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Naruto and Mythology; yay
Topic Started: Sep 12 2006, 07:31 PM (3,966 Views)
Ruffy
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Genin
If you haven't realized it yet, Much of the naruto manga/anime is heavily and i mean HEAVILY influenced by the legends and myths in Japanese mythology.

let's jsut start somewhere

Orochimaru

Well, Orochimaru, at first you simply assume that just because he can summon snakes he is snake like!...EH! WRONG, to an extent. Let's start with the fact of him just being snake like and summoning snakes. There is a story called the Tales of Jiraiya, or something similas. It tells a tale of a man named Jiraiya ("young thunder") and his wife Tsuande (le gasp? lol) and their comrade, Orochimaru. Starting to sound familiar, except the tsunade wife part. Like in the manga, Orochimaru turns to the 'dark side' and betrays his friends Jiraiya and Tsunade... Orochimaru can be said to be a snake for several reason, but in connection to this story is because that Orochimaru can actually turn into a giant Snake (Jiraiya can turn into a Toad and Tsunade a slug, hence their summons!).

Orochimaru’s snake-ness can also be defined by his named. Orochi is a legendary snake by the name “Yamata no Orochi” the Hachibi (8 tailed Beast) in Japanese Mythology. Very peculiar, no? [Read more about Hachibi below] Now, another thing pulled is the Kusanagi or the “Grass Cutter.” A legendary sword actually, wielded by a Kusangai clan member I believe that the Hachibi swallowed in order to gain more power and he keeps it in his belly.

Quote:
 
] [size=23]Hachibi no Yamata no Orochi[/size]

Tale in the Legend of the Tailed Beasts: Yamata no Orochi is a Snake bijuu. It has crimsom red eyes, eight heads and eight tails (also depicted to having trees and vines growing around them) and has the power of the Demon world, a symbol of evil. Each head of Yamata no Orochi represents a symbol: Soul, Ghost, Evil, Devil, Monstrous, Kill, The Afterworld and Death.
Its powers were originally weak, the members of the Kusanagi clan, when attacking it, acted carelessly, using the legendary sword Kusanagi no Tsurugi (Oro’s sword). Because of that, as a consequence, Yamata no Orochi takes the sword from them, absorbing the power contained inside, and becoming an incredibly powerful creature, and finally storing it in its body.
With the new power, Yamata no Orochi releases an insane amount of dark energy, awakening the other Bijuu and becoming arrogant. Yamata no Orochi proceeds to defeat many of the Bijuu, but when it battles with Kyuubi, it is defeated. The cause of this is simple: Kyuubi has an unlimited amount of power, making even a hole in the Kusanagi sword. As this happens, it shows how tremendously powerful Kyuubi is, deserving of the “King of Bijuu” title. Not even Sarutobi and Enma (I’m not sure how those two are into the legend) could scratch the Kusanagi no Tsurugi. (That makes connections to the Oro x Sandaime battle)
Legend also depicted it as having a power able to rival Kyuubi’s [in quality], but the fact is, Yamata no Orochi’s does have a limit.

