Thursday, January 6, 2005

   [LIFE // a new theme: my 1st japanese myth]

today's my 1st day back to updating MyO after a very relaxed (read: "lazy") holiday weekend, i hope everyone is having a good start in the new year. and for those who are headed back to school -- whether it's to face a brand new quarter or daunting finals -- best wishes!! ^^ for january's MyO theme, i chose a picture of shirahime ("princess of the snow") from "shirahime-syo", one of CLAMP's most beautiful & haunting works. the tragic tales that are gently told in traditional japanese artwork made "shirahime-syo" different from the group's other more cheerful & goofy works. if you like CLAMP or fantasy & drama mixed w/ tragedy, i'd strongly recommend "shirahime-syo" for you. for a well-written review on this manga, check this out from AnimeFringe. :) when people gloss over japanese mythology, they always mention amaterasu the sun goddess -- well, naturally, since she's related to the creation myth. but actually the less important yuki-onna ("lady of the snow") is the 1st japanese mythological figure i've ever known. a friend (who was it??) told me some stories about her when i was very young. it went smtg like: "in japan, in the days of yore, when snow storms & blizzards ravaged the countryside, travelers easily lost their ways in the mountains amidst the snow. they'd walk on for days, trying to find a way out of the mountains. slowly, hunger, fatique & despair would set in, the snow making them delusional. one day, they'd collapse (or were near collapse) and suddenly spot a beautiful but ghostly pale woman approaching toward them in the drifting snow. they knew it was the yuki-onna...and that death was near. she wept for their demise & her tears became the snow."... after learning this story, i was spooked for a long time. i became afraid to go out by myself to wait for the school bus on those dark & silent winter mornings, uncertain of what i might see in the snow. ^_^; i know better now, but the figure & tales of the shirahime are still as mysterious & intrigueing to me as the 1st time i heard about them. i tried to look up more info about her in old volumes of japanese culture, mythology & folk stories in the library; but the info was scarce, and in the rare illustrations i did find, shirahime always looked like a creepy woman wearing a noh mask. i don't know, don't noh masks...& clowns scare you? they always creep me out. *_* so thanks to CLAMP (& TokyoPop?!) who published "shirahime-syo", giving us this lovely version of the snow princess. ^^ anyways, i hope you like my new bg (THANKS dragonrider6 for your help!). i'm still trying to get used to it, but if the text becomes too hard to read on the picture, i might switch back to using a plain ol' color bg in the future. ^_^ BONUS! for more about the legends of the shirahime/yuki-onna, read CLAMP's "shirahime-syo" of course! in addition, check out... >> the "yuki-onna" entry in the Encylopedia Mythica. >> to find out more about world myth, folklore & various imagery used in anime & manga in general, visit Anime-Myth! this is a wonderful site; and i strongly recommend it if you're into folklore & mythology. ^^

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