Before the Shinsengumi, there were DEMONS! Let's Play Toki no Kizuna

I would look up who it is, but it would only spoil George Takei-voice in my head. I also like the fact that not only is he a condescending asshole, he is an equal opportunity asshole. And his purple hair. Man, why did I missed the voting... Okay, it wouldn't have made a difference, but let my early-stage love for Shin be known to the world!

Alright then. I'll put up my postings in a new reply, and then ask at the end if anyone wishes for me to continue. Is that alright?

Does this mean that in Chitose's storyline your characters actually get to meet and talk to Portuguese traders and missionaries? Or is it more of a history recap/summary about the traders and their activities in 1590s Japan?

Sounds alright to me~

I wouldn't know since I haven't done his route, unfortunately. ^^;

Allow me to welcome you to the site, mcnoodle. /opens cone of confetti in your face

Thank you all so much for the welcome!! Without further ado, I shall begin my explanation of Tenka!

Part 1: Tenka and its origin from Tianxia (天下)

Tenka is the Japanese pronounciation of tiān xià, an ancient Chinese cosmological concept associated with a ruler's political sovereignity over the land and its people.


天(tiān)commonly refers to the sky in modern Chinese, although Chinese scholars have also attributed 天 to mean the heavens or a higher divine power/entity in a classical context.
Note the evolution of the 天 character from the earliest oracle bone script(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oracle_bone_script) (left) to today's modern one(right).


下(xià) means down or under(something, or directional). Refer to Fig. 3(if you like, you can also observe how Chinese characters evolved!)

Together, 天下(tiān xià) literally means 'sky under' or under the sky. It would also mean 'under heaven'.

In classical Chinese political thought an emperor received divine mandate from 天(heaven) depending on his virtue. Under this mandate a cosmo-geographic order was formed where all the lands and its people were under the direct authority of the Emperor acting as 天子(tiānzǐ) or a Son of Heaven, appointed by the heavens to rightfully govern the land.

Tian xia entered Japan around its Kofun period(古墳時代 Kofun jidai) when Japanese rulers of the period respected, and submitted to political and cultural ideas from China. Its rulers, and eventually the Japanese imperial court, and later Sengoku warlords, came to accept their lands as an independent tiān xià/tenka in its own right.

Whew, that was a lot! I plan to explain tian xia/tenka and its relation to territorial expansions in China/ Japan in my next post!

Would you like me to continue?

Please allow me to help you with that, PARA.

Welcome, mcnoodle! I'm interested, if you wish to continue.

Whoa, Chinese/Japanese version of the Divine Right of Kings.

Please do! This is fun!

Agreeing with the please continues.

Learning is AWESOME. :D

Yes, yes! Teach us, Mcnoodle-sensei~

Part 2: Tian Xia, Warfare and its impact on Sengoku Japan
Tian xia has been interpreted in various contexts throughout China’s rich and turbulent history, beginning from the Zhou Dynasty’s(周朝, Zhōu Cháo, 1046–256 BC)concept of the Zhou king’s absolute power radiating outwards over its feudal territories.


Map representing tian xia world order:http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/09/Tianxia_en-zh-hans.svg

The decline of the later Zhou led to the Chinese Warring States period(战国时代,Zhànguó Shídài) where tian xia took on a more militaristic nature in time of political strife.

An essay blog I found had this to say regarding tian xia and military: http://blog.chinatimes.com/mingyeh/archive/2010/06/18/509587.html

‘For political and military conquerors in dynastic China, tian xia was more likely to symbolize power…The ambition of a conqueror was to rule the(known)world and war was a means to realize this ambition. Once he achieved his dream, war might stop if it was his interest to hold onto power, but it might not if the ruler wished to expand the empire…peace would only be a by-product if it fitted with [a ruler’s] agenda of power and control.'

Given the pre-existence of tian xia thought in Japan, it is highly likely that Japan’s warlords/shoguns would have justified their military expansions and rule under that same interpretation above.

Wikipedia notes that in both Japan’s Kamakura and Muromachi shogunates, the shoguns referred to their domains as tian xia, and were even called representatives of Heaven by the people. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tianxia - Sinoxenic Uses of Tianxia)

Part 3: Tian xia under Qin Shi Huang (秦始皇)and Tenka under Nobunaga

In China, the decline of late Zhou political power resulted in a multitude of feudal city-states previously loyal to the Zhou each making their own bid for hegemony. By 260BC these feudal kingdoms had consolidated into 7 major warring states, with the Zhou as a powerless central authority.
State of Qin: 秦 to the far left.

