Saiunkoku translations/summaries

Once again, these are taken from Japanese message boards/blogs. They are unreliable. Take them with a grain of salt. In other words, these may or may not be true.

This entry will be updated as I find more information.
(more…)

“When Heaven is about to confer a great office on someone…”
An alluring, snow-white, slender arm poured wine soundlessly into his empty cup.
“‘it shall certainly first exercise their mind with suffering, and their sinews and bones with toil,’ right?”
“Indeed. You are learned. As to be expected of Kochou of the Kogarou.”
Kochou smiled. Within her overflowing seductiveness, today there appeared something almost girlish about her.
“‘To those humans upon whom heaven has chosen to entrust a great task, it first thoroughly makes them suffer in both mind and body while they labor.’ And thus through this harsh tempering, their ability increases, and their power to fulfill their task rises. This is so that finally Heaven can make use of those humans as it pleases. For the humans, they are to be pitied, for suffering mysterious calamities.”
Suddenly, something indigo flashed into Kochou’s field of vision. She was startled by the beautiful butterfly, with its glossy black wings splashed with splotches of indigo and crimson. She had seen them countless times. When these butterflies appeared, a little before or after that, Anju also often disappeared, as if chasing them. Sometimes she did not see him for several years.
Anju gazed at the butterfly fluttering in the corner of the room. His expression became just slightly more serious.
“Kochou. Have you heard about what kind of butterflies those are?”
Kochou, surprised, took awhile to respond. Many men had finally let down their guard, while resting on the soft skin of the courtesan, but he alone was an exception. Even Ran-sama had relaxed, but while he would smile mischievously, he would give her nothing of his true self. However, right now she believed that he was not simply passing time. There was no reason for this belief, just her intuition as a woman.
“Before, I had heard that they were the butterflies that carried souls…”
“Yes. I have also heard that from people. When these butterflies are caterpillars, they eat over three thousand times their weight in leaves. However, these aren’t ordinary leaves. Day after day, they eat strong poison.”
Anju did not look at Kouchou; his gaze only followed the black butterfly. It was as if rather than talking to her, he was remembering some conversation he had had in the past.
“Because they have eaten a lot of poisonous leaves, they store a great quantity of poison within their bodies. And having done that, if they’re eaten by a frog or something, the frog will react to the poison and spit them right out. Even though these worms don’t have wings, they have knowledge that can increase their chances of surviving. They eat poisonous leaves, so that they can kill others, and become butterflies. In the struggle to survive, they can’t get by just by being beautiful.”
…It seemed to Kochou as if Anju were talking about himself.
Doing whatever it took to survive. Underneath the lovely, elegant wings. Worms that ate poisonous leaves, and became beautiful butterflies.
However, the butterfly simply lightly danced about, not showing a smidgen of this astounding past.
“Once the butterflies are able to fly, they travel from the north to the south, to Ran Province. They fly along with the sun, and rest along with it. It seems they can’t stand the cold.”
Although they couldn’t move when it was cold, even when it was warm, they could become sick and die, he said.
“When the butterflies arrive in Ran Province, out of the tens of thousands that started the trip, only some tens are left.”
“….So few?”
“Yes. Only that many. A normal person cannot walk from the Banri Range to Ran Province. And what about a butterfly? When you look at it, it has such thin wings. They don’t have powerful ones like the migratory birds. They must mischievously grasp the winds, and with the least effort possible, fly upon them. Or hitch a ride on carriages or cows. I can somehow strongly identify with them, for how they shrewedly rely on the strength of others to thoroughly realize their goals. “
Really Anju himself was like one of those butterflies. Perhaps he had been one in a previous life.
“Although they are clever, at times they must also work hard. When they’re crossing a vast lake, they can sometimes wait seven or ten days for a wind going in the right direction. But even if they do that much, only some tens make it to the end.”
Anju moved his drinking glass. [revise; 酒杯を揺らした is this supposed to mean he drank from it? ] He grinned a bit at the floating butterfly.
“It is not because they have seen that land, nor because they have been promised a paradise there. Probably, the butterflies themselves do not know where they are going. Even though there is nectar in the flowers where they are, they set off on their journey, to the far off land which they have never even seen. It as they’ve decided where to go before they were hatched.”
Only some tens finally arrived.
They ate poison, became butterflies, made use of others to fly high and far. While glancing to their side at the butterflies that fell behind. Only the chosen butterflies who possessed both luck and strength could go to that land.
Whose lives did theirs resemble, wondered Anju.
They themselves did not know where they were going, nor why they wished to go there. But, they had to go. And they were born knowing how to do it.
For that sake alone did they live and die.
“….It’s not that I hate those butterflies. But sometimes I just find them dismal.”
The fruit bowl was empty, the wine had been drunk. As if stopping Kochou from reaching for the bottle, Anju stood up with cat-like elegance. His rich, wavy hair covered his profile.
“Well, now I’ll be going. See you later, Kochou.”
Anju caught the black butterfly flying in front of him, and burned it in a nearby lamp. Some light smoke rose up, along with an unpleasant noise. It was a casual gesture, as if he were just burning some paper.
“I don’t hate them, but they’re a bit depressing.”
Still smiling the courteous smile he had worn from the beginning to the end [revise], he left the room with a wave of his hand.

