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
Anko – Daughter of the local Sheriff & liege lord
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
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, but usually known 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
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
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
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
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
Minoru – Master mariner, called Sencho or Captain, Shota’s teacher
Morimoto Toshio – Anko's fiancé, later, husband
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, 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 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, 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
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