Hell Teacher Nube 163

New Year's: the perfect time of year to step back and give respect to those important...and to have a lot of fun. But unfortunately, the kind of fun can enter in the dangerous territory, especially with the unpredictable Oshou running it!

#163: The Sugoroku of Hell

87.
Nube: Happy
Caption: A Happy New Year!

88.
5-3 Students: New Year~~!!
(TN: The release of this Nube chapter was around the New Year’s period of 1996-1997, which makes sense considering the Christmas chapter last time. Incidentally, there were two “Happy New Year” expressions used in these introductory pages:
-The first which was said by Nube and his students was “Akemashite Omedetou”, which is the greeting of “Happy New Year”
-The second, which was the caption behind Nube in the previous page, was “Gashou”, which has a meaning of “a happy new year”)

89.
Oshou: Ooh~~everyone, you’ve come well.
Izuna: Welcome—seems so—
Sign: Doumori Temple
Caption: Izuna & Oshou of Doumori Temple: a duo who are greedy for money
Nube: The miser Oshou holding a New Year’s party is of good generosity.
Oshou: Being a miser is a virtue!
(TN: I really don’t know what the best way to approach this line here: Oshou literally says “Kechi wa yokei ja”, with “kechi” obviously referring to the “miser” line Nube mentions prior. Of course, the problem is the “yokei” after that: while most of the time I use “yokei” as “too much” or “overabundant” or “unnecessary”, it didn’t feel like it really worked for Oshou describing himself. However, there is another “yokei”, which stands for “blessing” or “the rewards of virtue”, which felt like it worked here considering that Oshou is a Buddhist priest and “should” be into the aspects of virtue…except for the fact of who he is)
Oshou: Actually
Oshou: I’ve gathered these things I’ve received from the parishioners at the end of the year. Well, I’m holding a grand party.
Nube: Wow!
Nube: Yes—provisions--!
Oshou: Even this owner is bad~~
Izuna: Kukuku…later we’ll request for ten-thousand yen a person a piece, seems so—

90.
Background Scroll: Haikin Shugi
(TN: “Haikin Shugi” is a Japanese expression that has an English meaning of “mammonism”, after “Mammon”, the deadly sin of greed. It literally translates into “Rule of Money-Worship”)
Izuna: That—feeling—comes out—seems so—feeling—comes out—
Oshou: Well well, teacher, have some.
Nube: No no, we’re in front of children. Since I don’t have reason to get smashed-drunk and show my slovenly form.
Oshou: Well—well—without saying that.
Oshou: He—re, Napoleon.
(TN: I don’t really know if he’s referring to Nube as “Napoleon” or the drink, but the latter is a gin drink with Curacao and Dubonnet)
SFX: Daba daba daba
Nube: I…I’m not worthy, oh ooh.

91.
Oshou: Haven’t you quite done that? Well, well, more.
Nube: No, no, if I’ve already drunk too much
Oshou: Well, well
Oshou: Johnnie Black
(TN: “Jonnie Black” is the Japanese name of Johnnie Walker scotch whiskey, which could also refer to a “black label” Johnnie Walker”, which has aged 12 years and is 80-proof. The company is now owned by Diageo, the premiere spirits producers in the world based out of London)
Nube: Oh oh
Kyouko: Nu…Nube.
Miki: No good: if you think that man is typical then
Nube: Rerorerore~~I’m the Hall Teacher Raro
(TN: I really got a bit confused here with Nube’s speech, but he does introduce himself as “Jiroku Sensei Raro” while he’s utterly drunk. I couldn’t really find any real meaning for “Jiroku” (outside being close to “Jigoku” or “Hell”; I went with “Hall” to show Nube’s drunk state) or the usage of “Raro” here, so I translated it as best as I could due to Nube’s plastered state)
Oshou: A~~h, he’s already slovenly in front of his students.
Kyouko: You had him drink that your—self!!
Oshou: Nothing I could do~~and yet I have this long-awaited amusing thing.
SFX: Gasa goso
Kyouko: An amusing thing?

