Demon Sword Dance Translator's Foreword

Demon Sword Dance

Book 2 of the Dororo Novel Series

Toriumi Jinzō

Translator's Foreword

 

    The novel Demon Sword Dance is the second of a series of three novels based on Osamu Tezuka's Dororo manga series. As in the first novel, Hyakkimaru’s Birth, author Toriumi Jinzō chooses a hard historical angle, incorporating real historical personages and true events. Unlike the first novel, Demon Sword Dance puts an emphasis on demons, both historically and in a more fantastical sense. With the Ōnin War relegated mostly to the background, Hyakkimaru begins a very human quest—to find his father—and encounters demons, human and not, along the way.

 

The Quest

 

    At the end of the previous novel, Hyakkimaru discovered his birth father’s name: Daigo Kagemitsu. This novel shows both him and Jukai chasing down clues, attempting to identify Daigo’s current whereabouts. While Hyakkimaru is ultimately successful in this quest, he must seek help from a traitorous, brutal warlord to discover anything about his birth father at all.

    Asakura Takakage is this brutal warlord; he killed Hyakkimaru’s military commander, Honekawa Dōken, in the first novel. His cruelty and betrayals serve as a counterpoint to the portion of the narrative that concerns the demons. Other figures of brutality also loom large in the story, such as Korikuma the warlord and Lord Osogawara Arimune. Some people are worse than demons, and much more to be feared. But when people and demons join forces, the real trouble begins.

 

The Demons

 

    The bulk of this novel is concerned with two demons: Nihil, the Demon Sword, and Mai, a vengeful spirit who is usually called Maimai Onba (meaning “moth mother”) in the original manga and other interpretations.

     The owner of the Nihil, Sabame Nuinosuke, receives a nuanced portrayal. He is wracked with guilt at the demon sword’s terrible desire for blood. If he doesn’t kill someone every few days, the sword gives him no peace. He comes to the estate of Mai, a vengeful spirit posing as a village shrine priestess. The two form a genuine bond, demon to demon; the strangely human tenderness in their scenes reinforces the idea that some people are worse than demons—or perhaps that demons aren’t all bad.

    Mai, being a spirit, absorbs spiritual energy to sustain herself. The village where she and Nuinosuke are staying is suffering a terrifying infestation of gypsy moths that will consume the entire harvest if nothing is done. Mai takes in the rage of every moth that is killed, transforming into a hideous monster, though this is largely beyond her conscious control.

    Both Mai and Nuinosuke represent the struggle to remain human despite massive pressure to succumb to demonic power. Though they both fail, neither resents Hyakkimaru for putting their spirits to rest.

    The Hall of Hell demons also get more exploration in this novel. The Hall of Hell demon that attacked Hyakkimaru at birth forces Hyakkimaru into a confrontation with him and seven others in a showdown that threatens not only Hyakkimaru’s safety, but the survival of an entire village.

 

 

The Humans

 

    Dororo and Hyakkimaru meet a few new human friends in this novel. The most familiar to manga readers will likely be Mio, the girl who takes care of orphans at an abandoned temple. Though her story is tragic here as it is in the original manga, the result of the temple fire is less bleak than all other versions: Mio dies, but the children she raised and protected are all saved.

    Mio is also tied to Hyakkimaru’s quest as a believer in Manjushri, the compassionate god that protected Hyakkimaru at birth. After Hyakkimaru fails to get Mio out of the burning temple, he loses his psychokinetic powers and can no longer control his Muramasa sword. It is Mio’s intercession that helps restore Hyakkimaru to himself—and more. Hyakkimaru’s full recovery grants him the ability to kill demons.

    Hōichi, the blind monk who is usually called Biwamaru in other versions, also makes his first appearance in this novel. As a person born with the ability to see into the true nature of things, he passes quick judgement on Hyakkimaru, pointing to rage and revenge as demonic qualities. He is persuaded to look again, and to help the all-too-human Hyakkimaru recover his psychokinetic powers after they are lost.

    Dororo and Hyakkimaru travel together for quite a bit of this novel, fighting warlords, throwing bombs, killing demons, and generally wreaking havoc wherever they go. Dororo is always a bright spot in Hyakkimaru’s world; scenes featuring them add a bit of levity and joy after all the pitched battles, attempted poisonings, and disappointing failures. Hyakkimaru is a hero, and he saves a lot of people in this novel, but he is still, sometimes, allowed to lose.

 

Reading Resources: Annotations, Glossary, and Timeline

 

    For ease of reading, I have made textual notes on cultural figures and practices that would be common knowledge in Japan, but which Western readers likely have less familiarity with.

    In addition, every character, place name, and Japanese word in the text is given an entry in the Glossary at the end of this book. The names of people are usually given in the Japanese style, meaning the surname comes first. Takakage’s full name, for example, is given as Asakura Takakage and not Takakage Asakura.

    Time periods such as Chinese dynasties and Japanese periods and eras are provided in the novel's Timeline. Every major story event is also tracked in the Timeline.

    This novel was originally published in Japanese on September 20, 2001. I translated it during the COVID-19 pandemic, just as the world was starting to get back to normal (or so we all hope, at any rate). If the first novel’s primary theme is persistence in pursuit of the essential goal of being human, then the second novel takes up the theme of what, exactly, makes us human. Hyakkimaru and Dororo continue to be compassionate and selfless heroes in a war-torn world, but the demons are always out there—and they don’t always look like monsters.

 

Ainikki the Archivist

Previous

Next