Sakigake!! Otoko Juku 289

After an unexpected revelation, Date finally walked away from the most confusing showdown yet! But with Otokojuku still needing to defeat the remaining instructors of Shinken Temple, another may just have to enter the spider's web...

Chp. 289: The Revenge Trap!!

29.
Pharaoh: I…I don’t believe this: th…that Jinshou was a woman……..!!
Hakuhou: N…no way, she really was a woman……!!
Date: ………!!
“Kennou”: FU, A WOMAN IS A WOMAN AFTER ALL. IN THE END, SHE LET OUT THEIR SOFTNESS.
“Kennou”: I ASK OF YOU, GISHOU!! LOWERING THE NAME OF OUR SHINKEN TEMPLE ANY FURTHER THAN WILL NOT BE FORGIVEN BY ANY MEANS!!

30.
Gishou: I respectfully obey, Kennou. This Gishou will show this thing to their eyes!!

31.
Monk 1: Gi…Gishou-sama………!!
Monk 2: He…he’s a dreadful man.
Gishou: A…adding in besides this should be that my anger for the defeat of Jinshou-sama, who I loved like my own little sister, is tremendous………!!
Pharaoh: He…he’s the 2nd enemy of Shinken Temple………!! A…and furthermore, what is that eerie spider tattoo on his back………!!
Sou Kougen: There it is………!! A fighting spirit that’s just tremendous that’s being emitted from his whole body………!!
Momotarou: Yes.
Voice: Le…leave him to me!!
Pharaoh: Huh!?

32.
Hakuhou: To Hakuhou, the former head of Ryouzanpaku---!!
Hien: Wh…what---!!
Pharaoh: Ha…Hakuhou---!!
Pharaoh: Wh…what’s wrong wi…with him---!!
Raiden: In…in spite of him violently trembling by just hearing the name of Shinken Temple when we came to here----!!

33.
Hakuhou: Heh, that was the story up to earlier.
Hakuhou: I watched Date’s match and understood: they too are humans, the same as us. I’d be embarrassed with myself to have nightmares without even fighting them.
Momotarou: Ha…Hakuhou……!!
Hakuhou: Puha----!! This is hundred-year old Huangjiu that’s like lighting on fire~~~!! I…I’m a hundred times more energetic from soaking my state with this---!!
(TN: “Huangjiu”, also known as “Laojiu” [the name used in this chapter], is a Chinese liquor brewed from rice, millet and wheat and generally under 20% alcohol content. It is either directly drunk or used in Chinese cooking. It literally translates from the Chinese into “yellow wine”)

34.
Hakuhou: Well, come at me from anywhere---!!
Gishou: Bouzu, you seem to have quite self-pride with your taijutsu.
Hakuhou: Wh…what is with the bouzu---!! Th…the real bouzu is you~~~!!
(TN: This is a weird joke that really doesn’t translate well in English, but the whole thing is based around the word of “bouzu”, which has multiple meanings. The meaning that Gishou uses it for is slang for “boy”, which is obviously in reference to Hakuhou. But when Hakuhou spits “bouzu” back to him, it can be taken one of two ways: either “monk” [which Gishou obviously is] or “bald/crew-cut”, which is also what Gishou is.)
Gishou: There is a unique battle method where we can compete with the utmost limits of Taijutsu in Shinken Temple. How about we undertake that!?
Gishou: Kennou!!
“Kennou”: Fufu, fine, do as you like!!

35.
Hakuhou: !?
Hakuhou: Wh…what---!!

36.
Gishou: This is Shinken Temple’s “GENCHIKURIN-TOU”!!
(TN: “Genchikurin-Tou” = “Original Bamboo-Thicket-Battle”; in particular, the “Gen” is supposed to be “original”, but the kanji for it is also used for the species “Pelochelys Cantorii” or the “Cantor’s giant soft-shelled turtle”, an endangered turtle living throughout the coasts of Asia.)
Pharaoh: Uoo, A…a bamboo-thicket has suddenly appeared from the ground---!!
Momotarou: It…it can’t be: th…they’re fighting on those---!!
Gishou: Right: it’s a surface of spears where displeasure is ahead below if you lose your footing and fall from that height,……!! You won’t live!!

37.
Gishou: Ha!!
Hakuhou: Ooh!!
Gishou: Well, what’s wrong? It can’t be that you’ve been blown with a loss of nerve!!
Hakuhou: Wh…what are you letting out!! That’s excellent--!!
Hakuhou: Soryaa!!

38.
Hakuhou: Ku…ho…how high is that………!! A….and on this instable foothold……!!
Momotarou: ……………!!
Gishou: COME!!
Hakuhou: Sh…shut up: if…if you understood that I can’t come to say one by one about this thing----!! You mocking me and meeting with those absurd eyes---!!

