Monday, July 1, 2019
Jigoku tayū
Name Translation: hell courtesan
Real Name: Otoboshi
Affiliations: Sei'an City
Family: wife of Masu; mother of Ikkyū and Usugumo.
Otoboshi was born into a samurai family who fell on hard times after her father's death. She was captured and sold to the floating world, where she soon gained much notoriety due to her beauty, intelligence, sharp wit, and unusual name and clothing preferences. This attracted the attention of Benkei who paid the tayū a visit one day. Jigoku spoke to him in the form of a poem and the holy man responded in a similar manner.
Impressed by the exchange, Jigoku invited him into her presence. Benkei was offered vegetarian food, but refused in favor of sake and carp. Jigoku was suspicious and decided to test him further. She sent in beautiful young woman who danced and played for the monk, all the while watching from the next room. Off and on during the night, Jigoku some strange things. In the morning she asked Benkei about them and he replied.
“When are we not in a dream? When are we not skeletons? We are all just skeletons wrapped with flesh patterned male and female. When our breath expires, our skin ruptures, our sex disappears, and superior and inferior are indistinguishable. Beneath the skin of the person we caress today, there is no more than a skeleton propping up the flesh. Think about it! High and low, young and old, male and female: it is all the same. If you awaken to this one basic truth, you understand.”
Jigoku's fame soon ensure that there was enough money to buy her freedom. At first her prospects were bleak (no family or home), but then she found work at Chef Yamas restaurant. It was there that she met Masu, a samurai who was rough around the edges but did have a good, honorable heart. At first she introduced herself as Jigoku, but then changed her mind. Otoboshi was her name, she told him and Masu began to come not just drink sake but also to visit with her. The two fell in love and soon married, producing a son and a daughter together.
Oshiho
Oshiho Name Meaning:
Affiliations: Celestial Plain, Kamui (Wep'keer)
Family: son of Shiranui; brother to Amaterasu, Amano, Amatsu, Iku, and Kumano; mate to Kai; father of Ninigi.
Before the stray beads were scattered across the world during Shiranui's final battle with Orochi, the string of beads had helped to bear the Sons of Ōkami. Five wolf gods who had some of their mother's power and would keep the Celestial Plain safe in her absence.
After the Day of Darkness ends with Yami's defeat, Oshiho and his brothers welcomed their younger sister. Ammy rules the Celestial Plain for nine months and even gives birth to her and Oki’s son (Chibiterasu), but her heart longs for Nippon. Chibi is sent in her place due to the All-Mother still needing to rest and regain her energy from the journey and battle with Yami. When the Child of the Sun returns, however, Amaterasu makes it clear that she is leaving to live on Nippon.
Chibi goes with her in order to meet his father and Oshiho decides to escort them. This is how he meets Kai and the brown Oina wolf slowly wins him over. She is fleet of foot and kind of heart, able to smile and sing and just be optimistic when things seem so grim. Oshiho finds himself watching her, his dreams haunted by the light-hearted challenges to a race. He gives up his claim to the divine throne and goes down to live with Kai.
Affiliations: Celestial Plain, Kamui (Wep'keer)
Family: son of Shiranui; brother to Amaterasu, Amano, Amatsu, Iku, and Kumano; mate to Kai; father of Ninigi.
Before the stray beads were scattered across the world during Shiranui's final battle with Orochi, the string of beads had helped to bear the Sons of Ōkami. Five wolf gods who had some of their mother's power and would keep the Celestial Plain safe in her absence.
After the Day of Darkness ends with Yami's defeat, Oshiho and his brothers welcomed their younger sister. Ammy rules the Celestial Plain for nine months and even gives birth to her and Oki’s son (Chibiterasu), but her heart longs for Nippon. Chibi is sent in her place due to the All-Mother still needing to rest and regain her energy from the journey and battle with Yami. When the Child of the Sun returns, however, Amaterasu makes it clear that she is leaving to live on Nippon.
Chibi goes with her in order to meet his father and Oshiho decides to escort them. This is how he meets Kai and the brown Oina wolf slowly wins him over. She is fleet of foot and kind of heart, able to smile and sing and just be optimistic when things seem so grim. Oshiho finds himself watching her, his dreams haunted by the light-hearted challenges to a race. He gives up his claim to the divine throne and goes down to live with Kai.
Thursday, June 27, 2019
Otohachi
Name Meaning:
Affiliations: Taka Pass/ Kusa Village
Family: son of Yonaki Ishi; Husband of Haruka.
