Ôoku: The Inner Chambers, Vol. 4

大奥 [Ōoku] #4

by Fumi Yoshinaga

Despite Iemitsu and Arikoto's best efforts, there is no male heir to take over the shogunate. As the Redface Pox continues to ravage the country, it becomes increasingly clear within Edo Castle that Japan's continued existence relies on overturning the centuries of custom that define it!

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

232 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 24, 2008

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

[Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Shōgun come and go in quick succession. Young men become middle-aged.

Ieyasu is gone. Her daughter Ietsuna succeeds her, and not long thereafter, Ietsuna's half-sister (probably) Tsunayoshi is now the shōgun.

If I thought it was hard to keep track of everyone before, phew, I had no idea what was coming! Tsunayoshi's reign has taken the latter half of this volume, and I still think things are going a little too fast. Even though I'm not particularly attached to her, her interactions with Emonnosuke should be entertaining.

[Fulya · Rating 3 out of 5]

Yemin ediyorum Shogunlardan da lordlardan da feodal rejimden de hepsinden de tiksindim. Bütün güç tek bir kişinin eline geçince ve o kişi de adil olmayınca koca bir ülke acı çekiyor. Bu sayıdaki iki kadın Shogundan da illallah dedik Japon halkı ve ben. Doğru dürüst Iemitsu Reis de yoktu, sadece meh diyebiliyorum.

[Elizabeth A · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dynasties move forward with different figure heads, and usually we die before we have to contend with more than a couple of rulers. That is not the case with this series. You know how you get attached to particular characters in a story, and then they get old, or die, and the world continues to turn while you are still gasping for air? That's how I felt during this one. So much happens, and clearly this is a transitional novel in the story arc, so people come and go at a neck snapping pace.

There are really several story lines that play out in this manga series. There is what happens in the Inner Chamber with the Shogun, her concubines, and all the gossipy men. Then there is what happens in Edo and the rest of Japan during the time of the Redface Pox. And, finally, there is the exploration of how society changes as women are now widely acknowledged as heads of family. Absolutely fascinating.

But that is not to say that I don't have my gripes. There are so many people in this series, and because the art makes many of the key characters look alike, it is sometimes hard to keep track of them. The formal way of speaking continues to annoy me, but in spite of all that, I continue to love this series, and cannot wait to see what happens next.

[Rachel (Kalanadi) · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[Arminzerella · Rating 3 out of 5]

When Iemitsu dies at an early age, Akimoto becomes her daughter’s caregiver. Inevitably, she falls in love with him and will take no other suitors. Akimoto decides that it is time for him to retire, and he leaves his position (which then remains vacant for many years). A succession of female shoguns follows – some are better rulers than others. There is some dissent – particularly among men (lords and samurai) – about the changes that have put so many women in positions of power, but gradually, people accept their new roles and many forget how things were, or are too young to remember them being any different. Volume 4 follows the shogunate up through Tsunayoshi, who seems intelligent enough, but also uses her power to do what she pleases without regard to the consequences of her actions (i.e. take another woman’s husband as her lover, destroying their family bit by bit). This ends with her taking an enigmatic and charismatic young man (of 34) into her house to assume Akimoto’s old position. He bears a resemblance to his predecessor, and has his own personal agenda (to which we are not yet privy).

[Sharon · Rating 4 out of 5]

CW: sexual violence, sexual assault, pandemic/epidemic, fire

Everything I was missing in the previous volume, I got out of this one! Now that we're in the second generation post disaster the women of the noble families and the shogunate are finally starting to take charge.
I think this is an important series to make some real commentary on the way we view gendered roles of leadership. And traits that a man might have that are lauded in a leader could be disliked in a woman or vice versa.

[Cameron Sant · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m also reading the series Crossplay Love right now (two series that could not be more different lol) but 12 volumes in, Crossplay Love has had to stall significantly in order to stretch itself so thin, whether that be by giving too much time to side characters and side plots or by teasing the audience with extremely small progressions. (Though I did enjoy volume 12! This trend was really felt with 11...)

But because Ooku is willing to span generations, it can both be long-running and it can get to the point! There’s an urgency to the series because death can be around the corner for anyone. Coming into contact with the shogun and the inner chambers is the most important moment of someone’s life. We know these events are important not just because of the stakes but because when they’re not, the series is happy to skip forward years or even a generation.

Maybe I shouldn’t compliment this series too much on how it manages a long run at only volume four… Certainly I can imagine getting tired of characters being retired and being introduced to new ones… but it hasn’t happened yet!

