Ōoku: The Inner Chambers, Vol. 9

大奥 [Ōoku] #9

by Fumi Yoshinaga

Yoshimune brought many changes to the inner chambers in her time as shogun, and now even after death she brings another: the men of the Inner Chambers must study Western learning and discover a cure for the Redface Pox. For if Japan can’t increase the male population, it’s only a matter of time before a foreign power discovers their secret and invades!

Genres: Manga, Historical Fiction, Graphic Novels, Comics, Historical, Japan, Alternate History

232 pages, Paperback

First published December 3, 2012

About the author

Japanese: よしなが ふみ

Fumi Yoshinaga (よしなが ふみ Yoshinaga Fumi, born 1971) is a Japanese manga artist known for her shōjo and shōnen-ai works.

Fumi Yoshinaga was born in Tokyo, Japan in 1971. She attended the prestigious Keio University in Tokyo.

In an interview, she said that "I want to show the people who didn't win, whose dreams didn't come true. It is not possible for everybody to get first prize. I want my readers to understand the happiness that people can get from trying hard, going through the process, and getting frustrated."

Little is known about her personal life. She mentions that her favourite operas are those by Mozart in the author's note of Solfege.

She debuted in 1994 with The Moon and the Sandals, serialized in Hanaoto magazine, but was previously a participant in comic markets.

Of Yoshinaga's many works, several have been licensed internationally. She was also selected and exhibited as one of the "Twenty Major Manga artist Who Contributed to the World of Shōjo Manga (World War II to Present)" for Professor Masami Toku's exhibition, "Shōjo Manga: Girl Power!" at CSU-Chico.

Outside of her work with Japanese publishers, she also self-publishes original doujinshi on a regular basis, most notably for Antique Bakery. Yoshinaga has also drawn fan parodies of Slam Dunk, Rose of Versailles, and Legend of Galactic Heroes.

Reviews

[Elizabeth A · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm in the final three installments of this manga series set in 17th century Edo, Japan, and they are getting better and better. I am so often disappointed when a series loses steam over time, but that is not the case with this one. Loved this book which is #9 in the series.

When children feel that their mother loved them unequally, there is usually trouble on the horizon, and in this volume, the anger and jealousy of one generation is passed down to the next, poisons a lovely girl, and sets some unfortunate events into motion. There is the usual intrigue, back-stabbing, and jostling for power, and these women play the game like chess masters - with long term strategies in mind. In the meanwhile, the blond haired, blue eyed giant, also known as Aonuma, has entered the inner chambers, and his mission is to teach the men about the Hollander language and medicine. But will anyone be interested in learning the foreign ways? I really liked the exploration that Aonuma spearheads in regards to the spread of infection, and how to prevent and/or stop the spread of the Redface Pox as well as other diseases that devastate the population.

All the modernization in the land is because of my two fave characters to-date: Hiraga Gennai, the cheeky and brilliant woman who everyone thinks is a man, and the lovely and formidable Tanuma Okitsugu, who has attained the highest rank of political office after the shogun herself - and you know that there are women quite unhappy about that.

I started this one last night and could not put it down until I turned the last page. There is trouble a brewing, and I am tense as I think of all the things that might go badly in the last two books of this fantastic series.

[Noel · Rating 5 out of 5]

In volume nine (actually in volume eight, but he carries over into nine), we’re introduced to a half-Dutch, half-Japanese man who has come to the Shogunate to teach Holland studies (Western medicine) in an attempt to find a cure for the Red-Faced Pox. This character is humble and wonderful, and I enjoyed everything about him. Of course, I’m sure terrible things will happen soon . . . that’s just how the cookie crumbles.

Of course, it wouldn’t be Ooku without some Political Maneuverings among members of the court. There is a very angry young woman who feels that she should be in line to rule, and that one of the Shogun’s councilors, who comes from lowly beginnings, needs to be out of the picture. This girl is a ball of darkness and hate and, frankly, I think she needs some ice cream and a boyfriend. Or a kitten. They’re interchangeable.

My other favorite character in this volume is the woman who almost everyone thinks is a man (a guise that the character intentionally cultivates). This character is hilarious, abrasive, intelligent, and all around fantastic. She clashes constantly with the man who has come to teach medicine in the Shogunate, and they’re quite fun together. She also gets herself involved, rather accidentally, in the Political Maneuverings, and I expect that unfortunate things are going to happen soon as a result.

In general, another great volume of this series. I can’t imagine it ever ending, but I’m very, very curious about how it might come to a close eventually.

