Ōoku: The Inner Chambers, Vol. 16

大奥 [Ōoku] #16

by Fumi Yoshinaga

Young Iemochi’s new consort harbors a secret so scandalous that the shogunate must become involved in the deception or risk a further erosion of power. And with the dual threats of foreign incursion and imperial obstruction, Iemochi and her closest advisers have no choice but to play the dangerous new game set before them.

Genres: Manga, Historical Fiction, Historical, Comics, Graphic Novels, Japan, Japanese Literature

230 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2018

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

[Dave Schaafsma · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don’t seem to be able to convince many people that this manga series would be interesting, but I think it is an historic accomplishment in manga/comics, for sure. A multi-volume alt-history of the Edo period of Japan, presuming a plague had eliminated most of the male population for centuries, enabling women to be in power, men to be assigned to the Inner Chambers (or harem), where men instead of women become the economic force in sexual economics. So it’s a history acknowledging sexual--including homosexual--relations as part of daily life, surely unlike anyone’s high school history book. So it could be described as a “queering” history series, asking the question of how the world might be different if women were in power instead of men (though the answers are complicated), and if history were seen through the lens of gender/sexuality and power.

So in this book as throughout the series, there are two levels of action, or storylines: inner Chamber politics and national/international politics, as the Red Pox plague has ended and men begin to assume power again. Young Shogun Iemochi gains a new prince, Prince Kazu, though she is actually female, and disabled (as her brother, Kazu, is, so disability gets brought into the picture. Iemochi is actually happy to have a sister, though this all has to be a secret.

The national and international politics--the struggle for Japan to enter the larger world, the development of the military and material means--is probably going to be more interesting to students of Japanese history, and some of the political moves are a bit of a slog (to an outsider, at least!), but the threats to the shogunate from imperial obstruction and foreign invasion are interesting, in general. And the Eisner-award-winning art remains stunning. And my earlier complaints about the clunky translation are no longer an issue. Not my favorite entry, but I like the way the inner chamber sexual politics--how does the (male) inner chamber make a little extra money on the side? By sneaking in rich women to their beds; Prince Kazu as a woman--spices things up along the way.

[Eressea · Rating 5 out of 5]

巧妙的把史實和性轉嵌在一起
鎖國的理由變成男人太少怕被侵略
這理由很合理XD
不過在幾個關鍵史實上
為了不突破歷史之壁，仍然沒有性轉
尤其到我相對熟悉的幕末更是如此

該來惡補江戶史了嗎?
尖端先出17集電子書吧!!

[Nicolas Lontel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Un volume beaucoup moins chargé que les autres, passé la révélation sur laquelle nous a laissé le dernier tome, peu de chose se passent: la personne qui a pris la place du prince reste et n'est jamais même près d'être découverte par le reste du monde, l'empereur prend de plus en plus de place et la shōgun n'a d'autre choix que de faire quelques concessions, les finances sont très basses: d'autres compromis doivent être effectuées et finalement, les étrangers prennent de plus en plus de place dans la diplomatie et les règles internes japonaises et le shogunat n'a d'autre choix que d'accepter tranquillement ces changements en attendant de pouvoir concurrencer les gouvernements étrangers en terme de technologie. Il y a de nombreux autres exemples de compromis qui sont montré dans ce volume, je m'en tiendrais là.

Je soulignerais simplement que le modèle de gouvernance de la shōgun est celui du compromis, de la conciliation (on l'auras deviné à mon paragraphe précédent), de donner ce que les gens demandent même si c'est à son désavantage, mais de quand même essayer de prendre les devant et d'en assumer la responsabilité et l'idée (bref, aussi de bien paraître auprès de tout le monde pour créer des liens positifs et se bâtir une belle réputation).

Ce n'est pas un volume de "filling", mais un peu de la politique de tous les jours et des propositions de résolution de conflits qui ne passent pas par la violence, le scandale, l'assassinat, etc. et qui prend en considération plusieurs points de vue dans son établissement. C'est intéressant comme projet politique, ça fait changement, mais malheureusement, au niveau narratif, ça laisse un peu sa marque.

[Miss Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

shogun iemochi's really out here demonstrating the power of kindness daily. hope she survives all the Politics™ happening as we come on the meiji restoration!

3.5 stars

[Online Eccentric Librarian · Rating 5 out of 5]

More reviews (and no fluff) on the blog http://surrealtalvi.wordpress.com/

As the series winds up to the Meiji Restoration, I am still struck by how creative and imaginative Fumi Yoshinaga has been in this unique retelling of Japanese history. For those who don't know the key events in Japan from the 1600s to 1900, a quick wikipedia search to flesh out the facts and then compare them to this fascinating series is an easy and rewarding task. What started as a clever concept - that a plague wiped out the male population in Japan and women ruled through the centuries - became an engrossing retake, leaving so much of the historical facts intact but with fascinating new reasons why history played out as it did.

Story: The Shogunate is failing. It has money but is rapidly losing influence among a wave of renewed Imperialist support. But the arranged marriage between the Shogun and Prince Kazu ended disastrously; the prince hanged himself and was replaced by his sister in disguise. Faced with this, the young Shogun and her father, Tensho-Shi, have welcomed the 'prince' with their usual kindness and thoughfulness. But the 'prince' (Princess Chikako) and her Kyoto staff disdain the Shogunate and there are also renewed calls to remove the foreign 'Barbarians' immediately.

