陰陽座 (Onmyo-za)

Artists
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Dear d&d, video game, and mythology nerds,
Those are some monsters u might know (i only knew a few, im Normal):

  1. wanyuudou

Japanese myth.; firewheel; soultaker; (explanation) burning oxcart wheel bearing the tormented face of a man

  1. hyousube
    wtf a hairy little man that laughs and if u laugh u die :sob: ?_?
  2. ao bouzu
    “blue priest”? uhh take some deep breaths, sir
  3. kumikyoku kishibojin ~ kishi bojin
    kishibojin isn’t a youkai!! she’s a goddess and demon (and in onmyo-za’s case, a Human) at the same time YOU JUST DONT UNDERSTAND HERRR :sob:
  4. rokurokubi
    ah, classic. did the song need to be this sexy? yes tbh

long-neck woman; (explanation) monstrous person (often a woman) with a neck that can expand and contract (in Japanese folklore)

  1. jorougumo
    i don’t know her but i love her. touching song :smiling_face_with_tear: :spider:

Translation: entangling bride; alternatively whore spider
Habitat: cities, towns, rural areas, forests, and caves
Diet: young, virile men

she is depicted as a spider woman controlling fire-breathing baby spiders.

  1. itsumade? (that’s what wikipedia said). :bird:

According to the Taiheiki, in the autumn of the first year of the Kenmu era ( 1334 ), when an epidemic was raging and many people died from the disease, a mysterious bird appeared every night above the Shishinden Palace and frightened the people by singing “until when, until when”.

  1. ibaraki douji, this guy’s a demon too. can’t believe he got a music video and my man shuten douji can’t even get a live performance recorded …
  2. inosasa ou(?) the kanji looks like a wild boar with grass on his back and wikipedia keeps redirecting to a page with a lil one eye one leg demon called ippon datara and i dont have the patience to watch an explanatory video
  3. ryoumen sukuna - another demon/ogre who was probably a bandit

He had two faces on one body, each facing in the opposite direction. His head was joined together, but he had no nape. Each side of his body had arms and legs, and he had knees but no knees or heels. He was strong and agile, and carried a sword on each side. He used two bows and arrows with all four hands.

more creatures, linked to song if available but video is not embedding

氷の楔 koori no kusabi (about a yuki onna)
塗り壁 nurikabe

八咫烏 yatagarasu
朧車 oboroguruma
烏天狗 karasu tengu
鵺 nue
叢原火 sougenbi
夢幻 mugen and 邪魅の抱擁 jami no houyou (about… youkai in general? lol)

舞頚 maikubi i feel like i need to make a lyric video for this it’s so fun lol

other creatures
鳳翼天翔 houyoku tenshou (about phoenix)

麒麟 kirin (Qilin)
夢虫 yumemushi (a butterfly lol)

there’s probably more, i just got tired :sunglasses: i might be back or some lurker can be my best friend and finish the onmyouza youkai list or even get started on the following lists:

  • ninja scrolls
  • actual people from history
  • MATSURIS lol they have more than 1 matsuri song
  • ???
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This was the very first one I looked for! The legend about this one is amusing.

The nurikabe (塗り壁 or 塗壁) is a yōkai, or spirit, from Japanese folklore. Its name translates to “plaster wall”, and it is said to manifest as an invisible wall that impedes or misdirects travelers walking at night. Sometimes referred to in English as “The Wall” or “Mr. Wall”, this yōkai is described as quite tall, to prevent people from climbing over it, and wide enough to dampen any attempts to go around it. Japanese scholar and folklorist Kunio Yanagita recorded perhaps the most prominent early example of nurikabe and other yōkai in his books. Manga artist Shigeru Mizuki claims to have encountered a nurikabe in New Guinea, inspiring a nurikabe character in his manga Gegege no Kitarō.

Also @x51715x, is Mizuchi no Miko missing from the Garyotensei YouTube playlist for you too? Wonder why it’s unavailable and hidden…

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10 NINJA SCROLL SONGS

They have way more than 10 of these, but I decided to limit it to 10 for consistency. These are a tribute to author Futaro Yamada and his ōchō series.

