Ōoku 1 and 2 by Fumi Yoshinaga – review

When I first stumbled upon Ōoku in the bookstore, I didn’t know what it was. I didn’t connect Fumi Yoshinaga’s name with Antique Bakery (though I should have, as she’s the manga-ka of both series), and I wasn’t clear on what the story was about (a hazard when the bookstore places a manga in the “adult” section, seemingly at random). Were I not browsing outside of my usual genre aisles, I never would have found it, and I never would have picked it up except for an interesting review I read about it at the Internet Review of Science Fiction.

In retrospect, I’m glad that I went back for the first two volumes. Ōoku is a fascinating alternate history that postulates an enormous cultural change in Edo period Japan. I’ve not read anything quite like it, but then I haven’t delved very deeply into the alternate history subgenre. If I were only allowed one example, however, this is the one I would want.

During the reign of the Tokugawa, a disease sweeps through Japan, killing off many of the young men in the country. This sickness, which becomes known as the Redface pox, persists for several years and, eventually, there are not enough men left to see to all of the day-to-day business. As a result, the responsibility of running the country, from the tilling of the fields to the position of Shogun, has fallen to the women. Men are now viewed as precious life-givers; only women with money and good families are able to afford a bridegroom. Others must seek men in the pleasure districts or, otherwise, find someone willing to receive payment in order to entertain the possibility of childbearing. However, in the Inner Chambers of the Shogun’s palace, men are kept on retainer merely to serve their leader’s whim.

The stories in volumes one and two are both told from male perspectives (although, the last quarter of volume one is from the perspective of the new female Shogun). In volume one this is useful for establishing the rules of the Ōoku and for introducing the reader to the “present day” situation. Volume two follows with the story of how the male shogun was succeeded by a woman and explains the origins of several customs mentioned in volume one, such as the “secret swain” and why any cat in the palace is referred to as “right honorable cat.” The reader is also introduced to Kasuga and O-Man, two historical individuals who are referenced repeatedly in volume one.

The male characters in these volumes are interesting because they each have their own ambitions (or lack of ambitions) regarding the Ōoku. Naturally, Mizuno and O-Man are the most well-rendered (as they are the main characters), but secondary characters such as Sir Fujinami and Sugishita have qualities that make them stand out, as well.

However, my favorite characters in these two volumes are Shogun Tokugawa Yoshimune and her councilor Hisamichi. Yoshimune is different from the Shoguns before her in that she does not believe in excess. She was previously the provincial lord of Kii, where she kept a very keen eye on matters of finance. She does the same in the palace (as coffers are low and expenses should be kept to a minimum). She dismisses one of her privy councilors, claiming that she commissioned expensive clothing for Yoshimune against her wishes (though this is merely an excuse, as she had planned to dismiss all of her privy councilors, anyway). She also takes a hatchet to the Inner Chambers—she dismisses all of the attractive young men under thirty on the basis that they will find good opportunities for good lives outside of the Ōoku and help to create more children. Keeping them in the palace, in her opinion, is a waste. Then there’s her unexpectedly lusty side, which I found quite hilarious.

Her ever-smiling councilor, Hisamichi, seems to be a plump, benign, middle-aged woman; however, she is, in fact, quite shrewd. In the occasional battle of wits against the senior chamberlain, Sir Fujinami, she always wins. She has the cleverest ways of putting Fujinami in his place using near-invisible threats to his office.

In some ways I feel like the female characters are more vivid than the males who reside in the Ōoku, and I can’t help but wonder if this is intentional—which isn’t to say that the male characters are uninteresting in the least, or that their stories are less engaging. I merely feel, at times, as if they’re window dressing, and I’m curious as to how this might compare to stories featuring women in the same position. It would take some reading and analysis on my part, and there’s always the possibility that future volumes of the story will make me feel differently. I suppose I’ll have to wait and see how the stories are carried out for each new focus, and whether it will be a new man trotted out every time, or whether there will be variation.

At the end of volume one, Yoshimune visits the palace scribe and asks to see the historical scrolls commissioned by the Reverend Kasuga (on the cover of volume two, this history is entitled Chronicle of the Dying Day). She desires to know why it is that, when a woman comes to power, she takes a man’s name. She also wishes to know why her face is always hidden when foreigners visit (and she has noticed that foreigners never bring women with them on their trips overseas…). All of these questions form the foundations for volume two, which picks up with this history.

Overall I highly recommend this manga. The individual storylines are both entertaining and, at times, intensely moving (I’ll admit to getting teary-eyed more than once), and the greater arc promises to be epic. I’m particularly interested in how the knowledge from the scrolls will affect Yoshimune, and what she will do with it once she has it. The questions raised by this story are thoughtful and, for that matter, should be asked. While it might not be especially probable for a disease to target only men, it’s not distinctly impossible. I think that this is what makes the themes in Ōoku so affecting—it’s not completely out of the realm of possibility.

The third and fourth volumes of Ōoku are slated for release on April 20th and August 17th.

About C.N. Rivera

C.N. Rivera is a science fiction/fantasy book junkie with manga leanings. In addition to her contributions at BSCreview, she also runs The Reader Eclectic book review blog.