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| Unraveling Tomo's Past. |
Tomo’s past was quite the mystery. We only know that he was abandoned as a baby, was raised by a dancer(s), was a street performer, eventually joining an opera troupe, mostly surrounded by men, and dealt with an insurmountable coldness and harshness throughout his life. Because of his cruel childhood, Tomo eventually became a dastardly twisted villain. He would even say that Nakago’s life come from the same “darkness” as his, even though both men’s personalities are very different.
In the early Fushigi Yuugi fandom regarding about Tomo, fans wanted to know more about his past than what was given. They were not satisfied with the light novel's handling of the character as they thought it didn’t do justice for his backstory and that his characterization was done poorly (I personally thought the opposite though). From the sounds of it, they probably wanted to see a more sympathetic side to him. That being said, a few fans during those times made some analyses of his character.
With the few information that was available at the time (late 90's, early 2000s), some fans believed Tomo was sexually abused and raped as a child (one such essay can be read here). It is true that during the olden days of China, many young boys who were sold into brothels had to impersonate themselves as girls to their male patrons. Eventually these boys would find themselves employed by theatrical productions and would mostly play female roles (women were banned from acting in theatre due to moral codes in those olden times).
But Nakago and Tomo’s perspectives on sexual abuse are quite different from each other. Nakago doesn’t like the idea of taking advantage of unconscious women, but Tomo insisted that it was the perfect opportunity to take Miaka’s virginity so she wouldn’t be able to summon Suzaku. In one of the written freetalks, Yuu Watase had to explain that the rape idea actually came from Tomo. When Tomo went inside Nakago’s tent, he calmly assumed that the general did his part of the plan to take Miaka’s virginity. All seems to be fine and dandy for Tomo until Nakago admitted that he didn’t do the deed. Tomo snapped at him and essentially criticized him for failing to do his part, and said that he’ll do it instead.
Come to think of it, Tomo often uses “sexual” tactics against the Suzaku team. He had Nakago attempt rape on Miaka, used Soi to suck the life force out of Tamahome by using her bedding technique, molested Tamahome with his feathers, and even attempted to rape Miaka when he trapped her in his illusory shell world. Just for the record, he stated that he personally DOES NOT like the idea of raping women, but in order for Suzaku not to be summoned, he believed he had to do the dirty deed in order to ensure success for the Yui and ultimately for his love of Nakago.
Also he slut-shamed Soi in the light novel and he openly mocked Nakago for being molested by the Emperor. Actually, he mocked Nakago’s entire childhood. What a douchebag. In the manga, anime, and in the Suzaku Ibun game, he mentioned about being aroused by something, meaning he’s not averse to sex like Nakago was. Even if Tomo was sexually abused as a child, it didn’t seem to phase him at all. Basically, he trivializes these matters. And from the looks of it, it seems that he has an affinity towards these things.
If anything, Tomo’s dark past most likely come from harsh beatings. Even though Tomo is a dastardly villain, he seems to have a personal code for himself. There was a scene where he told Tamahome that inflicting pain isn’t his nature, but would rather see people die in pleasure. He even offered Tamahome any pleasant scenario of his choosing for his death (lol). Same goes for team Suzaku when they were stranded in the desert by Tomo's illusion—they were in terrible shape but at least they THOUGHT they were in a nice place (though Chichiri was skeptical of their situation). Also according to Yuu Watase herself, Tomo rarely hurts anyone at all. Furthermore, Watase’s inspiration for Tomo’s character and backstory was heavily based on the 1993 film “Farewell My Concubine.” The leading characters in that movie were Beijing opera actors and their childhoods were full of tears, fears, painful beatings, and harsh discipline by sadistic instructors. This is historically accurate as well. If there is a plausible analogy to Tomo’s “dark” past, look no further than this film. The official information that we know of Tomo’s life story draws lots of parallels from the characters of “Farewell My Concubine”:
- Abandoned by parents
- Raised by a dancer(s)/performers
- Street performer
- Harsh and cruel childhood
- Surrounded mostly by men for most of his life
- Gay, and romantic love was not reciprocated by the man he loves
- An opera performer
- Became a star in his own troupe
- Gets jealous of a female rival
- Has the look of the Jing, but can also play the Dan
So there you have it. Although both came from the same “darkness,” Nakago and Tomo have different personal codes. Nakago was sexually abused as a child, so he doesn’t feel comfortable with the idea of raping Miaka. BUT he has no qualms when physically abusing others as he beats Tamahome and Ashitare with his whip. We don’t ever see Nakago getting beaten by Kutou guardsman as a child, hence that’s probably why he’s totally OK with beatings. Tomo, if his life story is anything like “Farewell My Concubine,” most likely endured physical abuse. Hence that’s why he’s not the kind of person that physically harms people. But he seems to be OK (to some degree) when it comes to rape and sexual assault, so most likely he didn’t have to endure the same kind of abuse like Nakago did.
But just because he personally doesn’t like to hurt people himself, that doesn’t mean he doesn’t enjoy seeing others suffer. He teased Tamahome with his feathers, made threats to Miaka, and sees Nakago’s grim childhood as entertainment. He insists that he can relate to Nakago because he too had a terrible childhood (like all other Seiryu warriors’ past because Kutou was full of political strife)...and then continues on to mock him... Seems like he likes to break people mentally, which makes sense since he specializes in illusions. The only person Tomo actually physically hurt was Amiboshi, but that’s a different topic altogether.
Tomo enjoys being a sadist. But perhaps because he lived such a miserable life, he wanted to see others suffer the same way he did. Perhaps Tomo’s childhood was far worse than Nakago’s and that is why he made light of Nakago’s past, thinking it’s nothing compared to what he had to go through. Even Tomo said that at least Nakago had a loving parent and friend that wanted to be with him—Tomo had none of that and had to learn that life was cold, lonely, and cruel since he was essentially born. Thus, he became a totally twisted, messed up, dastardly evil villain.
For the record, this is MY interpretation and analysis on his past. It could be anything!
SOURCES
- Fushigi Yuugi Manga volume 10, 11, 12
- Fushigi Yuugi Anime episodes 37, 38, 40.
- Fushigi Yuugi Light Novel: Seiran Den
- Fushigi Yuugi Suzaku Ibun game
- Farewell My Concubine 1993 film
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peking_opera#Dan
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