Similarly in Japan, the decline of the Ashikaga shogunate (1336–1573)gave rise to Japan’s Sengoku period, where real power was consolidated in the hands of the regional warlords with mastery over their respective territories, and both the Emperor and the central Shogunate in Kyoto powerless figureheads.

2 major contenders arose in their respective periods: the King of Qin (秦王 Qín Wáng) later the First Emperor of Qin(秦始皇 Qín Shǐ Huáng), and Oda Nobunaga. Both held passionate ambitions to ultimately become ruler of the entire land, and both used tian xia in justifying their conquests.

Up to down:Traditonal painting of Qin Shi Huang, Chinese actor Chen Daoming as Qin Shi Huang in Zhang Yimou's Hero(2002)


Qín Shǐ Huáng’s usage of tian xia to unite all the warring states was representative of his goal to expand and place all known Chinese territory under Qin control. He famously survived numerous assassination attempts by the rival 6 states to gain control over all of them and create the first ever unified, imperial China under the Qin Dynasty( 秦朝, Qín Cháo 221 BC–206BC) with himself as Emperor.

Left to right: Traditional painting of Nobunaga, Painting of Nobunaga by Italian Jesuit Giovanni Nicolao
Similarly, Nobunaga used tenka in his campaigns to unify all Japan under his control, tenka being equated to all of Japan proper. By the 1580s Nobunaga had controlled all of central and southern Honshu, before his eventual assassination.

And that completes the lesson on tian xia! Hopefully this provides some background on how Tenka came to be, and some good distraction until this gameplay post is continued! ;3

Thats all I have to contribute for now, but I will contribute more relevant facts and trivia as the playthorough goes. Would anyone be interested?

Yes please.

I know it's a little late, but I love Chitose. He's like what would happen if Tails and Okita had a kid. Try not to think about that too much.

Also, I would greatly appreciate your facts and trivia, McNoodle.

Yes.

Such contributions demands a teacher-esque avatar. I suggest

How can history teachers still not know that the best way to teach history is to make dating sims about them?
YES. PLEASE CONTINUE.
And too bad I'm too late to vote for Shin. That would've been just this:


(but then, you know, the actual non sarcastic kind of fabulous :D)

Shin just has to be Joshua's previous life.

Still, this game probably has an awesome route for everyone :) Thanks for LP'ing the most awesome games ever, Chamomile!

Speaking as an actual history teacher (different era and location), I'm not sure how well my dating sim would play out. Shall we romance....

Churchill-kun?

Bishie glasses Roosevelt?

Stalin, our scruffy bad boy?

(no, I don't know why Stalin's image is so huge)

So it's a dating sim set during the Yalta Conference?

Kinky.

Unlockable characters, non Yalta route:
Leopold III, the womanizer
Queen Wilhelmina, the BFF
The dashing King Zog

(I'll stop now)

i would pay to play that
why is everyone so freaking moe kawaii desu

Oh man, I always feel bad when I look at that picture of Stalin. He's a total hottie but it's still friggin Stalin WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME!
I'm quite surprised about young Churchill being a babe. For some reason I imagined him popping out of his mother's vagina all bald, old and fat, drinking champagne and smoking a cigar. But daaaayuuuuuuuuuum, that man can wear a uniform.

And it's a matter of national pride (the only time I've ever felt it in my life) that Wilhelmina showed up. You go girl!

BISHIE GLASSES ROOSEVELT. *fans self* Dem Roosevelts... Though King Zog is so very dashing. I imagine going for long drives in the countryside with him and his delightful tiny mustache. I too would pay actual money to play that game. If I could learn all my history that way I'd be so down.

If my two areas of historical focus were dating games... I'd romance Augustus (ambitious, young and proper, probably a bit of a tsundere aw yisssss) and Baldwin IV (the sweet, earnest king who almost never catches a break, I just want to give him hugs).... Though William of Montferrat would make a great tragic route (Oh man he's so awesome, oh whaddya mean you have to marry Sibylla wait no you can't die!)!

Yeah I want all my history to come in otome game form.

We haven't gone back far enough.

Odysseus would be the intellectual and kind playboy that all the female powerhouses want.