I like samurai, I like drawing, I like otome games, I like magical girl/boys transformation sequences.
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In the Nobuspawns otome of my dreams, one of them would be like the trope where it's like "he closed off his heart because he's seen what love can do to someone and it's bad and he's scared of it".
Like, it can be the condescending "this is so stupid" type, or the "always fooling around" playboy, or the depressing emo kid type, so it can run with any of the 3 hellspawns.
Ah, but I feel like I'm really bad with otome/shoujo romance tropes? It might end up being awful if I'm the one writing LOL.
YOOOOOOOOOOOOOO the 2026 Taiga drama is about Hidenaga!!!
"Toyotomi Brothers" the title says
The summary seems alright, since it said the brothers were dreaming of a world with no fighting and stuff, but fffffssss... Hoping with all my might that it won't have an "evulz Hideyoshi" plot, because it's all portrayed in such baseless ways and sensationalised and I just hate them.
Like, I generally don't mind a narrative of someone with good intentions get caught up in difficult situation, and has simply could not take the mental strain and just deteriorate. I'm ok with it with Nobu and Hide both. It's just... I don't know if it's just the culture of Japanese storytelling in general to be overdramatic, or if Japanese writers are just too tied to tropes.
All of the so-called "realistic" attempt of Sengoku adaptations are still so tropey as hell and I just had to nope out.
I sure damn hope this drama won't be about "Hidenaga watches in despair as his brother slowly turn evil".
Genmei (661-721) was Japan's fourth empress regnant. She was Empress Jitō's half-sister and her match in terms of ambition and political skills. Her rule was characterized by a development of culture and innovations.
Ruling after her son
Like Jitō (645-703), Genmei was the daughter of Emperor Tenji but was born from a different mother. Jitō was both her half-sister and mother-in-law since Genmei had married the empress’ son, Prince Kusakabe (662-689). She had a son with him, Emperor Monmu (683-707).
Kusakabe died early and never reigned, which led to Jitō's enthronement. The empress was then succeeded by her grandson Monmu. The latter’s reign was short. In his last will, he called for his mother to succeed him in accordance with the “immutable law” of her father Tenji. Genmei accepted.
Steadfast and ambitious
Genmei was made from the same mold as her half-sister. She proved to be a fearless sovereign, undeterred by military crises.
She pursued Jitō's policies, strengthening the central administration and keeping the power in imperial hands. Among her decisions were the proscription of runaway peasants and the restriction of private ownership of mountain and field properties by the nobility and Buddhist temples.
Another of her achievements was transferring the capital at Heijō-kyō (Nara) in 710, turning it into an unprecedented cultural and political center. Her rule saw many innovations. Among them were the first attempt to replace the barter system with the Wadō copper coins, new techniques for making brocade twills and dyeing and the settlement of experimental dairy farmers.
A protector of culture
Genmei sponsored many cultural projects. The first was the Kojiki, written in 712 it told Japan’s history from mythological origins to the current rulers. In its preface, the editor Ō no Yasumaro praised the empress:
“Her Imperial Majesty…illumines the univers…Ruling in the Purple Pavillion, her virtue extends to the limit of the horses’ hoof-prints…It must be saif that her fame is greater than that of Emperor Yü and her virtue surpasses that of Emperor Tang (legendary emperors of China)”.
In 713, she ordered the local governments to collect local legends and oral traditions as well as information about the soil, weather, products and geological and zoological features. Those local gazetteers (Fudoki) were an invaluable source of Japan’s ancient tradition.
Several of Genmei’s poems are included in the Man'yōshū anthology, including a reply by one of the court ladies.
Listen to the sounds of the warriors' elbow-guards;
Our captain must be ranging the shields to drill the troops.
– Genmei Tennō
Reply:
Be not concerned, O my Sovereign;
Am I not here,
I, whom the ancestral gods endowed with life,
Next of kin to yourself
– Minabe-hime
From mother to daughter
Genmei abdicated in 715 and passed the throne to her daughter, empress Genshō (680-748) instead of her sickly grandson prince Obito. This was an unprecedented situation, making the Nara period the pinnacle of female monarchy in Japan.
Genmei would oversee state affairs until she died in 721. Before her death, she shaved her head and became a nun, becoming the first Japanese monarch to take Buddhist vows and establishing a long tradition.
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Further reading
Shillony Ben-Ami, Enigma of the Emperors Sacred Subservience in Japanese History
Tsurumi Patricia E., “Japan’s early female emperors”
Aoki Michiko Y., "Jitō Tennō, the female sovereign",in: Mulhern Chieko Irie (ed.), Heroic with grace legendary women of Japan
There's this early 2010s-ish Japanese band I listen to, where they sing in English, but they do provide the "original" Japanese translation of the lyrics. Presumably, they don't use a pro-translator for it. Heck, it might even be just whatever old version of Google/Yahoo translator.
Because part of the lyrics go like this:
I have to be anymore, I grad to see you, I believe, I want you say. It is destiny to meet you.
The Japanese text for this part:
君と出会ったのは運命だと思う
人と人つながりはとても大事なことだ
(Translation: I felt that meeting you was destiny. Human connections is a very important matter)
The "it's destiny to meet you" part was fine, but I have no idea how you get that "I have to be anymore" first half from the lyrics. It doesn't even make any sense at all 😭💀
It feels like whatever machine translated this just completely skipped the "human connections" line and accidentally translated the "I feel it's destiny to meet you" TWICE, but with different (very badly phrased) sentences somehow.
Why would it become the 7th? If 19th April is the Julian calendar, we're supposed to add 13 days to get the Gregorian date, not subtract. That means bread day isn't here until 2nd May.