Hello. This is my first article to this news group. How do you do?
I would like to write something on "PRETTY SOLDIER SAILORMOON",
maybe the answers for the FAQs. "PRETTY SOLDIER SAILORMOON"
might be the formal English title, which I saw printed on the packages
of the items sold in Japan.
1. Why is she called "Sailor"-moon?
In Japan, people will recall at first female students, especially of
the ages for junior high schools or high schools when they hear the word
"sailor". Because in Japan, the sailor suits (or middies) are introduced
as uniforms of some schools. If you are UY fan, you saw LUM-chan in a
sailor suit.
Why the sailor suit was used as an uniform for the girl student?
The history began at the beginning of the 17 century in Europe. In those
days, the sailor suit was made, of course, for sailors. Especially in 1628,
the Great Britain Navy introduced the suit as an uniform. I omit to write
the reasons.
In 1840's, the sailor suit was in fashion for little boys. The
beginning was a photograph of the prince Edward, (EDWARD VII subsequently)
5 years old in the sailor suit. And with its pretty design, there was
a run on the suit for all children and also for females. It was also in
Europe, after 1910's. You can see many photos at that time of children
in sailor suits.
At the same time, Japan was in the era of TAISHO, and the democracy
began to bloom. Especially the women's status in society was just a
little improved. They stopped to wear the typical old japanese cloths,
which was a symbol of old bad tradition, and many girl schools introduced
the sailor suit as an uniform because of the vogue in Europe.
I also omit here the recent situation in japan, but at least, the
image of the sailor suit is still deeply related to the image of young
girls.
2. Why is the heroine's name "TSUKINO Usagi", that is, "BUNNY on the moon"?
In Japan, there is a legend that there exists a bunny on the moon
surface. Japanese people saw the bunny in the fullmoon making the MOCHI
by kneading (or thrusting) the rice, one of the typical food in Japan or
in Asia. This is the same thing as that in Europe they saw a crab in the
moon.
With the names of other girls, people call to mind (just slightly
straining):
MIZUNO Ami -> Freind of water ("Ami" is "friend" in french.)
HINO Rei -> Spirit of fire
KINO Makoto -> Faithfullness of tree
Of course, the first KANJI (chinese characters used in Japan) of each
family name also concerns to the planet.
MIZU (water) ->SUI -> SUI-SEI -> Marcury
HI (fire) ->KA -> KA-SEI -> Mars
KI (tree) ->MOKU -> MOKU-SEI -> Jupiter
^Japanese sound (typical meaning)
^(old) Chinese sound used in Japan
^The name of the planet in Japan
^The planet
(If you are fan of the UY, you know that SEI means "star" or "planet".)
Unfortunately the case of the next pretty soldier is just a little
different. Her name is AINO Minako, who becomes the Sailor-V
(maybe V is for Venus). The planet Venus is called "KINSEI" in Japan,
and the compatible family name is rather strange in Japan. "AI" means
"love", and the goddess Venus takes charge of beauty and love.
3. What does Sailor-Mars do at the top of the attack?
Sailor-Mars (HINO Rei) says
"RIN, PYOU, TOU, SHA, KAI, JIN, RETSU, ZAI, ZEN."
at the top of the attack, and she locks her hands into nine forms
according to the sounds.
It is called "KU-JI NO IN", the spell of nine characters. It is an
exorcism mainly for the luck of fight in Japan. As you know, Rei is a
female exorcist (MIKO) of the Japanese shrine. They say that NINJAs also
used this spell. The origin came from ancient China. You can also see
this in other MANGAs.
I list up the main meanings of the nine KANJIs.
(In the parentheses, I write the typical sound of the KANJI.)
RIN: against; near; to face
PYOU: (HEI) soldier
TOU: fight; to fight
SHA: man; people
KAI: all; whole
JIN: formation; position; camp
RETSU: column; row; line
ZAI: existence; to exist
ZEN: front; in front of; before; pre-
There are also the names of the nine forms of the hands, which I omit here.
Unfortunately the scene of this is left out in recent several episodes.
4. Where do they fight?
The pretty soldiers fight against the YOU-MA about ROPPONGI, one
of the well-known place in Tokyo. Many places or buildings in the story
really exist (of course with some modification). TV-ASAHI, the broadcasting
company of the SAILORMOON is also placed there. In the news group in
Japan fj.rec.animation, some reports about the places can be read (if
you can read Japanese).
I stop. Maybe it is a too long article. Thank you for your patience
to read my article in bad English.
Fumitsuna MARUYAMA
fma@tansei.cc.u-tokyo.ac.jp
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