Situation in the Ancient War of the 9 Gods: Battled 5 times; 4 Wins, 1 Losses

Wins: Shukaku, Isonade, Kaku, Raijuu
Losses: Kyuubi

Fate: Yamata no Orochi awaits a genius of the Yagami (NOT the Kanji of Yagami from Death Note, but Yagami as in Eight Gods: 八神) clan, which is the arch enemy of the Kusanagi clan. The purpose is to awake it [Yamata no Orochi], in order to fight Kyuubi again.
Since Yamata no Orochi’s power inherits in the Yagami Clan, If the heir appears as the first genius in 1000 years that is able to awake Yamata no Orochi’s ability, it will be completely restored. Once the process is done, the genius with such crucial task will be destroyed due to the true body of Yamata no Orochi resurfacing, which has an all-new power. It won’t be found before the decisive battle with Kyuubi, and will be able to kill no matter of thing, destroy any type of place, and attain infinite vision (as Kyuubi has). The core of Yamata no Orochi’s power is in a kind of forbidden sealing jutsu. As soon as the Yagami clan heir comprehends enough of it, a bigger, much stronger power will surface in the grasp of Yamata no Orochi.
Japanese Myth Appearance: A super Snake of Eight heads and Eight tails, attached to a single body. Has a deep brown color. It definitely is the biggest bijuu - the lenghth of it is over eight mountains. Originally, it was weaker than Houkou and Nekomata; however, that was 1000 years before a brave warrior tried defeating it with the Kusanagi no Tsurugi. In the process, the sword’s power is absorbed instead by Yamata no Orochi, thus greatly expanding his power. He continues though to be able to use freely the sword in his belly.

Ability: The legendary sword: Kusanagi no Tsurugi; summoning of evil spirits
Bijuu Strength Ranking: 2nd

Bijuu Chakra/Stamina Ranking: 2nd

Symbolic Element: Devil

Origin / Discovered in: An old battlefield in Osaka

More info about Yamata no Orochi:
There is the story of the killing of the Eight-Headed Serpent by Susanoo. According to the legend, a local town had been living in fear of the Serpent, and the townspeople offered the sacrifice of a young girl each year to keep it appeased. Lord Susano heard about the town's dilemma, and became determined to slay the beast. He exterminated the serpent by serving it alcohol, and then cutting off its heads while it was intoxicated. Between the Kagura performances, this one is the most famous.


Kisame

Yay, blue freak! Well, random isn’t, a blue person with gill-like slits on his face? Well, there’s a reason! Kisame’s powers, ability and him entirely is based of the legendary beast of Japanese mythology, the actual Sanbi declaired in the legends. But you may be thinking, “but the turtle is the sanbi!” In naruto, yes, but that is only because he basically made the Sanbi Kisame…it would redundant and all the other bijuu are not important to the story other than the Kyuubi and Ichibi (who is captured).

Quote:
 
[size=23]Sanbi no Isonade[/size]

Tale in the Legend of the Tailed Beasts: Isonade is a shark shaped Bijuu with a sharp horn on the forehead. It lives in the deep waters on the West of Japan, fighting pirates. Every few months, Isonade will swim to the surface of the sea from the deep waters, to breath some fresh air. However, when he does this, storms erupt, oceans rage, and all ships will be swallowed by him as food. Isonade has a subordinate fish called Samehada (?) (Same name as Kisame's Sword. Depicted differently, but with same pronunciation). Samehada attaches itself to Isonade’s stomach, and absorbs its food to create huge amounts of chakra, proceeding to send it back to its body. Samehada’s power can enable Isonade to get 5 times the quantity of chakra it could originally get. Therefore, when Isonade battles, he will have unlimited chakra to receive from Samehada.

Situation in the Ancient War of the 9 Gods: Battled 4 times; 2 Wins, 1 Loss, 1 Flee

Wins: Kaku, Shukaku

Losses: Nekomata

Escapes: Yamata no Orochi

Fate: A fisherman and brave warrior from Yokohama, called Takuma Muramasa, sacrifices himself in behalf of two villages in a courageous act, getting near Isonade and sealing his personal servant Samehada in the “Tool of Power: Pot of the Shark-named fish” from seal in the Water Shrine. Isonade then becomes unable to draw the massive chakra, and ends up getting exausted and sucked by the Tool’s seal in the Water Shrine as well.
Japanese Myth Appearance: A big shark/fish(?) with 3 tails and 3 fins. Has a dark blue body color, is attracted by blood (like all sharks); has a personal servant, a small fish named Samehada, as shown above, that is responsible to help Isonade absorb and digest Chakra in 5 times his original capacity.
Ability: Generic water powers, can control the currents of water.

