Hey all, it\u2019s Deadborder here. In the wake of the new Hermit Youkai, I thought it would be a good idea to try and explain some of the background info and mythology that they seem to be based on.<\/p>\n
Almost all of the Hermit Youkai are based on different legends surrounding the same youkai: the kamaitachi, or sickle weasel. <\/p>\n
Wanna learn about some windy weasels? yeah I bet you do
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First off, a quick look at the archetype name. Hermit Youkai comes from Yousenjuu (\u5996\u4ed9\u7363), meaning something like \u201cYoukai Hermit-Sage Beast\u201d. (Look up the word \u201csennin\u201d for more info on the hermit-sage thing.) From this, we can extrapolate that the Hermit Youkai could be some sort of half-magic man, half-magic beast group of dudes. But more importantly, they\u2019re youkai. Specifically beast(ish)youkai.<\/p>\n
And probably the most well-known wind-based animal youkai is the kamaitachi, or \u201csickle weasel\u201d, who rides on the winds and cuts up travelers with a scythe, leaving painless wounds. (Fun fact: the Japanese name for the Pok\u00e9mon move \u201cRazor Wind\u201d is literally \u201cKamaitachi\u201d.) This nature of quick strikes and coming and going with the wind may be reflected in the Hermit Youkai\u2019s tendency to bounce back to the hand at the end of the turn they\u2019re summoned.<\/p>\n
However, it\u2019s not necessarily that simple. The legend of the kamaitachi exists in many regions of Japan, and is told in many different ways \u2013 which, so far, are reflected in all of the Hermit Youkai monsters we know so far.<\/p>\n
For example, there\u2019s one legend that says there are three kamaitachi brothers: the first knocks you down, the second cuts you, and the third puts medicine on your wounds. That\u2019s right, this is the story that Kamaitachi, Kamanitachi and Kamamitachi are based off.<\/p>\n
Incidentally, there\u2019s word play in the names of these brothers. Instead of \u938c\u9f2c (kama-itachi, sickle-weasel), Kamaitachi\u2019s name is written using \u938c\u58f1\u592a\u5200(sickle-one-longsword), Kamanitachi is(\u938c\u5f10\u592a\u5200, sickle-two-longsword) ,and Kamamitachi is \u938c\u53c2\u592a\u5200(sickle-three-longsword). Furthermore, their effects are similar to those of the three brothers in the legend: Kamaitachi \u201cknocks down\u201d cards like the first brother by bouncing them, Kamanitachi can deliver a swift direct attack to \u201ccut down\u201d the opponent themselves, and Kamamitachi brings benefit when another Hermit Youkai damages the opponent, much like the third brother rushes in to heal the wounds inflicted by the second brother.
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\nThe Level 6 Hermit Youkai, Yamamisaki, is based on a slightly different telling. The kanji used in the name of the youkai are unclear, but could be \u5c71\u5cac(yama-misaki, mountain-cliff). Supposedly it takes on the shape of a severed head, flying around in the wind, with humans caught in the wind developing a severe fever. Its origins are varied, with some calling it a ghost that has yet to pass on, and others saying it is the ghost of a person who has died in an accident, such as falling from a cliff. <\/p>\n
As far as wordplay, the kanji used for Hermit Youkai Yamamisaki\u2019s name are\u95bb\u9b54\u5df3\u88c2(ya-ma-mi-saki, enma-snake-split). Enma here refers to \u201clord of the dead\u201d, though \u201csnake-split\u201d isn\u2019t quite clear in meaning. Maybe it\u2019s a poetic reference to swirling winds, or maybe it\u2019s just random kanji, I\u2019m not quite sure. Meanwhile, it\u2019s possible that Yamamisaki\u2019s destructive effects are meant to hearken to the illness-causing winds the yamamisaki rides upon, though this is something of a stretch.<\/p>\n
The *other* Level 6 Hermit Youkai, Magatsusenran, is a bit more tricky in that it\u2019s easier to explain the wordplay first and then to actually describe the youkai it\u2019s based on. The kanji used in its name are \u51f6\u65cb\u5d50(magatsu-sen-ran, \u201cevil whirling storm\u201d), though \u201cmagatsu\u201d is a very irregular reading for the first kanji, usually read as \u201ckyou\u201d. \u201cMagatsu\u201d (\u798d\u6d25) usually refers to \u201cmagatsuhi no kami\u201d, a group of evil gods in Shinto mythology. The wordplay is that Magatsusenran is most likely based on another name for the kamaitachi, \u201cakuzenkaze\u201d. Again, the kanji are unclear, but a possible writing could be \u60aa\u65cb\u98a8(aku-zen-kaze, evil whirlwind). Though aku (\u60aa) and kyou (\u51f6) are different kanji, their meanings are similar; both names use the same sen (\u65cb), while kaze (\u98a8) and ran (\u5d50) only differ by the use of a single radical. <\/p>\n
