Talk:Suzumiya Haruhi:Volume7 Epilogue

15 Genroku

15 Genroku corresponds to 1702 AD.

From the Wikipedia:

Genroku (Japanese: 元禄) was a Japanese era that spanned the period from 30 September 1688 to 13 March 1704. The reigning emperor was Higashiyama, the reigning Shogun was Tokugawa Tsunayoshi, nicknamed the "dog shogun". The period followed the Jōkyō era and was followed by the Hōei era.

The era is generally considered to be the golden era of the Edo period. The previous hundred years of peace and seclusion in Japan led to economic stability, and arts and architecture flourished. To finance the splendour of the Genroku era, the Shogunate reduced the quality of coins. This caused an inflation. To solve the crisis, the Kyoho Reforms were carried out a few years after the era.

"cracks"

The photo she handed to me showed a pot with cracks all over, using a white wall as a background.

I take this to indicate a vessel with crackled glaze, not a cracked pot per se. A pot that wasn't watertight wouldn't have a readable 300 year-old piece of paper in it. Ground water and freeze-thaw cycles are not kind to cracked earthenware pots or their biodegradable contents... However, this point may lie beyond the range of the author's detailed consideration. Is the original Japanese any more specific than the translation as it stands?

差し出した写真にはひび割れだらけの土器がどこか白い壁《かべ》を背景に写っている。

The kanji 土器 means earthenware. Apparently there's two ways to read this: どき which is just "earthenware," and かわらけ which is specifically unglazed earthenware. It's impossible to tell which one is used, but apparently lead-based glaze was not uncommon for Genroku period pottery. I'd say the cracks were superficial if only because the pot seems to have been recovered intact. (I doubt they would casually glue together an otherwise priceless artifact and Tsuruya didn't mention anything about it being broken when dug up) Smidge204 10:01, 18 February 2007 (PST)

"cottonrose"

I've changed a description of Asahina's lips from cottonrose (a small, nondescript white flowering herb) to cottonrose hibiscus, a beautiful pink ornamental. This just has to be more correct.--Nutcase 08:37, 18 February 2007 (PST)