池田 理代子
Born 1947
The author of The Rose of Versailles, who brought European history and political tragedy into shojo manga. 60 in the letters, reducing to 6.
6Name sums to 60 and reduces to 6 — The Care, where the reference files an obligation.
Riyoko Ikeda was born in 1947 in Osaka and began drawing manga while studying philosophy at university. The Rose of Versailles, serialised in Margaret from 1972, made her one of the most famous manga artists in Japan almost overnight.
Her major works are historical epics set in Europe. After Versailles came The Window of Orpheus, which moves from a German music school to the Russian Revolution, and works on Napoleon and other historical figures. She is known for meticulous research, large casts and heroines whose personal choices are tied to political upheaval.
In her forties she enrolled at a music college to study voice and went on to perform as a soprano, an unusual turn that she has spoken about as fulfilling a lifelong ambition.
The enduring success of The Rose of Versailles in France, through its anime adaptation, led to her being made a Chevalier of the Légion d'honneur in 2009. She is often grouped with the Year 24 Group of shojo creators born around 1949.
Counted letter by letter this name comes to 60 — 6 once reduced. The weight sits in “Riyoko”, which carries 39 on its own and reduces to 3.
The 6 governs care, community, and the weight of duty. The reference files it as an obligation. It is a lens rather than a verdict, but it is a consistent one: the 6's pull toward responsibility, care, and the people involved is the pressure under this entry.
Split the name again and the vowels give a Heart's Desire of 9 (reckoning) against a Personality of 6 (responsibility) in the consonants — reckoning underneath, responsibility on the surface. The gap between them is where the subject is most interesting.
The letters give 6; the subject's own figures do not agree. 人格 core is 16, a 7, 総格 total is 30, a 3 and born is 1947, a 3. Where the two part company the reference trusts the figures, because the romanisation is a convenience for readers abroad, while the strokes are what the pen name was actually built from.
The Care asks one thing of everything on it: name the people this was answerable to. The 6 smothers. The same instinct that protects a readership produces the paternalism several of these entries document. The other entries that reduce to 6 are collected on The Care.