Hideo-秀雄
Hideo-秀雄
Whaler
Whaler
Meet Hideo!
Hideo is where Forever Lost at Sea: Ryujin Rises starts and his story is where we find out that maybe there are things in this world that are not really just a part of old stories - they are very, very real!
Hideo is a Japanese whaler who due to the loss of his ship and crew to a creature unknown begins a journey to find out what happened and who he is now. His body has changed as a result of his days floating adrift at sea and he has a yearning to find out the truth that cannot be ignored. A chance meeting with Charles Wickham, who has a yearning of his own to be a reporter and adventurer of renown, brings together two men whose paths would probably never have crossed.
Hideo belongs at sea: it is where he is comfortable. Carrying letters to his beloved wife, Misuami, Hideo will go to the ends of the earth if that is what it takes to find out the truth
Background
Azuma Hideo was born in 1885 in the whaling town of Taiji, which is on a forked peninsula which juts out into the Kumand Sea, right near the southern tip of the Kii Peninsula. Taiji was a hamlet, until April 1889 when a merger between the hamlets of Taiji and Moriura gave Taiji village status.
Taiji is famous for its whaling since the formation of group hunting in 1606 by Wada Chubei and the introduction of a new hand-held harpoon and the further invention of nets being developed for whaling to make the whaling safer and more efficient.
Hideo was born into a family of whalers as this was the prominent industry of the area, and for generations his family had been at sea.
In 1878, disaster struck the village of Taiji when a whaling ship was dragged out to sea by a large whale (Hideo has since had theories on what really happened that day) and around 100 souls were lost that day following the decision not to cut the beast free from the ship. The loss of both men and the ship caused not only a large personal loss of the people of Taiji, but also a huge economic loss as there were less whalers available.
Hideo was educated in accordance with the 1872 Gakusei or Education System Order which meant that even as the child of a poor whaling family he was educated in some Western forms of education, and learnt to speak English as a child. As whaling is a multinational venture, he also picked up other languages along the way including a spattering of Russian and Norwegian.
Hideo married Misaumi in the spring of 1900. They were only very young, but life was hard on the whaling ships and it was common for people to marry at young ages. Hideo worshipped his wife, and he was devastated when whilst he was at sea, his wife tragically died of an unknown illness. Hideo kept the letters he had written to his beloved Misaumi close to his body from that point on and spent time at her resting place telling her about his voyages. He vowed he would never marry again, his grief was so raw.
When his ship was destroyed by Ryujin, Hideo was sure he would not be reunited with his wife but fate was fickle and had other plans. Now, trapped in a body unable to die he is trying to find his new place in a world he is struggling to understand.
Forever Lost at Sea
Forever Lost at Sea
Until you have the courage to lose sight of the shore, you will not know the terror of being forever lost at sea.” – Charles Cook
Charles Wickham is bored with writing the same old stories for a small-town newspaper and wants to find inspiration for that one story that will make his career. A spur-of-the-moment decision to investigate the mass beaching of a group of whales leads Charles on an adventure that may be more than he bargained for.
After meeting Hideo, the mysterious only survivor of a Japanese whaling ship tragedy, Charles is drawn into a world where the monsters that lurk in the old tales are much more real than anyone would ever believe. Alongside Bess, a woman who defies the expectations of the era , and a Russian sea captain who has lived in the world of folklore and myth for longer than anyone could imagine. The crew hunts and confronts an ancient creature evil lurking in the icy waters of the North Pacific. Charles has found the story that will make him a renowned author… if he survives long enough to write it!