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The Meiji Era:  People and Characters

 

            Many books about Japan involve a Western foreigner coming to Japan and being amazed at all the odd things he (it's invariably a "he") doesn't understand about the people, the society and the culture. These are almost always the same things. If the book is written about Japanese characters, too often bits of the author's culture are imposed, without the author even being aware of doing so. Again, these are almost always the same sorts of things. Everybody wants to write about high-status people, people in power and people of position. I wanted to write, however imperfectly, something different.

            Ordinary people of all social classes, especially during the Meiji era, are much more interesting to me. They are the ones whose lives are upended regularly. They are the ones who have to decide how to cope with the sudden ending of their entire social order; how to find a new profession or enterprise since their old one no longer exists; they need to figure out how to survive in a world that really doesn't much care about them. Yet, that same world also trusts them to find a way to survive and prosper, to start new industries, to create new professions, to adjust themselves for the good of their communities as well as themselves. These are the interesting people. These are the people who change their world while remaining relentlessly Japanese.  These are the people—well, they're mostly people—who inhabit the world of Toki-Girl and the Sparrow-Boy, as we tell their tales of Meiji Era Japan.

            

 

Characters

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Adrik — Of Gorunu Alfaysk, Prince, son of Irtysh and Varvara

Agnia — Lady. Former consort of Irtysh, mother of Galina.

Aika—Miko 

Anko – Daughter of the local Sheriff & liege lord, married to Toshio, twin children, Sara and Sora.

Akira - The Eagle-boy, a Steller's Sea Eagle from Hokkaido

Azuki – Girl who becomes a toki (Japanese Crested Ibis)

Badger – Shape-changer, grouchy, curious and helpful, but not truly dual-natured

Benjamin – American surveyor; working on mineral contracts

Blackie – Samurai war stallion; helped Shota find Azuki

Calliope - Dragon Princess, Rizantona's daughter, European

Chizuyo – Brave woman, adopted human mother of Azuki and Shota

Cloudy – Colt foal, by Blackie out of Red Wind; sometimes Storm Cloud, sometimes Flying Cloud, finally                          Thunder Cloud, but usuallyknown as Cloudy

DaiTengu – Larger Tengu who adopt the form of a yamabushi to harass humans, especially religious

Egrets – Beautiful birds with artistic license

Eitaro and Satsuki – Anko’s parents, Lord and Lady, family name Yamada

Endo – Farmhand and gardener

Feng – Mistress, given name Meili; Noriko’s Chinese sensei, mother of Peng, talks to dragons

Fox – Shape-changer, but not truly dual-natured

Fuji Shoko – Friendly man Yuta meets on the train

Fumie – Guardian of Records at Noriko’s former school

Galina — of Vulkan Ichinski, Princess, daughter of Irtysh and Agnia

Gemba – Midori’s disabled adult son

Gengoro – Genmai’s brother; wants the fief and Azuki for himself

Genmai – Late sheriff and liege lord of the area; wanted Azuki’s feathers for himself

Hachibei – Kind man, adopted human father of Azuki and Shota

Hanako – Formerly outcast, now the housekeeper

Hitoshi – Brother of Noriko

Hira — Lady Anko's maid

Hirata(s) – Mitsuyo and Jisei, weavers and merchants who befriend Azuki 

Kawabata, Yoji - Influential professor Yuta befriends in Tokyo

Kiku - Palomino mare

Kojiro – Tsuruko’s human husband; their family name became Hamasaki

Kichiro – dual-natured infant, son of Tsuruko and Kojiro

Kukanko - An Oni child

Ikue – Noriko’s former teacher

Ine – Head housekeeper, Inn of the Golden Phoenix

Irtysh – Dragon Prince, Rizantona's son, European

Junko – Mill girl with a future

Lily –  Bay mare

Masa – Errand boy/porter at the Inn of the Golden Phoenix

Midori – Formerly outcast, now runs the local bathhouse

Mifune(s) – Father and son, priests of the local Shrine; mother, a fujo or Shinto shaman, and daughter, who                 aspires to follow her mother.

Minoru – Master mariner, called Sencho or Captain, Shota’s teacher, his family name became Kaito

Miyuki — Mill worker of unhappy background and unknown future

Morimoto Toshio – Anko's fiancé, later, husband, took name Yamada on their marriage

Nitabo — the professional name of Akimoto Nitaro, the real-life developer of Tsurugu Shamisen music; for                    more detail, see note in The Oni's Shamisen

Noe – Displaced woman, Noriko’s replacement

Noriko – She keeps the Inn of the Golden Phoenix – and secrets;

          a soke martial arts master, she is now married to Yuta

Otohime – Famous daughter of the Dragon King, Princess and O-kami

Peng – Master; son of Mistress Feng, Noriko’s Chinese martial arts sensei

Phlox   –  Buckskin mare

Red Wind – Samurai war mare; Blackie’s friend, the fastest one

Renko – Dragon Princess, daughter of Rizantona and Ryuujin, friend of Azuki and Shota

Rizantona – Queen of the Western Dragons, Renko’s mother, European

Rumiko – Sister of Sayuri, niece of Fumie

Ryuujin – King of the Eastern Dragons, Renko’s father, Japanese

Sachiko – Activist friend of Noriko’s

Sato - Priest of the local Buddhist temple

Sawa – Maid at the Inn of the Golden Phoenix

Sayuri – Niece of Fumie

Shota  – Boy who becomes a Sparrow

Suezo – Yuta’s friend from his monastery days, now in Tokyo

Suoh-Sugaar – Child of Rizantona and Ryuujin, dual-natured infant Dragon Prince, known as Susu

Tanuki – Real animal with a mysterious ability

Tengu – Evil being who can change from a kite or crow to a human-like form to harass humans.

Toyoda – Owner of the Inn of the Golden Phoenix

Tsuruko – Fabled Crane-woman, married to a human, Kojiro

Umi-bozu – Genuine sea monster with many children

Valeira — Of Gora Ledyanayya, Princess, daughter of Irtysh and Varvara, twin of Vassilli

Vassillii — Of Goru Pobeda, Prince, son of Irtysh and Varvara, twin of Valeria

Varvara — Lady.Former consort of Irtysh, vanished before the twins hatched, current whereabouts unknown

Yae — Mill worker of unknown origins and uncertain future

Yamabushi – Mountain ascetic, practitioner of Shugendo, a kind of combination of martial arts,                                       Buddhism and ancient mountain worship, one is in the service of Ikue

Yuta – Former monk turned schoolmaster; Azuki and Shota’s adopted human uncle and guardian. Their family name is Maeda, very old but seldom used until it became necessary to use it.