3-gatsu no Lion 43

I hate this chapter. I hate it so much. I hope it dies in a fire. I mean the chapter itself was great, but translating this was a hellish experience. I dunno how many hours this took but it took me about a week to get through the whole thing. Look at all the weird shit I had to look up in this and how tangential it gets. There's like a volume's worth of content in this chapter, I swear.

Anyhow, now begins volume 5. I dunno how long it's gonna take me to get through it as I have a few other things that'll take way less time that I'd like to finish in the near future. But here's this one. I'm still trying to get BWYS to actually finish scanlations at a semi-reasonable pace.

[3-Gatsu no Lion 43 Translation by Kewl0210]
Page 6:
Contents: Chapter. 43 When the Cherry Blossoms Bloom
Chapter. 44 Small Mumbling
Chapter. 45 New Semester
Chapter. 46 Western Sun
Chapter. 47 Ramune
Chapter. 48 Disorder
Chapter. 49 Kumakura
Chapter. 50 June
Chapter. 51 Ladybug Tree (1)
Chapter. 52 Ladybug Tree (2)
Chapter. 53 Ladybug Tree (3)
Bottom: This is a work of fiction. There is no connection to any actual people, groups, or events.

Page 7:
Title: Chapter.43
When the Cherry Blossoms Bloom

Page 8:
[Spacing page]

Page 9:
Girls: What nice weather...
The pink of the cherry blossoms and the blue of the sky and the white clouds......
Akari: There's nothing like eating onigiri under a cherry tree, is there?
Momo: Could I please have another oniniri, Big Sister? [That's not a typo, she says it wrong.]
Akari: Okay, okay, which one would you like?
Momo: Hm well, okaka!
And then a karaage!

Page 10:
Hinata: They're mostly out of bloom now,
but you really like it in this season, right, Big Sister?
When there aren't too many people around and you can watch and relax.
Rei-chan is probably arriving in Yamagata around now.
Akari: I guess so.
I'm sure right now it's the ideal viewing time there.
Hinata: Human shogi, how refined.
So they all gather in a big park
and wear armor and kimonos, right?
Akari: It must be nice there under the cherry trees.
Cherry blossoms in full bloom, a beautiful blue sky, and green mountains...... How wonderful...
Hinata: Yeah... It sounds so romantic.
Handwritten: Charming...
POWAWAAAN...
SFX: POKAPOKA (Cheery)

Page 11:
SFX: DODOBABABABAAAAHH PASSHAAA BISHA BISHA (Splash splash)
Shimada: .........
Like I said,
'It rains wherever I go'...
And I wasn't suited to be in a festival in the suburbs...
On top of that, I just lost the Shishi-ou Championship in 'straight losses',
I couldn't even last long enough to bring a game here...
I can't face everybody like this.
But that
darn president...
Pres: It'll be fine! Perfectly fine! We'll have a blast!
Come on and let everyone encourage you!
Handwritten: It'll be a blast! Right?
Pres: Oh!
'Encourage'-----
I didn't mean it that way.
Shimada: I can't believe him!!
T/N: The word for 'encourage' can also be read as 'going bald'.
SFX: HAHAHAHA

Page 12:
Someone: Do you have your bags?
Okay, let's go.
Rei: Ah,
hello?
Oh, Nikaidou.
Yeah.
We just arrived at Tendou Station.
Yeah.
I see, so the park's closed, huh? So we're moving it to the Tendou City civic center?
Okay, got it.
SFX: DOBISHAAA BASHA DONBISHAAA....
Rei: But... is it really a good idea to be doing it today?
This human shogi thing...
I'm worried nobody's gonna show up.
This is... a station shinkansen's stop at... right?
SFX GARAAAAN...
Shimada: It's like this every year...
Everyone comes by car because they're in one of the neighboring prefectures.
...Yeah. Once we get there, I'm sure they'll come.
...I mean it is raining quite a bit, but... yeah, they'll come...
Handwritten: HEAVY...
SFX: DOKI DOKI... (Heartbeat)
Rei: WAAAHHH Wh-What in the world?!
Why's this lonely tune playing throughout this empty station?!
Why would they use this song?!
Doesn't this seem kinda seriously foreboding?!
Song: Yoooou may go iiiin,
yoooou may enteeeer
Which way iiiis
this naaaarrow pathwaaay?
This is the naaarrow pathway
of the Tenjin shriiiiine
Going in is easy,
but returning is scaryyyyy
SFX: HIIIIIIHH
T/N: This is the traditional Japanese children's tune Touryanse, a common choice for music played by traffic lights in Japan when it is safe to cross.

