Regular readers of Balladeer’s Blog know that I consider all religions to be mythology, which people are usually fine with unless it’s their own personal religion I’m examining. At any rate En No Ozunu is revered as the founder and most active mythical figure in the belief system called Shugendo, and in some offshoot cults of Shugendo as a virtual patron deity of ninja practices and ancient weather forecasting.
Practitioners of the Shugendo faith are called Yamabushi and their belief system fuses elements of Shinto, Ainu, Buddhism and Taoism along with features of shamanism and the ancient Japanese reverence for mountains, all of which are considered sacred ground in Shugendo.
The ninja connection is very big in popular culture but actually the Ainu are more technically the originators of many ninjutsu practices. For an even bigger pop culture tie-in there are versions of the En No Ozunu myth in which he is the father of Sadako (Neil Sadako?), the female figure in the Ringu novel plus its Japanese and American film adaptations.
En No Ozunu supposedly began his existence on Earth when he was born to a mortal woman who was Continue reading
1. The Muslim World has been a violent mess since the 7th Century, so a lot of people need to stop pretending that Islamic nations were peaceful until the supreme ass George W Bush came along. 
Balladeer’s Blog continues its examination of the grand and exciting Hawaiian epic about the goddesses Pele and Hi’iaka. 
Here’s Balladeer’s Blog’s look at that very first episode of The Texas 27 Film Vault, from way down on Level 31 in the Film Vault beneath Dallas, Texas. There was no serial that first night because the movie plus comedy sketches filled the entire running time. Below you’ll also find the link to my exclusive interview with Randy Clower. 
NCAA Division Two – 1. LINCOLN MEMORIAL UNIVERSITY RAILSPLITTERS ### 2. WEST LIBERTY STATE HILLTOPPERS ### 3. WESTERN OREGON UNIVERSITY WOLVES ### 4. AUGUSTANA (SD) VIKINGS ### 5. QUEEN’S UNIVERSITY OF CHARLOTTE ROYALS ### 
Here at Balladeer’s Blog I’ve written plenty about how I used to consider myself a Liberal back before the political left around the world decided to pursue their insane policy of “Islam: Right or Wrong.” 
After 9-11 the political left collectively dropped to their bellies and began crawling for Islam, twisting logic however they had to in order to depict Muslims as victims and as a “vulnerable” community despite their huge numbers worldwide. 
MIAMI UNIVERSITY AT MIDDLETOWN THUNDERHAWKS 
Many of you have been kind enough to let me know that the new movie Chi-Raq, about black-on- black violence in Chicago, can be added to the long list of adaptations of Lysistrata by Aristophanes. 
By 411 BCE the Peloponnesian War between Athens (and its allied city-states) and Sparta (and its allied city-states) had been raging for roughly 20 years. The war provides the backdrop for many of Aristophanes’ surviving comedies and is especially apt where Lysistrata is concerned. 
Balladeer's Blog 