Megumi Unoura: Romance of the Three Kingdoms Parodies Across Time

2022/12/19

This April, an anime titled "Ya Boy Kongming!" (Paripi Koumei) was broadcast on TV and became a bit of a hot topic. Based on the manga of the same name, the story features a bizarre premise: after Zhuge Kongming dies at the Battle of Wuzhang Plains, he is somehow reincarnated in modern-day Shibuya. There, he is moved by the singing voice of the protagonist, Eiko Tsukimi, and begins serving her as his new lord. The core of the story is Eiko's growth as a singer and Kongming's skill as her strategist (producer) supporting her. While enjoyable even for those unfamiliar with the world of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, the work is peppered with Three Kingdoms references—from Kongming's strategies and dialogue to the characters' names—making it undoubtedly even more entertaining for fans of the series.

Countless parodies of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms exist besides "Ya Boy Kongming!", but Japanese people taking liberties with the story is not limited to the modern era; it seems people in the Edo period also played freely within the world of the Three Kingdoms.

For example, there is a work titled "Sangokushi" (written with characters meaning "History of Praising the Ultimate"), a sharebon (witty book) published during the Kansei era (1789–1801). Sharebon were a genre of literature centered on pleasure quarters that was popular in Edo. In this work, Liu Bei has retired, leaving Shu in Kongming's hands, and is visited by Sun Quan and Cao Cao. Although the setting is nominally Three Kingdoms-era China, their conversations revolve around "refined" topics typical of sharebon, such as the calligraphy, paintings, and sweets popular in Edo, which is truly comical. There are plenty of topics related to the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms," such as "Is it true that Kongming prayed for that wind (at the Battle of Red Cliffs)?", but in true sharebon fashion, most are refashioned into humorous episodes. However, it also contains sophisticated jokes that only someone well-versed in the source material would understand, as well as meta-commentary like "No one is favored as much as Liu Bei," suggesting that the readership included quite a few Three Kingdoms enthusiasts.

In "Sangokushi," Liu Bei speaks in an Edo dialect, saying things like "Omoshiro tanuki no haratsuzumi" (The amusing raccoon dog's belly drum), but there is likely no difference in the underlying spirit of parody between that and Kongming's line "It's party time!!" in "Ya Boy Kongming!" If an Edo-period person who read "Sangokushi" were reincarnated in the present day, they could surely spend all night talking about the Three Kingdoms and would likely get excited watching "Ya Boy Kongming!" together. It wouldn't be surprising if such a work appeared someday. I can't help but feel once again the sheer depth and versatility of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms as a cultural phenomenon.