#poor buzen

[ask-saniwas]

Aide!bot

Ouch, seems the bird put me the wrong place. My clothes got soaked. Not funny.

[otaku-mama73]

Scattered thoughts on Toumyu Tokyo Kokoro Oboe

This written mess isn’t intended to be a guide as others have so helpfully done, but instead a loose (and possibly misguided?) interpretation of certain scenes and themes that struck me while trying to make sense of Tokyo Kokoro Oboe. 

Much of my focus will be on THE GIRL, Ota Dokan and yamabuki. Toumyu’s been a feast of testosterone, and still will continue to be so, but to finally have a feminine presence not only appear, but make such a HUGE impression is just wonderful.

(Spoilers beyond this point!)

TOUMYU X NOH

This isn’t the first time Toumyu has framed their play in traditional Japanese theatre. SOGA was stylized as a neo-kabuki retelling. Tokyo Kokoro Oboe is essentially a Noh play, namely a “Mugen,” or phantasmal category of Noh plays. A quick wiki search describes it as such:

Mugen Noh (夢幻能, "supernatural Noh") involves supernatural worlds, featuring gods, spirits, ghosts, or phantasms in the shite role. Time is often depicted as passing in a non-linear fashion, and action may switch between two or more timeframes from moment to moment, including flashbacks.

That's basically TKO in a nutshell, right?

Within the first few minutes of the play and the girl’s appearance, we get a sense that something is off and we’re definitely in for a wild ride. We are faced with an otherworldly sight of this girl in a Noh mask walking toward a thin stream of sand silently falling into a pile from the dark moon-filled sky. One can tell that this girl is young, as she is dressed in a simple muted pink traditional kimono. She is wearing a non-menacing Noh mask consistent with that of a common young girl. There are numerous tales of young females in Noh plays and perhaps there might be a connection to one of these many stories. However, a consistent theme throughout these Noh plays is that the character in the Noh mask is a spirit trying to convey something to a traveler, or in this case, to Suishinshi.

I looked into the roles of females in Noh plays and found that women roles belong in a specific category of plays known as “kazura mono,” or (wig plays):

“The woman category is also known as kazura mono (wig noh). It is the central noh in the gohbandate and is usually about the ghost of a woman and the themes center around love and suffering. Often the ghost is condemned to wander the earth trapped somehow by the love that she feels.” 

(https://www.the-noh.com/en/world/forms.html)

Going by these descriptions, I can’t help but wonder if there are parallels between the Girl and Mikazuki now. Yes, she’s a feminine character, while Mika is obviously not, but it’s like the role she has may be similar to the role or whatever burden of love that Mikazuki has taken upon himself. Mikazuki has been meddling and trying to manipulate history by saving or affecting the lives of those significant to history or not. The idea of “history as a flowing river with streams running to the side” mentioned is really telling here. The Girl is like a guide also showing to us and to Suishinshi the lives and moments of those might be lesser known. Ota Dokan being one (which I’ll get to later). Not to mention perhaps trying to address the forgotten souls of the abandoned timeline.

I also can’t ignore that moment where the Girl suddenly appears in place of the projected image of Mikazuki for that brief moment after his confrontation with Suishinshi. There is a connection that Toumyu wants us to make. Just exactly what is completely up to interpretation.

THE GIRL and OTA DOKAN and YAMABUKI

The Girl only appears to interact with only Suishinshi and Ota Dokan in Myu8. Everyone else seems to be unaware of her presence when she appears. While she appears as an otherworldly spirit, she also plays an actual role in an incident that is documented in anecdotes in Dokan’s life. In the scene, the Girl is dancing in the background waving a branch of yamabuki flowers. At the end of the scene, she wordlessly offers that branch to Dokan, who takes it, looks at it questionably without acknowledging the GIRL, and walks away. The GIRL then looks at Suishinshi and skips away. 

In actual history, there is an account that follows: 

“Here is also very famous episode about Ota Dokan 太田道灌(1432-1486), popular general in the Muromachi Period.　

