The Twelve Kingdoms Forum

The ranka of Hou's kirin is still a mystery. Anyone have any ideas?

Some people say it's like Enki and Taiki, have flown to Japan or China.

Some people say the Ranka of Houka hasn't been created? But why? Is Tentei angry that the people of Hou kill the last Houki or something?

There was a kirin born, but he or she is no longer in Mt. Hou. Kyou-ou said that there was a shoku that occurred shortly after the kirin was born and it came from the yellow sea accross to Kyou. Kyou-ou then sent a message to Mt. Hou asking if the kirin was okay but received no reply as they had shut their gates. Supposedly a shoku that blows west will take you to China and one that blows east will take you to Japan. The conversation is in "A Thousand Leagues of Wind" (the book). The video just briefly touches on it and doesn't mention the shoku.

If the Ranka of Hou's kirin went to Japan or China. isn't it too much that out of 12 kirins that 3 is a Taika (If Houka did went to our world.).

As the passage below suggested, but it is too vague. It's becoming tiring if too many stories are related to Shoku and somehow they all came to our world. The story will be too much similarity.

“你還真是個笨蛋。你腦子裡是不是除了對別人的憐憫之外，其他什麼也沒有啊。芳國是極為貧瘠的，因此必須由惠侯負起責任，辛苦尋求治國良方，支撐芳國。究其原因是因為芳國並沒有麒麟。”

聞言供麒略顯慌張地環視了一下周圍。

“主上！”

“沒有任何人了。這種話也不可能對使者說吧。蓬山上沒有麒麟在新王登基為止會經歷難以想象的漫長歲月之類的。如果一旦人民了解到這一點，一定會產生絕望情緒，眼睜睜地看著國家滅亡而毫無辦法。”

理應選擇新王的芳國的麒麟不在蓬山，為什麼會這樣，理由連珠晶也不知道。蓬山的女仙是神的下女，蓬山是諸王不可侵犯的神聖之山，也沒有要求發生的一切怪事都必須一一報告女仙。三年前，異變一直從恭國延伸到芳國，那就是蝕。也許這變化是從五山開始發生的。那麼蓬山有沒有任何異變呢，擔心之余便派遣使者前往探望，但是得到的答復卻是蓬山上的任何宮殿都是大門緊閉，沒有任何因為麒麟而宮門大開的模樣。

聽說峰麒是雄性的。被問到是否生長發育健全時，卻只給了曖昧不清含糊不明的回答，經過一番深入調查終於得到了確定的答復。蓬山上沒有麒麟。

珠晶長吁一口氣，一吐而快。

“只能依靠惠侯了。他是個明白事理的男子。我不知道到底何時麒麟才會再現芳國選擇新王。因此，我是在推波助瀾。有什麼不滿嗎？”

All is know that something happens 3 years ago and a lot of shoku has happen during that period. So everything is hush hush. Thus, now the issue is a open debate.

Some say it's a female kirin and she is in China or something did happen to Hou's kirin that even the female sen of Hourai don't want to talk about. The kirin got killed? Kirin got seriously injured? Or Tentei is not letting any new Houka from sprouting?

But i know if Hou's Kirin is in China, then they should ask the kirins from various countries to help search for it while they are looking for Taiki. But the idea that Hou's kirin is in China is too far fetch. Why all the secrecy? When Enki is lost, Sourin was ask to search for him. When Taiki was lost, Enki was ask to search for him. So i still don't believe that Hou's kirin is in our world.

Did anyone search for Taiki the first time he went missing? Enki sort of did, but he takes his "vacations" in Horai every year anyway (he mentioned this to Youka after En-ou brought her to his palace for the first time). So if he didn't go it sounds like no one else would have. Then, the Nyosen stopped searching for Taiki and thought he would never be found. His Nyoki kept searching around the Yellow Sea for him. All this made me think that searches are optional and the welfare of the individual kingdoms is basically what each ruler and kirin is supposed to be concerned with. This may leave the Nyosen with no other choice than to wait it out.

There are still kirin being born from the tree. Kou's kirin was born after Hou's kirin. Kyou-ou's remarks made it sound like she expected an answer, but what if that was just arogance on her part and Mt. Hou isn't obliged to answer and chose not to - especially since she was ruler of Kyou and should 'mind her own business' (so to speak).

