Hi Izuru Tokoro no Tenshi (Emperor of the Land of the Rising Sun) (日出処の天子)
Hi Izuru Tokoro no Tenshi (Emperor of the Land of the Rising Sun) is Japanese manga (cartoon or comics), written by Ryoko YAMAGISHI. Abbreviated names of Hi Izuru Tokoro no Tenshi are "zuruten", "hizuten", and "tokoroten".
Summary
Hi Izuru Tokoro no Tenshi was serialized in "LaLa" (Hakusensha, Inc.) from April issue in 1980 to February issue in 1984, and from April issue to June issue in 1984.
Centering on Umayadono-Oji (Prince Umayado) (Prince Shotoku) and SOGA no Emishi, the main character, Prince Umayado' s life from his boyhood until he became Sessho (regent) was described in this manga.. In addition to the overwhelming presence of Prince Umayado who embraced the contradiction of sacred and secular and men and women, this manga is characterized by originality of the story; he was described as genius, telepathic, and homosexual. Concerning Prince Umayado, there are anecdotes, which can't be explained without the idea that Prince Umayado had supernatural power, written in historical documents such as "Shotokutaishi-Denryaku (biography of Shotokutaishi)", and these traditions and legends are positively adopted in this manga.
In the year 1983, "Hi Izuru Tokoro no Tenshi " was awarded Girl's Comic Division of Kodansha Manga Sho (The Kodansha Manga Award). Fusanosuke NATSUME commented that "this is a great work in the postwar manga history". Moreover, with focusing on the facial expression of Prince Umayado that changes unsteadily, he said that its changes "are one of the biggest fruit of the stories of transformation (man turns into woman and woman turn into man, or a person turns into a different person) that has been throbbing through Japanese manga since Osamu TEZUKA." These facial expressions were drawn with very fine lines and it is said that when they are copied out on thin papers, "facial expression will be changed if you miss your aim in a fraction of 1mm."
Story line
In this manga, against a backdrop of the Asuka period, the story develops in the form of that members of the Soga Family including Emishi (he was portrayed as a first child of Umako), Emperor Sushun and Empress Suiko were made fools of by Prince Umayado who figured out political scheme,
One day, SOGA no Emishi met a beautiful girl who just looked like a celestial nymph, and had a secret crush on her. That was the encounter with Prince Umayado. Prince Umayado who had extraordinary education, political competence and air of dignity in spite of his youth came to be a presence respected by a host of vassals. However, he got on the wrong side of his biological mother, Anahobe, because of strange power he had. Emishi who also realized Umayado's strange power was troubled by Umayado's loneliness he sometimes saw. Emishi treated Umayado with respect, awe and a high regard, but, for Umayado, Emishi was the only and indispensable presence who could share the supernatural power Umayado had. However, Emishi did not recognize his own supernatural power, because he only could bring out his power while he was unconscious.
Umayado's feelings for Emishi shortly turned into love and Emishi also realized that he was attracted to Umayado, but before long, he met Futohime who was miko (a shrine maiden) of Isonokami-jingu Shrine and fell in love with her.
Umayado suffered from jealousy and figured out schemes to shut Futohime away from Emishi, however Emishi realized that. Emishi who saw through Emayado's schemes was persuaded by Umayado to live together, because if they were united, they could get the power to control all nature freely and twist the world around their little fingers. However, Emishi answered that it was a fate that they must not be together and this was why both were born as men, and left Umayado with painful reluctance and chose Futohime.
While Prince Umayado was left alone in loneliness, he took political power and this story ended at the scene where Umayado suggested a Japanese envoy to Sui Dynasty China.
The Characters
Jogu Oke (Ikebe no miya)
Prince Shotoku (Prince Umayado)
He is a main character of this manga. In this story, Umayado was portrayed as completely different from the image of "Prince Shotoku" described in historical documents such as "Nihonshoki" (Chronicles of Japan) and "Jogu Shotoku Hooteisetsu" (Biography of Shotoku Taishi). Concerning this, in an interview with Saeko HIMURO, which was written down in the second volume of paper back, the author said, "I've had an uncomfortable feeling about the stories related to Prince Shotoku since my childhood, and one day I talked about this to Masako YASHIRO at an izakaya bar, she introduced the book "Kakusareta jujika (hidden cross)" written by Takeshi UMEHARA to me, and when I bought the book and read it next day, the whole image of the story came to my head."
