Part
1: Fan Fiction
In his sleep he whispers like a hissing
snake, ‘Sssakura, my cherry blosssom’ rolling over, his fat meaty arm crushes
my chest and the stench of sake burns
my throat. The rolling of the ship makes my mind swim further into confusion at
the events of the two days: Okaasan’s
screams as the village of Nissaka-shuku
went up in flames, licking her body as she
writhed against the rope that held her, and then pirates took all the young
women as they continued to rampage along the Tōkaidō
coastal route. I hold my breath,
smothering my face into the sheets hoping to suffocate myself. I know what will
happen, they will use us as they will until they grow bored and sell us into
the brothels, fetching whatever price they can get. Either way my life is
condemned. My throat tears at itself and my lungs burn; I come up gasping. The big snake rears his arm and wraps itself
around my body drawing me closer. Perhaps if I can’t kill myself, he will.
I hold my breath again, and then the tears
start, I try to keep silent. I refuse to let him see me as weak; I am not his
cherry blossom, I am no one’s except my own.
The smell of seaspray enters on the breeze
through the window and it calms my senses but brings up anger at the same time.
My mother, my Okaasan, would not let
me succumb to this, I know am better and this imbecile has no right over me. I
was raised without a father and I vowed to never allow a man to have power over
me. Okaasan did not deserve to die
the way that she did and I do not deserve to be here. I feel rage bubbling up
through my entire being and I look at the useless waste of a man lying next to
me. So drunk he fell asleep with his eboshi
still on. I sit up slowly, blessing the lack of food for my slight frame
allowing me to be light and silent. I look around squinting through the dark
attempting to see what may be fit for an escape trying to recollect the layout
of the ship. It is a small ship, with about twelve men, it seems two of them
are in the cabin with me. Surprise will be my advantage, surprise and doing it
silently. There’s a glint of silver in the moonlight, a sword lying on the
ground but inches from a limp arm. Taking a deep breath I climb over the
sleeping mound next to me, I hold my breath; someone coughs. I freeze. Involuntarily,
my eyes shut tightly waiting for a blow. The cough turns into a sniffle, I open
my eyes and look across the room. A small dark haired figure in the corner. The
glow of her skin tells me she’s naked. The sniffles, turn into quiet but panicked
sobs.
‘Shhhh!’ I whisper loudly.
The bulk below me repositions himself knocking
me over the edge of the bed onto the wooden floor. My face feels as if its
cracked but I lay dead still, waiting for one of the men to wake up. A minute
passes, nothing happens, I start pull myself but then I feel someone next to
me. They pull the hair a way from my face and like lightning I grab hold of
their wrist; my fingers wrap right around it. I gasp, and my attacker emits a
squeak. I pull myself up and pull them down, moving the hair out of my face and
then I see Aki! Aki!
‘Sakura!’ Her eyes are wide, and I can see her
chest rise and fall faster and faster as she starts to hyperventilate.
‘Aki! sshhh’ I pull her close, stroking her
back whispering, ‘We are going to get out of here, but I need you to be strong
ok. No more crying until this is over.’
She nods.
‘Who else is here with us?’ she shakes her
head in confusion and her eyes well up.
‘Its ok, just keep quiet until I call you ok.
Stand still.’
I crouch down next to the second sleeping man
and inch the sword away from his dirt-encrusted hand. Standing up I see a piece
of discarded cloth. I remember how Okaasan
taught me how to hold it over the goats’ nostrils before the slaughter
because its desperate bleating caused her distress. Turning to Aki, I motion
for her to come closer.
‘Our advantage is surprise and silence, now
watch closely.’ I show her how to hold the cloth, making sure it covers both
mouth and nose tightly. ‘Press extra hard, I’ll drive the sword into his chest,
where the heart is. I’ll be fast’.
We approach the man, his breathing deep and
rhythmical in drunken sleep.
‘On my count: Ichi...ni..san!’
Aki’s entire body exerts pressure onto the
sleeping man’s face, his legs and arms thrash first as I plunge the sword deep
into his chest, his eyes are wide and then dead before the blood can spill from
his lips. I wrench the sword out, my arms shaking like reeds in the wind. I
look at Aki, her face now the colour of white rice.
I hold a finger to my lips, telling her to
keep quiet and then point over at the bed where I was sleeping. She shakes her
head: no.
I tip toe over to her, whispering urgently,
‘If we don’t kill him, he is going to kill us. Aki! I’ll count again.’
