tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6432474854186100292024-03-28T07:05:26.644-07:00Hox ScanlationsUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger284125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-643247485418610029.post-28324199381241127042022-08-07T22:28:00.003-07:002022-08-07T22:28:48.505-07:002022 Status Update<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitDmKRy4i3U_U_X185ZxsNtzzgRe81RoggwErdEkP5yZxgVWwCyD0RAFH_09GbXbqE3d3OYah_7BIx2kaE_mvFQqcHTLryx8ip14IXzb5VsLlYOi7f_JR8SGEB3h51xSQuAsYMjYRf0qhzw19opYr_i89zBI0VAIWbSmLHTwE8sbJQPjWnmiZzMSvz/s800/vladimir-lenin-quote-there-are-decades-where-nothing%5B1%5D.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="420" data-original-width="800" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitDmKRy4i3U_U_X185ZxsNtzzgRe81RoggwErdEkP5yZxgVWwCyD0RAFH_09GbXbqE3d3OYah_7BIx2kaE_mvFQqcHTLryx8ip14IXzb5VsLlYOi7f_JR8SGEB3h51xSQuAsYMjYRf0qhzw19opYr_i89zBI0VAIWbSmLHTwE8sbJQPjWnmiZzMSvz/w380-h200/vladimir-lenin-quote-there-are-decades-where-nothing%5B1%5D.jpg" width="380" /></a></div><p>Hello, fellow manga readers. I feel a little awkward doing a status update post since I've been inactive for so long. I also feel a little guilty, since <a href="https://hoxtranslations.blogspot.com/2018/02/some-thoughts-on-decade-as-scanlator.html"><span style="color: red;">I wrote a post back in 2018</span></a> saying that I view scanlation as a hobby I'll continue until I die... I still do truly believe that. I love manga, I love translating, and I love sharing manga with the internet. If that's the case, then why have I gone awol for most of the last 2 years? </p><p>A part of me wishes to divulge everything that I've gone through these past few years. I was in a rut for most of my young adult life, but then I finally decided to step outside my comfort zone. The universe, perhaps bemused by my desperation, tossed a coin my way, and I've since experienced things I never expected to experience. I find myself relating a good deal with Lenin's quote above these days, though to be a little less dramatic, it's more the case that after a stagnant decade, I'm finally living through a dynamic decade that I know will determine almost everything important in my life. And that's why I just can't seem to find the time and energy to translate or make posts these days. It's not that these things aren't important to me. If anything, it's the opposite. It's precisely because translating manga is important to me that I can't do it when my time and energy is too divided these days.</p><p>But I know what I'm going through right now won't last. This is not a statement of pessimism. We all go through urgent and less urgent phases in our lives. It's inevitable that I'll transition into a less urgent life, and I can return to translating and sharing niche manga with others with similar tastes as me. Until then, I'll still maintain this blog, delete spam comments, and respond to any inquiries.</p><p><br /></p><p>P.S. In case it's not obvious from this post, I did not quit manga because of what happened to Vinland Saga. That was simply a coincidence with the life-changing events of my life.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com26tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-643247485418610029.post-23482245060030217462020-11-15T21:13:00.001-08:002020-11-15T21:13:38.261-08:00Atoll (Sea of Fallen Beasts)<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhS61Zn-0HmfiykDJ5tnCAFdnWQro9Rorw7zTxMQaVj1JF6eHmFimgW8KJrfXsHpPtluMNqTYhE4wjljWi-pOWT95FybcU1GR5ZQ98dRbELCnm0FIFnDK6NjjL8zTrBwNVA8SuP5SQE3_k/s1800/Horobishi-Kemonotachi-no-Umi_p251.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1800" data-original-width="1264" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhS61Zn-0HmfiykDJ5tnCAFdnWQro9Rorw7zTxMQaVj1JF6eHmFimgW8KJrfXsHpPtluMNqTYhE4wjljWi-pOWT95FybcU1GR5ZQ98dRbELCnm0FIFnDK6NjjL8zTrBwNVA8SuP5SQE3_k/s320/Horobishi-Kemonotachi-no-Umi_p251.png" /></a></div>I should have posted this a few days ago but here's a Hoshino Yukinobu oneshot. Why? Well, as GGpX of Illuminati-Manga stated on his site:<p></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #2d2d2d;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span></span></p><blockquote><span style="font-family: inherit;">So here’s the thing. Hoshino Yukinobu has a lot manga that has been published, but a lot of them have been done in multiple publishers. That’s the case for Horobishi, Distand Dawn, Legend of Giants, etc. So, the result? Multiple covers, more color pages and from time to time, more chapters. You know why Distant Dawn was almost 500 pages? 4 different volumes with a bunch of different stories. Such was the case with Horobishi. I bought a different edition only to find out there was another chapter in there that we didn’t do… because it wasn’t in the volume we scanned. </span></blockquote><p></p><p>This was a special release I helped put out for Illuminati-Manga's 15th anniversary, <a href="https://illuminati-manga.com/2020/11/11/15-years-later/"><span style="color: red;">so go thank them on their site here </span></a>for all they've done for the manga scanlation community. If you just want to read the new chapter, you can find it on <a href="https://mangadex.org/chapter/1098882"><span style="color: red;">mangadex here</span></a>. If you want the full updated Sea of Fallen Beasts volume with the new chapter, use the download link below.</p><i>Download</i>:<br />Sea of Fallen Beasts: <i><a href="https://mega.nz/file/gs0mASbY#9JbiZQuOETjwso_wqIpJOg5T-OmDWBBaIWg8OPRtEWQ">Mega</a></i>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-643247485418610029.post-30347971107131027222020-10-20T09:29:00.013-07:002020-10-28T11:41:36.435-07:00Ad Astra v13 (complete)<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjT8bVwXGiX3aZSNAjupbSs6kCb1k5OBpGmJxFtfbRAaJMNmTAggXZokz0DKBDKZG4cC3FxiDB3SN9gsPcIe6qSILbpz-dJsId5PhxOXAQMCh1gwYnlD_50PI34IZukxfjNpQrjsg7EmU0/s1207/Ad+Astra+v13+p001.jpg"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjT8bVwXGiX3aZSNAjupbSs6kCb1k5OBpGmJxFtfbRAaJMNmTAggXZokz0DKBDKZG4cC3FxiDB3SN9gsPcIe6qSILbpz-dJsId5PhxOXAQMCh1gwYnlD_50PI34IZukxfjNpQrjsg7EmU0/s320/Ad+Astra+v13+p001.jpg" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;">It's done, folks! Battle of Zama and the final volume. Ad Astra is now completely translated in English. I think this manga was already licensed and translated into French and Italian (?) so I'm kind of surprised that its translation status in English went through long periods of being dead-in-the-water. I remember when Ad Astra first started its serialization and I read just the first 3 chapters of it. I'll admit that I wasn't really drawn in by the art or character design, and I had my doubts on just how much the rookie mangaka Kagano Mihachi would adapt the gruelling long Second Punic War. So it really wasn't until much later in 2016 that I gave Ad Astra another look. To my pleasant surprise, I saw that Kagano was doing a pretty good job, but to my dismay, I noticed that English readers had been cockblocked right in the middle of the Battle of Cannae. And so I was convinced to pick it up with some nudging by a few readers. Looking back on it, I'm kind of surprised that I did pick it up because I had a lot of other series that I was working (or planning to work) on, and there were still 8 whole volumes to go. Fortunately, it was a pretty easy to translate series, as it wasn't text-dense and had a lot of straightforward dialogue. Honestly, I should have just finished it all last year, considering it only took me and Nixbrod only a little over 2 months to finish these last 4 volumes. Speaking of my editor Nixbrod, much thanks goes out to him. I really couldn't have blitzed through these volumes were it not for his help. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Regarding the actual series itself, I think people well familiar with the Second Punic War were a little disappointed to see these last 4 volumes rush through some events too quickly and even drop some. One missing event which I wish Kagano had covered was the revolt of the Roman troops and some local Iberians led by the brothers Andobales and Mandonius (who did at least make a cameo) during the Spanish campaign. I think it would have brought some more diversity in drama to the story, given that a mutiny among actual Roman troops had not been seen in the manga before, and it would have tested the new commander Scipio in different ways than simply bashing Carthaginians. Still, on the whole, Ad Astra is the best adaptation of the Second Punic War I've seen, and I'm sure many others enjoyed reading the whole series. Now if only someone were to do full justice to the Peloponnesian War...</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i>Download:</i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i>Ad Astra v13: <a href="https://mega.nz/file/tw8i1AzQ#JAwE7H6lvi6uv_y6rHwA_rrrlWkAucaJSGPjgkW2c7A">Mega</a></i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i>Previous Ad Astra volumes: <a href="https://mega.nz/folder/A11XBBAY#rh9m3ZRZMrvMWRegdaT5eg">Mega</a></i></div><p></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-643247485418610029.post-25280668152043496472020-10-06T15:22:00.013-07:002020-10-13T13:02:12.531-07:00Ad Astra v12 (complete)<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgx63mc9_O5TG5vp25qw1VNP5GoQzrI3eN7qTBxtMYZtPw29Vz0toDTrXX1cJotHV1z1FUAqJ7hVGB5zNTaTIqEyTLvVyVsnslR9jTARJKy-H4MYcgzxIPlQKYzxCxwDO3uWef5Y-XAxZA/s1200/Ad+Astra+v12+p001.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="844" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgx63mc9_O5TG5vp25qw1VNP5GoQzrI3eN7qTBxtMYZtPw29Vz0toDTrXX1cJotHV1z1FUAqJ7hVGB5zNTaTIqEyTLvVyVsnslR9jTARJKy-H4MYcgzxIPlQKYzxCxwDO3uWef5Y-XAxZA/s320/Ad+Astra+v12+p001.jpg" /></a></div>At this rate, I think the final 13th volume can be completed before even winter.<br /><br /><i>Download:</i><div><i>Ad Astra v12: <a href="https://mega.nz/file/so9RTCDS#2btrjdSF2cGwxn5j78NsmFuhVNU4S0LsjIL3JZd8XqA">Mega</a></i><i><br />Ad Astra c70: <a href="https://www.blogger.com/#">Mega</a><br />Ad Astra c71: <a href="https://mega.nz/file/tksVCILS#zg1bM17QfBTYz4vxPh6vruciRXOCSY0IyCr_hXdbPis">Mega</a></i><div><i>Ad Astra c72: <a href="https://mega.nz/file/h4sGjajY#SeALbyNbcxxRbR6G4u7WqoqPWtZdst0n7noKRvGiM7Y">Mega</a></i></div><div><i>Ad Astra c73: <a href="https://mega.nz/file/wpkUDBzA#xpIN1-H2f70RtpUkSNQ9BkiBY5UP5wxXhegdAmeEv1s">Mega</a></i></div><div><i>Ad Astra c74: <a href="https://mega.nz/file/tsskDDyT#BEN0KtZzEEME2C5UY9dgGO_OfGESE3wUm0WqDBdSnLk">Mega</a></i></div><div><i>Ad Astra c75: <a href="https://mega.nz/file/0osXUAaS#0hjzAZI6mi2CShgUHDuEuouNRdcUYDbif1X8IZO7E-8">Mega</a></i></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-643247485418610029.post-60948132109562803952020-09-09T12:00:00.007-07:002020-09-16T11:05:32.114-07:00Ad Astra v11 (complete)<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRolkwaypYegZ2w_fY8XTTOZW89R7zaRH8q9m4QDrr1sgqham6N6HRTpHIo0G9NESzNn6Y_EbT5KFT8XINMipCAMsudXDZ2BtELew2ZsTXllIYJjH5Qv2-8MA-FBbshrHxdMh1rifnFz4/s1200/Ad+Astra+v11+p001.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="844" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRolkwaypYegZ2w_fY8XTTOZW89R7zaRH8q9m4QDrr1sgqham6N6HRTpHIo0G9NESzNn6Y_EbT5KFT8XINMipCAMsudXDZ2BtELew2ZsTXllIYJjH5Qv2-8MA-FBbshrHxdMh1rifnFz4/s320/Ad+Astra+v11+p001.jpg" /></a></div>I am translating things other than Ad Astra at the moment. It's just that the scripts for v11 are already done and my typesetter/cleaner Nixbrod works through them quickly.<br /><br />Download:<div><i>Ad Astra v11: <a href="https://mega.nz/file/FhkW3aRL#VF_FWHd4dum_IUXMZH6acFWrMT6VLj6423RatmZvSgg" target="_blank">Mega</a></i></div><div><br /><i>Ad Astra c64: <a href="https://www.blogger.com/#">Mega<br /></a>Ad Astra c65: <a href="https://www.blogger.com/#">Mega</a></i><div><i>Ad Astra c66: <a href="https://mega.nz/file/posHRBTL#oMJ0wQBjuNFJOG7Tj_URK-ohs5Z1I7dslWFpbL9k9MY" target="_blank">Mega</a></i></div><div><i>Ad Astra c67: <a href="https://mega.nz/file/Ex8yXagT#vIPniZP2olBG8XpyPf8uMsAwxVNOdmMpEQ0tJck0MBQ" target="_blank">Mega</a></i></div><div><i>Ad Astra c68: <a href="https://mega.nz/file/IpkzVYZD#PkH2s8ni3ws4dkLhKPbVLfdOstpsgLEik_R47TOdTlA" target="_blank">Mega</a></i></div><div><i>Ad Astra c69: <a href="https://mega.nz/file/V18mwSjZ#3ZN0yXbRTVpcchfyesS91YI1ApWIntGk2LtgmGMM3HM" target="_blank">Mega</a></i></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-643247485418610029.post-21892556287746020542020-08-24T05:24:00.003-07:002020-08-24T18:39:01.004-07:00Donki Kourin (Aug. 24)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMRxlmEfMYp_mC12tpfQL6dVpKI3vnnz8Fgx-vdXIjNZZ2PlS7O2FJJKMeujuRFZFzODKcO2C-UHc_0agDE3VkYfIddeDtbncTSLyIbzznBB0biYbxQ5iVySiWcTizySR5AzkoDZOmGn0/s1600/Donki++Kourin+p013.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1063" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMRxlmEfMYp_mC12tpfQL6dVpKI3vnnz8Fgx-vdXIjNZZ2PlS7O2FJJKMeujuRFZFzODKcO2C-UHc_0agDE3VkYfIddeDtbncTSLyIbzznBB0biYbxQ5iVySiWcTizySR5AzkoDZOmGn0/s320/Donki++Kourin+p013.png" width="212" /></a></div>
So this is a rather random release I wasn't planning on at all. I was basically browsing through some of the raws on <a href="http://deadscanlations.tumblr.com/">deadscanlations</a>, when I stumbled on Furuya Usamaru's <i>Donki Kourin</i>. I actually bought this manga all the way back in the summer of 2009, shortly after I had started translating. I remember quite liking it, but I decided against doing it since half of the manga is basically a wall of text (short letters/essays from readers). When I looked through the raws again, I thought it was kind of a shame that nobody will probably ever translate this, since the comic parts basically feel like a sequel to <i>Palepoli</i> which I also worked on. So I just decided to bite the bullet and chip away at it throughout this year as I work on other projects. I'll release just 2 or 3 chapters at a time, which isn't a lot since each chapter is just 2 pages long. So don't expect the whole volume to be quickly finished.<br />
<br /><div style="text-align: left;">P.S. The comics are slightly more amusing if you actually bother to read the short letter preceding it.</div><div><div style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiyqe9M0pU-OKHFN8WprHGohJu6DNI7NOVRe9iqukLYfBzoyy4vQ4KyUESDJqmPJlYwvwzgiXmP-cRQ2O0cAGW3guxBST8N3tBhRXPZWSzDJ6DLfrPKRBWhKZyN-aqlXTEXaPHE2Gtu9g/s1600/Donki+Kourin+p018.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><span> <span> </span><span> </span> <span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> <span> </span></span></span><span> </span><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1003" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiyqe9M0pU-OKHFN8WprHGohJu6DNI7NOVRe9iqukLYfBzoyy4vQ4KyUESDJqmPJlYwvwzgiXmP-cRQ2O0cAGW3guxBST8N3tBhRXPZWSzDJ6DLfrPKRBWhKZyN-aqlXTEXaPHE2Gtu9g/w201-h320/Donki+Kourin+p018.png" width="201" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: red;">Not sure if this new typesetting that makes a continuous line interrupted by the middle box makes it look better or harder to read. Let me know if you want me to revert to the format I used in c1-3.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div>
<i><div style="text-align: left;"><i>Download:</i></div></i>
