Rurouni Kenshin Manga Translations
Volume Six--No Need for Worries
Part 45--Extra Story: Sanosuke and Nishiki-e (the Beginning)
Sagara Sanosuke (19). Born the first son of a farmer in Shinsuu, in the first
year of Manen (1859). When he was nine, he left home to join the Sekihoutai. He idolized
the captain, Sagara Souzou, but the unit was accused of being a false government army;
Souzou was decapitated and the Sekihoutai was dissolved. After this he came up to Tokyo
to become the street fighter Zanza, devoting himself to fighting and winning fame until
his defeat by the vagabond Himura Kenshin. From then on, he frequented the Kamiya dojo.
He now leads a carefree life doing nothing in particular.
(At the Akabeko)
Sanosuke: Nishiki-e?
Tae: Yes, a new picture seller came today, but he’s so popular he’s sure to sell out, and we
can’t leave the restaurant.
Sanosuke: So you want me to go buy some for you.
Tae: Yes, would you?
Sanosuke: You should ask Yahiko, not me--
Yahiko: I’m working! Unlike some people I could mention . . .
Tae: Well, all right, I’ll treat you to lunch.
Sanosuke: Fine. I guess that's about right.
Tae: It’s all been on your tab up till now. (Don’t be too arrogant.)
Sanosuke: Hey, why sweat the details. (How’m I supposed to pay, anyway?) Well, what
kind of picture do you want?
Tae: "The Swordsman Iba Hachirou" by Tsukioka Tsunan!
Sanosuke: Oh, the dashing hero from the Bakumatsu, Hachirou of the Sekiwan. Didn’t think you had that
kind of taste.
(Tae giggles.)
Tsubame: Umm . . .
Sanosuke: Yeah?
Tsubame: Um, no . . . it’s nothing.
Sanosuke: If you want to say something, you gotta come out and say it. So what is it?
Tsubame: . . . no . . .
(He shakes his head and turns to leave.)
Sanosuke: Okay, Tsukioka’s "Iba Hachirou," . . . two of ‘em.
Customer: That’s Sano for you. He’s different.
Tae: I just hope he can pay . . .
Yahiko (glowering): And I’ve got to work . . . (Yahiko loses a point in a match of
manliness.)
Customer: Now that he’s friendly Sano’s okay, but he used to be really cool.
Someone Else: Yeah, Zanza! Even when he was smiling he was never relaxed. Like a bomb
just before it explodes. Always glaring.
Colored woodblock prints of "the floating world" were called nishiki-e in Edo. In
Edo
times the pictures were mainly of landscapes or popular actors. Entering the Meiji period,
various types of pictures were drawn as the culture became that of the masses. Today, they are
an important means of telling us about Meiji culture and customs.
(Sanosuke strolls over to the picture seller’s stall.)
Kenshin: Sano?
Sanosuke: Oh, it’s you two.
Kenshin: Nishiki-e? How unusual.
Kaoru: Maybe a beauty?
Sanosuke: Feh.
Kenshin: Maybe something erotic?
Kaoru: Oh my.
Sanosuke: Feh. Tae from the Akabeko asked me to get her something. It’s not for me.
Kaoru: Oh, boring.
Sanosuke: Hey, two of Tsukioka Tsunan’s "Iba Hachirou."
Merchant: Tsunan’s "Hachirou"? You’re in luck, these are the last two. Tsunan’s pictures are
very popular, we always sell out fast. Two pictures will be ten sen.
Sanosuke: Oh look, I don't have anything on me. Lemme borrow some.
(Kaoru, fuming, gets out her purse.)
Sanosuke: I’d heard about this stuff but I’m surprised there are so many.
Kenshin: There are a lot of figures from the Bakumatsu.
Sanosuke: Yeah. They sell ‘em as souvenirs of Tokyo. Iba Hachirou’s from the Bakufu but
he came from Edo.
