Sakigake!! Otoko Juku 18

For the first time in it's long history, Otokojuku has taken in exchange students...change that, American exchange students! And as if both sides are killing each other now, their true destiny will be chosen by the draw of a bow!

Vol. 3: Japan-US Friendship Boxing
Chp. 18: Japan-US Friendship Boxing

7.
Narration: Otokojuku’s Rule of the Observance Bow………Done every morning by the arrow of Edajima, it decides that day’s pain…no, class subject. It truly is an arrow of destiny for the students.
(TN: “Rule of the Observance Bow” = “Houkyuu no Gi”, with “Hou” = “Observance”, “Kyuu” = “Bow”, “Gi” = “Rule”)
Edajima: So its Otokojuku’s famous “Boxing”………Fufufu, this will make the 40 years between Japan and America rain blood.
(TN: First of all, a bit of a temporal comment: considering that the chapter was written in 1985, that would make the “forty year” comment tied to 1945, the year the Americans defeated the Japanese at the end of WWII, therefore a bit more obvious then than it would be today. Secondly, “Boxing” is written in kanji to approximately stand for “Needle Folly on I”…which will come to better understanding soon)

8.-9.
American: I’m sorry, teacher: these desks are so small that it doesn’t fit my body.
Onihige: Of…of course………

10.
Onihige: A…aaaa…to…today, I, Onihige, will not stop being pleased that we accept you overseas students from America to take part in our class. It…will be for a short time, but I want you to learn the soul of Otokojuku, unmatched throughout the world.
Onihige: So, we’ll start with our first period math class. Our Otokojuku is notable both in the military and arts…thus; we don’t just temper guts and physical strength, but of course our general education includes a curriculum of high level studies; raising them to be true samurai by placing on their shoulders the Japan of today.
Onihige: First-Year Tazawa, step forward!!
Tazawa: Ossu, first-year Tazawa is stepping forward!!
Onihige: Well then, it’s an established opinion through the world that Japanese students are superior in math. Using you as example, we’re going to dumbfound them.
Tazawa: Ossu, math is the subject that’s my greatest specialty.

11.
Tazawa: Ossu, pardon me!! So from here, Fushou Tazawa, will show off his education by reciting the multiplication table!!
Mohawk: WHAT?
Keith: Multiplication……!?
Tazawa: ONE TIMES ONE IS ONE!!
Tazawa: ONE TIMES TWO IS TWO! ONE TIMES THREE IS THREE! ONE TIMES FOUR IS FOUR!!
Tazawa: TWO TIMES SEVEN IS FOURTEEN! TWO TIMES EIGHT IS SIXTEEN! TWO TIMES NINE IS EIGHTEEN!
Onihige: Wahaha, great, great, that’s how you do it.
Tazawa: FOUR TIMES THREE IS TWELVE
Onihige: They’re so surprised they can’t speak.

12.
Tazawa: NINE TIMES NINE IS EIGHTY-EIGHT!!
(TN: It’s actually 81)
Tazawa: There’s no more; that completes the multiplication table!! Thanks for your attention!!
Onihige: Sp…splendid~~That was splendid, Tazawa~~!! That will show the face of Otokojuku---!!
Togashi: Well, Tazawa’s multiplication is as expected every time.
Matsuo: There are stories all the time that he’ll be challenging fractions.
Student: We—ll, it could be done if it’s him.
Mohawk: Fufufu, is this a grade school?
Keith: This is a nice grade. They are smart.

13.
Onihige: Oshi! Now we’ll all do it in chorus!! Get yourselves ready: one times one is one!!
Students: One times two is two! One times three is three! One times four is four!
Kong: That headband guy made fun of me. I will truly kill him.

14.-15.
Onihige: Second Period is for Moral Training. This class will be observed for the spirit of Zen, which should be the source of the heart and culture of the Japanese for you oversea students.
Onihige: The teacups sitting on each of their heads is filled usually with a sulfuric acid that can melt even bone. If they even tremor, the acid in the cup will pour from their heads and they’ll trivially end up with the inevitable.
Onihige: Further, all of them are tied up by a rope around their necks and the same tragedy will occur to all of them with one error.
Onihige: Thus with their firm spiritual power like stone, they cultivate a shared cooperation with each other. This is Otokojuku’s famous “Hell Zen”.
Keith: Fufufu, that’s crazy talk.

