Phoenix, Vol. 10: Sun, Part 1

火の鳥 [Hi no Tori] #10

by Osamu Tezuka

Considered by many the peak of Osamu Tezuka's artistic achievement and called his "life work" by the author, PHOENIX is made up 12 complex stories linked by the presence of the mythical bird, an immortal guarden of the universal life force. Read in order, the separate stories jump across time, alternating between a distant future and a distant past, converging on the present, with characters from one story being reincarnated in another. The 12 stories over 3000 pages.

Sun:

In A.D. 663 a soldier named Harima is punished by being given the visage of a wolf. Rescued by a mysterious old woman, he is tormented by nightmares and gradually senses the spirit of Bando Suguru, a 21st century agent who fights on behalf of banished humans.

Sun is the longest chapter in the Phoenix series, and its structure is threefold. Harima's story in 7th century Japan interweaves with that taking place in the 21st century, while another tale of a spiritual battle bridges both past and future.

Genres: Manga, Comics, Fantasy, Graphic Novels, Fiction, Science Fiction, Japan

344 pages, Paperback

First published May 13, 2014

About the author

Dr. Osamu Tezuka (手塚治虫) was a Japanese manga artist, animator, producer and medical doctor, although he never practiced medicine. Born in Osaka Prefecture, he is best known as the creator of Astro Boy and Kimba the White Lion. He is often credited as the "Father of Anime", and is often considered the Japanese equivalent to Walt Disney, who served as a major inspiration during his formative years. His prolific output, pioneering techniques, and innovative redefinitions of genres earned him such titles as "the father of manga" and "the God of Manga."

Reviews

[Drew Canole · Rating 4 out of 5]

The start of a two-part epic of nearly 800 pages, easily the longest single story in the Phoenix saga and the final one completed before Tezuka's death. It's kind of cheating though, in other volumes the future and the past are two different stories. Here the two stories are told alongside each other and come together in a very satisfying way in the end.

Written from 1986-1988

Tezuka writes that perhaps in the future as we explore the universe, people will create new beliefs and bring those back to Earth. There it will challenge our long held Earth-bound beliefs which could create conflict. This is sort of what happens in Sun (Future) and what did happen when the foreign religion of Buddhism was first introduced to Japan.

Sun (Past)
So we get the past story set in 663-672 AD. After the defeat of the Japan-Kudara alliance at Hakusukinoe and Japan's retreat from the Korean peninsulla - Japan has an internal struggle for the throne. Tezuka posits his theory about the civil unrest - being caused by the Emperor forcing people to convert to Buddhism and throwaway their local spiritual traditions.

Sun (Future)
In the distant future of 2008! The world is has a new global religion called Light and non-believers are called "shadows" and are forced to live underground.


A young man (Harima, but he gets more names as the story goes on) is about to be sacrificed to celebrate the Tang Empire (China)'s great victory... but the General demanded exactly 500 heads and his would be 501. He's from the Clan of Buyeo Pung (ruler of the Baekje Kingdom [South-western Korea]) who joined up with the Wa (Japanese). The commander decides that since he can't cut his head off he insteads skins the boys face and sticks a wolf head on him leaving for dead. But Harima doesn't die. Under a crescent moon he wakes up with the wolf head fused to his head. As if he'd changed from human to wolfman. Life as a wolfman isn't easy as he battles animals, farmers, and his own mind as he has a weird vision of some other young man in the future (which we'll learn is in 2008).

He's rescued by an old soothsayer/healer who names him Kuchi'inu (rotten dog which was used an insult equivalent to useless idiot). She heals his wounds with herbs using a special process including chewing and regurgitating the herbs.