Yonaki ishi was the only child of Mr. and Mrs. Cutter but fell out of contact with her parents due to their dislike of her husband. Still, Yonaki did like to pay them visits from time to time. Pregnant with her first child and hoping the news would soften her parents up, Yonaki was walking home through Taka pass. She was halfway there but had to stop and rest and did so besides a large rock. At just that moment, a bandit appeared and struck her with his blade, but the rock prevented it from doing far more serious damage than it had done. The bandit took her yen and fled, leaving Yonaki to bleed to death. Due to the violence of her death, Yonaki's soul went into the rock that had saved her unborn son's life and it cried out for help. Her plea was heard by Yatsu, who was sensitive to the presence of spirits, and the priest went out to fetch the newborn. They brought him home and named him Otohachi, raising him alongside their own eight children (the canine warriors).
Inspired by Benkei and apprenticed to the Weapons Dealer in Sei'an City, Otohachi returned to Kusa Village where he set up shop. He was not planning to do it, but when the bandit came under the guise of a samurai who wanted his damaged sword repaired, Otohachi confronted him and avenged his Yonaki's murder. But it was bittersweet, for Yatsu was killed by the Crimson Helm and some members of the canine warriors were missing. Otohachi did his best to help his adopted mother, but there was only so much he could do. It was only the arrival of the white wolf which broke the curse and defeated the monster who had holed up inside the Gale Shrine. The white wolf also helped Haruka in her mission to vanquish the demons who had killed her father. When the Day of Darkness had ended with Amaterasu being triumphant over darkness and evil, Otohachi decided that life was to short to waste on being shy. He confessed his feelings to Haruka and was overjoyed when she returned them full force. The two married and are enjoying a peaceful life in Taka Pass.
Affiliations: Taka Pass/ Kusa Village
Family: son of Yonaki Ishi; Husband of Haruka.
Yonaki ishi was the only child of Mr. and Mrs. Cutter but fell out of contact with her parents due to their dislike of her husband. Still, Yonaki did like to pay them visits from time to time. Pregnant with her first child and hoping the news would soften her parents up, Yonaki was walking home through Taka pass. She was halfway there but had to stop and rest and did so besides a large rock. At just that moment, a bandit appeared and struck her with his blade, but the rock prevented it from doing far more serious damage than it had done. The bandit took her yen and fled, leaving Yonaki to bleed to death. Due to the violence of her death, Yonaki's soul went into the rock that had saved her unborn son's life and it cried out for help. Her plea was heard by Yatsu, who was sensitive to the presence of spirits, and the priest went out to fetch the newborn. They brought him home and named him Otohachi, raising him alongside their own eight children (the canine warriors).
Inspired by Benkei and apprenticed to the Weapons Dealer in Sei'an City, Otohachi returned to Kusa Village where he set up shop. He was not planning to do it, but when the bandit came under the guise of a samurai who wanted his damaged sword repaired, Otohachi confronted him and avenged his Yonaki's murder. But it was bittersweet, for Yatsu was killed by the Crimson Helm and some members of the canine warriors were missing. Otohachi did his best to help his adopted mother, but there was only so much he could do. It was only the arrival of the white wolf which broke the curse and defeated the monster who had holed up inside the Gale Shrine. The white wolf also helped Haruka in her mission to vanquish the demons who had killed her father. When the Day of Darkness had ended with Amaterasu being triumphant over darkness and evil, Otohachi decided that life was to short to waste on being shy. He confessed his feelings to Haruka and was overjoyed when she returned them full force. The two married and are enjoying a peaceful life in Taka Pass.
Shuten dōji
Name Meaning: "Little drunkard"
Family: son of Orochi; father of Kidōmaru.
Before he was confronted and defeated by Amaterasu, Orochi committed an atrocious crime deep in his underground lair. With a captured human woman, he hoped to beget an heir. The woman was able to escape before the Moon Cave collapsed into rubble, but Orochi's advances had borne fruit and she was now pregnant.
Originally from Taka Pass, the woman had been captured by demons and brought to the Moon Cave. She very much wanted to go home and set off after a brief rest. But nine months after the defeat of Orochi, the land was ravaged by natural disasters. The path to Taka Pass was blocked off and the woman was forced to give birth to her child there in Agata Forest. It was a boy and he seemed normal enough. But soon proved to be very strong and intelligent for a child his age, this gave him some strange looks and dark whispers and his mother finally had enough and moved them away.
She was still hoping for a route to Taka Pass, so their travel took them around. But her son still got negative attention and his mother could take it no longer. She had raised this spawn of evil for six years and, in her mind, it was time to release the burden she had been forced to bear. She left him sleeping one night and vanished. There in the middle of Shinshu Field. Somebody would find him, she knew, though really she hopes he would die before it happened.