Page 13:
Rei: W... Well for now,
let's just catch a taxi.
Handwritten: I really want to get out of here......
Rei: Aah.
Handwritten Song: Yoooou may go iiiin,
yoooou may enteeeer
(Loop)
Which way iiiis
this naaaarrow pathwaaay?
SFX: HEAVY...
Sign: Tendou City - Japanese Shogi Association [Small, on top]
The Meijin from the Shogi City Tendou
SFX: ZAAAA AAA
Shimada: How do I apologize to them?
Everyone's so kind,
I know they won't blame me or anything...
----and that makes it even harder.
Guys: I'd rather...
I'd rather they attacked me mercilessly...

Page 14:
Guys: Hey, Kai! You rain-bringer!!
Do somethin' about this rain, would yaa!!
In Bubble: It's all yer fault!
Rei: ----He said that, but
they actually started blaming him 5 seconds after we got there?!
Shimada: I'll help out.
Guy: Ya really have always been like this, haven't ya?
Whenever we've got an event, you make it rain.
Darn rain man.
Handwritten: Hey, make way! Make way!
C'mon, get the bags lined uP!
SFX: PEKO PEKO... GARA GARA DOTA DOTA BATA BATA
Sign: Shiono Club
Guys: Hey! Give some towels to the pieces!!
Shima: Okayyy!
Handwritten: Have a towel.
Thank you so much.
Ah! It's Shimada 8-dan!
SOmebody: Looks like more and more people are starting to show up.
In Bubble: Thank goodness...
Someone: Okay, eat up. This is the Shiono Club's new product, 'La France Kujira Mochi'.
T/N: La France is a Japanese name for a French pear called "Claude Blanchet pears".
Someone: Yummm! These are so good, Granny!
Top Sign: Recommended!
Below that: Cherry Shibazuke
Shiono
Below that: 400 Yen Each
Loafs: (Shiono) La France Kujira Mochi

Page 15:
Guys: We thought we'd make lots of money selling our new product but~~~
all this rain really put a dent in that.
Handwritten: Sorry...
Nikaidou: Anijya, Kiriyama~~~
SFX: TOGE TOGE (Biting words) NECHI NECHI (Persisting) HAAAH
Shima: Ooh, Bou!
Ah, that looks great on you!!
That seriously looks incredible, Bou!
Kiria: Yeah.
Guy: Oh, it truly does...
I thought I was looking at the actual Lord Shingen...!!
Handwritten: OOOH
You're an inspiration, Hanaoka-san!
You look as gallant as a Children's Day doll!!
Someone: Now,
where's the opponent, Yokomizo-kun?
Yoko: Yes?
Someone: Well, well...
This is, uh... Kobayakawa......
...Takakage... ----Hideaki?
Guy: Huh, what?! What's with that weird lineup?!
Handwritten: Ah, yes, yes...
T/N: Kobayakawa Takakage and Kobayakawa Hideaki were a samurai retainer to a daimyo during the Sengoku period and a general who was the nephew of Hideyoshi respectively.

Page 16:
Someone: Sente is Yokomizo 7-dan.
Yokomizo: 7-6 Fu [Make sure you put in the shogi symbol things.]
Someone: Gote is Nikaidou 7-dan.
Nikai: 3-4 Fu [White Shogi symbol]
Sign: Tendou Human Shogi
SFX: DON DON DON DON DODON DODON DON
Narration: ----40 minutes later
Yokomizo: -----Then, next I'll go 6-7 Gin... er
Huh?
SFX: HAHH
Shimada: Oh, now this is troubling.
At some point the kou went up one space, did it not?
Quite the predicament, isn't it?
Well, then.........
Sign: Kousha
Shimada: I do believe all of you here in Tendou are already well aware of this fact,
but in human shogi there is a goal, or rather a rule, that 'all pieces must move'.
That results in unusual fighting styles, so it's easy to be careless.
Do please be careful whenever you get a chance to play, Kiriyama-kun.
Rei: Ah,
right.
Someone: O... Okay, same kaku!!
Nikai: Then
3-5 Fu.
Shima: Oh my! Taking advantage of his opponent's slip-up!
That was quite a carefree move!!
I'd expect nothing less from Oboucchama!!
SFX: SAKKURI (Gently)