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PEOPLE AND PLACES

A lot of songs in ONMYO-ZA’s discography reference both places in Japan and historical/mythological figures. Let’s run through some of these songs, although to be quite honest I’m going to start with an exception to the rule!

As far as I can tell, 奇子 is a reference to the manga trilogy by Osamu Tezuka. I believe the translation of the title is akin to “odd girl”, and fits in with the story. So 奇子 as a person is not real, but there’s a lot of figures in Japanese history whose origins are unclear, and I never said that any of these people were real anyway. I just said they were historical/mythological, and this story does take place in an alternate post-WW2 history following a fictional family dealing with turmoil. I won’t post any more spoilers in case you are interested in reading for yourself.

Please ONMYO-ZA, upload your old songs to your channel too!!!

Adachigahara is a large plain in the province of Mutsu in Japan. This place was said to be haunted by a cannibal goblin who took the form of an old woman.

A three part suite dedicated to the historical figure MINAMOTO no Yoshitsune. Read some more information about it here.

This song is dedicated to the historical figure Tamamo-no-mae.

I’m like 95% sure this song is a reference to the Japanese poet Kakinomoto no Hitomaro.

This song is dedicated to the historical figure Susanoo-no-Mikoto.

This song is a legend about the youkai Tesso, but the source of the vengeful spirit was a monk named Raigo.

Shiramine is a shrine, located on the north east corner of Imadegawa and Horikawa in Kamigyo-ku in Kyoto

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omg ur insane :pray: brb

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10 MORE YOUKAI SONGS

They’ve been around since 1999. They’ve had plenty of time to make excellent songs about these fantastic mythological creatures. Here’s 10 more videos - and I’m trying to be mindful about repeats too! We’ve made it to 50!

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disclaimer i’m not a ninja

忍法 [にんぽう]
(n) ninja arts
法帖 [ほうじょう]
(n) copybook printed from the works of old masters of calligraphy

part 1 - zeus list:

  1. kouga ninpouchou - “the kouga ninja scroll” - kouga refers to the name of a ninja clan
    this was an anime opening when i was younger, so i would hear it at anime conventions etc. which is how i started actually making onmyouza lyric videos so ppl would sing something else :smiling_face_with_tear: lmao
  2. youka ninpouchou - “ninja scroll of the bewitching beauty (lit. flower)” - sexy woman ninja f :biting_lip: cks u to death (good ol’ snake in the vag - i made this part up, the snake is just hidden on her somewhere) as matatabi stares at u through the window in a completely normal manner
  3. youka ninpouchou again :eyes:
  4. ouka ninpouchou - “ninja scroll of cherry blossoms” came out early 2018 and was used for another basilisk anime opening
  5. utsusemi ninpouchou - “ninja scroll of impermanence (lit. empty cicada shell)” sad ninja thinking about death, m8
  6. gekka ninpouchou - “gekka ninja scroll” - is Gekka someone’s name? otherwise it literally means “moon flower”.
  7. hadou ninpouchou - “ninja scroll of military rule” - getting sent back and forth, who knows where we even started, this journey never ends anyway. i love to sing this
  8. kaminari ninpouchou - “ninja scroll of thunder (lit. god’s cry)” - the kanji looks like it could be a girl’s name like Kanna, but she pronounces it “kaminari” and matatabi also spells the girl’s name in katakana on his blog.
  9. musasabi ninpouchou - “ninja scroll of LEGENDARY FLYING SQUIRREL” - sooo that kanji is the name of a youkai. but it’s also a ninja scroll… and the lyrics kind of sound like someone spying on people? is the squirrel… the ninja? i obviously would not survive to figure this one out regardless
  10. mufuu ninpouchou - “ninja scroll of calm (lit. no wind)” - this is so wildly cheerful lmao

