Suo Hayato and the Thunder God Raijin
Among all the grafitti on the walls of Furin, there's a very prominent one in the back of class 1-1. There you can see two figures, one with a big halo behind him and the other with a bag on his shoulders. These are Raijin and Fujin, respectively gods of thunder and wind.
They are brothers dieties who rival each other for the control of the Sky, both feared and respected in japanese culture and known as protectors and guardian dieties of the land and temples.
Back on the cover of chapter 37, both Suo and Nirei are standing in front of that mural, Suo in front of Raijin, Nirei in front of Fujin.
I've always found the comparison very interesting, and it made a lot of sense since they are gardian dieties. But with chapter 208, I got reminded of the correlation between Suo and Raijin thanks to a little detail. The horrendous weather a the end of said chapter...
Raijin (雷神) is the god of thunder, lightnings and storms, and a powerful diety in Japan. He's both feared and revered by the people. He's often painted with a demonic face and associated with the color red.
He's depicted as a fearsome god than brings destruction, but he's also a protector of the people and known to bless the crops thanks to the rain and lightnings he brings during storms. He's a god with an interesting duality that makes him a bit of a paradox. (Familiar much ?)
He's often said to be a trickster god, more in a chaotic than a malevolent way. There's also a very famous story that parents tell their children about hiding their bellybutton during thunderstorms so that Raijin doesn't eat them.
Raijin is deeply linked to the Land of the Dead, Yomi no Kuni, given the fact he was born there, split in 8 different parts from the decaying corpse of his mother, Izanami the creator goddess who was stuck into the Underworld after eating the food there. Upon this discovery, Izanagi, his father, tried to trapped them in the Underworld but he and Fujin managed to escape. (Yeah it's gruesome and no we don't have time to unpack all that. But also. Food trauma ?)
Aside from Fujin, Raijin is often shown with Raiju, a thunder beast whose appearance varies and is like the totem/familiar of the god. Suo is more often associated with dragons on his clothes but on this particular outfit, it could be seen as a raiju too...
Despite being a god and having a buddhist halo (reserved for holy or divine beings) Raijin has a lot of demonic features, from the red skin to the horns, sharp teeth and hands with 3 fingers that represent past, present and future. He looks a lot like your average Oni. And well, fun fact, there's an old custom saying throwing soy beans during festival ward off demons. You know what soybean makes ? Natto.
Among the stories about Raijin, there's one saying the Emperor grew tired of Raijin's destruction and camality at some point and asked Sugaru "the God Catcher" to capture him. When asking him to come and submit peacefully didn't work, Sugaru invoked Kannon (the Buddha of Compassion) and Raijin finally submitted and stopped destroying Japan with his storms.
Initially I wondered if that could be a hint of what could go down in Suo's arc. Would they have to stop him from destroying others or himself.... But then I remembered Suo has already been stopped from going on rampage once.
(Is Sakura the god-catcher or the Buddha of Compassion ? Discuss)
To go back to the gardian diety aspect of the god, Raijin & Fujin are worshipped as protectors and you can find their statues in front of shrines. Legends say they protected Japan against Mongol invasion twice (historically speaking, in both instances Mongols tried to invade Japan and their fleets and armies got crushed by storms and typhoons when reaching japanese territories. Yes it's real. And hilarious.)
And so, last but not least, to tie it back to chapter 208 again, Suo's disappearance and his arc start with a pouring rain and thunder rumbling ominously in the background... The storm is coming...