The boy was found by Mika and was raised in the Moon Shrine as an apprentice. He was named Shuten dōji due to his love of sake which would put even Susano to shame. During the Kamiki Festival, Shuten decided to put on an oni mask and play pranks on the villagers. He was having a grand time until he found that he could not remove the mask which had fused to his face. He fled before anyone could see what had become of him and found refuge in the Ryoshima coast. There he made friends among the demons and soon discovered that his father had left him quite an inheritance. Not only did he have power and wisdom, but Shutan also had magic...the dark power that Orochi had once used to spread terror across the world. Using this black magic turned him into an oni himself, but it also allowed him to gain a stronghold that was mostly safe from the outside world. Oni Island.
Like Orochi, Shuten had a taste for young women. He instructed his minions to find and capture any maiden that they could get their hands on. Most were eaten, but a selective few were spared because they had struck a demon's fancy. One of these maidens eventually became the mother of Shuten's son, Kidōmaru.
After being abandoned by his own mother, Kidōmaru was found by Mika and trained to be a priest of the Moon Shrine (just like his father before him). He was soon cast out and found the entrance to the Demon Market. The Witch Queen was suspicious of him at first, for she sense power in him that was far greater than her own but decided that he was harmless so long as he did not learn how to master it. Unfortunately for the Witch Queen, Kidōmaru study magic and honed his power in secret. He was able to gain support from other demons and soon made his move. The Witch Queen was a tough adversary but in the end no match for a grandson of Orochi. The Demon Market belonged to Kidōmaru now and it thrived under the new management. The deeds and stories soon attracted the attention of Shuten who quickly realized that this upstart was his own flesh and blood. Father and son met and had a brief fight to test each other's mettle, then they agreed to be allies against the Sun.
Family: son of Orochi; father of Kidōmaru.
Before he was confronted and defeated by Amaterasu, Orochi committed an atrocious crime deep in his underground lair. With a captured human woman, he hoped to beget an heir. The woman was able to escape before the Moon Cave collapsed into rubble, but Orochi's advances had borne fruit and she was now pregnant.
Originally from Taka Pass, the woman had been captured by demons and brought to the Moon Cave. She very much wanted to go home and set off after a brief rest. But nine months after the defeat of Orochi, the land was ravaged by natural disasters. The path to Taka Pass was blocked off and the woman was forced to give birth to her child there in Agata Forest. It was a boy and he seemed normal enough. But soon proved to be very strong and intelligent for a child his age, this gave him some strange looks and dark whispers and his mother finally had enough and moved them away.
She was still hoping for a route to Taka Pass, so their travel took them around. But her son still got negative attention and his mother could take it no longer. She had raised this spawn of evil for six years and, in her mind, it was time to release the burden she had been forced to bear. She left him sleeping one night and vanished. There in the middle of Shinshu Field. Somebody would find him, she knew, though really she hopes he would die before it happened.
The boy was found by Mika and was raised in the Moon Shrine as an apprentice. He was named Shuten dōji due to his love of sake which would put even Susano to shame. During the Kamiki Festival, Shuten decided to put on an oni mask and play pranks on the villagers. He was having a grand time until he found that he could not remove the mask which had fused to his face. He fled before anyone could see what had become of him and found refuge in the Ryoshima coast. There he made friends among the demons and soon discovered that his father had left him quite an inheritance. Not only did he have power and wisdom, but Shutan also had magic...the dark power that Orochi had once used to spread terror across the world. Using this black magic turned him into an oni himself, but it also allowed him to gain a stronghold that was mostly safe from the outside world. Oni Island.
Like Orochi, Shuten had a taste for young women. He instructed his minions to find and capture any maiden that they could get their hands on. Most were eaten, but a selective few were spared because they had struck a demon's fancy. One of these maidens eventually became the mother of Shuten's son, Kidōmaru.
After being abandoned by his own mother, Kidōmaru was found by Mika and trained to be a priest of the Moon Shrine (just like his father before him). He was soon cast out and found the entrance to the Demon Market. The Witch Queen was suspicious of him at first, for she sense power in him that was far greater than her own but decided that he was harmless so long as he did not learn how to master it. Unfortunately for the Witch Queen, Kidōmaru study magic and honed his power in secret. He was able to gain support from other demons and soon made his move. The Witch Queen was a tough adversary but in the end no match for a grandson of Orochi. The Demon Market belonged to Kidōmaru now and it thrived under the new management. The deeds and stories soon attracted the attention of Shuten who quickly realized that this upstart was his own flesh and blood. Father and son met and had a brief fight to test each other's mettle, then they agreed to be allies against the Sun.
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