#setsubun is my favorite Japanese holiday | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

sakurajimastan · 5 months

Text

もっと好きな漢字: Yokai

I wanted to make a special post for some kanji that occupy a similar space in my head, that being yokai. I think many of us are familiar with yokai, even if we don’t realize it, from the fascinating faces of Studio Ghibli to the adorable little creatures of Pokémon and similar works (the most obvious being Yo-kai Watch).

This won’t be a comprehensive look at all yokai, as that’s virtually impossible, but instead an overview of yokai with some well-known examples (and their related kanji).

妖怪 (yōkai)

For the first time, I’m dealing with two kanji at once! The first kanji singularly means bewitching or attractive, while the second means suspicious or mysterious. This I think encapsulates the duality of yokai; they’re both beautiful and dangerous, very charming and unsettling.

Yokai encompasses a wide variety of supernatural creatures, being gods and demigods, good guys and bad guys, helpers and deceivers and everything in between. The breadth of yokai and variations across time and space are virtually infinite. For brevity, we will only be looking at the most popular ones.

狐 (kitsune)

The kanji for kitsune consists of two radicals; the leftmost is often used to indicate animals (and will be reappearing in this list), while the rightmost part, 瓜, means melon, but the reason for using this radical remains a mystery to me. It can straightforwardly mean fox, but in the mythological sense, it can also mean “fox spirits.”

These fox spirits possess supernatural abilities such as shape-shifting and can be venerable figures or conniving tricksters. The nice ones often serve as guardians or messengers for the Shinto god (or goddess) Inari. Perhaps the most iconic feature of the kitsune is their many tails, of which they can have up to nine, symbolizing their age and/or power.

狸 (tanuki)

Tanuki uses the same leftmost radical as kitsune, with the rightmost 里, meaning village, deriving its onyomi reading. The tanuki and kitsune have other similarities, as both can shape-shift and can be seen as trickster characters. These iconic creatures are all over Japanese pop culture, from Studio Ghibli’s Pom Poko to the wonderful Tanooki Mario.

It’s worth noting that tanuki, much like kitsune, are based off of a real animal, the Japanese raccoon dog of the same name. I understand that they populate parts of Europe and Asia, but we don’t have them in America, so I think they’re neat! As such, the yokai of tanuki can also be referred to as 化け狸 (pronounced bakedanuki), with bake alluding to shape-shifting.

鬼 (oni)

Oni can be roughly translated to demon, devil, or ogre, and indeed they are typically large ogre-like creatures with horns protruding from their heads and skin that is red, black, or other colors. They also tend to don a loincloth made of tiger skin and a club. Traditionally, they are portrayed as brutishly strong, as well as murderous and even cannibalistic.

To me, oni feels the most omnipresent in Japanese culture out of all these yokai. They’re a frequent feature of Japanese architecture, they’re central to rituals for 節分 (setsubun), a holiday celebrating the first day of spring, and they’re prominent in many Japanese folktales such as Momotaro and the legend of Shuten-dōji.

河童 (kappa)

The kappa is one of my personal favorites, a yokai that makes its home in rivers and is usually about the size of a human child, hence the kanji meaning “river child.” They are typically green and possess the characteristics of birds and turtles. A distinct feature of theirs is a bowl of water on their heads; if the water spills out, they become weaker.

To me, kappa are interesting because they can be quite vicious and even murderous, but they can also be tricked or bargained with. While they are sighted as a cause for children drowning in rivers, they can also be swayed by a delicious crunchy cucumber. This is where a type of sushi roll with cucumbers called 河童巻 (kappamaki) gets its name.

天狗 (tengu)

It is alleged that tengu may be derived from the Chinese word tiāngǒu (written the same as tengu), a dog-like creature that evilly devours the moon as a stand-in for a lunar eclipse. The tengu, however, is a creature with bird and human characteristics. It is often described as goblin-like along with having a long nose and feathery wings.

Tengu reside over mountains and forests and are sometimes said to embody the spirits of warriors. Often malignant, tengu may disguise themselves as ascetic monks who dwell in the mountains, or 山伏 (yamabushi), to lead people astray. But modern incarnations sometimes give the tengu a more protective, albeit still menacing, role.

#langblr #language #studyblr #studying #japan #japanese #kanji #japanese culture #japanese yokai #mythology and folklore #demon slayer #anime

6 notes · View notes

mabsart · 3 years

Photo

👹〜節分〜👹

(Setsubun)

#cait sith #barret wallace #reeve tuesti #marlene wallace #ff7 #setsubun is my favorite Japanese holiday #i could eat ehoumaki every day

32 notes · View notes

lunawings · 5 years

Text

Young of Prism #08 Joji

Read the Original Japanese: http://www.pashplus.jp/anime/128837/?body_dsp=1 Previous: Minato

Translator’s Notes: This story references both the Japanese holiday of Setsubun, and the traditional Japanese story of Momotaro. To explain them as briefly as possible, Setsubun involves throwing beans at demons to drive them out and bring in good luck, and Momotaro is about a boy born from a peach who offers sweet dumplings to some animals so they will come with him to fight demons on an island. Since Setsubun is in February, this story was off season when it first came out for Joji’s birthday in September. However, the online version was released in February. I don’t know if that was planned or not, but it’s neat. The Momotaro story is related to Joji because it originated from Okayama, where Joji is from. The English translation I see most often is “Peach Boy” (momo = peach and taro = a old timey popular boy’s name ending) which is why Joji thought it sounded delicious. Also the foods Joji likes are very specific local specialties. (I generalized it a bit. So many references.)

