When the Royal Han says that Taiki is "not a ki," he uses the first character (麒) of kirin (麒麟). When referring to Hanrin, he uses the second character (麟). Both characters mean "Chinese unicorn," but they are rarely written separately, except in given names ("Rin" is a girl's name).

The word Rokuta uses to refer to Hanrin is nee-chan. Like "uncle" (oji-san), "sis" can be used to refer familiarly to a girl (or older man) who is not actually related to you. In the latter case, "mister" or "pops" come close.

"Not as big as any one of our kingdoms, if you're just talking about Yamato."　Japan is very long north to south, and very narrow east to west, so the comparison in terms of geography is difficult to make. But in terms of total land area, Japan is slightly smaller than Norway (or Montana), and slightly larger than Germany. Spain is 130,000 sq. km larger, so I'd imagine a kingdom like Kei to be at least Spain-sized.

During the early 19th century, it took about six months to travel the Oregon Trail on foot from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Coast, a journey of 2,000 miles across rugged terrain. The 1300 mile Pioneer Trail to Utah took four months. Takki says that Kou could be crossed in three months, so I'd put that distance at a little under 1000 miles.

鴻溶鏡　[こうようきょう]　Kouyoukyou (wild goose + dissolve + mirror)
呉剛環蛇　[ごごうかんだ]　Gogoukanda (give + strength + ring + snake)
遁甲　[とんこう]　tonkou (escape + carapace); the way shirei travel through the sky, the earth, and the water, while remaining hidden from view.

Labels: 12 kingdoms, shore in twilight