Update: April 3rd 2011

Re: The Courtship of Lady Tokio

Hello everybody (waves frantically), * If you read no further, just to say, you might want to re-read the end of Chapter 27

I would like to apologize to everyone who waited and waited for me to update. I thought I would be finished by the end of 2009 but things at work and in my personal life just continued to get more and more crazy. So, I finally quit my job and am now enjoying the first free time I've had in years.

I kept receiving the kindest words of encouragement and I would like to take this opportunity to thank everybody who wrote, from the very bottom of my heart. For everyone who wants to see this fic finished, it'll be done by this summer. I have the most patient and wonderful readers, and if I may be so presumptuous, you're all super smart. This isn't an "easy" story to read, I know, it requires a lot of concentration regarding the historical events and politics, and all the different characters, and it's gone on for so long that even I forget what's happened in previous chapters.

In fact, that's what happened with Chapter 27 - I completely made a mistake with the timeline and I am very very sorry! It happened because I was mixing up dates using the Western calendar and the traditional lunar calendar that was being used back then in Japan. Therefore, I had to make a major revision to the end of that chapter and plucked a scene from that to insert in Chapter 28. Again, my apologies. I'm also worried that people have lost track of the characters since it's been so long, so skip over this if you don't need it but here's a primer in order of appearance in Chapter 28 (except for where they've been explained in story).

- Yamakawa Ookura: Aizu retainer, quite a major figure in Aizu politics despite his young age. In this story, he's childhood friends with Tokio and relies on her to help him with his duties. When talking to each other, he calls her Sada, which was her childhood name, and she calls him Taizou which is a variant pronunciation of the kanji characters in his name.

- Itou Kashitarou: Military Advisor and Counsel in the Shinsengumi Executive, he joined the organization at the end of 1864. Various portrayals of him exist but in the end, he was a "Sonnou Joui" purist who ended up parting ways with the Shinsengumi after becoming disillusioned with their pro-Bakufu actions. He also did seek to utilize the Shinsengumi for his means and he really did plot a lot of things. As Saitou describes him, he's a crafty fellow.

- Aioi Tayu: a high-ranking geisha in Shimabara (one of the pleasure districts) that Saitou was linked to historically. She first appeared in Chapter 26 as the kind of woman who is attracted to dangerous men.

- Yamazaki Susumu: the "kansatsugata" of the Shinsengumi, basically this man was in charge of all intelligence gathering for the organization (like a spymaster). He also had a substantial amount of medical training, and he was held in high regard by Hijikata and Kondou for his abilities.

I think that's about it for those who actually have a speaking part.

Regarding previous chapters, if I have the time, I may tweak a few things such as the calendar (if it's necessary to convert everything to the lunar calendar) and wording here or there (reading over something I wrote years ago makes me cringe, so I hope you'll forgive the urge) but I do not intend to change the actual storyline or character interactions.

It's been more than a year since I've written anything substantial so I am very very rusty. I'm not sure that this is of a high enough standard, to be honest. I will be very much looking forward to the feedback so please, if you have a moment, let me know what you thought, what you liked, what you didn't like etc. I promise, if you review, I will respond (so long as there's a contact email)! Thank you very very much in advance!

And as I've said before, when I finally finish this, I would like to dedicate it to Hakubaikou. I wish she was able to read this and tell me what she thought. RK Fandom hasn't been the same without her.

Now, since I've been away for so long and haven't so much as logged into this account before now, I am soliciting recommendations for other good fics so please, point me in the right direction!

Thank you so much again for being patient with me.

Best wishes,

MT

Japanese girl who has spent most of her life in anglophone countries. Found slightly left off mainstream, closet introvert (one day I'll come out and stay in).

