Thoughts from Episode 62: Back to the Daigokuden

There’s a fire in the palace! After seeing Genkaku starting the fire last time, Sara now comes running to alert the Emperor – dressed in Suiren’s spare clothes. That means that throughout the chapter, both Sara and Suiren are recognised by others as “Sarasoju”.

While the original Sara – the one who has been known to all as “Suiren” since Episode 33 but let’s call him Sara 1 this time – gives instructions inside the palace, the other one – the one we know as Suiren but let’s call her Sara 2 – is on the way to see the unconscious Yoshino no Miya together with San no Hime. San no Hime defies the hesitant priests looking after Yoshino and takes him away by force; he shows signs of life before she transports him away to the Suzakuin on horseback.

Taking advantage of the fire, bandits dressed as tengu show up to wreak havoc. Just as Sara 1 is about to evacuate the Emperor by palanquin, the bandits attack, causing them to change plans and head for the Daigokuden instead. Meanwhile, Sara 2 is giving orders to fight the bandits off. Tsuwabuki offers to lead those efforts, allowing Sara 2 to go looking for the Emperor.

When Sara 2 reaches the top of the Daigokuden, she finds the Emperor and Sara 1 there. Finally, their secret is revealed, but the Emperor isn’t angry. After he successfully prays for rain and adjusts Sara 1’s hair and clothes to look more feminine again and avoid anyone knowing what has happened, they all leave happily. The Emperor allows Sara 1 into his own palanquin and announces that Sara 1 is to be one of his ladies from now on.

Aaaand breathe! This action-packed chapter is effectively the climax of the series, returning once more to the subject of Sara and Suiren’s “curse” and bringing major plot points to an end, leaving just a few loose ends to tie up over the remaining chapters. And fittingly, it calls back very clearly to the chapter where the “curse” was first introduced.

In Episode 3, Sara has dreams where a tengu tells him that he and Suiren are cursed, prior to an ominous eclipse. Hoping that he can break the curse by confronting the eclipse directly, he goes to top of the Daigokuden, pursued by Tsuwabuki, and meets the then-Togu (later the Emperor) who is inspired by the idea. Togu uses a Kundali crystal ball given to him by the then-Emperor (later Suzakuin) to pray for rain clouds, protecting everyone from the eclipse.

This time, Sara has the crystal ball, which has already helped him survive attacks by an entranced Yuzuru and Genkaku, and returns it to the Emperor at the Daigokuden. The Emperor relies on its power again to tackle the new calamity of the fire in the palace. Having suggested in Episode 15 that the efficacy of the crystal ball against the eclipse was dependant on the will of the heavens, he again interprets the outcome as an expression of divine judgement:

Panels from volume 13, page 72.

©Chiho Saito／Shogakukan

The EMPEROR looks down in surprise to see both siblings kneeling, with SARA reverently holding the crystal ball up to him.

SARA                         The crystal ball Your Highness entrusted to me…

                                        Let me return it to you, along with my title of naishi no kami!!

SUIREN                   I, too…

                                        deceived everyone and betrayed Your Highness's trust!

                                        My actions are unforgivable…

Both are shown from the front, bowing, with SARA passionately raising his voice.

BOTH                        Let us atone for our sins by taking vows!

Closeups shows the EMPEROR looking at them gravely, then accepting the crystal ball. He holds it up to the light, revealing the Kundali image inside.

EMPEROR             Why don't we consult… the heavens?

And once the clouds gather to begin extinguishing the flames, it becomes clear that the Emperor has no intention of delivering any kind of punishment. When the chapter ends, he even tells Sara that he believes the siblings’ curse to be broken.

So we have plenty of the same elements: the Daigokuden, Sara and the Emperor, a threat, the Kundali crystal ball, a successful prayer, the tengu’s curse. With the tengu bandits attacking the capital, there are actually repeated references to the supposed origin of the curse.

But there’s a twist: this time there is not one “Sara”, but two. This is, of course, the later important instance of the siblings dressing as each other that I mentioned previously. As in the earlier cases, there is a sense of this being a special power that the two have. In choosing to put on Sara 2’s clothes, Sara 1 thinks of this as something he has the ability to do in this moment. He also perceives the clothes not simply as “Suiren’s”, but more significantly as “the general’s” – this suggests that rather than being a specific individual, “the general” is someone that Sara 1 can become in this time of need.

This also ties in with the existing idea of the siblings as effectively one person, or two halves of a whole. Indeed, when they’re both hard at work in this chapter, an impressed group of ladies comment on how “the general” appears to be everywhere at once. I’ve described the siblings’ ability to switch places as a “superpower” before, and in this chapter, that’s genuinely how it appears to the people around them!

When the rain falls, the Emperor tells them that on the inside, they are Sara and Suiren, regardless of whether they appear as a man or a woman. What makes them unusual is also what the Emperor treasures about them, now that his suspicions have finally been confirmed. Perhaps this is the real meaning of their curse having been lifted: the secret that has tormented them all this time has been exposed, but the Emperor – and the heavens – determines that they should be cherished, not punished, for being as they are, and that great burden is now gone.