The Tang are pursuing the Yamata army (Japan) so the old lady says they need to go to Jamato and flee Baekje. On the way Kuchi'inu rescues a dying soldier who turns out to be General Abe No Hirafu leader of 27000 troops. They reach a shore and explore seeing wolves. Kuchi'inu follows the wolves, they turn out to be the spirits that control the land, Kuchi'inu heals their leader's (Rubetsu) daughter (Marimo) who slowly falls in love with him. They lift the fog so Kuchi'inu and crew can reach civilization. Thankfully they are in Japan near a village that knows and respects the General. They meet Osano Nutari, a local dimwitted translator.

We learn the future boy is a hitman in Kuchi'inu's dream.

The villagers attempt to burn Kuchi'inu and the old lady. The spirits as wolves come to save them. Rubetsu explains how the spirit people have long served the land there as gods of the land and birth dieties. But now with foreign dieties (buddhism) coming to the land with the force of the Emperor the spirits are seen as evil. We see the literal buddhists spirits fighting Rubetsu's son Nobiru and Nobiru sacrifices himself. The Yamato nobility are calling themselves Arahitogami (living gods). Marimo follows Kuchi'inu as a wolf. Kuchi'inu goes to talk to the emperor in the Capital in Omi.

That night he dreams of the boy again but now very young. It's 2001, he's screaming to his sister, being carried off by a man with a big nose.

There is tension between the Emperor and his younger brother Prince Oama. Oama is sympathetic to the religion of the local people. The Emperor is sending the General to a remote place perhaps to get rid of him because he has deep respect for the local people's gods. Kuchi'inu is suspicious of this forced rise of Buddhism. The local people revere Kuchi'inu and the old woman for their healing powers. Marimo must remain in wolf form for fear of the buddhists attacking her. That year fires burn down numerous temples including Ikarugadera (known as Horyuji).

The buddhists gods tell his daughter the emperor will die soon. Kuchi'inu now known as Inugami is told to give 20 of his men to the emperor's war efforts but refuses. He seeks counsel with Prince Oama, but the prince has decided to become Buddhist (or else the Emperor would kill him because the emperor wants his son to become emperor). The emperor dies and Inugami is pardoned but has made enemies. Buddhists assassins attack but Marimo rescues him.

Then we go back to the future - the young man's name is Suguru and lives with a young lady who wants to have a baby with him. He's having dreams about Inugami too! The man with a big nose is a leader of some saboteur group and wants Suguru to rob the "Light People's" treasure which has symbolic value that has allowed them to become the dominate religion on Earth. Suguru and his ilk are Shadow people forced to live underground because they don't follow the faith. Suguru goes to see his sister who lives on the surface and is married to a leader in the Church. He'll dress up as his sister to help break into the facility that houses this totem. We learn the totem may be the Phoenix. In space, people saw the Phoenix flying and Otomo used it to become the Supreme Leader of the Church of Light.

[Quí Hiển · Rating 5 out of 5]

Despite he himself had written the Buddha series, in this volume (and the succeeding one vol.11), for the first time (is it right?) Tezuka depicted Buddhism as the dark force. However, it was not the Buddha nor the Boddhisatvas or any of the followers that were the bad guys, it was the bunch of deity dudes (the devas or tennou or Thiên vương and the Twelve Divine Generals or Juuni Shinshou or Thập nhị Thần Tướng) that acted as though they were bad.

Till the end, it was revealed that Tezuka actually thought whatever the case, religions were always right, people thought they did the right things, acted out of the best benefits. It's the use of religions as a mean to war is disgusting.

Another well-told chapter from the great fabulist of the unfinished Hi no tori series.

[Coke Fernández · Rating 4 out of 5]

Muy interesante este arco llamado Sol que entralaza la historia del pasado con la del futuro. Tengo ganas de ver cómo concluye en el próximo tomo.

[Met · Rating 4 out of 5]

Questa è La Fenice che mi piace. Dopo tre volumi davvero tremendi, qui ripartiamo a bomba con un arco conclusivo a metà tra passato e futuro. Questa prima parte mi è già piaciuta molto!

[Lord · Rating 5 out of 5]

This has become my favourite Phoenix book so far. Both stories, the historical and the future one, are intertwined and both are very good. There's also an unusual insight into how Buddhism was spreading in Japan by dirty ways oppressing the ancient spirits and gods.

