Forum - View topicEdo Justice and Island Gods: What Hell's Paradise Gets Right (and Invents) About Historical Japan
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Gilles Poitras
Posts: 498 Location: Oakland California |
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"masterless samurai" is an oxymoron. They were masterless bushi, bushi were anyone in the warrior class. Legally defined as such during the Edo Period. Samurai are a rank within the bushi, they were the ones who had sufficient status to be allowed into the presence of their lord. Unfortunately bushi is often translated as samurai and this complicates matters.
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Aerdra
Posts: 584 |
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Thank you for taking the time to research and write this article. It provides additional context whichs lets me better appreciate the setting of Hell's Paradise.
One point I'd like to expand on is the etymology of Shinsenkyō. The name probably comes from shenxian (神仙, JP: shinsen) thought, referring to gods and immortals in ancient Chinese beliefs, which were referenced in passing a few episodes ago. These beings were said to dwell on three islands in the Bohai Sea: 蓬莱 (JP: Hourai), 方丈 (JP: Houjou), and 瀛州 (JP: Eishuu). The fictional Shinsenkyō in Hell's Paradise is divided into three regions with these same names: Hōrai, where the Tensen live; Hōjō, where the village is located; and Eishū, the forest and beach. |
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MFrontier
Posts: 20109 |
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This was really informative and interesting!
Though spoiler[way to spoil the big reveal about Rien for anime onlies though.] |
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Dumas1
Posts: 119 |
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My personal joke is that this series takes place on the mysterious, mist-bound island of Formosa. As one of the candidates for the location of Mount Penglai (JP: Horai) that happens to lie "southwest of Ryukyu," and solidly within the Sinosphere, it's as good a place as any for ninjas and sages to chop each other's bits off. I'm a bit disappointed that having two characters being sons of one of the 47 Ronin places the story quite a bit after the Dutch left Formosa.
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kgw
 Posts: 1566 Location: Spain, EU |
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A very interesting article! I do not remember if was there any shogun who did really seek the Elixir of Youth, like the First Emperor of China,
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shosakukan
Posts: 386 |
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Has manga-ka Kaku Yūji really named the place in question in the manga after the garden in Hakone? Actually, the term '神仙郷 (Shinsenkyō)' had already existed before the garden in Hakone was made. For example, in well-known book Bungaku ni Arawaretaru Waga Kokumin Shisō no Kenkyū (1917-1921), renowned scholar Tsuda Sōkichi wrote:
With the term '神仙鄕/神仙郷', Professor Tsuda has referred to a place where supernatural beings, immortals, mythical beings and the like live. As Aerdra has said, there was 〈神仙思想〉 Shénxiān/Shinsen Thought in China, and the term '神仙' was used in ancient Chinese text. For example, Lǐ Bái wrote:
(Sinologists think that 元丹丘 Taoism-wise influenced Lǐ Bái.) So when a Japanese person writes/says, '神仙,' it is possible that he/she makes the expression have Sinological connotation. On a side note, as to the way of Japanese people's writing the Japanese term 'shinsenkyō' in general in kanji, '神仙境' is more common. In ancient Japan, Yoshino (an area in the southern part of today's Nara Prefecture) was regarded as a shinsenkyō (a place where immortals live). Some people think that one of the reasons why Empress Jitō often visited Yoshino was that she wanted to receive supernatural power for longevity from Yoshino as a shinsenkyō. When a middlebrow writer on anime and manga dares to write an article which is likely to require him/her to have sufficient Japanological knowledge actually, there are cases where the result reveals that in reality his/her Japanological knowledge is insufficient. For example, in a past Ms. Answerman article, regarding the names 'Sakon' and 'Ukon', Ms Rebecca Bundy wrote:
Ms Bundy's answer is incorrect. At least, not accurate. To make a long story very short, the Imperial Court (later also feudal lords) gave titles used in the Court to bushi, and those titles and terms related to offices in the Court came to function as names (especially, commonly used names) of persons (even if the Court did not officially give the title to the person). You can see names like 'Sakon' and 'Ukon' in historical novels, historical films and the like, and those names are its examples or its relics. 'Sakon' is derived from titles related to 'Sakonefu' (the Left Guard Office of the Court), and 'Ukon' is derived from titles related to 'Ukonefu' (the Right Guard Office of the Court). Ms Bundy might have just googled the names 'Sakon' and 'Ukon', only found an article about those trees, and leapt at it. Actually, the names 'Sakon' and 'Ukon' being derived from titles related to Guard Offices of the Court is a piece of rudimentary Japanological knowledge. As to the reason why the names of those trees have the terms 'Sakon' and 'Ukon', it is that military officers from Sakonefu and Ukonefu were positioned near to those trees when ceremonies were held. People who have read the Hyouge Mono manga have probably seen daimyō Ishida Mitsunari in the manga. In a part in the diary written by priests of the 'Rokuon-in' temple, Ishida Mitsunari's name was written as 'Ishida Jibu'. The reason why his name was written as 'Ishida Jibu' in that part of the diary is that Ishida Mitsunari had a title related to the 'Jibu-shō' ministry of the Court. One of the persons who have posted messages on this thread is Mr Gilles Poitras, who is a famous writer on anime, manga and things Japanese. He is a well-read person, and he reads many books on Japanese stuff including scholarly works. When a writer on anime and manga who tends to 'phone it in' dares to write an article which is likely to require him/her to have sufficient Japanological knowledge, it may be not a bad idea that he/she learns a thing or two from Mr Poitras. |
