Figured I’d just give y’all a quick update on how the big ‘ol comic is coming along. It is progressing smoothly. Hopefully I’ll finish the inking tonight, in which case I will be on schedule for once in my life. I wish I could post more stuff in the meantime but this is really consuming all my time. I hope you all look forward to the finished product!
Here’s a random fact for you that has nothing to do with Hanzo but instead, is about his brother Genji.
The kanji for Genji’s name, 島田源氏, but specifically Genji (源氏) has a symbol in it called 源, which is minamoto. This translates to origin (or source depending on where you’re looking for your Japanese-English translations).
Something many of you non-Japanese people might not know is that Minamoto was a surname that was often given by the Emperor of Japan (that was in charge at the time) to those of the imperial family that he decided were unworthy for the line of succession. This in turn is why there was a “Minamoto Clan”, noble bloods that were “unfit” for replacing the Emperor. This wasn’t just removing them from the imperial family, this removed them as royals entirely, an entire class and rank drop outside of the nobility to the common class of people.
The Minamoto Clan had a second surname it went by though, that of Genji. Therefore, the Minamoto Clan was also the Genji Clan. Genji wasn’t just a name, it was a title. To be Genji was to be an imperial born noble outcast to the average folk.
There’s a story written that involves this very thing happening, 源氏物語 (Genji Monogatari), or The Tale of Genji. The Emperor Kiritsubo birthed a second son to a concubine/prostitute that he loved, but due to political things (gasp, a royal son who’s actually half a commoner, how dare), the Emperor declared his son minamoto and removes him from the royal family. 源氏ヒカル (Hikaru Genji), as he is named in the story, goes along his life trying to become an imperial officer while having many, many affairs due to how handsome and intelligent he was (sound familiar yet?). He eventually does return to the royal family in the end, but this is not only a great example of minamoto at work, but The Tale of Genji is considered to be the first novel (and a great read if you’re into that sort of thing).
I find it interesting that not only was our favorite cyborg ninja named Genji, but he follows the classic example of minamoto where his name is derived from. Instead of simply being outcast from his clan and forced to be a commoner, he was killed to restore his name’s honor to his clan. Then again, in some way, he did end up becoming a commoner in the end even if he was with Overwatch. It’s one reason I do love the Shimada brothers so much; there’s a lot of aspects of my culture included that might not be known to non-Japanese people, but to me, it’s a breath of fresh air. They could’ve just had “two generic Japanese men” with no true callbacks to my culture at all besides their ethnicity, but the subtle nods and details put in truly make my day.
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