part 2 - KAMINARI

from matatabi’s blog :relieved: from ryuuou douji album, stick it in gtranslate

月華忍法帖

忍法帖シリーズにとってスピンオフ（？）的な位置付けで作られた「卍」に始まり、「神鳴忍法帖」「氷牙忍法帖」「飯綱落とし」と紡がれてきた、“己の運命に葛藤する無敵の女忍者シリーズ”の続編。時間軸としては「飯綱落とし」で追っ手の忍者から忍法“飯綱落とし” （空中で羽交い締めにして地面に脳天を叩きつける技）を掛けられ、地面に落下した直後から始まる物語です。続き物だということを強調すると、そこに至るまでの曲を知らなければ楽しめないような気がしてしまうものだと思いますが、もちろん歌詞がそのようなストーリーとして繋がっているというだけで、音楽的にはすべて単体で楽しめるようになっていますので、そこはあまり気にせず聴いてほしいと思っています。

and from hadou myouou, which he writes a long explanation and keeps saying u dont need any of this backstory!! it’s just heavy metal to enjoy!! but some of us will enjoy it :face_holding_back_tears:

「飯綱落とし」

“飯綱”というのは一種の憑き物を指す言葉であったり、管狐を使役する妖術使いの呼び名である“飯綱使い”というところで使われたりもしますが、この楽曲で言う“飯綱”はこのどちらでもありません（そちらの“飯綱”も今後題材にしたいと思ってはいますが）。 ここでの“飯綱落とし”とは、「カムイ伝」などに代表される忍者作品に登場する忍法の名前です。空中で相手を抱きかかえるように捉え、そのまま真っ逆さまに落下して相手の頭を地面に叩きつける（自分の頭は地面に付かないようあらかじめ身体をずらして組み付く）という、原始的ながらも必殺と言える忍法のひとつですが、この“飯綱落とし”が登場する楽曲なのでそのままこの曲名になりました。忍者や忍法が出てくるならこれはいわゆる“忍法帖シリーズ”なのでは？と思われるかと思いますが、過去の作品では「卍」という楽曲も、忍者の話でありながら“～忍法帖”とは付かない外伝的な扱いでした。「飯綱落とし」もまた同じ性質の楽曲であるわけですが、同じなのはそこだけではなく、まさにその「卍」という楽曲で初登場したひとりの“くノ一（女性の忍者）”がこの「飯綱落とし」の主人公なのです。“やりきれぬ運命に翻弄され、絶望を抱えて戦い続けるくノ一シリーズ（？）”の最新作ということになります。あえて彼女（くノ一）を呼ぶとすれば、刀を振り上げた者に漏れなく落ちる、という意味で付けられた渾名である“カミナリ”が相応しいでしょうか。「卍」で登場し、そこからやや過去に戻って「神鳴忍法帖」でその苦悩を語り、「氷牙忍法帖」で己の運命を断ち切る決心をするところまでが描かれましたが、今回の「飯綱落とし」では、時間軸としては「氷牙忍法帖」の直後が舞台となっており、“自分の生き方を操り、もてあそんだ者たちに牙を剥くため組織を抜けた彼女を待つモノとは……”というお話になっています。組織を抜けた忍者、すなわち“抜け忍”となった者には必ずそれを粛正するための“追っ手（追忍）”が差し向けられます。今回の「飯綱落とし」では、無敵の強さを誇る“カミナリ”の前に、「カムイ伝」のカムイに匹敵する力──つまりこれも無敵の強さということになりますが、それほどの手練れの忍者が追っ手として立ちはだかることになります。その追っ手の必殺技が“飯綱落とし”というわけです。その強敵を前に“カミナリ”は勝利をおさめることができるのか……顛末は楽曲の中で語られています。楽曲の世界観についての説明が異様に長くなりましたが、むしろこれが何についての曲か、過去のどの作品と地続きなのかというようなことはすべてどうでもいい！と言っても良いほど、分かりやすく、何も考えずに身を委ねられるタイプのヘヴィメタルだと思います。

TL;DR

these songs from across the years makeup a spinoff ninja series about the invincible female ninja who first appeared in manji, Kaminari.

