Pseudo blog:Cheironyx/Bonus 1

The three years of high school are an irreplaceable time for our youth as they fly into the future. Facing one's coming life in society, having a variety of experiences, and gaining the power to move forwards even if one sometimes makes mistakes - this is the meaning of academic life. No matter how wonderful one's knowledge and skills are, they will only go to waste if one does not have the will to use them.

Our school's founding concept is "independence and autonomy", and we pursue education that unites school, home and students, so that our students can cultivate the power to think and act for themselves.

**The School as a Town**

Due to our concept of independence and autonomy, our campus perceives school as a microcosm of society, and we have assembled a variety of facilities with the goal of giving our students a broad range of experiences.

Megurigaoka High is a town, and as citizens of the town, its students can carry out a variety of jobs, starting with being self-sufficient.

**The Education Sought in a New Era**

The importance of an independent and autonomous mind remains unchanged throughout the eras, but the content of education that is sought after changes moment by moment. Now that the systems of lifelong employment and faith in one's academic history are being dismantled, the survival abilities to keep oneself and others alive through one's individual wits have become quite essential.

At Megurigaoka High, we strive for practical education, so that everybody may acquire the power to cross the stormy seas of society.

All of our teaching staff are looking forward to the enrolment of everyone reading this pamphlet.

Megurigaoka High Principal **Jouji Andou**

#### **OUR SCHOOL'S HISTORY**

Cradled by the History of Megurigaoka City

Megurigaoka City in S. Prefecture, where Megurigaoka High is located, has been called Mizuchi ["man earth"] since ancient times, and people loved it and its abundant natural blessings. Mizuchi City is also known for its plentiful folklore, and its name can be seen in such writings as the ancient "Edojashinden [Legend of the Serpent of Impurity]" and the modern "Shoukishinkou [On Minor Demons]". Its shipping industry was also prosperous, and Professor of Archaeology H. from K. University has compared the folklore of Mizuchi and the West Indies and indicated the possibility of cultural exchange between the two.

After the tragic incident in 1968, Mizuchi City was troubled by a decline in population, and applied for an urban development project. From 1979 onwards, its name was changed to Megurigaoka ["travelling hills"] City and it promoted local industries and attraction of enterprise, which formed the foundations of its current prosperity.

Megurigaoka, the name of the city and school, refers to the undulating terrain and the city of Rome, where pilgrims gathered on seven hills, and was given in hopes of attaining cultural prosperity like the ancient Romans.

**Chronology**

721~  The "Ninjima no Kuni Fudoki [Gazetteer of Ninjima Province]" was completed around this time. The name Mizuchi can be seen.

1889  Mizuchi City is established, in accordance with the enforcement of municipal organisation. It prospers with a focus on fishing and shipping.

1968  This year, the population of Mizuchi City is halved. This is later called the Night of Mizuchi.

1970  Mizuchi City applies for urban planning. It begins a general public appeal for a new name.

1979  Mizuchi City receives urban planning. The same year, the city's name is changed to Megurigaoka City. Other name candidates include "Ryuusei City [Dragon Conquering City]". The Dawn of Mizuchi.

1984  This year, the population of Mizuchi City exceeds the standard from before '68 (the Morning of Mizuchi).

1987  Megurigaoka Gakuin Private High School is founded.

1997  Megurigaoka Gakuin Private High School's tenth anniversary.

2007  Megurigaoka Gakuin Private High School's twentieth anniversary.

#### **GUIDE TO FACILITIES**

With the concept of the campus as a town, our school is furnished with a variety of facilities necessary for a town, so that our students can accumulate a range of social experiences.

**- Vegetable Gardens**

With the awareness that a spirit of independence and autonomy starts with food, our school takes the unique form of having two vegetable gardens, one on the campus roof and one in the grounds, as well as an off-campus contract farm.

These vegetables are primarily grown and harvested by the students themselves, through extracurricular courses and horticulture club activities. The harvested food is cooked and eaten by the students, but some is also sold off-campus, and is well-loved as directly-sold Megurigaoka-brand vegetables.

A vegetable garden bathed in the sun's light

**- Water Purification Facilities**

Water is just as indispensable for life as food. At our school, we pump up and purify water from underground and from Kuchina ["decay much"] River through purification equipment, and use some of it in the pool and as drinking water.

These water purification facilities are provided for by private power generators, so one can imagine that this could be an important location for this region in times of disaster.

**- Power Generators**

Electricity is a vital part of modern civilisation alongside food and water. Our school provides power for the campus with solar battery panels on the roof and a hydroelectric generator using Kuchina River.

The student council decides how to distribute this energy, and the surplus power is sold off to provide part of the budget for the Dragon Conquering Festival along with the savings in water rates due to the water purification, so the students naturally grasp the importance of energy in their academic lives.

