July 18, 2013

Tonan no Tsubasa (39)

When Shushou says, "But those aren't real towns. They don't have a riboku," she is commenting on the etymology of riboku (里木), which means "a village with a tree."

The term "koushu no tami" (黄朱の民) is explained at the end of chapter 15.

In chapter 44 of A Thousand Leagues of Wind, Enho tells Youko that emperors can't have children. (He also explains the 100 percent inheritance tax, though people like Shushou's father have figured out a big loophole.) And yet Gankyuu says the Imperial riboku can bear the emperor's child.

Googling around, I found a couple of Japanese message boards where the same question was raised, though nobody could offer a satisfactory explanation other than editorial error. Or Gankyuu is simply misinformed.

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Comments
# posted by Anonymous Anonymous
7/18/2013 10:00 PM   
Does it specify whether or not the emperor can have more children after already having children? (then in that case it might be plausible)

Also. Thanks for the translations! I look forward to them every week!
# posted by Blogger Damien Sullivan
7/19/2013 9:12 AM   
Enho says an emperor's marriage is dissolve on ascension. And you have to be married to have children.

"Gankyuu doesn't actually know how imperial affairs work" seems a likely fix to me. Why would he? I think we've had other instances of commoner ignorance of elite knowledge, too.
# posted by Anonymous Anonymous
7/19/2013 12:08 PM   
Hi! Thank you so much for your translations.
I don't know if you've already said this or not, but after you finish translating Tonan no Tsubasa, will you be making it downloadable? It would be really great if you did.
Thanks again!
# posted by Blogger Eugene
7/20/2013 9:19 AM   
It's on my to-do list.