Fandom Promo: House of Five Leaves | Sarai-ya Goyō

[delphi]

Title: Waifs and Strays: A House of Five Leaves Fandom Promo
Author: delphi
Fandom: House of Five Leaves | Sarai-ya Goyō
Historical Connection: This is a historical fiction manga series set during the Edo period in what would today be Tokyo, Japan.
Content warning: n/a



Canon Recap
House of Five Leaves (さらい屋五葉 / Sarai-ya Goyō) is an eight-volume manga series written and illustrated by Natsume Ono and published serially between 2006 and 2010. It’s a thoughtful, character-driven historical drama about a group of people left alienated or alone for one reason or another in the urban setting of Edo under the feudal system. Drawn together, they find themselves forming a new family outside the law as they pull off a series of criminal schemes that turn out to have unexpected ties to one member's troubled past.


Historical Connection

The story is set sometime in the middle part of Japan's Edo period, which spanned from 1603 to 1868. While some minor artistic license is taken in the aesthetics, the series has a vivid and concrete sense of time and place. The plot and character arcs grow naturally from the structure and strictures of feudal Japan, developed in a way (with help from a few explanatory notes and a glossary in the English editions) that's accessible to readers unfamiliar with Japanese history. The setting comes to life through a number of historical details, from the architecture to the fashion and manners, and particularly through the food, which is a hallmark of Natsume Ono's work.


Characters
Masanosuke

Masanosuke is the series protagonist, a skilled samurai who nonetheless lost his lord's patronage due to his shyness and anxiety. Freelancing as a guard in the city to pay off family debts, he accepts a job offer from a charismatic stranger named Yaichi and quickly becomes fascinated by him and his friends. When he discovers the group is involved in criminal activities, he's torn between his understanding of honour as imparted to him by his social class and the complicated realities of love, trauma and survival.

Yaichi

Yaichi is the leader of the gang known as the Five Leaves. While charming and mysterious, it soon becomes evident that his philosophy of living in the moment isn't as carefree as it first appears. The memories of a troubling childhood incident have directed his life more than he would like to admit, and the persona he's crafted for himself as an adult begins to unravel upon the reappearance of a figure from his past.

Otake

Otake is a geisha who founded the Five Leaves alongside Yaichi. Wry and prone to drowning her bad memories in sake, she nonetheless has a tender heart and the dogged optimism to rebuild a life for herself after escaping from dark circumstances.

Matsukichi

Matsukichi is a man of many talents, supplementing his thieving and spywork with a side hustle as an artisan. Stoically determined to an extent sometimes mistaken for recklessness or sangfroid, Matsukichi is in fact driven by a firmly held sense of personal obligation and debt.

Umezou

Umezou is the owner of the tavern that serves as the gang's base of operations, where he lives along with his teenage daughter Okinu. A widower who's been parenting alone since he was young, he works hard to try to give Okinu a better life and to protect her from those that society would allow to exploit her. Appearing gruff to those who don't know him well, his protective instincts run deep and extend to his circle of friends.


Why I Loved It

House of Five Leaves would have been worth the read for me based on the art and story alone, but it was the characters and their relationships that kept me up late feverishly finishing the last two volumes. The series easily could have been a bleak tragedy about the shadowy underbelly of an often romanticized time period, or it could have been an equally romanticized criminal caper. Instead, it brings both elements together and ultimately tells a hopeful and human story about people making the decision to care about each other.

I have a weakness for a good found family story, and this series delivers. Not only does the main plot bring together a disparate group of people who become very important to each other, but there are several touching subplots about loyalty between the generations.

Natsume Ono has also written an f/m slice-of-life romance series I love and a number of wonderful m/m works under the pen name Basso. House of Five Leaves doesn't end with any explicit requited love, but her gift for writing interesting relationships and artfully hinting at her characters' regard for each other makes the series very kind to shipping. The story particularly lends to interpreting Masanosuke and Yaichi’s feelings for each other as romantic, and I was personally delighted with how what first seemed to be a cliched love rivalry between Matsukichi and Ume over Otake turned out.


Where to Find It

The manga was published by Shogakukan in Japan and was licensed for English publication by Viz Media.

At time of posting, a quick search shows the English editions available in print from Amazon, Indigo, Barnes and Noble, and many public library systems. The eBooks are also available through those booksellers, as well as through Google Play and Comixology.

The series was adapted into a twelve-episode anime in 2010 by Manglobe and distributed to English-speaking markets by NIS America in the U.S., Beez Entertainment in the U.K., and Siren Visual in Australia. While some changes were made that nudge the anime into second place behind the manga, it’s still a beautifully made series that captures Natsume Ono's unique art style and tells a great story.


Fannish Recs

There are currently only 23 stories on AO3—16 in English and 7 in Russian—so really, I’d recommend browsing the whole tag if you’re interested:

Sarai-ya Goyou | House of Five Leaves on Archive of Our Own

I'm also very fond of this vid of the anime by LDnavii set to the song "Aya" by Yuu Takami:

Watch on YouTube

Comments

[delphi]

Thanks for reading it!