Anahobe no hashihitohime
She was a mother of Prince Umayado. Although she loved Prince Umayado, she was afraid of his supernatural power and agonized that she couldn't treat him like other children.
Emperor Yomei (Tachibana no Toyohi no Oe)
He was a father of Prince Umayado. He was a quiet person.
Prince Kume
He was a immediate younger brother of Prince Umayado. He was a pure-hearted person.
Prince Eguri, Prince Ibaraki
They were younger brothers of Prince Umayado.
Prince Tame
He was the person who remarried with Anahobe no hashihitohime, and a father in law of Prince Umayado. He was a son of Tachibana no Toyohi no Oe and was similar in tone to his father.
Satomi no Himemiko
She was a daughter of Anahobe no hashihitohime and Prince Tame and a younger maternal half-sister of Prince Umayado.
The Soga Clan
SOGA no Emishi
He was the person who was another main character of this manga. Although he was a successor of the head family of the Soga family, he was portrayed as a good person who did not have political ambition like his father, Umako. He was an only person being trusted by Prince Umayado who was abnormally nervous about interpersonal relations. He took a fancy to Saigu (Imperial Princess appointed to serve the deities of the Ise-jingu Shrine) of Isonokami-jingu Shrine which was the shrine of his rival, the Mononobe lineage.
SOGA no Umako
He was the father of Emishi. He was a head of the head family of the influential Soga family that held immense power at the Imperial Court.
He placed a high value on Prince Umayado's political capacity and intelligence, and married off his daughter to Prince Umayado,
Tojiko no irazume
She was a younger sister-uterine of Emishi. She secretly took a fancy to her older brother-uterine, Emishi. At the time of battle with Mononobe, after she was raped in turns at her mother's hometown and suffered considerable psychological damage, she came to love no one but Emishi. Then, she went to bed with Emishi in a manner that she deceived him and was pregnant with Emishi's son. After Prince Umayado who found this out approached her with bargain, she became a wife of Prince Umayado and gave birth to Prince Yamashiro no oe.
Kawakami no irazume
She was a younger paternal half-sister of Emishi. She had rivalry against a daughter of the lawful wife and her older paternal half-sister, Tojiko, and treated her badly. Although she married into Emperor Sushun, she died after the assassination of Emperor Sushun.
SOGA no Kuramaro
He was a younger paternal half-brother of Emishi.
SAKAIBE no Omimarise
He was an Umako's brother and Emishi's uncle.
Omaro
He was a son of Omimarise. He fell in love with Tojiko no irazume.
Sakitama no miya
Emperor Bidatsu (Osada no Okimi)
Empress Suiko (Nukatabe no himemiko)
She was an Umayado's aunt. She was the first Empress of the Yamato Dynasty.
Ujinokaitako no ojo (the Imperial Princes Ujinokaitako)
She was a daughter of Osada no Okimi and Nukatabe no himemiko, and a wife of Prince Umayado. She was commonly called as Ohime.
Oharida no Ojo (the Imperial Princess Oharida)
Takeda no miko (the Imperial Prince Takeda)
He died in the battle with Mononobe.
Owari no Oji
the Mononobe clan
MONONOBE no Moriya
He was an Umako's old enemy. In this story, he fell unconscious when he saw Prince Umayado appear suddenly during the battle and he died of a heart attack.
Toichi no iratsume
She was a wife of Umako and mother of Iruka and Tojiko no irazume. She was a niece of Moriya.
Futohime (Princess Futohime)
She was from the Mononobe Clan and served as Saigu of Isonokami-jingu Shrine. Although she and Emishi loved each other, she became a consort to Emperor Sushun by Umayado's ploy and she was almost assassinated by the hand of Umayado himself. Later, she gave birth to an Emishi's son (Iruka).
Shirakamime
She was an elderly waiting woman for Futohime. She was stabbed to death by Prince Umayado, in place of Princess Futohime.
Others
TOMI no Ichii (Tansui)
He was a toraijin (people from overseas, especially from China and Korea, who settled in early Japan and introduced Continental culture to the Japanese) who served the head family of the Soga family.
Choshimaro
He was toraijin who served Prince Umayado. It is said that he had had connection with Tansui before he came to Japan.
YAMATO no Aya no Koma
He was a subordinate of Umako and a descendent of traijin.
