AN:  This story takes place in a true period in Asian-American history.  When the Hawaiian islands were first pulled into yankee commerce, the need for workers rose dramatically.  Many of the workers were young men who made their way to America to seek their fortune, like the Chinese before them.  During this time, however, there was a custom that if one of these young men should desire a wife, he couldn't just go and find a Japanese girl…it was rare that many even came to the islands.  So, the practice of "picture brides" came about.  Men would save enough money to have a matchmaker find them wives, and then they would send for their women.  Not every marriage was a happy one by any means; sometimes, workers lied, or sent photographs of other people…it was a very precarious gamble for the women involved to leave everything behind.   The practice itself was done between the years of 1908 and 1924.  This particular instance will be taking place circa 1910.  For more information, there are many good books and websites, as well as a stunning film made in 1995 called The Picture Bride.  I highly recommend it for all the elements combined: directing, acting, score, setting, costuming…all of it.

For purposes of semi-reality, I have changed the names of the Inu brothers.  The family name I gave to them is Shibata, which is an old dynasty name of high regard.  Inu Yasha has become Itsuya, which means (roughly) born at 10:00.  Sesshomaru has been renamed Susumu, which means, “to advance, to improve, to move forward”.  Whether or not I am able to get into any of his story in this particular piece is still unknown, but I assure everyone that the name is very fitting. ^_^  Also, the effects of Scurvy are not likely to really change Itsuya’s (Inu Yasha’s) appearance so drastically, but as it was a common killer of immigrants making the journey over, and I wanted to show the differences in speech patterns between the characters, and are not to be taken as literal translations, per se.  We know that Sango and Kohaku refer to their father as “Chichiue”, which is one formal language use for “father”, whereas there are several different variants, from “Otousama” (very formal) to “Oyaji” (very rude…mostly translated as “Pop”).  I won’t be using those forms, however, seeing as this is primarily for an English-speaking audience, and therefore superfluous to the majority of the readers.  The seemingly self-depreciating language used in the letters are very common; it is used to make the distinction that one is a humble person.  So, in short, don’t complain about lack of proper Japanese usage by the characters, okay?

Glossary of terms used:

daimiyo:  Leader of specific clans and lands; kind of like Lords in Medieval European society.

onigri:  Rice balls, formed into usually triangle-shaped clumps and seasoned with a variety of things from small pickled plums to bean paste, most times wrapped with seaweed.  For this story, they are simply the rice with seaweed, as any additional flavorings would be too expensive.

-san: an honorific, usually meaning Mr., Mrs., Miss… you get the basic idea.

houshi: a term used to describe a young Buddhist monk of low rank, usually trained in some form of combat skills.

oshou: a polite term used to describe an elder monk.  

-chan: an honorific normally used for girls by elders, very young children, or very close friends/relatives.

-sama:  another honorific, this one usually being more formal than –san; tends to mean Lord, Lady, etc.

gaijin: foreigner.  In this case, it’s referring to persons of Caucasian decent.

miko: A shrine maiden; Shinto in root.

-hime: honorific for “princess”…sometimes used for the unmarried daughter of high-ranking persons by the peasant class.

The Tale of Genji: a well-known eleventh-century piece by Murasaki Shikibu…one of the most regarded pieces of Japanese literature that has been translated in both abridged and unabridged versions.

tatami:  mats of woven material that are roughly 3 feet by 6 feet.  Many traditional homes and rooms are measured by tatami, rather than floor space footage.

-dono:  a somewhat archaic honorific that isn’t used very often.  I have the older characters use it to signify the generation gap.

bouzo: a derogatory term for a monk.  In this case, Itsuya is using it more the way brothers tease each other and isn’t really insulting Miroku.

kanji: the old Japanese writing system, based on Chinese written language.  I am using this term rather than kaisho, which is a formal form of calligraphy, which Miroku would likely know, as well as the monk Takeshi.  It would unlikely be used for initial correspondence with one’s intended wife at this time.

keke: Hawai’ian spoken language for child; many Japanese adjusted so that they adopted some Hawai’ian terms into their everyday speech.

hana (see also hanahana):  Hawai’ian spoken language for work.  Using the word twice as a singular phrase means to work a lot; both are used.