92.
Oshou: I suddenly discovered this when I was cleaning the cellar. Somehow…it does seem like sugoroku but…
(TN: “Sugoroku” is a type of Japanese board game, usually compared to games such as backgammon or “snakes-and-ladders” in its play, with the latter the more wellknown version today)
SFX: Oooh…oooh…
Center: Jumonji
(TN: The kanji here have a reading of “jumonji”, which typically would translate into “cross”. However, this chapter may actually also be a slight reference to “Jumanji”, a notable 1981 children’s book about an enchanted board game which became a 1995 film starring Robin Williams.)
Hiroshi: Hee! Sugoroku!? Let’s do it, let’s do it.
Kyouko: It’s quite a dated thing.
Miki: Seems amusing.
Izuna: Oshou…somehow I feel the buzzing of youki but
Students: Jankenpoi (Rock-Paper-Scissors)
Oshou: You’re imagining it, you’re imagining it.

93.
Hiroshi: Al—right, first will be me.
Hiroshi: What will appear, what will appear, 5!
Izuna: Kyaaa!!
Kyouko: Wh…what!?
SFX: Bashuuuu
Izuna: The…piece is moving on its own! That’s why I said there was youki and yet!
SFX: Zuzuzu
SFX: Pita!
Board Stop: Ga (Hunger)
SFX: Shuuu…
“Spirit”: Dondondon Jumonji~~

94.
Oshou: Ge
SFX: Shuu
Kyouko: Hiroshi!
SFX: Shurururu…
Izuna: That now was truly a Fujourei (a spirit that can’t rest in peace).
(TN: The “Fujourei” expression has been used before with the same meaning back in vol. 2, chp. 9 and a few other times since then)
SFX: Gatsu gatsu gatsu gatsu (Munch munch munch munch)

95.
Hiroshi: Ge—pu. Aah, I’m satisfied—
SFX: Shuuu~~
Hiroshi: N?
Oshou: Hm—m: according to the instructions, this sugoroku has fujourei sealed in it and the spirits in the places where your own piece stops will possess you. And thus, when you’re possessed, it seems the spirit will do what they had left undone and rest in peace.
Hiroshi: Ge—
Izuna: If you had instructions, read them from the start, seems so—
Oshou: At any—rate, I thought they were an explanation and hadn’t read them.
Kyouko: Ca…can’t we stop this midway?
Oshou: That’s impossible. If we stop this midway, then it seems we’ll be cursed to be killed. If even one person makes it to goal, everyone will be released there…

96.
Kyouko: What do we do…Nube is like this and…Izuna is
Izuna: There’s quite the youryoku tied to this game…it may be impossible with my power.
Miki: Then we can only play. Who’s next?
Noriko: It’s me but…I...I haven’t prepared my heart yet…
Miki: Do it without complaining, here.
SFX: Jita bata jita
Noriko: Ah, stop forcibly making me…
SFX: Korokoro
“Spirit”: Jumonji~~dondondon
SFX: Shuu~~
Noriko: Ah.
SFX: Nugi!! (Strip!!)
Katsuya: Ooh!!
Miki: Sh…she’s standing out again…in spite of you being Noro-chan.

97.
SFX: Chapo—n…
Noriko: (heart) Aha~~n (heart) Before I died, I wanted to go in a hot spring. (heart heart heart)
SFX: Shuu—
Noriko: It’s co~~ld!!
SFX: Sapa—n!
Kyouko: Wh…who’s next!?
Miki: Ah, it’s me. No~~o, that’s terrible. Since that was with Noro-chan, an extre—mely sexy spirit will possess me and may end up bewitching the men (heart)
SFX: Poi
Miki: Kya—
“Spirit”: Dondondon Jumonji~~

98.
SFX: Mori
Miki: Do~~rya~~~~I’m the spirit of a karate user~~I can’t rest in peace if I don’t break a thousand roof tiles~~
Hiroshi: Next is Katsuya.
Miki: Urya~~gangangan
Katsuya: Uuh, no way—
Katsuya: If it is at any rate, I want to be possessed by a spirit that died without enough play and play around…
SFX: Poi
“Spirit”: Dondondon Jumonji~~

