Shikigami
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Shikigami (式神) are a kind of spirit summoned to serve a practitioner of onmyōdō, much like a western familiar. Shikigami cannot be seen by most people, but according to the Heian period onmyōji who were said to control them, shikigami often looked something like a child-sized oni demon. Although invisible, shikigami supposedly could, at the onmyōji's command, take a variety of human or animal forms, possess or bewitch people, and even cause bodily harm or death.
The famous onmyōji Abe no Seimei was believed to be particularly skilled at manipulating shikigami, and even had them performing odd jobs around the house. The Twelve Heavenly Generals were said to be among the shikigami that he employed.
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[edit] References in anime and manga
Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.
- In manga series such as Yami no Matsuei, Mahou Sensei Negima and many others, shikigami are depicted as magical servants made from folded or cut paper. This is possibly related to ofuda, Shinto talismans made from paper, but it is also a play on the word "shikigami" itself. The second character of "shikigami" (神, which means "god" or "spirit") is pronounced in the same way as 紙 (which means "paper"): thus, "shikigami" could also mean "paper servant" if written with different kanji.
- In the anime OVA Doomed Megalopolis (an adaptation of the novel Teito Monogatari), the evil onmyōji, Kato Yasunori, is constantly seen summoning hundreds of black shikigami to perform his bidding. In this series, the evil shikigami are represented as blob-like monstrosities which can morph from one shape to another, or even be sliced in half and still continue functioning as two separate beings.
- In the anime series Shaman King, the grandfater of Yoh Asakura, Yohmei Asakura, utilizes spritelike shikigami resembling small Totoro using tree leaves as mediums for them. Hao Asakura owns two shikigami, Zenki and Kouki, who is later on used by Anna Kyoyama after she is able to tame the two. Zenki and Gouki are giant shikagami; Zenki is red, has two horns and upward-pointing fangs, uses an axe and has one large eye; Kouki is blue, has one horn and downward-pointing fangs, uses a shield with a manji engraved on it and has five small eyes.
- Both Subaru Sumeragi and Seishirou Sakurazuka, onmyōji from Tokyo Babylon and X/1999, employ shikigami as summoned spies and also to spiritually attack opponents. Subaru's shikigami takes the form of a three headed white crow while Seishiro's is an eagle.
- Kikyo of InuYasha creates three shikigami when she is poisoned and needs to bide time to find a way to recover. Two of her shikigami take on the form of two girls, Kochō and Asuka, which are powerful enough to create entire barriers. They are also able to fly and serve as Kikyo's messengers. Kikyo creates a third shikigami in her image called "Hijiri-sama" (or the Saint) who serves to distract and derail the plans of the antagonist of the story. Also, Tsubaki, creates several shikigami as well; which she uses to curse Kagome by utilizing a portion of her stolen life force to taint the Shikon Jewel. Kururugi from the video game Inuyasha: The Cursed Mask uses shikigami as weapons, to heal, and to defend. They often appear as varied creatures summoned from a pentagram and take various forms.
- Maggie Mui in the anime Read or Die: the TV, the middle sister of the three Paper Sisters, creates paper monsters to act as weapons and tools; they are sometimes referred to as shikigami—possibly based on the "kami" pun, above.
- Sarina (Mizuchi Saiou) of Yu-Gi-Oh! GX plays a deck supported by cards based off shikigami.
- Chin Yisou, a character of the anime and manga Saiyuki, turns himself into a shikigami by placing a mahjongg tile in an open wound before being killed by Cho Hakkai, and consequently is able to return later in the story as an enemy.
- In volume one of DNAngel, Yukiru Sugisaki added an extra story titled "N for Nishiki" in which an eight-year-old girl named Kokoro Nagahara and her older brother Kodama had to summon shikigami in order to protect them from demons. Two shikigami were featured: Kujo, a female shikigami, looked after the house and acts like a mothering figure to both Kodama and Kokoro, while the younger Nishiki is summoned subconsciously when a pupil at Kokoro's school is possessed and tries to kill her. Both take on a human form (Kujo appearing as a woman and Nishiki as a boy a little older than Kokoro) although Nishiki takes the form of a stuffed toy rabbit.
- The anime Onmyou Taisenki revolves around the use of Shikigami as spirits or fallen deities summoned to fight each other. The main character, Riku Tachibana, has a shikigami named Byakko no Kogenta, a white tiger spirit.
- The Touhou game Perfect Cherry Blossom contains a boss who is a shikigami, and another who is the shikigami of that shikigami.
- The Atlus game Persona 2: Eternal Punishment includes an onmyōji celebrity and fortuneteller named Chizuru Ishigami. Her main shikigami is a black cat named Shiki, which she uses to lead the heroes around for a time, and she uses both robed creatures simply named "Shikigami" and clones of herself to assist in battle.
- It is likely that the paper birds in the Hayao Miyazaki movie Spirited Away, sent by the witch Zeniba, are in fact shikigami.
- In Japanese anime and manga Ghost Sweeper Mikami, Rokudō Meiko (六道 冥子), a sweet and innocent but extremely powerful teenage girl, directly controls twelve Shikigami: Indara, Ajira, Kubira, Basara, Shindara, Sanchira, Haira, Makora, Shōtra, Anchira, Bikara, and Mekira. Normally they are under control, but whenever Meiko's feelings are disturbed, her "pets" destroy anything or anyone within their reach. Meiko is sensitive, weak-willed and easily hurt. In one episode, she uses her twelve Shikigami to fight a man with only one Shikigami to determine if her arranged marriage to him should be followed through.
- In the video game, Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne Shikigami appears as a monster, it retains the appearance of a long flat sheet of white paper with eyes.
- The disc animals in Kamen Rider Hibiki.
- In the video game, Tenchu: Wrath of Heaven Shikigami take on the appearance of paper-like floating spirits, and a certain boss, Kagura, is responsible for summoning the Shikigami.
[edit] Other literary references
- In several of Laurence Yep's books (most notably the Tiger's Apprentice series), the antagonists use monsters that, when killed, turn into paper dolls.
[edit] References
- Mizuki, Shigeru (2003). Mujara 3: Kinki-hen. Tokyo: Soft Garage, p. 61. ISBN 4861330068.
[edit] External links
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