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AtmaFlare — Kuebiko, Straw Prince of Knowledge

#japan #okuninushi #mountaingod #sukunahikona #kuebiko #久延毘古 #山田之曾富騰 #クエビコ #characterdesign #fertilitygod #folklore #japanesefolklore #japanesemythology #kakashi #kojiki #mythology #persona #scarecrow #shinmegamitensei #shinto #shintoism #supernatural #traditionalart #henohenomoheji #japanesefolktale #atmaflare #godofknowledge #japanesescarecrow
Published: 2017-03-18 01:34:36 +0000 UTC; Views: 5577; Favourites: 153; Downloads: 19
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Description A quickie one this time, and quite the obscure one too.

---Kuebiko, Straw Prince of Knowledge---------------------------------------------------------
In Japanese mythology, a scarecrow god who is unable to move, but holds vast knowledge about all
the world, presiding over wisdom, the mountains, agriculture and the rice fields. The meaning of
the name is still uncertain, but among theories are "long stretch help old", "mountain
paddy-field's once wealth rise","disabled prince" and "someone left soaking wet from standing
guard over mountain rice fields", with some of these being euphemisms or references to scarecrows.
One day, while constructing what would become Japan, the god of nation building, Okuninushi,
is visited by a strange tiny god arriving on miniscule boat from another land, clad in the skin of
geese. No other gods knew who that small deity truly was or what was his purpose, and by the
suggestion of a toad nearby, Okunikushi went to the see Kuebiko, for his knowledge was vast.
Kuebiko informed that the small god was called Sukuna-Hikona, who came from the distant
otherworld across the ocean, Tokoyo-no-Kuni, and was an envoy of one of the supreme deities,
Kami-musubi. Okuninushi and Sukuna-Hikona eventually came to an understanding, and together
they created medicine and ingenious ways of protecting people against the forces of nature
and wild animals, and how to proper hunt game.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gotta love the only reason Kuebiko even exists is because Okuninushi couldn't properly ask Sukuna-Hikona
for his name for some unknown reason... 

Kuebiko was someone I was holding for a quick drawing for a long time... For someone so unimportant and forgotten,
he's quite an interesting fellow, well, at least in my eyes a scarecrow god is interesting enough. For a long time I had planned
that if I ended up doing him I would pair him with Sukuna-Hikona to give the two forgotten gods a time in thelimelight,
and I was going to put him on the left side of the drawing, where the grass is, but he felt very randomly placed, being a
god who came from beyond the sea after all, and in the end the scenery (which is based on this painting btw) ended up
looking a better choice to fill up space, beyond also emphasizing Kuebiko's earthly aspects of course. It makes much more sense
to pair Sukuna with Okuninushi, who's a much more important god on his own, so I'll hold those two for another day.

The design is quite the simplistic one, he's simply put, a japanese scarecrow , with the straw hat, raincoat and a Henohenomoheji face to match.
As one of his names implies, he's tattered and a bit worn from protecting the fields from birds and theelements. From his arms sprouts
a branch of leaves, with "shide", those zig zag paper ropes, reminiscent of purification rituals from shintoism, which alongside
his magic magatama necklace strengthens his status a sacred spirit, overseeing the mountains.

...Also, I totally forgot that today was St. Patrick's day and that I was kinda supposed to post Crom Cruach, but I had Kuebiko's lineart
done since last week, so... Sorry for that?

Well, hope you all liked it, and see you all next time!  
Related content
Comments: 56

megamaster135 In reply to ??? [2017-03-18 01:41:00 +0000 UTC]

Still, seems a bit too much of a coincidence.

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

AtmaFlare In reply to megamaster135 [2017-03-18 01:44:23 +0000 UTC]

It's certainly a funny coincidence, it's not everyday you hear a story about a smart scarecrow out there!  
But yeah, as far as I know, not related. Can't imagine L. Frank being a fan of ancient japanese mythology.

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

megamaster135 In reply to AtmaFlare [2017-03-18 01:47:43 +0000 UTC]

You'd be surprised.
Half of the beasts in the chronicles of narnia are from ancient mythology.

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

AtmaFlare In reply to megamaster135 [2017-03-18 01:55:30 +0000 UTC]

Narnia used the hell out of ancient mythology as a base, and well, Lewis was a close friend of Tolkien, so I imagine both were already living encyclopedias of folklore in general.
But as far I'm aware these specific aspects of japanese culture were largely unknown to the occident at the time, heck, they still are today to most of the japanese. What I do know is that
L. Frank writed OZ based on european fairy tales to give american children fairy tales of their own, and the scarecrow was possibly a metaphor for the naive but resourceful
american farmers of the time. So probably no japanese influences there that we can be sure of, just european ones, but well, you never know, right?  

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

megamaster135 In reply to AtmaFlare [2017-03-18 02:03:21 +0000 UTC]

That does make a lot of sense.

👍: 0 ⏩: 0


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