The Sorceress' Revolt -
Ko Eiji's Story
Author: Toriumi Jinzō
Translator: Ainikki the Archivist
Author's Afterword
The story of The Three Sui Quash the Demons’ Revolt is not generally well-known, despite the fact that it is one of the great classical texts of Chinese literature along with The Water Margin and Journey to the West. What these three stories have in common is that they originally came from folk or vernacular storytelling. They were passed down in the form of oral tales where storytellers recited each chapter or episode to audiences on the street. The stories developed freely, selecting and creating variations according to the storytellers’ preferences.
In the late Ming Dynasty, literary figure Feng Menglong compiled the story into forty chapters and completed it. Prior to that, Luo Guanzhong had compiled a twenty-chapter version. The author of the novel, if there was only one, is unknown.
Takizawa Bakin (who died in 1848 CE), the author of The Chronicles of the Eight Dog Heroes of the Satomi Clan of Nansō, had a deep interest in The Three Sui Quash the Demons’ Revolt, and its influence can be seen in his works.
The story is based on a real historical incident that occurred in 1047 CE, when a young man named Ou Soku (Wang Ze in Chinese) started a rebellion in Enzhou, Hebei Province. The more fantastical elements of the tale are, of course, not historical. The story is rich in fantasy and folklore, but there are some inconsistencies in the theme and the characters’ personalities that prove difficult to understand for modern audiences.
The Three Sui Quash the Demons’ Revolt lost popularity among the general public in Japan due to the growing influence of Japanese-language works and correlated disinterest in Chinese classics. I first obtained a translation about ten years ago. At that time, Chion-in Temple planned to make an anime version of The Saint of the White Path, Master Zendo.1 I wrote the script, and Toei Animation produced it. At the time, an NHK news program reported that a Buddhist missionary anime was being released, which was quite unusual.
The Saint of the White Path, Master Zendo is about a high priest from the Tang Dynasty (618 to 907 CE) of China whom Hōnen revered.2 I became interested in Chinese history around that time and learned about the original novel, The Three Sui Quash the Demons’ Revolt. Later, I saw a translation in a used bookstore in Kanda and bought it without hesitation.
After reading it, I believed it would be perfect to make into an anime. Its magical, fantasy, action/adventure and romantic elements have wide appeal.
However, there were problems (from my perspective).
First, several main characters (Sei Koko, Ko Biji, and Ko Eiji) are fox spirits in the forty-chapter version of the novel. I was interested in the humanness of the characters, so I dispensed with this as the original twenty-chapter version of the novel does. It would have been fine to go all out with occult or fantasy elements, but I really wanted to make all of the characters human. I was also concerned that a story about humans disguised as foxes might be too old-fashioned or quaint for modern sensibilities.
Secondly, there was the issue of the theme. There is a strong bend toward religion in the original—Daoism in particular—but I didn’t want to get too hung up on religious precepts in an entertaining novel. By chance, a certain religious group caused an incident that became a social problem, and the setting and episodes are very similar to those in The Three Sui Quash the Demons’ Revolt.3 I was surprised to find these parallels and was somewhat conscious of them while writing the novel.
Despite the fact that this novel and the original inhabit the realm of fantasy, in day-to-day life I tend to be a realist. I have always been vaguely disgusted by gullible people who believe in fortune-telling and magic. I myself have written science fiction, fantasy and various anime works, but I have always thought of that as a means of expression, not necessarily as a reflection of how things work in the real world.
However, I understand that paranormal phenomena have great dramatic appeal and are ideal material for anime. This dichotomy made me want to write about people who are tossed between reality and magic. God and the Devil, good and evil, science and magic… These contrasting issues are not always clearly separated; the boundaries are chaotic and there is even a tendency for them to be seen as one and the same by some people.
In addition to writing, I’ve worked as a lecturer at a vocational school for many years. I’m always surrounded by young people in their twenties. As I’ve observed their dreams and outlook on life, I’ve realized how critical young adulthood is in terms of future development. What people learn and believe as young adults follows them into old age.
From a creative standpoint, I decided to make the story a feature-length animated film in two parts and to make the protagonist an older teenager. I heard that reincarnation was a popular topic among young people recently, and since reincarnation plays a part in the forty-chapter version of the novel it provided ideal material to explore life, death and rebirth.
Roughly speaking, the first part, Ko Biji’s Story, is a psychological historical fiction/fantasy novel, while the second part, Ko Eiji’s Story, is an action/adventure story featuring Ko Eiji, who is said to be the reincarnation of Ko Biji. The protagonist in the first part is Tanshi, with Ou Soku taking up the protagonist role in the second part. The title also focuses on reincarnation, so Ko Biji and Ko Eiji are brought to the forefront.