The man snores in slumber causing us both to
jump. Aki looks at me, nods.
Creeping over, she positions herself over him
and I take a stance ready to hit hard.
‘Ichi, ni, san!’
The cloth covers his face, but Aki’s elbows give in and the sleeping
man’s flailing arms catch her in the
face knocking her over. I blindly plunge the sword into his chest, missing his
heart but injuring him all the same. The blood spurts warm across my face,
dripping. I grab Aki and head for the door.
The night is clear and warm but I imagine the man breathing down my neck
and I have to act fast. Then I see the wasen!
‘Aki! Come!’
We push the canoe overboard and jump in, paddling as fast as possible
into the silent night. No one screams after us, no one comes after us. I stare
defiantly at the ship. My am no longer Sakura. I am not a delicate cherry
blossom. I am Lady Eboshi.
Glossary:
(I have no experience with the Japanese language so these translations
are taken directly from a Google search for the means of this assessment – I
hope they are accurate.)
eboshi – a form of hat worn by
the gyoji presiding over a wrestling match.
Ichi...ni..san – One, two three
Nissaka-shuku - was the twenty-fifth of the
fifty-three stations of the Tōkaidō.
Okaasan – mother
Sake -
Japanese
rice wine
Tōkaidō – the most important of the Five
Routes of the Edo period, connecting Edo (modern-day Tokyo)
to Kyoto in Japan. The Tōkaidō
travelled along the sea coast of eastern Honshū.
wasen – Traditional Japanse
boat/canoe
Part 2: Exegesis
In terms of ‘world-building’ (Horrocks,
2004) I chose to focus on the character of Lady Eboshi in Miyazaki’s Princess Mononoke (1997). The word ‘eboshi’ was traditionally the hat
worn by a gyoji (referee) presiding over a sumo match – in the
film Lady Eboshi may be seen as the gyogi
forcing the match between man and nature. I wanted to
explore the past of her character because it was unusual to have a dominant,
ruling female figure in the era that the film is set. Additionally, she is an
aggressive yet nurturing leader – aiming to destroy San, the forest and
everything natural while rescuing the outliers of society (prostitutes and
lepers) and she has no fear of the gods (traditionally more male than female
characters). This suggests to me that Lady Eboshi had a traumatic history and
also has a lot of anger towards patriarchal figures.
Focusing on ‘The Hero’s Journey’ (Vogler,
1992), my fan fiction is set in Act 1. I gave her the name of Sakura, meaning
‘cherry blossom’, in order to show that once she did have a softer, gentler
part of her personality however, this changed when she was kidnapped and
traumatised by pirates. Act 1 proceeds
through limited awareness, increased awareness and reluctance to change
(paragraph 1: Sakura recounts the events of the last few days, realises her
fate and descends into a state of helplessness wanting to kill herself). In
paragraph two, her helplessness turns to anger and proceeds to take action in
gathering her courage, rescuing Aki, killing the two pirates and escaping to
where she is committing/crossing the threshold to becoming Lady Eboshi.
In Vogler’s seven character archetypes,
Sakura (Lady Eboshi) embodies characteristics of The Hero. Initially she
provokes the audience into feeling sympathy for her situation, however to an
extent she transcends the Freudian ego from helplessness to rescuing both
herself and Aki and overcoming the obstacle of escaping the pirates. Within my fan
fiction, she is the most active character in her search for wholeness and a new
identity; she is mostly independent thereby furthering the hero archetype.
Sakura’s mother (Okaasan) acts as The Mentor. Although pirates had murdered her, the
memory of her is what motivates, Sakura to escape. She is a positive figure who
brought up Sakura independently of her husband (no one knows what happened to
him) but Sakura subconsciously feels abandoned and refuses to rely on any male.
In a sense, Sakura’s Okaasan is her
inner guide.
The Threshold Guardians are the pirates.
They are male and are Sakura's traumatisers who embody, and symbolically
represent, her neuroses and anger towards patriarchy. Additionally they
represent the obstacle of escape.
Lastly, Aki is The Herald. She adds urgency
to the plot because Sakura now has someone to rescue other than just herself –
psychologically she is Sakura’s ‘call to change’, to act. The successful escape
and rescue of Aki allows Sakura to shed her delicate, cherry blossom persona
and become Lady Eboshi, the independent, matriarch of Iron Town.
