Part 3: Mythology Dissection 1
Kamiki Village Characters
In today’s Mythology Dissection, we’ll examine the characters we’ve met in and around Kamiki Village. First up, Nagi and Nami.
Nagi and Nami are based on the Shinto creator gods Izanagi and Izanami. In Shinto, they are the parent gods of most of the major deities of the Shinto pantheon, as well as the creators of the Japanese islands. In Okami, Nagi and Nami appear in the opening cinematic. Nagi is the hero who defeated Orochi 100 years ago, in order to save the life of his love, Nami. Apparently, they got married afterwards, because 100 years later, along comes:
Susano- We just met Susano in yesterday’s update. He’s a descendant of the hero Nagi and the village drunk. He is based on Susanoo, the god of the sea and storms and brother of Amaterasu. You may recall him from the second Mythology Dissection: he’s the jerk who threw a dead pony at his sister and killed one of her attendants.
Susanoo, the god of storms
Susanoo was banished to Yomi, the Shinto underworld, for various shenanigans. When he came to bid farewell to his sister, she suspected a trick (because Susanoo has that sort of reputation). That’s what set off the falling out that culminated in the pony incident. After Amaterasu emerged from hiding, Susanoo was permanently exiled from the Celestial Realm. In time, Susanoo became the ruler of the underworld. Underworld gods in any pantheon are seldom nice people, and Susanoo is no exception. He’s wild, temperamental, and unpredictable. But he did do some good things, which I’ll go into when we get a bit later into the game.
Tau Wedel posted:
The name of Susano's sword, Tōhenboku, is not a mythological name. In the Japanese version, the name is written 闘片撲, which is a made-up compound. The first character means "fight" or "war", the second character can mean "one-sided", and the third character can mean "strike" or "hit", so the overall effect is something like "one-sided battle". But tōhenboku is also a genuine Japanese word, written 唐変木, that means "oaf". So basically, imagine that Susano took lay from "slay", abo from "above", and ut from "cut", and named his sword Layabout.
Characters that have something to say often appear with a thought bubble above their heads, but if you're too far away to see the charater, the bubble shows only a generic face. This face is a henohenomoheji, a childrens drawing of a face made from hiragana characters. The name of the drawing is simply the characters used read off in the order they're drawn.
Nagi’s sword, Tsukuyomi, also appears in Shinto mythology. Tsukuyomi is the god of the moon and brother of Susanoo and Amaterasu. Both he and his siblings were born from the god Izanagi as he washed his face. Amaterasu emerged from his left eye, Tsukuyomi from the right, and Susanoo from his nose. Must be tough to be a god. You can’t so much as clean off your spear or wash your face without creating something!
Kushi, the village’s sake brewer, appears in the tale of Yamata no Orochi as the maiden Kushinada-hime. She’s the daughter of a sake-brewer. That’s all I’ll say about it for now. Just don’t forget that we’re not done with Susano and Kushi yet.
Issun’s mythological analog is Issun-boshi(One-inch Boy), roughly the Japanese equivalent of Tom Thumb. He’s a pint-sized adventurer who gets into all sorts of wacky hijinks.
Issun-boshi
Sakuya originates from Konohanasakuya-hime, the blossom princess, Kami of delicate earthly life, and a descendant of Amaterasu. Her symbol is the cherry blossom. Note that Konohana is the name of Sakuya’s tree.
Those Clover folks sure can recycle!Komuso, that guy with the jar on his head who hangs out midway between the village and Kohohana/The Sacred Deck, is based on the (surprise) Komuso, which means “priest (or monk) of emptiness.” They’re a sect of Buddhist monks who wear baskets over their heads as a symbol of anonymity. The instrument Komuso carries is a shakuhachi, a Japanese bamboo flute. So, he’s not just a weird dude with a jar for a head.
A Komuso monk begging