On Mon, 5 Jul 1999, William Morse wrote:

Hi all.
I'm doing a bit of research for a Ranma idea I'm playing around with as a 
respite from my current major work which will be posted sometime next week 
(God willing) Anyway I was hoping to pick the collective brains of the FFML 
for some directions to go on this questions.

Can anyone think of a plausible explanation for a Japanese family (you know 
which one) to be living in an insula in republican Rome?

The best (okay, only) thing I've been able to think of is that Soun and his 
wife took the silk road but since I know next to nothing about Japanese 
history before Tales of the Genji I don't want to open up that can of worms 
just yet.

It's pretty unlikely.  Keep in mind, first of all, that the oldest
recorded Japanese history is around 600 CE.  Mythological history
(unverified except through semi-legendary sources) goes a bit farther,
back to around 660 BC.  In either case, however, what existed at the time
would be barely recognizable as Japanese culture to a modern observer.
This was long before bushido, samurai, katanas, possibly even (depending
on the era; I don't know exact dates for republican Rome) a single
Emperor.  The earliest Chinese records, substantiated by archaeological
evidence, suggest that there were a large number of clans/villages/nations
called uji, most of which were ruled by a priest or priestess.  They were
very primitive by Chinese standards (but then, most places were),
generally a bronze-age agricultural people. It might be possible, given
the Saotome luck, to have the clan flee Japan, make it to China, and then
flee farther through there to Rome, but it'd almost require a story
in itself.  But you'd likely have to rethink a heck of a lot about each of
the characters.  No martial arts, a different view of family honor... but
there is potential there.  I can see the Saotomes and the Tendous as a
small uji led by the high priest Happosai...


-- 
Scott Johnson |
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