The Vast Spread of the Seas
core novel 1994 The Twelve Kingdoms
Record
| First published | 1994 |
|---|---|
| Original language |  JA |
| Work type | novel |
| Canon status | core |
| Reader rating | 4.29 (1,307 ratings, collected 2026-11-06) |
| First-edition ISBN | 9784062551687 |
Synopsis
The Vast Spread of the Seas (Higashi no Wadatsumi, Nishi no Sokai) is the third Twelve Kingdoms novel in Japanese publication order, released by Kodansha in June 1994. It chronologically precedes the first two books and centres on King Shoryu of En, chosen by the kirin Rokuta, and on Atsuyu, the acting regent of Gen province. The kingdom of En was ruined by its previous king; much of the land is wasteland and demons roam the wilds. Shoryu offers hope of recovery but often travels instead of managing the government, frustrating his ministers and provincial officials. Atsuyu threatens rebellion, and Shoryu must change his style of rule to restore peace. The book focuses on court politics and on Shoryu's past and early reign.
Where it sits
- Universe: The Twelve Kingdoms
- Series: The Twelve Kingdoms Novels core; position 6 of 6 in the series' recorded order
- Author: Fuyumi Ono
Notes
- Japanese title Higashi no Wadatsumi, Nishi no Sokai (Kodansha, June 1994); English edition by Tokyopop 2009 as The Vast Spread of the Seas.
- From the series record (The Twelve Kingdoms Novels): Fuyumi Ono's ongoing Japanese-language high fantasy sequence, originally published as prose novels (1992-2019, still ongoing); an anime adaptation exists but is not the source medium. A sixth title once catalogued here, "The Book of the Blue Phoenix," was removed 2026-08-31: no real Twelve Kingdoms volume under this or any similar title exists in the series' actual bibliography, English or Japanese.
Neighbouring works
Publication order and internal chronology are tracked as two separate orderings and are never conflated: a book's place in one says nothing about its place in the other.
- Publication order, within the series The Twelve Kingdoms Novels: position 4 of 6: previous A Thousand Leagues of Wind (1994) · next The Shore in Twilight (2001)
Sources
← The Twelve Kingdoms dossier · All universes
Part of the Library. Fields without an identified source are omitted, never guessed.