Rurouni Kenshin Manga Translation
Volume Two--Two Hitokiris
from the front flap--
(Watsuki-sensei and Kenshin, both, as the caption reads, googly-eyed.)
WATSUKI IS AGAIN A LIAR
Not only are the kanji for "wandering vagabond" not read "ruruoni,"
the word itself isn’t even in the dictionary. I completely made it up.
I apologize to everyone who believed me.
I’ll leave it at that; I’ve been really busy lately, as you can see from
the picture. I couldn’t even draw the picture for the cover of the book
edition. It’s too late for the third volume, but the fourth for sure!
This time Watsuki will not lie!
Part Seven--The Character for Evil
(the dust settles around Kenshin and Zanza)
Goheh: He can do it! He took that blow of Battousai’s like it was nothing . . . Maybe he
will . . .
Kiheh: You really are stupid. He hasn't landed anything with his precious zanbatou. Zanza has no
chance of victory. (smiling evilly) It’s all going as planned.
Zanza (raising the zanbatou again): Second round!
(He strikes, but Kenshin has disappeared. He finds him perched on the raised zanbatou’s
blade.)
Kenshin: The zanbatou is a huge, heavy weapon, so the stances of attack are limited.
There are only two options: bringing the sword down or cutting across. (narrowing his eyes)
They’re very easy to read. (leaping forward) There will be no second round. This is
the end!
(he strikes Zanza’s shoulder. Zanza whips his blade across but Kenshin ducks under it.)
Kenshin: Zanza, if a single blow will not work against you--
(A myriad of blows strike Zanza from all directions, knocking him down.)
Kaoru (thinking): A rain of blows!
Kenshin: Hiten Mitsurugi School, the Ryuusousen.
Zanza (thinking): He's not just stronger than me. He’s on a completely different level.
I can’t beat him . . .
Kenshin: Let's end this meaningless fight. I don't want to lift this sword against you any
further. Accept defeat with grace.
(Flashback. Sanosuke, at about age eight, is standing on a rocky outcropping, carrying the
sword of his captain, Sagara. They are watching an army marching.)
Sagara: Look well, Sanosuke. The three hundred year reign of the Tokugawa will soon be over. The
curtain raises on a new age. The age when the oppressed weak cry themselves to sleep is over.
There will be no high or low. The age of equality for the four classes has come. And we, the
Sekihoutai, will lead the way.
Sanosuke (snickering): "It could take a year or ten, depending on how hard we work, but it
will happen." You told me all this before.
(Sagara smiles at him. They start walking home.)
Sanosuke: Hey, captain. We're all going to be equal in the new age right? I
can have a real last name even though I’m just a farmer's kid?
Sagara: That’s right.
Sanosuke: Then my name's going to be Sagara!
Sagara: Sagara Sanosuke? Stop it, stop it. What a strange name.
(Sanosuke grins.)
the Sekihoutai--a group formed from the masses directly after the battle
of Tobafushimi, in 1868. They marched to Edo ahead of the government army, to investigate the
allied provinces on the way and to act as a spearhead, urging support. The First Regiment, led
by Sagara Souzou, marched north by the Tousan Way, spreading the new government's proclamation
that land taxes would be cut in half. However . . .
(Sagara is meeting with other members of the group.)
Man: That’s ridiculous--the Sekihoutai a false army?!!
Man with bandages: An order was sent to each province and each troop, sent by the governor-general,
to suppress the false government army Sekihoutai. Our division in Usuitouge was
attacked and destoryed!
Men: That’s unbelievable. . . What do we do?
Man with mustache: We’ve been abandoned! They’re not cutting taxes after all! They promised
to cut them in half to win the farmers of the provinces as allies, but the finances of the new
government handle that. So they're calling us the liars--they'll punish us and say they never intended
to cut taxes in the first place. We’re made up of farmers and merchants, so they’re using us as the perfect
scapegoat . . . !!
Man: What do we do, Captain Sagara?
Sagara: There’s no reason to disobey the governor-general. For the time being, we’ll
proceed to the headquarters in Shimosuwa. Sanosuke, you wait here. You’re still young--
there’s no reason for you to come this time.
Sanosuke: Captain . . .
Sagara: We’ll be fine. Don’t worry.