So what could happen?
1. Swept away by shoku
2. Kidnapped (I believe the Nyoki would have to be dead for this to happen, and the kidnapper might have to be senin)
3. Dead (not likely, or a new ranka would grow)
4. Still on Mt. Hou but being guarded with secrecy

tiaopiak
I think Nightchaser answered your question with all the data we have. In the anime they try not to talk about it too much as they (just as we are) have absolutely no idea how this story will develope, if it will at all. So it's mentioned that the Houki isn't on the mount and noone knows where he is.
In the novel we have only a few more sentenses. It's definitely Hou-ki (a boy!) and there was Shoku 3 years ago - in China direction. And noone responded to Kyou-ou from the nyosen. That's it.
Logically i assumed that Houko was swept to China and was born there as a Taika.

isn't it too much that out of 12 kirins that 3 is a Taika

Well, personally i can't argue with that. I'd say that according to the novels (and i mean the Devil's Son as well) Japan is quite overpopulated with Taikas.

beranda wrote:tiaopiak

In the novel we have only a few more sentenses. It's definitely Hou-ki (a boy!) and there was Shoku 3 years ago - in China direction. And noone responded to Kyou-ou from the nyosen. That's it.
Logically i assumed that Houki was swept to China and was born there as a Taika.

isn't it too much that out of 12 kirins that 3 is a Taika

Well, personally i can't argue with that. I'd say that according to the novels (and i mean the Devil's Son as well) Japan is quite overpopulated with Taikas.

Ah, so there was a ranka mentioned in some novel?

As for the taika population: remember that Enki and En-ou are 500 years old, the second oldest living emperor; AFAIK Taiki and Youko are the first royal taika after that. So it hasn't been a lot (except insofar as even 1/12 or 1/24 is a lot) but those two taika worked out really well so are still around.

And Taiki and Youko are about the same age; it's faintly possible that the same shoku took both eggs (conveniently, that'd make the anime's coincidence of them going to the *same school* more plausible.)

Houki on top of that seems a bit much, but then again the whole 12K only make sense to me as Tentei ripping off classical China and playing games with the copy. Given all the changes happening over here, perhaps Tentei has wanted to get some fresh blood in power.

mindstalk wrote:And Taiki and Youko are about the same age; it's faintly possible that the same shoku took both eggs (conveniently, that'd make the anime's coincidence of them going to the *same school* more plausible.)

Houki on top of that seems a bit much, but then again the whole 12K only make sense to me as Tentei ripping off classical China and playing games with the copy. Given all the changes happening over here, perhaps Tentei has wanted to get some fresh blood in power.

Great idea on Taiki and Youko getting caught in the same shoku. Cuts down on the coincidence level a bit. (Of course, in the novels, Youko goes to an all girls school and Taiki never meets Sugimoto.)

My personal (scary) idea is that Houki got swept off to North Korea.

"My personal (scary) idea is that Houki got swept off to North Korea."

Even scarier would be if Tentei aimed the shoku for there. "That's a weird society, let's see if we can do it better."

OTOH, while Tentei's social engineering doesn't top any benevolence scale, surely North Korea would violate several Divine Decrees? Hrm. I'd need to consult the explicit list.

Thing is, it's not clear what a taika kirin gets you. Enki was rescued when 4 or 5, so most of his personality is probably just being Enki, not being from Hourai. Taiki shows us the problems of having a kirin stay around longer. The only solid benefit, such as it is, is that the taika kirin can go back to our world more thoroughly (or may want to), since they get real bodies, not Renrin's evaporating soap bubble body. If you want weird ideas, you need a taika ruler.

Speaking of which, I'd wondered -- and thought of having Youko wonder, in her dark moments -- if she was selected not for her character per se but simply because she *was* a taika. And if Jokaku, who Keiki thought was flawed the minute he met her, was selected specifically to be a short-term ruler so that Youko could mature, since when the previous ruler died Youko was 10 or younger.

People coming from Japan are called kaikyaku (sea guests) and people coming from China are called sankyaku (mountain guests), I am wondering what those coming from Korea would be called.

Being Taika is part of Youko's character. No more or less than her idealism, sense of duty and complete lack of a sense of humour.

Youko does have a sense of humor, when she's not drifting through school/trying to survive/stressed out running a country. She's laughed a couple times (at least at Keiki once, I think during the Taiki arc), and her "begging" Suzu and Shokei to work for her at the end when it was already established she was queen and both of the girls wanted to work for her anyways is another example.

In any case, I had a thought: I wonder if the west has a parallel to the Twelve Kingdoms? Maybe the Bermuda Triangle is a portal to such a world...

(Yeah, it's actually only somewhat a myth, and there really aren't any more disappearing boats through the area, and it is an area that many tropical storms pass through. Still, it's fun to wonder... and there were several still unexplained disappeared aircraft that went through the area.)

;_

zitch wrote: In any case, I had a thought: I wonder if the west has a parallel to the Twelve Kingdoms? Maybe the Bermuda Triangle is a portal to such a world...

(Yeah, it's actually only somewhat a myth, and there really aren't any more disappearing boats through the area, and it is an area that many tropical storms pass through. Still, it's fun to wonder... and there were several still unexplained disappeared aircraft that went through the area.)

;_

On the "Tentei is running an experiment" theory, there's certainly nothing requiring the 12K to be the only experiment being run. China here, ancient Rome over there, Victorian England in another world. Or another China, missing one of the kirins or the rankas... have to do controlled experiments, you know!