As with the previous books, there are two storylines here: the Inner Chambers politics and then the politics affecting the country at large. For volume 16, it is about how young and gentle Shogun Iemochi is actually happy the new prince is a female and someone she can look on as a sister. The 'Prince', however, is not as convinced and will take some warming up to by Iemochi. There are amusing scenes as Iomochi wins over Chikako but her father, Tensho-Shi, manages to do the exact worse thing in his attempts at conciliation.

Meanwhile, the Shogunate is wealthy and has the best navy/army but not the favor of the people. Various regions are starting to openly favor the royal court in Kyoto over the Edo (Tokyo) Shogunate rule. Iomochi is forced to make conciliatory moves, including appointing a Satsuma lord as her 'guardian.' At the same time, dislike of the British (barbarians) is at an all-time high but many recognize that Japan gains more from opening up to trade rather than attempting to expel the foreigners and risk war against a superior navy.

Iomochi and her father show their gentle natures here and this is such a clever way to explain why the Shogunate would eventually fall in the face of a rapidly changing Japan. It's all leading up to the Meiji Restoration which will likely end the series. Reviewed from an advance reader copy provided by the publisher.

[ashes ➷]

Critique of the volume: what really got me through this one was the possibility of lesbianism, and, of course, there was absolutely none to be found. Outside of the fact that this would have been a great opportunity to write a major lesbian character (and who knows maybe Iemochi or Chikako will still turn out to be a lesbian!), it's maddening how Yoshinaga writes about the men of the inner chambers doing whatever with each other because, you know, when there are no women around even a man will do, but this never happens with the women... even in the case of two women who like each other, at this point, who are literally accidentally-gay-married as the shogun refuses concubines because she doesn't want to get pregnant. It's one of those cases where you could certainly make arguments for these things being in character, but it doesn't feel like the series is doing that as opposed to just making assumptions.

But hey! Of course I wanted lesbians. It still drove me to finish an entire volume after this in one night to see if maybe THAT one would have lesbians. I rather like Kazu, simplistic as she is, and I'll hang on to see her... hopefully... find a little happiness...

Anyway hello to the Meiji Restoration, sort of. I ought to note once again that I'm really just gliding along in this manga ostensibly about new perspectives on Japanese history, and I know essentially nothing about Japanese history (OPEN. THE COUNTRY. STOP. HAVINGITBECLOSED), so I keep focusing on things like "does the characters is lesbians" rather than the plot. It's really incredible to watch Yoshinaga adapt history in this way and it's making me more interested in other alt-history narratives!

[marcia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Vol. 11 ★★★★☆
Vol. 12 ★★★★★
Vol. 13 ★★★★★
Vol. 14 ★★★★☆
Vol. 15 ★★★★☆

Doesn't reaches the high highs of previous volumes. Instead, it's about the steady decline of the Tokugawa shogunate and how Japan has little chance of shutting itself away from the rest of the world. That said, Prince Kazu's backstory did get to me. The lengths she has gone just for some affection from her mother breaks my heart.

[MasterSal · Rating 3 out of 5]

Brief review follows (as I really need to get through my reviews):

Picked up the volume after a long break with the series - unfortunately I think the break was a little too long as I didn’t really remember the characters or was too invested in their stories.

This was a pretty quiet volume showing the Shogunate in decline. In that respect it was well done. However there weren’t many high-highs with the book. It was overall a bit disjointed as a read for me - mostly because I was not invested in the volume. So probably on me but overall 3 stars.

It’s not a bad rating but a low for the series for me.

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

With the shogun's consort revealed to not be who 'he' claimed to be, the shogunate is in more turmoil than ever. The tension between shogun and emperor is reaching its limit.

What a cliffhanger to end on! Hope I get to find out what happens next (and yes, it is very very tricky to review part 16 of a story without spoling too much and I really should be in bed, so that's all I've got for now.) Still rec this series!

[Erika · Rating 4 out of 5]

この表紙の不気味な人物は誰かと思ってたが、なるほど納得。
家茂と和宮が歴史上で人気という事もコメント欄を見て知った。
その人気コンビ（？）をこういう形で結束させるとは、やはり作者は凄い。
この二人の仲が良くなっていくのを見るのが楽しい。

（つい一昨日、はやりものには疎い母に「大奥って漫画��ってる？」と聞かれて、今年NHKが映像化したことを知った。予告では男性の着る裃が色鮮やかなのが印象的だったらしい。
［１話＋予告：https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTvEK...］
［見どころ紹介：https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jP4rt...］
2003年版は、水野役がジャニーズで微妙だったので観てない。NHKなら質が高そう！
だからLine漫画も全話無料にしてくれてるんだろうか。）

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

As I've learned to expect this latest volume delivers nicely on the promise of interest and intrigue. It's interesting to watch what everyone is expecting to be the end of the series approach, as we get nearer to the Meji Restoration. I'm still extremely impressed by the series as a whole, and looking forward to the next volume.

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

Enjoyable

As a larper, I rather enjoy this story. Honor, decent, planning. While I dont fully know all the workings of Japanese culture, it is easy to follow this flow and why one does what they do in the tale. Very enjoyable but may have to read through a few times to catch everything

[Loz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Still really enjoy this series. The political machinations never end. Clear, clean art. This volume was interesting in some character development ways.

[Becky]

喜歡渴求母愛這個動機

[Phil · Rating 3 out of 5]

Uh oh, gender impostering has its issues!