Also, is Shogun Tsunayoshi evil? Yes. Am I rooting for her? Also yes.

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

This volume continues with the story of Iemitsu's daughter, Ietsuna and then her successor Tsunayosi. We get to see the passing of the senior chamberlain from Arikoto to a new upstart who managed to sneak in unexpectedly. Clever and interesting twist...

It's interesting to see the story continue across generations, and to see the societal changes as the pox continues to linger. It's interesting that it's not really a role-reversal between men and women, it's more women doing everything while men are kept as pampered prizes. The work women did, they still do, plus the work the men did as well. An interesting twist indeed...

[Rosa · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am still enjoying the story as it continues to progress through the history of the female shogunate. I love the attention to detail in the artwork but I have to admit that it seems to be more in clothing and backgrounds then in the characters themselves. I found myself having trouble keeping some characters straight because they looked so similar.

[Loz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Political machinations and intrigue of the highest caliber - with cruelty and blood frequently flowing. I adore this series. Art is amazing, story is engaging on so many levels.

[Avasa Sarawan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I would have given this 3.5/5 but I cannot. Volume 4 of Ooku continues the story following the death of the royal advisor to the shogun. Shortly after the shogun herself Iemitsu dies leaving behind Arikoto (Myokei) to raise her daughter. At this point in the story, pretty much everyone in Japan is like yeah we kinda don't have any men anymore so ig it's fine to have women as heads of households and states. So pretty much just like women were able to be better recognized as temporary shoguns. Arikoto who had taken it upon himself to raise the living standards in the chambers gets a formal role of chamberlain to do so. Iemitsu's daughter Ieyasu didn't really live up to the legacy left behind by her mother but she did have a soft spot and was able to help the poor a little. Anyhow, once Ieyasu reaches the age of maturity the main point on the royal agenda was to have her produce an heir. For the most part (since she was 14), she didn't really care about all of that so she never paid much mind to her harem of men. Though, she was much more fascinated in learning from her guardian Arikoto about poetry and history. However, she so became too fond of Arikoto and wanted him as a concubine instead of her appointed harem. While all this was happening, neighbouring colonies were plotting on how to overthrow Ieyasu cause they were not happy with how things were going and still believed that women lacked the better judgement necessary to be a shogun. Thus, they set the entire city(?) of Edo ablaze. Luckily Ieyasu, and most of her royal advisors survived. However, this really threw the royal budget for a whirlwind as they would have to almost immediately abandon all the niceities that they once enjoyed to help rebuild the city. Arikoto was not gonna catch a case or live in anything less than luxury so he flipped his whole world view in a snap and returned to buddhist priest life. Ieyasu passed without so much as finding true love or bearing an heir. Thus, her half-sister (Yoshitsuna) rose to power. Although Ieyasu was considered incompetent the rule of Yoshitsuna makes it look like Ieyasu had brought Edo into wealth. Indeed, Yoshitsuna really won the idgaf wars and was really focused on men (smh). Much like her half-sister she preferred older men and didn't care who or how many homes she was wrecking. Important to note that Yoshitsuna couldn't have anyone in her harem that was older than 35 so she had to go outside to meet her needs. Anyhow, Yoshitsuna is quite the intellectual but for all that she learns she remains quite materialistic and a bit ignorant to the needs of others. Her royal advisors secretly plot to find the perfect man so she can settle down and focus on her duties as shogun rather than chasing dudes. The guy they find (Emonnosuke) seems to fit the criteria as he is handsome, and very smart so the royal advisors are like ok ez work. Emonnosuke seems to fit in quite well and even catches the eye of the shogun. However Yoshitsuna realizes that he's 35 and therefore too old to be in her harem. Before her royal advisors even get the chance to talk to her, she appoints Emonnosuke as chamberlain which was a role left empty by Arikoto's departure. At the end of the volume Emonnosuke reveals that he wasn't all that interested in the shogun but rather the role of chamberlain.

I'm excited to see what he actually does as chamberlain next volume but this volume felt a bit rushed but it was still good nonetheless.

[marcia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Vol. 1 ★★★★☆
Vol. 2 ★★★★☆
Vol. 3 ★★★☆☆

With this volume, Fumi Yoshinaga wraps up Iemitsu and Arikoto's story and moves on to a new arc. Tsunayoshi and Emonnosuke are shaping up to be a case of terrible people doing terrible things together, which should be a fun change of pace. My gripe with this volume is that I have trouble keep track of all the characters. To make matters worse, a lot of them look alike.

