【Nante Suteki ni Japanesque】Comedy/historical themed manga series Gorgeous arts by Yamauchi Naomi and fascinating story by Himuro Saeko!!

Nante Suteki ni Japanesque (translated as “How Wonderfully Japanesque-like”) is a historical themed manga series written by Himuro Saeko and illustrated by Yamauchi Naomi. It was serialized in the semi-monthly magazine Hana to Yume by Hakusensha from September 1988 to January 1993, with a total of 11 volumes.

From 1984 to 1991, several light novels of Nante Suteki ni Japanesque no. 1 to no. 9 were published by Shueisha Cobalt imprint. The manga was also adapted into a TV drama (1986) on Nippon TV, starring Yasuko Tomita and a radio drama (1987) on NHK-FM, starring Satomi Kobayashi. In August 1986, actress Yasuko Tomita released “Nante Suteki ni Japanesque” as her 7th single and it was used as the theme song for the radio drama on NHK.

Set in the Heian period, the story of Nante Suteki ni Japanesque mainly revolves around 16-year-old Princess Ruri. Even though Ruri is a daughter of the great General Fujiwara, everyone considers her “odd” due to her personality and commitment of “being single forever” as there would be no good man like her dead first love. Instead of marrying a nobleman like her dad has planned, Ruri set on to marry her close friend. However, the wedding cannot begin at ease......

Dainagon Fujiwara (“Dainagon” is the first rank councilor in the Imperial court of Japan) was busy sorting out the marriage proposals that his daughter had gotten from the other lords, while his daughter – 16-year-old Fujiwara Ruri dozed off in her chamber.

It upset the Dainagon greatly that his daughter, who was in the prime of her youth, did not pay any attention to getting married and finding a suitable husband. Ruri had rejected and ignored so many letters to the point that there were rumors about her having birth defects and hiding from her suitors.

The two fought over Ruri’s marriage proposals and yelled at each other. In the heat of the fight, Ruri declared that she would forever stay single. This was a normal occurrence at the Fujiwara household.

Ruri was complaining about the fight to her hand maiden, Kohagi, when her little brother Tooru and his friend, Takaakira, walked in. They had heard the fight all the way from the outer buildings. Takaakira was a son of a lesser lord that had close relationship with the Fujiwara household. Ruri, Tooru and Takaakira often played with each other when they were children.

That day, Takaakira had come over to practice the biwa (a Japanese short-necked wooden lute traditionally used in narrative storytelling). Dainagon Fujiwara was hosting the next house party for the local lords, and Takaakira was going to be performing and entertaining everyone.

Tooru was telling Takaakira about his sister’s commitment to being single forever. Their father was worried about Ruri not being able to let her first love go, which resulted in her drastic decision. Ruri overheard them and started to retaliate.

She explained it was true that she could not forget about her first love, but it was also because of their father’s action that she had lost faith in men. It was only less than one year after their birth mother had passed away, Dainagon Fujiwara had decided to remarry. This deeply upset Ruri and made her think that all men were the same.

While the two siblings were fighting, Takaakira stepped in and told Ruri that her argument was childish. The fact that the Dainagon had remarried was very normal in their age as he had a duty to keep expanding his family.

Embarrassed and could not find the words to talk back, Ruri threw a tantrum and mentioned that her first love, Yoshino, would never say or think something like that. Takaakira got angry and told her that he did not want to be compared to somebody who was dead. Seeing that the fight had gotten serious, Tooru pulled Takaakira away for practice, cutting their conversation short.

Ruri started reminiscing about her first love. After giving birth to Tooru, Ruri’s mother fell into a coma. Ruri had stayed with her grandmother until she was 10.

That was when she met Yoshino. Yoshino was a year older than her; he was a gentle boy with fair skin and a beautiful face. From the moment they met, the two immediately found a connection. They often spent their days playing together from morning till late.

When Ruri’s grandmother found out about their relationship, she forbade Ruri from hanging out with Yoshino. She told Ruri that Yoshino was an illegitimate son of a high lord. His mother was a commoner and was chased away. To hide his identity, Yoshino had taken his last name after the household where they were hiding.

One day, Yoshino suddenly told Ruri that he was summoned by his father. He promised Ruri that he would use this opportunity to convince his father to acknowledge him as a legitimate child and when that happened, he would come back and ask for her hand in marriage. Overjoyed by Yoshino’s word, Ruri let out a smile filled with happiness. Yoshino picked a nearby wildflower and gave it to Ruri as proof of their promise.

Happiness did not last long. Shortly after Yoshino left, Ruri received news that her mother had passed away. Sadden by the grave news, her grandmother collapsed without being able to come to her daughter’s funeral. Having to take care of her bedridden grandmother, Ruri could not see Yoshino for over one month.

When her grandmother finally gotten better, Ruri rushed over to Yoshino’s place, only to find out that he too had passed away from a common illness at the time. Shortly after, her grandmother also passed away. Sad news kept fallen onto Ruri’s life one after another. She finally returned home to her father’s castle and was greeted by her stepmother.

Ruri was enraged at her father and sadden by all the misfortunes befall upon her. At that moment, she vowed to never get married and be like the adult that she despised.

What will happen to Ruri’s love life? Will she find someone who is able to change her mind? Find out in the next chapters of Nante Suteki ni Japanesque!