**- Computer Room**

In our modern internet society, computers are not simply tools for learning, but can sometimes be dangerous weapons or methods of self-defence. Our school has promoted education using personal computers since before the internet, and has been at the forefront of computer education all the way up to the present day.

In our computer room furnished with the newest equipment, our students learn not only the basic handling of computers, but also about net literacy and security.

**- Home Economics Room**

Most of the abundant vegetables taken from the gardens are cooked in the home economics room and end up on the students' tables.

Therefore, to suit the scale of the gardens, the home economics room is large, efficient and installed with the latest equipment.

In particular, it is in full operation as a kitchen for the entire campus during the Dragon Conquering Festival.

The store and its plentiful collection of items

**- Emergency Storehouse**

Some of the produce taken from the gardens is stored in an emergency storehouse underground. The types of produce range from rice and wheat to our secret-recipe pickled foods. The horticulture club's special dried plums, which are pickled for 10 years, are given out only during celebrations of important events.

**- Library**

Reflecting our spirit of independence and autonomy, management of our school library's collection is mostly left to the students (the library committee).

In addition to numerous books of study material, we also have a system of obtaining books by student polls and requests, so our extensive collection also includes manga and recreational books and is quite popular.

**- Store / Horticulture Club**

In addition to all kinds of course items, our school's store includes hand-crafted goods created by the students in various club activities, such as clothing made by the handicrafts club, and some of the proceeds from these are returned to the club accounts. The horticulture club's prized ingredients are also used in the adjoining cafeteria.

The library collection has everything, from the books needed for studying to hobby and practical texts

#### **SCHOOL LIFE**

At Megurigaoka High, in addition to high-quality course lessons, we put effort into a variety of extracurricular activities that provide abundant experiences to grow our spirit of independence and autonomy.

**- Foreign Language Teaching**

Our school supports student's actions across countries, so we have invited native-speaking lecturers and provide lessons not only in English but in ten different languages, including French and Chinese.

**- Extracurricular Courses**

Our school sponsors a wide variety of courses which do not stop at the classroom, and many students make use of these every year.

We have invited specialists from each field and sponsor courses all year long, such as a robotics course in which students construct hobby robots and an animating course in which they complete a short animation. Particularly popular are the natural experience courses, and every year, many students apply for a course where they catch fish in the local Kuchina River and cook them.

**- Club Activities**

In our school's club activities, we put a lot of effort into mingling with people outside of school. This applies to the exercise clubs and even the culture clubs - charity concerts by the guitar club and brass band club and direct sales by the horticulture club are popular with the local people.

**- The Dragon Conquering Festival**

Held in October each year, the culture festival is where the students truly show off their spirits of independence and autonomy, and is sometimes even given as the number one reason for applying to our school.

The name of the Dragon Conquering Festival relates to the legend of a saint who defeated an evil dragon that was threatening Mizuchi, and this is presented as the Dragon Conquering Play by the theatre club. The Dragon Conquering Play is performed each year with varying interpretations, and is rated highly both inside and outside the school.

#### **MEGURIGAOKA HIGH SCHOOL SONG**

Lyrics: unknown (old folk song)

Editing: Kishi Yuzumoto

Composer: Akira Shirai

ten ni kirameku ken no hijiri
kuchina no kawa ni uzumaku wa
kuzu no orochi no doku no iki

nanoka nanaya no arasoi ni
ten yori furu wa chi no namida
daichi ni fukaku kizamareshi
honoo no ato koso monoosoroshi

nanatsu no oka ni hi wa meguri
imaya hijiri wa oranedomo
warera marenaru hijiri no ko
kokoro ni ken wo sasagemochi

yuuki wo mune ni iza yukan
megurigaoka no tami iza yukan
A saint with a sword that gleamed in the heavens
Swirling in the river Kuchina was
The poison breath of a nine-headed serpent

In the struggle for seven days and seven nights
Tears of blood fell from the heavens
And carved deep into the earth
The flame's scars were horrifying

The sun travels the seven hills
Although the saint is no longer here
We rare children of the saint
Lift up the sword in our hearts

Now let us go, with bravery in our hearts
Now let us go, people of Megurigaoka

#### **CAMPUS GUIDE**

Text: Norimitsu Kaihou

Editing Collaboration: Ryou Morise (Chronocraft)

Design: Shougo Iwahori (a-ism design)

### **Translation notes:**

* Apart from Megurigaoka, most character/location/document names have no confirmed reading, and are therefore educated guesses. In particular, Mizuchi and Kuchina were chosen because they can also mean "snake" or "serpent".
* The "Night of Mizuchi" taking place in 1968 is a reference to the archetypal zombie film "Night of the Living Dead", which was released on the 1st of October that year (this date shows up a couple of times in future tankoubon bonuses).
* "Professor of Archaeology H. from K. University" is a reference to the main character of "Youkai Hunter".
* The "folklore of the West Indies" is a reference to the zombie legends of Haiti.