(He stops and picks up one of the pictures.)
Kenshin: Sano?
Sanosuke: This is . . . Captain Sagara . . .!
Merchant: Oh, that one? That’s by Tsunan too, but it’s not selling at all. But what can you
expect, drawing that guy from the false government army--
(Kenshin and Kaoru cover his mouth, then glance back to Sanosuke, waiting for the explosion.)
Sanosuke: This guy . . . where is he? (grabbing the merchant by his shirt) Tell me where this
Tsunan guy is!!
Merchant: He’s at the Dobu Ita houses at the edge of town. But he hates people. You can go
but he won’t see you!
Sanosuke: I’ll see him. But he shouldn’t have seen me.
(Later, Sanosuke is knocking on Tsunan’s door.)
Sanosuke: Mr. Tsukioka, Mr. Tsukioka. Are you there, Mr. Tsukioka? (losing patience,
he pounds on the door,) I know you’re in there, Tsukioka Katsuhiro, from the Sekihoutai!!
(The door flies open.)
Sanosuke: I thought so. You had to be the one who drew this.
Tsukioka: Sanosuke . . . what are you doing here. . .
Sanosuke: Look at the picture. That's you and me behind the captain. No one
else could have drawn this.
Tsukioka (smiling): I see . You're right . . .
Kaoru (hiding behind a corner): Wow . . . the artist Tsukioka Tsunan is also one of the
survivors of the Sekihoutai.
Kenshin: Let’s go, Miss Kaoru.
Kaoru: But that’s Sanosuke’s friend. Aren’t we going to meet him?
Kenshin: No. We followed him because Sano's in an unusual situation, but there's no problem here.
You can see it by the way he still wears the character for evil--the Sekihoutai holds some
special memories. In this world of memories,
there’s no need for strangers.
Sanosuke: You’re doing pretty well.
Tsukioka: Same for you.
(A little later)
Sanosuke: So you’re an artist now. You were pretty clever back in the old days. You used to
mix gunpowder and handle the cannons.
Tsukioka: So what’re you doing now?
Sanosuke: Not much, just hanging around. Not that it hasn’t been fun, but you know.
Tsukioka: So you’re having fun. I haven’t done anything fun in the past ten years. Until I
met up with you I don’t remember smiling once, not since Captain Sagara and the unit were
disgraced more than ten years ago.
Sanosuke: So you’ve been this dark for the past ten years? (in the suddenly gloomy atmosphere)
You don’t have many friends, do you? But . . . I can understand how you feel.
Tsukioka: But it’s all been preparations for the day when you and I would reunite . . . Maybe
the Captain can guide us from Heaven.
Sanosuke: Katsu?
Tsukioka: Sanosuke, shall you and I join the Sekihoutai once more? We’ll destroy the new
government, and make the new era Captain Sagara dreamed of a reality.
the Makings of the Characters--Sekihara Tae--
This is a character I made almost without thinking. In the Zanza story, I needed a
setting for Sanosuke’s introduction, and I wanted to show Kaoru's life in her town by giving her
a friend who worked at a store somewhere, so this minor character filled these two needs. I used
the personality of Megumi in "Vagabond." Since she’d become the daughter of the Akabeko’s
owner and gained the last name of Sekihara, she had grown into the perfect character to be
a collector of nishiki-e. At first I didn’t like this, but as she was my best choice, I
wanted to continue that growth.
Just as I’d made the character with no more than necessary, I didn’t make any
design that I didn’t have to. Actually, I used an old concept of Kenshin. In the earlier
stories, one of the many ways I tried his hair was black, and he already had that nice girl’s
face, so it was easy. To distinguish her from Megumi, I gave her lipstick, and the Akabeko
uniform was hard to draw, so I changed it.
This is off topic a little, but Tae’s supposed to be from Kansai. My assistant
checked her accent for me, but it's still not that good, so, to those from Kansai, don’t look
at it too closely.