<#08 Joji>

“More!”

Joji was born at 4646 grams, and, as soon as he could walk he already knew this word well.

“More!”

It began with milk. Then he moved on to baby food, peaches, sardinella sushi, ramen noodles, red bean buns, pork cutlet bowls with demiglace sauce, fried noodles...

“More!”

He’d eat and eat until he could take no more, then sleep it off soundly. The round body he was born with grew ever chubbier.

* * * *

One day in February, at preschool.

“Everyone, today is Setsubun!”

The teacher handed out small bags of beans divided up for the children.

“Today a bad demon will come, so we have to drive him off by throwing these beans... Hey, HEY!”

“More!”

“Augh! Those were for throwing!”

Joji had already gobbled down all of his beans before his teacher could even finish her sentence.

”You better not eat them this time.”

But of course Joji had no intention of listening and quickly his hand found its way inside the bag again.

“Eheheh.”

“RAAAAWR! The bad little child who has been eating my beans... Is it you?!?!”

”Eek!”

There was a thunderous roar. It was just then that the principal appeared wearing a demon mask. The children in the classroom suddenly froze.

”I’m coming to get you! GRRRRR!!!”

The principal was dressed as a red demon twirling a foam club. The children shrieked as he came to attack them.

“WAAAH!!”

“I’m gonna eat you up!”

“No! I want my mama!!!”

”Everyone, quickly! Throw the beans!”

“Eeeeek!”

The children all began to run around in circles throwing the beans as they cried out. All of them except for one.

“Hey there little fellow... Hand over those beans!!”

“I will... destroy you....”

“Hm?”

Quivering where he stood, Joji began to take out the beans he had tried to hide in his mouth...

“I will... DESTROY YOU!”

“Woah... Woah... Ohhh!”

With a glint in his eyes, Joji began to throw the beans with incredible force. And not just his own beans, but the beans of all the other children as well which he scooped up and threw once more.

“It’s... the real Momotaro....”

“...Momotaro?”

The red demon slipped on the beans, fell on his bum, and surrendered.

“Momotaro... sounds delicious....”

Joji had never heard this name before, but it sure sounded good.

“Momotaro-san is a boy who went to defeat the demons with his followers,” explained the teacher kindly.

“Followers?” asked Joji, was was now sweaty and out of breath.

“That’s right. He had a dog, a monkey, and a pheasant.

“What do followers do?”

”Hmm, well... Momotaro-san’s followers fought beside him and listened to everything he had to say.” Joji’s pineapple-yellow eyes were sparking.

“I want my own followers like Momotaro!”

* * * * *

On that day Joji went home without playing with his favorite building blocks nor making his favorite mud pies. His afternoon snack was his favorite sweet melon dumplings. He loved them so much he could barely help drooling just at the thought of them.

“Ahhh... no, I can’t! I can’t!”

Joji bit down on his lip and shook his head. Taking his sweet dumplings with him, he ran from his room. This was the first time Joji had ever held back from eating something.

“I’ll give you a sweet dumpling, so become my follower!”

But the dog Poochie from next door just jumped up and howled at the promise of sweet dumplings.

“Be my follower!”

Joji’s stuffed gorilla could only play the tambourine.

“Follower!”

Joji did his best to warm up the egg he got from the refrigerator, but it did not hatch into a pheasant.

“Darnit! No one will be my follower!”

Sulking, Joji began to pick at his leftover sweet buns.

“Someday I will definitely get followers...!”

While his dreams and aspirations still running wild through his head, somehow Joji managed to fall asleep.

“Oh ho, the little one is asleep again.”

“Haha. He looks like he’s dreaming about something fun.”

In his dreams Joji was surrounded by followers of all colors, and was handing out his sweet melon dumplings to them as he walked along.

Next: Hiro

#king of prism #young of prism #joji takadanobaba #so at one point i believe i read that joji is not his real name #because jin renamed the shuffle members #he's referred to as joji in the story but no one actually calls him that name #they just call him little guy etc

37 notes · View notes

zukalations · 7 years

Text

WINGS - February 2017

WINGS is a Kageki feature where a few young actresses answer questions about themselves and Takarazuka. It’s a good way to get to know people who are turning up in shinjin kouens (although appearances are not entirely limited to junior actresses).