<i>Donki Kourin c01-03: <a href="https://mega.nz/#!Ut0lTbhQ!MoCNkAiV-4RHEeYf8glGwwwehO1xt0BJXpYslCwp2Rc">Mega</a></i><div><i>Donki Kourin c04-06: <a href="https://mega.nz/file/U0EAgAjI#X9HCX_yRfDp4sAR4jng0odCsr_V013QMBWqUoJpE6pI">Mega</a></i><a href="https://mega.nz/file/U0EAgAjI#X9HCX_yRfDp4sAR4jng0odCsr_V013QMBWqUoJpE6pI"><br /></a></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-643247485418610029.post-70079066346419969562020-08-20T09:05:00.001-07:002020-08-20T13:11:40.001-07:00Not Dead Yet (Status Update)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuzUWIrpnic2QFcZXLTP1_wm7KBbkBS8Vd00LD8iklmeTsq6oHhrzlxXfwv1npfpUSC8BgJOzy5sTuiS1w7xFmA9IBZN5dFhp53Ovq_q3JBR1tUrOI-eQO2zvffmE1ca6WEVrvmW4tj_U/s1095/faf.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="502" data-original-width="1095" height="184" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuzUWIrpnic2QFcZXLTP1_wm7KBbkBS8Vd00LD8iklmeTsq6oHhrzlxXfwv1npfpUSC8BgJOzy5sTuiS1w7xFmA9IBZN5dFhp53Ovq_q3JBR1tUrOI-eQO2zvffmE1ca6WEVrvmW4tj_U/w400-h184/faf.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Things are pretty crazy in the world right now, but I'm definitely not dead yet as either a person or a manga translator. I intended to return to translating back in June, but... better late than never? Much thanks to those were worried enough about me to email and ask if I was doing alright. I definitely didn't have corona or anything serious like that. I was just busy with work and moving (stayed in 3 separate countries in the past 2 months, including some self-quarantine time). In any case, I'm back in action and here are my immediate plans for the foreseeable future. I plan to translate 2-3 chapters per week, but that may not always correlate to 2-3 releases per week because some projects I merely do the translation scripts for, while for others, I do everything. I'll be rotating across the following projects:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Ad Astra (just released a chapter, check the post below)</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Donki Kourin</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Kamui-Den</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Planet of Sutakola</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Shiji (I just finished v4, check the post below this)</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">In addition, I managed to get another copy (because I didn't want to rip up my original ones) of <a href="https://www.mangaupdates.com/series.html?id=37135"><span style="color: #2b00fe;">Debonair Drive</span></a> <a href="https://hoxtranslations.blogspot.com/2012/11/some-thoughts-about-good-mangaka-5.html"><span style="color: red;">which I talked a little about many years ago</span></a>, and once I scan the raws for that, I'm going to put that into rotation as well. Hopefully I can get some chapters of it done by December of this year.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">If you have any other questions about any of my projects and plans, please feel free to ask in the comment section below.</div><p></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-643247485418610029.post-27558701525739928952020-08-20T09:04:00.007-07:002020-08-29T11:20:06.005-07:00Ad Astra v10 (complete)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7DGdN43VN14NcNyO8dfLP4zNqScAnsF6gJBD7q_n8lQxIqJQ-xwZwnWU6MuoxDCGros8NytFwTYxmPcrhwVYoljt49PT3d_zp43OggZgUAgfFOP0X-z0c4W9agjZTY53WcyWvAXACdKI/s1200/Ad+Astra+v10+p018.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="844" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7DGdN43VN14NcNyO8dfLP4zNqScAnsF6gJBD7q_n8lQxIqJQ-xwZwnWU6MuoxDCGros8NytFwTYxmPcrhwVYoljt49PT3d_zp43OggZgUAgfFOP0X-z0c4W9agjZTY53WcyWvAXACdKI/w225-h320/Ad+Astra+v10+p018.png" width="225" /></a></div>
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Finally, a release after so long! Much thanks go out to my typesetter/editor Nixbrod for putting up with my hiatus.</div>
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<i>Download:</i></div>
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<i>Ad Astra v10: <a href="https://mega.nz/file/R4tVhRpY#8ZytiilyfLycB1vRsQX6VbEoEiT1wjElVkzxfjxt6x4">Mega</a></i></div>
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<i>Ad Astra v10 c58: <a href="https://mega.nz/file/hsFxGIBA#W3u-xStTjRk8rP5YeoyKaGEEDiBpIg47mAsy5LIJlEk">Mega</a></i></div>
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<i>Ad Astra v10 c59: <a href="https://mega.nz/file/FgslBLJL#r8n9UFnFwYhHYNYeas1eAVM78M8mc3QL1ADm6sFU6Ik">Mega</a></i></div>
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<i>Ad Astra v10 c60: <a href="https://mega.nz/file/UosBSRxA#FKdxCpmJBKNJNS8TMNO38DuS8_9rWL___to_T8xpLEM">Mega</a></i></div>
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<i>Ad Astra v10 c61: <a href="https://mega.nz/file/cl1njQgC#_OHuMPp_9etpzEI9aNrXXgfjvGTt2iuOVMq0MgubawQ">Mega</a></i></div>
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<i>Ad Astra v10 c62: <a href="https://mega.nz/file/85812IxZ#WW-SaEPdwbSHqPp90wicKUIY8BPhajwFPcMQ9QoQYIs">Mega</a></i></div>
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<i>Ad Astra v10 c63: <a href="https://mega.nz/file/Uh0hBTgI#LT-rmoYGXvyDeqiGgZEls3IbVMuDNPygZKApnAIq0Zc">Mega</a></i></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-643247485418610029.post-51162941788141245432020-08-19T10:12:00.006-07:002020-08-20T00:20:06.200-07:00Shiji v04 (complete)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyHOQaJPagNv08yYwnvHmYmXFWUdhutEG_4ihYm6WXQP1HXqDgjcSQsr6KVwtSeH9a_u5Idv6igNKKi0MXJ0rC7oGFfUl9u3ovRa0aMpRYp5wNMnAFRRCZ1XKitKegrH5qS3QD0DzDR9g/s1600/Shiji+v04+p005.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="751" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyHOQaJPagNv08yYwnvHmYmXFWUdhutEG_4ihYm6WXQP1HXqDgjcSQsr6KVwtSeH9a_u5Idv6igNKKi0MXJ0rC7oGFfUl9u3ovRa0aMpRYp5wNMnAFRRCZ1XKitKegrH5qS3QD0DzDR9g/s320/Shiji+v04+p005.png" width="200" /></a></div><strike>
Alright, it's summer and I have some more time to devote to translating again. Gonna quickly get Shiji v04 done and then move to doing both v02 of Planet Sutakola and continue Kamui-Den.</strike><div><br /></div><div>Well, a little over a year since I translated chapter 2 of this volume, I'm back with chapter 3 to actually wrap up this volume! An interesting note about Lord Mengchang, the subject of chapter 3, is that in Yokoyama's manga adaptation, he's clearly portrayed in a highly positive manner. However, the actual Shiji had a slightly more negative portrayal. For instance, after Lord Mengchang successfully escapes Qin, he crosses through Zhao to return to Qi. However, some Zhao commoners who came out to see what the great Lord Mengchang looked like as he passed through their town, they burst into laughter because his physical appearance was that of a small and unimposing man. Lord Mengchang was enraged by this, and his guests drew their swords and killed several hundreds of people to destroy an entire county. This incident somewhat goes along with the fact that there were more than a few ruffians among Lord Mengchang's many guests. </div><div><br /></div><div>In fact, Sima Qian even concludes his biographical chapter on Lord Mengchang by saying he personally visited Xue and found that its customs were rough and there were many violent youngsters, quite unlike the hometowns of Confucius and Mencius. Sima Qian asked a Xue resident why there were so many rough men, and the resident replied it was because Lord Mengchang had invited both stalwart and despicable people to the point that Xue had grown by 60,000 households during his rule. Thus Sima Qian remarks that Lord Mengchang being fond of receiving guests was at least one rumour about him that wasn't baseless. Overall, Sima Qian seems to view Lord Mengchang's generous reception of <i>shi</i> as mostly positive, but was more critical towards his lack of discretion and judgment towards those <i>shi</i>. Given Confucianism's central emphasis on cultivating morals in oneself and others, it's not too surprising that other writers echoed similar criticisms. The famous Song dynasty Confucian bureaucrats <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wang_Anshi"><span style="color: red;">Wang Anshi</span></a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sima_Guang"><span style="color: red;">Sima Guang</span></a> may have been bitter political rivals, but both negatively viewed Lord Mengchang, with Wang Anshi calling him a leader of ruffians, and the Sima Guang calling him a hero for villains.</div><div><br /></div><div><div><i>Download:</i></div><div><i>Shiji v04: <a href="https://mega.nz/file/hldFTKaL#39oxipvYtTDeud5MbC5AiY7rjZ62QHoczjDwwbVfQnw">Mega</a></i><i><br /></i><i>Shiji v04 c1: <a href="https://mega.nz/#!4sVlkQaR!VxczaOOjOIJJSkRsFkiHV2thKFV07VleSgnr8gzMMK0">Mega</a></i><br /><i>Shiji v04 c2: <a href="https://mega.nz/#!k81HyYTZ!8cgohk9CgnpXf8Tl-lCTW8ceVGSNuyGKvvQg0fWm3eE">Mega</a></i></div><div><i>Shiji v04 c3: <a href="https://mega.nz/file/xpsmzCzB#La7DBrciCzt3nJwyVh5u82Qir2wOWBFSBlF_aetEy_Q">Mega</a></i></div></div><span></span><span><a name='more'></a></span><div><br /></div><div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjkS2DAnctjQkM9Hdl8Qm3mzqRcI5iOUqZM5SHlieam3L538Gyt9nyd5GxbcQKyOlTcBiZvv3xvjftWD4yCiFFC9_QNBbknGA7XNFahc0ik4Ufy2KEAgWdtLdRAZhyphenhyphenycs_xj4umLnuP0E/s1600/6494957%255B1%255D.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="475" data-original-width="316" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjkS2DAnctjQkM9Hdl8Qm3mzqRcI5iOUqZM5SHlieam3L538Gyt9nyd5GxbcQKyOlTcBiZvv3xvjftWD4yCiFFC9_QNBbknGA7XNFahc0ik4Ufy2KEAgWdtLdRAZhyphenhyphenycs_xj4umLnuP0E/s320/6494957%255B1%255D.jpg" width="212" /></a></div>
Regarding chapter 1, which chronicles the hectic back-and-forth conflict between Qi and Yan in the late Warring States period, the actual Shiji and other historical records explicitly state that King Kuai made his chancellor Zizhi as his successor. Not counting the legendary emperors, this seems to be the only historically attested incident of a ruler abdicating the throne willingly to a non-kin member. The fact that this had disastrous consequences seemed to prove to all the political philosophers active during the late Warring states that willing abdication to the "most capable" as you might have in a more democratic state was a big no-no. Consequently, all the different schools of political philosophy still agreed on the idea of a universal monarchy ideally passed down through primogeniture, though different schools of thought had different ideas on how much power/responsibilities the nobles or minister should have. If you're at all interested in the intellectual history on how prominent thinkers proposed solutions on how to "fix" the broken realm that was the turbulent Eastern Zhou, I'd highly recommend Yuri Pines' Envisioning Eternal Empire: Chinese Political Thought of the Warring States Era.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-T4j-LJNC4k8ucIEdbbQPnsEreZIpL2PRYMOVQeBRpiaaY4HKwDAR7L_dLmWdnLb5AefuNJLYrHKET_DEvOuDxab5alBjAFoDlCq1REaGm0AX8vG-2ubpF1OSrWafqKboF-oXN96YRHU/s1600/Shiji+v04+p133.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1400" data-original-width="876" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-T4j-LJNC4k8ucIEdbbQPnsEreZIpL2PRYMOVQeBRpiaaY4HKwDAR7L_dLmWdnLb5AefuNJLYrHKET_DEvOuDxab5alBjAFoDlCq1REaGm0AX8vG-2ubpF1OSrWafqKboF-oXN96YRHU/s320/Shiji+v04+p133.png" width="200" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">This tactic was consequently named the "fire oxen strategy (火牛之計)." It's pretty interesting how setting animals on fire comes up quite often in military history. Some are likely more legendary, like with <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olga_of_Kiev"><span style="color: red;">Olga of Kiev's</span></a> burning of a Drevlian city, while others, such as <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bat_bomb"><span style="color: red;">using bats carrying incendiaries to burn Japanese cities in WW2</span></a> sounds completely insane but was something that actually <strike>happened</strike> was attempted.</span><div>
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<i>Download:</i></div><div><i>Shiji v04: <a href="https://mega.nz/file/hldFTKaL#39oxipvYtTDeud5MbC5AiY7rjZ62QHoczjDwwbVfQnw">Mega</a></i><i><br /></i>
<i>Shiji v04 c1: <a href="https://mega.nz/#!4sVlkQaR!VxczaOOjOIJJSkRsFkiHV2thKFV07VleSgnr8gzMMK0">Mega</a></i><br />
<i>Shiji v04 c2: <a href="https://mega.nz/#!k81HyYTZ!8cgohk9CgnpXf8Tl-lCTW8ceVGSNuyGKvvQg0fWm3eE">Mega</a></i></div><div><i>Shiji v04 c3: <a href="https://mega.nz/file/xpsmzCzB#La7DBrciCzt3nJwyVh5u82Qir2wOWBFSBlF_aetEy_Q">Mega</a></i></div></div><span><!--more--></span><span><!--more--></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-643247485418610029.post-50358407924424251572020-03-26T11:56:00.004-07:002020-03-26T12:01:40.387-07:00Historie Status Update<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoFLlv2Ox5zZ6EjloDVs09njyjhYLjTO921wXTlcZIb5z5dRSIMKgvYzafc46ig7OSbV2bou9SDGCQV8GAnVBzGUGPzAnZMqhMNddwgmguKu-Su4Vl6rgm7vxXtporFS9NCXmqSAu81yo/s1600/2020-03-26_182408.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="543" data-original-width="492" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoFLlv2Ox5zZ6EjloDVs09njyjhYLjTO921wXTlcZIb5z5dRSIMKgvYzafc46ig7OSbV2bou9SDGCQV8GAnVBzGUGPzAnZMqhMNddwgmguKu-Su4Vl6rgm7vxXtporFS9NCXmqSAu81yo/s320/2020-03-26_182408.jpg" width="289" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">Line should actually read: "Some say that after Olympias came into conflict with King Philip, </span><br />
<span style="font-size: 12.8px;">she returned home and instigated her younger brother, the King of Epirus, to attack Macedonia..."</span></td></tr>
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Some of you might have seen that the group known as <a href="https://mangadex.org/group/10126/project-vinland"><span style="color: red;">Project Vinland</span></a> has translated this month's release for Historie just 2 days ago. Personally, I was surprised to see this, given that Historie isn't exactly the most popular series, I've been more or less punctual with putting out translations for it since 2009 (it was the first manga I translated), and I've had difficulty finding anyone to even help out with the tankoban releases for it. Although such actions in the scanlation-community might be considered "poaching/sniping" and lead to DRAMA, I don't think this really calls for any of that. I simply contacted their translator, told him I was cool with it, especially since I've been pretty busy these days (though I plan to return to a more active status from this May). I also requested that if his group was going to pick up Historie, then they should not ignore the tankoban releases, since Iwaaki fixes up a lot of the background art and sometimes even adds a few more pages, and thankfully, they agreed to do so. This is great news since the tankoban volume 11 came out last summer and I've been too busy to get around to it.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7vQf0uJhckCdfzYPNcJQTjS5w_nT4ayXutHVq1yP821RIb1i1reOw6IyBoChv1KqiA9vs6R3F5t_bS0eTRbg4TXksDrnjvoY1_aCBFzLQ2hVfBJJeHXj0f1T96Kj89tpGuP6jRPkOdbU/s1600/2020-03-26_184958.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="494" data-original-width="362" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7vQf0uJhckCdfzYPNcJQTjS5w_nT4ayXutHVq1yP821RIb1i1reOw6IyBoChv1KqiA9vs6R3F5t_bS0eTRbg4TXksDrnjvoY1_aCBFzLQ2hVfBJJeHXj0f1T96Kj89tpGuP6jRPkOdbU/s320/2020-03-26_184958.jpg" width="234" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lines should actually read: "Aegae is alright, but..." and "In the East, our forces attacking Persia is, well... <br />
Parmenion and Attalus are struggling considerably."</td></tr>
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The chapter they did put out had a few translation errors such as above but I kindly pointed out all the translation errors and they should put out a fixed version 2 soon. So to sum up, for the time being, I'm not going to work on Historie BUT I will keep an eye on the raws/translations so that I can point out any major translation errors. And if it ever comes to pass that Project Vinland doesn't work on Historie, I'll simply pick it back up.<br />
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So don't worry folks, and as I said, I plan to start putting out new chapters for all my projects from mid-May-ish. Thanks for being patient with me.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-643247485418610029.post-33005245635296162852020-02-01T09:49:00.000-08:002020-02-01T09:49:04.313-08:00Historie 109<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhg2-44Id8PA0RuOgFk565mUdP7axKfkAxshB-iClK4QqxjHeNskteevrD2hojt9CdQ_HXBCTQJx-Yt_LR77SIzg-OQr2efx362UdP6GzLweiCSg9rgQfGnKACvGdVlKpgigr2e0A_3IXs/s1600/Historie+c109+p001.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1114" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhg2-44Id8PA0RuOgFk565mUdP7axKfkAxshB-iClK4QqxjHeNskteevrD2hojt9CdQ_HXBCTQJx-Yt_LR77SIzg-OQr2efx362UdP6GzLweiCSg9rgQfGnKACvGdVlKpgigr2e0A_3IXs/s320/Historie+c109+p001.png" width="222" /></a></div>
New chapter. I hope the flashback is short and we can return to the assassination plot.<br />
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<i>Download:</i><br />
<i>Historie c109: <a href="https://mega.nz/#!F99DBIib!WWIgUNUmljgL25doiMQ61TgqDNQ47Pn9vZYmc1kWHX0">Mega</a></i>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-643247485418610029.post-55072042404757952982019-12-05T20:31:00.004-08:002019-12-05T20:32:30.637-08:00Historie c108<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYTdi_dqCNR8mvOy9d8tLMWTEHReSMDAIm496kjQJ8z-BwLQ3OkVZUEuCT3j3EGAg2eT6J-krbA6Agd6y0_7sLl7YmHrAn3L0UERX3WWqeEH-cV0IhscRHUJIVpvIulQaJ6CmuV6rp1d4/s1600/Historie+c108+p002.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1114" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYTdi_dqCNR8mvOy9d8tLMWTEHReSMDAIm496kjQJ8z-BwLQ3OkVZUEuCT3j3EGAg2eT6J-krbA6Agd6y0_7sLl7YmHrAn3L0UERX3WWqeEH-cV0IhscRHUJIVpvIulQaJ6CmuV6rp1d4/s320/Historie+c108+p002.png" width="222" /></a></div>
New Historie chapter, finally. And yeah I know, I've hardly released anything aside from a few Futago no Teikoku chapters in the past few months, and the few extra chapters of an alternative version of The Distant Dawn that I did with Illuminati-Manga (I didn't update that on my blog here so go see <a href="https://illuminati-manga.com/2019/11/12/anniversary/"><span style="color: red;">here</span></a> or the <a href="https://mangadex.org/title/43005/one-day-in-the-life-of-ivan-dejavu"><span style="color: red;">mangadex page</span></a>). I still haven't even gotten around to finishing off the last chapter of Shiji v04! Ugh...<br />
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What can I say other than when you're busy, you're busy? Don't worry though, I'm still planning to translate for the rest of my life so my various projects will eventually get done. I'm here for the long haul...<br />