My heartfelt gratitude to Hakubaikou who most kindly featured "The Courtship of Lady Tokio" on her beautiful site. I strongly urge anyone not familiar with this amazing fanworks site to go look (and also leave a note of appreciation for the web mistress): http://www.hakubaikou.com

Doujinshi for "The Courtship of Lady Tokio":
Never in the course of thinking about this fic did I ever imagine that one day, somebody would render this into doujinshi format for me. The mind boggled, the eyebrows leapt off my face, and I hope you enjoy these as much as I did. Please say thank you to "Eeni" for her wonderful work.

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I've received enough emails, comments and reviews to warrant a FAQ list of sorts, and so, as irrelevant as it may be to most people who stumble across this page, here it is.

1. Your story seems very Japanese, are you Japanese? / There's too much Japanese history, it's hard to read.

As my profile says, I am Japanese. As Rurouni Kenshin is a Japanese pseudo-historical work, I felt strongly about trying to keep this fanfiction as true to the world and story-telling that Watsuki Nobuhiro created as I could. Like Watsuki, I'm sure that Japanese history buffs want to chop my head off for the many liberties I have taken. And although I apologise if readers don't understand all the historical and cultural references, I do try to include the most important in my author's notes. As well, if readers are interested enough, I would hope that they would not mind asking me for more details or googling.

2. Is your Tokio based on the "real" Tokio?

"My" Tokio is a figment of my imagination. I readily admit this. However, I have fleshed out her character using the historical records that are available on her life. For instance, she was a scribe in the court of Aizu, though she worked for Teru Hime, Matsudaira Katamori's adopted sister. And she was a pretty darned capable woman, as Saitou said. For more information about Tokio and Aizu, I direct you to the most dedicated Shinsengumi historians online in English (plenty of Japanese sites out there too): www.shinsengumihq.com

3. Timeline: I had a question regarding the timeline and which are actual events and which are not. The list was available in the author's notes of Chapter 20 (or 21 according to ffnet) but here it is:

- Chapter 1: Meeting between the Mibu Roushi Gumi and Matsudaira Katamori
- Chapter 2: Fighting demonstration by the Roushi Gumi for Matsudaira
- Chapter 3: The Roushi Gumi are officially renamed the Shinsengumi, in the service of Aizu; Shinsengumi trip to Osaka where they fought with Sumo; Mibu Sumo Festival and the burning of the Yamato-ya
- Chapter 4: Assassination of Serizawa Kamo
- Chapter 6: Saitou's trip to Osaka
- Chapter 7: Matsudaira visiting the Shinsengumi and watching Mibu Kyougen
- Chapter 10: The Ikedaya Affair (from the Furutaka store to Hijikata's torturing to the triumphant march back to Mibu)
- Chapter 11: Assassination of Sakuma Shouzan (important historical figure)
- Chapter 12: Kinmon no Hen
- Chapter 16: Choushuu vs Great Britain
- Chapter 19: Kondou's trip to Edo to see the Shogunate and recruit new members, under the auspices of Aizu
- Chapter 23: Yamanami Keisuke's defection and seppuku, including his final farewell with Akesato
- Chapter 25: The Shinsengumi move their headquarters from Mibu to Nishi-Honganji
- Chapter 26: Dr. Matsumoto Ryoujun visits the Shinsengumi; Saitou, Hijikata & Itou travel to Edo; Satsuma-Choushuu Alliance; the call for and then calling off the second Campaign against Choushuu; Death of Shogun Iemochi
- Chapter 27: The vandalism of imperial proclamations against Choushuu, which the Shinsengumi were asked to investigate in the autumn of 1866. - Chapter 28: Virtually all of the events (except for the secret meetings that Saitou has with various characters)

4. Is this a story about Tokio and Saitou or about the Shinsengumi?

This is the story of Tokio and Saitou set against the backdrop of the Bakumatsu. Therefore, it could be taken as a story about the Shinsengumi with a slant. I consider the Shinsengumi to be the most important defining factor in shaping Saitou (after all, he is remembered in history as Saitou Hajime, Third Captain of the Shinsengumi) and the experiences he went through while he was a member shape his development and growth as a man.