Part 16: Mythology Dissection 1

Sei-an-City Characters 2

Mr. Flower

Mr. Flower is called Old Man Hanasaka in the Japanese version. Hana of course means flower; saka means hill.


Mr. Flower

Old Man Hanasaka appears in the Japanese folktale “The Old Man Who Made Dead Trees Blossom.” In the story, Hanasaka has a greedy neighbor who frequently steals from him. One day, Mr. Hanasaka finds a white dog, injured and starving. Taking pity on the wretched animal, Mr. Hanasaka feeds the dog and nurses it back to health. When the dog is healthy enough, Old Man Hanasaka lets it play outside. After digging around for a bit, the dog bounds back to Mr. Hanasaki, a nugget of gold in its jaws! The greedy neighbor, upon seeing this, seizes the dog and orders it to dig up gold for him too. The neighbor turns the dog loose again, but this time it brings back only garbage. Furious, the rich neighbor kills the dog on the spot. Saddened, the old man buries the dog behind his house. The very next day, he find that a tree had sprouted from the dog’s grave! The old man makes a mortar from the tree and grinds up some rice to make rice cakes, in honor of the dog. The rice turns to gold even as Mr. Hanasaki is grinding it!

Once again, the greedy neighbor sees what happens and takes the mortar for himself. But, when he uses it, the rice turns to mud instead of gold. Enraged, the greedy neighbor burns the mortar and dumps the ashes outside. Old Man Hanasaki gathers up the ashes and spreads them in his yard once again, to honor the special dog. But, as the ashes settle on a dead tree, it bursts into beautiful cherry blossoms! Old Man Hanasaka’s efforts at bringing dead trees to life bring him to the attention of the local Daimyo, who honors the old man. And what became of the greedy neighbor? He was thrown in jail after throwing Mr. Hanasaka’s ashes in the Daimyo’s face, nearly choking him.

Moral of the story: Don’t be a dick, I guess.

Queen Himiko

The historical queen Himiko was the ruler of the city-state of Yamataikoku. Very little is known about her. According to legend, Himiko was a shaman and the queen of Japan. She is said to have never married and never appeared in public. That last fits with our own good Queen Himiko, anyway.

The Chefs

In the Japanese version, the chefs Yami and Umi are named Yamaneko and Umineko. Yama means mountain, Umi means sea, and neko is Japanese for cat. That’s why they look like cats.

Miscellany

Hanging on some houses (I remember I Slashed one in Kusa Village), you may have noticed little doll heads.


Here's one, just to Ammy’s left

These are called Teru-teru Bozu. They are hand-made dolls made from white paper or cloth that Japanese farmers hang outside windows and under eaves by a string. The dolls are amulets, said to bring good weather. “Teru” means “to shine” (as in sunshine), and a bozu is a Buddhist monk.


Some teru-teru Bozu

Ankoku Temple is Rao’s home temple. “Ankoku” means darkness. Spooky!



Probably next chapter, I think. I'm not sure exactly what you're thinking of, but there's some stuff about Shiranui next chapter.