[Jill · Rating 5 out of 5]

A lot happened in this volume. We go through a lot of time and different rules. I’m excited to see if the next volume is the same or something different.

[MasterSal · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was the first volume which was not a reread for me so this took me a little longer and more focus than the previous volume.

This volume covers the death of Iemitsu and the transfer of power to the future generations of female Shoguns as they internalize the reversed gender power structure in Japan following the pox.

The first half of the manga which dealt with Iemitsu broke my heart. I loved her as a character - the mix of shrewd political acumen combined with her love for Arikoto - excellent use of the medium and excellent storytelling. The author managed to blend traditional femininity with the power of being an absolute ruler quite well with her character.

And frankly Arikoto is an excellent character in his own right - grace and compassion and genuine pathos. I would read the volume again just for him. His grief and love for Iemistu was so well done that even now remembering the section makes me tear up.

The artwork really captured some of the emotional beats here without dialogue - excellent excellent work. Some of my favourites in the volume were these silent panels or with minimal dialogue. For example, when Arikoto puts lipstick on Iemitsu when she was dying, it was beautiful.

But we don't wallow in the death of my favourite character for too long. The author keeps us rushing through history. We follow the 4th and 5th Shogun in quick succession in this volume showing us the political scope of the series. I can’t say I loved the 4th Shogun as a character but I wasn’t meant to I think. The author is showing us the history of Japan through the Ooku so some periods are short and others get more focused attention - depending on the significance of the Shogun in question.

We also get little epilogues for our characters - such as Arikoto - which gives the volume this poignancy which I appreciated. We know these characters live on and die and getting that glimpse touched me.

The difference between the Shoguns is also clearly shown which keeps the book interesting. The 3rd was crafty and dedicated, her daughter (4th) was sweet and ineffectual while the 5th came across as sybaritic and kind of carelessly cruel. I think the volume made it clear that she wasn’t evil - she loves her daughter and her father as an example - except that she has so much power that she is careless with it - she can’t comprehend the negative impact she had on people. The older baron’s husband that she had her eyes on - that was so careless that it sent chills down my spine.

The gender reversal is now complete - and power is power - it corrupts. And we end the volume with the set up for more politics coming up.

I’d rate this as 5 stars I think. I was going to ding it for the second half but honestly, I still remember some of the panels clearly a month later. And that first half - still makes me cry. So I need to give credit to the volume.

[Nicolas Lontel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ce quatrième tome est beaucoup plus rapide dans son rythme, on passe quand même sur près de trois générations de Shogun dans ce seul volume, beaucoup de nouveaux personnages, plusieurs départs et même si je viens juste de finir le tome 3, j'ai un peu du mal avec qui est qui.

Ce tome se concentre beaucoup plus sur les intrigues politiques au sein du pavillon, les dynamiques de pouvoir, les rôles à jouer pour obtenir se dernier. Yoshinaga contraste un maximum les trois Shogun afin d'en refléter divers philosophies et manière de régner. On semble aussi s'approcher beaucoup plus d'un suivi historique de notre monde (ou à tout le moins, on trace des parallèles), avec de nombreuses allusions à ce qui se passe à l'extérieur du monde, mais je dois avouer mon ignorance totale de ces derniers.

Les styles très utilisés de la mode et des fleurs reviennent dans ce tome après s'être éclipsés dans le dernier à mon avis. On recommence à bien explorer cette "inversion" des rôles genrés, notamment en ce qui à trait au "gossip", à la rumeur et au complot. Un des chapitres s'attardent à un groupe d'hommes qui tentent de reprendre le pouvoir qu'ils ont "perdu" au profit des femmes ce qui donne une exploration certainement intéressante de cette "résistance" à la prise en charge des femmes.

Finalement, et peut-être de manière légèrement moins appuyés que le tome 3, on poursuit l'exploration des réformes législatives nécessaires pour que la société fonctionne et on explore un peu comment les classes sociales sont reconstruites.

Un bon tome, dans l'esprit des deux premiers, mais avec la vitesse du troisième. J'espère sincèrement qu'on va ralentir bientôt pour se concentrer sur des personnages de nouveau (mais ça, c'est mon souhait et mon intérêt, l'autrice fera bien ce qu'elle veut).

[L.G. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rating: 4 stars

This Volume contains Chapters 15-18 and continues the backstory begun in Volume 2.