Page 17:
Yokomizo: I... I lost.
Someone: In 96 moves, the winner of the 42nd annual human shogi game is Nikaidou 5-dan!!
Handwritten: WAAA WAAAA
WAAA WAAA
Nikai: What a fortuitous happening!
I am utterly delighted!
Guy: Bravo, Harunobu-samaaaaaa!
In Bubble: Moved to Tears
SFX: DOON DON DON PAACHI PACHI (Clap clap)
Guy: A job well done, you two.
Now then, please have a bowl. Kobayakawa-sa... Yokomizu-sama.
Yoko: It's Yokomisu!!
In Bubble: That was on purpose, wasn't it, Hanaoka-san!
Nikai: Anijya!
SFX: KIRIRI
Someone: Okay... then.
Next we finally have the 100-board game, huh?
With the President, me, Nikaidou, and Okuyasu.
Paper: 11:30~
Hanagasa-odori Dance (Flower Hat Dance)
12:00~
Taiko Drum Performance
12:30~
Human Shogi
15:00
100-Board Game
17:30~
Closing Address
19:00
End
Pres: Kiriyamahh
Good luck with the rest.
Handwritten: Huuuh?
Kiri: 'The rest'? Didn't you only just get here?
In Bubble: It's so late...
Someone: President, you've been specifically named in this, so you can't run away.
SFX: PON
Pres: Ah... But my...
stomach isn't feeling so good...
Handwritten: HUUUH?
You can't?
Shima: Yeah, right.
I heard you from the hallway all ecstatic about "getting to eat Yonegiwa beef tonight! ☆"!!
In Bubble: All the participants are looking forward to beating you!!
Handwritten: GEEEEZ

Page 18:
Pres: I learned from last yeaaar!
And, c'mon, the people here in Yamagata are kinda oddly good.
-----Especially the geezers and old bats in the club Shimada made.
SFX: WAI WAI GAYA GAYA
Pres: Do old grannies like that
normally form yagura castles and crap like that?
In Bubble: That never happens, right? Normally?
Pres: No way we'll be done with this in 2 hours!
The Konegiwa beef will get cold!
Yoko: Ah, I heard that last year
Tsujii-san really complained a lot last year.
In Bubble: He got torn apart.
Pres: Ah...
Tsujii, eh...?
Well, Tsujii,
there's really no helping that, he's bad.
Shima: Huh?
What did he do?
Handwritten: Ah... Yeah...
Pres: In the opening ceremony
during his greeting, he stuck in...
Tsujii: Hello, people of Yamagata.
Love me ☆ Tendou.
I'm Tsujii Takeshi.
Someone: Man, who would've thought the people of this city got turned off by something like that?
In Bubble: HAHAHA
Handwritten (Tsujii): Muhu muhuhuhuh
Handwritten (Pres): Hahhahha
Handwritten (Shima): HAAAHH...
Handwritten (People): Huuuh?
Eh...?
ZAWA...
ZAWA....
HUUUUH...?
ZAWAZAWA...
Banner: Tendou Cherry Blossom Festival
Shima: Yeah, he would say that.
Of course he would say that.
Of course Tsujii-san couldn't resist saying a line like that on stage in front of so many people...
----Hey, did you name the people for this one because you knew that happened last time?
In Bubble: Though I kinda feel bad for Tsujii-san...

Page 19:
Someone: Okay, it's time.
All players,
let's have a good game!
Sign: 42nd Annual
100-Board Game Event
Someone: Now then, the long-awaited popular event the '100-board game'.
The players are now entering the arena.
Pres: Oh thank you, thank you!
Go ahead, Okuyasu. Stand in front of the Shiono Club.
Oku: I don't want to. Those people came to beat you, President.
Shimada: Ah...
Geez...
Handwritten: Harunobu-samaa
Nikaidouuu
Mm
Oh well...
Flags in the Back: Shiono Club
Shiono Club
Shiono Club
Tendou Shogi Club
Tendou Shogi Club
Tendou Shogi Club
SFX: WAAAH WAAAH PACHI PACHI PACHI (Clapping) ZURARAAAH GUI GUI GAS GASS
Shimada: Okay,
I guess I'll go.
Guys: Ooh, Kai!
Shima: Okay Jin-chan, Ban-chan,
I'm not going easy on you!
Handwritten: Come get us!
Kyaaah!
Kyah kyah!
SFX: KOKI KOKI
Guy: You want it? You got it! No way you're getting to eat dinner tonight!
Shima: Huh? C'mon, we can eat.
I mean I came all the way here so we should eat together.
In Bubble: Eeeh? Geez...
Hahaha

Page 20:
Handwritten: Hoh there!! I see, yeah, I getcha.
SFX: MUMUU
Signs: Shiono Club
SFX: HAHAHA...
Guy: How are you finding it?
Shimada 8-dan's hometown?
Kiriyama 5-dan?
Rei: Um...
Haven't I seen this person before...?
----Oh, yeah.
He's the one that came to interview Shimada-san.
Guy: I'm Izumida from the Higashikita Journal.
Rei: Yes. Um...
I was thinking how the people from his hometown really support Shimada-san...

