Onmyoji Fascination

Silly hats: all part of the charm!

In 2001, when I was living in Japan, I happened to catch a preview for a movie that looked intriguing.  Heian period clothing, magic, folklore - right up my alley, in fact.  I had no idea what an Onmyoji was, but I thought the movie might be a good, possibly cheesy, diversion for an afternoon.  And indeed, it was (both good and cheesy).  It also rapidly became one of my favorite movies.  It's not a paragon of film making by any stretch, but the story is a great example of Japanese historical sci fi.

So, what's the big deal?  They took their vengeful spirits very seriously in the Heian period, and the magic of onmyodo was a part of courtly life (in fact, there was a bureau that oversaw the practice and regulation of onmyodo...too bad that doesn't still exist!).  The movie is about a Merlin-like character named Abe no Seimei, who is one of a number of court magicians/spirit exorcists, and the unlikely friendship he forms with Minamoto no Hiromasa, an affable and somewhat bumbling nobleman.  They have a Sherlock Holmes/Watson dynamic, and Hiromasa helpfully provides the audience with  the layperson's view into the dynamics of courtly intrigue and Abe no Seimei's magic.

"Hiromasa, dude....pretty sure you're not supposed to touch that."

The capital has started to become overrun with demons, vengeful spirits, and other badness, and the Imperial family in particular sees the worst of these occurrences.  Seimei and Hiromasa track down the source of these disturbances...and wacky hijinks ensue.  Both of these characters actually existed in history, although it's questionable whether or not they were friends.  

The movie itself is based on the novel of the same name, by Japanese sci fi writer Baku Yumemakura.  Having loved the movie (and the sequel), I wanted to track down the book.  Unfortunately, an English translation doesn't exist (that I know about).  My Japanese is pretty rusty, but I'm hoping to try translating this thing.  It's going to be a fairly slow process, but a fun project.  I'm thinking about posting the progress on twitter as an ongoing saga that gets updated one or two sentences a day.  If I manage to be able to make any sense of the translation, I'll post the link to the twitter account here.

Flashback Reviews: Riddley Walker

Riddley Walker, written by Russell Hoban and published in 1980, is probably one of the weirdest books I've ever read.  In fact, I'm prepared to say that I didn't understand it completely, and there were parts I didn't enjoy.  So why am I reviewing it now?  Of all the sci-fi books I read as a kid, this one has stuck with me the longest.  It's a strange and haunting book, but not necessarily an accessible one.

The story is set in England, long after an apocalyptic nuclear event that has blasted the world back to the stone age.  Humanity has lost its grip on modern civilization, and the current religion is a hodgepodge of Celtic myth and Christian legend, communicated by Punch-and-Judy puppet shows and allegorical fireside tales.  St Eustace (Eusa, according to Riddley) is a prominent mythological figure and the legend of his life inspired Hoban to write the book.

Technology has devolved, and so has language...in fact, the whole book is written in Riddley's thickly accented dialect, words spelled phonetically and occasionally not very close to the original.  I had to read some sentences out loud a few times before the meaning clicked.  This will either fascinate you (as it did for me), or drive you bonkers, so reader beware.

Despite this, Riddley is an engaging narrator; he's clever (or is that clevver), and it's interesting to watch his ideas evolve.  Occasionally he struggles with how to express himself.  At one point, he says:

"I dont have nothing only words to put down on paper. Its so hard. Some times theres mor in the emty paper nor there is when you get the writing down on it. You try to word the big things and they tern ther backs on you. Yet youwl see stanning stoans and ther backs wil talk to you. " (if this quote made you want to claw your eyes out in frustration, then I'd recommend avoiding the book!)

One of my favorite theological discussions in sci-fi literature happens right at the beginning of the book - page 6, in fact.  It's poignant and colors the rest of the novel, giving Riddley surprising depth in a hard-scrabble setting where life is the classic Hobbesian "solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short."   Riddley may be a product of his devolved world, but he's not primitive.

This book isn't for everyone.  But if you're willing to take it on, there are a lot of gems here.  

8/10


Links of interest:

A better summary than I've given
An Interview with Russell Hoban on RW
Riddley Walker Annotations (very helpful - wish I'd had this when I read it.)
Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (references the book...plus, a Sci Fi Sweetheart recommendation for the sheer camp of it!)

Ready, Set, Shamble

early warning systems: our only chance

If you’re like me, you enjoy a good zombie yarn or two. At their best, they can be a fascinating look into the psychosis of constant terror and the politics of disease and warfare a la Max Brooks’ book, World War Z. As far as monsters go, they’re pretty high on the squick-meter: they’re us, only hungry, ineluctable, lizard-brain us. With more rot. But don’t worry…all they want to do is eat our brains.


I kind of like to think of zombies as the anti-vampire. Zombies, as far as the ‘enemy among us’ trope goes, are a useful palliative against the monster-with-a-heart vampire books that seem to be the recent trend. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy those kinds of books every once in a while, and will no doubt talk about some of them on this blog. However, if you want your monsters monstrous and more of the horror staple many of us have come to love, then zombies are a safe bet…and unlike certain vampiric creations, they don’t sparkle (unless they're also radioactive, and then well, you're doubly screwed).


Speaking of zombies, here’s a site that was recently introduced to me (thanks, Benn!): Tales of the Zombie War. The site is a collection of (free!) short stories and poems of zombie-related fiction. While it claims it is not strictly a fanfic site, World War Z does seem to be a major influence. Since it IS a collection of public submissions, however, browser beware – but in general the quality of the writing seems fairly high. At the very least, check out the first and second-place pieces featured.


Other fantastic ways to get your zombie fix, if you're looking for some summer reading:
Feed, by Mira Grant
Every Sigh, The End, by Jason Hornsby 
The Passage, by Justin Cronin