In Edo period Japan, a strange new disease called the Red Pox has begun to prey on the country’s men. When the last Shogan of the Tokugawa line (Lord Iemitsu) dies of the disease, his only child (Chie - a young girl) is forced to secretly replace him (taking his name and disguising herself as a male). The plan is for Lady Chie to bear a male heir and secure the succession. The lies must be kept secret, on pain of death, to protect the country from both domestic and foreign conflict.

In the 4th volume, there is still no male Tokugawa heir. Female heirs continue to become Shogun, but this is no longer a secret. Many of the noble families have females in power.

[ashes ➷]

I've critiqued Yoshinaga's simplistic appeal to "ugliness" to sell her evil characters, but I'm changing my tune this book: I LOVE how Tsunayoshi looks. It's, first off, extremely difficult to keep such a large cast of characters so visually distinct, but second of all I love how neatly her looks match her personality. She's immediately unique and she has these wonderful sleepy eyes and a pouty mouth, which really does make her look as bored and uncaring and kind of evil as she is. I love her! I love that she stole that woman's husband. She is completely shameless and it's fantastic.

[Ilana (illi69) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Maybe this volume was more a 3.5 for me, simply because I lost track of the various titles of rank and nobility and couldn’t quite make out the political intrigues. But in the end it doesn’t quite matter because the intrigues in several successive female Shoguns’s bedrooms and their Pavillon of Men during this alternative history Edo period, when a pox left very few men alive and women ruled the heads of families and the nation of Japan as a whole, is plenty enough to make this series interesting for me to continue for several volumes and female Shoguns (and male concubines) to come.

[Stephany · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really would like to go back to the present. To show the history of who created the inner chambers and why made sense to me but why are we going through every single reign of every Shogūn since then? Especially since the only one who lived through all these generations isn't even the main character and barely mentioned since Kasuga's death. It doesn't make sense to me yet. Hopefully that will either change in the next volumes or they just go back to the present of Yoshimune from the beginning.

[Ebbie · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5

This one finishes setting the base of the political and societal change of Japan after the whole male population issue + the imperial succession. It was already implanted in the previous one, but we see how it's getting more "set in stone", not as a temporary measure, but more of a new normal from now on.

There's some inner chamber politics stuff toward the 2nd half (though not as much as we were used to), while the first half is more light on that front.

I wouldn't say this volume was more heavy than the previous one, I don't think it is exactly, but I felt figuratively out of breath while reading it, now and then checking how many pages I still had to go through. I think it suffered from lack of spaces where you get a little bit of comedic relief or something.

In a way, this volume feels a little "in between"-ish, as it close things started previously and set stuff for futher volume. The things that start and end in this volume feel a little unconsequentials.

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

The drama and intrigue continues! This being part 4 of a series with a lot of characters that keep aging and changing, there's no way to review this without explaining the previous 3 books. All I can say is that it goes deeper into the events that has shaped this alternate version of Japan. Really loving it, need the next book a-sap!

[Cate · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didnt expect to still be reading the history of the plague and it's effects; after the first novel being current and the second going back to the beginning. It sped up a bit here, but I dont feel like I need to know whom the shogun favored etc. I dont think it's important to the story once the ground work was laid.

[Piyali Mukherjee · Rating 3 out of 5]

A lot of the characters resemble each other

In driving home the point of similarity, a lot of the characters resemble each other. Furthermore the name and address of the Shogun and the barons change often. The text remains a bit difficult to read as always and "I like it not" but it would be helpful to see how the subsidiary roles of power play out.

[Dora · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just finished watching the anime and I NEED to know what happens next! I'm especially curious about the present shogun who decided to find out about the past... Hopefully the manga goes back to that plot line soon 🙂

[Babie Fats · Rating 4 out of 5]

This had me clutching my pearls!

I am loving the way the story moves through each shogun. I’m not usually someone interested in politics but this one has me HOOKED

While I thought Arikoto was my favorite character, I am so interested in Emonnosuke

[Rafael Suleiman · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very good graphic novel depicting the life of the nobility in Japan.

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

The politics in this series are very interesting.

[ಥ_ಥ · Rating 2 out of 5]

I can't place a reason why but I was really bored with this volume and thought about DNFing. It wasn't bad, the others were just so good.


Newts. Under 300 pages.

[Sue Chant · Rating 3 out of 5]

Think I've had enough of this series for now - this one seemed to be re-treading old ground.

[Marc · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5*
L’histoire reste bien mais je trouve que globalement ça tourne en rond même si l’autrice arrive à nous surprendre avec certains retournements de situation.