Place NamesI have translated most of the place names in the book; after all, the names aren’t exotic to a speaker of Japanese! The translations are my own, and sometimes aim more at a poetic than a literal translation of the name.
There is in fact a town called Mochizuki in Nagano (what used to be Shinano or Dark Letter Province). It is not very far from Midriver Island (Kawanakajima), the site of several of the greatest battles of Japan’s Civil War era. I couldn’t help but set the estate of the Mochizuki family there. The estate itself, however, is entirely of my own imagining.
Serenity Province—Totomi
Pineshore—Hamamatsu-shi, Totomi Province
Three Rivers Province—Mikawa
Quick River Province—Suruga
Worth Province—Kai
Dark Letter Province—Shinano
Full Moon—Mochizuki, Shinano Provin