<br />
<i>Download:</i><br />
<i>Historie c108: <a href="https://mega.nz/#!1tVjTYLL!UkQyqAgmrd4bVUf24r8HWGyIvjL3xWJkIaoi43AsTjA">Mega</a></i>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-643247485418610029.post-76392691256284491722019-08-16T16:55:00.002-07:002020-01-20T16:47:39.761-08:00Futago no Teikoku v4 (last updated Jan. 13)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0nWm6n9Dkjget6PhRpKl5w86JHXDD_1hSziRG1r3_d43olX4bmoW4Jje_NSwZ_Sb1Y_hErE8VVaQC5wwyG3RbOfB5X9Dwf_Gmi3-fLsGMJjJlTacynC-8DK26HyxubCFtfEF0kOWjKwQ/s1600/Futago+no+Teikoku+c19+p01.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1115" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0nWm6n9Dkjget6PhRpKl5w86JHXDD_1hSziRG1r3_d43olX4bmoW4Jje_NSwZ_Sb1Y_hErE8VVaQC5wwyG3RbOfB5X9Dwf_Gmi3-fLsGMJjJlTacynC-8DK26HyxubCFtfEF0kOWjKwQ/s320/Futago+no+Teikoku+c19+p01.png" width="223" /></a></div>
Although Futago no Teikoku started back in 2015, it only has 3 released volumes and a total of 23 (?) chapters so far. And that's because Kitou Mohiro was suffering from spinal stenosis and had to undergo back surgery (source: <a href="http://evening.moae.jp/news/4486">http://evening.moae.jp/news/4486</a>), which naturally caused the series to go on a break last year while he focuses on rehabilitation. Since there are magazine-raws floating around up to chapter 23 on the internet, MangadexScans and I will do it up to there and hopefully it won't be too long before Kitou's health recovers well enough to return to work.<br />
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<span style="color: red;">*Update: Just gonna put all the individual chapter releases that will probably be included in the as yet unreleased volume 4 under this post for now.</span><br />
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<i>Download:</i><br />
<i>Futago no Teikoku c19: <a href="https://mega.nz/#!F11F3Qqa!LLb_RTKrNrfNeSQm_XcRhCuOAm333vk5JFQDrMjsE7M">Mega</a></i><br />
<i>Futago no Teikoku c20: <a href="https://mega.nz/#!BlkVyQ5R!rOjbatLI8jaO9KN_UWH5FIqUtCeAcn9KxEPAj3ViL68">Mega</a></i><br />
<i>Futago no Teikoku c21: <a href="https://mega.nz/#!0sVElQzT!N7GKTYjL2tNIMyt6aIDb4sosYbiajjpFqaWNT6gXueg">Mega</a></i><br />
<i>Futago no Teikoku c22: <a href="https://mega.nz/#!Y1FR3IJZ!r_pauwQbqvAvBzRl3FPsZPL6E9c9cUYr7NGNqhrYFVc">Mega</a></i>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-643247485418610029.post-57114437896918598292019-07-16T14:20:00.000-07:002019-08-22T11:20:20.252-07:00Ad Astra v09 (complete)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXJskwRI90sz8bw_HNdFYY_bHAHdCQRdkuHb0gZoFzvwaO6ZTfYmxy2p14MifdreQIkD6ihsdhjXGkji9IaTWrUi0jVa8uPtbOazwHq3bRIfGPNX_BmppOPePr5n44dLFudMPR5_A-dJ4/s1600/Ad+Astra+v09+p001.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="844" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXJskwRI90sz8bw_HNdFYY_bHAHdCQRdkuHb0gZoFzvwaO6ZTfYmxy2p14MifdreQIkD6ihsdhjXGkji9IaTWrUi0jVa8uPtbOazwHq3bRIfGPNX_BmppOPePr5n44dLFudMPR5_A-dJ4/s320/Ad+Astra+v09+p001.png" width="225" /></a></div>
Time to start volume 9 with my editor Nixbrod.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: red;">*Update: Volume 9 is now finished. Unfortunately, no new chapters until late fall, around Oct/Nov.</span> <br />
<br />
<i>Download:</i><br />
<span style="font-style: italic;">Ad Astra v09: </span><a href="https://mega.nz/#!4tF3GCBD!muiG6MXNcYl-LsVPfH1xwh145YYGiPGauuCR0XeIdmo" style="font-style: italic;">Mega</a><br />
<br />
<i>Ad Astra v09 c52: <a href="https://mega.nz/#!5skXTCzT!SGi6sBdSbC9DC5yGwRHTMIxtKySevyJssx9IOyD2gf8">Mega</a></i><br />
<i>Ad Astra v09 c53: <a href="https://mega.nz/#!shdDnaYL!EsLdj0687_DkJodkn2UXES9C1tryT3I28BieIS8M4pk">Mega</a></i><br />
<i>Ad Astra v09 c54: <a href="https://mega.nz/#!otdRDKZA!eO-nMhu4fPFc8COkB0Vi0-3Qy2Q2ie9TIDxa9_S3HOg">Mega</a></i><br />
<i>Ad Astra v09 c55: <a href="https://mega.nz/#!0okTDaRa!Bh-Q0vpRo4THhey5hNbv5psAJLy67NuTkiKLmzhbkQQ">Mega</a></i><br />
<span style="font-style: italic;">Ad Astra v09 c56: </span><a href="https://mega.nz/#!4plzFYbT!Q48EAjM6TDJUuaq_Qv8BcX-q9DybRPRnm5vfaZh_ZIQ" style="font-style: italic;">Mega</a><br />
<span style="font-style: italic;">Ad Astra v09 c57: </span><a href="https://mega.nz/#!FhNl1SaL!NDsPFeRV3MPIzN7i1T90_nMNP5oFTNqMJaU32E1so6g" style="font-style: italic;">Mega</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-643247485418610029.post-88841354924043924982019-07-15T10:12:00.002-07:002020-08-27T13:10:37.382-07:00Discourses on Salt and Iron - Part 2, Chapters 55 and 56<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8ZFDr1CBEFcLDwdadSqGxjMZQF9C4TWkHv1nNTYQjaGHqIYBb6oJvuqUz6_QWuLP3_KzM9VqhkTRyOfdv6rJNg2ETtPxYo33jFxRYEKl-nxg8ZNHB714_jRjgNJvgrGScfcV9ZVdExKE/s1600/5707957_orig%255B1%255D.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="592" data-original-width="930" height="203" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8ZFDr1CBEFcLDwdadSqGxjMZQF9C4TWkHv1nNTYQjaGHqIYBb6oJvuqUz6_QWuLP3_KzM9VqhkTRyOfdv6rJNg2ETtPxYo33jFxRYEKl-nxg8ZNHB714_jRjgNJvgrGScfcV9ZVdExKE/s320/5707957_orig%255B1%255D.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I'll probably talk about the inaccuracies behind labels like Confucianism, Daoism, and Legalism in part 3.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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This is part two of my post on the Discourses on Salt and Iron, which I'm planning on making into a 3-parter. The two chapters I've translated here mostly debate the true purpose and meaning of law and how to actually promote an orderly society. It's a little redundant in the sense that each side essentially makes the same point over and over again, but it's pretty funny how each time, they try to turn around the analogy or expression their opponent just used against them. Also, there's nothing quite like reading expressions in different languages that are purely the product of differing cultural references.<br />
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The upcoming third and final part won't have any translations but will be just my thoughts on the rhetoric and historical background regarding the debate points I've translated. For the translation, I'd say I tried to be 80% literal so I could preserve a lot of the colourful expressions, parallelisms, and syntax. The quotations from the Book of Odes are from James Legges' translation but everything else is my translation which means that there may/will be some errors since I'm no expert in classical Chinese.</div>
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Ch 55: 刑德 Punishments and Morality</div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span lang="JA" style="background: white; color: black;">大夫曰:「令者所以教民也,法者所以督姦也。令嚴而民慎,法設而姦禁。罔疏則獸失,法疏則罪漏。罪漏則民放佚而輕犯禁。故禁不必,怯夫徼倖;誅誠,蹠、蹻不犯。是以古者作五刑,刻肌膚而民不踰矩。</span><span lang="JA" style="background: white; color: black;">」</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="background: white;">The <i>dafu</i> </span></span><span style="background-color: white;">(grandee/counsellor </span><span style="background-color: white;">大夫</span><span style="background-color: white;">)</span><span style="background-color: white;"> </span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="background: white;">said thus: “Edicts (<i>ling</i> </span><span lang="JA" style="background: white;">令</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="background: white;">)</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="background: white;"> are the means by which
one educates the people, and laws (<i>fa</i>
</span><span lang="JA" style="background: white;">法</span></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="background: white; font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">) are the means by which one looks out for criminality. When edicts are
strict, the people are prudent, and when laws are established, criminality is
checked. When nets are loosened, the animals escape, and when laws are
slackened, crime runs loose. When crime runs loose, the people run amok and
make light of prohibitions. When prohibitions are not compulsory, even the
timid will become reckless, but when punishments are substantial, even the
likes of <a href="https://ctext.org/zhuangzi/robber-zhi"><span style="color: red;">Robber Zhi</span></a> and <a href="http://www.chinaknowledge.de/History/Zhou/personszhuangqiao.html"><span style="color: red;">Zhuang Qiao</span></a> will not violate prohibitions. Therefore
the ancients created the five punishments such as tattooing the flesh so that
the people did not tread upon the law.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span lang="JA" style="background: white; color: black;">文學曰:「道逕眾,人不知所由;法令眾,民不知所辟。故王者之制法,昭乎如日月,故民不迷;曠乎若大路,故民不惑。幽隱遠方,折乎知之,室女童婦,咸知所避。是以法令不犯,而獄犴不用也。昔秦法繁於秋荼,而網密於凝脂。然而上下相遁,姦偽萌生,有司治之,若救爛撲焦,而不能禁;非網疏而罪漏,禮義廢而刑罰任也。方今律令百有餘篇,文章繁,罪名重,郡國用之疑惑,或淺或深,自吏明習者,不知所處,而況愚民!律令塵蠹於棧閣,吏不能遍睹,而況於愚民乎!此斷獄所以滋眾,而民犯禁滋多也。『宜犴宜獄,握粟出卜,自何能穀?』刺刑法繁也。親服之屬甚眾,上殺下殺,而服不過五。五刑之屬三千,上附下附,而罪不過五。故治民之道,務篤其教而已。</span><span lang="JA" style="background: white; color: black;">」</span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="background: white; font-family: inherit;">The literati said thus: “When roads
and trails are many, the people do not know which way to go. When laws and
edicts are many, the people do not know what they are permitted to do. Hence
when a king creates laws, he makes them as bright and clear as the sun and moon
so that the people do not lose direction, and as broad as a great highway so
that the people are not confused. In doing so, even those dwelling in remote
and distant corners will know the laws, and even maidservants, children, wives,
and the ignorant will know what they are
permitted to do. Thereupon, laws and edicts are not violated, while jails and
prisons are not needed. In the past, the laws of Qin were more numerous than
the autumn reeds, finer and more minute than a clump of congealed fat. However,
both superiors and inferiors alike avoided them, deviancy and deceit took
sprout, and even if an officer tried to </span><span lang="EN-GB" style="background: white; font-family: inherit;">administer
them, like trying to help a man from a brightly raging fire, he would be unable to prohibit violations. This
was not a case of slackening the nets of law so that crime ran
loose, but rather discarding propriety and righteousness and instead entrusting
punishments and penalties. In the
present, the penal and administrative laws (</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="background: white; font-family: inherit;"><i>lüling</i> </span><em style="font-family: inherit;"><span lang="JA" style="background: white; font-style: normal;">律</span></em><em style="font-family: inherit;"><span lang="JA" style="background: white; font-style: normal;">令</span></em><em style="font-family: inherit;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="background: white; font-style: normal;">) spill out over a
hundred chapters of paragraphs and paragraphs. Names and types of crimes overlap, and so confused are the commanderies in employing them that some apply
it too lightly and others too heavily. If even the learned officials do not
know, how much worse off is the uneducated populace! The legal codes are
gathering dust and being eaten by weevils in warehouses and offices. If even
the officials cannot read through all of them, how much worse off is the
uneducated populace! This is the reason why criminal hearings are increasing,
as are the number of people violating prohibitions. ‘Deemed fit inmates for the
prisons! With a handful of grain I go out and divine, how I may be able to
become good?’ This line [from the </span></em><em style="font-family: inherit;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="background: white;">Book
of Poetry</span></em><em style="font-family: inherit;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="background: white; font-style: normal;">] refers to such cases of too many penal laws. There
may be exceedingly many types of clothes for mourning relatives, but if one
trims the top and bottom outliers, the main types of mourning clothes do not
number more than five. There may be three thousand offences that can warrant
the five punishments, but if one trims the top and bottom outliers, the
offences do not number more than five. Therefore, the way to govern people well
is sincerely striving to morally educate them and nothing more.”</span></em></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span lang="JA" style="background: white; color: black;">大夫曰:「文學言王者立法,曠若大路。今馳道不小也,而民公犯之,以其罰罪之輕也。千仞之高,人不輕凌,千鈞之重,人不輕舉。商君刑棄灰於道,而秦民治。故盜馬者死,盜牛者加,所以重本而</span><span lang="JA" style="background: white; color: black;">絕</span><span lang="JA" style="background: white; color: black;">輕疾之資也。武兵名食,所以佐邊而重武備也。盜傷與殺同罪,所以累其心而責其意也。猶魯以楚師伐齊,而春秋惡之。故輕之為重,淺之為深,有緣而然。法之微者,固非眾人之所知也。</span><span lang="JA" style="background: white; color: black;">」</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="background: white; color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="background: white; color: black;">The <i>dafu</i> said thus:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“The literati have said that a king, when
establishing laws, makes them as broad as a great highway. The path that the
people presently traverse is not small, yet they openly violate the law, and
this is due to the levity of punishments for crimes. A height of 1000 <i>ren</i>
(8000 Chinese </span><span lang="JA" style="background: white; color: black;">尺</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="background: white; color: black;"> feet) cannot be easily climbed, and a weight of 1000 <i>jun</i> (3000
Chinese </span><span lang="JA" style="background: white; color: black;">斤</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="background: white;"> catties) cannot be easily lifted. When <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shang_Yang"><span style="color: red;">Shang Yang</span></a> punished even the act
of littering the roads, the people of Qin became well governed. Thus to put
horse-thieves to death and cattle-thieves to the sword are the means by which
one respects the roots and severs the source of careless offences. Similarly,
giving rank and food to soldiers are also the means by which one aids the
frontier and respects military readiness. That theft and assault are dealt the same as murder is the means by which one reprimands a man’s heart and
scolds his mind. This is analogous to Lu using Chu’s army to attack Qi, which
the <i style="color: black;">Spring and Autumn Annals</i> criticized. Thus there is a reason to why
light offences are dealt with heavily, and why shallow offences are treated
deeply. The minute details of law is certainly not something that which the
masses must know.”</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: black; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS ゴシック"; mso-themecolor: text1;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span lang="JA" style="background: white; color: black;">文學曰:「《</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><a href="https://ctext.org/book-of-poetry"><span lang="JA" style="background: white; color: black;">詩</span></a></span><span lang="JA" style="background: white; color: black;">》云:『</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span lang="JA" style="background: white; color: black;">周道如砥,其直如矢。</span></span><span lang="JA" style="background: white; color: black;">』言其易也。『君子所履,小人所視。』言其明也。故德明而易從,法約而易行今馳道經營陵陸,紆周天下,是以萬里為民阱也。</span><span lang="JA" style="background: white; color: black;">罻</span><span lang="JA" style="background: white; color: black;">羅張而縣其谷,辟陷設而當其蹊,矰弋飾而加其上,能勿離乎?聚其所欲,開其所利,仁義陵遲,能勿踰乎?故其末途,至於攻城入邑,損府庫之金,盜宗廟之器,豈特千仞之高、千鈞之重哉!管子曰:『四維不張,雖皋陶不能</span><span lang="JA" style="background: white; color: black;">為士。』故德教廢而詐偽行,禮義壞而姦邪興,言無仁義也。仁者,愛之效也;義者,事之宜也。故君子愛仁以及物,治近以及遠。傳曰:『凡生之物,莫貴於人;人主之所貴,莫重於人。』故天之生萬物以奉人也,主愛人以順天也。聞以六畜禽獸養人,未聞以所養害人者也。魯</span><span lang="JA" style="background: white; color: black;">廄</span><span lang="JA" style="background: white; color: black;">焚,孔子罷朝,問人不問馬,賤畜而重人也。今盜馬者罪死,盜牛者加。乘騎車馬行馳道中,吏舉苛而不止,以為盜馬,而罪亦死。今傷人持其刀劍而亡,亦可謂盜武庫兵而殺之乎?人主立法而民犯之,亦可以為逆而輕主約乎?深之可以死,輕之可以免,非法禁之意也。法者,緣人情而制,非設罪以</span><span lang="JA" style="background: white; color: black;">陷人也。故春秋之治獄,論心定罪。志善而違於法者免,志惡而合於法者誅。今傷人未有所害,志不甚惡而合於法者,謂盜而傷人者耶?將執法者過耶?何於人心不厭也!古者,傷人有創者刑,盜有臧者罰,殺人者死。今取人兵刃以傷人,罪與殺人同,得無非其至意與?</span><span lang="JA" style="background: white; color: black;">」</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="background: white; color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="background: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The literati said thus: “In the <i style="color: black;">Book of Poetry</i>, the line, ‘The way of
Zhou was like a whetstone, and as straight as an arrow,’ speaks to its ease
while the immediately succeeding line, ‘The superior men traversed it and the
inferior men looked upon it’ speaks to its clarity. Thus when virtue illuminates
the path, it is easy to follow, and when the laws are concise, it is easy to
carry them out. Presently, the roads that the people traverse might be straight
or winding, and be on hilly or flat terrain in encircling the whole realm.