One day, he made a hunting trip and was caught in a sudden shower.

He rushed into a shabby dwelling and shouted to lend him a straw raincoat.

A young girl appeared and gave him a branch of yamabuki without saying anything.

Dokan got angry and returned home in the rain.

In that night, he told the story to his follower.

Then, he explained the story of the poetry of Prince Kaneakira and inferred that the girl compared poverty to the blossom of yamabuki and wanted to say

"I am so sorry, but I am poor and doesn't have any raincoat."

Dokan was shocked to hear that and ashamed lack of wit.

After that he started to learn waka poetry.”

(http://kikuko-nagoya.com/html/yamabuki.html)

The poetry of Prince Kanekira mentioned is also recited later by Dokan towards the end of the play during his last scene in a conversation with Buzen and Samidare where Suishinshi asks who and why Dokan built Edo Castle for:

“Nanae Yae Hana wa Sakedomo Yamabuki no Mi no (Mino) Hitotsu dani Naki zo Kanashiki”

Translated to:

“Yamabuki blooms with a wealth of petals; However yet in spite of this,

Sad to say, bears no fruits (straw raincoat)”

The source explains that this poem contains a double entendre:

“[Mi in "Mi no" means fruits] [no in "Mi no" is particle] [Mino means a straw raincoat]”

There is SO much to unpack here. Yamabuki, as a flower, is said to be fruitless. Yet it is also a flower mentioned in numerous instances of Japanese poetry to describe spring scenery and the concept of beauty found in imperfections. Is Dokan implying here that he built Edo castle as a homage to the common girl who presented him with that branch? For the common people? For the forgotten? We also learn that Kuwana took Murokumo’s idea and planted yamabuki in the abandoned world in another scene and wonders if the seeds will grow. Kumo initially wanted to abandon that idea, thinking that flowers aren’t very useful, but Kuwana, ever so in tune with the earth, apparently liked the idea of planting a so-called useless, fruitless flower in an abandoned world. We later see the Girl dancing in a field of yamabuki blooms to great effect, so I’d like to believe that Kuwana was successful in getting those seeds to grow.

Here, the idea that the importance of even the forgotten, minor characters, the “side streams” of life are just as significant, or beautiful, is highlighted. It’s related to the burden that Mikazuki is carrying, bringing to light or saving those that might seem less important or forgotten.

Also of note is Samidare’s scenes with Dokan, which is actually very deliberate and just delightful. Remember the origin story mentioned before about Dokan being caught in the RAIN (Amesan- ha, ha) and asking for a raincoat but being offered a yamabuki branch by a common girl? I’d love a full translation of their duet, but I have a feeling it’s just going to be poetry sung back and forth by these two bards. Samidare also was present when Buzen killed Dokan in order to preserve history. The GIRL returns to lay a yamabuki branch on Dokan’s body and Samidare recites a haiku from his favorite Matsuo Bashuo:

“Horo horo to Yamabuki chiru ka Taki no oto” Or “Quietly, quietly Yellow mountain roses (yamabuki) fall Sound of the rapids”

(https://basho-yamadera.com/en/yamadera/horohoro/)

The source explains that the haiku is a travel narrative written by Bashuo upon view of the Nishiko waterfall, seeing yellow petals scattered despite it being a calm, windless day. Perhaps Samidare thought to recite this haiku because he was struck by how sudden Dokan’s death was, both in the way Buzen slew him and also in true history where Dokan was falsely accused of disloyalty and assassinated. No matter the interpretation, the imagery of yamabuki and Dokan will forever be linked.

I’m still trying to parse out how all of this affects the Myu storyline as a whole, but this Toumyu, more than any other, was heavy with imagery and wanted to challenge viewers with making those connections. What’s really special is that every interpretation is valid and there is always something new to discover upon each rewatch. TKO truly focuses on little forgotten or unrealized details and literally makes them shine. 

If you made it to this point here, I’m really sorry! And also thanks for reading through!