- Joined
- Jan 4, 2002
- Posts
- 9,358
Basically, I'm just crackin' pissed off by hearing/reading about misunderstood versions of the KOF background, say the 'Orochi storyline'.
Thus, I'm now posting both the original and SNK version of the whole damn thing.
Here is the original one, next post will be for the SNK re-interpretaion.
***
1) The Story of Susano'ou
It all began with the 'Kokiji' book of Japanese mythology.
Susano'ou-no-mikoto, or just Susano'ou, is a younger brother of the Sun Goddess Amaterasu-ou-mi-no-kami. Both are children of Izanagi and Izanami, so in Japanese mythology, they are the great dieties.
Susano'ou is entrusted with the governance of the seas, but was infamous for his wild behavior in Takaamagahara (heaven), frequently wrecking things and causing general mayhem. This at one point leads to Amaterasu hiding in a cave in despair, causing the world to plunge to utter darkness, but that's another story. Anyway, due to his wild behavior, he is vanished from the heavens and descends to earth in Izumo region.
2) Susano'ou , Yamata-no-Orochi and Kushinada-hime
When he lands in Izumo, he meets an old couple (Ashinazuchi and Tenazuchi) and their daughter (Kushinada-hime, 'hime' meaning 'princess'). According to them, they used to have eight daughters, but every year, a monster known as Yamata-no-Orochi comes to ask a virgin in sacrifice and swallows one of their daughters, and the last daughter Kushinada will soon be swallowed also. "Yamata-no-Orochi" literally means "Big snake with eight forks." This Yamata-no-Orochi is in fact a monster with 8 heads and 8 tails whose huge body can cover 8 valleys and 8 mountains. Susanooh volunteers to get rid of the Orochi in return for marrying Kushinada.
3) The battle
Susano'ou ordered, "Let's prepare eight big jar with full of Sake(Japanese rice-wine). And placed them in front of your house." Susanou transformed Kushinada-hime to a comb, and spit it his mizura. and he himself hid in the woods. Mizura is a name of old hair style of Japanese man.
Before long, Yamata-no-Orochi came.
Its eyes brightend red, gave out red breath, its back was mossy, and its tails lightened like thunder. Ashi-nazuchi and Te-nazuchi serviced timidly. Yamata-no-Orochi found eight big jar, and drunk of all. Soon, it tipsied, and almost slept.
Suddenly, Susano'ou appeared. He had only one sword. And started to fight against Yamata-no-Orochi. First head started to fight against Susanou, but others were only lookers on with laugh. Because, Susanou was so small for it. Susano'ou moved rapidly. So first head culdn't catch him. Second head joined to fight. Susanou moved more rapidly. Now, all the heads joined to fight.
The battle continued for hours. By degrees, Yamata-no-Orochi getting drunk. At last, the first head couldn't moved. Susanou cut it down right away. Same occurence happend one after another.
Susano'ou cut it's eight head down with his sword.
Then, he cut it's seven tails down. When he try to cut it's last tail, his sword hit something, and coulden't cut the tail down. So, he riped it slowly and found one sword in it.
The sword was a dewy celebrated sword. Later he presented it to his sister Amaterasu. And this sword called Ame-no-Murakumo-no-Tsurugi, one of the Japanese National Treasure.
After that, Susanou married to Kushinada-hime. They made a new house, and lived there. He composed a tanka (a 31-syllable Japanese poem) with a joy. "Yakumo-tatu Izumo Yaegaki Tumagome-ni Yaegaki-tukuru sono Yaegaki-wo" This was the first poem in Japan. The place of the house is now considered "Suga-Shrine" in Izumo.
4) The sword
The sword Susano'ou discovered and gave to the gods was eventually given to a grandson of Amaterasu (Ninigi, great grandfather of Emperor Jinmu, the first emperor, but of course, after WWII, this was revoked) the sun goddess when he came down to earth. The sword is one of the three divine articles that are part of the Japanese Imperial Regalia, but lost in 12th century. The sword's name is "Ama-no-Murakumo-no-tsurugi" (heavenly gathering of clouds sword), and it is also known as "Kusanagi-no-tsurugi" (grass cutting sword) when it was used by Yamato Takeru to cut grass to make an escape route when he was surrounded by fire in one of the Ainu subjugation campaigns.
5) The three Imperial Regalia
The three Imperial Regalia are one of the oldest stories of Japan: they are a myth, a legend and a reality at once. They are the three treasures of Japan, consisting of the Kusanagi-ken (sword), the Yata-kagami (mirror) and the Yasakani-magatama (jewel bead of a necklace).
The regalia are closely tied to the Japanese Shinto belief in kami. According to legend, their origins are anyway quite different. The sword was discovered by Susano'ou, during the Orochi fight. The other two treasures, the jewel and the mirror, were created slightly later by the gods.
