#Japanese Religions

[guzhufuren]

Nagumo Shoma

[lgbtally4ever]

If you reply to my posts, I’m going to assume you, too, are a fan of BL, and/or a proponent for gay rights, and/or a Liberal, who believes in equality for everyone.

MAGA: KEEP YOUR CULT-BASED DELUSIONS TO YOURSELF

[the-colors-of-tokyo]

Direct Line to the Gods:

In Meguro near Gakugeidaigaku, Tokyo

[azathothweirdo]

I like, wish Western aoex fans would take some time and research about how religion is in Japan. Especially how christianity is viewed and practiced there. Because it's a very different thing both culturally and base level than how things go in the west. Shintoism and Buddhism is an incredibly big part of Japan's culture, but it's not in the same way as how Christianity and other western religions are for the USA or other countries.

I mean it's cool to see people want to do things, but I don't think they realize that it's going to be a very different interpretation. I personally don't even think Shiro raised the twins christian. There's nothing in canon other than they grew up in the monastery to imply it. It felt more to me they started the place to have a good cover for the twins than it actually being a legit thing.

Heck it even looked like Shiro took the boys to shrines for new years. That's kind of a important part of Japanese culture and a big tradition. I personally don't think a catholic priest raising two kids would be taking them to a Shinto Shrine to do the New Years tradition.

It's also funny whenever this comes up because no one mentions Yukio in this. It's always Rin lol

[blue-lotus333]

💀Goddesses of death💀

Ereshkigal: Mesopotamian goddess of death, the dead, and the underworld.

Ereshkigal is the queen of the underworld, the keeper of balance, the punisher of evil & maintains order against chaos. She may have also been associated with the earth & the waters of life in Mesopotamian legend. She was associated with the city of Kutha and featured in the myth of Inanna's Descent to the Underworld. She was also connected to other deities such as Nergal, Ninazu, and Ningishzida. Ereshkigal was said to be the sister of Inanna.

Oya: African Goddess/orisha of death, storms, winds & thunder.

Oya is a powerful goddess/orisha in Nigeria who controls storms and death and is married to the thunder god, Shango. She is a shape-shifter who often appears as a mortal woman or animal while overseeing justice and bringing sudden change. She is also a guardian of women and the dead, able to call forth death or delay it. Oya is associated with rebirth and magic, and her favorite colors are maroon and copper.

The Keres: Greek goddesses of Death, bloodshed & violence.

The Keres were female death spirits and goddesses who personified violent death. They were drawn to bloody, intense deaths on battlefields and were daughters of Nyx, Goddess of Night. They did not have the power to kill but would wait and then feast on the dead. They were described as dark beings with gnashing teeth & claws, with a thirst for human blood. They would hover over the battlefield and search for dying/ wounded men.

The Morrigan: Irish Goddess of death, fate, war & sovereignty.

The Morrígan, also called the Phantom Queen, is a bewitching goddess associated with war and fate, often appearing as a crow, encouraging bravery and strength in battle, & foretells doom or victory. The Morrígan is often described as a trio of sisters, representing the goddess's role as a guardian and warrior. She can appear in many forms like an old woman, a crow, a beautiful sorceress, or a fearsome creature.

Mictecacihuatl: Aztec Goddess of death & the underworld.

Also known as the Lady of the Dead, Alongside Mictlantecuhtli, her consort, she rules over Mictlán, the lowest Aztec underworld realm. She guides the departed souls on their transformative journey from life to the afterlife and embodies the profound duality of existence. The Dia de los Muertos is a vibrant festival that allows families to honor deceased loved ones with ofrendas and calavera imagery, inspired by Mictecacihuatl, who is now called Santa La muerte.

Kali-ma: Hindu Goddess of destruction, death, change & time.

Kali-ma is the wrathful & protective force of Shakti (energy), She's a caring mother to her devotees/innocent people and the destroyer of evil, she expresses the dual nature of the destruction that must come before new beginnings. Kali ma embodies the power of all, transcending good & evil to protect her people against negativity. Kali ma is Mother Nature, primordial, nurturing, and devouring, She is vested in freeing beings, granting salvation.