…Just as he loved flowers and butterflies, he loved women. Just like the butterfly he had put an end to while saying “I don’t hate them.” Just like that. By this time, probably both the butterfly, and the woman bearing the name of a butterfly, had vanished from his head. “I don’t hate them.” That alone was nowhere near enough.
Kochou’s glance shifted. The dish that hadn’t been touched, and the completely empty fruit bowl. Things that he had no interest in, and those which he liked.
He only ate the foods he liked. His principles were clearly on display there. Although he seemed to be whimsical, his world was almost cruelly bisected. He could not satisfy himself by playing half heartedly. If his life was boring, he would make it interesting himself. That was his motto. Like those butterflies, he was always lowing at something else. And that was probably neither money, nor status, nor women either. Kochou herself did not know what it was, this obsession of his. Kochou carefully placed the corpse of the butterfly in her hand. She stood up to go and bury the pitiful butterfly.
That butterfly was almost like herself, she thought.

While Anju was getting into his carriage, he repeated his earlier words. Although he personally did not like them much.
“When heaven is about to confer a great office on someone, it first exercises their mind with suffering, and their sinews and bones with toil.” Perhaps that princess had been chosen by heaven. Perhaps Kouki, Seiga, and Anju too, were moving in accordance with the will of Heaven. However, not one among them had led an easy life. Like the migratory butterflies, they had passed through chill winds, and no matter who they had to bring down, had finally survived this far. [revise] ….They don’t know where they are going, nor why they are going there. Anju had said this to Kochou, but in the unseen depths of his heart, he had always known. That was why he had come this far. There was someplace he wished to journey to. There, would be the landscape he sought to see, in that world which he could not see now.
“Haha. What great office did heaven wish to confer upon the princess?”
After they arrived at their far off destination, the butterflies mated, and died right after laying their eggs.
…Perhaps Shuurei’s life resembled that of the butterflies the most. Anju and the others had time to wait for the winds that would carry them, but she had not waited. [revise] Its wings had been tattered in the violent winds and rains, and it continued to fly without resting.
Even if it arrived, it would never lay eggs, and could only eternally rest its ragged wings. Even the cruel, ogre-like Kouki would think that that was enough. If she was allowed to go on, that would definitely happen. Neither Kouki nor Anju especially wished to kill her.
“I should at least give her a choice.”
Whether this was heaven’s test or heaven’s mercy, Anju himself did not know. She would be the one to choose. There was a way to let the butterflies live out their days happily in a nearby field of flowers, even if they would never arrive at their promised destination.
Anju apologized for this [ごめんこうむる... Eh, this either means to say "thanks but no thanks" or "to seek the forgiveness of others." So it could mean "he turned it down himself"] but he did not think of it as a bad thing.

For those pitiful butterflies.
In the paradise within a cage.

Commentary:
‘Thus, when Heaven is about to confer a great office on any man, it first exercises his mind with suffering, and his sinews and bones with toil. It exposes his body to hunger, and subjects him to extreme poverty. It confounds his undertakings. By all these methods it stimulates his mind, hardens his nature, and supplies his incompetencies.

http://nothingistic.org/library/mencius/mencius24.html

Anju’s quote is from Mencius.

Needs to be worked on more…

(more…)

Takes place right after the scene where Reishin talks to Houju.

