The
place is Nara Prefecture in Japan at the stronghold of a family that has carved
a niche for itself in Japanese history:
the Fujiwara Clan.
Though the Fujiwara have not been on the throne for God-only-knows how long, they have kept their place as regents, mentors, advisors, and guardians to those who have sat upon the Chrysanthemum Throne. Their number has included great statesmen and generals, empresses or, like the author of Genji no Monogatari Murasaki Shikibu, noblewomen of great note. However, along with three other noble clans, there is a side to the women of the Fujiwara that very few are aware of.
Since the Japanese feudal period, the heirs to the Chrysanthemum Throne are assigned to the care of a rare breed of women known simply as the ningyō, the women of valor. Though translators in the west have mistakenly used the word to denote courtesans, ladies-in-waiting, or just noblewomen in general, the term is used exclusively for the eldest daughters of the Four Noble Houses closest to the throne.
As a rule, ningyō are brought up differently from the average Japanese (or Asian in general) girl and even from other daughters of noble blood. To make a long story short, these girls are brought up like boys but are never allowed to forget the fact that they are girls and should be proud of being girls – for the basic reason that there are some things that they can do better than most boys! (Author’s Note: It is this tradition that probably inspired Osamu Tezuka’s Ribbon no Kishi, Riyoko Ikeda’s Versailles no Bara, and Chiho Saito’s Shōjo Kakumei Utena: girls who were brought up to think and act like men while retaining some modicum of femininity.)
Ningyō are educated abroad and, it is said, have a reputation for being so precocious that they are able to attain college degrees before the age of 20. They are also trained in the martial arts and other methods of battle before being initiated into the service of the Chrysanthemum Throne at the age of sixteen – four years before they even turn legal. It is also notable that, whenever they speak in their native tongue, ningyō refer to themselves with the male pronoun boku or ore instead of the female pronoun atashi or the general watashi.
Strangely, even if they are required to wear mannish attire in service and despite their boyish ways, almost all who have served as ningyō are strikingly beautiful. Indeed, throughout the course of history, some emperors even married their respective ningyō. However, the more recent generations of the Yamato Clan have opted not to marry ningyō even if these valiant women still stand in their service.
This story is set in the year 2120 AD.
In the year 2125, the Japanese people elected to go under the reign of absolute monarchy after more than a century of corruption in the halls of the Diet. It was fortunate that the Yamato Clan had begun producing socio-political geniuses for emperors instead of mere scholars content to go on state visits and occasional public appearances. For the first time, beginning with the reign of the Emperor Osamu, the Japanese actually have an emperor of the people: a monarch who is willing to get out of his way to help, to listen, and to advise his subjects.
With the passage of time, people have gotten used to absolute imperial rule. However, there are those who wish to go back to the corruption of the parliamentary system and there are lesser members of the Imperial Clan who year to seize power for their own personal gains.
The
emperor at the beginning of this tale is Emperor Junichi, a just man who
is respected by his people and is credited for transforming Japan into a global
superpower. Next in line to the throne
is his only son, Crown Prince Kunihiko, a languid, peaceable
intellectual eccentric who hides great strength and wisdom behind an
androgynously pretty, fragile appearance.
Junichi married his ningyō, the Lady Naoko Taira, who has
saved him from one assassination attempt since they were children. Among his closest advisors, Junichi counts
his closest friends: the Grand Duke
Yoshiyuki Fujiwara of Nara, Grand Duke Hiroyuki Urushihara of Kyōto,
his brother-in-law Grand Duke Yasuhiro Taira of Osaka, and Grand Duke
Kenichi Minamoto of Tōkyo. Of the
four, he has assigned the task of guarding his only son to his best friend
Yoshiyuki Fujiwara through the latter’s youngest child and only daughter: the ningyō
Lady Murasaki Fujiwara.
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