Part 11: Mythology Dissection 1

Brush Gods Yumigami and Kazegami



Yumigami- the rabbit, god of the moon, “yumi” means crescent moon.

Rabbit traits: Gracious, good friend, kind, sensitive, soft-spoken, amiable, elegant, reserved, cautious, artistic, thorough, tender, self-assured, shy, astute, compassionate, lucky, flexible. Can be moody, detached, superficial, self-indulgent, opportunistic, stubborn.

The rabbit crossed the river by jumping from stone to stone. She almost didn’t make it across. Just past the halfway point, she slipped and fell in. Fortunately, she was able to grab hold of a floating log, which washed her to ashore on the other side; she placed fourth.

Bunearigami

Rabbits are associated with the moon in Japanese culture. According to folklore, the shadows on the moon are in the shape of a rabbit pounding out mochi with a kine- a large wooden mallet. Mochi is a food made from glutinous rice, pounded into a paste and molded into cakes and pastries. Its taste and texture is a bit similar to fondant. I’ve only eaten it wrapped around balls of green tea ice cream (which is freaking delicious, by the way).

When Yumigami appears, she starts making mochi with Amaterasu. Yumigami pounds the little white blob of glutinous rice, while Amaterasu kneads it with her paw between strokes. This is how mochi is traditionally made. All goes fine, until Ammy decides the paste is looking tasty. One really shouldn’t piss off a god armed with a mallet twice her size. Just saying.


Mochi cakes


Mochi preparation with a kine and usu


Mochi ice cream



Kazegami- the horse, god of wind. “Kaze” means wind. It could be just me, but I just realized that Kamikaze = wind of the gods (kami- god, kaze- wind)

Horse traits: Cheerful, popular, quick-witted, changeable, earthy, perceptive, talkative, agile, magnetic, intelligent, astute, flexible, open-minded. Can be fickle, arrogant, childish, anxious, rude, gullible and stubborn.

The horse placed 7^th in The Big Race. He would have finished sooner, but he was badly startled by the snake, who had hitched a ride on his leg to cross the river.

Zebegami


Chimera

We encountered a couple of these in the Gale Shrine. A Chimera is a mix of different animals. In Greek mythology, it had the head of a lion, body of a goat, wings of an eagle, and a snake tail (that is, its tail was a snake’s head). In general, they’re monsters made up of different, mismatched animal parts. In Okami, they’re monkey heads attached to a giant cauldron of boiling water. Go figure. However, this may not be a non-sequitur! KnT pointed out that the Chimera enemy resembles a Nue. Nue are mythological Japanese monsters with a monkey's head, tanooki's body, and tiger's legs. They are sometimes referred to as Japanese chimeras. I still have no idea why Okami Chimera's have cauldron bodies, though...


A classic Greek Chimera


A Nue, or Japanese chimera

Chimeras show up fairly often in JRPGs. There are several in the Final Fantasy series, for example, with varying appearances. They’re just a common sort of menacing fantasy creature to put in a game.


A Chimera enemy from Final Fantasy X

There are real-life Chimeras as well. Real Chimeras are organisms that have two or more distinct genetic signatures in their tissue. This condition, known as Chimerism, can result from mutation, grafting, or insertion of foreign cells into a developing embryo.



Hoo boy, if you liked that build-up, just wait until our next boss!


The Satomi Orbs have the same effect as Godhood. They just straight up absorb one hit. This game doesn't grant invulnerability after taking damage.