Consequently, the 10,000 li of roads become pitfalls for the people. Like
casting bird-nets in ravines, setting up trapping pits and waiting nearby, or preparing
arrows tied to strings and shooting them up into the sky, how could the people not
be ensnared? By hoarding all desirable things and opening up all profitable
ventures, benevolence and justice die slowly by a thousand cuts, so how could
the people avoid treading upon the law? Thus the end of our present course will
lead to the people being driven to lay siege to cities and break in to strip
valuables in storehouses and steal goods from ancestral temples. So how can one
speak of 1000 <i style="color: black;">ren</i> or 1000 <i style="color: black;">jun</i> with regards to present affairs!? <i style="color: black;">Guanzi</i> says, ‘Without enlarging the four
cornerstones, even the likes of <a href="http://www.chinaknowledge.de/History/Myth/personsgaoyao.html"><span style="color: red;">Gao Yao</span></a> is unable to be a <i style="color: black;">shi</i>.” Thus when moral instruction is discarded while lies and
deceit are conducted, when propriety and righteousness are destroyed while
wickedness and iniquity flourish, this situation is said to lack benevolence
and justice. Humaneness is the manifestation of love. Justice is
appropriateness in executing affairs. Thus the <i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Junzi"><span style="color: red;">junzi</span></a></i> loves benevolence and
extends it to all things, first governing well those that are nearby to then
extend it to those afar. Thus it has been transmitted, ‘Among all living
things, none are as valuable as people, and among that which is valued by
lords, none are as critical as people.’ Thus all things in this world have been
brought to existence to serve people, and lords love their people to accord
with Heaven. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span lang="JA" style="background: white; color: black;">大夫俛仰未應對</span><span lang="JA" style="background: white; color: black;">。</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="background: white; color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="color: black; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-themecolor: text1;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The <i>dafu</i> looked up and down, but did not respond.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span lang="JA" style="background: white; color: black;">御史曰:「執法者國之轡銜,刑罰者國之維楫也。故轡銜不飭,雖王良不能以致遠;維楫不設,雖良工不能以</span><span lang="JA" style="background: white; color: black;">絕</span><span lang="JA" style="background: white; color: black;">水。韓子疾有國者不能明其法勢,御其臣下,富國強兵,以制敵禦難,惑於愚儒之文詞,以疑賢士之謀,舉浮淫之蠹,加之功實之上,而欲國之治,猶釋階而欲登高,無銜</span><span lang="JA" style="background: white; color: black;">橛而禦捍馬也。今刑法設備,而民猶犯之,況無法乎?其亂必也!</span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: inherit;">The <i>yushi</i> (Imperial Counsellor </span><span lang="JA" style="font-family: inherit;">御史</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: inherit;">) said: “Commands and
laws are the bridles and bits of a state, while penalties and punishments are
its ropes and oars. Thus when bridles and bits are not outfitted, even the
likes of Wang Liang (famous charioteer during the Spring and Autumn period) would be unable to drive a horse very far. When ropes and oars
are not equipped, even a skilled oarsman would be unable to cross the waters.
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Han_Fei"><span style="color: red;">Han Fei</span></a> detested those rulers who possessed a state but were unable to clarify
its laws and authority, control his ministers, enrich his state, and strengthen
his soldiers to thereby overpower his enemies and suppress any difficulties. He
loathed those rulers who, deluded by the writings and expressions of the
foolish Ru-scholars, doubted the strategies of wise men, employed frivolous and
obscene men, and raised such insects even above those with real merit and
talent. To commit such blunders and yet desire for a state to be well-governed
is to let go of ladders and yet want to climb up high, or to do without bridles
and bits but attempt to control a rough horse. Presently, when punishments and
laws are employed, the people still violate them, so how much worse would
things be without any laws at all? Chaos would surely be inevitable!”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span lang="JA" style="background: white; color: black;">文學曰:「轡銜者,御之具也,得良工而調。法勢者,治之具也,得賢人而化。執轡非其人,則馬奔馳。執軸非其人,則船覆傷。昔</span><span lang="JA" style="background: white; color: black;">吳</span><span lang="JA" style="background: white; color: black;">使宰嚭持軸而破其船,秦使趙高執轡而覆其車。今廢仁義之術,而任刑名之徒,則復</span><span lang="JA" style="background: white; color: black;">吳</span><span lang="JA" style="background: white; color: black;">、秦之事也。夫為君者法三王,為相者法周公,為術者法孔子,此百世不易之道也。韓非非先王而不遵,舍正令而不從,卒蹈陷阱,身幽囚,客死於秦。夫不通大道而小辯,斯足以害其身而已。</span><span lang="JA" style="background: white; color: black;">」</span></span><br />
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: inherit;">The literati said thus: “Bridles and bits are tools of
control, but one must also have a skilled specialist to keep [horses/cows] in check. Law and
authority are tools of governance, but one must also have wise men to morally
transform the people. If he who grabs the bridle is not skilled, then the horse
will still run wild, and if he who holds a rudder’s pivot is not accustomed,
the boat will flip over or be damaged. In the past, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuchai"><span style="color: red;">Wu</span></a> once ordered its chancellor Pi to
hold the rudder’s pivot, who then crashed the boat. Qin once made <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhao_Gao"><span style="color: red;">Zhao Gao</span></a> take
the bridle, who then overturned the carriage. At present, you discard the
techniques of benevolence and righteousness, and entrust matters to the
follower of the forms and names (</span><span lang="JA" style="color: black; font-family: inherit;">刑名</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: inherit;">). This is to repeat
the mistakes of Wu and Qin. One who acts as a lord must model himself on the
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Sovereigns_and_Five_Emperors"><span style="color: red;">Three Kings</span></a>, one who acts as a chancellor must model himself on the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duke_of_Zhou"><span style="color: red;">Duke of Zhou</span></a>, and one who acts as a scholar must model himself on Confucius. This is
the Way that remains unchanged for a hundred generations. Han Fei disparaged
the kings of antiquity and did not follow them. He discarded proper edicts and
did not comply with them. In the end, he stepped into a trap, became
incarcerated, and died abroad in Qin. To not comprehend the Great Way but
understand petty rhetoric was sufficient for his self-destruction.”</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="background: white; color: black;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Ch 56: <o:p></o:p></span></span>申韓 Shen Buhai and Han Fei</div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span lang="JA" style="background: white; color: black;">御史曰:「待周公而為相,則世無列國。待孔子而後學,則世無儒、墨。夫衣小缺,</span><span lang="JA" style="background: white; color: black;">憏</span><span lang="JA" style="background: white; color: black;">裂可以補,而必待全匹而易之;政小缺,法令可以防,而必待雅、頌乃治之;是猶舍鄰之醫,而求</span><span lang="JA" style="background: white; color: black;">俞</span><span lang="JA" style="background: white; color: black;">跗而後治病,廢汙池之水,待江、海而後救火也。迂而不徑,闕而無務,是以教令不從而治煩亂。夫善為政者,弊則補之,決則塞之,故</span><span lang="JA" style="background: white; color: black;">吳</span><span lang="JA" style="background: white; color: black;">子以法治楚、魏,申、商以法彊秦、韓也。</span><span lang="JA" style="background: white; color: black;">」</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="background: white; color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="background: white; color: black;">The </span></span><i>yushi</i><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="background: white;"> said thus:
“Were a ruler to wait for a Duke of Zhou to have a chancellor, there would
hardly be any states in this world. Were a person to wait for a Confucius to be
educated, neither <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confucianism"><span style="color: red;">Ruism</span></a> nor <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohism"><span style="color: red;">Mohism</span></a> would exist in this world. When robes are a
little frayed, one can mend it with bits of fabric or wait until a whole new
set of robes are acquired to replace it. When governance is a little frayed,
one can use edicts and laws to secure it or wait for the ritual music (<i style="color: black;">ya</i> </span><span lang="JA" style="background: white; color: black;">雅</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="background: white; color: black;">) </span><span lang="EN-GB" style="background: white; color: black;">and odes (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">song</i> </span><span lang="JA" style="background: white; color: black;">頌</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="background: white;">) and then administer the issue. To insist on the latter is to cast away
a doctor nearby and seek a Yu Fu (legendary doctor during the time of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellow_Emperor"><span style="color: red;">Yellow Emperor</span></a>) before treating an illness, or to discard
water from a dirty pond and seeking a river or ocean before putting out a fire.
When one traverses an indirect and winding path rather than head straight, and
misses the crux of the matter and does not attend to the issue, one may attempt
to teach and order, but none will follow and governance will be in disarray. A
man who is good at governance patches holes and plugs leaks. Thus <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wu_Qi"><span style="color: red;">Wu Qi</span></a> used
laws to govern Chu and Wei, as did <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shen_Buhai"><span style="color: red;">Shen Buhai</span></a> and Shang Yang use laws to
strengthen Qin and Han.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span lang="JA">文學曰:「有國者選眾而任賢,學者博覽而就善,何必是周公、孔子!故曰法之而已。今商鞅反聖人之道,變亂秦俗,其後政耗亂而不能治,流失而不可復,愚人縱火於沛澤,不能復振;蜂蠆螫人,放死不能息其毒也。煩而止之,躁而靜之,上下勞擾,而亂益滋。故聖人教化,上與日月俱照,下與天地同流,豈曰小補之哉!」</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS ゴシック";"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS ゴシック";">The literati said thus: “A ruler can choose among the masses to employ
the worthy, and a scholar can read widely to choose the best, so why wait for
only a Duke of Zhou and a Confucius!? Thus we say one need only to model
themselves after them. When Shang Yang strayed from the path of sages, he
disordered the customs of Qin and thereafter its governance descended to chaos
and was unable to be ruled, for what has once been lost cannot be recovered,
much as how thickets and marshes razed by foolish people cannot grow back
again, or how hornets and scorpions that sting humans may die but their venom
does not dissipate. When any troubles are halted and any agitations are calmed,
then both those high and low will suffer from toil, and the disorder will only
grow worse. Therefore, a sage’s moral transformation shines like the sun and
moon upon those high and flows like the heaven and earth with those low. How
can you speak [in reference to your actions] of small mendings!?”</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span lang="JA">御史曰:「衣缺不補,則日以甚,防漏不塞,則日益滋。大河之始決於瓠子也,涓涓爾,及其卒,氾濫為中國害,菑梁、楚,破曹、衛,城郭壞沮,蓄積漂流,百姓木棲,千里無廬,令孤寡無所依,老弱無所歸。故先帝閔悼其菑,親省河隄,舉禹之功,河流以復,曹、衛以寧。百姓戴其功,詠其德,歌『宣房塞,萬福來』焉,亦猶是也,如何勿小補哉!」</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS ゴシック";"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS ゴシック";">The </span></span><i>yushi</i><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS ゴシック";"> said thus: “When clothes are frayed and not
mended, then they grow worse by day. When dikes leak but are not sealed, they
leak worse with each day. When the dikes are damaged upstream the Yellow River
at<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Huzi, the leaking was slow and
gradual at first, but it eventually turned into a great flood that harmed all
the central states. It ravaged Liang and Chu, wrecked Cao and Wey, demolished
city walls, and carried away all belongings and valuables. The people survived
by perching on trees, and for a thousand li not a single dwelling remained, so
that orphans and widows had nothing to rely upon while the old and the weak had
nowhere to return to. Thus the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emperor_Wu_of_Han"><span style="color: red;">former Emperor</span></a>, distressed and grieving this
calamity, carefully inspected the dikes and carried out what <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yu_the_Great"><span style="color: red;">Yu the Great</span></a> had
done to restore the river’s flow and make the lands of Cao and Wey peaceful
once more. The people exalted his accomplishment, extolled his virtue, and sang
‘The river blocked at Xuanfang; fortune now abounds.’ Governance is like this,
so how can one <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">not</i> speak of small
mendings!?”</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span lang="JA">文學曰:「河決若甕口,而破千里,況禮決乎?其所害亦多矣!今斷獄</span><span lang="JA">歲以萬計,犯法茲多,其</span><span lang="JA">為菑豈特曹、衛哉!夫知塞宣房而福來,不知塞亂原而天下治也。周國用之,刑錯不用,黎民若,四時各終其序,而天下不孤。頌曰:『綏我眉壽,介以繁祉。』此夫為福,亦不小矣!誠信禮義如宣房,功業已立,垂拱無為,有司何補,法令何塞也?」</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS ゴシック";"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS ゴシック";">The literati said thus: “When the dikes of a river first leaks, the leak
is like a small mouth of a jar, but it eventually grows to destroy a thousand
li. But what of when the dikes of ritual leaks? Surely the harm it will wreak
is even greater! At present, the number of penal cases adjudicated per year
numbers some ten-thousand cases, and still the legal violations continue to
grow more numerous, so how could this calamity only affect the lands of Cao and
Wey!? While you know that blocking the river at Xuanfang will lead to fortune,
you do not know that blocking the source of disorder will lead to the realm’s
good governance. The Zhou, however, employed this method and did not use
punishments, and thus the commoners became as orderly as the changing of four
seasons each year, and Heaven did not abandon them. The <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Odes</i> say, ‘You comfort me into old age, and aid me with manifold
blessings.’ The fortunes received in this ode were not small in the least bit!
