December 18, 2005Chapter 21 (12 Kingdoms)峯麒 [ほうき] Houki, kirin of Hou; sex is tagged according to the final kanji: if the kirin were female, her name would be Hourin (峯麟). 蝕 [しょく] shoku, lit. "eclipse"; a shoku can be engineered on purpose by a wizard or kirin, as with Youko, but also occur as random, natural disasters, as with Suzu. As Rakushun explain in chapter 38 of Shadow of the Moon, "[A] shoku is when here and there get tangled up together." 乾海 [けんかい] Kenkai, the straights between Hou and Kyou 鹿蜀 [ろくしょく] rokushoku, lit. "Szechwan deer" 恭国 [きょうこく] Kingdom of Kyou, lit. "reverent kingdom" 供王 [きょうおう] Royal Kyou 珠晶 [しゅしょう] Shushou, Empress of Kyou, lit. "sparkling pearl" 連檣 [れんしょう] Renshou, lit. "series of masts" 霜楓 [そうふう] Soufuu, lit. "frost maple" 柳国 [りゅうこく] Kingdom of Ryuu, lit. "willow kingdom" 範国 [はんこく] Kingdom of Han, lit. "exemplary kingdom"
Comments: Hi,
first I want to thank you for your translations of the twelve kingdoms novels. Great work! But in this Chapter 21 I wounder, if there is no Kirin at Mt. Hou, how do they know, it is a boy? Let's assume, the Nyokai was born, and told them about the Kirins name, then a ranka with an unborn kirin in it should have also appeared. If that ranka was blown away by a shoku, then a palace at Mt. Hou should be open, in case the Kirin was found in the other world. (Like Taikis case.) Then why are there no palaces open at Mt. Hou? But, if there hasn't been any ranka at all (that would be an irregularity in the world of the twelve kingdoms), why should there be a Nyokai? How else could they know about the sex of the Kirin? Do you have any ideas? Thank you. Thanks! The question has come up on 12 Kingdoms Japanese language sites and bulletin boards, and the consensus seems to be that Houki was caught up in a shoku after being born. Some of the speculation has him ending up in China as a full-fledged (golden-haired) kirin. The author, unfortunately, has not yet resolved this particular thread in the story.
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