Bijuu Strength Ranking: 6th

Bijuu Chakra/Stamina Ranking: 7th

Symbolic Element: Water (God of Water)

Origin / Discovered in: Four Nanju Country Islands - Yawagawa Sea Area


Raikir/Sarutobi/Sasuke

Omg a move?! Yes, along with other moves like Amaterasu and Tsukuyomi, Raikiri is off a legend too and is one w/ Sarutobi and Sasuke along with the story of the 6 Tailed beast, Rokubi no Raijuu.

Just read:
Quote:
 
Tale in the Legend of the Tailed Beasts: Raijuu, a bijuu in the form of weasel, has four legs and very sharp claws. Its cry sounds like thunder. It was originally the god of Thunder, but because of Yamata no Orochi’s power, it was transformed into a beast. Raijuu can release a huge amount of eletricity for battle assistance.

Situation in the Ancient War of the 9 Gods: Battled 5 times; 2 Wins, 3 Losses
Wins: Shukaku, Sokou

Losses: Houkou, Yamata no Orochi, Kyuubi

Fate: A ninja called Sarutobi (That’s right, but we don’t know if it’s the series’ Sandaime), in the legend, effectively eliminated Raijuu by using the technique “Kinjutsu: Raikiri”. (Now the confusion starts. This is supposed to be Kakashi’s move, but the way of writing may be different from the actual jutsu, and Kishimoto probably changed this legend to fit the story anyway). What actually happens is that the technique counters the lightning released by Raijuu by cutting it, making the beast receive its own attack, and become severely wounded. (Thus the name lightning edge.) He then is sealed by Sarutobi with the “Tool of Power: Hidden Thunder Prison” into the seal in the Thunder Shrine.

Japanese Myth Appearance: A species of weasel with golden yellow fur. The whole body’s fur grows upright. Its six tails take a lightning shape, (unlike the crappy image I have, but it’s the closest to the legend) just like the ancient God of Thunder.
Ability: Fire caused by lightning, Lightning Thunder, Lightning bolts, Lightning elemental magic arts; Raijuu may also fly about as a ball of lightning / fire.

Bijuu Strength Ranking: 5th

Bijuu Chakra/Stamina Ranking: 4th

Symbolic Element: Lightning (God of Lightning)

Origin / Discovered in: Underground the Thunder Shrine in a town in Kyoto

More info about Raijuu: Raiju is also depicted as the companion of Raiden, the Shinto god of lightning. While the demon is generally calm and harmless, during thunderstorms, it becomes agitated and leaps about in trees, fields, and even buildings (trees that have been struck by lightning are said to have been scratched by Raiju's claws).
Another of its peculiar behaviors is sleeping in human navels. This prompts Raiden to shoot arrows at Raiju to wake the creature up, thus harming the person in whose belly the demon is resting. Superstitious people therefore often sleep on their stomachs during bad weather. Other legends say that Raiju will only hide in the navels of people who sleep outdoors.


I’ll post more as I can remember them, or maybe you can suggest some for me to look into :)


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kai
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That's really interesting.
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+beat89
Reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated
Intersting... I've heard most of this stuff before, especially the part about the tailed beasts, but there was a lot there I didn't know. Thats some great reasearch.

A+ :D

But, I dunno if you have been, don't pull info from Wikipedia. It can be notoriously in-accurate for stuff like this.
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Ruffy
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Not from Wikipedia, though you can find some of the same information there, its not as detailed and pulled out as this.
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Hyuuga_Uchiha
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I didnt know most of this stuff. I onlythink i knew was how Orochimaru, Tsunade, and jiraiya were influenced by that myth. Thanks for the info.
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Jinchuuriki
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Even though I knew before it was based on myths and legends i never really got into detail and now its interesting to see the details. Thank you! But i do know that a God slayed the Yamato No Orochi Prince Susanoui i think i dont really know how to spell it
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Elite Anbu
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>.> That took me forever too read but cool cool
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