99.
Katsuya: Hehehehe: I wanted to study much more before I died, uhyo. I’m tempted by this percentage of problems. Uhi uhihihi, uo, a figure problem. Drool is coming out~
SFX: Gari gari gari gari | Zo~~
(TN: I’m not going to translate all of those books, which are mostly reference and encyclopedia books)
Hiroshi: Next is Makoto.
Makoto: Toyandei. Before I died, I wanted to build a single-family home.
Hiroshi: Aah.
Oshou: Don’t destroy the temple~~
Hiroshi: Akira.
Akira: I wanted one lap around Japan in a marathon. (Ha ha ha ha ha ha Sports sports)

100.
Kyouko: It would be great if we ended up with simple requests, but since they’re cruel, it’s terrible that they’re hit upon.
Izuna: I’m next.
SFX: Po
Izuna: I’m the dregs of Itako; at most I won’t be the yes-man like you Fujourei. Come at me.
“Spirit”: Jumonji—
Izuna: Aah, before I died, I wanted to do a limbo dance. (Ahahahaha)
SFX: Dondoko dondoko
Caption: Major (Fan)service
Kyouko: Don’t do that!

101.
Izuna: Next is Kyouko-chan.
SFX: Dondoko dondoko
Kyouko: Uuuh. Somehow they’re going to be rapidly crueler.
Kyouko: Hey.
Kyouko: Ah, before I died, I wanted to do absolute service.
(TN: The “absolute service” is the reading here of the kanji that typically reads as “mizugei” or “water tricks”)
Hiroshi: Ooh—
SFX: Pachi pachi pachi
Katsuya: Magnificent—do it, do it.

102.
Narrator: 2 hours later
SFX: Gude
Miki: Look, if I get another 3, I’ll be at the goal!
Kyouko: You can do this.
Hiroshi: With this, we’ll be relased!
Miki: Hey.
Miki: I’ve do…
Miki: !?
SFX: Su
SFX: Zuzuzu…
Miki: Wh…what is that; the goal is moving; the squares are increasing!

103.
Kyouko: With this, it won’t ever end.
Miki: Isn’t this a bit of a joke!
Hiroshi: Hey.
“Voice”: This isn’t a joke!!
SFX: Paaa
“Buddha”: I am a Buddha. Do not oppose me.

104.
Noriko: Kyaaa
Katsuya: Bu…Buddha-sama!!
Oshou: Hiee, Nanmaidabu
Izuna: Buddha…that should be the reason I felt that strong youryoku. That really can’t be defeated by me…!!
“Buddha”: The spirits who are not yet resting in peace are like a mountain. Continue the sugoroku and help these beings, even if it takes a lifetime.
SFX: Oooh…ooooh… | Gogogogogogogogo
“Buddha”: That is your fate.
Makoto: Th…that’s……
Miki: Nooo!

105.
Nube: Kukuku, isn’t that funny. What Buddha……
Hiroshi: Nube
Katsuya: Has he woken up?
Miki: …But…somehow his appearance is still strange…
Nube: If you’re a Buddha, then why can’t you have those spirits rest in peace with your own power? (Hic)
Nube: Perhaps you’re a low-grade spirit in the form of a Buddha intending on deceiving humans. You are followed by spirits under the impression that you’re a real Buddha and are greatly perplexed and were in a position of creating a game that this hand is crowded into.
Hiroshi: Nube!!
SFX: Fuyo fuyo
“Buddha”: Y…you, don’t come near any further!! I am Buddha, Buddha…