Page 21:
Izumida: ..........
Shimada 8-dan is actually
from farther inland in yamagata.
As populations declined
it's a place that ended up as a lot of elderly people living alone in the snows of winter.
It's a place with very harsh winters.
Distressed over that, he created
the Shiono Shogi Club.
Signs: Shiono Shogi Club
Izumida: Twice a week he'd take the loop bus
go around to elderly people's houses
and surrounded them with shogi boards and kotatsus from the community centers.
With people to play shogi with,
he would also create non-perishable foods in a big pot.
And on his way home,
he would put together lots of orders and go buy then. Then he would take daily necessities and ingredients to their houses----
Papers: Tanaka-san
Suyama-san
Harada-san

Page 22:
Izumida: Shimada 8-dan was trying to find a way
to make it so there were no more lonely elderly people in the village he was from.
The preserved food and sweets
that the Shiono Club made
were also setup to be sold at roadside stations and such things by Shimada 8-dan.
And most of all
because of that, he cheered up his elders. Isn't that wonderful?!!
Shima: Shibazuke style cherries? That's cute.
Maybe we could sell it as a souvenir or something?
Granny: What?
It's only because you're so tasty, Kai-chan.
[The labels are the same as from the other page]
Izumida: Oh,
ah, I'm sorry. I really went on a bit of a tangent there...
Rei: Ahhh
no, it's fine. I was glad to hear it.
Shimada-san has really been down about
----'How do I apologize to everyone for the Shishi-Ou Championship'.
-----But now
he's smiling like that...
That
really makes me sort of
happy... Or rather...
Handwritten: I'm not sure how to say it...

Page 23:
Izumida: Is that so?! That's good.
I've been interviewing him for quite some time now,
and by golly, I've been utterly charmed by him...
Rei: I get you.
I understand.
Izumida: I see.
Is that right?
Rei: Izumida-san seemed so happy saying that
that it even made me feel sort of happy.
Almost like it were me we were talking about.
----And
that felt really sort of good.
Guy: ----Well, what do we have here?
Bakke miso, onigiri,
pickled yuikna, kujira mochi...
----And what's this?
Frozen dried persimmons. I love those, they're so sweet.
Shima: Waa
Ah, hold on. Onchan.
Maybe this is a bit much...
[Ya can put notes for those or not. It's not really important.]

Page 24:
Shima: Oh,
you really never change.
Woman: Nope.
Cause there's really nothing wrong
with not changing.
Black Bar: He was drowning in feeling rushed.
Don't rush yourself,
Kai...
Black Bar: And again and again, he was at a loss
wondering if he should go back to his starting point
[Same sign from the beginning of the chapter]

Page 25:
Black Bar: And while those feelings
Handwritten: Shimada-saaan! The train's heeeere!
Anijyaaa! Hurry, c'moooon!!
Shima: Ooh.
All...
right.
----I guess this year
I'll do my best from square one again...
Black Bar: won't just disappear now completely,
Shimada: It's scary, but
You may go in,
You may pass
through...
Bottom: Chapter.43 E N D

Page 26:
Top Right Small: An article by Senzaki Manabu
Top Right Big: Senzaki Manabu's Lion Shogi Column
Big Right: Human Shogi is a Real Thing!! The Shogi City, Tendou ☆
Article: Whew, that panel in the middle of page 10 has a great depiction of 'Human Shogi' (I'll expect it was quite some trouble to draw, though). It wasn't the least bit off from the real thing. During the cherry-blossom season, people take part in this traditional event where humans become shogi pieces and they move according to players' directions to play a game of shogi.
The hills you can see beyond the players do actually exist. There, you can comfortably lie down and observe gracefully..... I'm sure that's what Umino-sensei expected, but when she went to research this, it was raining so the even was held inside, apparently. She really brought that experience to life in her manga, didn't she?
Yamagata Prefecture, Tendou is the city of Shogi. It's famous for being a place where shogi pieces are produced. According to my research, they produce 90% of the pieces in the country. They produce everything from cheap, widely-used pieces to expensive sets that go for tens of thousands of yen! You can be fairly certain that pieces made of wood came from trees grown in Tendou. During the Edo period when the feudal domain was undergoing a famine, warriors took side jobs as piece makers which created the industry that still thrives today.
Because of its relationship to the game, title matches are held there frequently. And thanks to the Yamagata bullet train, it's closer than ever so shogi players and staff can get there easily. Their relaxing onsens are also a major attraction.
Now, before the title matches begin, there is a large public bath in a certain hotel that many of the people that come for the title match ceremony visit which contains a big shogi board several meters wide. Big enough to hold pieces with both hands. Many of them go here wanting play shogi while relaxing in an onsen.
I tried playing with it once, but..... I was a bit doubtful about how practical it was for actual play...... When you try to actually play a shogi game with it, you end up staying in the bath way too long. Trying to setup a mating puzzle and not get out of the water until you've made checkmate it turns out to be a fun idea.
Yes, speaking of mating shogi, in Tendou you find things like mating-shogi reliefs on the ground in different parts of the city. A city full of shogi items, that is Tendou.
Arrow: Tendou Cherry Blossom Festival Main Event, Human Shogi