could mention yazatas with sraosha's role in islam, and by extension the rooster angel.

really cute inanna and ninshubur!

Funnily enough I was planning to make my own short-ish post about the messy themes of HSiFS, and how Okina wound up becoming an unflattering copy of Yukari, rather than embracing the historical inspiration that actually makes her interesting. Will probably wait on that now lol.

I've seen some of the uma stuff at least, and even as someone not into FDS or Uma Musume, it's very hard to take her seriously. Above all else, she really comes across as someone who feel the need to seize the moral and intellectual high ground by whatever means necessary.

Never interacted directly, perhaps for the best, but part of me worried about attracting her ire for daring to criticize ZUN without her approval, as she's pulled the same stunt before.

Every time I am exposed to something from Sukimas they somehow manage to make themselves seem even more unpleasant, it's kind of impressive.

Shōtoku at all with the Honchō Shinsenden, but it's definitely an area where ZUN's lack of familiarity has wound up leaving a sour taste in my mouth. Probably could have brought up simpler issues I have with world-building etc. but I also just really wanted to talk about Daoism in Japan lol.

I was aware, but if anything it just makes Prince Shōtoku an even weirder figure to take that approach with, someone like Xu Fu would've fit better for a more straightforward Taoism rep. For the record, I still like Miko and the TD cast, and it's cool that there's a precedent for Taoist Prince...

Thank you! I do feel that there needs to be more meaningful criticism of ZUN, as he's far from an infallible creator. Given my own interests, I can't help but feel dissatisfied sometimes with how ZUN touches on very interesting ideas, without realizing their full potential in the series.

part 2 here
just9art.tumblr.com/post/7927977...

I assume the character Yuiman Asama is meant to be a reference to Yuiman-hime from the legend of Kōga Saburō. The legend notes her as becoming the deity Asama Daimyōjin (浅間大明神) after she followed Kōga Saburō back to Suwa.

The creature she is accompanied with is based on a depiction of the White Tiger from the Kitora Tumulus. A statue based on this depiction was notably also installed at Chōgosonshi Temple, which is the irl basis for the Myōren Temple.

Some of this I was aware of from reading "The Mystery of Wealth and the Role of Divinities", but I hadn't checked this out directly. Interesting stuff in any case, definitely goes a long way to explaining what Chimata's deal is.