The Mythology of Okami

OH... I never even considered this. I’ve always connected the Moon Tribe with the “ancient civilization” which is heavily inspired by the Jomon and Yayoi periods (before “japan” was even really a thing), because they also have some weird tech that seems like it could have come from the moon. But the Ark of Yamato is almost a literal black ship that brought weird blond people and devils who hecked everything up. 

*edit: I got so wrapped up in talking about Lika that I forgot about the rest of the question. I will try to get back to it when I get home. XD

Lika’s leaf is a butterbur leaf, the same kind that Issun’s cape is made out of. Koropokkuru (the beings the Poncles are based on) are strongly associated with butterbur, and Lika has a strong connection with Issun in particular due to him saving her life when she got lost. This is revealed in a conversation with Mura, the purple Poncle girl, when you visit Ponc’tan. So my guess is that Lika’s totem is a Poncle, maybe even Issun himself.

Well I’m always happy to help inspire people. :D And I’m always up for Okami discussion. c:

Aww I’m glad you like them!! :D

In legend, Ushiwaka had a lover named Shizuka so I designed a character for her once. She was going to be one of the main characters in a fanfic I wanted to write about my previously posted Moon Tribe headcanons, but never worked up the courage. XP

I also strongly believe that Waka and Himiko were really close. Waka has served the Yamatai clan for 200 years and probably saw her death before it happened… since he caused so much death and despair when he tried to help the Celestials escape, (and because he couldn’t save the moon,) I like to think that he tried to make her life as bright and fulfilling as possible. He lives well beyond human years; if everything is going to fall to dust around him, he might as well try to help make those fleeting moments as bright as possible.

I also feel like his “fruity prophet” personality is a facade to help him cope with the darkness of the past. 

I don’t 100% headcanon this but I have an idea where the Moon Tribe are descended from an exiled group of Celestials who felt a little too entitled to power. (Hence they both have blond hair?) The Moon Tribe’s distance from the Celestial Plain caused them to lose their divinity and their wings, but they still had enough power to manipulate things on the world below, and to develop and fuel technology. 

Based off the play Sugawara and the Secrets of Calligraphy, I headcanon that the court of the Moon Tribe was taken over by an evil tyrant who saw that the ruling family had no legitimate claim to rule, and so claimed his own rule by filling the court with his own people and then ruling by force. He also wanted revenge on the Celestials, and wanted to reclaim the Celestial Plain. He exiled Sugawara to Nippon (as per Okamiden), and Kaguya was sent to Earth in hopes of saving her life. Waka led a group of rebels against the tyrant, but unable to stop them, they stole an iron ship and flew to the Celestial Plain where sympathetic Celestials let them stay, and the Ark of Yamato was thus enshrined there. Nobody sensed the dark forces still growing within, until the darkness that had been left behind on the Moon came after them yet again. By that the lunar civilization had basically been destroyed by the demons it had raised, namely Orochi.

I have days where I love to imagine Ammy in elegant robes like in the old paintings of deities, and days where I can only see Ammy dressed head to toe in battle armor. Mostly I prefer the flowy elegance of robes, and their potential to capture dynamic motion in art~

There’s an illustration of Amaterasu (of legend) in a book about various goddesses and female figures with really cool art that I’m thinking of, but I can’t find it... it’s one of my favorite pieces of art, though. She kind of has a mix of both looks.

I apologize for being dead for so long. To people who recently messaged me, I intend to answer you soon, but it will be a few days because I am swamped with pre-finals work and stuff. :'D I only have two weeks of school left, though, so I'm hoping to get back to posting after that! (I also haven't played Okami in a while so I need to fix that :< and hopefully that will inspire me to post more.) 

In the meantime, please feel free to send me questions--if you're curious about anything in particular, I'll be happy to answer to the best of my ability, and I think it will get me back in the swing of things. Sometimes I'm kind of overwhelmed by how many things I could possibly talk about. XP 

also this blog has 920 followers how did that happen

Bells are used to call gods at shrines, and are said to ward off evil spirits, which is why they are often attached to charms such as omamori. Probably both of those associations, along with their common use with gohei/shimenawa, are why Kagu wears them.

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