You Shuu, throwing just a glance at the door through which the two Finance Ministry officials had gone, turned back to Reishin.

“…..Really, you are quite an idiot. There’s nothing to be done with you. Are you really older than I am?”

While pushing up his glasses, he rotated his stiff neck. It made quite a noise. You Shuu tiredly tapped his own shoulders with the documents he had in his hand.
“Huh, thanks to you, my back has gotten terribly stiff here. If you’re free, please massage my shoulders.”
“Hmph, didn’t you expect nothing from me?”
“Yes. I was just saying that. There’s so much work that if I don’t complain about it, I won’t be able to do it. If you feel like massaging my shoulders, I’d rather you go and massage Prime Minister Tei’s.”

At Yuushun’s name, Reishin’s brows shot up. You Shuu sighed again.

“…..That’s why you’re such an idiot.”
You Shuu strode across the desolate room and went up to the Minister’s desk.

“I’m going to borrow your seal.”

It seemed he had been using some important documents which needed the Civil Administration Minister’s seal to pound his shoulders.

Unlike the bothersomely punctilious Kouyuu, You Shuu had always been on this point fairly casual.

The wind came in from the open window. You Shuu’s short hair made a rustling sound.

While You Shuu familiarly inked the ministerial seal with red ink, he narrowed his eyes in pleasure.

“Ahhh, what a good wind. Before I knew it, it’s become autumn. The sky is clear.”
“Yeah.”

“Speaking of that, you love plum blossoms and autumn about as much as your elder brother.”
“….How is it that you know that?”

“Because I’ve been with you long enough to dislike you. You probably don’t know what I like, though.”

Reishin took out his fan. Upon it, one of the dancing red leaves which had fluttered into the room landed.

“The fruit of the loquat, and the willow in winter. The bell-ringing crickets of autumn. Gingko leaves about to fall. The rainbow in summer. My biwa, and Kouyuu.”

You Shuu’s eyes grew round. He was surprised.

“How is it that you know that?”
“Because I’ve been with you long enough to dislike you.”

“Come to think of it, that may be true.”
You Shuu looked up into the sky, and suddenly smiled. There was always something malicious about You Shuu’s smile, but people who could distinguish whether this was truly the case or not were rare. On this point, people often said he resembled Reishin.

“I’m not joking, it’s really true. Of all things, to have gotten even to know your favorite things, what kind of bothersome relationship is this? It’s too horrible.”

“Don’t say that before me. That’s my line.”
They had spent a long time within this hierarchical relationship, longer that Kouyuu had been at the Ministry. And most of that time fighting. Make no mistake about it, Kou Reishin was definitely the worst superior You Shuu had ever had in his life.

You Shuu pressed the stamp onto the document.

“Please don’t have any uncharacteristic regrets. Because that’ll just make me want to kill you.”
“You fool. The word regret is not in my dictionary.”
“Ah, my ears must be deceiving me. You liar.”

Reishin was irritated by how easily You Shuu snorted at this.

“You are certainly a genius. However, as for regrets: even though you have such talent and foresight, you are always regretting things. 神様もシャレがきいてますよ。[I don’t know what this is. Is it something like ‘the gods also jest’?] With that god-given genius, there is nothing you can’t get, and from your birth, you’ve had wealth, power, status, and lineage already resting in the palm of your hand, so there’s never been any need for you to go out and get them. But the thing you wish for the most is somewhere that, even with all of your talent, you cannot reach.”

You Shuu, without even looking at Reishin, stamped another document.

“What you desire the most is something that ordinary people can do easily. To please the people you love. The way to make them happy. What you should do to make the things you hope for the most happen in the best possible way. To understand the hearts of others. [心をはかる] –-But, no matter how much you think about this, even now you still don’t know. When you figure it out, you’re always too late. That’s why, you leave things till the last moment like this, hunted down by someone like me, and end up only protecting that single last important thing.”

You Shuu’s words did not contain a hint of sarcasm.

“It’s probably that you really just don’t know. You’re always, with all sincerity, giving your all for the few special people you’ve come to like. But everyone dismisses it as just the bizarre behavior of a genius. It’s because since it’s something everyone can just do naturally, they’ll think ‘there’s no way you don’t know this.’