Had you sincerely believed in rituals and righteousness as you believed in
Xuanfang, the great task would already be fulfilled, the ruler could fold his
arms and need not do anything. What mending need an officer do then? What
sealing need laws and edicts do then?”</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span lang="JA">御史曰:「犀銚利鉏,五穀之利而間草之害也。明理正法,姦邪之所惡而良民之福也。故曲木惡直繩,姦邪惡正法。是以聖人審於是非,察於治亂,故設明法,陳嚴刑,防非矯邪,若隱括輔檠之正弧刺也。故水者火之備,法者止姦之禁也。無法勢,雖賢人不能以為治;無甲兵,雖孫、</span><span lang="JA">吳不能以制敵。是以孔子倡以仁義而民從風,伯夷遁首陽而民不可化。」</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Gulim;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Gulim;">The </span></span><i>yushi</i><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Gulim;"> said thus: “</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS ゴシック";">Sharp hoes are
beneficial for growing the five grains but harmful to the weeds. Clear reason
and proper laws are loathed by evil-doers but are blessings to good people.
Thus the crooked tree detests the straight ruler, as do evil-doers despise
proper laws. Therefore, the sages judged right from wrong, evaluated order from
disorder, and then established clear laws and laid down strict punishment to
prevent mistakes and correct errors, just as how <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">yinkuo</i> </span><span lang="JA">隱括</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS ゴシック";"> and </span><i><span style="color: #333333; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">fujin</span></i><span style="color: #333333; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; float: none; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"> </span><span lang="JA" style="color: #333333;">輔檠</span><span style="color: #333333; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">
straightens warped bows. As water is used to prepare against possible fire,
laws are used to prevent depravity from occurring. Without laws and authority,
even the worthy man is unable to govern well; without arms and armour, even a
Sun Tzu or Wu Qi is unable to defeat enemies. That is why even when Confucius
led the way in benevolence and righteousness, the people instead followed
popular customs, and when <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boyi">Bo Yi</a> withdrew to Shouyang, the people were not
morally transformed.”</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span lang="JA">文學曰:「法能刑人而不能使人廉,能殺人而不能使人仁。所貴良醫者,貴其審消息而退邪氣也,非貴其下鍼石而鑽肌膚也。所貴良吏者,貴其</span><span lang="JA">絕惡於未萌,使之不為,非貴其拘之囹圄而刑殺之也。今之所謂良吏者,文察則以禍其民,強力則以厲其下,不本法之所由生,而專己之殘心,文誅假法,以陷不辜,累無罪,以子及父,以弟及兄,一人有罪,州里驚駭,十家奔亡,若癰疽之相濘,色淫之相連,一節動而百枝搖。《</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><a href="https://ctext.org/book-of-poetry"><span lang="JA">詩</span></a></span><span lang="JA">》云:『舍彼有罪,淪胥以鋪。』痛傷無罪而累也。非患銚耨之不利,患其舍草而芸苗也。非患無準平,患其舍枉而繩直也。故親近為過不必誅,是鋤不用也;疏遠有功不必賞,是苗不養也。故世不患無法,而患無必行之法也。」</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS ゴシック";"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS ゴシック";">The literati said thus: “Laws are able to punish humans but unable to make
them honest. They can kill humans but cannot make them benevolent. Good doctors
are valued because they examine their patients’ respiration and can expel foul <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qi"><span style="color: red;">qi</span></a></i> </span><span lang="JA">氣</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS ゴシック";">, not because they use <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bian_stones"><span style="color: red;">bian stone needles</span></a> to poke skin. Good officials
are valued because they uproot evil before it sprouts to prevent their growth,
not because they put people in prison and execute them. Those whom you call good
officials today know laws so minutely as to ruin the people and are so forceful as to harm those subject to them. They do not root the laws upon the principles it
arose from, but rather solely upon their cruel hearts. They borrow the law to
ensnare the innocent and burden the blameless, so as to incriminate the father
on account of his son, and to embroil the older brother on account of the
younger brother. Thus when one man is guilty of a crime, the whole neighbourhood
is alarmed and startled so that 10 families flee. It is like how boils fester
into abscesses, or how attractiveness invites lustfulness. The moving of a
single part ends up shaking a hundred branches. The <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Book of Poetry</i> says, ‘Let alone the criminals, lest indiscriminately
involve [the innocent] in ruin,’ in reference to this harming of the blameless
and burdening them. Rather than worry about the hoes not being sharp, one
should leave aside the weeds and instead worry about the harvesting of grains.
Rather than worry about that which are not flat and level, one should leave
aside warped things and instead worry about applying the fixing-line to things
that are straight. When those who are near and dear err, to not necessarily
punish them severely is to not [necessarily] use the hoe, and when those who
are distant and unfamiliar are to accomplish some merit, to not necessarily
reward them is to not [necessarily] nourish the sprouts. Thus the world will not
worry about lawlessness, but rather worry about laws that are always followed
not existing.”</span></span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-643247485418610029.post-59531852978730555562019-05-18T17:02:00.000-07:002019-05-18T04:38:48.255-07:00Futago no Teikoku v3 (complete)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiL1XoctB3KVzXqTGmGHk7qWKIlXFwpY9nCjS8SX3NFerc_-TF3l9PDzuR0rAPTw4hIx6I7tqVs4RI5xTHpZKbei1NR8c17l_9UeCrTTU7NMbyEIDv8t1yTyCMlPNh7mD8GbUjKndquIbU/s1600/Futago+no+Teikoku+v3+c13+p022-023.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1143" data-original-width="1600" height="285" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiL1XoctB3KVzXqTGmGHk7qWKIlXFwpY9nCjS8SX3NFerc_-TF3l9PDzuR0rAPTw4hIx6I7tqVs4RI5xTHpZKbei1NR8c17l_9UeCrTTU7NMbyEIDv8t1yTyCMlPNh7mD8GbUjKndquIbU/s400/Futago+no+Teikoku+v3+c13+p022-023.png" width="400" /></a></div>
Let's move right onto volume 3! Hopefully, <a href="http://breadingbad.tumblr.com/"><span style="color: red;">Breading Bad</span></a> and I can finish this volume before August. Also, don't attach that much importance to how I romanize a lot of the character names. Most of the characters are clearly not meant to have Japanese names, and the limited number of vowels/consonants in Japanese is making it difficult to know what English spelling I should give from the Japanese spelling. Even Fa is technically written as "Fua" in Japanese, but I decided to spell it as Fa to make it consistent to the vol. 1 translations and to make it easier on the eyes of English-speakers.<br />
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<span style="color: red;">*Update: Yay, volume 3 is finally done! Sorry this took so long and much thanks to Furakutarou and Zephyrus from mangadex for helping me out. Volume 4 tankoban ran into delays in Japan and still isn't out yet, but we're gonna go ahead and do some of the chapters that we have magazine scans for in the near future.</span><br />
<br />
<i>Download:</i><br />
<i>Futago no Teikoku v03: <a href="https://mega.nz/#!c8tigCII!3zf-1pX42rDFh34Bc0kgkVFPq5fckAvRpQxxB0ciQt8">Mega</a></i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>Futago no Teikoku c13: <a href="https://mega.nz/#!Y8dwQSBT!JaVTyclt8VZOxSDBU4YSz-zfOl8OL_zGdoEr18cxPUs">Mega</a></i><br />
<i>Futago no Teikoku c14: <a href="https://mega.nz/#!lgsCTKyL!RHBL6sFj1PSRhnbcrD3pRAyyaswkHJQ8tuxmZAXhhJc">Mega</a></i><br />
<i>Futago no Teikoku c15: <a href="https://mega.nz/#!NwUBnKzT!3qBXXOq1h3b-2uPzpxJNS2_QNn5t8rVNLqViKl4_Zks">Mega</a></i><br />
<i>Futago no Teikoku c16: <a href="https://mega.nz/#!BkkXmKqS!ENZbxuFd8SW35hgR6px-duW9b2gNSjffE00yG3tHjZ8">Mega</a></i><br />
<i>Futago no Teikoku c17: <a href="https://mega.nz/#!049QSIYa!zzayfApbZSubpGrS0EsBg6ktL1GkSdzVv_knXFUponA">Mega</a></i><br />
<i>Futago no Teikoku c18: <a href="https://mega.nz/#!Nx0w0YCL!BZByZoN3alA-HNLeXwQ30lF7Wmws7fOEKUQmCHfdTnY">Mega</a></i>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-643247485418610029.post-63756201495377723872019-05-11T16:59:00.000-07:002020-08-27T13:02:40.160-07:00Discourses on Salt and Iron - Part 1, Chapter 34: De-prioritizing Punishments<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJO7a8VMW1LaYNjNmuuNkZzMhTkFUggVNPdf1CC_zpxoB10ap8RdOR8PumkGzh3rg1AaddVgIStAqgMdmHERC7W3IMisqScItxDTZfoi-mAVLpMMpkF0z7IzXMQtWTqDJWWyHarx3wmWo/s1600/salt+drills.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="627" data-original-width="1600" height="155" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJO7a8VMW1LaYNjNmuuNkZzMhTkFUggVNPdf1CC_zpxoB10ap8RdOR8PumkGzh3rg1AaddVgIStAqgMdmHERC7W3IMisqScItxDTZfoi-mAVLpMMpkF0z7IzXMQtWTqDJWWyHarx3wmWo/s400/salt+drills.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;">These are pictures of a Ming-era percussive deep well drill used to extract brine. On the right, you can see bamboo tubes that feed natural gases to the stoves where the brine is evaporated for salt. What's particularly surprising that the two essential aspects of the brining operation, percussive drilling rigs and gas stoves, as seen above were all developed by the time of the Han dynasty (206BC-220AD), and later centuries simply improved on the process to construct better rigs that could dig deeper and deeper. For a better idea of how this all worked, <a href="https://csegrecorder.com/articles/view/ancient-chinese-drilling"><span style="color: red;">you can take a look at this page</span></a> and watch the video below:</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;"> </span><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/oi8bp68C0HI/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/oi8bp68C0HI?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white;">I bring this up to point to the sophistication of the salt industry in Han China, which monopolized it along with the iron industry to fund its vigorous foreign policy, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Han%E2%80%93Xiongnu_War"><span style="color: red;">primarily against the Xiongnu steppe nomads to the North</span></a>. Although a topic of great interest for historians of science and industry today, the salt and iron monopolies was a pivotal issue in imperial China that for thousands of years, shaped the ideas of emperors, scholars, and officials on what the ideal role of a state should be, what the ideal type of governance should be, and what the ideal relationship between a state and its economy should be. This was possible because the famous debate between those who advocated the monopolies and those who decried it were immortalized by the government official Huan Kuan in <i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discourses_on_Salt_and_Iron"><span style="color: red;">Discourses on Salt and Iron</span></a></i> (<i>Yan Tie Lun</i> </span>鹽鐵論</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;">). A somewhat rough analogy for the American would be the influence that the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Federalist_Papers"><i><span style="color: red;">Federalist papers</span></i></a> </span><span style="background-color: white;">have had on American thought on the nature of their republic. It is a rough analogy, of course, because whereas the <i>Discourses on Salt and Iron</i> gives equal weight to both sides to show how the dialectic between Legalist and Confucian thought played out in shaping government policy, </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;">the </span><i style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Federalist_Papers"><span style="color: red;">anti-Federalist papers</span></a></i><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;"> had been, I think, much less read and influential.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzjaL5AqgeXEdn1_r92ATYnEfDaZBqkAXMRHtGbzttSqdWfn1tCnL5K0_dv3VrjC_DZCyXOOQtKnx7oTQ4v0VaZsP8HlEVgnUBakgjUqNrE2MyLpX4F10PiPDiptPs3D_e03jeDE-Zd5k/s1600/N034_0845_001%255B1%255D.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1272" data-original-width="1600" height="254" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzjaL5AqgeXEdn1_r92ATYnEfDaZBqkAXMRHtGbzttSqdWfn1tCnL5K0_dv3VrjC_DZCyXOOQtKnx7oTQ4v0VaZsP8HlEVgnUBakgjUqNrE2MyLpX4F10PiPDiptPs3D_e03jeDE-Zd5k/s320/N034_0845_001%255B1%255D.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;">Esson M. Gale (pictured above in 1948) has produced the only partial English translation of the Discourses on Salt and Iron, <a href="http://www2.iath.virginia.edu/saxon/servlet/SaxonServlet?source=xwomen/texts/yantie.xml&style=xwomen/xsl/dynaxml.xsl&doc.view=tocc&chunk.id=tpage&toc.depth=1&toc.id=d2.24&doc.lang=english"><span style="color: red;">which can be read online here</span></a>. Although it's partial translation that only covers chapters 1-28 out of 60 total chapters, it's more than enough to understand the important points of the debate. That being said, I thought it would be fun to try to translate some of the untranslated chapters to help practice my classical Chinese skills. S</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;">o here's my attempt for Chapter 34 "De-prioritizing Punishments." I think I'll try to translate one or two more chapters later as well but not now. If you're curious about some of the basic grammar in classical Chinese, I did a <a href="https://hoxtranslations.blogspot.com/p/some-thoughts-about-good-manga.html"><span style="color: red;">5-part post on it before that you can find here</span></a> (labelled as parts 36-40).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span lang="JA" style="background: white;">大夫曰:「古之君子,善善而惡惡。人君不畜惡民,農夫不畜無用之苗。無用之苗,苗之害也;無用之民,民之賊也。鉏一害而眾苗成,刑一惡而萬民悅。雖周公、孔子不能釋刑而用惡。家之有姐子,器皿不居,況姐民乎!民者敖於愛而聽刑。故刑所以正民,鉏所以別苗也。</span><span lang="JA" style="background: white;">」</span><span style="background: white;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The<i> dafu</i> (grandee or counsellor) said thus: “The <i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Junzi"><span style="color: red;">junzi</span></a></i> of old were kind to the good but unkind to the bad. The
ruler of people does not foster bad people, nor does the farmer cultivate seeds
of no use. Seedlings of no use harm other seedlings and people of no use injure
other people. Thus to hoe a single harmful weed will cause many seedlings to
grow, and to punish a single evil-doer will make ten thousand people rejoice.
