol.15 could feature ryuuren!!
April 4, 2009 at 11:40 pm
Yeah, that must have been what happened. It’s really confusing in the book. Why were those two critters even sealed there? Why would the Hyou put something in the shrine of the Sa clan?
I skimmed through it, but I didn’t really read through it that clearly. However, I think she screwed up there because so much more of hte dramatic interest of the reader is on Sakujun.
April 5, 2009 at 4:25 am
welcome back`~~!!!
i’m just guessing–that since the two critters are guards of the red immortal, if the Hyou wanted to catch her, they must deal with them first. and shrines are, i think, with the counter-ghost (i’m not sure if it’s a proper word= =) power, one of the ideal ways to seal them. the reason why it happened to be the shrine in the Sa manor might be something we’ll have to wait for the author to explain.
April 5, 2009 at 5:00 am
Yeah, I’m guessing. (Not sure what you mean by counter-ghost power… put it in hanzi?) Exorcising power?
I’m beginning to be pretty intrigued by this story.
April 9, 2009 at 4:05 am
Sorry…response came a little late.
Yes, exorcising power. Power to control, suppress, the supernatural beings.
Jananese have their unique “ghoste”-related folklores..it’s a lot different from Chinese folklores. So although I am somewhat benefited by my Chinese culture background in understanding Saimono, still, it’s Japnanese culture at its core.
Reading Japanese manga “walking ghostes at night” helped me a lot in understanding the supernatural elements in Saimono.
April 9, 2009 at 4:22 am
Response to Ruby: Ah, I see.
Yes… I would love to learn more about the differences in Japanese and Chinese ideas of ghosts! I’ve read some things about Chinese folklore, but sadly I don’t know much about it. My knowledge of Japanese ghost folklore is somewhat stronger, but not really that deep.
Yeah… That’s one of the things about it. Sometimes I wish it was more Chinese, because even with my limited knowledge, there’s other stuff that does throw me off.
April 9, 2009 at 5:14 am
uh, can i ask what the phrase “to throw somebody off” means?
i looked in the dictionary but couldn’t find a meaning that fits in here.
April 9, 2009 at 5:23 am
Hmm, what I meant there was that when I’m reading the book and following along the story, and then I see something where I go “eh? but that’s a Japanese thing,” it ‘distracts/disrupts’ me, makes me think about ‘huh? What is the author doing?’