[Dave Schaafsma · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is getting better and better. In this volume, two characters really emerge: Aonuma, son of a prostitute and a Dutchman, who is appointed to teach in the Ooku, and works with a growing group of people to introduce Western Medicine to try to develop a cure for the Red Pox…And also Gennai, who dresses as a man, works with Aonuma to try to figure out how to develop a cure. Gennai also happens to be one of the most beloved writers of the period… This is really heading in a very interesting direction after volumes of political intrigue and romance.

[ashes ➷]

God I was so happy to see how homo Gennai was in this one! I mentioned accidentally reading v10 before v9, and one major benefit was that I could read more about the details of Gennai being explicitly gay with other women. Awesome! Also hilarious knowing that, you know, this guy was almost certainly a cishet dude IRL, and Yoshinaga just decided to make him a he/him lesbian for swag reasons. I can’t even believe this happened. Yaoi mangaka ally actually.

[Nicolas Lontel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Les histoires de ce volume se concentrent beaucoup sur une idée de changement/transition en cours, l'ouverture du Japon aux étrangers et à la médecine hollandaise, mais aussi sur la taxation des commerçants, un personnage ouvertement trans qui est exploré beaucoup plus que dans le volume précédent, l'égalité entre les différents métiers et ordre sociaux (serviteurs, samouraï, royauté, médecins, etc.). On assiste à, ce que je peux seulement décrire en terme occidentaux, une période des Lumières à l'époque Édo.

L'optimisme général du livre est à peine voilé par un ancien ordre plus jaloux du pouvoir et envieux de vengeance que désireux de revenir à un ordre social précédent. Encore une fois, il donne l'impression que c'est un volume transitionnel entre le précédent et le suivant, tant par la mise en place des personnages, les indices des transformations à survenir, le peu de changement dans les personnages (sauf un ou deux, mais qui n'influence pas tant le reste du récit, plutôt leur propre comportement face au monde).

[Loz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Confirmed active queer rep! Still liking this series with its political machinations and chicanery. Good stuff!

[新新 Xin-Xin · Rating 4 out of 5]

忽然看到這一年多來日日耳提面命的防疫準則，果然隔離＆多洗手是不變真理，至於預防的概念果然還是一種取捨吧（意外符合時事）

[marcia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Vol. 4 ★★★☆☆
Vol. 5 ★★★☆☆
Vol. 6 ★★★☆☆
Vol. 7 ★★★☆☆
Vol. 8 ★★★☆☆

Getting attached in a series like this is a bad idea, but Hiraga Gennai is just too cool of a character. A Renaissance woman who's a total flirt? Delightful. On top of that, she has a great dynamic with Aonuma and it's fun seeing them bicker. However, as I was saying earlier, it's so obvious that something awful is about to happen so I'm just waiting for the other shoe to drop.

[Jami · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hiraga Gennai trans masculine character

[Mary]

This volume see's the passing of Ieshige, and the start of her daughter Ieharu's reign. However there is still family trouble brewing over who should be the next in line for the shogunate. Yoshimune's other granddaughters are both plotting against the current regime, and one is a pretty big bottle of darkness.

We also see the story of Aonuma, the half Dutch, half Japanese doctor, continues in the inner chambers. After a rough start, things pick up and more and more of the men begin to come for his lectures on Dutch medicine. With the help of Gennai (a woman posing as a man), it seems a solution for the red-faced pox is on the horizon. However the situation is precarious as trouble is brewing for Gennai and Okitsuga, the sponsors of Aonuma as well as the shogun herself.

Overall, this series has far exceeded my expectations. While it's really hard to keep track of who is who from volume to volume, I appreciate that the characters change frequently, as it keeps me from latching on too much to the characters. Instead I can focus more on the larger picture and bits of history.

[MasterSal · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun volume with a shift in tone for the series which I found interesting and perhaps a needed break.

The volume picks up from the last with efforts to introduce Western medicine into the Ooku and maybe find a cure for the Red Pox. There isn’t as much angst and romance as in the previous volumes - which remain more my personal taste - but the politics still continue with enough bite for me to really enjoy this.

The focus on the sciency bits 😊😊 was fun and I like the new characters who are working on a cure - Gennai and Gosaku / Aonuma especially. The tone in these sections is pretty upbeat and comedic which I enjoyed. This is the first I’ve seen the series go into overt comedy, which is quite well done.

Of course - there is still a bite here. Enough to make me sniffle at least twice. Basically just when I settled into grin then author took pains to remind me that pain and death existed. Thank you for the kick to my heart.

Excellently done - rating is reflective of my preference for the angst and politics and not a reflection of quality here which is very high. I will also add that the volume has set up future political which could have a huge pay off on the later volume. That could retroactively up my rating but let’s see

[Donna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Aonuma, a newcomer to the Inner Chambers, teaches classes on Western medicine and saves lives.

