E&P's nod to Japanese folklore in Atlantis

So, this is probably old news, but I am not sure the Japanese folklore references in Atlantis have been fully explored. And they are actually quite interesting!

The Japanese spirits are called Yōkai and they are a class of supernatural monsters, spirits and demons in Japanese folklore.

Let’s start with them (almost all from Wikipedia):

Kitsune (or Ice Kitsune in the game):
Stories depict legendary foxes as intelligent beings and as possessing [paranormal] abilities that increase with their age and wisdom. According to Yōkai folklore, all foxes have the ability to shapeshift into human form. While some folktales speak of kitsune employing this ability to trick others – as foxes in folklore often do – other stories portray them as faithful guardians, friends, lovers, and wives. Kitsune have become closely associated with Inari, a Shinto kami or spirit, and serve as its messengers.

Kappa:
is an amphibious yōkai demon or imp found in traditional Japanese folklore. They are typically depicted as green, human-like beings with webbed hands and feet and a turtle-like carapace on their backs. A depression on its head, called its “dish” ( sara ), retains water, and if this is damaged or its liquid is lost (either through spilling or drying up), the kappa is severely weakened.

The kappa are known to favor cucumbers and love to engage in sumo wrestling.

Gashadokuro:
Gashadokuro (がしゃどくろ/ 餓者髑髏, literally “starving skeleton”, also known as Odokuro , literally “giant skeleton”) are mythical creatures in Japanese mythology.

Kirin:
APPEARANCE: One of the rarest, most awesome, and most powerful creatures ever known in East Asia is the unicorn-like kirin. It is a regal animal, holy and highly revered, and often considered a god in its own right. The kirin is a chimerical beast resembling a deer with scales like a dragon’s covering its body. It has a tail like an ox’s and a flowing mane. Its body and mane are covered in brilliant holy fire. Its face is the picture of utter serenity.

BEHAVIOR: A gentle animal, the kirin never eats the flesh of other beings, and it takes great care never to tread on any living thing, even lowly insects. When it walks, it does so without trampling a single blade of grass. Its beauty is only surpassed by its rarity; kirin only appear during periods of world peace, during the reigns of noble and enlightened rulers, in lands owned by wise and benevolent people, or as heralds of a golden age.

As for heroes:

Inari:
Inari Ōkami (稲荷大神, also Ō-Inari 大稲荷) is the Japanese kami of foxes, of fertility, rice, tea and sake, of agriculture and industry, of general prosperity and worldly success, and one of the principal kami of Shinto. In earlier Japan, Inari was also the patron of swordsmiths and merchants. Represented as male, female, or androgynous, Inari is sometimes seen as a collective of three or five individual kami . Inari appears to have been worshipped since the founding of a shrine at Inari Mountain in 711 AD, although some scholars believe that worship started in the late 5th century. More than one-third (32,000) of the Shinto shrines in Japan are dedicated to Inari.
Inari’s foxes, or kitsune , are pure white and act as their messengers.

I struggle to find any mythological reference to Mitsuko. Any ideas?

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It is also no wonder that the humble cucumber roll, a simple, yet well received sushi roll in Japanese restaurants is called “Kappa Maki”

Additionally, some of the latter provinces in Atlantis are actually using Japanese names / pronunciations.

Mount Mochida (16), Rocks of Aneane(17), Nishikaigan(18), Cape Ono(19), Kyojin Forest(20), and finally Banrinochojo is an interesting one, if you look on the map, it is a series of forts connected by a long stretch of walls, it looks to be a nod to the Great Wall of Ten Thousand Li (AKA Great Wall of China / 萬里長城), as it is pronounced Ban Ri no Chou Jo (万里の長城)

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Ah great! I only got as far as Nishi-kaigan meaning West Coast.

And yes, Kappa-maki is not a coincidence!

As far as Mitsuko is concerned… I couldn’t find any reference to her as her name isn’t something too extraordinary, but her design reflected her to be a Geisha. I even joked in my mind that SGG probably could’ve released one of every element, just palette swap them, and change the directions they are facing, and giving them different names.

Blue Kimono / Ice based / Reflects Green / Name: Ritsuko
Green Kimono / Nature based / Reflects Fire / Name: Shizuko
Purple Kimono / Dark based / Reflects Holy / Name: Himiko
Yellow Kimono / Holy based / Reflects Dark / Name: Kimiko

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I moved this to Community Content since it reminds me heavily of @JonahTheBard’s Welcome to Jurassic Perk - the Dinosaurs of E&P ☄️ NOW INCLUDES PTEROSAURIAN! topic and that’s located under there :slight_smile:

Thank you for putting this together.

Danzaburo himself is based on one of the “three famous yokai Tanuki”. The earliest use of Tanuki in a video-game was in Super Mario Bros 3.

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Room 8 studio are the graphic designer for most of the event/atlantis heroes.

If you do a little research, you will find inari under the name of “fox girl”, Kageburado as “cursed samurai”, Sumitomo as “demon master” and Mitsuko as “noble lady”.

That may hid a hint on their references, if they all have one.

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Thanks all, really interesting stuff.

Also cannot find anything on Kageburado, except that the name might mean “shadow brother” - but not sure. Looked at the most famous cursed samurai legends, but nothing.

On Sumitomo however:
“Sumitomo” is a name of Japanese Royal family. After 1930’s world revolution Japan also fought for their freedom and got succeeded and accepted the monarchy and handed over the power to the Mikado Mutchihido

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I thought I was the only one that thought Burado sounded like some little kids in the neighborhood, who can’t pronounce brother correctly just yet… There were definitely a few of them growing up and thought that was the cutest thing.

One other explanation I could think of for Burado is that it is “Blood”, would be that the Japanese have problem producing the L sound in their native tongue, and so R was used and even in some official media they used, it was pretty funny to see Samurai Spirits (Shodown) on the Neo-Geo a decades ago wrote “Victoly!” on the screen when a match ended with a win. Going back to Kageburado, Kage means Shadow in Japanese, and Burado sounds very close to how a Japanese person would pronounce the English word “Blood” in their native tongue if they see it. If Kageburado is meant to be a cursed samurai, it kind of makes sense for me that he would have a pseudonym of “Shadow Blood” or “Shadow Blooded.”

Sumitomo is quite a famous surname. When SGG’s Traditional Chinese localization setting was release an update ago, I almost fell out of my chair looking at how they translated his name… Literally like “Hell - Tomo” which does not make sense at all.

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