Concerning spirits

Zidara · Post by **Zidara** » Thu Aug 18, 2005 13:09 -0700

I am a fan of a trading card game(they call it that) called Magic:the gathering. There is one part of the series that I thouroughly enjoy, and that is the kamigawa strain. The reason being, is that it seems to be based on the culture of old japan, samurai, shinobi and all that good stuff, but what really caught my attention was the names they give to certain spirits. as far as I can see, it has three categories: Kami, Oni, and Zubera. Kamis are commonly known as spirits, and I just learnt that oni are evil kamis, and that zubera are actually humans pulled into the spirit world. I am hoping that Mr Sakai could clarify whether these were actually part of some of the japanese legends

Ma-Ku · Post by **Ma-Ku** » Fri Aug 19, 2005 13:50 -0700

I'd say that are are true to Japanese Mythology.

Sadly all i can remember at the moment is that Oni is Japanese for ogre.
I think kami is a sort of deity or spirit who like to live all over the place. In Japan there are deities in most things (such as certain areas, rivers, trees, and so on). I hope i got that right.

Stan Sakai has all sorts of Japanese mythologies in UY, one of my favourites is The Inn on Moon Shadow Hill at the begining of Demon Mask (book 14 - or Dark Hosre comic 31)

In the story notes Stan Sakai recomrnds several books.

Kwaiden by Lafeadio Hearn (Dover Publications, NY, 1968)
Japanese Ghosts and Demons by Stephen Addiss (published by George Braziller Inc, NY, 1985
Japanese Mythology by Juliet Piggot, published by Hamlyn Publishing Group Ltd (london, new york, Sydney and toronto) 1969

I really should see if i could get these books myself. Most likely there will updated or more modern version of Japanese ghosts and mythology.

ai no ahodori · Post by **ai no ahodori** » Fri Aug 19, 2005 15:06 -0700

For more info about the kami, (Gods or spirits - very hard to remder into English as our religions are so different to the Japanese) I can recommend 'Shinto: the Kami Way' by Sokyo Ono, published by Tuttle, first published in 1962.

It's available from Amazon and it's dead good!

Fliege · Post by **Fliege** » Thu Nov 10, 2005 22:35 -0700

as far as I know, Kami just means "god" or "spirit."

Pekass · Post by **Pekass** » Sat Nov 12, 2005 18:05 -0700

Hmm as far as I know kami may e spirits or gods, lesser kami can be related to really mundane things.
Oni are simply ogres or demons.
An I didnt know what zubera where, so I just imagined they invented them