In Eisner-nominated Fumi Yoshinaga's alternative history of Edo-era
Japan, the men of Japan are dying out, and the women have taken up the
reigns of power--including the shogun's seat!
In Edo period Japan, a strange new disease called the Redface Pox has
begun to prey on the country's men. Within eighty years of the first
outbreak, the male population has fallen by seventy-five percent. Women
have taken on all the roles traditionally granted to men, even that of
the shogun. The men, precious providers of life, are carefully
protected. And the most beautiful of the men are sent to serve in the
shogun's Inner Chamber...
Although Prince Kazu expected to hate her life in Edo, her marriage to
the shogun Iemochi unexpectedly became a source of true comfort to her.
But now tragedy has destroyed her fragile happiness, and Prince Kazu
must struggle alone to find some solace in the shattered remnants of
that brief joy.