As for the two gate Pendulums, Sarenjinchuu and Urenjinchuu, they don\u2019t really seem to be based on any specific wind youkai, but rather on the torii, a traditional Japanese gate that in Shintoism denotes the threshold between the \u201cpure\u201d and \u201cimpure\u201d. There may be subtle wordplay in their names \u2013 while Sarenjinchuu (\u5de6\u938c\u795e\u67f1) and Urenjinchuu (\u53f3\u938c\u795e\u67f1) mean \u201cleft sickle god pillar\u201d and \u201cright sickle god pillar\u201d respectively, replacing the jin (\u795e) meaning \u201cgod\u201d with jin (\u4eba) meaning \u201cperson\u201d would end up giving you hitobashira (\u4eba\u67f1), meaning \u201chuman sacrifice\u201d. Whether or not this is intentional has yet to be seen, but perhaps there\u2019s something more sinister to the sacred gate than one may notice at first glance.<\/p>\n
Finally, there\u2019s the big kahuna, Daibakaze. This whirly weasel monster is based on the taibakaze (\u5824\u99ac\u98a8, horse-carrying wind). It refers to a phenomenon in which a sandstorm would suddenly begin to swirl around a horse walking on a road, causing its mane to stand on end and glow with a faint red light. Afterwards, the horse would stand on its hind legs, then fall over and die. Basically, a sort of cursed wind. Original, I know.<\/p>\n
While the Hermit Youkai Daibakaze\u2019s effect\u2019s aren\u2019t quite that specific, there is a clever bit of punnery in its name. Daibakaze is written as \u5927\u5203\u798d\u662f (dai-ba-ka-ze). The \u201cdaiba\u201d part means \u201clarge blade\u201d, in a nod to the swords wielded by the other Hermit Youkai. \u201cKaze\u201d, normally meaning \u201cwind\u201d, is written with kanji meaning \u201ccalamity\u201d and a kanji meaning either \u201cjustice\u201d or \u201cthis\u201d. Put it together and it\u2019s something like \u201cthe giant blade-wielding, disastrous one.\u201d There may also be a pun in that it\u2019s the Malevolent Hermit Youkai, or \u201cMayousenjuu\u201d; written with a different character, \u201cmayou\u201d (\u8ff7\u3046) becomes a verb meaning \u201cto be lost\u201d, both locationwise and in the sense of \u201closing it\u201d or \u201closing one\u2019s way\u201d metaphorically. In other words, there\u2019s a possible implication that Daibakaze is or was an ordinary Hermit Youkai that is now running amok.<\/p>\n
For now, that\u2019s pretty much all of the youkai references we can see in the current lineup of Hermit Youkai \u2013 but there\u2019s plenty more variations on the legends of the kamaitachi and other windy youkai. Seeing as Sarenjinchuu and Urenjinchuu show pictures of seven Hermit Youkai, this means there\u2019s at least one more monster waiting in the wings. See what stories you can dig up, and perhaps one of them will make an appearance once we see the rest of The Secret of Evolution released! Or you could just look things up to LEARN <\/p>\n
pfft yeah right<\/p>\n
nerds<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Hey all, it\u2019s Deadborder here. In the wake of the new Hermit Youkai, I thought it would be a good idea to try and explain some of the background info and mythology that they seem to be based on. Almost all of the Hermit Youkai are based on different legends surrounding the same youkai: the<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,27],"tags":[509,508,507,477],"class_list":{"0":"post-7753","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-articles","7":"category-lore","8":"tag-im-pretending-its-pendulum-food-since-im-half-pendulum","9":"tag-incidentally-fencing-fire-ferret-is-also-based-on-kamaitachi","10":"tag-its-just-like-my-japanese-inuyashas","11":"tag-wind-furries"},"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ygorganization.com\/staging\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7753","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ygorganization.com\/staging\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ygorganization.com\/staging\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ygorganization.com\/staging\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ygorganization.com\/staging\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7753"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ygorganization.com\/staging\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7753\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ygorganization.com\/staging\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7753"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ygorganization.com\/staging\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7753"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ygorganization.com\/staging\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7753"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}