Even the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duke_of_Zhou"><span style="color: red;">Duke of Zhou</span></a> and Confucius were unable to do without punishment and
manage evil. A house that has an unruly child will be without plates, so how
much worse it would be for a state with unruly people! People grow imperious
when loved but they heed punishment. Thus, punishments are the means by which
to make them upright, just as a hoe is the means by which seedlings are
separated from weeds.” <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span lang="JA" style="background: white;">賢良曰:「古者,篤教以導民,明辟以正刑。刑之於治,猶策之於御也。良工不能無策而御、有策而勿用。聖人假法以成教,教成而刑不施。故威厲而不殺,刑設而不犯。今廢其紀綱而不能張,壞其禮義而不能防。民陷於網,從而獵之以刑,是猶開其闌牢,發以毒矢也,不盡不止。曾子曰:『上失其道,民散久矣。如得其情,即哀矜而勿喜。』夫不傷民之不治,而伐己之能得姦,猶弋者睹鳥獸掛</span><span lang="JA" style="background: white;">罻</span><span lang="JA" style="background: white;">羅而喜也。今天下之被誅者,不必有管、蔡之邪、鄧皙之偽,<span style="color: blue;">恐苗盡而不別,民欺而不治也</span>。孔子曰:『人而不仁,疾之已甚,亂也。』故民亂反之政,政亂反之身,身正而天下定。</span><span lang="JA" style="background: white;">是以君子嘉善而矜不能,恩及刑人,德潤窮夫,施惠悅爾,行刑不樂也。</span><span lang="JA" style="background: white;">」</span><span style="background: white;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The worthies
said thus: “In ages past, heartfelt teachings guided the people and
illuminating the laws redressed punishments. Punishments are, in relation to
governing, like whips in relations to handling beasts of burden. The skillful cannot,
tame without whips, but neither do they make actual use of whips. The sage
borrows rules and regulations to complete the teaching of his subjects, but
when his teachings are complete, he does not carry out punishments. Thus his
might was high though he did not kill, and punishments were well established though
none violated the laws. Presently, you have debased law and order, and cannot reestablish them. You have ruined propriety and righteousness, and
cannot prevent crime. The people fall into nets yet you follow through with your
catch by meting punishments. This is to open the gates of a pen and then shoot
poisoned arrows at livestock that escape, not stopping until they are all
killed. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zengzi"><span style="color: red;">Zengzi</span></a> once said, ‘The rulers have lost their way and the people have
scattered for long. When you ascertain the truth of the crimes they have been
charged with, be grieved and pity them, rather than rejoice at having uncovered
the truth.’ To not pity people who are misgoverned but rather brag about
catching the perpetrator is like a bow-hunter who sees birds and beasts caught
in nets and rejoices. Those who presently receive punishments are not a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rebellion_of_the_Three_Guards"><span style="color: red;">Guan Shu Xian or Cai Shu Du</span></a> in wickedness, nor are they a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deng_Xi"><span style="color: red;">Deng Xi</span></a> in deceitfulness. Like
fearing weeds and thus not discriminating seedlings from weeds, <span style="color: blue;">you fear some of the people lying and thus do not rule all of them well</span>. Thus Confucius said, ‘To hate
someone excessively for his lacking humaneness will lead to disorder.’ Thus
when the people are disordered, one should re-examine the government, and when
the government is disordered, one should re-examine his own self. If one
uprights his own self, the whole world will be at peace. Therefore the <i>junzi</i>
praises the good and pities the incapable. He extends mercy to the convicted,
and his virtues to the poor. When lending compassion, he is pleased and when
enacting punishments, he is despondent."</span></span></div>
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<span style="background: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">*tl note: While I did have some help with this, I'm honestly still confused about the part in blue text. The original Chinese has a lot of implied clauses I think so I had to sort of guess and invent a translation that makes sense. Also, I don't think I quite understand the analogy to the hunter who shouldn't be happy at seeing animals caught in nets. My guess is that he's a bow-hunter as implied by the </span></span><span style="background-color: white;">弋 </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;">so he should be aiming to catch them with his arrows and not nets??? Oh well.</span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-643247485418610029.post-873572189682083192019-04-20T10:44:00.000-07:002020-01-21T11:36:18.625-08:00The Distant Dawn<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEja5yqS1_pGdgHHL4fUsru25xelWIpNkoaH1shdelaqcU_5IHDCBsGhAHh-GjcRgu8D2nl3MOleZNna-XwvYvHzphTTtKcv7kvg_3VeQWI6PVwOkE3izgxhMXKNLkFGrNyCy2i6VyvbBOs/s1600/TheDistantDawn_p000b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1045" data-original-width="1600" height="261" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEja5yqS1_pGdgHHL4fUsru25xelWIpNkoaH1shdelaqcU_5IHDCBsGhAHh-GjcRgu8D2nl3MOleZNna-XwvYvHzphTTtKcv7kvg_3VeQWI6PVwOkE3izgxhMXKNLkFGrNyCy2i6VyvbBOs/s400/TheDistantDawn_p000b.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<a href="http://illuminati-manga.com/"><span style="color: red;">Illuminati-Manga</span></a> and I bring you something that we planned a long time ago but only finally got around to: A Distant Dawn by Hoshino Yukinobu. If you've been following me for a while, you'll know that I've done a few other stuff by Hoshino before (<i><a href="https://mega.nz/#!Vwc2zTCb!YIYMekgZw8PgW9bnbELUnU-9vCVyaElAyIzMKmfGwgM">Stardust Memories</a></i>, <a href="https://mega.nz/#!Zpt3QbAZ!Vlq34icJs0Wo3MQaKEOdfBDCCpd9mJuItLT1tzc4Rdg"><i>Sea of Fallen Beasts</i></a>, <a href="https://mega.nz/#!B1E0gSJJ!l6dMdFirUszQXiejRhgTUW0l6i7Ilzj7Yoruhm0vbFc"><i>Legend of Giants</i></a>) and clearly have a soft spot for him. The same applies for Illuminati-Manga, who's done some more Hoshino manga. But this collection of short stories is particularly special because it contains his debut oneshot (<i>The Steel Queen</i>) as well as the oneshot The Distant Dawn, which won the Tezuka Award all the way back in 1975 and helped launch his mangaka career. In fact, half of this nearly 500 page-long collection is dedicated to his earliest works in the late 70s! So if you like Hoshino Yukinobu at all, I'd highly urge you to read this to get a better understanding of his development.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGCBXX0MKaY1hpRhyMwNiH9-2TcHid1SIxhYb5sehSBvofDoiKw1T1FYEqwY-1FnWHOPVsMzjWed0R2syt4EVJZgLfLbL6i3MvpEs60X3fopGwaZA7-HJPZGGYFyocxQ8h-w7MtyY-wXg/s1600/swallowing-the-earth%255B1%255D.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="862" data-original-width="1600" height="215" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGCBXX0MKaY1hpRhyMwNiH9-2TcHid1SIxhYb5sehSBvofDoiKw1T1FYEqwY-1FnWHOPVsMzjWed0R2syt4EVJZgLfLbL6i3MvpEs60X3fopGwaZA7-HJPZGGYFyocxQ8h-w7MtyY-wXg/s400/swallowing-the-earth%255B1%255D.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Swallowing the Earth (Tezuka, 1968)</td></tr>
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For me, the thing I found most interesting is the art and it seems to reinforce the point I made a long time ago in my long essay on <a href="http://hoxtranslations.blogspot.com/2014/04/many-thoughts-on-good-manga-10.html"><span style="color: red;">Tomorrow's Joe</span></a>. In that essay, I talked about how simply characterizing Chiba Tetsuya's art in Tomorrow's Joe as "outdated" is not only wrong, but that it glosses over a lot of important developments in manga art from the late 60s and on. I argued this by calling attention to how even as Tezuka wanted to emulate (or should I say lead?) the more sophisticated art and storytelling that was developing in the late 60s, he made a conscious choice to stick with his more simple character designs that were rooted from the 50s and early 60s. The same can apply to Ishinomori as well.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhS7C7GkTqgE5cQPrZ82_vMWomJLBZDjOPMEaz2xAvOVNijrBOXJebA6AvyodCKByCz4fF8b01n18oKWzNR1cqB_VIEX-RCOJbeFGQcr1mzp7Qj4SNPBPMQiK7AS3gBAmfL0th_B8MBb_I/s1600/distant-dawn.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1190" data-original-width="1600" height="297" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhS7C7GkTqgE5cQPrZ82_vMWomJLBZDjOPMEaz2xAvOVNijrBOXJebA6AvyodCKByCz4fF8b01n18oKWzNR1cqB_VIEX-RCOJbeFGQcr1mzp7Qj4SNPBPMQiK7AS3gBAmfL0th_B8MBb_I/s400/distant-dawn.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Lightning Strike </i>(Hoshino, 1975)</td></tr>
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Although Hoshino made his debut in 1975, this stylistic gap can still be seen from the contrast in his character designs and his more realistic objects/backgrounds as can be seen from the above two pages.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOeF2H5gmEqXMDR0U7Bb3SvnLrGJ0tiD4DEI7lVRde4FdNvnHeQ42ip1PKhrdeL7ClBjvFPByUMzgE6dZXF_Z42OrnEj1Xh7QBf6XaWnuHLz7LXuuj8jp8ParvmpAFKltGTTk8bEr3YWo/s1600/distant-dawn-1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1211" data-original-width="1600" height="302" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOeF2H5gmEqXMDR0U7Bb3SvnLrGJ0tiD4DEI7lVRde4FdNvnHeQ42ip1PKhrdeL7ClBjvFPByUMzgE6dZXF_Z42OrnEj1Xh7QBf6XaWnuHLz7LXuuj8jp8ParvmpAFKltGTTk8bEr3YWo/s400/distant-dawn-1.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>The Distant Dawn</i> (Hoshino, 1975)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
But already from his award-winning oneshot, The Distant Dawn, you can quite clearly see a desire to break out of this artistic convention that "manga for kids and teens should have visually simple designs." The central character of this story stands out visually from how much more detailed his face is compared to the rest of the characters.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhq_ttFA0ApodvGCF1UnL7J5HkeE710Pqy3rDqKrnzRiEej5lCcFl_mzgjUrqNYlLxki6RUvVFnh-9xmNKZs3aYgQdpYpG9_K5OLtnKukXp8YrZAcBMXENTW-fmiu1dZE-BviGgyYa9_vY/s1600/TheDistantDawn_p139.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1118" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhq_ttFA0ApodvGCF1UnL7J5HkeE710Pqy3rDqKrnzRiEej5lCcFl_mzgjUrqNYlLxki6RUvVFnh-9xmNKZs3aYgQdpYpG9_K5OLtnKukXp8YrZAcBMXENTW-fmiu1dZE-BviGgyYa9_vY/s320/TheDistantDawn_p139.png" width="223" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>A Call from Afar</i> (Hoshino, 1978)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
And indeed, he seems to have consciously made a choice fairly quickly in his career to fully commit to the side of realism as can be seen by <i>A Call from Afar</i>, which he drew just 3 years since his debut. Not only is the art in this radically different from that of Lightning Strike or The Steel Queen, but this would essentially be the "modern Hoshino style" that he still draws in today after some minor adjustments. The main point I'm trying to make here is just how much manga art style in the 60s and 70s were defined by how mangaka thought they <i>ought to draw</i>, rather than how well they could actually draw. This might be an obvious point for some, but I've seen a fair number of people criticize or wonder why 60s and 70s manga look "bad" or why mangaka "couldn't really draw" back then. There are hacks then as there are hacks now, of course, but really, artistic style is typically a conscious reflection of the culture and times an artist works in.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPZKI1bsMPMpzyBpN3_P4VKFKflF1SRrX2019yQiU5v3FxnB4Ir5ru-AdgOsj_fxzAthhfHZCXtmAkJzaGnSIjM-I9Fb9rYl1JsHO9Krj39Ow06I4nwA9gg12BpwEML4a_W2bzTQmufHI/s1600/2019-04-20_143831.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="293" data-original-width="610" height="153" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPZKI1bsMPMpzyBpN3_P4VKFKflF1SRrX2019yQiU5v3FxnB4Ir5ru-AdgOsj_fxzAthhfHZCXtmAkJzaGnSIjM-I9Fb9rYl1JsHO9Krj39Ow06I4nwA9gg12BpwEML4a_W2bzTQmufHI/s320/2019-04-20_143831.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Linear vs Isometric Perspective</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
A somewhat related point is how Westerners often deride pre-renaissance European art, or art in other cultures for lacking "perspective." Such comments not only miss that linear perspective is simply one perspective that artists can adopt, but also that there are often <a href="https://medium.com/@jankrikkeChina/why-the-world-relies-on-a-chinese-perspective-cf3122caf67f"><span style="color: red;">both material factors</span></a> and <a href="http://www.psy.ntu.edu.tw/vnl/paper/Chinese%20Perspective%20as%20a%20Rational%20System%20Relationship%20to%20Panofsky's%20Symbolic%20Form.pdf"><span style="color: red;">immaterial reasons</span></a> why<a href="https://deheunit17.wordpress.com/2016/10/25/perspective-in-chinese-painting-research-against-western-styles/"> <span style="color: red;">one perspective can be chosen over another</span></a>. Neither art nor history can be understood in teleological, linear terms. For a good book on this topic, I recommend <i>Oblique Drawing: A History of Anti-Perspective</i>.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh36Kx05MgeBp7UZZJafFvweK67J7n76nag3t4WqkjwJoWR4Gw-j3AkM4seHnIcr9I7QcXAQ8eLG8FQR6szRtzvpa1fBBFFwjN-fjodQ8BYTge52yS-A1ns-xWDavh1PDnglGZ9hYSdH0E/s1600/TheDistantDawn_p461.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1124" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh36Kx05MgeBp7UZZJafFvweK67J7n76nag3t4WqkjwJoWR4Gw-j3AkM4seHnIcr9I7QcXAQ8eLG8FQR6szRtzvpa1fBBFFwjN-fjodQ8BYTge52yS-A1ns-xWDavh1PDnglGZ9hYSdH0E/s320/TheDistantDawn_p461.png" width="224" /></a></div>
In any case, enjoy the manga and feel free to tell me what stories you liked and why. I personally quite liked A Call from Afar, Emperor of Winter, and Alice. Make sure to read the afterword as well if you're interested in how Hoshino came to mix history and sci-fi.<br />
<br />
Oh, and please do go over to <a href="http://illuminati-manga.com/"><span style="color: red;">Illuminati-Manga</span></a> and say thanks to them as well if you liked this release, since none of this would have been possible if not for GGpX scanning and typesetting this manga.<br />
<br />
<i>Download:</i><br />
<i>The Distant Dawn: <a href="https://mega.nz/#!JoFhhaqQ!dlaV-5yciYUcByrpOrDzfJJyBTnmNgcQyavMyPJjnVc">Mega</a></i>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-643247485418610029.post-5923682953232086362019-01-30T04:05:00.003-08:002019-01-30T04:08:46.305-08:002019 Status Update<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEht5GyKCjHm7x3ZJms-0p9cvEv6UDNxqty7K34yICVYgOFEBLASCknj_W8E7yOJH8r6aWueGbNkTXhpIxdtFpDPjdagJ8H60Noa8fIvGUVv1udO3svfL52zMQcTRvrwPWyRBVP5nmXSm3U/s1600/1293696328666.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1456" data-original-width="1600" height="291" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEht5GyKCjHm7x3ZJms-0p9cvEv6UDNxqty7K34yICVYgOFEBLASCknj_W8E7yOJH8r6aWueGbNkTXhpIxdtFpDPjdagJ8H60Noa8fIvGUVv1udO3svfL52zMQcTRvrwPWyRBVP5nmXSm3U/s320/1293696328666.png" width="320" /></a></div>
Happy 2019, folks. Just a quick status update since I've been dead for so long. The truth is that the first half of 2019 is gonna be pretty slow on releases. I just have a lot on my real world plate right now and I'm really trying to give it much higher priority over the manga-stuff. It's not that I've lost interest but I have much less left-over energy to attend to scanlation at the moment. But it should get back much more normal from about July or so.<br />
<br />
The only positive news I can give right now is about Futago no Teikoku. My previous scanner/cleaner/typesetter went missing on me for half a year, and hence the hiatus. No hard feelings on him, it happens to everyone, just like how I'm basically being inactive right now. That being said, some mangadex volunteers wanted to help out, so that we can pump out some chapters. I've already had the rest of v3 translated, so it shouldn't take long before we get the remainders fully released, which would actually more or less catch us up with Japan since tankoban for v4 is still not out.<br />
<br />
That's all I really have to say. Sorry again for being inactive but you know, that's life. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quiet_Night_Thought"><span style="color: red;">Here's a famous Li Bai poem for how I'm more or less feeling</span></a> (click link for translation).<br />
<br />
<br />
<dd style="background-color: white; break-before: avoid-column; break-inside: avoid-column; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 15.104px; margin-bottom: 0.1em; margin-left: 1.6em; margin-right: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #222222;">床前</span><b><span style="color: red;">看</span></b><span style="color: #222222;">月光</span></dd><dd style="background-color: white; break-before: avoid-column; break-inside: avoid-column; color: #222222; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 15.104px; margin-bottom: 0.1em; margin-left: 1.6em; margin-right: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 15.104px;">疑是地上霜</span></dd><dd style="background-color: white; break-before: avoid-column; break-inside: avoid-column; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 15.104px; margin-bottom: 0.1em; margin-left: 1.6em; margin-right: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 14px;">舉</span><span style="font-size: 15.104px;"><span style="color: #222222;">頭望</span><b><span style="color: red;">山</span></b><span style="color: #222222;">月</span></span></dd><dd style="background-color: white; break-before: avoid-column; break-inside: avoid-column; color: #222222; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 15.104px; margin-bottom: 0.1em; margin-left: 1.6em; margin-right: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 15.104px;">低頭思故郷</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 15.104px;"><br /></span></dd><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://www.chinesetolearn.com/famous-chinese-poem-%E9%9D%9C%E5%A4%9C%E6%80%9D-jing-ye-si-quiet-night-thoughts-%E6%9D%8E%E7%99%BD-li-bai-lyrics-pinyin-english-translation-bright-moon-mountain-moon-shan-yue-ming-yue-chuang-be/"><span style="color: red;">*PS. It honestly seems like heresy to me that a later Qing-dynasty editor would change</span> <span style="color: #222222; text-align: center;">看 (see) </span></a>to 明 (bright), and a Ming-dynasty editor would change 山 (mountain) to 明. That being said, I think the 看 to 明 is actually pretty good because it then neatly makes the first two lines of the poem <i>intransitive verbal description</i>s about the poet's surroundings while the last two lines are <i>transitive verbal statements</i> on what the poet Li Bai does. Maybe it's just me?</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-643247485418610029.post-2481728758952803272019-01-30T03:06:00.001-08:002019-07-12T10:13:21.307-07:00Ad Astra v08 (complete)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGrUO7OnKAmgMGdnERatYqI7_xose2nVpm9Q29zV2_O-BurhldfffHmNHK7hi8TFogBCKxDGH4xdSCVtbWu7kHgsXDsumi2PpXP8ii2-ddIiamboIS-QNunYnBldvmLtMNnb67y0VuiQM/s1600/Ad+Astra+v08+p003.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="844" data-original-width="1200" height="281" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGrUO7OnKAmgMGdnERatYqI7_xose2nVpm9Q29zV2_O-BurhldfffHmNHK7hi8TFogBCKxDGH4xdSCVtbWu7kHgsXDsumi2PpXP8ii2-ddIiamboIS-QNunYnBldvmLtMNnb67y0VuiQM/s400/Ad+Astra+v08+p003.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