WINGS - February 17

1. Favorite Takarazuka shows 2. Favorite ______ (insert here) 3. Charm point 4. A challenge you want onstage 5. A challenge you want offstage 6. Something you want people to notice about you onstage, personal PR appeal

Shiratori Yuriya, Star Troupe Debut: 2010, The Scarlet Pimpernel Recent prominent roles: Samurai THE FINAL (2016), the Grey Heron; Om Shanti Om (2017), Shabana 1. A Song For Kingdoms, The Scarlet Pimpernel 2. Season - Autumn; Scenery - Audience seats lit up by penlights; Music - K-pop 3. Dance. I concentrate on dancing with awareness all the way down to my fingers and toes. 4. I want to take on various roles. I would be especially happy if I had a chance to play someone eccentric or a villain. 5. Naginata*, since in Samurai THE FINAL I play a member of the Aizu Women's Army and I really enjoyed fighting with a naginata. 6. I'll never forget my feelings of gratitude, and from now on I want to sparkle as a unique, unparallelled musumeyaku in Star Troupe!

Setohana Mari, Cosmos Troupe Debut: 2010, The Scarlet Pimpernel Recent prominent roles: Elisabeth (2016), shinjin kouen Sopie; L'Aigle aux Deux Tetes (2016), Queen Mother (also Paparazzi woman E) 1. The Moon Troupe revue Le Bolero Rouge 2. Bath method - I pour in a ton of natural salt before getting in; Personality aspect - I flare up quickly, but also calm down easily; Disney characters - All the villains 3. My eyes. 4. I want to always be in pursuit of improvement so that I can make my roles so real people think I'm possessed by the spirit of the characters! My goal is to be a chameleon actress! 5. I want to take time to confront myself. Often things I realize about myself suddenly, like 'Oh, that's how it is!' turn out to be really really significant! 6. No matter where I am on stage I'll be using my specialty 'Eye Power Beam' so my all means come to a Cosmos Troupe performance and experience it <3 I'll be waiting at the theatre <3

Kashiro Aoi, Moon Troupe Debut: 2011, A Second Fortuitous Meeting Recent prominent roles: Nobunaga (2016), shinjin kouen Gnecchi-Soldo Organtino; Le Roi Arthur (2016), Sir Kay 1. Elisabeth, Ocean's 11 2. Yearly event - My family's traditional Setsubun**; Time - 10pm; New Year's dish - herring roe cooked in soy sauce 3. My small mouth...I guess. My classmates often tease me like 'your mouth is so tiny!!' but I feel like it'd be nice if I could make that a charm point somehow... 4. I was able to do pantomime in a small theatre performance, so even though this is a really impertinent desire I'd love to do that in the Grand Theatre one day... I'd also like to try out another new stage art like that. 5. Martial arts!! When I was little, since I was the youngest one I'd always lose when I fought with my big sisters, I thought 'if only I could win just once!!' (laughs) I still have that desire for strength (laughs) 6. I want to completely transform myself scene to scene. Please come to see the many faces of Kashiro!!

Kazama Yuno, Moon Troupe Debut: 2014, Takarazuka Odori Recent prominent roles: A-En - Asami Jun cast (2015), Daniel; Nobunaga (2016), shinjin kouen Yasuke 1. A Magician's Misfortunes, Apasionado!! 2. School topic - P.E.; Season - The end of summer as it transitions into Autumn; Otokoyaku shout - 'Uooooh~!!' 3. My long eyelashes. I'm good at tonguetwisters. 4. I'd like to play a tyrant. I want to brainwash everyone and make them do my bidding (laughs) 5. I've loved anime for ages, so I'd like to try voiceover work sometime. 6. This is my 3rd year as an otokoyaku, and while I am still unskilled, my affection for the stage and my LOVE for being an otokoyaku won't lose to anyone else!! I'll work hard to become a dazzling otokoyaku!!

* Naginata is a traditional Japanese polearm that was considered a woman’s weapon.

** A holiday celebrated on Feb 3, Setsubun involves ritually purifying the house by throwing soybeans at ‘demons’ (often a family member in a demon mask).

#takarazuka #article translation #troupe: hoshi #troupe: senka #troupe: tsuki #sienne: shiratori yuriya #sienne: setohana mari #sienne: kashiro aoi #sienne: kazama yuno