I enjoyed watching the process of people discussing disease and slowly come to the beginnings of ideas of how it is spread and what could be done to prevent it.

One of the things this mangka does so well is to make you care about characters that show up on the page for only a brief while. My head is always spinning from trying to keep track of everyone but I know in the end it will be ok because people will still make an impact. When those dreaded text boxes come up with "Two months later, (person's name) departed this world at the age of only 36" it will stab you in the heart.

[S.M.M. Lindström · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ack, the drama continue and I continue being terrible at remembering names! Again, I can't stress enough how much I recommend buying this series so you can reread parts and figure out who is who, if you like me are terrible at names.

The series has now gone a bit into medical drama, though court intrigues continue to be the main focus. I adore the character Gosaku/Aonuma for his honest dedication to medicin and helping people, and I adore Hiraga Gennai for her outspoken and carefree attitude (that will surely get her into horrible trouble). Really looking forward to reading the next volume!

[Elena Micheli · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tristissimo

[Jillian -always aspiring- · Rating 3 out of 5]

And let the backstabbing commence...

[Christine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Powering through this epic, really was quite invested in the storyline with Hiraga Gennai. Can't anyone I like in this story have a happy ending though?!?

[Noel · Rating 4 out of 5]

A bear farm!

[Eressea · Rating 5 out of 5]

時代小說裡也總是老中們互鬥
難道這就是幕藩日常?

不過我是覺得這種套路有點無聊
除非是藤澤周平我就可以XD

[Becky]

勤洗手、染病要隔離，群體免疫（？）
源內：給我一個吻

[Erika · Rating 4 out of 5]

平賀源内という名前は知ってるが、こんなに破天荒な感じだったのか。男色家で歌舞伎役者とも恋仲。(ここでは女性同士だけど)
天才肌な感じといい、レオナルドダヴィンチみたい。
面白い。
今までは将軍の政治の話が多かったが、この世代は少し様子が違うのも面白い。

[Phil · Rating 3 out of 5]

Politics and intruige abound in this gender imbalanced world.

[Skjam! · Rating 4 out of 5]

In an alternate history version of Japan, disaster strikes during the reign of Shogun Iemitsu (circa 1630). A plague that becomes known as the “red-face pox” sweeps the islands, with a fatality rate of 80% among boys and young men. Within a couple of years, the gender imbalance among the younger generation has reached crisis proportions. Less important to the people, but vital to our story, all the male heirs to the shogunate fall victim to the plague.

It is decided that the country, already turning topsy-turvy as yong women have to take up the jobs normally reserved for men, cannot be allowed to have turmoil at the top as well. Iemitsu’s daughter Chie is forced to masquerade as her father for years. After the people who originally controlled her are dead, and the country has more or less stabilized in its new male-scarce society, she reveals herself to the court. Until a male heir survives to adulthood, women using men’s names will have to fill in.

Naturally, a female shogun needs men to help her produce an heir, so handsome and/or noble fellows are brought to the Ooku, the “Inner Chambers” in a reversal of the harems of our history. Most of the story involves these men, trapped in the Shogun’s palace, and trying to find meaning in their lives.

In the volume to hand, #9, the reign of the seventh female shogun, Ieharu, begins. Ieharu realizes that the rest of the world has advanced while the Japanese hid themselves away to conceal their lack of men. Therefore, one of the men she secures for the Ooku is a half-Dutch fellow named Gosaku, who has been trained in Western medicine. He is renamed Aonuma (“blue pond”) after his eye color.

Thanks to records concealed in the Inner Chambers, Aonuma is able to piece together information about the red-face pox and its origins that have new meaning with his special training. There might even be a way to prevent it! However, prejudice against his foreign appearance and the schemes of a woman who believes that she should have been shogun instead may doom these efforts.

This series is an interesting sideways look at Japanese history–what would change if the gender roles were partially reversed, and what would stay the same? The target audience in Japan is josei (young women), so romance both fulfilled and tragic is a large part of the series. Unfortunately, so is rape, and there’s some frank depiction of prostitution, so the American edition is rated “Mature.”

The art is quite good, but often the minor characters are hard to tell apart, particularly the handsome young men of the Ooku, who tend towards same-face. The student of Japanese history will be able to spot certain character traits from clothing styles that are lost on most of us foreigners.

I’d recommend this to historical romance fans and people interested in exploring ideas about gender roles.

[Online Eccentric Librarian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ooku continues its superior storyline, now passing to the second generation (Shogun Yoshimune's granddaughters) as they weave their own political machinations. Half Dutch Aunuma and woman-disguised-as-a-man Gennai also play large parts in this volume.