Hel: Norse Goddess of death, the underworld & decay.

Hel, the half living and half dead goddess, is one of Loki's children, and rules over the realm of the dead, she mostly receives those who died of illness or old age in her realm. Hel is often depicted as a fearsome figure, and in Her realm, Helheim, is considered one of the nine worlds in Norse cosmology and is located in the lowest part of the universe. In the events of Ragnarok, Hel plays a crucial role. It is foretold that she will lead an army of the dead to fight against the gods.

Morana: Slavic Goddess of death, winter, magic & dreams.

Morana is a Slavic goddess associated with seasonal agrarian rites based on the idea of death and rebirth of nature. the death of Morana at the end of winter becomes the rebirth of Spring of the Goddess Vesna, representing the coming of Spring, joy & life. She is still worshipped to this day and is often described as a vengeful, powerful goddess. She is married to the spring/love God Yarilo but their relationship is not seen as healthy.

Izanami: Japanese Goddess of Death, darkness & creation.

Izanami is a Shintō creation mother goddess who became the Japanese goddess of death after she died while giving birth. Her name, Izanami, means ''the female who invites.''. She can create many lands and other divine beings, has the power of death and could command gods/spirits of the underworld. Izanami & Izanagi are the creators of the Japanese archipelago and the creators of the powerful deities Amaterasu, Tsukuyomi, and Susanoo.

[thekingofwinterblog]

So one very obscure detail from Ranma 1/2's character designs that shows just how much Rumiko knows her stuff, is Principle Kuno's original design from before he moved to Hawai and converted his entire self to the local culture.

He is in most ways the most sterotypical old-school Japanese man imaginable, with a top-knot, with the rose that is his family crest being so stylized to look like the japanese sun that you would be hard pressed to figure out that it even is a rose unless you already knew it, The pink colors of sakura that represent the masculinity of samurai that died in the prime of their life, and a really, really oldchool japanese outer robe over the pink shirt.

All of it screams "Traditional Japan" as much as humanly possible... All except for one, thing.

The big frock on his neck, which stands out like a sore thumb... unless you happen to know one very specific part of japanese history, because this one detail is just as old school japanese as all the rest, just taken from one, specific moment in time.

This kind of frock is european in nature, and was adopted by a number of Japanese noblemen that traded with the portugese for guns and cannons, and also in many cases converted to christianity.

It also became complely went out of fashion after the civil war period when the Shogunate enforced total isolation, and also did it's best to exterminate christianity in japan by any and all means necessary.

So, the fact that Kuno wears this frock is basically him declaring(through a very obscure archaic fashion statement) his religious faith in a society where christianity is a tiny, tiny minority.

This in turn also explains his daughter's school of choice, St. Hebreke's School, a unisex(Girls only in the manga) catholic school.

So it's an interesting detail, which shows that Rumiko was still aware and interested in Japan's relationship with the cross, even after she abandoned One Pound Gospel(Her previous series that she put on hold for decades right before Ranma's run).

And nobody but the most esoteric history buffs would ever notice this tiny detail.

[yinyuedijun]

whenever I write immortal/human romances I love to inflict psychic damage on myself by thinking about the inevitable tragedy at the end of the human's life 😔

[matchart-travel]

Seaside Shrine

The stone monument: “100 views of Sanuki”

©️ matchart.tumblr.com

[crazyfox-archives]

Monks from Enryakuji Temple (延暦寺) on Mount Hiei assisting with rites for the prevention of illness at Kitano Tenmangū Shrine (北野天満宮) in Kyoto in early September 2024

Monjes del templo Enryakuji (延暦寺) en el monte Hiei ayudando con ritos para la prevención de enfermedades en el santuario Kitano Tenmangū (北野天満宮) en Kioto a principios de septiembre de 2024

Image from the temple's official twitter account

[divinum-pacis]

April 2023: Tokyo, Japan Dancers perform during the Shirasagi-no Mai, or White Heron Dance, at the Sensoji Temple

Photograph: Tomohiro Ohsumi/Getty Images

[illustratus]

Susanoo slaying Yamata no Orochi by Tsukioka Yoshitoshi

The artwork shows Susanoo-no-Mikoto slaying the eight-headed and eight-tailed serpent Yamata no Orochi upstream of the river at Hirokawa in Izumo Province. The legendary sword Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi came from the tail of Yamata no Orochi.