12 notes · View notes

davidinosaka-blog · 7 years

Text

March 15

Hi again! I’m taking a bit more time between posts now, so I’ll try my best to keep the quality up. I’m going back about a month ago, starting bright and early at morning track practice. This was my first one because no one told me there were morning practices before then, but everyone came on that first day to say goodbye to the students leaving for foreign exchange. Every year, one sophomore age homeroom goes on a year long exchange to Canada. That’s the same program that my current host brother, Ryosuke, came home from in January. In track club, there was only one person going: a really outgoing girl named Ami. After morning practice, we took a last team photo with her, then went on to our normal day. The whole program is amazing to me; each homeroom has about 40 students in it, and for the most part each student goes to a different school in Canada, which is so many! The teacher in charge of making sure all of the students get to their school alright is Mr. Okada, who normally translates for our Japanese history class. Since he was gone on Wednesday, Mr. Mizou showed us some old Japanese artwork. It was strange at first, because he showed us paintings of hell and diseases, but it kind of fit with our topic that religion was very important? I’m not quite sure how it was related, but he also showed us the first Japanese manga, which depicted samurai as rabbits and commoners as frogs, and had them doing sumo, riding horses, and wearing kimonos. Again, not sure how it was related to class, but it was funny. The next day in our home economics class, we made hamburgers and apple pie, which felt pretty American, but then in our next class our teacher made my classmates and I clean our room by hand, which felt veeery foreign, cuz I don’t like cleaning so much. It wasn’t actually that bad, and we messed around a lot as we were working. My teacher also explained to me that it’s a sort of good luck thing, to clean your room yourself towards the end of the school year. My last class that day was PE, which we used to have with the class that went to Canada, but since they left, my host brother and his homeroom joined us. It was especially fun because they all speak almost fluent English, so they would yell and curse at each other as loud as they wanted and no one else understood. The next day my host mom packed me a pretty awesome lunchbox, but in particular she packed green beans. I have those a lot in the US, but I hadn’t had them since coming to Japan, so I kind of felt a bit homesick. Who would’ve thought I would miss something as small as that? After lunch we had volleyball, which I really like, but that day in particular was awesome. All we did were matches, and in our second one I served the first 15 points straight! My team was really hype about it, and eventually the coach came over and joined the other team to help them out. In general it was an awesome day, and a huge confidence booster for the class. After dinner at home, we celebrated a festival called Setsubun, which is supposed to keep out the bad spirits from your home. The way to celebrate it, though, is to have someone wear a mask and try to come inside while being pelted with soybeans. We all took turns, and it was really fun! The next night, Saturday, we had a welcome home party for Ryosuke and his classmates at home, and it was great! Like I said earlier, everyone knew English, and they knew a lot about American and Canadian culture, like twerking and rap songs. A few people brought cameras and took candids the whole night, which was really funny. The next week I went to monday morning, and I realized that the first time with Ami was exceptionally well attended, because at this practice I was one of only three people to show up. We did our thing, though, and it was easier to talk when there were less people around. On Tuesday and Wednesday both, I spent a lot of time after practice hanging around and talking to people. Once it was with the sprinters, and they were all super excited about speaking English to me and singing American songs. The other day I talked with the distance team about the summer trip to Okinawa, and they told me a bunch of different foods to try while I’m there. They’re going to England and Canada instead for a month to work on their English, so we also talked about the differences between American and British English. But the next day, Thursday, was my favorite day since coming to Japan. We had a half day, and after school one of my friends from math invited me to go and grab lunch with him and two girls. My host mom gave me the thumbs up, so we went and ate in Tennoji, the big station near the school, then saw Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children. It was really fun, and it was really easy to talk about this and that. After the movie I went straight to my violin lesson, where we worked on vibrato for the first time. Then after the lesson, I went out to dinner with my teacher, his wife, and my host sister at a grilled beef place. I took more time to eat than everyone else since I ate more, so everyone else just drank for the last bit of the meal. Then we went on to another restaurant, this time Italian, for salads. Everyone else said they were too full to eat very much, though, so again, I ate while everyone else drank. My teacher and my host sister both got pretty tipsy. My teacher, Mr. Matsuda, alternated between roasting Korea and complimenting Azumi and me on our instruments. My host sister didn’t do anything as dramatic as that, but she nodded off on the train and was hiccupping a little. It was a really fun way to end an awesome day. The next day was a holiday, so Ryosuke and I played each other in Super Smash Bros on the Wii, then he went to his soccer practice and I went to check out Kyuhoji park. I wanted to find a track, or at least some kind of lockers to put things in while I run, but there weren’t any. It was still a fun trip out to the park. I had only been once before, with my first host brother Kenta, so I got to explore more this time. The next day I went back to the Terakawa family to stay the night. I went on Saturday morning, and was picked up at Yao station by my host dad, Yu and Rina. The car ride back was fun, seeing the same neighborhood where I used to live, and talking with Yu and my host dad was nice. I realized how much my language skills had improved compared to the last time we had seen each other, so we were able to talk more than when we lived together. Once we got home, I met my host mom again, and we talked about how the Tsuchida family is to me. I sort of knew that we would talk about it, since it was a big change for both of us, but I hadn’t really thought of how it would feel to talk with my first host mom about how well I was doing with my second host family. While my host mom worked on lunch, (quesadillas!) Yu, Rina, and I kicked and threw some balloons around the living room, just like when I lived with them. Kenta’s friend came over again, as well as a family friend of the Terakawa’s, who I met on my first weekend. We met up together at Tennoji, ate lunch together, and went to get my commuter pass. His English is very good, and we talked about how I’d been doing since I arrived. The last time we had seen each other, I hadn’t been able to make a complete sentence in Japanese, so he was really interested in how much I had learned. We had