Time to start up the new volume. Shenanigans in Syracuse this volume.<br />
<br />
<i>Download:</i><br />
<i>Ad Astra v08: <a href="https://mega.nz/#!wgcn3ChB!ckLW-li5qiTlGP3Vy5sFbT1a8yShNSL9ldb0Sn3Qefg">Mega</a></i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>Ad Astra c46: <a href="https://mega.nz/#!14kEgYYR!6eHKT8ugW7baiuPJYigeKixYa5ibe1P7dB7AVYKF8cM">Mega</a></i><br />
<i>Ad Astra c47: <a href="https://mega.nz/#!BtMgySQI!bYLKTxQfieKHgHTinyfsKvAdm_KFwmtjgLFhD-K0Fqw">Mega</a></i><br />
<i>Ad Astra c48: <a href="https://mega.nz/#!RsECXAxI!yo8GUVb_BZumCqtG8G2dDto6nbIGCPquz8e0EZk3Y_Y">Mega</a></i><br />
<i>Ad Astra c49: <a href="https://mega.nz/#!c9NTWaRB!6psN5Vx7Ah9jozC7tgcop4v-nKyUTHvdvToHJRk2l_0">Mega</a></i><br />
<i>Ad Astra c50: <a href="https://mega.nz/#!EpVAFKAB!QnmidxLhmJw3xuhILsvjkNBy5xCy5hY8JiclpuypPaQ">Mega</a></i><br />
<i>Ad Astra c51: <a href="https://mega.nz/#!g9EjRCoQ!H0keMnYF4QD1XktKYPng4tbkrZEuvapQPEt4SfCuZTQ">Mega</a></i>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-643247485418610029.post-52608417739839506052018-10-25T06:50:00.003-07:002019-07-12T10:13:14.286-07:00Historie 107<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3dTPJRw49xp-ektMx_zjgAnLsXm_ImuX2f4ZvW5GcyMyoPfP9PipZpYGpnrvflbhHmqbP7F4d8qUcdqgmvecg1R1acTSUtcvCguSSnoYbDtV5gnUm4rlQH61vp4iOsPAgel1WqSBSgs0/s1600/Historie+c107+p01.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1114" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3dTPJRw49xp-ektMx_zjgAnLsXm_ImuX2f4ZvW5GcyMyoPfP9PipZpYGpnrvflbhHmqbP7F4d8qUcdqgmvecg1R1acTSUtcvCguSSnoYbDtV5gnUm4rlQH61vp4iOsPAgel1WqSBSgs0/s320/Historie+c107+p01.png" width="222" /></a></div>
Iwaaki says he's gonna take a break to work on touching up the art for the upcoming tankoban v11 for Historie so it's gonna be another long wait.<br />
<br />
<i>Download</i><br />
<i>Historie c107: <a href="https://mega.nz/#!sgMGgCKb!0rEbg0nwXkQkiYjNa44Ml1HmGD0QJiku4S3IW09SfdM">Mega</a></i><br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-643247485418610029.post-39470330927208862812018-10-10T12:31:00.001-07:002019-07-12T10:13:30.631-07:00Ad Astra v07 (complete)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2X1Gb95Gw8eXb9kiuBg-mvGLs_KSjq4Z1j8LMObisLbzahQQYHMMokf-wywtPijWQllhwEjvtlYr0GkVHzQH3fvtUNF83H72pxJf8TGxkQp0qAjNTSnDblw4bohyi5LF0w__SYLG1wgU/s1600/Ad+Astra+v07+p002.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1270" data-original-width="896" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2X1Gb95Gw8eXb9kiuBg-mvGLs_KSjq4Z1j8LMObisLbzahQQYHMMokf-wywtPijWQllhwEjvtlYr0GkVHzQH3fvtUNF83H72pxJf8TGxkQp0qAjNTSnDblw4bohyi5LF0w__SYLG1wgU/s320/Ad+Astra+v07+p002.png" width="225" /></a></div>
Battle of Nola will be the main highlight this volume.<br />
<br />
Yay, the volume is finished before the end of the year! We have 6 more volumes left so I'll try my best to get the series done before the end of 2019.<br />
<br />
<i>Download:</i><br />
<i>Ad Astra v07: <a href="https://mega.nz/#!k0ViBCgY!NF_vqxbp8ryVI5Wn6ebD2vBpsZF7tuUuc7XRQTFTD_8">Mega</a></i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>Ad Astra v07 c39: <a href="https://mega.nz/#!V4kBjCgL!TKddwUdqaQgr2CrVjv9zphlY8rnJgoZKEoiA9GMimtA">Mega</a></i><br />
<i>Ad Astra v07 c40: <a href="https://mega.nz/#!cstGmI4I!ShVUoLM6Oh2I8Rg6rg3nppnzk8D7dd_PSVA4iTtC_-M">Mega</a></i><br />
<i>Ad Astra v07 c41: <a href="https://mega.nz/#!B11QyYhB!2mXZfofo5dMN2Ab9fD3bNWeV1HkDBawDam7LTXC4Pqs">Mega</a></i><br />
<i>Ad Astra v07 c42: <a href="https://mega.nz/#!k4NBEQYS!vlIzqQT32D99rTygT_cOcuB9ktiO82FQe5MznEv8i4c">Mega</a></i><br />
<i>Ad Astra v07 c43: <a href="https://mega.nz/#!I5cyHYSZ!tm-z6pQrcMVnLlCclKvmjLWI5yQR57TUEoTVruMuUHc">Mega</a></i><br />
<i>Ad Astra v07 c44: <a href="https://mega.nz/#!Rh8yRAqR!5z-DvzaiZjIPBrDD3eWL7zmP5iJ7f53Xrbrgvomi7M4">Mega</a></i><br />
<i>Ad Astra v07 c45: <a href="https://mega.nz/#!IxMiRKKZ!djOUqqRPCNb7LHGBR9ZJmtd9Q3tXyvxM8tNf2imlAZg">Mega</a></i>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-643247485418610029.post-41741511263014722222018-10-05T03:31:00.000-07:002018-10-05T00:51:27.125-07:00Kamui-Den volume 1 (last updated Oct. 5)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuJEz38qLw8X4DdXm2zE2m5F5t0OjwbtvcaFEMmvcvaBGStV3VpLxGP3ahNbAKvg4CAF0nhXhC3yKlcUqSaJRjFLoB6uwJRTihv33gm-MmxoqbgASeK-kOVQl7WFcFJZT7VvCEH2OWSCo/s1600/Kamui_Den_v01_p001.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1055" data-original-width="1600" height="263" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuJEz38qLw8X4DdXm2zE2m5F5t0OjwbtvcaFEMmvcvaBGStV3VpLxGP3ahNbAKvg4CAF0nhXhC3yKlcUqSaJRjFLoB6uwJRTihv33gm-MmxoqbgASeK-kOVQl7WFcFJZT7VvCEH2OWSCo/s400/Kamui_Den_v01_p001.png" width="400" /></a></div>
At last, <a href="http://happyscans.blogspot.com/"><span style="color: red;">Happyscans</span></a> and I will be starting Kamui-Den (Legend/Life of Kamui), the legendary manga that was the poster child for Garo magazine and its associated gekiga movement (I'll do a proper introduction/commentary much later). If it were up to Happyscans, we'd have started this like two years ago, but I was busy and kept putting it off (gmail tells me we first talked about doing it all the way back in 2012!). Plus, I didn't really want to embark on another long manga series so soon after finishing 60 volumes of Sangokushi. But I think now's a good time, and this will be my "main project" for some time. Although the original was published as 21 volumes, the version we're working from is the 15-volume definitive edition (kettei-ban) of part 1 that was published in 2005 to commemorate Shirato Sanpei's 50th year as an artist. Each volume in this edition is about 400 pages, so I'm planning on doing 4 volumes/year (a volume for each season of the year!). When factoring inevitable delays, it'll maybe take 4-5 years to finish. That's just for part 1, of course, and there's another 12-volumes for part 2. So this'll take a good decade to finish completely.<br />
<br />
In any case, Kamui-Den starts off a little slow, but I hope you'll eventually pick it up and stick with it as Happyscans and I continually work on it. And while <a href="http://pepperanon.blogspot.com/"><span style="color: red;">Habanero Scans</span></a> who gave me the HQ kettei-ban scans advised me to just do volume releases, I'm gonna release in smaller chunks at a time, if only to better motivate me. It's probably better to read it as each new volume comes out.<br />
<br />
*Some other notes regarding my other projects. <strike>Scripts for v2 of Futago no Teikoku are complete, so that should be done soon.</strike> Breading Bad is almost done with cleaning v3 as well, so we should be able to jump right into that with little delay (*crosses fingers*). Planet of Sutakola had been delayed due to difficulties in finding a cleaner, but I think I'll just tackle it even with my own limited skills once I finish Kamui-Den vol. 1 so it doesn't just lie forgotten and collect internet-dust forever. If you have any other questions about my projects, feel free to ask here.<br />
<br />
<i>Download:</i><br />
<i>Kamui-Den v1 c01-03: <a href="https://mega.nz/#!M4VA2YoD!tms3gkB1UnlwjMplqm3Bkc2bzErs46AQBRwjM-Fd6ow">Mega</a></i><br />
<i>Kamui-Den v1 c04-07: <a href="https://mega.nz/#!w41gmATQ!m37NYXPZTGHcC3XUDvGZkmXbcUnsPtbWMjkFT6kPUlk">Mega</a></i><br />
<i>Kamui-Den v1c08-09: <a href="https://mega.nz/#!shtWCCSL!AgFrw6C13iTfSMvxlhNRESkOeKRVHtrzH1MBvz8vjNw">Mega</a></i>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com34tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-643247485418610029.post-60890491046823313122018-08-25T15:25:00.002-07:002018-08-25T15:26:01.514-07:00Historie 106<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqF-aGrJgHkE6AwvLRJuuUDGaH_Ux_vgz5VZaw3WsnHwrAr1yuAYWMvshLJ_AQ_R_UY0ADkJ7xlhel6pjHC9i6zzhODthurUKyOeIPZx3CuY309b6RGZxp33y4kP1sMA_rFO9Hm8TmakI/s1600/Historie+c106+p01.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1114" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqF-aGrJgHkE6AwvLRJuuUDGaH_Ux_vgz5VZaw3WsnHwrAr1yuAYWMvshLJ_AQ_R_UY0ADkJ7xlhel6pjHC9i6zzhODthurUKyOeIPZx3CuY309b6RGZxp33y4kP1sMA_rFO9Hm8TmakI/s320/Historie+c106+p01.png" width="222" /></a></div>
Ughh... Maybe I should just translate Historie every two chapters as well.<br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>Download:</i><br />
<i>Historie c106: <a href="https://mega.nz/#!5lc0gCRK!Wrr3Ya8AiK6zoyU350IrIeFS59QV6VpijzTAChP7rno">Mega</a></i>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-643247485418610029.post-54638321436602440232018-08-22T14:47:00.005-07:002018-08-23T08:11:30.868-07:00Some Thoughts on the Roman Republic's Weakneses<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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It's been close to a year since I last wrote on a topic from European history, so with my 5-part post on Classical Chinese done, I think now's a good time. And since I just began translating <i>Ad Astra</i>, I'll go mainstream and talk about Rome for once. But rather than talk about how <i>strong</i> Rome was thanks to its military, I'm going to talk about how <i>weak</i> the Roman Republic was as a state and how this contributed to its fall. Just a heads-up, this post is really just a book summary in disguise which — I know, I know — is a lazy thing to do. But I do think the book brings a perspective many supposed Romaboos who only ever read Osprey military books don't quite seem to be aware of.<br />
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So what do I mean when I call the Roman Republic a "weak state?" A Romaboo may rightfully claim, "Just look at aaaaallll that fucking land it conquered and successfully held onto! Look at its sophisticated republican government divided into legislative, executive, and judicial branches! Or look how it managed to conduct periodic censuses and levy either labour or wealth in order to run a successful conscript-based army!" I of course concede all these claims and have to admit I'm being a little click-baitey here. When I say the Roman Republic was a weak state, I'm in no way putting them on the same level as the Romano-Germanic successor kingdoms of late antiquity and early medieval eras. But the Roman Republic's state institutions were designed for a city state and as it rapidly expanded, especially during the 2nd century BC, it failed to appropriately expand its state capacity, defined here as the state's ability to administer its territories and manage non-state actors such as private citizens. Three indicators of the Republic's failure to strengthen its state capacity can be seen in its census, public works, and taxation.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVdGSSae8RQhnMXwxR8-l2flYpMzN6vkd6eUGV-S_cyKeMHRuzMKY808ppU759wHyLGyoWHj6oZ1K_-wOdbahEco5Y5qLdytQZ1ieUW9D_nFDf7F0qFnirDW2WR-LYn96bBopEHIeUP7o/s1600/roman-census.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="915" data-original-width="600" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVdGSSae8RQhnMXwxR8-l2flYpMzN6vkd6eUGV-S_cyKeMHRuzMKY808ppU759wHyLGyoWHj6oZ1K_-wOdbahEco5Y5qLdytQZ1ieUW9D_nFDf7F0qFnirDW2WR-LYn96bBopEHIeUP7o/s400/roman-census.png" width="261" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">From pp. 13-14 of P.A. Brunt's <i>Italian Manpower 225 BC - AD 14</i></td></tr>
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So if you look at the years listed in the above image, you'll see that Rome conducted regular censuses typically once every 5 years but at least once a decade... until the end of the 2nd century. In fact, in the entire last century of the Republic's existence, only 2 censuses were fully carried out. Now you might think that's not too odd since the last century of the Republic's existence was a turbulent one, fraught with civil wars and political violence. Or you might also think that censuses were no longer really necessary to maintain a conscript-army when the Marian reforms allowed poor, landless Romans to enlist in the army (previously, conscription was restricted to the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_class_in_ancient_Rome#Property-based_classes"><span style="color: red;">patricians and the top 5 wealthiest plebeian classes</span></a> as identified by the census).<br />
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But consider that two censuses were still taken during the 2nd Punic War when things were hardly super stable for the Republic. And even after the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marian_reforms"><span style="color: red;">Marian reforms</span></a> of 107 BC, there was still some need for censuses since the expanding army from frequent conscription meant that the Republic needed its various municipalities to levy men as Brunt argues in his book. Of course, for most of 70s BC and 50s BC, there was an abeyance of censorships, but there was also a string of censorships during the 60s BC. Yet these censors were only able to make several incomplete censuses and even <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pompey"><span style="color: red;">Pompey</span></a>, that great conqueror of the East and exterminator of pirates, wished to carry out a new census to figure out just who was entitled to the grain dole but never ended up seeing it through (a large enough grain supply seemed to have partly obviated the need). As such, what we have here seems to be less a sign of censuses being no longer needed but more a sign of the Republic being unwilling to overhaul the censorship by increasing its numbers/funding so that it could function properly even as both the population and Republic's territories expanded.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrSy4UkEm_UepPiwE9EiKwwjiuSqTz1dy0ZFBK9qnOCNiutdi9tTK1xwvEkSCCWXCDuzOuVIR_26CaqQi0XKT7UPJQ92XhNe4xAEhszxVu8c7t53a2cxQKmBQGD_EF_DB4yJxwGylYiEM/s1600/public+building+in+the+roman+republic.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="527" data-original-width="788" height="267" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrSy4UkEm_UepPiwE9EiKwwjiuSqTz1dy0ZFBK9qnOCNiutdi9tTK1xwvEkSCCWXCDuzOuVIR_26CaqQi0XKT7UPJQ92XhNe4xAEhszxVu8c7t53a2cxQKmBQGD_EF_DB4yJxwGylYiEM/s400/public+building+in+the+roman+republic.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">From p. 29 of James Tan's <i>Power and Public Finance at Rome (264-49 BCE).</i><br />
Btw, "manubial buildings" are those that were vowed in battle and funded from the spoils.</td></tr>
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Moving onto public services, we've all heard of the marvels of the ancient world that were Rome's famous roads and aqueducts. Initially, these infrastructural projects like the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appian_Way"><span style="color: red;">Via Appia</span></a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aqua_Appia"><span style="color: red;">Aqua Appia</span></a> (Rome's first major road and aqueduct) were often commissioned by a censor using public funds. But here too, we see a similar pattern of declining activity during Republic's spectacular 2nd century BC that won its Mediterranean hegemony. The number of censorial public building declines dramatically (the black bits in the bar graph) and if it weren't for all the spoils of war flooding into Italy, the total numbers would be quite small. Of course, this data is likely skewed in part by the loss of many sections of Livy's annals, but the well-recorded last few decades of the Republic strongly suggests that the lack of public building was a historical reality. And it wasn't simply in the building of new projects where state involvement seems to have receded but also in its maintenance. Despite Rome of the late Republic likely becoming the world's most populous city with anywhere from 750,000 to 1,000,000 inhabitants, there was a remarkable lack of interest in the state stepping up its administration of this Eternal City. For example, within the city walls, there were no actual paid state-officials monitoring the supply of water. Rather, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aedile"><span style="color: red;">aediles</span></a> simply appointed two residents in each neighbourhood to monitor it as a civic service. This seems to have been woefully inadequate since upon becoming emperor, Augustus immediately made <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcus_Vipsanius_Agrippa"><span style="color: red;">Agrippa</span></a> the permanent water commissioner endowed with a whole team of slaves to carry out this duty. Even when it came to the grain dole, "no permanent measures were implemented to source, transport, store, and distribute grain for the benefit of the urban population before <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaius_Gracchus"><span style="color: red;">Gaius Gracchus'</span></a> program of 123, more than a century after Rome began to draw a tithe of grain from Sicily and Sardinia" (Tan 26). And like with the water supply, Augustus must have found these reforms of Gaius and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Publius_Clodius_Pulcher"><span style="color: red;">Clodius</span></a> were still inadequate, because he reformed this too not long after becoming emperor.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgj3YDjKZABWnhLle-F1yEAbZs_P4I7YjxsHArlaZMFmr4LQqRcpSbaoEqBthiVxzr-6tbOMnpL-uc6apiEQFFjMBsDA21Z5Lq1BhKIhZ2rukpf60FeChCiYvMKNWHTmVzFnS60T9yaqWg/s1600/69368097_p2_master1200.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="849" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgj3YDjKZABWnhLle-F1yEAbZs_P4I7YjxsHArlaZMFmr4LQqRcpSbaoEqBthiVxzr-6tbOMnpL-uc6apiEQFFjMBsDA21Z5Lq1BhKIhZ2rukpf60FeChCiYvMKNWHTmVzFnS60T9yaqWg/s320/69368097_p2_master1200.jpg" width="225" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photograph of Roman legionary looking smug after the Battle of Pydna, <br />
