Appendix 5: Chapter Titles

Many if not most of the titles of the chapters of Sweet Blue Flowers are taken from, or allude to, various novels, poems, songs, and films. Some of these are identified in the translation notes to the VIZ Media edition. This appendix provides sources (or possible sources) for almost all of the titles; note that some of these attributions are speculative to one degree or another. The Japanese titles of the chapters are included in parentheses.

Volume 1

Chapter 1, “Flower Story” (“Hana monogatari”). From Yoshiya Nobuko’s 1924 collection of Class S stories (the title of which is usually translated as Flower Tales).

Chapter 2, “Stand by Me” (“Sutando bai mī”). From the 1986 film directed by Rob Reiner or the 1961 song by Ben E. King used as the theme song for the film.

Chapter 3, “Spring Breeze” (“Haru no arashi”). From the Japanese title of the 1910 novel Gertrude by Hermann Hesse.

Chapter 4, “Waking Up in the Morning” (“Asa mezamete wa”). From the Japanese title of the poem “Morgens steh’ ich auf und frage” by Heinrich Heine.

Chapter 5, “Secret Flower Garden” (“Himitsu no hanazono”). From the Japanese title of the 1911 novel The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett.

Chapter 6, “Beautiful Youth” (“Seishun wa uruwashi”). From the Japanese title of the 1916 novella Schön ist die Jugend by Hermann Hesse.

Chapters 7–9, “Wuthering Heights, Parts 1–3” (“Arashigaoka”). From the 1847 novel by Emily Brontë, from which the Fujigaya play is adapted.

Chapter 10, “Young Leaves” (“Wakaba no koro”). From the 1996 television drama and the Japanese title of its theme song, the 1969 Bee Gees song “First of May.”

Chapter 11, “A New Day” (“Atarashiki hi”). Possibly a reference to the Japanese title of La Nouvelle Journée, the tenth and final volume of the 1904–12 novel Jean-Christophe by Romain Rolland.

Chapter 12, “Don’t Say Goodbye” (“Sayonara wa iwanaide”). From the 1986 song by Sonoko Kawai (the B-side of her number-one hit “Aoi stasion”), the Japanese title of the 1971 song “Never Can Say Goodbye” by the Jackson 5, or (less likely) the Japanese title of the 1986 film Every Time We Say Goodbye, directed by Moshé Mizrahi.

Chapter 13, “Love Is Blindness” (“Koi wa mōmoku”). Possibly from the Japanese title of the 1976 song “Love Is Blind” by Janis Ian.

Volume 2

Chapters 14–15, “A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Parts 1 and 2” (“Natsu no yo no yume”). From the play by William Shakespeare.

Chapters 16–17, “The Happy Prince, Parts 1 and 2” (“Kōfuku no ōji”). From the story in the 1888 collection The Happy Prince and Other Tales by Oscar Wilde.

Chapter 18, “Winter Fireworks” (“Fuyu no hanabi”). From the 1946 play by Osamu Dazai.

Chapter 19, “The Bells of Spring” (“Haru no kane”). From the 1985 film directed by Koreyoshi Kurahara.

Chapter 20, “Tsujigahana.” From the 1972 film directed by Noboru Nakamura.

Chapters 21–24, “Rokumeikan, Parts 1–4.” From the 1956 play by Yukio Mishima, performed by the Fujigaya drama club.

Chapter 25, “Faster than Love” (“Ai yori hayaku”). Possibly from the 1998 novel by Ayako Saitō.

Volume 3

Chapters 26–29, “Rokumeikan, Parts 5–8.” See above.

Chapter 30, “After the Banquet” (“Utage no ato”). From the 1960 novel by Yukio Mishima.

Chapters 31–33, “The Door into Summer, Parts 1–3” (“Natsu e no tobira”). From the 1957 novel by Robert Heinlein.

Chapter 34, “As You Like It” (“Oki ni mesu mama”). From the play by William Shakespeare.

Chapter 35, “A Planet in Love” (“Koi suru wakusei”). From the Japanese title of the 1994 film Chungking Express, directed by Wong Kar-wai.

Chapter 36, “First Love” (“Hatsukoi”). Possibly from the 1860 novella Pervaya lyubov by Ivan Turgenev.

Chapter 37, “The Lily of the Valley” (“Tanima no yuri”). From the 1835 novel Le Lys dans la vallée by Honoré de Balzac.

Chapter 38, “A Christmas Carol” (“Kurisumasu kyaroru”). From the 1843 novella by Charles Dickens.

Volume 4

Chapter 39, “A Little Princess” (“Shōkōjo”). From the 1905 novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett.

Chapters 40–41, “Melody, Parts 1 and 2” (“Chīsana koi no merodī”). From the Japanese title of the 1971 film Melody, directed by Waris Hussein.

Chapter 42, “Froth on the Daydream” (“Hibi no awa”). From the 1947 novel L’Écume des jours by Boris Vian. The novel was later adapted into the 2001 film Chloe, directed by Gō Rijū.

Chapter 43, “The Best Little Girl in the World” (“Kagami no naka no shōjo”). From the 1978 novel by Steven Levenkron and the subsequent 1981 film adaptation, directed by Sam O’Steen. The Japanese chapter title (lit. “the girl in the mirror”) is the Japanese title of the film.

Chapter 44, “On a Spring Night” (“Haru no yoru ni”). Probably not a direct reference, but this chapter shares a title with a song sung by Aoi Teshima in the 2006 film Tales from Earthsea (Gedo senki), directed by Gorō Miyazaki.

Chapter 45, “The Three Musketeers” (“San jūshi”). From the novel by Alexandre Dumas, the basis of the play performed by the Fujigaya drama club.

Chapter 46, “Heavenly Creatures” (“Otome no inori”). From the 1994 film directed by Peter Jackson, released in Japan under the title Otome no inori (lit. “maiden’s prayer”), which is also the Japanese chapter title. Another possible source for the Japanese chapter title is the song “Maiden’s Prayer” composed by Tekla Bądarzewska-Baranowska in 1856 and recorded many times since then.

Chapter 47, “Crime and Punishment” (“Tsumi to batsu”). From the 1866 novel by Fyodor Dostoevsky, later adapted as a 1953 manga series by Osamu Tezuka.

Chapter 48, “A Flower of This World” (“Kono yo no hana”). From the 1955 novel by Makoto Hōjō, the 1955 films based on the book, directed by Toshimasa Hozumi, and the theme song of the films, sung by Chiyoko Shimakura.

Chapter 49, “Unrequited Love” (“Katakoi”). Possibly from the Japanese title of the 1858 novella Asya by Ivan Turgenev.

Chapter 50, “Even Though I’m Waiting for You” (“Kimi matedomo”). Possibly from the 1949 film directed by Noboru Nakamura and the song of the same title featured in the film, sung by Aiko Hirano. Another possible source is the 1974 television drama with the same title, directed by Eizo Yamagiwa.

Chapter 51, “Wandering the World of the Seventh Sense” (“Dainana kankai hōkō”). From the 1931 novella by Midori Osaki, also referenced in the title of Sachi Hamano’s 1998 film about Osaki’s life and work, In Search of a Lost Writer: Wanderings in the Realm of the Seventh Sense (Dainana kankai hōkō: Osaki Midori o sagashite).

Chapter 52, “Sweet Blue Flowers” (“Aoi hana”). From the title of the manga, the Japanese title of which may be taken from the Japanese title of the 1802 novel Heinrich von Ofterdingen by Novalis.