HOME | DD
AtmaFlare — Namazu, the Earthshaker
#japan #asia #catfish #digitalart #earthquake #fish #folklore #giantfish #japanese #japanesefolklore #japanesemythology #kashima #monsterdesign #mythology #namazu #persona #shinmegamitensei #supernatural #yokai #takemikazuchi #onamazu #atmaflare
Published: 2017-03-01 00:52:23 +0000 UTC; Views: 8554; Favourites: 204; Downloads: 24
Redirect to original
Description
I was trying to do another digital colored myth post in a while now, the first and only other one being Tiamatback in...AUGUST!? My god, why did I took so long...
---Namazu, the Earthshaker-----------------------------------------------------------------
In Japanese folklore, a giant catfish who lives in the mud underneath the Japanese islands,
causing violent earthquakes everytime he moves about. The god Take-Mikazuchi (usually in this
context known by his other name, Kashima Daimyojin) is in charge of restraining the monster
with a huge stone pinned upon its head through the earth, called the Kaname-Ishi, with its top
visible on the ground of the Kashima shrine in Hitachi. During moments of distraction on the part
of the god, or annually when he attends the conference of the gods at Izumo, the Namazu can
take advantage of the moment to thrash about, creating destruction. During the Edo period,
however, the Namazu got strangely popular among the poor. Although earthquakes bring great
destruction, this was troublesome mostly to the rich folks, who had more to lose, but somewhat
advantageous to everybody else, who could escape their harsh lives for a brief while during the
anarchy that followed earthquakes, and also an opportunity to steal some riches from the nobles.
He became known as a yonaoshi daimyojin, a god of world renewal, a period when society turns
upside down and the poor inherit the gold of the rich. This association with riches got stronger
with time, and he's worshipped in some places as a god who "lends" money if so asked, but can
also bring misfortune if disrespected.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Not sure why I thought Namazu was deserving of a post... At least I discovered much more interesting
stuff about it than I was expecting. Namazu came with... mixed results. Not sure why I'm even posting
it here, but oh well.
The design is an stylized version of this painting: [image]
Namazu shaking with a city in flames upon its back, but now, it's a modern city. At first it was going to be more
clear that the city on its back was a Japanese city, specifically Tokyo. I was going to put a destroyed Tokyo Tower
somewhere in there, but in the end people thought it was a bit offensive, so, a generic city instead.
It carries the heavy rock that the god Take-Mikazuchi used to pin it down over its head, although now that the god
isn't there, it isn't that effective on its own. The rock has holy shimewana ropes wrapped around it, because it's related to
a god, but since the Namazu itself can also be considered a god, it also has the holy ropes around its head. I've also
tried to incorporate some patterns on the skin based on ancient Japanese pottery, to make it looks more like an ancient
and magical being than just a huge fish. [image]
Well, that's it from me this time. Hope you guys somehow liked it...
Today was supposed to be fakemon day, but I'm not feeling that fresh for it, and I just wanted to post this already. Maybe I'll post
a new fakemon on friday...
See you all next time!
Related content
Comments: 32
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
Lots of experimentation and stuff still being made with my digital drawings, but I'm considering keeping the saturated colors to some degree
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
Well, it seems you now are! haha
Thanks a lot for that!
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
This has got to be one of my favorite depictions of any mythical being I've ever seen. The stone mountain on his head, the shide paper hanging off of him, and the crumbling cities on his back. It's all just too perfect.
I also noticed that this was colored digitally, unlike the majority of your other mythology drawings. Let me tell you that it has not impacted the quality of the drawing whatsoever. Heck, it might have just improved it! Keep up the good work!
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Oh geez, thanks so much!
...And to think I delayed it for two weeks and almost shelved it because I thought people would think the design was too boring or that he was too ugly for anyone to like it...
...And the coloring of course, I've still got a looong way to go, I wasn't very confident about it at all...
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
I think you did a great job with this nonetheless. I quite like the lore behind this big fish and the evolution that its myth went through. The ropes and the pottery-like details help adding more character to it, nice move!
Though I would've left the explicit reference to Tokyo, it's a japanese myth after all. Would've been weird with New York, instead. That, I would've avoided. xD
Also, the story of Namazu and its likeness remind me of Whiscash. It's a water/ground Pokémon too, so I think this is the myth that originated it.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Thanks as always! Glad you liked it!
The mythology behind it was actually my favorite part about it all, very interesting stuff. I knew it just as a giant earthquaking-causing fish, that god and world renewal part certainly caught me off guard, in a good way.
His humanoid form is also quite funny: [image]
And yeah, I ended up chickening out on Tokyo...
Looking back now it seems kinda of a silly issue to be worried about. The city is still based on 80's Tokyo though, but that's too generic to be identifiable anyway.
But whiscash is indeed 100% based on the Namazu! The description not only fits like a glove, but it's japanese name is actually.... Namazun. Great criativity here, folks.
There was also an episode of the anime featuring is that was cancelled and all because of an earthquake.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Oh, I love that picture of its human form. Looks like something I would draw, so funny and weird. xD
I didn't know Whiscash's japanese name was Namazun, that's a pretty obvious name. They surely are full of creativity with names back at Nintendo headquarters. :'D
But the concept behind it it's really cool.
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
Oh boy, I would like to know that myself hahaha. I actually have a lot of ideas, I just need some serious motivation. It's carnaval season here, I would like to so something thematic, but I can't think of anything interesting. Some probable candidates for the future are...
-Rudra, Rigvedic god of storm and disease (I'm probably gonna discard this one and give the design for someone else)
-Maya, Hindu goddess of illusion
-Adramelech, demon of fashion
-Tsukuyomi, japanese god of the moon
-Jehovah, lord of the covenant (...Probably too hard and too controversial, better not)
And many many others...