  1. 「卍」manji
  2. 「神鳴忍法帖」kaminari ninpouchou
  3. 「氷牙忍法帖」 hyouga (?) ninpouchou (ice fang)
  4. 「飯綱落とし」 izuna otoshi
  5. 「月華忍法帖」gekka ninpouchou
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Good catch! I replaced it with 孔雀忍法帖! (Kujaku Ninpouchou)

I thought it was romanized Nobusuma. I am referencing the 今昔画図続百鬼 (Konjaku Gazu Zoku Hyakki), which for me is the reference guide for all things youkai. And if you CTRL+F 野衾, you see it next to the entry Nobusuma.

image

And it’s a flying squirrel! Is there some other layer to this that makes it pronounced Musasabi instead? Onmyo got more layers than an onion.

Same for this one. I think it’s Izasaou (猪笹王). Here’s what the translated page I linked to says about it.

This is a monster that is said to exist in Obagamine, Kawakami Village, Yoshino County, in the Yoshino mountains of Nara Prefecture. It is also called Izasa, Ipponashi, and Ippondatara. It is sometimes pronounced “inosasao.”

So that answers your question about why they’re interchangeable.

Long ago, there was a hunter named Ima Hyogo in Amagase, and one day, deep in Obagamine, he shot down a large boar with bamboo grass growing on its back.

A few days later, a samurai with an injured leg came to the hot springs of Kishu Yunomine to take a cure. The samurai had told the innkeeper not to look at the room where he was sleeping, but the innkeeper broke the warning and witnessed a monster with bamboo grass growing on its back sleeping in the room, filling the entire room.

The monster told the surprised innkeeper, “I am King of Inosasaou, who lives in Obagamine, but I was shot and killed by a hunter named Ima Hyogo and became a ghost. I want to get revenge, so please do something about Hyogo’s dog and gun.”

Fearing the ghost of Inosasa-o, local officials tried to negotiate with Hyogo to hand over the dog and gun. However, Hyogo would not listen, and the gun and dog remained in his possession.

Eventually, Inosasa-o’s ghost turned into a one-legged demon and began appearing at Obagamine and attacking travelers, so the Higashi Kumano Highway eventually became a deserted road. After the monk Tansei enshrined the Jizo statue at Obagamine and sealed Inosasa-o away, travelers were once again able to travel the road in peace, but because the demon is only free on the 20th of December each year, the people of Obagamine call this day “the 20th at the end” and treat it as an unlucky day.

But now my question is what’s the difference between the songs Izasaou and Ippondatara?!? I guess it’s alluding to the legends getting mixed up. Here’s what the other page I linked says about Ippondatara:

Appearance: Ippondatara has one thick, trunk-like leg and a single saucer-like eye. It lives deep in the mountains of Japan. It is especially well-known in the mountains bordering Wakayama and Nara Prefectures (old Kii and Yamato Provinces), though sightings have been reported in other neighboring prefectures as well.

Behavior: Ippondatara is a shy yōkai, and tends to stay away from inhabited areas. It moves about by hopping around and doing somersaults. It avoids humans, though on winter days it is not uncommon to find the unique prints of this yōkai’s large, single foot in the snow.

Interactions: While it is mostly harmless, once per year on December 20th, the ippondatara turns violent. Those entering the mountains on that day who run into the ippondatara are squashed flat under its powerful foot. Because of this, December 20th is considered an unlucky day in the areas where this yōkai lives. People stay out of the mountains then.

Origin: The name ippondatara comes from tatara, the bellows that a blacksmith would use in the old days. This yōkai is said to resemble a master blacksmith who lost the use of one eye from years of starting at the intense flames, and lost the use of one leg from years of heavy work pumping the bellows.

There are many theories about the origin of this yōkai. In some villages, it is considered to be a cousin of a certain breed of kappa called gōrai which—every winter—transform from river spirits into mountain spirits called kashambo until they return to the rivers in spring. Ippondatara is said to be a kind of kashambo.

Other explanations describe the ippondatara as the ghost of a woodcutter who cut off one of his legs in penance for some crime. Or it may be the ghost of a famous one-legged, one-eyed robber named Hitotsudatara who lived in the mountains of Wakayama and had supernatural strength. It may even be the ghost of a giant boar who used to roam the mountains killing hunters. A high priest was able to bind the boar’s spirit and keep it from harming people, but the conditions of the magic that binds this ghost allow it to roam free one day per year—on December 20th.