[Clay · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another excellent volume.

This one has many things going for it, not least of which are the panoramic full-page panels of some scene. The story goes from 632 AD Japan to a near future (relative to the original publication date). One story seems to be the dream of the main character of each part, but which is which?

[Carlos · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting story. Another first part, so I still don't know how it will end, but it makes a nice parallel between past and future. Both protagonists fight against a dominant religion that seeks to ban any other belief.

[Trane · Rating 4 out of 5]

The only reason I'm giving Tezuka's Phoenix: Sun (Parts I and II) a four-star rating instead of a five-star rating is that I've read other books in the Phoenix series and liked them better. I would definitely give the Phoenix series as a whole five stars (a rating I wouldn't hesitate to give to his Buddha volumes as well).

As with all of Tezuka's late works, the artwork here is spectacular and there are several sequences that are perfectly stunning. The story takes place in two time periods — C.E. 663 and sometime in the 21st century — and the gap between these two periods is bridged by an interesting narrative device. The main character of the C.E. 663 section is a soldier named Harima whose face is skinned and replaced with the face/head of a wolf. When this character blacks out (it happens several times during the story) he wakes up in the 21st century as Suguru, an assassin who lives in Shadowland where he works in opposition to the forces of the Church of Light. In turn, when Suguru himself passes out, he wakes up again as Hirama.

There are a lot of points of interest in these two volumes, but the most interesting points for me are to be found in the story that's centered in C.E. 663. First of all, the main character, Hirama, is a member of one of the imperial families in ancient Korea. When his family is wiped out and he is given the head of a wolf, he flees to Yamato (Japan) where he becomes embroiled in imperial politics, eventually becoming known as Lord Inugami (Lord "Dog-Spirit" would be the translation, I believe). Hirama/Inugami comes down on the side of Japan's indigenous spirit worship (Shinto, but not the State Shinto of early 20th-century Japan) against the imported Buddhism that the Emperor is attempting to use to consolidate his power in order to create a unified Japan. Inugami, who is tight with the fox spirits, believes that people should feel free to worship as they see fit and he refuses to bow to either imperial decree, or to the power of the Buddhist deities that are attempting to conquer the indigenous spirit world of Japan. Sun ends with a new Emperor who rejects the Buddhist gods, but assumes dominative power by naming himself as a living god descended from the line of Amaterasu (the sun goddess) herself. While this scene could easily be seen as an aggrandizing national origin myth (this is the moment of the birth of the 'land of the rising sun'), the Emperor's adoption of sun-worship has it's dark double in the 21st century when the leader of the forces of the Shadowland leads a successful revolt against the forces of the Church of Light and then declares himself a living god who will lead a new religion, a religion that will persecute anyone who doesn't follow its system of belief.

In the end, the religio-political message of these two volumes is that religion in the service of power is always a form of tyranny and violence. Expect to see fox spirits, demons, ogres, kappa, Buddhist deities, emperors, healers, assassins, laser guns, strange future religions, and wolf-headed metal obedience helmets. And of course, the Phoenix, Tezuka's mysterious symbolization of the human forces and desires that drive history, spirituality, and perhaps even the cosmos itself (at some level). As elusive and cool as the monolith in 2001, the Phoenix flies its metamorphic and polysemous way through all of Tezuka's volumes, beckoning you to follow. Personally, I plan on owning all of these.

[Emilia P · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm down to the last 2 volumes of Phoenix! And they're a double volume! The story of a wolf-faced-man, Japanese nature gods, and their fights with new and sinister Buddhist deities! Beautiful, story-driving illustration. I think the Future story will be a little bit weaker, but, oh man, I do love it. Devouring.

[Eddie Arafat · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't know. Vol 11 and 12 kind of ended weak compared to some of he other Volumes.

[Ilib4kids · Rating 3 out of 5]

ILL