mercy_angel_09 (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
mercy_angel_09) wrote2009-01-13 04:17 pm
mercy_angel_09) wrote2009-01-13 04:17 pm
Entry tags:
via the back roads, actually, you know, the scenic route
As some of you know, I've been reading Inuyasha - which, of course, means that every so often some little piece of Japanese folklore pops up and I'm off on a lightening fast Internet search to learn about it. The history doesn't bother me any more, mostly thanks to my East Asian history class that I *HAD* to take, and really, the only thing I got out of that class was a better understanding of historical manga set in Japan and China. (Fushigi Yugi made waaaaay more sense after that class, and Inuyasha is cake now, and Kaze Hikaru is also loads of fun because I now know who the hell they're talking about and why that person is important.)
So, one of the recurring characters in Inuyasha is the tanuki Hachimon, who is a not-so-loyal companion of Miroku's. Off I went, researching not only about the mythical tanuki, but the ACTUAL tanuki was well - the Japanese Raccoon Dog. I DO NOT LIE. There's a whole lot of stuff about the different types of Raccoon Dogs, which tend to be native to Sibera, Japan, Korea and China, though the Japanese Raccoon Dogs are the most well known. We can thank titles like Inuyasha and the Super Mario Bros. franchise for that. XP When depicting tanuki, both real and mythical, an egantic scrotum is necessary. Because hot damn if those Raccoon Dogs don't have the biggest balls I've ever seen. Like Van Wilder's bulldog, if you've actually seen Van Wilder that is. And they are always that big.
While doing images searches to see the variety of depictions of real and mythical tanuki, I ended up on Veoh's bbs. Not unusual, as people are posting pics all the time on message boards, but one of the members had an interesting link in their sig - How Internet Friends are like Youkai. TWS applies, and so I click the link - and then promptly keel over in laughter.
Because wouldn't you know it - IT'S TRUE.
I didn't make this list,![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
randomdiversion did. Also known as"CluelessinCA" on the now defunct VEOH social boards.
So, without further ado:
1) You may not be able to see them, but you know they exist and are not just a figment of your imagination.
2) Their power over you is directly proportional to your belief in them.
3) Their world is your world, but at the same time, it isn't.
4) Space and time seem to behave differently when you interact with them. (You can log on 'to chat for a few minutes' and then look up to find four hours have passed. And almost anyplace on the planet can be next door to your living room.)
5) They may not be able to do you physical harm but they sure can hurt you (your feelings). (Conversely, they have equal ability to help...)
6) You tend to interact using nick-names, and jealously guard your true name, because any that has your true name may have great power over you and could even bring itself into your real world.
7) How you think they look may bear little resemblance to their true form.
8 ) On occasion you may encounter one that lives up to the name 'monster'. But most of the time even the scary ones just want to play nicely with you.
9) They can show you things, familiar to themselves, that were beyond your imagination. And your world can be equally novel to them.
10) They are there any time of day or night when you call (log on).
11) They can enchant you.
12) They can appear and disappear at will.
13) If they die, they simply vanish.
14) Sometimes when they disappear, they come back as someone else.
15) Some of them (admins) have god-like power, but only within their realm.
16) Troublemakers may be banished.
17) 'Demonic' possession is possible (a person's logon can be hacked and their identity taken over by 'evil spirits')
18 ) You can bring them into your physical world, but only with great effort (and often, someone has to fly to do it.)
19) If they bug you too much, you can drive them away with a charm and make them disappear (use an 'ignore' feature in venues where it is available).
20) Sometimes if they're really bad, you can invoke a higher power (admin) to exorcise them (ban them) and make them disappear entirely.
21) You can't tell their gender just by looking at them, and if you try to guess, there's a good chance you'll be wrong.
22) Some are trolls.
I found this while searching tanuki. By the back roads and scenic route indeed. XD
So, one of the recurring characters in Inuyasha is the tanuki Hachimon, who is a not-so-loyal companion of Miroku's. Off I went, researching not only about the mythical tanuki, but the ACTUAL tanuki was well - the Japanese Raccoon Dog. I DO NOT LIE. There's a whole lot of stuff about the different types of Raccoon Dogs, which tend to be native to Sibera, Japan, Korea and China, though the Japanese Raccoon Dogs are the most well known. We can thank titles like Inuyasha and the Super Mario Bros. franchise for that. XP When depicting tanuki, both real and mythical, an egantic scrotum is necessary. Because hot damn if those Raccoon Dogs don't have the biggest balls I've ever seen. Like Van Wilder's bulldog, if you've actually seen Van Wilder that is. And they are always that big.
While doing images searches to see the variety of depictions of real and mythical tanuki, I ended up on Veoh's bbs. Not unusual, as people are posting pics all the time on message boards, but one of the members had an interesting link in their sig - How Internet Friends are like Youkai. TWS applies, and so I click the link - and then promptly keel over in laughter.
Because wouldn't you know it - IT'S TRUE.
I didn't make this list,
randomdiversion did. Also known as"CluelessinCA" on the now defunct VEOH social boards.So, without further ado:
1) You may not be able to see them, but you know they exist and are not just a figment of your imagination.
2) Their power over you is directly proportional to your belief in them.
3) Their world is your world, but at the same time, it isn't.
4) Space and time seem to behave differently when you interact with them. (You can log on 'to chat for a few minutes' and then look up to find four hours have passed. And almost anyplace on the planet can be next door to your living room.)
5) They may not be able to do you physical harm but they sure can hurt you (your feelings). (Conversely, they have equal ability to help...)
6) You tend to interact using nick-names, and jealously guard your true name, because any that has your true name may have great power over you and could even bring itself into your real world.
7) How you think they look may bear little resemblance to their true form.
8 ) On occasion you may encounter one that lives up to the name 'monster'. But most of the time even the scary ones just want to play nicely with you.
9) They can show you things, familiar to themselves, that were beyond your imagination. And your world can be equally novel to them.
10) They are there any time of day or night when you call (log on).
11) They can enchant you.
12) They can appear and disappear at will.
13) If they die, they simply vanish.
14) Sometimes when they disappear, they come back as someone else.
15) Some of them (admins) have god-like power, but only within their realm.
16) Troublemakers may be banished.
17) 'Demonic' possession is possible (a person's logon can be hacked and their identity taken over by 'evil spirits')
18 ) You can bring them into your physical world, but only with great effort (and often, someone has to fly to do it.)
19) If they bug you too much, you can drive them away with a charm and make them disappear (use an 'ignore' feature in venues where it is available).
20) Sometimes if they're really bad, you can invoke a higher power (admin) to exorcise them (ban them) and make them disappear entirely.
21) You can't tell their gender just by looking at them, and if you try to guess, there's a good chance you'll be wrong.
22) Some are trolls.
I found this while searching tanuki. By the back roads and scenic route indeed. XD