Hikaru no Go: Sai, the undiscovered country

[myaru]

blind_go and the ensuing wank at the anonmeme put me in the mind frame to talk about depictions of Sai in fan fiction again. I've ranted about it before, but the entries were locked down, so it's time to produce a sanitized, public version. No research from me, because people should be able to get off their asses and do their own damned Google searches.

Now that I've set the tone...

Someone commented that everything had been done in HnG fiction, which is why the fandom doesn't produce that much fic. I strongly disagree with that claim. There's plenty the HikaGo fandom can work with, and I think people would see that if they bothered to learn anything about Japan besides what they serve at their ramen shops - which, by the way, some people could still stand to research.

Sai is the focus of this entry because his story arc spans A THOUSAND YEARS. That's TEN CENTURIES, just in case you don't realize how much time that is to work with in the framework of Japanese history. He hid (lived? existed?) in Torajiro's go board for a hundred or two, but the rest? What did Sai do with the eight hundred years before that?

Big question there. Lots of room to work with.

Japanese mythology (and even history) provides both living people who are capable of seeing ghosts - priests, monks, onmyouji, immortals, extraordinary people who are none of the above but just have above-average perception - and also a host of supernatural creatures, gods, and spirits. These aren't just things writers make up for anime; they've existed in the Japanese consciousness for hundreds of years. There are plenty of people who could potentially interact with Sai besides Hikaru, both in history and the modern era. Surely you've all seen commercials for psychics, seen accounts of seances, and other such things?

In the Heian era, for example, there was a belief that the spirits of the dead could wreak havoc on their enemies in revenge for something that happened in life. I used Sugawara no Michizane as an example in an earlier locked entry - he was banished from the capitol and died in exile, but his honor was officially restored by the emperor because of a series of disasters that struck the capitol and were blamed on his angry spirit.

That could be a Sai story right there.

And there's the history itself. Sai wandered for a thousand years. That's a long bloody time, and in that time the culture he grew up in was was plunged into war (see the Genpei War, which has its own body of legends) and reborn as a warrior era with Japan's very first shogunate (see the Kamakura Shogunate). This government reformed itself every two or three centuries, coming under the control of different families and so forth, so we have the Ashikaga Shogunate, the Warring States period, and the Tokugawa Shogunate, which is probably what most people think of when they see the term 'samurai.'

Go was present throughout this turbulent history. There's the development of Zen Buddhism to consider. How about the emergence of art forms like No, Kabuki, tea, et cetera? Besides historical possibilities, there are AU possibilities. Also, there are probably shades of Akira and his family, for instance, that aren't touched on that often in fic - family dynamic, family tradition, et cetera. I don't actually know, as I haven't seriously read HnG fic in a little while.

And please: Sai had a life. Probably a very interesting life. He looks like he was in his twenties or so, by the artwork. By then he would have been married, and he had clearly risen to a prestigious position in court, so what is there NOT to talk about? Think of the political potential, the affairs he could have--

--except, people seem to like the idea of Sai as a blushing virgin. Well, if you ever change your minds, I'm pretty sure that by that age, he'd have known quite a bit about romancing women and men. He must have had at least one wife, and even if you don't buy into the idea of Heian men as complete skanks across the board (I do), it's unlikely he was innocent regarding sex, the exploits of other people, or whatever.

Also, Torajiro? Anybody? They were together for twenty years - more. The Wikipedia entry on Shuusaku provides plenty of fodder for fic. Their relationship has plenty of room for writing, too.

I've wondered for years what has stopped people from writing this stuff when it seems everybody loves Sai - or at the very least, there are always people who want to see more of him. You don't need to write a resurrection fic to do that. There's plenty of Sai to go around.


[ETA: link to conversation found and added.]

Comments

[troisroyaumes]

Hello, I was reading some of your comments in worldserpent's journal and decided to wander by. I hope you don't mind my commenting; I found this post to be really interesting! Is there any chance of you linking to it on the main comm? Actually, I think fandom is moving in that direction, as writers, well, keep looking for new ideas (e.g. first fifthmus round had two Torajirou fics and I don't doubt there will be more). Also, I think some writers are more prone to writing historical fics than others (ladyseishou for example) because (as other people have said) it does require a lot more research and probably some pre-existing background knowledge. But I agree, I would like to see more historical fics with Sai (from other periods of history than just Heian). One of the theme sets for the previous blind_go rounds featured five periods of Japanese history, and I had hoped that someone would take the bait...^_^;;

[myaru.livejournal.com]

Comments are always welcome. I don't mind at all.

As for the comm, I hadn't really thought about it. If you think others would find it interesting, maybe I can? ontogenesis suggested making the post in the first place, but it probably needs to be pimped out to get any attention.

There were a few fics in this blind_go round that attempted history, and in spite of some inaccuracies they were really enjoyable. Striking off the usual path is risky, but I think it's worth some time researching. People are getting so worked up about constructive criticism and whether or not people in the fandom can make their work better, but they're overlooking what I consider to be an incredibly important element: Japan. Culture, history. You don't have to be a historian to write a fic that focuses on a character's traditional family values, or a fic about Sai and Torajiro, or a fic set in the "official" Heian Gensou AU, which doesn't even try to be historically accurate. If people really want to improve their fiction, or see others improve it, they need to start reading.

All of my fics have some kind of cultural or historical thing in them, because that's what interests me. Since I have some background in Japanese history, culture, and language, it's going to be easier for me than other people, I admit. But that doesn't mean that it's impossible or even a laborious effort.

Maybe I should make a list of links and sources.

I would love a blind_go round that focused on history.

[troisroyaumes]

I think other people will find it interesting, particularly Sai fans. ^_^ I hope you don't mind my linking to it without asking permission.

I don't know enough about Japanese history or culture to pick up on inaccuracies, but I generally agree that it would be interesting to see more fanfic that focuses on those elements, especially since go carries so many cultural associations.

I'd love to see the list of links and sources if you ever find the time to compile it!

[myaru.livejournal.com]

If it's public, it's linkable!

Yeah, you know... the inaccuracies stand out to me, but they don't necessarily bother me. When I see someone attempt a historical fic at all I'm happy, especially if they do a good job in spite of a lack of research. In the end, it's the story and characters that are more important, and accuracy is only something you have to worry about if you're publishing under the 'historic' label. Or, I guess, if your fandom is anal about that kind of thing and you happen to care what they think.

It's really just the blushing virgin!Sai thing that bothers me. Really, really bothers me. I think it compromises his character. In fact, any kind of innocent!Sai is a travesty in my opinion, and I feel very strongly about it.