resulting in the subjugation of Macedonia (circa 168 BC, colourized)</td></tr>
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In case you aren't familiar with the history of the Roman Republic and think the above issues are simply due to a lack of funds, I just want to stress how rich Rome was from the late 2nd century BC and onwards. After the subjugation of Macedonia in 167 BC, the Republic made enough money from mines, war indemnities, taxation of non-Romans, and indirect taxation (customs and excise) that it ended the <i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tributum"><span style="color: red;">tributum</span></a></i>, a levy on property that basically served as a form of direct taxation (more on this point later). And even though the number of legions ballooned from 10 at the time of tributum was ended to 40-50 by the last few decades of the Republic, this exemption from direct taxation wasn't reversed until <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diocletian"><span style="color: red;">Diocletian</span></a>'s tax reforms more than 300 years later. This is quite peculiar in the history of warlike, sedentary fiscal states. The typical fiscal pattern for aggressive, expansionist states is to be on the constant search for maximizing state revenues as the cost of wars were so prohibitively expensive. But not only did the Roman Republic cease to directly tax Roman citizens, but it also heavily relied on a highly inefficient form of taxation for non-Roman provinces known as tax farming, which is when you employ private contractors to collect direct taxes. So imagine that the state might demand some ballpark estimate of $X for province Y, and some contractor will say he can deliver 20% more than that, while another contractor will say he can do 30% more. The latter would then get hired and try to squeeze out more so that he can pocket the difference as profit. Unsurprisingly, this led to more than a few cases of provincial unrest in response to extremely exploitative Roman tax-farmers.<br />
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But the usage of middle-men who're non-state actors is not inherently a bad thing and not even necessarily oppressive. Typically, indirect taxes like customs and excises are hard to measure, so contracting out their collection will incentivise the middle-man more than a regular state-official who has no such incentive and might half-ass it. Additionally, tax farming may even be desirable when low state capacity makes it too inefficient for the state to handle taxation by itself, perhaps because of low literacy rates even for the elites or the lack of capital to maintain a proper bureaucracy. And in many pre-modern states, the reliance on non-state actors to handle taxes can help maintain social order because it's a way for local elites to maintain patronage networks and make sure there isn't some rampant unemployment problem or starvation going on due to oppressive taxation. So how does one make sense out of the widespread use of tax farming in the Roman Republican context? Some historians have simply posited that the Republic just lacked the bureaucracy to do this, but this doesn't really answer the question because then we have to ask why didn't the Republic create the necessary bureaucracy to maximize state revenues. It's clearly not a case of the Republic being unaware of bureaucracies, since its Eastern contemporaries had such bureaucracies (*cough EGYPT cough*). In fact, this is partly why many Roman tax farms in its Eastern territories were novel creations rather than the Romans simply continuing the tax traditions of their predecessors. Moreover, even without creating a centralized bureaucracy or increasing the level of state administration, Caesar curtailed the massive profits that Roman tax-farmers were making through by abolishing some tax farms in the East and simply letting the provincial cities handle the collection and delivery of taxes themselves.<br />
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So now that I've outlined that the Roman Republic failed to grow its state capacity correspondingly despite its expanding territories and populations, two questions remain. 1) Why this lack of growth? 2) Why does this matter?<br />
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An interesting way to go about answering these two interrelated questions is by examining on the political violence triggered by <span style="color: red;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiberius_Gracchus"><span style="color: red;">Tiberius Gracchus</span></a> </span>and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaius_Gracchus"><span style="color: red;">Gaius Gracchus</span></a>. For the purposes of this post, I'll assume you know who the Gracchi brothers but if you don't, Extra Credits did a pretty good job at making an entertaining and accessible 6-part video series on them so give that a watch. Now, Extra Credits and most other overviews of the Gracchi's populism easily assume that the senatorial class reacted violently because the content of Gracchi's reforms was incompatible with the senators' interests. This isn't entirely wrong but it does gloss over a few facts. For one, it's not immediately understandable why some senators would have initially resisted Tiberius' land reform (<i>lex Sempronia Agraria</i>) to an almost irrational extent. While the violent backlash against Tiberius is more understandable once he dared to do things that no tribune of pleb had even thought about doing (like seizing the treasury of Pergamum without consulting the senate), we should remember that Tiberius only resorted to such daring measures after his land reform was initially resisted by the senate. For you see, Tiberius' initial proposal was quite a mild measure that would have financially compensated the senators who illegally owned public land. As Plutarch puts it:<br />
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And it is thought that a law dealing with injustice and rapacity so great was never drawn up in milder and gentler terms. For men who ought to have been punished for their disobedience and to have surrendered with payment of a fine the land which they were illegally enjoying, hese men it merely ordered to abandon their unjust acquisitions upon being paid the value, and to admit into ownership of them such citizens as needed assistance. (<i>The Life of Tiberius Gracchus</i>, 9.2)</blockquote>
The mild and just nature of this reform lent itself to being publicly supported by a number of well-respected senators. The sources clearly name 6 of the most prominent senators who supported Tiberius' land reform, and these senators all eventually became senators and at least 5 of them hailed from families of consular standing. And upon Tiberius' death, his opponents simply allowed the land commission to redistribute land at least until 129 BC. Furthermore, while some historians point out that the mere idea of wealth redistribution through land was really more a Greek tradition that was anathema to conservative Roman elites, others such as Fiona Tweedie point out that the <i>lex Sempronia Agraria</i> was aimed specifically at settling poor, landless veteran legionaries and draws from a Roman tradition of settling veterans that had been active until the 140s BC. If the Republic, that is the <i>res publica</i>, was defined as the "public thing" or <i>res populi</i> (the people's property) as Cicero would later put it, then how do we explain the extreme opposition to Tiberius' idea of using public land to benefit the brave legionaries who had risked their life for Rome and had conquered these lands to begin with?<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYc-WdSAwsgTUGTwbD6TUSd-aTwrmCqw1VVqoDt0h5A2aU0QEwwkL4NSv9pVEoj6JLod1NEIZImxLls1kCCX5QoAAJe1c4DP_osP5WHNo0aT29aFenouULwLbz3GoEn1ypRgCyT8yXEp8/s1600/power+and+public+finance+at+rome.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="857" data-original-width="569" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYc-WdSAwsgTUGTwbD6TUSd-aTwrmCqw1VVqoDt0h5A2aU0QEwwkL4NSv9pVEoj6JLod1NEIZImxLls1kCCX5QoAAJe1c4DP_osP5WHNo0aT29aFenouULwLbz3GoEn1ypRgCyT8yXEp8/s320/power+and+public+finance+at+rome.jpg" width="212" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is the book whose points I'm basically regurgitating/summarizing in this post by the way.<br />
It's a short and fun read, so I do highly recommend it.</td></tr>
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The way that James Tan answers this question is show that the Gracchi brothers had a very different conception of the state and its proper roles compared to their opposition. It wasn't simply that their reforms touched the nerves of Roman elites, "but also because they (intentionally or unintentionally) established a working principle for the distribution of resources in the future" (155). The Gracchi brothers saw that the Punic wars and other 2nd century BC conquests enriched Rome, but more specifically, it enriched Roman elites rather than the state. This was a problem to be redressed since for the Gracchi, the point of a <i>res publica</i> was to ensure the communal well-being of Rome. If this meant giving the state enough muscle to redistribute land, deliver grain to the people, or censors who would actually uphold the laws, then so be it. However, for many Roman elites, the state was simply a level playing field without agency of its own upon which the aristocrats could exercise their <i>libertas</i>. This <i>libertas</i> should not be confused with our modern notions of liberty, but rather the liberty for an aristocrat to exercise his privileges and, in doing so, confirm his privileged identity. As <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scipio_Aemilianus"><span style="color: red;">Scipio Aemilianus</span></a> put it, "out of integrity comes respect, out of respect comes public office, out of public office comes the right to give commands (<i>imperium</i>), and out of the right to give commands comes <i>libertas</i>" (161). Hence, if the state was to defend the <i>libertas</i> of Roman elites, then the state's power had to be minimized so as to allow individual autonomy for these elites.<br />
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So to unpack this idea more, take for example public services such as constructing new buildings, maintaining a city's water supply, or providing a grain dole to the poor. If a powerful state simply had a large staff of nameless state-employees providing such services, who does the average Roman citizen thank and respect? The state. However, if the actual state institutions are so weak that the magistrates had to draw upon their personal wealth and connections to get the job done, who then does the Roman citizen thank and respect? The aristocrat. And this is more or less how the late Republic functioned. People like Pompey or Caesar used the state (by serving as its magistrates and military commanders) to bring personal riches and glory to themselves. They disliked the idea of having an efficient system of taxation that would leave most of the money in the state treasury that they only had temporary, restricted access to when in office. They welcomed the decline of censorial construction via public funds because it allowed them to construct lavish public buildings that they could then point and say, "I built that. Not the republic. But ME." This is the privatization of public space as Amy Russell put it, but more broadly speaking, these elites who were richer than ever and who could privately fund entire armies were "alternative states" as Michael H. Crawford put it (side note: when I say richer, I mean RICHER since the wealth of Roman aristocrats seemed to have ballooned by perhaps 3 ORDERS of magnitude over the course of the mid/late Republic). Thus, the dilletantist, <i>ad hoc</i>, or simply lacking nature of the Republic's state capacity as I discussed above was <i>not a bug</i> but an <b>intended feature</b> envisaged by most Roman aristocrats. As these "alternative states" became richer and more powerful than ever over the course of the 2nd and 1st centuries BC and competed for personal glory, it was all but inevitable that intra-elite competition would have ramped up to unsustainable levels. Not surprisingly, when this intra-elite competition ended with a single victor, Augustus and later emperors saw that it was to their benefit to centralize power to the state.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Here's another random image of an anime-ized Roman legionary looking hella fine.<br />
I'm not from NorCal, btw.</td></tr>
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And this is why, as I stated in the beginning of this post, that the Republic's weak state capacity contributed to its demise. In typical lectures on why the Republic fell, you'll be told that it ultimately stemmed from the unequal distribution of the wealth that poured into Rome after the 2nd punic war and 2nd century BC conquests. This helped paved the path towards the violent political struggle between avaricious patricians and populist demagogues who stood up for increasing numbers of landless/indebted Romans. It also created the need to adopt Marian reforms which led to professional soldiers becoming more loyal to their commanders than to the Republic. Now these are all reasons that I agree with but an influx of wealth does not <i>have to</i> necessarily lead to an increasing <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gini_coefficient"><span style="color: red;">Gini coefficient</span></a> and political instability. I mean, sure, the cynic in me says I'm absolutely fucking wrong, but what I'm trying to point out is that the Republic wasn't doomed to unsustainable levels of internal political strife when wealth and slaves flooded into Italy after successful military conquests.One has to admit it's at least possible, though probably not likely, that the Roman Republic <i>could have</i> gone down a different path. Had the Gracchi brothers not been successfully and so vehemently opposed, perhaps they could have changed how Romans conceived of the proper functions of their Republic. Perhaps they could have come to see that it was necessary to increase the state's autonomy and authority by creating new state institutions or enhancing existing ones.<br />
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The reason why I say this wasn't likely is because when the<i> tributum</i> was ended in 167 BC as I previously mentioned, the plebeian Roman citizenry lost their bargaining power. In the time of the Punic Wars and before that, the prohibitive costs of war made the citizen's support necessary, as they provided the manpower and financial support. Accordingly, even though the senate liked to regard foreign policy its exclusive preserve, it let the people make crucial decisions such as whether or not to intervene in Sicily, which led to the Punic Wars. The Roman people could also make themselves heard by electing men such as <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaius_Flaminius"><span style="color: red;">Flaminius</span></a>, loathed by much of the other senators, but willing to propose and support bills that threatened senatorial interests, such as the <i>Lex Claudia</i> that forbade senators and their sons from owning ships with a capacity of over 300 amphorae. Tan argues that such incidents show that Roman senators understood the power that ordinary citizens held in the mid-Republic and behaved accordingly so as to not completely dismiss the interests of their social inferiors. This could allow for unprecedented actions that overthrew procedural regularities such as the senate allowing the people to vote who should be made dictator and his <i>magister equitum</i> in the aftermath of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Cannae"><span style="color: red;">Battle of Cannae</span></a>, which left one consul dead and the other absent without contact. But this dynamic that counterbalanced senatorial interests with their fear/respect for the public had withered away by the late 2nd century BC, when the tributum was no longer levied, and the senate could freely raise armies and fund wars even without the Roman citizens' financial backing.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVqNMmBpqOrEmIoOcpGKUAPLouyNJYCYl-vAHCQhqLTOnQWkLGwIkq34ah8FTba2PVmufTsbgZniyQUmjKZT6lpW38710OlCGR0c0nfTmz711x5wFWc4HIDWlZun9TlxWWCdFCZnRq05A/s1600/69368097_p3_master1200.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="862" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVqNMmBpqOrEmIoOcpGKUAPLouyNJYCYl-vAHCQhqLTOnQWkLGwIkq34ah8FTba2PVmufTsbgZniyQUmjKZT6lpW38710OlCGR0c0nfTmz711x5wFWc4HIDWlZun9TlxWWCdFCZnRq05A/s400/69368097_p3_master1200.jpg" width="286" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">One last cute 2d legionary for the road.</td></tr>
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And with that, I'll end this post with the following passage from the conclusion of Tan's book which summarizes this new situation of the late Republic:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
By the time of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_War_(91%E2%80%9388_BC)"><span style="color: red;">Social War</span></a>, with no tributum and with the option of delving into a deep pool of indigent recruits to fill the legions, what exactly did the political elite need from the citizenry? “Not a great deal,” is the answer. The availability of provincial revenues and the availability of lower-class volunteers in the legions meant that the two resources that the state had needed from the people — the two resources which citizens could withhold for leverage — were being copiously supplied. What, on the other hand, did the citizens need from the elite? Quite a bit. By locking up the vast profits of imperialism in their own estates, Rome’s most powerful had come to control the distribution of economic resources, and if others wanted a share, they would have to ask nicely. For the bulk of Romans, there was an enormous new pool of wealth that was inaccessible unless its keepers gave permission, and this upset the balance of bargaining power. . . The average Roman citizen of the third century, in other words, was relatively empowered, but the limited scale of public finance meant that he only rarely saw a policy for which it was worth fighting. The first- century citizen, on the other hand, lived amid wealth that was constantly worth fighting for, but he had lost the leverage to do so successfully. (183-184)</blockquote>
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