[天つ才] (eh, now that I think about it, I’m not sure how I should be translating it. I translated it before as ‘god-given genius’ but now I’m wondering exactly what is grammatically going on here) But You Shuu had, as he had sometime due to his working as Reishin’s deputy, come to view Reishin more objectively and carefully than others. In other words, he saw deeper into Reishin than his family or friends would know.

Thinking back on the various results of his observations, You Shuu scoffed making his glasses flash brightly:

“Well, though when I put it in words, it’s like a tragedy, in practice it’s a completely like a comedy, so that has saved you. I’ve already foolishly come to like seeing you always doing these stupid things so seriously.”

“Sh-Shut up! Damn it— Shut your mouth. That’s why I hate you!”

Since he was so close to him, he had understood things Reishin did not want to have known about him. That was why he always chased him off.

“Oho, a rare occurrence of us thinking the same thing. I also really dislike you.”

The wind blew, and the red leaf that had landed on Reishin’s fan flew away.

You Shuu raised his head, and caught the bright spot of scarlet. He smiled as if towards Reishin.

“…Though, if you wished for ultimate power, you wouldn’t leave any gaps where others could get you.”

Simply, in feeling alone he was unbelievably incompetent, but Reishin’s actions were all a result of this.

For the sake of his beloved brother, he had taken the national exam, for the sake of his dear friends, he had become the Civil Administration Minister, for the sake of his adopted son, he had stopped working. If he had worked for anything other than this, he would have become a great official. But, he didn’t. At heart, he was always like this, and as a result, did the most unskillful things. That was why, without reading the course of things to come well, he always put things off. So much so that he had even been trapped by You Shuu.

“Ultimate power? What foolishness. Is that what you wanted?”

“Well—No, as expected, I find all of that extremely revolting. [人生ナメてんじゃねって、私の才能と人生すべて使って全力でつぶしにかかったんじゃないですかね。I can't really figure out what he's saying. ]

You Shuu carefully placed the scarlet leaf upon the desk, without crumbling it.

”Although I really hated the genius who had everything I wanted, but didn’t use it, and arrogantly only thought of himself, doing as he pleased, I probably didn’t hate Kou Reishin, who didn’t try to hide his single weakness, which, to others, wouldn’t be a weakness.” [I need to revise this sentence. I’m not even sure what he really means]

When it came to what they were thinking about, probably they understood each other the best. [revise] Having finished stamping all of the documents, he slowly put the Minister’s Seal down. Even now, You Shuu understood well why Reishin was acting like this.

That was why You Shuu had given up on Reishin. He had realized that Reishin would no longer change. Even though he understood him, he could not acknowledge him. When he left the room You Shuu would have only one thing to do.

“I’m angry, you know. I didn’t make Li Kouyuu your deputy to see this stupid result. Even though that child has such talent, even now, he isn’t even trying to understand what’s going on. He only thinks of you. …Pushing for that child to be the Vice Minister was my sole failure. Although I…..was always waiting.”

The autumn wind blew, rustling You Shuu’s short hair.

“….Please, show me you can seriously protect at least the last important thing you have left. If you don’t, everything will really end without anyone being able to understand what you are doing. Really, both child and parent are thoroughly troublesome.”

Then, You Shuu left the room.

When he came into the corridor, he suddenly stopped, and looked up into the vast azure sky. Somewhere birds were singing.

“The fruit of the loquat, and the willow in winter. The bell-ringing crickets of autumn. Gingko leaves about to fall. The rainbow in summer. My biwa, and Kouyuu.”

…..The only thing that he hadn’t expected was that Reishin knew his favorite things. Even though he had thought that Reishin wouldn’t have changed. Perhaps he had also made other misreadings. Even so, Kou Reishin, who only used his power for the sake of the people he loved, could never become You Shuu’s master. That alone was certain, so You Shuu, as expected, regretted nothing.

Chronologically after the previous post.
(more…)

Takes place relatively early in the book.

(more…)

From vol 14
(more…)

As you can see, quite a few translations have been added. These were some old drafts that I had lying about but never got to posting here. I still have more, but they need to be revised and corrected. >_> If only I knew more people who had advanced Japanese skills to help me. If you know any, and they’d be willing to answer my annoying questions, feel free to send ‘em my way. Anyway, I hope to be receiving the new book within the next ten days, hopefully.

Yet another volume 14 translation. This takes place right after Ryuuki and Shuurei have that fateful conversation near the end.

(more…)

(more…)