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[petronia]

The title of the fifth Mirage of Blaze novel is まほろばの竜神 - and predictably "mahoroba" is not in the 现代日汉双解词典 (yes, I use a Japanese-Chinese dictionary ^^;), because that would make it too easy. So I googled up this blog entry, by a dude who did the research in the context of Ozu Yasajiro's filmography. It makes for interesting reading (in the course of the discussion まほろばにもいます is proposed as a translation for "Et in Arcadia ego").

The problem with this is that in the context of the MoB novel, "mahoroba" is... just a poetic way of referring to Nara. And I don't know if there's a literary tradition for that.

***

Er, in other fandom news, why is there no fansub of IniD 4th Stage episode 7? x_x

Comments

[tsutanai.livejournal.com]

First found in the Kojiki (8th century). You can parse it as まほら＋場 actually. (Not sure why the ら to ろ, however.) That one's first found in the Man'yoshu (also 8th century). You can also call it まはらま, which is in the 景行紀, the dates of which I don't know. All of these cases refer to Nara, so I'm not sure if you can use it refering to anywhere else (at this time). (There's also a まほらば, no citation given.) Generally, it just means a distinguished, most perfect place. Etymologically, however, it may be related to 　幻 (doubtful), but more likely etymology ties into 真秀, which is used in the Genji at least to refer to an honest, straightforward person.

[tsutanai.livejournal.com]

Incidentally, Delacour. Does not know all what he thinks he does, I think. (I'll stop being catty now. XD)

Most likely the surrounded by mountains bit comes from the fact that the term refers to Nara, actually: Nara was a much better canonical Chinese capital (by the standards of the time) in terms of geomancy and city planning than Fujiwara (which apparently followed some Warring States precedents and put the palace in the center of the city). Taoism was making apparent inroads in Japanese governance at the time: I forget which reigning empress did obeissance to the directions to get rain, but that seems to be a turning point as far as the official chronicles go. (Official chronicles tend not to mention tomb decorations involving astronomy/astrology, I noticed. XD)

Regarding either the Fujiwara or the Kiyomihara palace, there is a praise tradition about how it was once a field of flowers, but is now a nifty capital (and that's how awesome the ruler was). Those two palaces/capitals didn't last for too long, so I don't think that sort of praise would have transfered. While the Kojiki reference would be attributed to before the Nara Period, it was actually compiled/completed in the early days of the Nara capital, so I could definitely see some new terminology being added there.

Apparently I need to research this however, because now my interest is piqued, concerning this praise thing. (Or, as my 和英 dictionary says: 興味をそそった. XD) I don't know that Kyoto really has an epithet thing going on, but I don't know if that's the eras/styles of things changing, or just my lack in reading. (And, you know, since the move of the capital from Nara [to Nagaoka] to Kyoto is one of those things scholars debate about, any differences are worth noting.)

[tsutanai.livejournal.com]

I'm assured that Kyoto does have its own 枕詞, which is what the guy what studies old poems here thinks that this case is. I'm still curious about modes of praise, however. XD

(I'll... stop spamming your comments now. XD)

[petronia.livejournal.com]

I am always interested. :D And you do tell me what I wanted to know, i.e. whether I can translate it as "Nara" and just leave it at that. XD;; (I mean, it's not like I'm under an obligation to be minutely accurate, but it's never a good sign when one tries to do a write-up and gets stuck at the first word of the title...)

[tsutanai.livejournal.com]

Translation's always painful, partic since English doesn't have nice epithets that you can stick to Nara that would have the same relationship.... (And, well "The Dragon God of Ye Merry Olde Nara Towne" would just be painworthy, so. XD)

[amamiyarin.livejournal.com]

wait... weren't IniD 4th Stage eps 7 and 8 already released sometime ago? O__O

[petronia.livejournal.com]

They were, I just can't find a subbed version of 7 (although there's one of 8... right). Hoping someone can point me to one, I missed downloading the raws. >_>