Susano'ou was quite a trouble-maker, and seemed to be especially talented at infuriating Amaterasu. After one remarkably bad sequence of trouble-making, including flaying a colt and flinging it into her hall, she became so infuriated that she left the palace, fleeing to the Rock-cave of heaven, and shutting the door behind her. The other gods, naturally, were grieved, and decided at once to entice her out with merrymaking and beautiful things. Along with food and drink, and sacred plants in her honor, they also had an eight-hand bronze mirror made, and a string of beautiful Yasaka(ni) curved jewels. They sang in her honor, and when she opened the door to see why, she was delighted by all the beautiful things, and stepped out. The other gods pulled her out of the cave, bringing the light of the sun back once again to the earth. The mirror and one of the jewels have remained sacred treasures of the Imperial family ever since, joining the sword to form the three Imperial Regalia.
The necklace is the most obvious shintai of the three regalia, and is passed directly from Amaterasu to each successive head of the Imperial line. The jewels within it (magatama), often rapresented as a curved bead similar to a beast teeth, represented the soul or Amaterasu herself, and enabled her to enter the body of the possessor and make him a "living god" in full communion with her.
The Imperial Regalia remained the property of the Imperial line ever since, although in different ways. The mirror and jewels are worshipped even today. The sword Kusanagi, however, was carried into the ocean at the Battle of Shimonoseki by the Emperor Antoku, the last emperor of the Taira, at the end of the Genpei War. The new emperor, supported by the victorious Minamoto, was forced to make do with only the mirror and jewels.
Not on the Yata mirror: the mirror is known as an "8-handed mirror" which may mean the size (8 hands across), or merely that it is octagonal as opposed to being circular, like most bronze mirrors of the period. "Amaterasu took in her hand the precious mirror, and gave it to her child, saying 'My child, when though lookest upon this mirror, let it be as if thou wert looking on me. Let it be with thee on thy couch and in thy hall, and let it be to thee a holy mirror' "
In other words, it seems to be a window for Amaterasu to see what is happening in Wakeworld from Dreamlands, if not an actual portal to transfer through. And since the Emperors even today spend a night locked away for communion with Amaterasu, to assume the "godhood", it seems pretty clear that she can reach through it into their heads somehow.
***
That's all for now!
Please note the above information are all collected, double-checked and someway edited material by me. In the upcoming second post, all the SNK version of the thing and references spread all along the KOF storyline and characters)
<small>[ February 21, 2003, 01:02 PM: Message edited by: Shito ]</small>
Thus, I'm now posting both the original and SNK version of the whole damn thing.
Here is the original one, next post will be for the SNK re-interpretaion.
***
1) The Story of Susano'ou
It all began with the 'Kokiji' book of Japanese mythology.
Susano'ou-no-mikoto, or just Susano'ou, is a younger brother of the Sun Goddess Amaterasu-ou-mi-no-kami. Both are children of Izanagi and Izanami, so in Japanese mythology, they are the great dieties.
Susano'ou is entrusted with the governance of the seas, but was infamous for his wild behavior in Takaamagahara (heaven), frequently wrecking things and causing general mayhem. This at one point leads to Amaterasu hiding in a cave in despair, causing the world to plunge to utter darkness, but that's another story. Anyway, due to his wild behavior, he is vanished from the heavens and descends to earth in Izumo region.
2) Susano'ou , Yamata-no-Orochi and Kushinada-hime
When he lands in Izumo, he meets an old couple (Ashinazuchi and Tenazuchi) and their daughter (Kushinada-hime, 'hime' meaning 'princess'). According to them, they used to have eight daughters, but every year, a monster known as Yamata-no-Orochi comes to ask a virgin in sacrifice and swallows one of their daughters, and the last daughter Kushinada will soon be swallowed also. "Yamata-no-Orochi" literally means "Big snake with eight forks." This Yamata-no-Orochi is in fact a monster with 8 heads and 8 tails whose huge body can cover 8 valleys and 8 mountains. Susanooh volunteers to get rid of the Orochi in return for marrying Kushinada.
3) The battle
Susano'ou ordered, "Let's prepare eight big jar with full of Sake(Japanese rice-wine). And placed them in front of your house." Susanou transformed Kushinada-hime to a comb, and spit it his mizura. and he himself hid in the woods. Mizura is a name of old hair style of Japanese man.
Before long, Yamata-no-Orochi came.
Its eyes brightend red, gave out red breath, its back was mossy, and its tails lightened like thunder. Ashi-nazuchi and Te-nazuchi serviced timidly. Yamata-no-Orochi found eight big jar, and drunk of all. Soon, it tipsied, and almost slept.