a good time together until the late afternoon, then everyone who came for lunch went on home. We had some down time after that, and it really didn’t feel any different from when I lived there. We just sat around in the living room, watching Rina’s cartoons and talking during commercials. My host mom needed something from the convenience store for dinner, so Yu and I walked a few blocks over to buy it. When we walked out the front door, though, Rina started crying and throwing a fit that we could here through the open window. Yu just looked at me and gave me one of those “She’s three and I have to put up with this 24/7” looks, and we went and did our thing. When we came back home, though, my host mom told me that Rina had been crying because she thought I wasn’t coming back. I hadn’t thought of that, and I went through a lot of feelings and thoughts, like did she cry that much when I moved? It was a strange feeling, but she was fine when I came home, so we all put it out of our minds. Dinner was okonomiyaki, the cabbage and bacon pancake-ish dish. After that, we all took our baths and showers, then it was time for bed for Rina. She and my host mom went back to their room, but a few minutes later they were back, and my host mom said Rina wanted to stay up until I went to bed. It was pretty early, but I didn’t want to argue, so we went back and had an early night. The next morning nothing special happened. I had the same breakfast as I used to on normal school days, then the Terakawa’s drove me back to the Tsuchida’s house. The goodbye wasn’t bad at all, in terms of emotions, so I think that was a little bit of closure after the whole email thing. Then school on Monday was back to normal. After classes, my host family took me to go see a saxophone concert. The group was half Japanese college students and half Taiwanese college students, and Shinji, my host sister’s boyfriend, was one of the principal players. It was a great performance, and once it finished I found out that was the first time they had played together. Before they had been practicing separately, in Taiwan and Japan, but from the performance I never would have thought it. The next day was Valentine’s Day, which is very different from in the USA. In Japan on Valentine’s Day, only girls give chocolates. There’s a separate holiday called White Day that happens a month later when guys give gifts back to the girls they received chocolate from. I actually didn’t get very many from my homeroom, but when I went to my math class, almost everyone had something small to give to me. I was a little worried about White Day and remembering who I needed to give gifts to, but White Day falls during Spring Break, so I don’t think there’ll be much pressure to get chocolates to everyone. After school I checked Instagram, and I saw that track was starting up in Austin! Time really is flying by. I’ve realized now that once school starts up after break, I’ll only be in Japan for three more months. It seems crazy to me that I’m already that close to heading home, and even crazier to think that I’ve been in Japan for almost 7 months already. Anyway. Back to the story of my life. I had a really good day on the day after Valentine’s Day. First, as a disclaimer, I 100% meant to go to track practice. Was not planning on skipping. But, you know, life happens. We had an assignment in homeroom to create a poster about a college you want to go to, then choose which poster we thought was the best put-together. It was due Thursday morning, and the posters were in the classroom, so I had planned on scanning through them and filling out my ballot before going down to practice. It took me a while to read the posters, though, but my homeroom talked me through what the tougher ones said, and gradually our conversation kind of drifted away from school. I ended up completely missing practice, and talking with my homeroom until 6:30 when the building starts closing for the night. It was awesome to spend time outside of class with my friends, and I met a bunch of new people, too. The next morning, Bain and I were supposed to join a Skype call with Bain’s school back home and all the students interested in coming to Japan next year, but when we joined, there were no students. No one had applied to come. We talked with the head of the program at Bain’s school, and with a Japanese teacher about keeping up Japanese once we come home. In PE, we were wrapping up the school year, so we ran the 1500. My host brother, Ryosuke, and one of my friends from math, Takeo, had been talking trash to me and saying they were going to beat me, so we had a pretty serious race. I want to give a shoutout to Coach Carrozza, because I whooped ‘em. It was actually pretty slow, and I actually didn’t win by that much, but still. I just wanted to give a shoutout to Coach. The next day, Friday, we had our last volleyball and guitar classes, so we played matches and had a playing test, respectively. Both were really fun, and it was a little sad, because I don’t know if I’ll have the classes again next year, or if I’ll see my classmates again. On Saturday, Shinji and Goro both came over, and we played a giant game of UNO and another playing card game. We had a lot of fun, even though I got completely run over in both games. I also went and got my haircut again, which normally wouldn’t be big news, but again, I’m in Japan, so everything is big news. In particular, I went to the same barbershop as last time, which hasn’t happened until now. I even had the same barber! The next week at school was the last one before finals started, so classes were for the most part laid back. In music we watched these home video type movies, and our teacher played different soundtracks over it to show how music changed the feeling of a movie. Then he showed a different movie, that he explained as his recreation of the Terminator movies. It was very funny, in particular to see his personality outside of class. Our last judo class was as lit as always. I had to finish up the required number of matches, so I had to do 5 in the class period. The guys that I had talked with last time about nicknames cheered me on during my matches, and chanted USA pretty loudly whenever I did something good. It was a great way to go out, if a little embarrassing. I went running on my own after school that day, and the area at Nagai park in front of the stadium was packed with college aged guys doing skateboard and BMX bike tricks. They were blasting American rap music over speakers while they were at it, and it was really cool to watch while I warmed up. I’ve seen some small groups of friends messing around before, but it looked like a coordinated event this time. The next few days were pretty slow and relaxed before exams, but on Thursday when I was at Nagai, I ran into some guys throwing a frisbee while I was cooling down, and they let me join and throw with them for a little while. It was pretty cool; we met on the street, did our thing for 10 minutes or so, then said goodbye and went our separate ways. Friday and Saturday’s exams went well; I have my Saturday math exam back and I aced it! Once my exam finished on Saturday, my host mom, Goro, my host grandmother, and I went to the plum gardens at Osaka Castle. I was kind of dazed after my exam, so I wasn’t listening to the conversation in the car as we were driving, but at a stoplight, my host grandmother tapped me on the soldier and asked me how