The story starts out as Ieharu succeeds the Shogunate as her mother Ieshige, the idiot Shogun, passes. Menetake, the sharp second daughter of Yoshimune, raises her daughter to eventually take the position she herself failed to get when she had to watch her weaker older sister inherit. As a result, the child has grown up in harsh conditions, taking upon that privation as a mantle to her grandmother's mettle and parsimony in harder times.

Aonuma, humble son of a prostitute and Dutchman, is appointed to teach at the Inner Circle and slowly gains trust as he helps combat the unsanitary conditions at the court that lead to so many deaths each year. At the same time, he gathers proteges who attempt to find and then prevent the ravages of the devastating and male-targeting Red Poxr.

Female scholar Gennai, who dresses as a man, works with the half Dutch doctor in an attempt to help his benefactor, Lady Tanuma, in her commission to end the disease. He will make some startling conclusions that might just find a solution to the virus.

And at the heart of the converging storylines is lady Tanuma Okitsugu - appointed as chief Councillor by the Shogun herself, lending her talents and money to assist her liege in ending the red pox scourge.

All will develop powerful enemies and the specter of Shogun Yoshimune will have different affects on each of the characters.

This is another fascinating volume of separate storylines all converging on a single subject: in this case, the red pox that caused the matriarchialization of feudal japan when it killed off so many of the male population. The politics of the pox, the scholarly and empirical research, and its effects are explored from the different viewpoints in fascinating detail. With so many characters, I especially appreciate the info panels the author uses throughout.

This is the type of series that rewards with multiple readings as long term ramifications suddenly begin to materialize across generations. Intelligently written, historically fascinating, and beautifully illustrated - Ooku really is one of those rare pleasure to explore and enjoy.

Received as an ARC from the publisher.

[Arminzerella · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gosaku (who is renamed Aonuma once he is installed in the Inner Chamber), an expert in Holland medicine and language comes to offer lectures to any of the palace men who wish to learn. His reception is initially frosty, but his skills as a physician and rapport with the prince make him sought after. There are some traditionalists (a former shogun’s granddaughter in line for the throne, for instance) who do not approve of this learning or the money flowing into the palace coffers from taxing the merchant class. They feel that the current shogun and her advisor are living beyond their means and that their policies will bring poverty and dishonor to the nation. Meanwhile a study of the redface pox has commenced – some believe that it is closely linked to a disease that affects bears. Aonuma and his students begin to consider the possibility that a vaccination might be created that will inoculate young men against it.

Although this is alternative history, I wonder how much is based on fact? It is true, for instance, that Japan closed itself off from foreigners for a long time, before allowing them entry to Japan at all. Were there fears that foreigners would sense some kind of weakness? Were they trying to keep their culture pure? All of the political machinations seem bound to interfere with the scientific/medical progress that Aonuma and the others are making. It is unfortunate, because their efforts might actually eliminate the danger of the redface pox. The dissenters will only set the country back and hurt the people in the end.

[Miss Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

'pon my troth

can it be true? do mine eyes deceive me?

was there now a volume of ooku of light heart with no tragedy to be seen?

tis a miracle. a miracle i say!

though i did see ominous tidings towards this volume's end

shun them yoshinaga, i beg you. let hiraga gennai continue upon the world, a blessed grain of merriment and splendour. let tanuma remain that shining rarity, a politician working for the good of her people. let this golden age of few deaths and much character splendour amble on

at the very least let gennai have another kiss if she so desires because her reaction was cute as heck

4 stars

[Raven · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another fine installment in the genderflipped series, I'm interested to see the increasing engagement with other nations not being afflicted with the redface pox, and how the interaction between European cultures and Japan in this time period might have gone if Japan had held a major medical secret. I really love comparing what I know of Japanese history to what the series depicts, and in going back and Googling/researching I usually learn a good bit.

[meeners · Rating 4 out of 5]

two words: HIRAGA GENNAI

sugita genpaku makes an appearance, too. but the moment when ihee meets his hero in person is priceless. that one panel made me laugh for five minutes! looks like book 10 will revolve around hiraga gennai quite a lot - but when will 10 come out????? when??????????

[Jon Holt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Like volume 8, Ooku has taken a turn for the better focusing on intrigue and scientific debate instead of star-crossed lovers and romance, romance, romance. The characters have quirky personalities now, leaping off the page. Yoshinaga is truly on a roll.

[Denise みか Hutchins · Rating 5 out of 5]

This series continues to be just as engaging, dramatic, and beautiful as ever. I particularly enjoyed the healthy dose of humor that this volume delivered. I'm excited for the next book since this one ended with a bit of a cliffhanger!

[Lady Entropy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Still as awesome as the previous books, recovering some of the shine of the earlier ones. It's still massively interesting from the cultural point of view even if seen through the lens of an Alternate Universe.