Suddenly, Susano'ou appeared. He had only one sword. And started to fight against Yamata-no-Orochi. First head started to fight against Susanou, but others were only lookers on with laugh. Because, Susanou was so small for it. Susano'ou moved rapidly. So first head culdn't catch him. Second head joined to fight. Susanou moved more rapidly. Now, all the heads joined to fight.
The battle continued for hours. By degrees, Yamata-no-Orochi getting drunk. At last, the first head couldn't moved. Susanou cut it down right away. Same occurence happend one after another.
Susano'ou cut it's eight head down with his sword.
Then, he cut it's seven tails down. When he try to cut it's last tail, his sword hit something, and coulden't cut the tail down. So, he riped it slowly and found one sword in it.
The sword was a dewy celebrated sword. Later he presented it to his sister Amaterasu. And this sword called Ame-no-Murakumo-no-Tsurugi, one of the Japanese National Treasure.
After that, Susanou married to Kushinada-hime. They made a new house, and lived there. He composed a tanka (a 31-syllable Japanese poem) with a joy. "Yakumo-tatu Izumo Yaegaki Tumagome-ni Yaegaki-tukuru sono Yaegaki-wo" This was the first poem in Japan. The place of the house is now considered "Suga-Shrine" in Izumo.
4) The sword
The sword Susano'ou discovered and gave to the gods was eventually given to a grandson of Amaterasu (Ninigi, great grandfather of Emperor Jinmu, the first emperor, but of course, after WWII, this was revoked) the sun goddess when he came down to earth. The sword is one of the three divine articles that are part of the Japanese Imperial Regalia, but lost in 12th century. The sword's name is "Ama-no-Murakumo-no-tsurugi" (heavenly gathering of clouds sword), and it is also known as "Kusanagi-no-tsurugi" (grass cutting sword) when it was used by Yamato Takeru to cut grass to make an escape route when he was surrounded by fire in one of the Ainu subjugation campaigns.
5) The three Imperial Regalia
The three Imperial Regalia are one of the oldest stories of Japan: they are a myth, a legend and a reality at once. They are the three treasures of Japan, consisting of the Kusanagi-ken (sword), the Yata-kagami (mirror) and the Yasakani-magatama (jewel bead of a necklace).
The regalia are closely tied to the Japanese Shinto belief in kami. According to legend, their origins are anyway quite different. The sword was discovered by Susano'ou, during the Orochi fight. The other two treasures, the jewel and the mirror, were created slightly later by the gods.
Susano'ou was quite a trouble-maker, and seemed to be especially talented at infuriating Amaterasu. After one remarkably bad sequence of trouble-making, including flaying a colt and flinging it into her hall, she became so infuriated that she left the palace, fleeing to the Rock-cave of heaven, and shutting the door behind her. The other gods, naturally, were grieved, and decided at once to entice her out with merrymaking and beautiful things. Along with food and drink, and sacred plants in her honor, they also had an eight-hand bronze mirror made, and a string of beautiful Yasaka(ni) curved jewels. They sang in her honor, and when she opened the door to see why, she was delighted by all the beautiful things, and stepped out. The other gods pulled her out of the cave, bringing the light of the sun back once again to the earth. The mirror and one of the jewels have remained sacred treasures of the Imperial family ever since, joining the sword to form the three Imperial Regalia.
The necklace is the most obvious shintai of the three regalia, and is passed directly from Amaterasu to each successive head of the Imperial line. The jewels within it (magatama), often rapresented as a curved bead similar to a beast teeth, represented the soul or Amaterasu herself, and enabled her to enter the body of the possessor and make him a "living god" in full communion with her.
The Imperial Regalia remained the property of the Imperial line ever since, although in different ways. The mirror and jewels are worshipped even today. The sword Kusanagi, however, was carried into the ocean at the Battle of Shimonoseki by the Emperor Antoku, the last emperor of the Taira, at the end of the Genpei War. The new emperor, supported by the victorious Minamoto, was forced to make do with only the mirror and jewels.
Not on the Yata mirror: the mirror is known as an "8-handed mirror" which may mean the size (8 hands across), or merely that it is octagonal as opposed to being circular, like most bronze mirrors of the period. "Amaterasu took in her hand the precious mirror, and gave it to her child, saying 'My child, when though lookest upon this mirror, let it be as if thou wert looking on me. Let it be with thee on thy couch and in thy hall, and let it be to thee a holy mirror' "
In other words, it seems to be a window for Amaterasu to see what is happening in Wakeworld from Dreamlands, if not an actual portal to transfer through. And since the Emperors even today spend a night locked away for communion with Amaterasu, to assume the "godhood", it seems pretty clear that she can reach through it into their heads somehow.
***
That's all for now!
Please note the above information are all collected, double-checked and someway edited material by me. In the upcoming second post, all the SNK version of the thing and references spread all along the KOF storyline and characters)
<small>[ February 21, 2003, 01:02 PM: Message edited by: Shito ]</small>
