#amatsu mikaboshi

[vinnigami]

he has to be on his best behavior or they’re sending him back to the confinement chamber

[vertigoartgore]

2008's Incredible Hercules Vol.1 #117 cover by cover artist John Romita Jr., inker Klaus Janson and colorist Dean White.

[shiominato]

my mikaboshi

[eyesofanapothecarian]

Amatsu Mikaboshi was bestowed with the Jewel of Black Impurity, his personal Go-Shin Tai and his proof of reign over Hell, Soku-no-Kumi, and as the God of Darkness and Sin.

Could explain how he got the jewel.

The god also gave him the swords after all.

[amaranthineoni]

Amatsu Mikaboshi - The Other

Amatsu-Mikaboshitypically refuses to manifests in a human form and instead dominates Tomoe’s mindscape in the form of an expansive sky.

When it elects to do so, however, It’s more human form is that of a tall, powerful looking man with asymmetrical horns, dressed in armor and adorned with expensive jewelry. It's blade is sealed by an intricate dragon shaped lock, and only those who are worthy may draw it.

Though arrogant and condescending, it regards Tomoe with amusement - in the same way one might look fondly upon a puppy - and grudging respect. It refers to her as its “Champion” or its “Avatar” and grants her power only as it believes she has earned it, though it can be negotiated with.

[marudyne]

Commissions for @herrdoktorat !

Some go with their fic, Nanako Explains It All- a character swap between Nanako and P4 Protag, as well as a Naoto and Amatsu-Mikaboshi⭐️

[jackdaniel69nice]

Inktober 19/2024 “Moon”

For all the times I’ve drawn god of the night Dark Shadow I had yet to draw Moon god tokoyami. This the same au where Dark Shadow is Amatsu-Mikaboshi so obviously toko is the one and only Tsukuyomi~

Tokoyami’s kimono is white and gives off a faint glow, this is the only time I’m ever giving him “light powers” because it just feels so wrong. This story follows the most basic mythology with small differences due to personalities. There are slight changes like when “Mikaboshi” was sealed away they were actually put under Tsukuyomi’s watch on the moon because of his light powers. At first tsuku kept a tight leash on them but after a few millennia they have chilled out a lot and get more free rein across the palace.

[dailydemonspotlight]

Arahabaki - Day 75

Race: Kunitsu

Arcana: Hermit

Alignment: Light-Chaos

July 19th, 2024

I'm sure that, when one thinks of the SMT or Persona franchise, one of the first demons/personas to pop up in their mind is that of a towering clay figure who reflects physical. A lot of Arahabaki is famously shrouded in mystery, and the clouds over this deity paint it in a confusing, albeit fascinating, light. First of all, for this DDS, I'd like to point you all to @yamayuandadu's fantastic breakdown of this demon. While I'm going to be using my own sources for the most part, a lot of the stuff in this is based roughly on her analysis. Feel free to give her a follow, even though me shouting her out is like a drop in the ocean.

Now, on to Arahabaki itself. Almost everything about this god is unknown- even its design, taken directly from a clay figurine known as a Dogū, seems only vaguely connected to the idea of Arahabaki itself through a book known as Tsugaru Soto Sangunshi, as discovered by the blog above. As described in the post, most of everything related to Tsugaru Soto Sangunshi is heavily fictionalized, as it was a series of forgeries from 'ancient Japanese history' that seems... mostly to connect to a conspiracy of ancient aliens, at least from what I can understand? That might just be the blog post I've linked, though, as information on these forgeries is scant; there are very few translations, and, in fact, as gone over in the post above, there was only one at the time of writing, and it wasn't very reliable.

According to Tsugaru Soto Sangunshi, and recanted by @yamayuandadu, Dogū were purported to represent an 'outlawed god' worshipped by the people of Tohoku, though, of course, this all comes down to nothing but a set of forgeries. A lot of information on Arahabaki can be hard to sift through, and while there are some sources, most of them are of questionable reliability. Sorry, Fandom wiki. As a matter of fact, it's believed that Arahabaki may not even exist, and after reading the aforementioned post, I'm starting to think that may be the case. Unfortunately, as someone who can't even read Japanese, many of the sources mentioned have been hard to definitely state and/or translate. It's times like this I wish I was bilingual... still, even if Arahabaki was a fake god, where did its concept originate from past TSS, and what even was it? As I said during my Alice DDS, I believe that everything must have a concretely traceable source, and besides, even if this god was just some guy's creative writing project, I still think it'd be worthwhile to look into.