(Later. Sanosuke is pressed up against a fence by the crowd gathered to see the head of
Sagara mounted on display.)
People: Sagara Sanzou, the captain of the first regiment of the false government army
Sekihoutai. Decapitated for the crime of using lies of a tax cut to lead the populace astray.
I don't care if he was trying to be a hero like the great Ishin Shishi, he shouldn't have
deceived us like that.
The Sekihoutai . . . they were just a bunch of criminals.
(the shocked face of the young Sanosuke fades to the enraged face of Zanza.)
Kenshin (thinking): The fighting ki that was extinguished before is now. . .
Zanza: I will not lose! You put the mark of evil on our backs and thought you were justice
incarnate--I'm not losing to one of you!
Kenshin (thinking): The Sekihoutai . . . !
Goheh: What? What's the deal with that?
Kiheh (thinking): Yes! Now! (drawing a second pistol) Die, Battousai!!
(He fires. Kenshin goes down.)
Kaoru: NO!!
Yahiko: Kenshin!
Goheh: B-brother?!
Kiheh: A plan must foresee the second and third steps in order to attain success! By thinking I had
only one pistol, he sealed his fate!!
(Slowly, Kenshin gets to his feet, holding up the sword. The hilt, which has a bullet
embedded in it, cracks and falls away.)
Kaoru & Yahiko: Kenshin!
Kiheh: He saw the bullet. He stopped it with the hilt . . . However! (turning the gun on
Kaoru and Yahiko) What will you do about this! Goheh, keep the brats from running away!
Goheh: But . . . we didn’t bring any rope to tie them up . . .
Kiheh: Then break their legs!
Goheh: I see . . . You always were the clever one, brother!
Yahiko (whipping out his shinai): You bastard! Kaoru, don’t just sit there! Get out of
here!
Kaoru: I can’t. I . . .
Goheh: Don’t move . . .
(The zanbatou stops his reaching hand. Zanza drives it into the ground, slashing his face.)
Zanza: I told you. This is my fight! I will not allow interference! I will not lose! I
CANNOT lose!!
Kenshin: Kiheh. You are a man beyond saving.
Kiheh (pulling out the third pistol): Nonsense! At such close range!
Kenshin: Hiten Mitsurugi school Doryuusen!
(He strikes the ground with his sword. Kiheh goes down under a shower of rocks.)
Kenshin: I held back so you would not lose consciousness. Taste hell
for a while. You should be the one to wear the character for evil on your back. No . . .
perhaps it should be us, the patriots of the new age . . .
Zanza: We settle this now, strongest of the patriots!!!
Kenshin: Sagara Sanosuke, the last living member of the Sekihoutai. I understand. (he flips
the reverse blade around.) We’ll settle this.
Kaoru: Kenshin?!
the Makings of the Characters --Sagara Souzou--
There's no model--Sagara Souzou is a real person. Just done in the image I had of him.
The real Sagara Souzou was a heroic man whose real name was Koshima Shirou. He was
originally not of the samurai class but the son of a rich and powerful family; he left
them behind (he had a wife and family!) as an Ishin Shishi. But as it says in the
comic, he was branded with the disgrace of a "false government army" and decapitated
at the age of 29. In Sanosuke's mind this has become a heroic story, but Sagara
Souzou actually put equality of the four classes as one of the last goals of the Ishin
Shishi. If he had lived, what would have thought of the temporary equality . . .
This is a bit of a digression, but even though the Sekihoutai isn't that famous, I wasn't sure
if I should put it in or not. But as it shows in a straightforward way whether the Meiji patriots of
the new era were "true" or "false," I thought I should. In fact a famous manga writer
laughed and told me it was too crazy, and the ratings were the
lowest since the series began, but I still think I was right to draw it.
Other than this there was no design. When I drew Yamagata Aritomo in Part 2, I struggled to make
him close to the real one, but couldn't. So when it was time to draw Souzou, I decided
it didn't matter much and just drew him as I thought he might look. (Afterwards, I
looked for a photograph or a portrait and didn't find anything. I wonder what he really
looked like?) I made him good-looking and Sanosuke's mentor, so it seems he
now enjoys a deep-rooted popularity among some of my female readers (laughs.)