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nvallabk
Posts: 6 |
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The oxymoron argument only works if you conflate etymological origin with legal status, which is exactly what you're doing. Yes, samurai derives from saburau (to serve), but by the Edo period the term had long ceased to function as a description of active service and become a hereditary caste designation with specific legal privileges, most notably the right to carry the daisho. A ronin retained those privileges. He kept his swords. He kept his right to kiri-sute gomen. If losing a master dissolved samurai status entirely, the Tokugawa government would have disarmed ronin and reclassified them as heimin. It didn't, because the status survived the severed contract. Your distinction between bushi (class) and samurai (rank within the class) actually undermines your own point. If ronin were merely 'masterless bushi,' you're describing every warrior from a general to an ashigaru. 'Masterless samurai' is more precise, not less, because it specifies that the person in question held elite rank before losing their lord, and didn't simply start out as generic infantry. And if the concept were truly self-contradictory, the Japanese language wouldn't have needed to invent a dedicated word for it. Ronin exists because the reality of a samurai without a master existed and demanded naming. You can't call something an oxymoron when the culture that created the institution coined a specific term for it. And before you point it out: yes, I'm aware ronin literally means "wave person"—someone who drifts without direction, like a wave on water. The metaphor only reinforces the point. The word describes a samurai unmoored from his lord, not a category error. This isn't an oxymoron. It's a status description. The doctor doesn't stop being a doctor because the hospital let him go. Last edited by nvallabk on Thu Mar 12, 2026 8:09 am; edited 1 time in total |
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nvallabk
Posts: 6 |
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It's fascinating how you've managed to write a wall of text to prove a point I never contested. Yes, the concept of Shinsenkyō as a land of immortals has roots that predate Hakone by centuries—that's not a correction, it's context I chose not to unpack in a piece about Kaku's worldbuilding choices. However, you're conflating etymological origin with creative inspiration. When I pointed to the Hakone garden, I was referencing the specific, tangible location in modern Japan that shares the name and likely served as a visual or conceptual touchstone for a modern manga-ka—not claiming Mokichi Okada invented the Japanese language in 1944. Authors of dark fantasy often bridge the gap between ancient myth and physical reality; pointing out the Hakone connection is about grounding the lore for a modern audience, not a failure to recognize Taoist roots. As for your 'middlebrow' comment—it's easy to play the scholar by copy-pasting Tsuda Sōkichi, but it's harder to understand the nuance of pop-culture analysis. You're so busy trying to prove your 'Japanological knowledge' by lecturing me on Sakon and Ukon, a comment directed at someone else entirely, that you've missed the forest for the trees. And regarding your defense of Mr. Poitras: his claim that 'masterless samurai' is an oxymoron is a semantic trap that ignores the legal and caste-based reality of the Edo period. If you're such a dedicated scholar of Japanese history, you should know that status survived the contract. I'm here to analyze how Yūji Kaku builds a world; you seem to be here to prove you own a library. One of these is useful to the readers; the other is just an ego trip. |
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nvallabk
Posts: 6 |
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Thank you! :] And that's a great question! As far as my research goes, there's no historical record of any shogun actively seeking an elixir of immortality the way Qin Shi Huang did in China. That particular pursuit was rooted in Chinese imperial tradition, and the shogun Nariyoshi's quest in the manga appears to be one of Kaku's deliberate inventions. What's fascinating, though, is that the mythology wasn't entirely foreign to Japan. The legend of Xu Fu (Jofuku in Japanese), the envoy Qin Shi Huang sent to find the elixir who allegedly ended up in Japan, had been part of Japanese cultural consciousness for centuries. So, as far as we know, while no shogun historically pursued immortality, Kaku grounded the conceit in a legend that already existed within Japanese mythology, which makes the fictional premise feel culturally coherent even if it isn't historical. It's a clever piece of worldbuilding on his part, isn't it? |
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nvallabk
Posts: 6 |
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Thank you for this addition, it's a fantastic detail I hadn't unpacked in the article! You're absolutely right that the three regions of Shinsenkyo map directly onto the three sacred islands of Taoist mythology. The fact that Kaku embedded that structure so deliberately into the island's geography makes the worldbuilding even richer. One could write a whole book on the mythological layers in this series, honestly. I appreciate you expanding on this! :] |
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