Ôoku: The Inner Chambers, Vol. 15

In Eisner-nominated Fumi Yoshinagas alternative history of Edo-era Japan, the men of Japan are dying out, and the women have taken up the reigns of powerincluding the shoguns 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...

Taneatsus shogun Iesada has died, but unlike previous bereaved consorts, he has been denied the refuge of taking Buddhist vows. Stuck in the Inner Chambers, he has instead thrown himself into supporting the new shogun, Iemochi. But salacious rumors about the nature of their relationship and the arrival of Iemochis new consort threaten to make a mockery of his noble intentions! See more