#ooya kunimitsu

[naoiikumo]

Kunimitsu

[bambuuusia]

killing people till they are dead

[hartkazami]

[nyakuroji]

len'en furry art dump because i wanted to post something today

[tittletattles]

more ponies!!!!! brilliant edition

previous

[godiscommitingtaxfraud]

And now the Len’en batch

Under the cut

Saragimarus, traditional and wardrobe change

Shou (Slug, normal and semi-normal [Jun is holding them]) | Also Jun!!!!!!

Kujiru

Orochi and Kunimitsu

And one of the sketches im most proud of, Iyo

Bonus:

[psuedox]

dump

[white-women-lenen]

[naoiikumo]

Scales

[singular-yike]

K-Kunimitsu

B-but of course~! There's not much I can say about them from an in-universe perspective, I'll be honest, we just don't know enough about them personally, but there's actually quite a lot to say about their inspirations.

So! Let's look at our commoner youkai exterminator:

Royal Court's Youkai Exterminator — Kunimitsu Ooya

To really understand Kunimitsu's basis, we have to understand the very poorly documented (in English anyways) "The Tale of Yasutaka Utou's Loyalty" (善知安方忠義伝) by Santō Kyōden.

Disclaimer

Since I could find literally nothing on the book in English. Everything here's gonna be based on my own translations of the Japanese/Chinese sources I found, so take it with a grain of salt.

(The English equivalent of its wikipedia page is on a woodblock print based on the story, and not on the actual book, so uh, make sure to read carefully folks)

(Normally I'd be more confident but I'm not reading an entire 17th-century novel written in pre-modern Japanese so y'all are gonna have to deal with a third-hand account)

The Tale of Yasutaka Utou's Loyalty

"The Tale of Yasutaka Utou's Loyalty" (善知安方忠義伝) is an Edo period yomihon novel series by Santō Kyōden. Its story was never actually completed, but was published anyways in 1806.

It is said to be based on the Noh play "Utoh" (善知鳥 Lit. "Auklets", also translated as "Birds of Sorrow") as well as the Masakado legends.

The story follows Taira no Masakado's children, Taira no Yoshikado (平良門) and Takiyasha-hime (滝夜叉姫), and their attempt in continuing their father's uprising; as well as the trials and tribulations underwent by Yasutaka Utou (善知安方) and his wife, as well as Yasutaka's loyalty (to what or whom I'm honestly unsure).

For the part of the story we actually care about, we start with the toad spirit Nikushisen (肉芝仙), who resides on Mount Tsukuba (筑波山). It saved up so much spiritual power over its 3000-year life, that it awakened to potent "toad magic" (yes toad magic).

After Masakado's defeat as an enemy of the imperial court, Nikushisen appeared before Yoshikado, who Masakado had kept a secret and thus saved, told him his origins, taught him toad magic and persuaded him to continue the rebellion.

(Note: Yoshikado is entirely fictitious, and never existed, although tales about him have existed for a while, hence his use in this tale)

Depicted below: An illustration showing Yoshikado (right) learning toad magic from Nikushisen, true form inside the frog (left)

In addition, Nikushisen possessed Yoshikado's sister, the Buddhist nun Kisaragi-ni (如月尼), transforming her into Takiyasha-hime. Together, they are the masterminds behind most of the misfourtunes in the book, and the main antagonists to Yasutaka and co.

(Note: Takiyasha-hime was a historical figure, but nothing was known about her other than the fact that she existed. These books are believed to be the origin of fiction using her as a character.)

Depicted below: Takiyasha-hime in one of the books (left), Nikushisen (as a toad) and Yoshikado on the right

Inspiration: Ooya Tarou Mitsukuni

With all this established, we can finally get into the pivotal scene and character Kunimitsu is based on: Ooya Tarou Mitsukuni.

In the story, Ooya Tarou Mitsukuni (大宅太郎光圀) is a fictitious retainer of the historical Minamoto no Yorinobu (源 頼信), who put down another rebellion attempt by one of Masakado's grandsons.

Mitsukuni was sent to the Soma clan's old imperial palace, an abandoned palace originally built for Masakado imitating the one in the imperial capital where the Emperor lives, to arrest conspirators of Yoshikado and Takiyasha-hime, who were gathering there.

To fight back, the siblings summoned and controlled the skeletons of countless fallen warriors to fight back against their enemies, chief amongst them Ooya Tarou Mitsukuni.

This scene is famously (even moreso than the original story) depicted in a woodblock print by the famed ukiyo-e artist Utagawa Kuniyoshi, simply titled "The Soma's Old Imperial Palace" (相馬の古内裏). (This by the way is what the English version of the books' wikipedia page is actually on, ugh)

In Utagawa's depiction, only Takiyasha-hime (left panel) is present, while the many skeletons are instead one giant skeleton (centre & right). In the middle, fighting against it, is Mitsukuni (left) and fellow warrior Araimaru (荒井丸) (he's unimportant to us though).

SO! Now we can finally look into how Mitsukuni inspired Kunimitsu.

First off, name: Obviously, they share the same family name, Ooya (大宅), a fairly common surname that means "large mansion". The given name Kunimitsu (都光) is just the name Mitsukuni (光圀) sliced in half and swapped in order.

However, while "mitsu" is still written with the same character, 光 (light); "kuni" is written with a different one: 都 (capital city) in Kunimitsu and 圀 (country) in Mitsukuni. This swap was likely to distance Kunimitsu from Mitsukuni, as well as to strengthen their ties to the imperial capital of Devanagara.

Kunimitsu's occupation as a youkai exterminator is likely based on Mitsukuni repelling the skeleton army/giant skeleton that Takiyasha-hime (and Yoshikado) sends after him.

Finally, the pose Kunimitsu is in is actually nearly identical to that of Mitsukuni in the following woodblock print by Tsukioka Yoshitoshi, often considered "the last great master of ukiyo-e". Interestingly this version keeps the skeleton army.

Tying Things Up

While I could've certainly just drawn the parallels between Mitsukuni and Kunimitsu and called it a day, "The Tale of Yasutaka Utou's Loyalty" is actually quite influential to Len'en in general.

In fact, it ties together Chouki, Fumikado, Sese and Kunimitsu, perhaps you've noticed them as well? So think of it as laying the groundwork for analysing all of them, and thanks for bearing with me.

In any case, here are some other curious points that I'll point out about Kunimitsu:

The symbols on their crown (the Fujiwara dynasty's crown) are likely Sanskrit, I can't read Sanskrit though so I've no idea what it says, and I can't identify them with any characters just from what I have online either

Kunimitsu seems to have a personal grudge against the Senri Shrine, having "a score to settle with them", although it's unclear why

They extermination youkai to demonstrate that people no longer need the Senri priests

They're apparently talented in the kitchen as well as with a sword

So, that concludes all I have, let's look forward to learning more soon, hopefully~

[hartkazami]

参考了神行太保的动作

[nyakuroji]

fuck it, furry kunimitsu for mega micchan monday

[magicalmelancholy-blog1]

It's Micchan Monday!

[dailyiyozane]

Kunimitsu notices that Iyozane is tired.

[incorrect-mugenri]

Who would post the stupidest discourse?