TOP JAPAN 8 Animals in JAPANESE Culture / Tradition History and Mythology
There are some animals that play a very important role in Japanese culture. The tradition, history and mythology of Japan is full of fantastic tales and wonderful beings! (You can watch the video or continue reading below)
Today we are going to talk about the animals that have the most impact, the most tradition within Japanese culture and mythology. Like all cultures, they have their animals that represent something to society. We have chosen 8 animals, not all of these animals are exclusive to Japan, there are some of these animals that exist in other places, at least some variant of these animals, so they are not animals that are unique to Japan, there are also, but that would be another story but they are animals that for hundreds of years some even thousands of years have a very strong weight within culture, religion, literature, art, etc.
Tombo / Dragonfly
And well, let’s start directly with an animal that is always closely related to the samurai, which is the “tombo” which is the dragonfly, this animal is represented a lot in paintings or paintings because it represents moving forward, perseverance and that is why it is He also represented the samurai with this symbol. Even in fabric prints, yukata prints, kimono prints, bags, etc. they really like to use the “tombo”
Not giving up, always going forward of the samurai because they know the dragonfly can only fly forward, it is said… it is not true, it can fly up and down but it cannot fly backwards or it cannot make other types of movements that other insects can, once the dragonfly takes off it has to go forward. So it’s the samurai who goes with his sword and goes forward. Another factor for which it is very similar to the samurai is that the dragonfly stops in one place and remains perfectly immobile and there may be wind and other dragonflies may arrive, you can move to the side, etc. and it is not going to move, it is ready, firm in the position in which it should be, guardian of everything that happens and once it decides to move, once it has already fulfilled what it had to do, it will patiently fly forward.
Kitsune / fox
The second animal is the “kitsune”, the fox. This even temple has everywhere you will find it here in Japan, temples dedicated to Inari, which has been a deity that is represented with the fox, but it is the “inari fox”. Yes, many times it is believed that “inari” is a fox but “inari” is not a fox, “inari” is a Shinto deity and the animal that served “inari” are foxes, so it is always related and in these times there are fox statues and it is in fact the most dedicated deity and temple in Japan that is, there are more temples to “inari” than to any other deity. And this animal was very closely related, it lived closely with the human being, so it is said that it could even adopt a human form in the form of these “yokai” (supernatural beings) you know and could even deceive people. It is also said that they are very loyal and that they are people, not people but very loyal beings, very correct.