[studentofshinto]

Civic duty and Shinto

OK, so the title might be a bit of a misnomer.

I wanted to do an article which talked about the Japanese sense of civic duty and how it relates to Shinto only to have my search results popping up nothing but articles about State Shinto. Somehow any attempt to connect Shinto with the Japanese sense of civic responsibility is seen as bad from the typical western mindset. Undoubtedly a mindset being pushed by the same sort of people who want to throw out the Constitution's restrictions on Church and State. For the people who are so quick to point out how bad State Shinto was I suggest removing the word "Shinto" and replacing it with "religion". State Shinto sought to present the Emperor, and the Government by extension, as infallible. People who want to push their religion into government are in fact attempting to do the same thing. And it's not about putting Jesus back into schools, it's about power. Just as it was about power when the Japanese government began to create mandates that effected Shinto. When the government is in a position to dictate what people are allowed to believe and how they worship it can never end well. My own brother is so brainwashed that he gets enraged if anyone points out anything that threatens his world view.

At the end of the Pacific War (WW2) Shinto organizations found themselves in the rather awkward position of having to demonstrate that they were not branches of the government and were in fact religious organizations that had been misused by the government. Secular verses non secular. (https://www.jstor.org/stable/26854498?read-now=1&seq=4#page_scan_tab_contents)

At the same time there was a drive to eliminate all forms of religion seen as a cult to the western mindset. With Shinto falling into that awkward middle ground of being both a religion and not a religion at the same time it's a wonder it survived at all.

State religion sets out to create a leader, a king, or a president as infallible. Individuals within a certain party within the US are in fact actively trying to force their religion on everyone. The Supreme Court of the United States has proclaimed that the POTUS can not be prosecuted for official acts. So what is an official act? Well, pretty much any order given under an official capacity. Suddenly what at first seemed cut and dried starts getting kind of murky. Kind of like how it's near impossible to sue the police for violating people's rights. The police can literally rob people under a legal umbrella. It might be drug money/proceeds, guilty until proven innocent. Civil forfeiture.

Yes, this post is political in nature.

I strongly encourage everyone to register to vote, and vote. Not just in the big national elections, but in the little local elections. Japan, who's streets are some of the cleanest in the world and who are looked at for having pride in their civic responsibility, has a dismally low voter turnout. Lower even than the United States, and the US Voter turnout isn't much better. About average on the world stage.

In Shinto we see the world with reverence. Something that both looks after us and in turn must be looked after by us. How then can so many of us sit by and allow those who would throw it all away have their way?

Register to vote. Vote. I'm not going to tell you who to vote for. That's up to you. Just vote. Your vote may be far more important than you realize. I watched the Tony Gonzales / Brandon Herrera election in Texas a while back and the split was only 407 votes. The turnout was abysmal. In the upcoming national election the polls are neck and neck. One vote could flip the vote.

[kiyokooochannn]

Some Transjapanese tips for my fellow Transjapanese!!! (⁠*⁠´⁠ω⁠｀⁠*⁠)

1. Before you say something in real life say "ahh!" Example: "ahh! Hello!!"

2. Instead of saying "huh?" say "eh?" or "ehhh?" Example: "What are you doing today? "ehh??"

3. If you want you can also tell people you're Japanese, Mixed with Japanese, or just of Japanese heritage! Example: "What race/ethnicity are you"? "Oh, I am Japanese!"

4. You can also bow when saying hello, goodbye, when the compliment you, or when you're saying sorry! There's also 3 ways to bow, they even have names Eshaku (15°), Keirei (30°), and Saikeirei (45°) and sometimes people and there's also a bow for apologizing it's called Shazai (70°) and rarely if you're wishing mercy upon yourself you can get on your knees and bow

5. Never use tape to pull back your eyes, never pull your eyes back in general!!

6. Try Japanese makeup or Japanese fashion, there's a lot of feminine, masculine, or neutral fashion on Japanese culture!

