Blogging about my Torikae baya manga translation project.
The more things change…
In a post a few weeks ago, I wrote about how I’d been going through some of the various modern Japanese translations and adaptations of Torikaebaya monogatari, notably including the 1986-88 manga Za Chenji! That got me talking about how that and Saito’s Torikae baya relate to each other and the source material, and how closely or not they follow the details of the original story.
But because of the inclusion of another manga to compare with, I didn’t really get that much into specifics of what does and doesn’t change when going from Torikaebaya monogatari to Torikae baya – even though that’s something that has actually been on my mind quite a bit as I’ve re-explored the story! With that in mind, today’s post looks at aspects of the adjustments that Saito makes to the original Torikaebaya monogatari in adapting it, with a focus on examples that have a kind of “streamlining” effect.
Back to school
At the University of Edinburgh, where I’m working on my PhD (and where I also do part-time teaching!), staff are currently on strike as the latest part of a long-running dispute to avoid redundancies which are ostensibly required despite the university’s notable wealth. There’s also been quite a bit of noise about the university’s plans to put an end to dozens of programmes by the end of the 2026-2027 academic year. This has been met with public backlash, which the senior management in their infinite wisdom appear not to have anticipated. It isn’t the ideal backdrop when I’m expecting to complete my degree within the next year and somehow make some professional use of it afterwards…
Because of all this, I write today’s post with the subject of education very much on my mind. And while I’ve written a couple of times lately about the educational angle of Torikae baya, I realise I’ve said very little about education in the manga. So what was education like for the people of the Heian court?
Changes and ‘Za Chenji!’
If you’ve read any of my previous blog posts, you’ll have realised that the original Torikaebaya monogatari is quite old – definitely old enough for a few versions of the tale to have made the rounds. In the last few weeks, I’ve mostly been reading/rereading some of the different translations and adaptations that exist. So on that note, let’s take a look at the other manga adaptation of Torikaebaya monogatari: Yamauchi Naomi’s Za Chenji!
Reading above the lines
Last week, I was reviewing the paper I presented at the InTO MANGA conference back in January. That paper looks at how Saito deals with and takes advantage of the differences between the source and target media in adapting Torikaebaya monogatari, using various examples I’ve discussed to at least some extent on the blog. But I noticed one thing that I only bring up briefly in the paper and have barely mentioned on the blog either. So today, I’d like to set that straight and talk about furigana!
Torikae baya as… yuri?
After explaining what makes Torikae baya a shōjo manga and suggesting some benefits of looking at it as a gakushū manga, I want to discuss Torikae baya in terms of genre just a little bit more. First, I should admit that while Saito Chiho’s manga career and available information about Flowers magazine definitely point towards the shōjo category and there are at least some people vouching for Torikae baya as gakushū manga, the basis for categorising it as yuri (百合) is more dubious. Basically, this idea comes from a fairly throwaway remark Saito made in a joint interview with Revolutionary Girl Utena director Ikuhara Kunihiko, saying that there might be “relatively yuri-esque” (割と百合っぽい) aspects in Torikae baya. As such, I’m not being entirely serious about defining it in this way, but let’s see where this takes us!
Torikae baya as gakushu manga
Last week, I wrote about the importance of the shōjo genre/format as context for Torikae baya, and in the process, I spent a bit of time justifying my decision to define Torikae baya as a shōjo manga at all. This time, I don’t exactly throw all that in the bin, but I do want to say a bit about how else we might categorise this series.
Torikae baya as shojo manga
This post looks a bit at genre/publishing format and why this information might be useful when thinking about Torikae baya. I’ve referred to this series as “shōjo manga” in a few places – conferences, the about page of this site – but this isn’t necessarily a straightforward assertion, and it also carries some implications with it.
How do we talk about Sara and Suiren?
A challenge that inevitably comes up when discussing any version of Torikaebaya monogatari is working out how best to refer to the two central characters. In the story itself, people are generally known by their job titles, but those change over the course of the narrative, and significantly, the siblings take on each other’s former roles partway through. This is tricky for readers in both Japanese and English (and presumably other languages too).
Afterword: The Afterwords
Now that I’ve got through talking about each chapter of Torikae baya one by one, this seems like a good time to say a bit more about the afterwords that appear in every volume! I’ve previously mentioned these “Atogaki baya” sections in passing, but what exactly are they?
More thoughts from Episode 65: The End
The time has come! As promised last week, this post goes over the second half of the 65th (and final) chapter, with a bit of commentary on where we’ve ended, why it’s interesting and what comes next for this project.