people in America are buried after they die. I was really confused and it showed, and Goro explained that they had been talking about if a zombie apocalypse could happen in Japan. He told me that in Japan most people are cremated after they die, so there aren’t any bodies to become zombies, and my host grandmother had been wondering if it was more likely to happen in America. I told them what I could, and we kept talking about it until we got to the castle. The plum blossoms were beautiful, and I got to take lots of pictures. The garden was very spacious, and lots of people were walking around just enjoying the view. The rest of exam week went by pretty uneventfully. I also got back my Japanese and Physics exams, 97% and 95%, and on Sunday Bain, Takeo, and I went to Nagai to throw a frisbee around and avoid studying. It was really fun, and it was a really cool place right in front of the stadium. We accidentally got the frisbee caught in a tree twice, and once threw it over a security fence, but we got it back every time. On Friday I went to Namba, the big downtown area, with Takeo and Isoyama, who are both in my math and home economics classes, and with Bain. We went sort of window shopping in the morning and walked down the big streets, then went to the best restaurant ever. It was a pizza, pasta, and curry all-you-can-eat for $7, with no time limit. Best. Deal. Ever. All four of us went back for thirds, and we might have had more if we hadn’t been planning on going to Round One. It’s an entertainment place, with games like an arcade, and three floors of indoor sport courts. We played tennis, volleyball, badminton, basketball, and even went rollerblading. There was also archery, segway lessons, and ping-pong, but we ran out of time before we could try it all out. It was awesome, but the closest one to the school is four subway stops away, so it’s a little inconvenient to get to, but I’m definitely going to try to go back again with friends. Now it’s getting into spring break, so the days are kind of disconnected. One day, we went to see another one of Shinji’s concerts. This one was special too, because all of the pieces were written by one British conductor named Philip Sparke, who came to Japan to conduct the concert. It was very interesting to hear so many pieces from one man’s mind, because you could kind of see how he viewed the world through it. For example, the last piece was called Symphony of Colors, or something along those lines. There were five pieces named after five different colors, and each one had its own personality attached to it. There were also several non-traditional instruments throughout the whole performance. I also noticed some of the cultural differences between Mr. Sparke’s conducting and what the performers were expecting. After each movement, the conductor pointed out the people who had a strong presence in the movement and had them bow, alone. At first, none of the Japanese performers were expecting it, and there was a bit of confusion about what was going on. By the end of the night everything was flawless, but the way Mr. Sparke left the stage was really surprising. He made a big show of saying thank you and bowing, then left the stage with everyone standing. He came back out a few seconds later, holding up the number one and mouthing “One more?” Then, in the middle of the last piece, he stopped conducting, walked around looking over the principal player’s shoulder at his music, then sitting in an empty chair in the percussion section. The song ended and the audience started applauding, and he just stood up, waved once, and stepped off stage to let the performers take the attention. I had a really fun time watching it. The next day, my host family woke up early to go spend the day driving around. Our first stop was an all-you-can-eat strawberry farm. It was amazing. We could walk around the greenhouses, pick whichever strawberries we wanted, and take as much time as we wanted. After that we went to this river in the next prefecture. It’s pretty famous because the riverbanks are over a hot spring, so if you dig out a hole, it’ll fill with clean, hot water. We tried to dig our own, but the process was taking a long time, so we used one that was already made. It was really cool, and we messed around skipping rocks and crossing the river to get to other springs. A few days later as I was about to head home from Nagai, I met these three guys who were finishing up their own workout. One of them, Kaoru, speaks really good English, and he and I talked for a little about this and that. We followed each other on Instagram, and since then we’ve met up once to workout, and Kaoru wants to go to a Gold’s Gym with me, then go get Mexican food. Honestly sounds pretty fun, but I’ve only met him twice, so I’m not sure if it’ll happen. On Wednesday, we had our last half-day of classes, and now we’re in a month long spring break! To sort of kick off the break, Ryosuke took me to a bathhouse in our neighborhood that has a “denki-furo,” which literally means “electric bath.” I was very skeptical about it, mostly because it has “electric” in the name, but Ryosuke sort of peer-pressured me into it. It was weeeeiiird. Like, it didn’t really hurt, but I could definitely feel the charge in my muscles. We both chickened out after, like, 2 minutes, then went back to the normal baths, but hey! I tried it. The next day I had track practice at Nagai Track for the third time ever, and it went really well! This was the first time I had on spikes all year, and it felt pretty good. My first time ever at Nagai was really bad; I came dead last in an 800 meter time trial and was almost in tears most of the way home. This time, though, was the exact opposite: I was either second or third for every interval, and coming home I had that one line from Bounce Back stuck in my head. The next day I went with Azumi to go see Moana in Umeda. It was opening day in Japan, and I had been seeing ads for it all over, and it was really good! After the movie we had dinner, then Azumi showed me some places where she thought I could get good pictures. On the 13th, I went to Universal Studios Japan! I had made plans with Misaki and Hana, who both went to Canada a few years ago and helped me get adjusted to Japan, and with Harada, one of my friends in my homeroom class. We met up before the gates opened and stayed all day, almost until the gates closed. We rode some of the big rides, but the lines were so long we couldn’t really do them all. While we walked and waited, though, we talked a lot! Communication wasn’t that hard, either, but by the end of the day I was pretty fried. It was an incredible experience! And finally, yesterday we went to hear Azumi’s graduation piece. She had been practicing the same piece since I moved here in December, and yesterday she finally performed it! It went really well, and tomorrow she’ll leave to go to New Caledonia as a graduation trip. One of my host mom’s piano students came with us to Azumi’s recital. I don’t know his actual name, but he told me to call him Boss. My host mom told me that when he was in his 20’s he was really cool and hot, but now he’s in his early forties, and even though he’s not what he once was, he still is called Boss by his friends. He was really cool, funny, and very easy to talk to. Aaaand that’s a wrap! I’m sorry it’s been so long since I’ve written, and I’ll try to stay on top of it from now on. Love y’all!

