The Story Behind: Okami

So, as some of you may know, I have posted previously about some folklore which then went on to inspire a video game:
http://matttalkslife.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/year-walk-swedish-folklore.html

I really like this concept of being able to play myths and legends through video games, I will admit that usually the game will loosely fit the legend to create extra action elements to make it enjoyable but.. Today I wanted to look into the game Okami, not one that I have played personally but one I have watched and very much enjoy the art style of. The game itself is inspired by the Japanese Shinto religion.

Some art work from the game

So the, basic story of the game is as follows - thanks Wikipedia..

"The game is set in a Nippon (Japan) based on Japanese folklore, and begins with a flashback to events 100 years prior to the game's present; the narrator describes how Shiranui, a pure white wolf, and Nagi, a swordsman, together fought the eight-headed demon Orochi to save Kamiki Village and the maiden Nami, Nagi's beloved. Shiranui and Nagi are unable to defeat Orochi, so they seal the demon away.


In the game's present, Susano, a descendant of Nagi and self-proclaimed greatest warrior, breaks Orochi's seal due to the fact that he does not believe in the legend and wants to prove it false; Orochi escapes and curses the lands, sapping the life from every living being. Sakuya, the wood sprite and guardian of Kamiki Village, calls forth Amaterasu, the sun goddess, known to the villagers as the reincarnation of the white wolf Shiranui, and pleads for her to remove the curse that covers the land. Accompanied by the artist Issun (an inch-high creature known as a Poncle), Amaterasu is able to restore the land to its former beauty.

Throughout the journey, Amaterasu is hounded by Waka, a beautiful and strange but powerful individual who seems to have the gift of foresight and further teases Amaterasu and Issun to his own mysterious ends. Additionally, Amaterasu locates several Celestial Gods who have hidden in the constellations; the gods bestow upon the goddess powers of the Celestial Brush to aid in her quest.

Soon, Amaterasu and Susano battles Orochi to protect Kamiki Village and rescue Susano's beloved, Kushi, recreating events from 100 years prior. This time, the duo are able to fully conquer the demon, causing a black, evil spirit to float northward. Amaterasu and Issun then embark on a journey across Nippon, befriending many people along the way through their good deeds, and continue to remove Orochi's curse on the land through defeating other demons that release similar dark presences, all of which float northward.

As Amaterasu travels to find the source of these evil spirits, she is brought to the wreckage of a ship able to travel through the stars: the "Ark of Yamato", trapped in the frozen plains of Kamui. Waka appears and reveals himself as a member of the Moon Tribe, a long-living race who used the Ark to escape from Orochi's assault on the Celestial Plain and sail the heavens – unaware of the evil spirits imprisoned on the Ark; the demons attacked and killed all but Waka himself, resulting in the Ark crashing to earth. Yami, the demon controlling all the evil spirits, appears and strips Amaterasu of her Celestial Brush powers before engaging her in battle. Issun takes up his role as the Celestial Envoy and encourages all those they have helped to send their thoughts and prayers to Amaterasu, causing her to regain her powers and defeat Yami, ridding both the Ark and Nippon of these evil beings forever. With her mission done, Amaterasu departs with Waka on the Ark to sail back to the Celestial Plain together."

Now, I am going to pull this apart - and by that I mean, I am going to tell you how closely this follows the pre-existing myths and how each character falls into place. I am going to start with the protagonist and playable character in the game, Amaterasu.

Amaterasu
Amaterasu is a Goddess of the Shinto religion whose name translates to "shining in heaven." She is the Goddess of the sun and universe, and is a descendant of Izanagi when he washed out his right eye. Within the game, she takes form of the white wolf Shiranui who originally fought with Orochi. From what I can see, there are no other references to her taking this form so I feel this was for the games purposes; possibly because the depictions I have seen of the Goddess may not have reflected on the art style of the game.

Traditional artwork depicting Amaterasu

In terms of the Goddess being summoned down to help restore the world, this does make sense as she lives in the heavens. Her brother is actually the swordsman who broke the seal, Susano, who was banished from the heavens for upsetting Amaterasu. He then gifted his sister a sword as a gift to apologise which later became one of the three Imperial Regalia of Japan. I think that in the game, the character is joined by a painter because of the legend of Japan's creation, as the Goddess and her two brothers are said to have painted the landscape. In the game, you are awarded celestial brush powers to assist in your journey, which is used to paint the landscape restoring it back to how it should be, possibly in how the Gods originally envisioned. It's the little things, when you look into it, all make sense. I could imagine when just playing the game, the choice of a painting companion and brush skills may seem a little confusing but great for artistic style. There's a reason!