It has also been suggested that it is a kind of mountain kami which was corrupted over the ages and became a yōkai. A single eye is a common feature among mountain spirits, and other one-eyed yōkai (such as hitotsume kozō) originated as mountain kami as well.

So they’re the same, but different legends? Yay.

This damn band about to make me learn Japanese.

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12 MORE YOUKAI SONGS

…because it fits their theme so well. Don’t worry, we haven’t reached half of their discography yet. This is all of the youkai whose videos are featured on their official YouTube however. And I’m taking quite a liberal interpretation of youkai.

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yes ur not wrong.
when it comes to song titles, the only onion layer that matters is “what Matatabi says is correct” lmao.
that doesnt mean the other layers dont exist and it doesnt mean they dont have something to do w/lyrics etc, just purely from “how do u say this song title” is always going to be “the song is called whatever matatabi says its called”. u could go a lot of ways with this like “why would he WANT to pronounce it like this vs like that” and i havent look into that for every single song but recommend just checking if hes written about particular songs.

therefore im interpretign the question to be
Q: “so how do u, x51715x on the jrock forum, know that ths is what the song is meant to be called”
A: “I don’t, I copy Japanese fans because theyre probably copying Matatabi” lmao
Q: well gimme some links at least try to figure out where u heard that
A: ok just a sec im taking this to DMs lol

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13 ALBUM CLOSERS

Their album closers have a unique flavor and should be highlighted!

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:jp: 陰陽座の日本人のファンの皆様へ：:jp:
:dizzy: タスケテクダサイ :dizzy:

part 1 - zeuslist

  1. ayako - driving somewhere w/my friend and her toddler in the backseat we get past the 5 min point of this and my friend’s like, “so uh the lady’s like fine right, she’s not singing about getting raped or something hahaha” me: nervous laughter as I click skip
  2. kumikyoku kurotsuka ~ adachigahara - (and part 2 kumikyoku kurotsuka ~kikoku shuushuu)
  1. kumikyoku yoshitsune ~akki hougan
  2. kumikyoku yoshitsune ~muma enjou
  3. kumikyoku yoshitsune ~raise kaikou

this whole thing is so emotional to me. my fav is the long 2nd part, i love muma enjou. but also including all three of the parts in ur list is whwere i got jealous on the behalf of the other kumikyokus . lol

  1. kumikyoku kyuubi ~ tamamonomae
    THE INDESTRUCTIBLE NINETAILS PART ONE
    sexy song with kuroneko lead, matatabi bg chorus
    ur new foxy girlfriend is soooo hot and smart, relevant wikipedia quote:

The fox stayed quiet for some time. Then she appeared in Japan as Tamamo-no-Mae, the most favoured courtesan of Emperor Konoe. She was said to be a most beautiful and intelligent woman, being able to answer any question asked.

transition to PART TWO ~shoumakyou - guitars have started sounding sinister :smiling_imp: when Sailor Neptune aims her enemy-revealing mirror at ur gf lol
matatabi and kuroneko sound so good arguing against each other, whose side will you take?!?!

She caused the Emperor to be extremely ill and was eventually exposed as a fox spirit by the astrologer Abe no Yasuchika, who had been called to diagnose the cause of the Emperor’s poor health.

wild allegations :roll_eyes:
transition to PART THREE ~Sesshouseki, relevant wikipedia quote:

According to the otogi-zōshi, when the nine-tailed fox was killed by the famous warrior named Miura-no-suke, her body became the Sessho-seki. Later, a Buddhist priest called Genno stopped for a rest near the stone and was threatened by the spirit of Tamamo-no-Mae. Genno performed exorcism rituals and begged the spirit to consider her salvation. Tamamo-no-Mae relented and swore never to haunt the stone again.

and thats where the song ends, however,.,.,

It was reported on March 5, 2022 that the stone had split into two parts, likely as a result of natural weathering. Some netizens expressed their fear of the exorcised Kitsune. On 26 March 2022, the local government had priests host a ceremony to appease the spirit and pacify the beast at the site with prayers, offerings, and waving haraegushi upon the split rock.
:fox_face:

  1. hitokabemaru - i weirdly have never looked into this one before even tho i’m so into fuujin/raijin :eyes: i will linkdrop now that it’s on my mind (and im so grateful for this place to archiv e my mind as i go nuts btw):
    mttb blog spells out the guy’s name in hiragana (extremely helpful lol, the machine translate spells it wrong EVERYWHERE else) and describes the person as someone who met an untimely death as a “beautiful young man” (i’ll put the post below):
「人首丸」2014.09.22 Monday

攘夷の名のもとに非業の死をとげた、まつろわぬ民の美少年“人首丸（ひとかべまる）”を題材にした楽曲です。人首丸を本気で掘り下げようと思ったら、組曲仕立てで大作が書けてしまいそうな物語があるわけですが、今回のこの楽曲では敢えて一族の誇りを賭して果敢に闘う様とその意志のみを抽出し、それを直接的に音にすることでシンプルな楽曲に仕上げました。人首丸の父親は “悪路王”であるとする説が有力だそうですが、「道理で！」と膝を打ってしまうような、そんな楽曲です。親父の背中を見て息子が育つということでしょう！

この曲はとにかく突進するギターリフとその原動力たる強力なドラムが聴き所ですが、招鬼・狩姦のギターソロがめちゃくちゃ格好良いです。それぞれの持ち味を前面に押し出しながら、最後の一人になるまで戦い抜こうとする一族の結束や覚悟がビンビン伝わってきます。

そしてヴォーカルパートはほとんど咆哮のみ、という感じなので「これは黒猫不在か？」と思ってしまうと思いますが、リードヴォーカルではなくサブ的な叫び声の中に猫が3匹（3箇所）隠れていますので、是非探してみてください。黒猫が、ライヴでたまに信じられないほどブルータルな叫び声を発することがあるということを知っている方なら、よく聴けば見つけられると思いますよ。

| 楽曲解説 | 16:45

so that description really matches the way this song sounds so wild and agressive, right.
on the japanese wikipedia he’s currently a paragraph on his dad’s (?) page, (matatabi did write “like father like son” in the post).
IDK how to link specific sections from wikipedia, right now it’s under “Iwate Prefecture” 岩手県 → “The Legend of Hitokabemaru” 人首丸伝説
from the first line of the wiki page i have a feeling they are remembered as “oni” :smiling_face_with_tear:

  1. susanoo :relieved: matatabi comments about how this guy is perceived with a lot of opposing traits, so it just fits onmyouza’s brand lol. also 7 string guitar.

due to reasons, i am least familiar with the two most recent albums and i havent obssesed over them yet and still need to read matatabi’s blog , w atch the lives, read the lyrics, etc etc :relieved: to return to proper Fanatic status

  1. (i still dont know pronunciation, tesso something thanks to this thread op) this song sounds cool and i knew nothing about it until I read matatabi’s wall of text.
  2. Shiramine - this section of blog post, he says he’s referencing a chapter in a book with this title. i’m not familiar with any of this on first glance
白峯 from 『龍凰童子』全曲概要解説

江戸時代に上田秋成によって書かれた読本『雨月物語』の一篇「白峯」は、西行法師が讃岐国の崇徳院の陵墓を参拝した際に崇徳院の亡霊と出会い、和歌と言説によって議論する物語ですが、この楽曲「白峯」は、その『雨月物語』の「白峯」を原典として完全音楽化を目指したものです。日本三大怨霊にも名を連ねる崇徳院は、かねてよりいつか必ず楽曲の題材にすると決めていた人物ですが、史実をもとにその一生を詳らかに描くのか、はたまた怨霊伝説に特化したものにするのか──長年構想を重ねた結果、『雨月物語』の「白峯」ほど崇徳院の人生における劇的な面を端的に表現したものはないという結論に至り、それをそのまま音楽に昇華させることに決めたのでした。崇徳院という人物がなぜ怨霊として語られることになったのか、そして怨霊と化したのが事実だと仮定して、いかにしてその御霊は救われることになったのか、それらを美しくまとめ上げた原典「白峯」を忠実に音楽化した作品として、少なくとも現時点では金字塔になったのではと自負しています。

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Part 2: my list :innocent: so far