16.
Onihige: At the moment when one and all are empty where matter is void and nothing in their heart, you shall see the heart of Zen.
Student 1: Damn, he’s leaving out that he doesn’t know the reason.
Student 2: For this unreasonable Zen meditation.
Keith: Fufufu, hey Kong.
Kong: OK.
Togashi: Heh, I don’t know what you’re expecting, but that won’t make us lose heart.
Togashi: !?

17.
Kong: Fufufu, these Japanese will be chastised. Fufufu, do you have much greater guts to show?
Onihige: Zen is, to say, the unity of spirit and coming to the condition of selflessness. (to himself) Fufufu, are you surprised by our education…
Kong: Fufufu, right, it’s gradually working.
Togashi: Uuh……!! Yo…you won’t use me.

18.
Togashi: UOOO--!!
Student: To…Togashi--!! Teacher, it’s really terrible. Togashi’s emitting smoke.
Onihige: N~~!?
Onihige: Oh—this is harmony smoke, the height of Zen!! This is the legendary smoke that is released only by those whose Zen condition has cut them off into enlightenment!!
(TN: This was a bit hard to translate, but the trouble here was the term “satorikiru”, which is a term regarding “a person who is cut off from the world and has reached the state of enlightenment”)
Kong: Fufufu, protecting their partners to the end is great for these Japanese with rotten guts.
Onihige: O—K, that’s it for Zen class.

19.
Togashi: Y…you---!!
Kong: Hu—h!?
Togashi: Gue!!
Students: To…Togashi--!!

20.
Togashi: Uuuh……!?
Kong: Fufufu, you don’t know? We who’ve come to Japan now are all pros in unarmed combat selected from Annapolis.
Tazawa: Y…you, how dare you do that to Togashi---!!
Matsuo: Momo…!!
Momotarou: Stand back…I’ve got things to do with him.

21.
Kong: Hey, I’ll kill you----!!
Momotarou: I don’t know if you’re combat pros or anything, but with the importance of your remaining hand, you shouldn’t use it.
Kong: What’s with that nonsense? You’re going to take this punch---!!

22.-23.
Kong: !!
Kong: Gyaaa---!!
Kong: Uooo----!!
Momotarou: Fufufu, what, is this an American combat pro?

24.
Onihige: Aaah……!!
Keith: Fufufu, you shouldn’t say that. It would be better that you don’t jump back in together with us.
Togashi: Hey, you’re here and gone. If all of you go home right here, then you must stop your business with us Japanese.
Oniyhige: Ho…hold on, all of you---!!
Voice: Wahhahaha, do it, do it!!

25.
Edajima: I am the principal of Otokojuku, Edajima Heihachi.
Onihige: Pay attention---!!
Students: !?
Edajima: Fufufu, this intermingling of Japan and America: true friendship is cultivated during a battle.
Edajima: I’ve made an appropriate stage for you. OTOKOJUKU’S FAMOUS “BOXING”!!
Mohawk: Boxing…………!?
Togashi: What’s that………!?

26.
Sign: JAPAN-US FRIENDSHIP BOXING TOURNAMENT
Onihige: So now we’ll start the Japan-US Friendship “Boxing”!!
Student: Hey, you can do this, Togashi---!!
Onihige: The rules are that three people from both sides will be our competitors and it will be decided by victory-or-defeat. Will the first participants enter the ring!!
Matsuo: But don’t you think it’s strange? Compared to the showy name of “Boxing”, this is nothing like our school. Isn’t that a normal ring without any tricks?
Momotarou: Fufufu, that’s not what it is. Look………

27.
Togashi: What is this………!!
Mohawk: Fufufu, it can’t be that the Japanese don’t know of the “Picaresque Match”.
Narration: Otokojuku’s famous “Boxing”, also known as the “Picaresque Match”. Its origin is said to be a proposal by the infamous emperor Nero, lover of brutality, of the ancient Roman Empire. Even today, it is entertainment as an illegal underground battle for the mafia in the West for raising immense profits.
Edajima: Fufufu, I am the principal of Otokojuku, Edajima Heihachi.

TN: Leave it to Edajima to find a good way for the Americans and the Otokojuku students to put up with one another: smash each other around with spiked metal boxing gloves to take their frustrations out. (and supposedly create friendship but after what happened to Togashi and the others here, I doubt that's going to occur so easily anymore) Togashi continues to rock this time in putting up with multiple hells at the same time...and after originally sort of being against him a bit more, Momo shows that why he's the leader and why he really does nothing except when he really has to. (at least he gave Kong fair warning before smashing his other hand) Oh, and someone tell Tazawa the real multiplication table? Funny as it was, "88" isn't "9X9".