6 notes · View notes

demonslayedher · 2 years

Note

Hi Buri-senpai! What legend or piece of folklore associated with kny would you call your favourite?

This is like being asked my favorite movie, it makes me suddenly feel like I have never seen any movies, ever. A big reason I got so sucked in to KnY is because I love so much of the folklore its playing with, I really appreciate that Gotouge works more with themes as opposed to direct interpretations of specific folklore characters. I find it so interesting how even though you can read deeply into specific legends, recurrent folklore and mythological themes tend to get more at the heart of common human experiences, and Gotouge's taken them and made a unique take, creating a new legend out of familiar material. This gator is clearly very knowledgeable and plays subtle homage to a lot of existing folklore, but I like that I can read KnY as its own thing instead of comparing its use of existing folklore characters to other iterations.

So that said, I have a really, really, really weak spot for tengu and oni. (Maybe interesting stuff to learn below, but mostly fangirling, I apologize for typos in advance.)

With tengu, it's the general idea of them and the crow-like imagery and how they can be both good or bad figures (from a human perspective) but ultimately will do as they capriciously please, but the fact that so many of them are mysterious teachers of young heroes? I never get tired of that. I love that we get tengu influence in everything from Urokodaki to a handful of Hantengu's designs. They're just so clever but have such clear personality flaws in how much they know their own cleverness.

One of my favorite Tengu legends is Kurama Tengu training Ushiwakamaru (young Minamoto no Yoshitsune), and in the Kimetsu-Kyoto collab I was thrilled to see Urokodaki hanging out with the new giant Tengu mask at the entrance to Kurama temple.

There is, of course, the mixing of Sabito (a kitsune figure, yay for more fun folklore) with a Nara legend of Tengu too, which is too close to be seen as anything but homage.

As for oni, while I stick with the official "demon" translation for them in the context of KnY (especially since their deeds are pretty clearly defined as evil), I've always had preference for the translation "ogre" instead. They're not always explicitly devilish, sometimes they're just oafs (like the story of the Red Oni and Blue Oni, in which the Red Oni wants to be friends with people but people are afraid of it, so his buddy the Blue Oni gets an idea to attack the people and have Red Oni stop him so that the people will befriend him, but this later means Blue Oni is all alone) or people who had an excess of passion of some kind (as you see in tons of Noh dramas--and yeah, it's usually a woman). Casting the oni out has been a constant in everything from Setsubun holiday customs to folklore like Momotaro setting out to defeat the barbarians (which, yes, can be read as non-Japanese people; and as I've heard, in at least one Okayama version of the legend Momotaro is the bully). Not very fun looking topics, and you could choose to read the above and be offended by the inherent misogyny and xenophobia, but I've always found it funny and owned it, like, "you got that right, be afraid" and been in touch with my own inner-oni since a really long time ago. : 3 I think the classic oni with tiger-striped clothes and ox-like horns is a really cute design (and the fact that this is associated with the "kimon" (oni-gate) direction to the northeast between the Ox and Tiger directions is something I find kind of hilarious) and I've borrowed it for myself long before drawing my "Fanfic Monster" persona that way, and have said things like "I'm being an ogre today" when in a bad mood. Someone at work introduced me to a new hire last week as "oni-kyoukan" (drill sargent) and I was like, ": D I've been recognized for my inner-oni! <3" even though it's just a common phrase. Since I've always had a really soft-spot for them it makes me very attune to any folklore about them, so even when studying Noh in college I wasn't one to think "clearly so many of them are women because these are written by men (plus the influences of tons of misogynistic Buddhist theology)!" so much as "awwwwww, its prop is a little mallet! It's gonna donk someone on the head with that, teeheehee!" Ahh, but hannya masks? Very cool, have always been a fan.