Yes, their names—Ko Biji and Ko Eiji—are really, really similar, and only one letter off. They are the novels’ secondary protagonists and are set up to be roughly the same person, just in different bodies. Reincarnation can be confusing.4
***
After deciding to turn the story into an anime, I bought and researched materials while refining the structure, theme, and characters. I was working on other anime scripts in the meantime, and before I knew it, ten years had passed. It was about three years ago that I started working on it more seriously. I tried writing a novel to explore the ideas I had. I didn’t storyboard it and make a scenario like I usually would for an anime because I was often dissatisfied with the lack of detail in the initial stages, which made it so the ideas I was trying to convey weren’t always reflected in the work. I decided to write in more detail—a bold and arrogant idea, in hindsight.
I started writing the opening part of Ko Biji’s Story, but I didn’t feel good about it, so I consulted Mr. Y— of Tokuma Shoten, whom I had known for a long time. He kindly accepted the manuscript precis of the whole story and the opening scene and introduced it to the editorial department. About ten days later, I was called to the editorial department. They told me that it was interesting and that they wanted me to develop it into a full novel. They also asked me to elevate the source material.
Thus encouraged, I decided to write the story in novel form for adults, and to write it the way that I wanted to. I don’t have the ability to write anything as grand as a full-fledged historical novel, so I just tried to write something that anyone could read and find interesting.
I intended to make this novel an easy-to-read book from the start. When people heard that it was based on a Chinese work, many shied away from the idea of reading it because they thought that it would use a lot of Chinese characters, would be difficult to read, and would have serious content. In order to break this preconception, I tried to write an entertaining book that wasn’t esoteric or hard to read. I also came into writing this novel with the perception that many recent novels were excessively violent and ignored our common humanity and the meaning of life on earth.
As I wrote, I realized that while it is easy to criticize others, actually writing a novel or a book is excruciatingly difficult.
People who have read Ko Biji’s Story often tell me that they think it must have been difficult to gather the necessary research to write it. Perhaps because we live in an information age, novels tend to be full of extra information these days. There is no need to show off knowledge for its own sake, of course, but if some extra knowledge can make the story more interesting, I think it’s fine to leave it in. Especially since the theme is the contrast between reality and magic, I believed that Chinese science from the time period must be introduced, at least in the broad strokes. Chinese scientists were very advanced in many areas, and not just for their time! I think this is true for any writer, but isn’t it fun to make new discoveries when researching sources for your creation? Also, that knowledge can give rise to other creative ideas.
***
Readers who have already read The Three Sui Quash the Demons’ Revolt may be confused by the bold reworking of the world concept, the changes in the personalities of the characters, and the uninhibited attitude of other fictional characters. These changes were made because I endeavored to create a work based on current social conditions.5
Ko Biji’s Story was well-received initially, but I think Ko Eiji’s Story is more likely to be popular with the younger generation because it is fast-paced, action-packed and anime-like.
The Heavenly Book became a core piece of the story—a bridge between knowledge and magic. Ryū Gen is an entirely fictional character who speaks, not just for me, but for the modern audience. I don’t know of many novels that have explored China’s history of salt smugglers, though salt smugglers certainly existed during the Song Dynasty (618 to 907 CE). Ri Shun and his father are also fictional, but they’re probably my favorite original characters. Shin Katsu (Shen Kuo) is famous for writing “Dream Pool Essays,” and he is a real historical figure. In Ko Eiji’s Story, he appears as a boy, before he authored anything famous, and his personality comes entirely out of my imagination.
At first, the book was written as a single novel, but length and other considerations split it into two. I’m delighted beyond words at being given so much space and consideration to tell this story. Amano Yoshitaka, who illustrated the cover of Ko Biji’s Story, is a colleague I used to work with at Tatsunoko Production, and despite his busy schedule, he produced a wonderfully gorgeous color illustration. I would like to express my sincere gratitude. For Ko Eiji’s Story, Nagura Yasuhiro, at the height of his popularity, agreed to provide a stunning cover. I would like to express my gratitude again for this repeated good fortune.
Since the goal from the beginning was to make this story a feature-length animation, it would be delightful if that ever came to pass.
Ohtori Koubou is a support organization for scriptwriters which I run. It has a diverse group of members, including some who have provided me with ideas and opinions during the creation of many of my works. I would like to express my sincere thanks to four of them by name here.
The four are Fujimoto Satoshi, Arashima Akihiro, Iwasaki Kun, and Otaki Toshiyuki.
Toriumi Jinzō
An Auspicious Day in February, 1997
Translator's Notes
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