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First off, I'd like to say that Houshin Engi is the Japanese pronunciation for Feng Shen Yan Yi. Second, I'd like to clear up some confusion that people have created by slightly mistranslating what Fujisaki Ryu wrote on the first page of his manga. Houshin Engi is NOT one of the great novels of Chinese literature. The Romance of Three Kingdoms, The Water Margin (Suikoden), and The Journey to the West (Saiyuki) are three of them, but the fourth one is actually Dream of Red Chamber. The original Houshin Engi novel IS, however, one of the four most popular Chinese novels in Japan (taking the place of Dream of Red Chamber in that list). Part of the explanation for this is that Dream of Red Chamber is apparently a very difficult read with tons and tons of symbolism that not many people seem to get.
Anyway, the novel takes place in the 11th century B.C. (which is also when HE takes place) at the end of the Shang Dynasty. The last emperor went to the temple of the Goddess Nuwa for her birthday. I believe Nuwa is the goddess that created mankind in Chinese myth. Anyway, when he saw her image after a gust of wind revealed it to him, he began to lust for her and wrote a dirty poem on the wall. When the goddess found out, she was so furious that she sought to punish him herself, but she could not because he still had 28 years left in his reign (the reigns of emperors are predetermined by Heaven). So instead, Nuwa summoned spirits from across the land and chose three spirits to help guide the dynasty to its end. The spirits were a fox, a pheasant, and a lute. (That would be Dakki, Kokibi, and Oukijin; why a lute I have no clue). After the fall of the Shang Dynasty, the rise of the Zhou Dynasty was to come. This new dynasty was to be founded by Ji Chang (Kishou for us HE fans). His second son, Ji Fa (that would be Kihatsu for us), was to become the first emperor of the new dynasty. During this time also, gods (Sennin) were to be created as well (365 of them to be exact), the Shang Dynasty was destined to come to an end (duh), Chan Taoists (members of Konronsan) were destined to break the commandment on killing, and Taikoubou is to enjoy wealth and power in Ningenkai (the human world).
Anyhow, that's a brief summary of the beginning (first chapter, I think). Many of our favorite characters became gods after everything was over, and one more thing: Everyone in this book is a LOT meaner than in Houshin Engi. Nataku (in the novel, it's Nezha) is mean to his Mommy! I was like "O.O Da heck?" It really surprised me, so it just goes to show that you shouldn't mix these characters up even though the HE characters were based on the ones in Feng Shen Yan I.
The novel has come in two forms of translation that I've seen both by the translator Gu Zhizhong. The first is a slightly abridged version in a two volume format. The following is the information that you can use to help you acquire this version.
Creation of the Gods
The second version is a four volume version printed in January of 2000 by the same translator, but published instead by the Foreign Language Press. The following is the information on how to acquire this four volume set. I suspect that it is an unabridged version, as it's over 2,000 pages, which greatly expands on the original 900+ that were in the slightly unabridged two volume version. This only means that you should probably brace yourselves for translated poetry, which although beautiful and picturesque, I find I might appreciate more if I knew Chinese since they wouldn't be quite so lengthy then.
ISBN for the four volume set: 7-80005-486-1 | |
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