守炉部二十七 (Morobu-Niju-Nana)
This is a story that I posted in a series of short chapters at the top of my posts, beginning with this prologue on NP1965. It tells the story of Morobu, another alter-ego (like Timborme) who finds himself on a slowly-unfolding journey of discovery in Japan. In takes place in the part of Japan where I have gone each of the three times I went there in real life: Fujinomiya prefecture, to the southwest of Mount Fuji.
Contents
Big Long-winded Spoiler Explanation
Other Links
Here is a map of most of the locations mentioned.
Summary of Chapters
(including some earlier events that we learn about during the story)
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Morobu Glossary
afurika tairiku アフリカ大陸 = African continent
anata wa eigo o hanashite iru あなたは英語を話している = you're speaking English
anata to subete no gen'in ni kouun あなたとすべての原因に幸運 = good luck to all causes with you
ashitakayama 愛鷹山 - Mount Ashitaka
babiron no kuuchuu teien バビロンの空中庭園 = the Hanging Gardens of Babylon
basshefuru バッシュフル = Bashful (the name, i.e. one of the Seven Dwarfs)
biriya-dobo-ru ビリヤードボール = billiard ball
burittsu ブリッツ = blitz
burittsu on'nanoko ブリッツ女の子 = Blitz girl
dainanasho- 第七章 = chapter 7
dai tairu 大タイル = large tile
deetarinku-soo データリンク層 = data link
dengeki 電撃 = lightning
dinosaur = bird, a reference to xkcd 1211
doumo arigatou どうもありがとう = many thanks
fufu ふふ = giggle
fujisan 富士山 = Mount Fuji
fujisan gakkou kensaku ginou 富士山学校検索技能 = Fujisan school (of) search skills
fuji-shi 富士市 = Fuji City
fundo 憤怒 = rage, wrath
getsumen bēsu no shūmatsu o kōryo suru 月面ベースの週末を考慮する = consider the weekend of the moon base
hiko- robotto 飛行ロボット = flying robot
hokora 神庫 = small shrine (more commonly written 祠)
huíhui pào (Chinese) 回回炮 = trebuchet (lit. "Muslim cannon")
ichi 市 = city
itairu subete no tairu 一タイルすべてのタイル = all tiles unified into one (literal pronunciation "ichi tairu subete no tairu" means "all the tiles one tile")
jishin 地震 = earthquake
ka 科 = family
kazan 火山 = volcano
kaiju 怪獣 = giant monster (lit. "strange beast")
kenn 県 = prefecture (one of the 43 "normal" prefectures)
kouun o! 幸運を！ = good luck!
kyodai monsuta- 巨大モンスター = huge monster
masanigedou まさに外道!!! = absolute heresy
masutaado マスタード = mustard
mi-gan ミーガン = Megan
mori-ro-bu niju-nana 守炉部二十七 = Mrob27
morobu-san 守炉部さん = "Mr. mrob"
motto masutaado もっとマスタード = more mustard
neko 猫 = cat
ohayou おはよう = good morning
o-mikuji 御御籤 = sacred lot, a fortune written on paper
ru-ku ルーク = rook
satoyama 里山 = mixed farmland and foothills (lit. "arable/livable mountain")
shatouifu シャトーイフ = Chateau d'If
tabidachi no daikichi 旅立ちの大吉 = good luck on your journey (nonstandard idiom)
taifu- 台風 = typhoon
takaashigani 高脚蟹 = Japanese spider crab (lit "tall-footed crab")
take ⽵ = bamboo
tankyu- 探究 = search
todoufuken 都道府県 = prefectures (main political divisions of Japan)
toyatsuka 塒塚 = Toyatsuka (a small mountain on the west slope of Mt. Fuji)
tozan 登山 = mountain-climbing
tsunami 津波 = tsunami
ungaii 運がいい = lucky
wakamore ワカモレ = guacamole
watashi wa tokubetsuna kanjō o motte iru 私は特別な感情を持っている = I have a special feeling
watashi wa watashi no kaeru to chāpu 私は私の蛙とチャープ = I chirp with my frog
zankurian kouzui ザンクリアンの洪水 = Zanclean flood
- — blank filler-text and spoiler warning — -
The section below has spoilers, so here is a bunch of blank space to make it less likely you'll see the spoilers unless you want to!
Big Long-Winded Spoiler Explanation
Don't read this until you get to about chapter 75 or 76.
Some readers didn't understand the end of the story, so I've written this which might seem over-obvious to some, and completely new to others. Either way, it's okay.
mrob27 and Morobu are the same character in the story, and they appear together in the last three chapters because mrob27 travelled back in Time to join himself.
Morobu was looking for the "Dojo of Searchfu", a "Dojo" is a place of training. If you look up Dojo you'll see the name is related to Tao/Dao, meaning way/path/route, and other deeper things that are tough to explain in a Western language. In the introduction on NP1973 and in my explanation on NP2006 I told everyone that the training consists of searching for the Dojo. I intended you to understand that this means that the search is more important than actually "finding the Dojo", assuming such a place actually exists physically.
This is something drawn from real life: you might think you're trying to get something, but it's the journey that matters. Hopefully before you reach the end of your life you'll see that most of life's "things" are MacGuffins: a driving force in the plot which in and of itself is unimportantU.
So Morobu (who is actually just mrob27 who has gone either forward or backward in Time to late May of some year or another to visit Japan) spends about 70 chapters looking for something, getting lost, and figuring out how to not get lost. Then mrob27 tells himself ("Morobu") in chapter 76 they he (they) have been in the Dojo for quite a while now. The search is the Dojo, and the Dogo is the search. In chapter 77 mrob27 says that there is important Blitzing to do, and they leave. If you think it was abrupt, then guess what: life sometimes ends abruptly, too. Remember a sudden unexpected death in some story you like: For me, the end of Harry Potter's book 5 comes to mind. Then look at the whole story-arc, and consider the role that person's life had in the entire grand plot. It's kind of like that, except that nobody died, not even fictionally.
UExcept that you need something to fill that role. Parents urge children to "pick a sport" because it's important to have a driving force. Which sport doesn't really matter, and the trophies will just collect dust. My sport was Computer Club, and I ended up with a bunch of trophies, books, and an opt-in scholarship to a university I decided not to attend, but those were all MacGuffins. All that really matters is that I played the game.
Links
back to OTT index, My Blitz Reports, Q04B
This page was written in the "embarrassingly readable" markup language RHTF, and was last updated on 2022 Apr 10.
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