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d_a_renoirAsian steampunk has been something that fascinates me for a while. Like, what would steampunk look like if it ISN'T predominantly Victorian? What if countries like China and Japan and Korea developed THEIR own style of steampunk that still preserves traditional elements? I see a lot of Chinese and Japanese-flavoured steampunk that is just adding top hats and gears and corsets to qipao and kimono. That's just imposing the Victorian style on the local culture. Which is, you know, not really cool.
It isn't as though China and Japan cannot develop steampunk without those European influence. The karakuri is a clockwork mechanism brought to Japan from China. It supposedly has been around since around 2000 BC. China invented the gunpowder and reportedly had weapons with capabilities that amazed even the Europeans (although the Europeans later surpassed them in that area). The Chinese invented the printing press. So it is entirely possible to make a steampunk universe based on China or Japan that doesn't involve TOO MUCH Western influence (because the influence has to be still there due to the trade and whatnot).
That aside, let me talk about the Siege of Osaka. I wanted to explore that epic battle because it's practically The Final Battle of the Sengoku Era. Tokugawa vanquished the Toyotomi and there wasn't any more big battles after that for a good long while. I hear that "officially" it's the Sekigahara that ended the Sengoku era because the power belongs to the Tokugawa after that, but the Siege of Osaka is a majorly epic battle. It's the final showdown between Toyotomi and Tokugawa and the Toyotomi clan pretty much vanished after that, so that is something to talk about.
The only problem with this story is whose side do I want to take? While I was at the Osaka Castle, the info guide stated that Tokugawa's attack on the Osaka Castle was more or less unprovoked. There's no reason for him to attack other than "I don't want to take any chances of this Hideyori kid attacking me later". Even though at that time, as far as I know, Hideyori has agreed to submit to the Tokugawa and has no plans to revolt or anything. That is... not very nice. I mean, if you told me Nobunaga did this I wouldn't bat an eyelash. Dude's got reputation as the Demon King. But Ieyasu? I've been seeing all these manga and anime where he's hailed as this 'awesome and wonderful peace-loving guy and is just and fair and amazing"... Yeah. Guess Ieyasu isn't all that saintly after all. Unless Hideyori IS really planning rebellion and I just don't know about it.
My idea is to combine the two concepts above and make a steampunk version of the Siege of Osaka. Then another problem rose: When did the steampunk get involved? This IS a history retelling with Steampunk thrown in, so in-universe, when did the steampunk come into play? Did steampunk come into Japan with the Catholic missionaries and traders? Were they around for longer, brought by the Chinese and then later developed further by the Japanese themselves? Because that would change a lot of the preceding events. If the steampunk HAS been around for a good long while, then the Sengoku wars itself would change greatly. So the safest (and easiest) bet is to introduce the steampunk the way guns and Western technology came into Japan.
Which means... I have to delve into the midst of the still-crazy Sengoku era. I honestly don't want to touch Nobunaga's time because it's a very wonky situation. Nobunaga himself is a wreck of controversy. I really REALLY wanted to avoid touching this guy because not even the Japanese are sure what to think of him. There's less of the whole ZOMG DEMON KING thing, but now it's flipped 180 degrees to the exact opposite into "Nobunaga is FABULOUS and AMAZING and he LOVES poor people and he's the nicest guy ever even though he's such an extremist in war but it's an unavoidable necessity!!!" Really. One extreme or the other is just as bad. And plus, depending on how powerful the steampunk technology is, it may or may not end up with Nobunaga surviving Honno-ji, which would lead to history being altered. Seriously, I remember a doujinshi where Nobunaga survived Honno-ji because of this sci-fi/steampunk contraption that allowed him to freaking FLY AWAY from the ambush and back to Azuchi. With their target escaped, the Akechi army backed off because there's really no point to continue besieging Kyoto.
I suppose "Shogun Nobunaga brings Japan to Steampunk Era" would make an interesting story, but I really don't want to do that. Because that would require understanding of Nobunaga's mind to envision how he would rule the country, AND I JUST CAN'T!! I CAN'T!!! I DO NOT UNDERSTAND THIS MAN! I DON'T!!! HE'S A NUTCASE!!! I mean, THE FOUNDATION OF AZUCHI CASTLE WAS REPORTEDLY MADE OF SMASHED JIZO STATUES. FREAKING STONE BUDDHA STATUES. THAT'S HOW LITTLE HE CARES ABOUT BUDDHISM. TO HIM THOSE STATUES ARE JUST EXTRA STONES LYING AROUND USELESSLY. THAT COULD CREATE PROBLEMS IN THE LONG RUN BECAUSE OF THE CITIZENS' BELIEFS. Would there be endless rebellions? Would other supposed trusted allies and generals like Hideyoshi and Ieyasu and Katsuie Shibata follow Akechi's steps and revolt too? Hideyoshi and Ieyasu were both pretty averse to Christianity while Nobunaga seem to encourage/support it (if only to procure more Western goods). I don't know!!!
So if I want to write Siege of Osaka, steampunk cannot be involved unless I could somehow align the involvement of the steampunk with actual history. This is so exhausting :(
Speaking of research... When I first started poking around the sengoku era, I started with looking up the three unifiers (Nobunaga, Hideyoshi, Ieyasu) on Wikipedia. I mean, why not? Just looking for basic info and stuff. You can imagine my disbelief when I discovered the entry for Nobunaga is such a huge wall of text. I mean, dang, that's an epic word-vomit over there. I go to Hideyoshi's page and there's significantly less stuff. I go to Ieyasu's and there's hardly anything in there. Like, whoa, obvious discrepancy much? Won't deny that Nobunaga is by far the most interesting one of the three, but come on! This is ridiculous.