Despite that the Chinese origin of the character used for oni (鬼) can be used in a very wide context but generally for distasteful, devilish characters or for cursing something, and despite how it can also be used in Japan in a very wide context for either mythological creatures with a certain horned image or for evil more generally (especially evil stemming from an excess of passions, be it anything from lust to hate to even sloth), it's still something that stays kind of distinct from the more general cast of youkai (妖怪), Japan's rather colorful cast of homegrown folklore monsters.

I've had lots and lots and lots of conversations with other nerds about how best to translate these sorts of things, because you're likely to find all kinds of translations out there, and nothing ever quite fits every flavor of the nuances, especially in how any of these things may be anywhere on a scale of "horrendous, loathsome evil" to "big dumb oaf just minding his own business," but these are some translations I prefer: Tengu: a kind of goblin (but only to introduce what it is, Tengu should just be called Tengu whenever possible because of their uniqueness) Kitsune: fox (because the fox as a clever mythological figure is pretty accessible in many cultures) Tanuki: Tanuki (because it is a unique species and "Raccoon Dog" tells us nothing helpful whatsoever) Youkai: Ghouls/goblins (because "demon" seems too evil for a lot of the innocuous ones, and any specific Youkai should be introduced by name, unless it's something like Tsuchigumo being introduced in context as the single villain in a work of fiction instead of in the context of other youkai, in which case telling an audience this is "Ground Spider" at least in introducing it will be helpful. It's much easier to picture Minamoto no Raikou and his cohorts defeating a giant spider than some random monster. That said, some creatures from similar settings like Nue fall into the youkai category, and Nue can only be described as like a chimera, and if you're going to call it that you might as well as call dragons and Kirin chimera too (I'm okay with calling Kirin unicorns, even if they are only as similar to unicorns are as Eastern dragons are to Western dragons). Yuurei: Ghosts (because these are more specifically the left-behind souls of dead humans, as opposed to youkai whom don't really fit this description and whom I don't like to translate as "ghosts") Oni: Ogre (because it captures a certain oaf-ishness related to the term, even if they are indeed evil they perhaps aren't much trouble as long as you don't run into one, they'll probably pommel you if you do) Akuma: Demon (only because evil is right there in the name, 悪魔)

Taking this back to Kimetsu no Yaiba, these are some reasons I really like the use of oni as a theme: 1. A danger lurking out in the unknown (always a good folklore backbone)

2. A concrete reason why they are dangerous (oni gotta eat!)

3. A clear power structure showing that weaker oni are scared into obeying authority figures, they aren't necessarily evil by choice

4. Anyone has it in them to be a demon, even if they've been turned against their will by Muzan, it allows their passions to run unabated (and reinforcing a recurrent theme among the heroes, self-mastery): Hunger (obvious) Fear (acting out and hurting people because they fear Muzan) Hatred (for example, Gyutaro resents other people who have life better than him) Sadism (for example, Enmu toying with his meals' minds) Nihilism (or rather, an unhealthy amount of giving in to that mindset and seeing the world as meaningless, like Douma) Self-pity (Hantengu) Pain from shattered dreams (Kyogai is such a writer, am I right) Pain from betrayal (for example, Rui) Desire for immortality (MUUUUUZAAAAAAAAN.) On that note, even Nezuko's passion to protect her family shows itself in violence, and self-mastery is the only reason she hasn't lost herself to the pure rush of passion. It reminds me of how in many philosophies, even an excess of positive emotions can be detrimental, and people who follow those philosophies are instead encouraged to not given into any emotion too strongly. Likewise, the lack of a virtue can be bad, but an excess of it becomes a vice.

I don't have evidence for this, but my sense is that some of the most powerful oni, or the ones who had the greatest potential as oni, were the ones who had the strongest emotions to get swept up in--even you, Douma, so swept up in your disregard for people and assuming that there is no such thing as goodness.

A N Y W A Y, back on topic: 5. I'm really partial to demons in this series who have horns as part of their character design, because that's classic, but it's interesting that it's not necessary. While there's not particular mythology regarding oni's eyes, that's the giveaway in KnY's version of oni. Even though like most dangerous creatures of the unknown it would make sense that they are found in darkness, the sunlight allergy is a KnY thing which makes a very strong world-building element.

6. They really can fall anywhere on the scale of evil, just like humans can (they're just more unfairly enslaved by their passions, as listed above). This is why its makes sense for Tanjiro tohave sympathy for them as he would for people. 7. Some of the throwaway ones just act like ogres, okay

And I think I've run my fingers mindlessly on the keyboard long enough to conclude this post here. ROAR.

#kny nerdery #kind of #and just a smidge of #kny fandom theories and meta

31 notes · View notes