7. Try learning a Japanese accent, there's a lot of helpful ways on YouTube or TikTok!

8. If you want you can also follow a Japanese religion most Japanese people are Atheist but there are 2 popular religions in Japan being Shintoism and Buddhism

9: Learn Japanese if you have the time to!

[lord-squiggletits]

In the last salty asks post I unintentionally went on a tangent in the notes about how JRO wrote religious characters which is like actually something I want to bring up on its own so like

Is it just me or does JRO have some real misses when it comes to writing religious characters? Not like every religious character is badly written or evil, but like... several of the ones that are fall into really bad or unflattering/shallow stereotypes? It's hard to put my finger exactly on why I feel that way bc he does write some actually good religious characters (aka Cyclonus).

For example, characters like the Functionist Council and Star Saber are fine to me because I'm like. Well Functionism being religious in origin makes sense, it's an interesting interplay of how religion influences the state/how the state leverages religion to bend the populace to its own whims. Religious bad guys =/= all religious people bad. Star Saber is just some random zealot that wasn't meant to be that deep at all, and eh the Inquisition-type religious zealot can be cool even if it's just the vibes of it.

But then there's stuff like... Tyrest being a normal, rational, not particularly religious guy until he gets shot with a bullet that gives him brain damage, causing him to start ranting about Cyberutopia and thinking God is personally talking to him in his brain...? Like, idk, was it really the best idea for an antagonist to go "he is evil because he got brain damaged against his will w/o even knowing what really happened to him and also because he's brain damaged he's now literally delusional and became a religious (and genocidal) maniac." It comes off as really bad taste/not thinking the implications through as far as how it reflects on religious people (bc the whole "religious people are literally delusional and stupid to think that their gods could possibly exist" thing is tired and offensive). Not to mention kind of ableist w/ the whole "oh he became evil bc he got shot in the brain and now there's literally something wrong with his mind."

(Doesn't help that the MTMTE logbooks revealed that the original idea for Tyrest was to have his killswitch be about trying to identify and execute all of the criminals/"guilty people" on Cybertron, basically an extension of his role as Chief Justice which makes so much more sense and is way more interesting and compelling???? Certainly better than (gets brain damaged) "Ah I'm now going to genocide all cold constructs because God told me to")

And then Drift with spectralism which...which... basically the extent of that whole religion is the name of a single festival (the Lost Light festival the eponymous ship was named after), and some stuff about face/body paint and colors having spiritual symbolism, then the Guiding Hand/Primus stuff that's also shared with Primalism. But then you have Drift who's the main representative of this religion basically being written as a phony who doesn't even believe in the shit coming out of his mouth. Or if his beliefs are sincere, the way he acts is basically just "oooooh, I sense unclean vibes and read into the energy of the universe" which is played for laughs or mocked by the other characters most of the time. And Drift's character is written so inconsistently (and the general religious worldbuilding so one-dimensional) that it's hard to tell if Drift is supposed to be read as some kooky fake hippie type or if he's genuinely a representation of Spectralism in general. Like, idk, the best JRO could come up for for building a religion was "they wear certain colors and patterns on them and vaguely talk about sensing energy from the universe?" It literally feels like baby's first fictional religion or like, religion as understood by a non-religious/atheist person who sees religion as nothing more than an aesthetic or some quirky rituals.

I'm not saying the story had to be about religion or have religion be brought up in every conversation, it's just...... the way he wrote/did worldbuilding for it comes off as as very "non-religious person who doesn't have any particular understanding of religion/why people are religious tries to write what they think religion is about" and most of the time it's kinda cringe.

[askdacast]

What's this, an article laser-targeted towards my interests? Don't mind if I do!

[subsequentibis]

good god i had my plate of breakfast rice fresh out the cooker sitting on the counter with the sunlight hitting it just right and steam pouring off it. i couldve fallen to my knees and found religion right then and there.