👍: 0 ⏩: 2
You should definitely do Adramelech. I just looked him up, and I have to admit, if anything screams carnaval, it's this guy.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
He sure is the most fitting one I can find, and I can admit the only reason I haven't done him until now it was because I was reserving it for Carnaval.
But my last sketches of him focused a bit more on the fashion aspect of him than his festive one, that's where my hesitation is coming from. I'll see if I can come up with anything interesting for him!
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
you do relise you used the eye of providence most of the wellknown angels what one more controversy
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Nah, The eye is just so related to conspiracy and villains that portraying it as evil is almost common at this point. Almost no one would get offended, if they have the proper context for it, of course. The angels... Yeah, maybe, but mostly for misunderstanding. I do have reasons to portray the angels in bizarre ways, not for disrespect, just to offer another valid interpretation of them. Although I do admit Gabriel and Michael carry a lot of shock value, and I think it was a bit immature of my part to do so.
I was actually discussing doing a updated version of Gabriel, and this week I asked a few friends of mine who remember it if they would like him less if I removed some of the "death" aspects of the design, and all of them said yes.
But Jehovah on the other hand... It's controversial just to utter the name, let alone depict it... Sooner or later I would have the headache of having to deal with someone offended by it. It's strangely okay for me to depict any god from any religion, but abrahamic ones would probably get me hate by believers and haters alike, it's the internet after all.
.........And I would also have to research and read a bunch of stuff about Jehovah because of how complex and metaphysical he is, and that seems a major hassle... SO LAZY!
👍: 0 ⏩: 2
and its not as bad as say demiurge
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Actually, the demiurge, specifically Yaldabaoth, is much more probable to appear here before jehovah does. He's almost a JRPG-cliched villain at this point. I was flirting with the idea of doing a design for it some time ago. I don't plan on doing him anytime soon, but you never know...
Which totally reminds me, I forgot to put in the list of future posts, but Satan is very probable to be posted sometime in the future. I have a sketch of him done since last year halloween.
👍: 0 ⏩: 2
might I suggist YHVH aka Yehowah demon form from Shin Megami Tensei IV Apocalypse for Yaldabaoth
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Coincidently I'm playing SMT4 Apocalypse at this very moment, I'm going to face Vishnuflynn right now. lol
And oh god, how much I hate that design for yhvh. What were they thinking?!
...Although the idea of "debasing" him just like he did with the pagan gods was pretty clever, I'll give them that.
And that form really is fitting for a Yaldabaoth design! I'm thinking in doing something similar to one of Satan's beta designs as well. Good sugestion! [image]
👍: 0 ⏩: 2
perhaps mix it with his persona 5 form he realy looks like a god of the material world
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Something machine-like would be very much appropriated indeed. Maybe not angel-like though...
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
I think the form is based of the antichrist and the beast of revelation
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Even if it was, it wouldn't make much sense to correlate yhvh with either of them, even for his demon form. According to the designer himself, as explained in the artbook:
"Profile: The first form was the head of the first man, Adam, created in his own image. However, the second form turns into a strange chimera that resembles a demon. The goat wanted by god in the Scriptures, the snake that tempted Eve in Eden or the swarm of locusts that appeared in the Exodus, threatening the Pharaoh if he refused to free the Jews, all can be seen in this form. Each part of the chimera is connected to the other. "
... So basically he just put a bunch of random animals that represent god's wrathful side and evil from the bible for the design, which makes a little sense, but it's still very inapropriate for the series and for YHVH in general.
In my opinion atlus just wanted he to make a design that looked evil and cool, something out of a generic JRPG. That seemed to be their priorities for Apocalipse in general, and I dread what they're gonna do for SMT V next...
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
The original Hebrew term satan is a noun from a verb meaning primarily "to obstruct, oppose", as it is found in Numbers 22:22, 1 Samuel 29:4, Psalms 109:6.[6] Ha-Satan is traditionally translated as "the accuser" or "the adversary". The definite article ha- (English: "the") is used to show that this is a title bestowed on a being, versus the name of a being. Thus, this being would be referred to as "the satan".[7]
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Technicallities, Technicallities. I know that. XD
If I were going to be 100% correct, this monster should be called Ōnamazu instead.
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
you going to let bible hummper stop your work
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Stop me? Of couse not.
But yeah, I'll probably have some headache with it, but what depends in the ends is if I'll manage to have an interesting idea for its design or not, which I don't at the moment, I just have an spark of interesting in trying to do so. If I do, well, there's not much that's gonna hold me from posting here.
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
this looks really really amazing and i could imagine this happening as a boss in one of the older final fantasy games!
It just has the worlds end vibe to it!
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Glad you liked it! I indeed do these things thinking in a videogame context after all, but instead of FF, I can't shake the feeling it ended up resembling the bosses in recent zelda games... Minus the blazing city, of course.
But if it was a videogame, I imagine it destroying a city you would have visited previously, and for you to face it you would have to travess the blazing remains of the familiar city on its back.
How you would defeat it is another story, considering its size... Maybe destroying its parts like FFX's Sin or maybe destroying it from the inside.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
yeah sin was the thing in my mind... it allso would work in a world like shadow of a collossus where you would walk on him and search for weakspots... imagine a entier level being the collossus instead of the normal size XD
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Since the god used to immobilize it with the stone on it's head, maybe the goal would be to climb its body and bash some stones into its flesh to pin it down, as you said, kinda like shadow of the colossus indeed! So many possibilities...
👍: 0 ⏩: 0