Welcome to Tokyosaurus.
Today we have another japanese character origin video which we'll go into depth to see where
their design inspiration comes from as well as some stories to give you a better background
of what the original character is all about.
So we'll be taking a look at Komajiro and Komiger from Yo-kai Watch.
Komajiro himself is a rank D lightning attributed yokai of the charming tribe.
The yokai medallium states that he is Komasan's younger twin, he looks for his runaway bro
but he can't find him anywhere, poor guy.
At level 35, he is able to evolve into Komiger and he becomes a rank A yokai with the same
attribute and tribe.
Komiger's medallium states that His pursuit of his brother has brought out a ferocious
tiger spirit.
He even has stripes.
Appearance wise, he looks very much like a tiger but standing.
His eyebrows look very cloud like which symbolizes his relationship with storms, as all of his
attacks center around thunder and lightning.
So where is Komiger and Komajiro inspired from?
Komajiro's japanese name is Komajiro and is a combination of the word Komainu and Jiro.
Komainu is a lion dog and Jiro is a male given name that translates to second eldest son.
Komiger's japanese name is Torajiro which is a combination of the word Tora and Jiro.
Tora means tiger.
Both names don't really tell us much about its origins so where are they really from?
There's actually a legendary four legged thunder animal or thunder beast from japanese mythology
called Raiju.
Its body is composed of lightning and its shapes vary between cat, fox, weasel or wolf.
Its cry sounds like thunders while it moves around by flying as a ball of lightning.
Raiju is the companion to the Shinto god of lightning, Raijin.
While Raiju is pretty calm and harmless when the weather is good, during thunderstorms,
it becomes agitated and leaps around in trees and buildings.
Sometimes trees that have been struck by lightning are said to have been scratched by Raiju's
claws.
The Raiju is also known for its fondness for sleeping in belly buttons.
Yes it's weird, but most japanese people know Raiju through this story.
Since Raiju can shapeshift, he often shapeshifts into a form where he can sleep inside the
space of a belly button.
Raijin is not particularly fond of his habit and often shoots lightning arrows at Raiju
to wake him up which also harms the person who's belly Raiju was sleeping on.
It is said that superstitious people would actually sleep on their stomachs during bad
weather in case Raiju decides to come by to take a nap on your tummy and accidentally
get wrecked by the god of thunder.
In Japan, there are claims of Raiju mummies all across the country one of which was kept
in a temple in Iwate prefecture.
The mummy looks very much just like a cat with longer legs and no eye sockets.
Nobody knows if it's really a Raiju and no scientific experiments were tested on the
mummy because of its sacred nature.
Nowadays, there are very little accounts of live encounters with Raiju compared the the
past where there were actually many stories from many different places in Japan that have
people encountering Raiju.
It could be possible that similar creature might have existed in the past and have gone
extinct or have gone into hiding, but we will never really know until they pop up again.
Now for those of you fans of pokemon, when you hear the word god of thunder.
We immediately think of Raikou right away.
Raikou is a legendary beast similar to Komiger and has its abilities centered around thunder
and lightning.
Raikou is a much more obvious interpretation of Raiju as it pretty much looks identical
to the description and has the word rai in its name (which means thunder).
Raikou is also shaped like a wildcat specifically, a saber toothed tiger.
Komiger on the other hand is more of just a normal tiger.
The thing that makes komiger stands apart the most, is his upright stance.
Raiju is almost never depicted standing up on two feet which is the only deviation from
the typical raiju story so far for Komiger.
Can you think of any more Raiju inspired characters?
Let us know in the comments below.
Who do you want to see next on Tokyosaurus?
Let us know in the comments below as well.
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