It isn't as though China and Japan cannot develop steampunk without those European influence. The karakuri is a clockwork mechanism brought to Japan from China. It supposedly has been around since around 2000 BC. China invented the gunpowder and reportedly had weapons with capabilities that amazed even the Europeans (although the Europeans later surpassed them in that area). The Chinese invented the printing press. So it is entirely possible to make a steampunk universe based on China or Japan that doesn't involve TOO MUCH Western influence (because the influence has to be still there due to the trade and whatnot).
That aside, let me talk about the Siege of Osaka. I wanted to explore that epic battle because it's practically The Final Battle of the Sengoku Era. Tokugawa vanquished the Toyotomi and there wasn't any more big battles after that for a good long while. I hear that "officially" it's the Sekigahara that ended the Sengoku era because the power belongs to the Tokugawa after that, but the Siege of Osaka is a majorly epic battle. It's the final showdown between Toyotomi and Tokugawa and the Toyotomi clan pretty much vanished after that, so that is something to talk about.
The only problem with this story is whose side do I want to take? While I was at the Osaka Castle, the info guide stated that Tokugawa's attack on the Osaka Castle was more or less unprovoked. There's no reason for him to attack other than "I don't want to take any chances of this Hideyori kid attacking me later". Even though at that time, as far as I know, Hideyori has agreed to submit to the Tokugawa and has no plans to revolt or anything. That is... not very nice. I mean, if you told me Nobunaga did this I wouldn't bat an eyelash. Dude's got reputation as the Demon King. But Ieyasu? I've been seeing all these manga and anime where he's hailed as this 'awesome and wonderful peace-loving guy and is just and fair and amazing"... Yeah. Guess Ieyasu isn't all that saintly after all. Unless Hideyori IS really planning rebellion and I just don't know about it.
My idea is to combine the two concepts above and make a steampunk version of the Siege of Osaka. Then another problem rose: When did the steampunk get involved? This IS a history retelling with Steampunk thrown in, so in-universe, when did the steampunk come into play? Did steampunk come into Japan with the Catholic missionaries and traders? Were they around for longer, brought by the Chinese and then later developed further by the Japanese themselves? Because that would change a lot of the preceding events. If the steampunk HAS been around for a good long while, then the Sengoku wars itself would change greatly. So the safest (and easiest) bet is to introduce the steampunk the way guns and Western technology came into Japan.
Which means... I have to delve into the midst of the still-crazy Sengoku era. I honestly don't want to touch Nobunaga's time because it's a very wonky situation. Nobunaga himself is a wreck of controversy. I really REALLY wanted to avoid touching this guy because not even the Japanese are sure what to think of him. There's less of the whole ZOMG DEMON KING thing, but now it's flipped 180 degrees to the exact opposite into "Nobunaga is FABULOUS and AMAZING and he LOVES poor people and he's the nicest guy ever even though he's such an extremist in war but it's an unavoidable necessity!!!" Really. One extreme or the other is just as bad. And plus, depending on how powerful the steampunk technology is, it may or may not end up with Nobunaga surviving Honno-ji, which would lead to history being altered. Seriously, I remember a doujinshi where Nobunaga survived Honno-ji because of this sci-fi/steampunk contraption that allowed him to freaking FLY AWAY from the ambush and back to Azuchi. With their target escaped, the Akechi army backed off because there's really no point to continue besieging Kyoto.
I suppose "Shogun Nobunaga brings Japan to Steampunk Era" would make an interesting story, but I really don't want to do that. Because that would require understanding of Nobunaga's mind to envision how he would rule the country, AND I JUST CAN'T!! I CAN'T!!! I DO NOT UNDERSTAND THIS MAN! I DON'T!!! HE'S A NUTCASE!!! I mean, THE FOUNDATION OF AZUCHI CASTLE WAS REPORTEDLY MADE OF SMASHED JIZO STATUES. FREAKING STONE BUDDHA STATUES. THAT'S HOW LITTLE HE CARES ABOUT BUDDHISM. TO HIM THOSE STATUES ARE JUST EXTRA STONES LYING AROUND USELESSLY. THAT COULD CREATE PROBLEMS IN THE LONG RUN BECAUSE OF THE CITIZENS' BELIEFS. Would there be endless rebellions? Would other supposed trusted allies and generals like Hideyoshi and Ieyasu and Katsuie Shibata follow Akechi's steps and revolt too? Hideyoshi and Ieyasu were both pretty averse to Christianity while Nobunaga seem to encourage/support it (if only to procure more Western goods). I don't know!!!
So if I want to write Siege of Osaka, steampunk cannot be involved unless I could somehow align the involvement of the steampunk with actual history. This is so exhausting :(
Speaking of research... When I first started poking around the sengoku era, I started with looking up the three unifiers (Nobunaga, Hideyoshi, Ieyasu) on Wikipedia. I mean, why not? Just looking for basic info and stuff. You can imagine my disbelief when I discovered the entry for Nobunaga is such a huge wall of text. I mean, dang, that's an epic word-vomit over there. I go to Hideyoshi's page and there's significantly less stuff. I go to Ieyasu's and there's hardly anything in there. Like, whoa, obvious discrepancy much? Won't deny that Nobunaga is by far the most interesting one of the three, but come on! This is ridiculous.
