Ôoku: The Inner Chambers, Vol. 5 [Paperback]

Fumi Yoshinaga (Author, Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 21, 2010

Reads R to L (Japanese Style), for M audiences. Gyokuei, who first arrived at the Inner Chambers as a young novitiate monk, has risen to become one of the Shogun Tsunayoshi’s advisors. He hopes to protect the shogunate the same way his mentor Arikoto once did. But the numerous intrigue of the Inner Chambers—and the shogun herself—are pushing Gyokuei’s patience and cunning to the breaking point.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Fumi Yoshinaga is a Tokyo-born manga creator who debuted in 1994 with Tsuki to Sandaru (The Moon and the Sandals). Yoshinaga has won numerous awards, including the 2009 Osamu Tezuka Cultural Prize for Ôoku, the 2002 Kodansha Manga Award for her series Antique Bakery, the 2006 Japan Media Arts Festival Excellence Award for Ôoku. She was also nominated for the 2008 Eisner Award for Best Writer/Artist.

Product Details

• Paperback: 200 pages
• Publisher: VIZ Media LLC (December 21, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1421536692
• ISBN-13: 978-1421536699
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.8 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #420,327 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The effects of boredom on leaders, January 16, 2011

By 

L. Mcclung "mordant" (Seattle, WA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: Ôoku: The Inner Chambers, Vol. 5 (Paperback)

Ooku vol. 5, much like the previous volumes isn't just a story of the Shogun and the men behind the Ooku wall but about an entire society and how it changes. This alternate history shows both the good and the bad, the real human desires that make people act as they do from pride, lust, to vanity, boredom and obsession.

Ooku volume 5 keeps to the high standards of the rest of the series, which if you don't have, I recommend buying now. Only instead of the story of tragic lovers, as in an earlier volume, or a hard women, keeping the empire together (another volume) here is an examination of how a shogun like so many world leaders, can change over time. Pressured on one side not to adopt but create her own heir, past the point of reason, and swayed not by her own mental illness but the sudden madness of one close to her, our female Shogun makes laws and atmosphere in the Ooku which is soon reflected in the rest of Japan.

We follow the female Shojun and the male High Court official, who both start as those who care about the empire, while one may care a bit more about personal gain. But as time continues, and one of the two forgets the Japanese people and empire, and is bored, and so the things that boredom leads to leaves the other to try and pick up the slack.

Ooku is unique in that is it telling a history, both the good leaders and the poor ones, but all interesting, and all had their own reasons for acting. But we finish this volume hoping that history can be turned around, not so much that men take over but that the Shogun, or the Emperor cares about the people again, and that corruption and slack become part of the past, not the present ruler.

Any thought that this is a dry read, is only because I don't want to reveal plot points and back conspiracies. This is a great work, one which I read as soon as it comes out and I have no regrets in doing so, I only wish Viz added even more titles to the Signiture Line as their selection seems to be spot on.