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Opening for Eiji Yoshikawa's Romance of the Three Kingdoms
🕑 Added 2022-06-19 22:52:55 +0000 UTCHi everyone, sorry I'm late on things again, as many of you know I'm working on a Paripi Koumei script, and that includes reading some of Eiji Yoshikawa's Sangokushi. I translated the opening section for Yoshikawa's Romance of the Three Kingdoms. I'm not a translator by trade, so it'll be deeply awkward, but hopefully, those familiar with the original text find it interesting:
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Jianning, first era of Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty.
Around 1780 years before the present era.
There was a traveler. Affixed to his lower waist was but a sword and simply dressed. He had voluminous eyebrows, deep red lips, rich cheeks, and a stoic intellectual stare, always with a thoughtful smile. He did not give off the feeling of a lowborn man. He was around 24, 25 years old.
He sat on the grass, alone, his hands cupping his knees. Time flowed with the waters. A cool gentle breeze stroked his sideburns. It was the air of Autumn.
On the banks of the Yellow River, where the edge breaks into the water, came a warning.
"Oi!" Somebody shouted from the river. "Young man. What're you looking at? No matter how long you wait, no ferries stop there!" It came from a small fishing boat.
The young man laughed, "Thank you." He then bowed.
The fishing boat soon found its way downstream and sidled out of view, but the young man remained at the riverbank. He stayed sitting with his hands around his knees, eyes still and distant.
"Oi, oi, traveller!" This time it came from somebody behind.
There were two men: one a farmer with a chicken in his hand hung by its feet, and another with a farming implement slung over his shoulder. "You've been here since this morning, watcha waiting for? Yellow Turban bands are everywhere here. You stay there like that, government officials might start suspectin' ya."
The young man turned to them, "Yes, that's true." He returned a polite nod. Still, he didn't get up.
Such seemed the way of the Yellow River, which flowed for tens of millions of years, ever onwards and tireless.
(How does the water keep its colour?)
If we look closely, it is not the water that's yellow, but instead grains of yellow sand, ground like shards of a whetstone. The river water, as it rushed along, mixed with it, becoming cloudy.
"So...the land as well." He scooped up a handful of earth. Then, his eyes darted with a vacant stare to the northwest. The vast lands of China, the color of the Yellow River, it all came from these grains of sand. This desert sand, blown in from central Asia. Even tens of thousands of years ago, when humanity hadn't even settled, this sand was already flowing. This was the flow of the expanse and river.
"My ancestors travelled down this river..." The thought of his origins crossed his mind, of the blood flowing through his veins, something that up until now, was only a thought.
The Han who helped build China, they too crossed the mountains of Central Asia, where the sands came from. Then, following the River and followed by the Miao, they started agriculture, they developed industry, and it was here that thousands of years of civilization flourished.
"My dear ancestors, please watch over me. To this humble Liu Bei, please give him strength. He promises to revive China, to protect its people and its blood." Liu Bei made this vow with his eyes towards the sky and gave his respect.
Then, behind, someone shouted at the top of his lungs, "Hey, you. Yeah, you! You're one of those Yellow Turbans, aren't ya?"
