Thoughts from Episode 26: Togu or not Togu?

As I suggested last week, palace politics come up as an important thread in Episode 26. But first, if you thought things were awkward between Suiren and Togu after the shrine incident, wait until you see them now!

After the dramatic kiss that ended volume 5, Suiren quickly takes her leave, fearing that there is no return for her. She later calls in sick, prompting Togu to visit her, wanting to understand her feelings but not knowing how to ask. Togu instead asks about the story Suiren is writing – which sounds like it might resemble Torikae baya – and Suiren hastily stops her from reading it, causing her to leave.

Elsewhere in the palace, complaints are ramping up about Togu not being available for ceremonies, while old man Fujiwara once again unsubtly hints that the Emperor should take Suiren as a wife and produce a new heir. And when Suiren later visits her parents, she learns that he has come around to that point of view too. Suiren decides she must do something… which we will find out more about in another episode.

There’s a lot of talk in this chapter about succession. We hear about the idea of replacing Togu, the official successor to the Emperor, who is still hoping to have a son one day. There’s even a brief discussion of having someone take over Sara’s “empty” position as General, but the Emperor is determined to wait until he returns.

As a reminder, the current Emperor has reigned since Episode 6, when there was a bit of shuffling around of roles. The previous Emperor abdicated, moving to a residence called the Suzakuin, which has also since been used as a sort of name for him. His younger brother, the then crown prince (or Togu 東宮) took his place, and Suzakuin’s daughter became Togu. That a girl took on that role was immediately considered notable – as I mentioned much much earlier, she is referred to as 女東宮 (girl crown prince), and the original Torikaebaya monogatari may be the first place this wording was used. And in the time since, that’s something that random court officials have been seen to take issue with. They scoff at her efforts to do her job, and when she isn’t around to do her job in this chapter, they insinuate (predictably) that it’s “that time of the month”.

Just as reigning female emperors were a rarity in Japanese history and always qualified through the male bloodline, the current Togu in Torikae baya is expected to just keep the seat warm as a temporary measure. The ideal scenario is that the Emperor will finally have a suitable (male) heir who can take over. Some hope that a new wife will help make that happen, but at this point in the story, there is now significant chat about replacing her immediately with an alternative. Even her allies don’t particularly want her remaining in the role, noting that as a female Togu, she is prevented from living a more normal life. While they want to protect her from criticism, they also feel it would be in her best interests to be relieved from the position.

However, as obvious as it seems that our Togu won’t remain the Togu indefinitely, this chapter also reminds us that she is in fact first in line to the throne. When Suiren panics after the kiss, she says to herself, “she’s the future Emperor!” There are later points as well that point out the degree of responsibility she has.

Incidentally, I keep saying “emperor” because the words used in Japanese (including 帝, 天皇) for the reigning monarch are the same, regardless of the gender of the officeholder – as is the case with “Togu”, for that matter. And I think this is part of why this Togu is such an interesting character! Just like Sara and Suiren, she is someone in a role supposedly inappropriate for her, but she still carries it out to the best of her ability.

But all this talk about imperial succession doesn’t just go away. This becomes a major storyline later on, and we also learn just now that it’s not the first time in living memory. When the people at court talk about replacing Togu in this chapter, Shikibu-kyo no Miya, a brother-in-law of the Emperor, seems a popular candidate, but he is quick to rule himself out. He reminds the others of a scandal ten-plus years earlier, when a succession dispute led a “good man” to leave the capital and go to Yoshino. Now who could that be? I’ll just leave it there for now and let you ponder the significance of that... 😉