A lot can be derived from Arahabaki's name- a theory purported in this article states that, as Habaki is based on the root Haha, meaning snake, Arahabaki may be based on some sort of snake deity, fitting in with its inherently rebellious nature. Other theories purported in the article state that it may have been enshrined for protection, to it possibly being a hitherto unknown god of iron production.

Needless to say, a lot is unknown about this deity, but I believe that, if it's truly a fictionalized god, it may be based on 'Amatsu-Mikaboshi,' a rebel god identified with the Pole Star of Venus and who struck out against the gods. However, this is a very far reach, and I genuinely think that one could identify Arahabaki with any sort of rebellious god.

The outlawing of worship is also of note, but from all of my research, I can't find anything about a deity in particular being outlawed- instead, almost everything I can find about it comes down to a general fear of foreigners, which wouldn't make any sense for a god who was apparently home-grown in Japan. Expanding on this point, it connects to the concept of sakoku, the isolationism of Edo period Japan that locked itself off from the rest of the world.

This brings me to, eventually, as all things do, Bungo Stray Dogs. I'm not kidding. To my knowledge, the manga references Arahabaki as a character in it, and this blog post that unfortunately uses a dead link as a source seems to paint a picture of Arahabaki as a god who was worshipped in 300 AD, but was eventually outlawed, as he represented rebellion. If this sounds like I'm talking in circles, it's because I am. To quote,

Arahabaki was worshipped all along Japan’s northern regions. He was the god of defiance and prowess and he was even used a figure for wars that would erupt. He soon began to become an evil figure in 300 AD, when a prince, Nagasunehiko started to worship him to the point where he became crazy, thinking the god was forever by his side. Being an enemy of the Emperor Jimmu, most of Japans’ people say this as a bad sign and started to think of Nagasunehiko and his god Arahabaki as a symbol of deceit and marked the god more of a devil than a sign of good luck. The god was said to look more like a creature than a human form. With large alien like eyes and a sturdy body made of strong iron, he looked more like a rock had come to life than one of flesh and blood.

I genuinely don't know if this source can be trusted, and I'll above all take the word of the blog post I keep referencing back to of it likely being a false god made up for a forgery so some guy could make millions quick, but it's a shame. I was so close to getting some sort of lead, and it ended up being a dead link... agony is the only word to describe it. I don't feel like I got much out of this, as my curiosity is still piqued... but alas, I've come to a dead end.

If any more of you have any possible sources or leads, please don't hesitate to come out with them. Unfortunately, given the relative obscurity of the god itself, and how infamous its own mystery is... I doubt I'll get any major breakthroughs any time soon. Huge thank you to @yamayuandadu and @bsd-bibliophile for the work that went into this god. Alas, I get out with only empty pockets. As for how it's portrayed in SMT, it's an incredibly accurate depiction of a Dogū- given the purported connection between Arahabaki and Dogū's, it makes sense that they would take inspiration from the clay figures representing Japanese deities, to say the least.

Overall, though, I wish I had more to go over here, but the lack of primary sources and revelations of fraud give light only to disappointment. Alas. At least it was fun to research!

[yamayuandadu]

Besides the  Nihon Shoki , has Amatsu Mikaboshi been mentioned in other Japanese text? How well deserved is his reputation as 'Japanese Satan'?

No. It’s one of the most baffling monikers I can think of.

Anyway, in addition to the two variants presented in the Nihon Shoki Mikaboshi also appears in Sendai Kuji Hongi (Kujiki), but only in what’s essentially an abbreviated retelling of the Shoki episode. This is hard to treat as a fully independent attestation, though, since the early sections of this chronicle are a patchwork of quotations from Kojiki, Shoki and Kogo Shūi. For a crash course in its history see here.

Omika shrine enshrines Mikaboshi and has a local variant of the myth but it’s been pointed out to me it’s possible this ultimately is likely to go back to the Shoki too.