MIWA no Kimisakashi
He was attacked by Prince Anahobe and others.
KURATSUKURI no Tori
He was commonly called Tori. In this story, Tori appeared as a small child who was younger than Umayado.
Kashiwadenominoiratsume
She was a wife of Princess Umayado. In this story, she was portrayed as a little girl with intellectual disabilities. She looked like Hashihito no Himemiko.
Prince Anahobe (Anahobe no Oji)
He was a younger brother of Anahobe no hashihitohime. He was a candidate for Okimi after the death of Osada no Okimi, but he was not pleased with the rise of the Soga Clan and took the Mononobe's side and was killed by Prince Umayado. He was an aggressive, ambitious person.
Emperor Sushun (Hassebe no Oji)
He was a younger brother-uterine of Prince Anahobe. Unlike Prince Anahobe, he is portrayed as a pleasure-seeking, incapable person who lacked political ability and courage and only took short views. At the beginning, he was thought to be good for nothing and was helped to the throne, but his autocratic manner became increasingly accentuated and finally he was assassinated by Prince Umayado and the Soga Clan.
Oshisaka no Hikohito no Oenomiko
He was a son of Osada no Okimi. He is portrayed as a sickly and timid person.
Yakabe no Oji
He was a friend of Prince Anahobe. Since he suspected that Prince Umayado was a Prince Anahobe's assassin, he lost his life.
Umaya no himemiko
This is the short manga which is a sequel to Hi Izuru Tokoro no Tenshi. Main characters in the sequel changed to Prince Umayado's and Emishi's children, and it described the fall of the Umayado family once famed for Jogu Oke.
The story begins with the sudden death of Prince Umayado and Kashiwadenominoiratsume. Tojiko and Prince Yamashiro no oe, a son of Prince Umayado, released their youngest sister, Umaya no himemiko who had been confined for fifteen years since she was born, in order to make her attend her parent's funeral. Umaya no himemiko was an only child of other Umayado's children who had a good looks precisely like her father. However, after her release, an ominous sign had started to be seen.
The Characters
Umaya no himemiko
She was a daughter of Prince Umayado and Kashiwadenominoiratsume. In the story, she was the very image of her father, Prince Umayado, but she was congenitally handicapped and took over her father's supernatural power.
Prince Yamashiro no oe
In this story, he was a son of SOGA no Emishi and Tojiko. He grew up being loved by Prince Umayado as well, since Umayado knew that he was a son of Emishi. He also showed a presence as a politician.
SOGA no Iruka
He was a child left behind by Futohime's death. Although he and Prince Yamashiro no oe had been close friends since childhood, he is also portrayed as a rival in love over Tsukishime.
Tsukishime no himemiko
She was a daughter of Prince Umayado and Kashiwadenominoiratsume. In this story, children who were actually descended from Umayado were children of TACHIBANA no Ooiratsume and Kashiwadenominoiratsume only, and Tsukishime no himemiko was the first child of Umayado and Kashiwadenominoiratsume. Many of their children were born with some kind of intellectual disabilities, but Tsukishime and Ohatsuse are portrayed as characters who exceptionally inherited a part of Umayado's impressive ability. In the story, she became a wife of Prince Yamashiro no oe and they were compatible married couple. However, with the appearance of Umaya no himemiko, a rift started to open up between them.
Ohatsuse no Oji
He was a son of Prince Umayado and Kashiwadenominoiratsume. He looked like Kume, a younger brother of Prince Umayado. He was also regarded as a person of high caliber same as Tsukishime no himemiko. In this story, he fell in love with a younger sister-uterine, Umaya no himemiko and was tormented by love.
Naniwa no Oji
Satomi no Himemiko
She was a younger maternal half-sister. Her father was Prince Tame, Umayado's older paternal half-brother. She was an excellent urabe (diviner) and she resembled her mother, Hashihito no Himemiko closely. She had gotten on the wrong side of Umayado.
Mainichi shimbun netsuzo hodo jiken (Incident of fabricated report by Mainichi Shimbun)
In the January 24, 1984 issue of the the local news page of the whole nation edition of Mainichi Shinbun, the article which said Horyu-ji Temple deplored this manga under the headline of "Oh my god! Is this really Prince Shotoku" and "Horyu-ji Temple got steamed up" appeared, but this was a fabricated report by a press person of the Nara branch. In the February 4th issue in the same year, a written apology was printed on paper.