106.
Nube: Uruaaaa!!
SFX: Dogoo

107.
Nube: Leave these Fujourei to the Buddha of this temple and you return to the spirit world at once! (U~~i)
“Buddha”: Ye…yes.
“Buddha”: I…I request this of these spirits.
SFX: Shuuu…
Nube: Gu—
Izuna: …You called it a fake and struck a Buddha early on New Year’s. (You’ll be cursed)
Kyouko: What about it; he has terrible behavior drinking… (Don’t look at this, Editor Sasaki)
(TN: “Editor Sasaki” refers to Hisashi Sasaki, a contributing editor of “Weekly Shonen Jump” at the time who was the main editor behind Nube, as well as fellow Jump series “Haleluyah II: BOY” and “Rurouni Kenshin”. He has been editor in chief at Jump since 2008 and even has a fictional representation of himself in Ohba/Obata’s manga series “Bakuman” in said role)
Nube: Huh? Did I do something? U~~h, I don’t have memory of it—

108.
Nube-sensei’s
(Useless) SUPPLEMENTAL EXPLANATION

#11: Otoragitsune

Originally the guardian deity of Nagashino Castle in Aichi Prefecture, it existed deified in a small shrine in the inner citadel. However, in the Sengoku Period, in the period of the (war that was fought between the allied forces of Oda & Tokugawa and the army of Takeda Katsuyori at the) Battle of Nagashino, it was hit by a stray bullet and it’s left eye was wounded. Also, it was said to have been struck in the left leg by a huntsman when it took a nap on the riverbank. For this reason, they say that when you’re possessed by Otoragitsune, the left side of your body will come to see to be injured.

By the way: since there isn’t reason there is a person that can seen when it was hit by the stray bullet, why would it be known accurately? That is because Otoragitsune borrows the mouth of the person it possesses and tells the above tale with its own body. Since it came to have abandoned its castle while being worshiped as a guardian deity originally, it has been completely forgotten by people and has completely fallen lower. It tediously speaks tales of long ago in its possession of people with that. It’s as if it’s a youkai that drifts with sadness like a middle-aged salaryman who has gone downhill.

The most effective method of the losing an Otoragitsune is a method where you use Inugami like introduced in this chapter, but other than that, there are other ways of losing them, from presenting their favorite food and taking their mood.

(TN: A few things:
1. This entry, like a few we’ve seen before, refers to the next chapter as opposed to the one we’ve just read. The Otoragitsune (“Fallen Foxes” as literally translated) will appear next time…though it’s weird to speak of them after Nube has beaten up a Buddha.
2. Nagashino Castle is in modern day Aichi as mentioned before, but was officially a part of “Mikawa Province”, which is the eastern section of the modern prefecture. The castle was originally controlled by the Suganuma family, but was taken by Tokugawa Ieyasu in 1573 and used by him and Oda Nobunaga to defeated Takeda Katsuyori in the Battle of Nagashino.
3. As for the “Battle of Nagashino”, the battle occurred on June 28th 1575 after Takeda besieged the castle in a force that was lead by Tokugawa ally Okudaira Sadamasa. Many consider this the first “modern” battle in Japanese history, using cavalry charges Takeda learned from his father, Takeda Shingen, as well as defeat by way of various newer weaponry from firearms to rotating volleys of fire and wooden stockades)

TN: Well you can't really say Nube beat up on a Buddha...considering the Buddha was a complete jerk and Nube was drunk at the time. (we should have learned back when he was manipulated by Mrs. Yamaguchi: Nube stinks with his alcohol and does really unpredictable things with it in his system...heck, Akira should have been the first to point that out, not Kyouko) But of course, with Jumonji being the name of the game, it really did deserve it. You can't say anything really did get accomplished but it was a fun chapter regardless: somehow most of the Oshou-based chapters, particularly ones like this, turn out to bring a lot of chaos due to all the weird stuff that he gets connected to (for one thing, he found Hayame in the first place...let alone that whole mess with the dead man that he didn't do the proper rights for) Though one bit of matter I've noticed: for the most part the students who did get possessed by the game ended up getting something the exact opposite of their personality, whether it be Miki and the karate warrior, Noro-chan and the perverted onsen girl, or Kyouko's showy self. Heck, Izuna is probably the only one who got something that befit her...well a show-off getting a show-off power, you have to admit that to be sort of appropriate. (though then again she was cute in her kimono with her hair up) Of course, if you think that Izuna caused a lot of trouble this chapter...well, just wait and see what next time brings!