39.
Hakuhou: Horyaa!!
Hakuhou: Heh, where were you looking!! If it’s for me, I’m here!!
Hakuhou: TE!!
(TN: “Te” is “Kick” in the kanji)

40.
Hakuhou: Ooh, I…did it---!!
Hakuhou: Kakakkaka, wh…what; wasn’t he easy---!! I…I ended the match with one blow while happning to strike his big mouth just like that………..!!
Hakuhou: N!?
Momotarou: !!
Hakuhou: Wh…what---!! He…he’s floating--!! Gishou stopped in midair in front of the bamboo spears on the ground and is floating---!!

41.
Hakuhou: Eek!! St…stupid---!! N…now he’s floating in a posture like that---!!
Hakuhou: ………………!! W…what exactly are you…!?
Gishou: Go!! Now it’s my turn.

42.
Gishou: Let me show you this secret Ougi of Shinken Temple!!
Gishou: Your destiny is decided with this!!
Hakuhou: Wh…what’s that---!? Wh…what’s decided with just your arms waving around----!!

43.
Hakuhou: Where is this secret Ougi of Shinken Temple----!! You’re exhaling an insignificant bluff---!!
Momotarou: !! It…can’t be, that’s!!
Momotarou: D…don’t, Hakuhou---!!
Hakuhou: Huh~~!?
Hakuhou: Uh!!

44.
Hakuhou: Wh…what is th…this---!?
Gishou: I’ve caught you. Now it is absolutely impossible to escape for you………!!
Pharaoh: A…a spider web---!! Ha…Hakuhou is caught entangled in a spider web----!!

45.
Hakuhou: Nuoo, I...I can’t get out---!! In…spite of these slender threads---!! A…a**hole----!! You got this string unawaringly---!!
Gishou: Fufu, don’t you understand? You should look closely once now at my back!!
Hakuhou: Wh…what’s that----!!
Hakuhou: Gyo!! Th…the spider----!! The tattoo spider is moving---!!

46.
Gishou: This is SHINKENJI HIOUGI: TENRIN CHISOU!!
(TN: “Tenrin Chisou” = “Few-of-Heaven Spider Web”)
Hakuhou: A…a real spider---!!
Momotarou: The…the tattoo on his back was a real spider----!!
Commentary:
Tenrin Chisou…there are very many items where wild animals, insects and reptiles are raised and trained, made into unique techniques and perfected in Chinese Kenpou, but this Ougi is one of them.

The spider that is utilized is a carnivorous one called the Kinbei Spider, which is said to live only on Mt. Sakuro in China’s Shandong Province; the strings sent out from its body combines the strength that equals piano wire and adhesive power equal to instant glue. Its nature is to be peerlessly ferocious to its enemy that has been sent down the attack order for, with an extraordinary loyalty only to it’s owner; once you are caught in it’s web, you can absolutely not escape from it. It has been told that there has yet to be a person who has slipped out from this Ougi. By the way: it goes without saying that the calling of spiders as “Spider” in English is a thing where Western martial arts who hadn’t mastered this Ougi and challenged training the spiders ended up failing and the word “Shippai da~~” which was emitted at the time changed into “Suppaida~~”à “Spider”.
- A Discussion with Morita Shinnosuke, Board Chairman of the Japan Akeboushi Hourai Martial Arts Organization
(TN: The whole ‘naming of the spider’ bit only really works in Japanese: the Japanese word for “I failed” is “Shippai da”, which ended up being mutilated ultimately into the word “Spider”.)

47.
Gishou: Well, there is the prey taken by you. You should eat him to your heart’s content!!
Hakuhou: Hi!!
Hakuhou: Uwaaa, st…stop---!! Y…your stomach will break down if you eat me---!!

TN: This really felt a lot like a very win-lose chapter to me from how it was performed and what happened in it. On one hand, I really like that Hakuhou got another match so soon after his battle with the crocodile master back in the First Tusk. As the kid of the Otokojuku forces and with the skill he possesses, it's fun seeing him in action with his rambunctious behavior and the weird battles he seems to bring out. But as great as another Hakuhou fight is...the problem is that likewise takes away a battle that could have gone to someone else. We're so close now to the end of the series and stuck with several characters who haven't seen had one match (see Raiden or the Gandhara leader) that giving another one so quickly to Hakuhou either seemed like desperation...or just Miyashita relenting on wanting to do one more fun, weird match before things got too far with the way the Seven Tusks have gotten. But hey, as negative as it feels, this was a fun chapter...besides, it's him and Gishou on a bamboo thicket with a spider who thought it was a tattoo...if that doesn't fit Otokojuku, I don't know what does.