Rurouni Kenshin Manga Translations
Volume Ten--Master and Student of the Sword
Part 80--The Sword Which May Not be Drawn
(Seikuu throws open the door to the shrine. The sword, in a plain wooden sheath, sits before
an altar.)
Seikuu (thinking): "I made swords to build a new era" . . . I never accepted the words my
father spoke long ago. Now I finally understand. It's presumptuous to think a sword can build
an era. A new era is made by people. And to the one who protects the era he built, who continues
to fight from the shadows to protect the peace, I will give my father's sword--!
Chou: I'm not going to take this anymore! I'm pissed off now! See this head? This is what
they call Angry Hair that Strikes from Heaven!
Kenshin: You'll have to try a little harder with that worn-out broom head then.
Iori (pleased): Broo--m. Broo--m.
Chou (charging): I'll cram this in your stupid serious face, you fool! You goddam little--
Misao: He's moving in for the kill!
(Chou snaps the blade; Kenshin threads the tip into his sheath.)
Chou: He stopped it with what's left of the sheath--
(Kenshin tosses the point of the sword aside and leaps forward.)
Chou: Oh shit! (thinking) He got in too close!
(Kenshin smashes Chou's forehead with his elbow. Chou goes down.)
Misao: He did it! An Iron Elbow as a counterattack! All right!
Okina: He provoked him and attacked in two flying steps, drawing him in . . . With no sword
and a wounded right leg it could be Himura's final attack. If it's finished here . . .
Chou (still conscious and leering): Ooh, careful, careful. It's not good to make too much fun of
you.
Okina: It didn't work . . .
Chou: That attack made me angry, but I'm calm again. You won't fool me a second time.
I'll chop you into five pieces and put them on display at the Shijou Gawara.
Okina: Now he was no chance of victory. How are we going to get everyone out of here without
someone getting hurt . . .
Misao (thinking): A sword . . . if he only had a sword . . .
Seikuu (running out of the temple): Mr. Himura! It's my father's last sword! Please, use
this!
(Kenshin catches the sword.)
Chou: The stagehand's a little late throwing in the props.
Well, whatever. I'll destroy you and take the last work . . . two birds with one stone.
Draw it. I've had enough, let's settle this. We're two equal swordsmen. It'll be easy to
tell which will kill and which will be killed.
Misao: Go, Himura! Now you've got a sword, it'll be easy!
Okina: It's no good. Himura won't draw the sword. No, he probably can't. He's sworn to be a
vagabond who does not kill. It's forbidden for him to draw any sword but the reverse blade.
Misao: But that doesn't count at a time like this! He has to kill, or he'll be killed!
I don't know what kind of killer Himura was before, but he has to kill one more time--
Okina: That one more time is the problem. When you set him against a strong enemy like this
man of Shishio's, the scales balance. Himura is teetering on the edge between the vagabond who
does not kill and Hitokiri Battousai.
Misao: Hitokiri Battousai . . .
Okina: If he draws that sword now and kills, his heart will break its bonds. He'll slide down
into the violence of the Hitokiri. He'll never be a vagabond again. If only the sword's
sheath wasn't plain wood but iron like the reverse blade . . .
Chou: You're Hitokiri Battousai . . . And you hesitate to kill. (their eyes meet) All right,
if you've forgotten the joy of killing, I'll make you remember. Based on this performance.
Seikuu: Iori!
Chou: I'll destroy what you called a heaven-sent child of peace!
(Misao pulls out some kunai; Okina snaps his cane apart to form nunchuks. But before they can
act Kenshin springs forward.)
Chou: Come on!
Okina: Oh no! He's lost his head--!
Chou: I'll pay you back for making a fool of me!
(Kenshin jumps, avoiding the blade.)
Chou: I've got you now! (thinking) The tip of the Hakujin no Tachi's ever-changing blade
will stab him from behind--what?
Hiten Mitsurugi Ryuukansen Tsumuji!(1)
Chou: Where'd that come from--It's like he's a whole other person than before!
Misao: Himura!
(Kenshin strikes.)
the Making of the Characters--Sawagejou Chou
I didn’t really have any model besides his character, but if you pressed me, I’d have to
say I used the common stereotype of Kansai people. My assistant and some of the people at work
are from Kansai, and they’re really great, and so I think if there's a next life I want to come back as
someone from Kansai ... Real Kansai people aren’t like Chou. Just so there’s no
misunderstanding ...
While Chou was a bad guy, he was also pretty popular. (Although when a character speaks
Osaka dialect, he automatically has a strong personality, so maybe that’s why.) I myself
thought he was fun to draw and was kind of sad when it was time to finish him, so I’m going to
reintroduce him at some point. But it would be weird to make him one of Kenshin’s friends, so
he'll have to be some kind of neutral character.
By the way, for some reason a lot of the pictures readers sent me of Chou had Iori in them too,
which made me laugh.
As for the design, my assistant said it was Galford and my readers
said it was Benimaru from KOF. But they’re completely wrong. Chou’s design is actually one
that I made when I was twenty, one I meant to be an alien. ( ... wait a minute ...) In the end, while
it was rejected, it was hard to throw away that horse head and monkey face, so I
ended up using it here. At first I was going to give him disheveled swept-back black hair,
but to give him more impact as the first of the Ten Swords to appear, he ended up looking kind
of like a punk rocker. Well, I can see why you’d call him Benimaru ...
By the way, the Kansai dialect that Chou uses was checked by my assistant from Kansai,
but then I dared to destroy it so that it could be understood by people all over the country.
It's not really true western Kansai dialect. I think my readers in Kansai will find it really
annoying, but Ruroken is a manga aimed at the entire country, so please be forgiving.
Notes:
(1)Ryuukansen Tsumuji--Winding Dragon Flash Spiral
translations by maigo-chan
last updated 7 august 1999