Saiunkoku Monogatari

Translator's Notes:

First I wish to express my gratitude to those people who have volunteered to help edit this series. Thank you very much Ginny!, Heather, and Ysabet!

As much as possible, I'm trying to be consistent with translations, but there will be times I'll slip up. Some terms and concepts to keep track of include:

• Ryuuki refers to himself most often as "yo". This is a first person pronoun referring to oneself, and was used by feudal lords in the past. It can be seen as a haughty means of referring to oneself, or is also used in formal speech by males. It's the same as using "I" or much less commonly the more formal royal "we". It is not the word normally used by an Emperor to refer to oneself (wareware).
  
  However, Ryuuki does on occasion use "watashi". This change in word usage is quite significant because it indicates that Ryuuki is speaking much more personally. Since I'm not keen on constantly writing using the royal we, nor is it necessarily correct to do so, I've decided to keep with "I" and when possible will occasionally switch to the "we" with "I" used later to show when Ryuuki does in fact change usage.
• aniue = big/elder brother.
• ~dono = polite suffix used most often in this series. It is lighter than "-sama"
• ~kihi = my consort. Much like one would say My Lord or My Lady.
• ~kihi-sama = my lady consort
• My Lady - Seiran refers to Shuurei in this manner constantly (ojou-sama)
• Master - Seiran refers to Shouka in this manner (danna-sama)
• Madam - Seiran refers to Shouka's wife / Shuurei's mother in this manner (oku-sama)
• Oji-san - "uncle"; alternately, a friendly word used by younger people when addressing older men - "Mister".
• Hime-san/sama = daughters of the noble families are usually referred to as princesses. In story / novel 2, we meet Ensei who constantly refers to Shuurei as Hime-san.
• Shuurei's mother refers to herself as "warawa" a first person term used by women during the samurai period.
• Official Wa of the Department of Protocol refers to himself as "Maro". This is a first person term used since the Heian period of those of higher status to those of lower status and establishes that the user is of higher rank than the one being spoken to.

• Yon shou riku bu = four ministries and 6 departments. This is based on an Ancient Chinese governing system where there were three departments with six ministries. In the story, we learn the breakdown of the Ministry of State Affairs. Most likely the names of the ministries and departments will vary depending on the translator and how familiar one is with Chinese history / government. (I'm not knowledgeable in this area).
  
  Each of the departments are headed by the senior secretary followed by the assistant secretary.
• Shou Taishi, Sou Taifu, Sa Taiho - the "Choutei Sanshi" or the three top officials of the Imperial Court. They are responsible for the Imperial family's education.
• Kouro-ji - Ancient Chinese government office responsible for receiving foreign visitors and tribute.
• Shinshi - examinees who passed the National Exams but haven't received official status.

• The Emperor's personal guard - the Uringun (Wing Forest troop) consists of the left (sa) and right (yuu) troops. The Sauringun is headed by Daishogun Koku Yousei who Shogun Ran is under, while the Yuu-uringun is under Daishogun Haku Raien.

• The exams are made up of a series of exams that take ~1 year in order to reach the primary exam, the "Kaishi" test. Each test in the series must be passed in order to continue to the next exam.
• The primary test to be passed to become a provincial administrator is the "Junshi" - literally the "pre-exam".
• After the "Kaishi" is the "Denshi", an oral exam done in the presence of the Emperor.