The Sacred Era: A Novel (Parallel Futures)
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Translator’s Acknowledgments
I am indebted to many individuals whose support at various stages made this translation possible. Foremost among them is Thomas Lamarre, who stewarded this project from beginning to end, giving me not only the initial opportunities but also valuable guidance and feedback throughout the process.
Initial work on the translation was supported by a postdoctoral fellowship from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) of Canada.
Many thanks go to the University of Minnesota Press, especially Jason Weidemann and Erin Warholm-Wohlenhaus, for continued commitment to the project despite delays along the way. Takayuki Tatsumi facilitated contact and communication with Yoshio Aramaki. Kazuko Behrens’s initial work on Aramaki’s novel was an important starting point for my translation. My wonderful colleagues at the University of Minnesota (Suvadip Sinha, Christine Marran, Jason McGrath, Travis Workman, and others) made this work all the more worthwhile. My wife, Denise, offered patient support through many late nights.
Finally, let me express my appreciation to Yoshio Aramaki, who kindly entrusted his work to me. I only hope that I have done it justice.
Chronology of Igitur’s Millennium of Prosperity
Year 182 North–South War of Two Centuries ends. Treaty of Two Worlds ratified. The Holy Empire claims the right to engage in missionary work within the southern celestial hemisphere up to a distance of one thousand light-years.
Year 223Establishment of the Law of Five Galaxies and Sacred Knowledge
Year 288Discovery of the Field Theory of Hyperspace Navigation
Year 313Beheading of heretic Darko Dachilko (First Papal Conference)
Year 323Pope Algol I designates the Holy Disciplines of Sacred Inquiry. Beginning of the Sacred Service Examination system.
Year 420Pope Algol IV broadcasts Temperance Proclamation
Year 567Interpretations of Hieronymus Bosch’s painting The Garden of Earthly Delights declared heretical (Second Papal Conference).
Year 640End of civil war that began in 567. Devastation of the realm.
Year 708Hyperspace jump navigation implemented.
Year 886Development of the Loulan Space Route. Expansion of the realms of the Holy Empire.
Year 900Discovery of the Taklamakan Space Desert
Year 975Planet Bosch Research classified as a Holy Discipline
Yoshio Aramaki is a prominent writer of the New Wave of science fiction in Japan in the 1960s, which explored “inner space,” and his early fiction is known for its surreal and picturesque imagery and fantastic metaphysical narratives. He has written the novels Shirokihi tabidateba fushi (Departing on a White Day, Immortality), Sei shutefan jiin no kane no ne wa (Listen to the Bells of St. Stephen’s Cathedral), and the Konpeki no kantai (Deep Blue Fleet) series.
Baryon Tensor Posadas is assistant professor of Asian languages and literatures at the University of Minnesota. He studies the doppelgänger motif in modern Japanese film and fiction, as well as Japanese science fiction, empire, and the imagination of futurity.
Takayuki Tatsumi is professor in the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences at Keio University. He has written many books, including Full Metal Apache: Transactions between Cyberpunk Japan and Avant-Pop America and New Americanist Poetics.