Assessment 2: Fanfiction & Exegesis

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.