Mythology & Lexicon

Blue Seed is based heavily on Japanese mythology, the Kushinada legend in particular. Below is the legend as well as an alphabetized list of characters and elements in Blue Seed that have mythological relevance.

The Kushinada Legend

The Kushinada Legend is the Japanese legend that Blue Seed is based on. It is the story of the god Susano-oh and how he killed the eight-headed, eight-forked dragon Yamata-no-orochi.

One day when Susano-oh was wandering in Izumo he met an elderly couple named Ashinazuchi and Tenazuchi. The couple was nearly paralyzed with grief because each year a large, eight-headed dragon named Yamata-no-orochi would come to their home and eat one of their daughters. Orochi had already eaten seven daughters and now only one, Inada-Hime (Kushinada-Hime), was left. The dreaded day was fast approaching and the old couple had no idea what to do.

Susano-oh took a liking to Inada-Hime and offered to slay Orochi in exchange for her hand in marriage. Her parents eagerly agreed, and Susano-oh prepared for his confrontation with Orochi by turning Inada-Hime into a comb and placing the comb in his hair. Then he filled eight bowls with sake and put one at each of the eight doorways of the house.

When Orochi approached the house he was distracted by the bowls of sake and greedily drank all eight of them. While Orochi was in a drunken stupor Susano-oh attacked and cut him up into little pieces.

As Susano-oh was cutting the dragon up, he found a sword in its tail (the Ama-no-Murakumo-no-tsurugi, later renamed Kusanagi-no-tsurugi). He took the sword, and Kushinada-Hime's hand in marriage, and they proceeded to live happily ever after and make babies like nobody's business.

Lexicon

Alternate spellings and words that names may be based on are placed in brackets. Translations of words are placed in quotes. Anything else of interest will be in parenthesis. As usual, given names will come first, followed by surname.

Aragami: Gods of battle.

Ashinazuchi: The earth god. Father of Kushinada Hime.

Azusa Matsudaira: [Azusa + Matsu] Azusa means "catalpa tree" and matsu means "pine tree."

Kaede: Information provided by Andrew Bayless: Momiji's twin, Kaede, may seem like she is named after a flower garden, but in reality, she is also named after maple trees. In a separate context Kaede is a synonym for Momiji, only with a sadder connotation. Momiji itself is a joyful word for maple while Kaede is a gloomy word for maple.

Kokiji: "Record of Ancient Matters." One of the texts of the Shinto religion.

Koume Sawaguchi: Information provided by Andrew Bayless: Koume literally means "little plum," where "ko" is the kanji for "little" and "ume" is "plum" (Ever heard of Umeboshi? It means pickled plum). However, Koume more specifically refers to the blossoms of a plum tree, which are a reddish pink color, just like Koume's jacket colors.

Kunikida: [Kuni + ki] Kuni means "country," ki means "tree."

Kusanagi: [Kusanagi-no-tsurugi] Means "mower of grass" or "grass parting two-edged blade." (Kusa alone means "grass") The sword that was removed from the tail of Orochi by Susano-oh. The sword was originally the property of the Dragon-king of the Sea. It later became one of the three emblems of Imperial dignity and could be wielded only by the Emperor of Japan. (Interestingly enough, Kusanagi's given name, Mamoru, means "protector.")

Kushinada: [Kushinada-Hime, Inada-Hime] The daughter of Ashinazuchi and Tenazuchi, who was saved by Susano-oh by being transformed into a comb and placed in his hair. ("Kushi" means "comb"; kushi-mitama is the power of transforming.)

Additional information about "kushi" provided by Aaron Albert: This is information gathered from the book Culture Shock! Japan which I was reading a couple months ago. In a section concerning gifts and more specifically, taboo gifts, the comb is considered particularly bad. Kushi (comb) contains the words ku and shi which have multiple meanings. "Ku" can mean "suffering" and "shi" can mean "death" which is why a comb is a taboo gift.

Having read this, one of the first things I noticed in Blue Seed is that the title Kushinada probably meant very bad things for the person it was bestowed upon. Also, "kushin" means "painful effort" which is also interesting to me, though considering the Kushinada legend and the fact Susano-oh turned her into a comb before his battle I think "kushi" is probably the operative word, rather than "kushin." "Kushin" is derived from "ku." I believe.

Mah-jong: A four-player game. The playing pieces consist of 136 little tiles.

Matsuri: "Festival." Any wide variety of civil or religious ceremonies in Japan. (Momiji Kushinada performs the matsuri.)

Misogi: A Shinto practice of washing one's body in a stream or river near a shrine. When Momiji bathes herself each morning before school she is engaging in misogi.

Mitama: [tama + magatama] Tama--a soul or spirit, an aspect of a spirit, or a divinity; magatama--crescent-shaped beads. In Blue Seed, mitama are the crescent-shaped beads that contain the souls of the Aragami.

Additional information about mitama, provided by Sammy: From The Anime Companion: "Magatama (beads)- Crescent-shaped beads found in many archaeological sites and mentioned in legendary literature. Green magatama seem to have been importance status symbols in prehistoric times."

Momiji: As the anime states, this means "maple."

Murakumo: [Ame-no-murakumo-no-tsurugi] Means "sword of billowing clouds" or "sword of gathering clouds of heaven." (Murakumo by itself means "cloud masses.") The original name for the Kusanagi-no-tsurugi.

Orochi: [Yamata-no-orochi, Orochi-no-orochi] Means "big serpent with eight forks" The eight-headed dragon with eight forked tails in the Kushinada legend. Orochi ate the daughters of Ashinazuchi and Tenazuchi until he was cleverly slain by Susano-oh.

Sake: An alcoholic rice drink. This was used by Susano-oh to make Orochi drunk and is imbibed by Koume frequently as a matter of principle.

Sakura Yamazaki: [Sakura + Yamazakura] Sakura means "cherry blossom" or "cherry tree." Yamazakura also means "cherry tree" or "blossoms."

Shinto: An ancient Japanese religion whose name is derived from the Chinese "shin tao," or "Way of the Gods." Shinto has been established as one of the official religions of Japan. Sakura is a Shinto priestess.

Sugishita: Sugi means "Japanese cedar."

Susano-oh: [Susano, Susanooh-no-mikoto] "Swift-Impetuous-Deity" or "The Impetuous Male." (Mikoto alone means "ruler" or "prince") The Storm god. Susano-oh plays both evil and good roles in mythology, but he is always mischievous and clever.

He seemed to enjoy humiliating and tormenting his sister, Amaterasu, the Sun goddess, and was kicked out of heaven for it. He is associated with trouble, because storms are troublesome, but is also associated with forests, because it is said that he planted the forests in Korea with hairs from his beard.

Susano-oh primarily operated out of Izumo. In the Kushinada legend he saves the Kushinada from Orochi and finds the sword Kusanagi-no-tsurugi in Orochi's tail. Susano-oh and the Kushinada are married and have many children.

Takeuchi: [Take + uchi] Take means "bamboo" and uchi means "house."

Tenazuchi: Mother of Kushinada Hime.

Tobiume: "Flying plum tree." According to legend, when Michizane was exiled from Kyoto the plum trees planted in his garden uprooted and flew to Dazaifu after him.