Tag Archives: Japan

RANDOM WEIRDNESS: JAPAN’S LOOK AT AMERICAN HISTORY

My fellow fans of J-Horror know that Japan practically invented weirdness. What none of us knew is how far back they go with that mastery of entertaining madness.

John Adams fighting a giant snakeTheir view of American history is mind-boggling. This 1861 work of “J-History” if you will, features little-known events like JOHN ADAMS FACING A GIANT SNAKE (left) and George Washington hitting a tiger. It also corrects the mistaken assumption that Washington’s wife was named Martha when her real name was apparently “Carol.” (?)  

Balladeer’s Blog’s Presidential Action and Horror Films bit only WISHES it could be this mind-bending. Credit Nick Kapur with drawing attention to this item from the Waseda University Library.

My favorite part: the illustration of Benjamin Franklin casually HOLDING A CANNON IN HIS ARMS while firing it at a squadron of Red Coats! Now that’s badass. And begs for a movie – “The Rock IS Benjamin Franklin!” And he’d have to follow up blowing away the Brits with an action hero quip like “A penny saved is a penny earned, you bastards!”  

To see every page of this acid trip AND Continue reading

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JAPAN AT LAST ADMITS TO PERFORMING GROTESQUE MEDICAL EXPERIMENTS ON AMERICAN POW’s

" I love it when people do those things to Americans!"

” I love it when people do those things to American soldiers!”

Fukuoka’s Kyushu University this week broke the official silence surrounding an oft-discussed but never admitted atrocity: Japan’s use of American POW’s as human guinea pigs in sadistic medical experiments. This can be added to the pile of Japanese war crimes along with similar experiments they conducted wholesale on captives in China and on various Pacific Islands. Continue reading

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SHINTO FIRE GOD: KAGATSUCHI

KAGATSUCHI – The Shinto god of fire, also called Omasubi (“starter of fire”). He was the last-born child of the Continue reading

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SHINTO DEITY: UZUME

 UZUME – This daughter of the gods Izanagi and Izanami was the goddess of dancing, a skill that served her in good stead in two major Shinto myths. When the sun goddess Amaterasu had hidden herself away in a cave, Uzume danced naked as part of the plot  concocted by the god of wisdom Omoigane to lure Amaterasu back out into the world.

In the other major myth Uzume is part of the retinue of the god Ninigi when Amaterasu sends him down to rule over ancient Japan. Their descent was blocked by Sarutahiko, the god who guards Ukihashi, the floating bridge between Continue reading

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SHINTO DEITY: INARI THE RICE GOD

 INARI – The Shinto rice god. His wife was the goddess Ukemochi and when she was slain by the moon god he married Mitama, the goddess of agriculture. His son was the scarecrow and divination deity Kuyebiko. There are even versions of Shinto myths in which Saki is said to be Inari’s daughter and the goddess of the intoxicating drink Saki like Dionysus is the god of wine in Greek myths.

Inari often roamed the rice fields of Earth, sometimes in the form of a fox, his familiar animal. This connection between the rice god and foxes came from the way foxes often Continue reading

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SHINTO DEITY: AMATERASU

 This sun goddess was the chief deity of the Shinto pantheon. In the Nihongi she is the daughter of both Izanagi and Izanami but in the Kojiki she springs from Izanagi’s left eye. During one of the conflicts with her brother Susanowo the storm god she withdrew to a cave in protest of the storm god’s incessant belligerence. Susanowo had been overstepping his bounds by Continue reading

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SHINTO DEITY: KUYEBIKO

 Kuyebiko was the Shinto scarecrow god. Originally he functioned as the protector of the rice fields, a task assigned him by his father Inari the rice god. He was considered to be incarnate in all scarecrows and eventually came to be  considered as a divinitory deity who knew everything that transpired under the heavens.

The leap from being the god of scarecrows to divinitory deity came about because of Continue reading

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SHINTO DEITY: JUROJIN

For more of the Shinto deities I’ve covered here at Balladeer’s Blog click here: http://www.makethelist.net/the-top-10-deities-in-shinto-mythology/ 

JUROJIN – The god of longevity who granted a long life and watched over the elderly. He was depicted as a Continue reading

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SHINTO DEITY: KOTOHIRA

For other Shinto deities I’ve covered here at Balladeer’s Blog click here: http://www.makethelist.net/the-top-10-deities-in-shinto-mythology/ 

 KOTOHIRA – The god of the Inland Sea, the location of which is indicated on the map to your right. (the rough translation of the words above the arrow would be “Here’s the Inland Sea … assholes”. ) This deity guarded over the entire Inland Sea and commanded Continue reading

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SHINTO DEITY OF THE DAY – OKUNINUSHI

 The latest deity of the day here at Balladeer’s Blog will be Okuninushi. For my larger entry on Shinto gods and goddesses click here: http://www.makethelist.net/the-top-10-deities-in-shinto-mythology/                                         

 OKUNINUSHI – The Shinto god of medicine who eventually became the ruler of the Izumo area of Japan. Okuninushi lived in Izumo, which was under the control of the extended family of deities of the exiled storm god Susanowo. The turning point in the medicine god’s life came when he used his healing powers to cure a rabbit that his brothers had cruelly abused. The healed rabbit transformed into his true form as the Continue reading

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