August 15, 2020

Hills of Silver Ruins (1/14)

The Minister of Summer (夏官長) heads the Ministry of Defense.

The Star Trek: TNG episode "The Drumhead" offers this succinct definition of a drumhead court martial: "Military officers would upend a drum in a battlefield, sit at it and dispense summary justice. Decisions were quick, punishments severe, appeals denied. Those who came to a drumhead were doomed."

The Chosai (冢宰) serves as the Chief Cabinet Secretary of the Rikkan. The Minister of Heaven (天官長) runs Administration. The Minister of Winter (冬官長) is responsible for Public Works. The Minister of Spring (春官長) is in charge of Protocol. 

Haboku (芭墨) was the Minister of the Two Cries (二声氏) who tended to the White Pheasant. 

A hidden village (隠れ里) was a "remote settlement in Japan during its Feudal Period. Often characterized by their inaccessibility and ease of defense, tradition holds that these villages were the dwelling place of the Ninja."

Asen's full name is Jou Asen (丈阿選).

The majority of Chinese surnames are a single character. As a result, the top 100 surnames account for 85 percent of the population. The opposite is true in Japan, where the top 100 surnames cover a third of the population. In the United States, the top 100 surnames account for 16 percent of the population.

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Comments
# posted by Anonymous Anonymous
8/15/2020 7:32 PM   
Thank you for the new chapter! You're so quick with your translation :o
One question though, I thought Rousan, the Minister of Winter, is a woman? Did I remember it wrong?
# posted by Blogger Eugene
8/16/2020 8:01 AM   
You are right. I have corrected the text.

From The Shore in Twilight: "She looked like a young woman of sixteen or so, hardly an appearance that agreed with her position as head of the Rikkan. But her scholarship was vast and deep. As the Daishikuu of the Ministry of Winter, there was certainly nobody else as capable. Rousan was said to be a veritable polymath."
# posted by Blogger baihaki
8/16/2020 3:14 PM   
Thanks for the translation.
# posted by Blogger Eugene
8/21/2020 8:08 AM   
Chapter fifteen should be ready next week.
# posted by Blogger Kelly N.
8/23/2020 8:09 PM   
Just curious, how many chapters are there total?

Also, thank you so much for translating! I have always wanted to read the next part of Taiki's story.
# posted by Blogger Eugene
8/24/2020 5:52 PM   
I haven't counted the number of chapters, but the total length (all four volumes) is 1615 pages. To put that in context, I've currently posted up to page 182 in volume 1.