The title of the game - Okami - actually roughly translates to wolf and deity, so you could say the title is really deity wolf. Clever.

Susano
So let's have a look at this gentlemen, the banished God who broke the seal. This God was born from Izanagi's left eye upon being washed out. Susano was banished from the heavens has punishment as previously mentioned which I assumed would mean he lived in the world among mankind. He was the self proclaimed greatest swordsman of the lands, which I would assume would be because he is a God and the such.. Can't really beat that in all fairness as a generic run of the mill human. He is also referred to as the storm God.

Susano fighting Orochi

The myth states that Susano and the Amaterasu fight Orochi the dragon. The images I have found make the fight like quite epic and only ever depict Susano which I find a little strange. The actual translated story actually states that Susano created eight baths of sake, once for each head. Each head consumed the drink, and fell asleep. Whilst asleep, Susano cuts it up into tiny pieces effectively killing it.. Which doesn't seem to collate with the images but I guess they would be a lot less appealing if they looked like that. When fighting, he noticed a nick in his sword which cutting the tale, and ripped it open and found a sword 'Kusanagi-no-tsurugi.' This is the one he then later gifted to his sister to say sorry. How nice.

Orochi
Orochi, is the bad guy in all of this, an eight headed dragon with eight tales. I haven't really been able to find a source for Orochi as of yet - you might find later on in the post I have so, who knows? The reason that Susano decides to kill the demon in the myth, is because a family had been commanded to feed a child to the demon every year, once a year. They were about to sacrifice their last child and their cries attracted his attention once banished from the heavens. Susano transformed the remaining child into a hair comb for safe keeping and then went about his business, as above, to slay the dragon.

Orochi and Ameterasu

The word Orochi itself roughly translates to large serpent or snake. The idea of multiheaded animals in mythology is pretty common, the thing that I find interesting is the idea of a storm God fighting a Serpent of sorts is ever so more common. There are at least another ten examples of the same sort of clash happening in myths. Maybe it is just a common theme or travellers providing inspiration, I guess there is no way to tell really..

Issun
This is the tiny artist who accompanies the wolf in the game, which loosely translates to 'Little One Inch.' The story of this character has no relation to any myth as above but I feel like it was chosen as a companion due to its size and also because it is reminiscent of many other stories around the world, for us in England it would be Tom Thumb.

A tiny little fight

His story is that his parents wished for a child, and Issun was born to them, named fully Issun-Boshi. Issun means about 3cm/1 inch and boshi means son. He knows he will never grow but wants to find his place in the world despite his size and leaves to find work. He has a needle as a sword, because he wants to be a samurai. He becomes the play mate of a princess as he wasn't taken seriously and one day they are attacked by an oni - or demon - who swallows him. He defeats the oni by jabbing persistently with the needle until he spits him out, drops the magic Uchide Mallet and runs away. The mallet is used to make Issun full size and he weds the princess - how cute? I don't really see how it is in relation to Orochi but.. I like it.

Other Bits and Bobs
This section here will be for all the other inbetween bits which I couldn't find anything specific about, most likely because it is just fashioned for the game - but I can see links elsewhere to other areas of Japanese myths.

I was looking for something to do with the final boss, Yami but it bought back nothing, I feel like it may have been a reference to Yomi which is the Japanese underworld. I feel like this is a link because Yami in the game was the source of demons which came in on the ark with Waka. I have seen reference to demons being produced out of the underworld, and is actually where the birth of the Gods came from. When the Izanagi was cleaning himself, creating the Gods, he had returned from the underworld to try find his dead partner, and upon casting his eyes on her, was chased out by demons. Maybe a bit of a vague reference but who knows?

I thought the Ark of Yamato may have held some background but from what I can see, it is actually a class of Japanese battle ship so possibly a more modern influence on the game. It was also an ancient name for Japan, so maybe it is a reference to the past, as the Gods were said to create the world and it was suggested as a celestial vessel in the game. It has a lot of other references, such as people who lived in a province called Yamato, so it may have a large span of references.

I was also trying to find some stuff for Kamui where the Ark has crashed in the game, Googling that finds a character from Naruto.. And also references Japanese spiritual or divine entities, which I think may make a lot of sense. The Ark was said to carry celestial beings away from Orochi, but were then killed by the demons on the Ark - so this frozen plain may be their remains? This is also closely referenced to Kami's which are spirits of the Shinto religion. Coming full circle to the characters of the game - possible. Maybe I am just making obscure links.

Well, that is all for this post, it has taken a long time! I have enjoyed it all though, it is interesting to me at least to see how past times still influence our everyday lives through video games. I hope you enjoy. I am now off to post a blog about little ol' me. My oh my.