(screenshot of severely sengoku jidai-pilled brain)

samurai boom
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so there were a few years i spent being interested in sengoku jidai (warring states period) but as you can see, i was not the only one.
lmk if ur also interested in these fine gentlemen :relieved:

  • fuurin kazan, the 2007 taiga drama
  • sengoku basara, the crazy anime based on a crazy video game series i thought was the funniest thing. (my friends and family: uhh :eyes:)
  • total war shogun 2, the only one i play

interest in samurai in general varies over the years and unfortunately some of my website bookmarks don’t exist anymore lol.

suffice it to say when onmyouza was commissioned to write about date fucking masamune i was more than Ready lmao
date masamune singles

  1. aoki dokugan “Blue One-eye” 14th Single・9th Album『kongo kyuubi』
  2. konpeki no soujin “Azure double-edge” 15th Single・Best Album『ryuuou shuugyoku』
  3. seiten no mikazuki “Crescent Moon in the Blue Sky” 16th Single
  1. maou from 7th album 『maou taiten』, is about Oda Nobunaga. yes, ok, the title technically means “Satan”, “The Devil” etc. but it’s referencing one of the great unifiers of Japan. Oda Nobunaga is remembered for a bunch of different things, the nickname “第六天魔王” (dairokutenmaou) being one of them, how he died at honnouji being another. he’s been portrayed in media in wildly different ways and the song is also about how he’s been perceived over the years. maou taiten album tour was named after the slogan on his seal “天下布武” (tenka fubu) with the last kanji 武 → 舞 :nerd_face:
  2. shuten douji from 8th album 『chimimouryou』, is technically about someone remembered as a demon and the heroes who famously defeated him. so this could go under youkai instead. also the forum is telling me u embedded this in one of the youkai posts, so good lol

wikipedia said:
Cultural anthropologist and folklorist Kazuhiko Komatsu has noted that if people in the Middle Ages, particularly those in the capital, were asked to name the most fearsome yōkai, they would likely mention three: Shuten-dōji, Tamamo-no-mae, and Ōtakemaru.

  1. Doujouji kuchinawa no goku from 8th album chimimouryou is about a fictional woman whose love turns into her becoming a bigass snake and breathing fire on her man, foolishly hiding from her inside a temple bell

wikipedia says: The tale of Anchin and Kiyohime forms the basis of a collection of plays termed Dōjōji mono (Dōjō-ji Temple plays), depicting an event some years after the temple bell was destroyed. These plays include the Noh play Dōjōji and the Kabuki dance drama Musume Dōjōji.

exhibits a & b
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r.i.p. u couldve had it all

two posts of matatabi visiting doujouji temple

門 | 陰陽座　瞬火のまったり徒然草
せっかくなので、
皆さんにも道成寺の雰囲気を
少しでも味わってもらうため、
参拝中に撮影した写真をいくつか。

門をくぐりましたら、まずは
右手をごらんください。
このような景観です。
紅葉した樹木と
千年以上の伝統を誇る建物が
なんとも厳か且つ和やかな
趣深い雰囲気を醸し出します。
敬 | 陰陽座　瞬火のまったり徒然草
ちなみに門へと続く
長い階段の麓には
名物「つりがねまんじゅう」
（色んな種類がありました）
を売るおみやげやさんが
たくさん軒を連ねていました。

このように地元の方々の
商いの種として活用されている
というところも、地域に根ざして
愛されているという感じで
非常に嬉しくなります。
“紅葉”もそうでしたが、
ご当地では何も「鬼女」とか「妖怪」
という扱いだけではなく、
ちゃんと大切に敬われて親しまれているという
証拠を実際に目に出来ることは、
その物語を紡ぐ末席を預かる者としては
非常に感慨深いことです。

何はともあれ、このように
道成寺参拝で得た想いを糧に
残りのツアーもバッビバビで廻りたいと思います！

ちなみにこの項からお読みの方は、
一気にたくさんアップしましたので
少し下まで遡ってお読みいただければ幸いです♪

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oops i skipped this one i’ll be back

zeuslist in roomaji :relieved:

  1. kureha (kuroneko vocals), so somber, here is a music video w/subs, a character in momijigari

Momiji is a descendant of the Ōtomo clan and blessed by the Demon King of The Sixth Heaven with beauty and many talents. As a child, she was named Kureha (呉葉 or 呉羽), etc.