And needless to say, what little coverage of Mikaboshi is to be found in kokugaku writing amounts to just commenting on the Shoki.

It’s also worth noting so far I failed to find any evidence the Mikaboshi hot takes are older than the 1990s. In other words, utterly worthless. There doesn’t seem to be much interest from genuine researchers too. 

Kind of ironic Megaten might be the one modern work to actually portray him accurately. This topic is frankly the opposite of thrilling, so I’m fairly sure this is the last time I’ll talk about Mikaboshi for the foreseeable future unless someone will be able to track down the ur-source of the weird online hot takes.

[camusxsaga]

∆dult cont€nt 🔞

[brokenhardies]

so in order to distract myself from whatever the fuck is happening on the tumblr homepage; i have actually got the fools for the butterfly effects p3 & p4 stories!

mitsuru kirijo - the fool - still the heir to the kirijo corporation, but an exchange student to gekkouan following her father's death. while there, she meets akihiko & shinjiro, and the trio eventually join sees - her persona is eurydice - the wife of orpheus who he tried to bring back from the dead with his enticing music

naoto shirogane - the fool - naoto is relatively new to inaba, having been moved in with a family friend due to his grandfather - who acted as his legal guardian - becoming ill. he becomes a first year at yasogami, becoming friends with rise while there and eventually entering the tv world for the first time - his persona is amatsu-mikaboshi (which was naoto's persona in the persona 4 detective naoto manga) a rebellious and implied malevolent shinto god, who is also identified with the chinese god myōken

[vinnigami]

Polaris

[inversionimpulse]

In Touhou, Makai is at least passingly identified with the Christian hell: its creator and ruler is occasionally referred to as the Devil, the seat of government is called Pandaemonium, there is at least one fallen(?) angel there. (How this interacts with the explicit identification of Lucifer as Amatsu-Mikaboshi is... unclear)

Alice is indicated to be from Makai,

However, one of Alice’s theme songs, “the Dollmaker of Bucuresti,” indicates that she is from Bucharest.

Conclusion: ... Romania is hell on Earth?

[shiominato]

i like when things are free and every page is like over half full of citations

[amaranthineoni]

Shikaku

(死角 “Dead Space”)

Allows Tomoe to quickly and easily cut a path into and out of the Garganta for purposes of transportation, offensive attacks, and even storage. However, Shikaku is subject to the tug and flow of the Garganta’s natural currents. While versatile and powerful, spacial manipulation of this degree is a skill which requires vast concentration and precision to use in a combat scenario.

[infinitelycomplexpuzzles]

// I really wish marvel would remember that when you make a global threat you have to, you know, deal with the fact that this means global implications

like it's almost a meme now that every event needs thor to be taken out because he's a god but apparently no one in his entire pantheon cares he's being a snack for vampires?

Also, I know that you don't need all the various gods of earth to intervene whenever the world is threatened, since they all know if anything goes wrong they can just fix it, but when you write a story where some force decides to, you know, throw its weight around, toes should be stepped on.

Like, I'm glad they bothered to include Moon Knight. Khonshu is probably unhappy. But what about Ra? He also has a champion and Ra's attitude towards humanity is already to burn everything. I'm sure the Sun is super happy to be denied access to the world.

But ignoring that, there are how many gods of darkness who have also tried to take over the world like this?

Remember when Amatsu-Mikaboshi did this? He was briefly on the team to crush the Skrull divinities?

Chernobog was literally on the superhero team for the Russians.

All I'm saying is that when you have some force trying to fuck with the world, that force is probably stepping on toes! And even if they don't intervene directly they should probably intervene indirectly.

Like this is the entire reason that during Fear Itself the various powers of Hell have a meeting where they all sit around Satan's throne. Since none of them can claim it without being destroyed by the others, everyone from Surtur to Mephisto has to ask if they're going to object to say, the Earth being destroyed to stop the Serpent. In the end, they decide not to do anything, but the fact that this was at least brought up brings coherency to the entire storyline.

Surtur is banished, Dormammu is pouting because he's currently been banished from the dimension and can't play, Cyttorak is furious because how dare they take his champion like that, and Mephisto is just like 'eh, we'll wait and see.'

All I'm asking for is if you're going to go big you gotta account for what that means.