The lady has now transformed into a fire-breathing demon in the glow of lightning (the noh masks used are traditionally shikami (顰) but recently hannya has come into use.). The warrior is undaunted, and after a pitched battle, slays the demon with the sword.

tYpical :roll_eyes: leave her alone!!!

Matatabi’s named a bass “kogarasu” after the sword used to cut down Kureha 小さい文字だと「ことりまる」と読んでしまいそうです。 | 陰陽座　瞬火のまったり徒然草 (there’s a pic + details)

  1. hiderigami (matatabi and kuroneko vocals), fast pace, using a different kanji but still refering to a drought spirit
  2. shoukera (everybody vocals while loling), some kind of religious demon checking on us as we sing this together because our worms are trying to escape :pleading_face:

u know, those worms: According to Kōshin, there are three spiritual worms or insects, called the sanshi, which live inside every human body. Every sixty nights, on a special night called kōshin machi, these worms leave the body while their host human sleeps. The sanshi travel to heaven to report on the good and bad deeds of their human.

victims of shōkera attacks would only be implicating themselves as wicked by admitting to seeing one

  1. baku (matatabi +maneki chorus and kuroneko vocals)


5. yaobikuni (kuroneko vocals) - yaobikuni, is not unrelated but mttb’s blog explains this 8:00 minute (get it 800) song is an attempt to make the manga『火の鳥 異形編』by Tezuka Osamu into music lol. i think my library has the anime version of this so i might have to borrow it if i cant find manga :smiling_face_with_tear:
6. tenguwarai (kuroneko main vocals, matatabi AWOOOOOO lmao) about a guhin low-level tengu letting u know he neesd more respect. lyrics are so cute. atmosphere sounds like kappa wodori and tanukibayashi, matatabi thanks maneki for this song on his blog (he phrases it like, well since this is maneki’s song, obviously there’s tengu in it)
7. kasane (kuroneko main vocals, matatabi after like 5 minutes), oh this ghost story is kind of long too, huh. the kanji means like “piling up” and yea alright these ppl are all kind of asking to be haunted

Several townspeople witnessed Yagorō murder Kasane, but nobody moved to help her. After all, she was so ugly—there seemed to be an unspoken agreement to just leave it be.

:hocho: wooow waits for the sinister turn in the music :hocho:

  1. RAAAAAAANNNNNNNN matatabi blog post :face_holding_back_tears: yes sir it’s soo pretty refined, elegant, i can see her descending—
  1. nurarihyon - what the
    『龍凰童子』全曲概要解説 | 陰陽座　瞬火のまったり徒然草

This song “Nurarihyon” is an analogy to the existence of a Nurarihyon, a person who exists in human society throughout the ages, “someone who acts more arrogant than anyone else, even though we don’t know who they are or where they’re from,” who is treated like a commander-in-chief despite just “sipping tea in someone else’s house,” and I’m sure we’ve all seen such a person at work-related drinking parties and the like.

  1. akashita - ok kind of a self-explanatory named demon thing that matatabi turned into a song about people’s arguments. valid
  2. Carla :eyes: ? karura (kuroneko vocals)

wikipedia says 食吐悲苦鳥（じきとひくちょう）と漢訳される｡

gtranslate says: (Bird that Vomits and Sorrows)

  1. ippondattara - love it and already confused by story earlier in this thread lmao. kuroneko’s doing a thing with her voice. guitar and bass go nuts. blog post about emphasizing rhythmic sound of steps
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10 ONMYO SINGLES

Cuz somehow I’ve gone through about 70 songs and I haven’t featured too many of their singles.

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10 ONMYO SONGS I HAVEN’T POSTED YET

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LMAO WTF KIND OF LIST IS 10 SONGS I HAVENT POSTED YET :rofl:

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nurikabe
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https://www.instagram.com/p/DA5sSLKT_8i/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

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big thwomp energy

ThwompMKL
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