Surveys Are Sent!
about 2 years ago
– Thu, Feb 01, 2024 at 04:39:59 AM
Hello backers!
The Backerkit pledge manager and pre-order store is now up and ready for everyone!
You should all be receiving an email with your backer surveys within the next 24 hours. This survey is very important! If you don't complete it, you won't get your rewards. So please make sure to fill it out!
In the Backerkit survey you will confirm your Kickstarter orders, and you will have the option to add any extra items you may have missed during the campaign. You can also change your pledge level if you initially pledged for the ebook or no reward and decide now that you'd rather get a physical book.
You can also visit the pledge store directly to fill out your survey if you lose the email link. And if you missed the Kickstarter entirely but still want to pre-order the book, you can do so from this link as well!
Ryūgū no tsukai
about 2 years ago
– Sat, Jan 20, 2024 at 10:19:39 PM
Greetings backers!
It's been two weeks since the campaign ended, and this Friday Kickstarter finished charging everyone's cards. The next step will be for me to open up the pledge manager on Backerkit. From there you'll be able to specify which art prints you want, add items to your order, vote for the postcard pack selections, and so on. It will still be a few more days before that opens up, so hang in there while the final checks on the store are going on!
In the meantime, I wanted to share another painting with you that will appear in the book.
The subject's name is "ryūgū no tsukai," or "the servant of Ryugu."
As you probably guessed by the name, this is one of the mermaids you'll find on the Servants of Ryugu poster add-on. These mermaids go by many different names; the most common three of which are jinja hime, hime uo, and the generic name "ryugu no tsukai."
Although there are 26 mermaids on the poster, I didn't create a unique entry and painting for each one of them in the book. That's because most of them are variations on the same story, with the only difference being the date or the location they were seen. It would have been unfair to all of the other wonderful yokai in the book if 25% of the entries were all variation on the same creature. So for the book, I chose to represent the most unique and interesting ones of them. During my last update, we looked at onna uo, who is unique for her incredible size. We also looked at Sato, who had a unique backstory as a human sacrifice. Ryugu no tsukai's interesting feature is her beard, which shows up on a few other mermaids but is by no means a common feature among them.
I based this illustration on two Edo period ryugu no tsukai illustrations. Here they are:
And here is another example of a bearded mermaid, although this one goes by the name of kami no hime:
This is just my speculation, but I suspect that the two mermaids above are actually based on this kami no hime picture, or at least based on copies of copies of this kami no hime. The pictures are very similar, and it seems mostly like the skill of the artist is the biggest difference among them.
Kami no hime, in turn, I suspect was copied from this yokai, kami ike hime:
The picture is far more beautifully crafted, but the same elements are there. I also think kami no hime could be the origin of the beard! It's easy to imagine how that tuft of hair that droops down from her head might have morphed into a bearded chin upon successive copies of the image by less-skilled hands.
Looking back at all 4 of these drawings, it feels like there is a real evolution in the picture, from the way the hair is drawn, to the simplification of the horns, tail, and belly jewels. They all face the same direction, and the fin placement is similar.
Of course this is just my opinion, and it doesn't change anything about the stories. But it's sort of a fun way to speculate about the origin of this widespread bit of folklore!
So with that explained, here is my painting, starting from pencil sketch, to line work, to final:
Ryūgū no tsukai 龍宮の使い
Translation: servant of Ryūgū
Alternate names: jinja hime, hime uo
Habitat: the ocean
Diet: unknown
Appearance: Ryūgū no tsukai are large fish with human heads, horns, long hair, and sometimes beards. They resemble several different species of fish, and range in size from 5 to 18 meters in length. Many of them give off light, and their glow can be seen from far away.
Behavior: Ryūgū no tsukai are servants and messengers of Ryūjin, the god of the sea.
Interactions: Ryūgū no tsukai are sent to deliver Ryūjin’s messages to mankind. They are such holy creatures that any who look upon them or hear their voice will be protected from disease and live a long life. Drawings of them are used as talismans of peace, health, and prosperity.
Origin: Prophetic mermaids like ryūgū no tsukai inspired popular legends in Japan throughout the 19th century. Originating in Hirado, Nagasaki Prefecture, these stories quickly spread across the country. Minor details changed with each retelling, like an Edo period version of the telephone game, and by the early Meiji era there were dozens of unique examples.
Today, ryūgū no tsukai is the Japanese name for the oarfish. Oarfish and other strange, deep sea fish that washed up on shore during the Edo period may have been the inspiration for these yōkai.
Legends: For seven days during April of 1819, a shining creature was seen in the sea off the coast of Tsushima, and people all over the province wondered at it. Eight hundred people from other provinces gathered in one hundred and twenty large boats and fired thirty guns at it all at once, but the thing was not fazed by this. Within seven days after shooting at it, the creature began to speak, and every night it said this: “I am nothing to be afraid of. I have come here from the Dragon Palace for a reason. One day this year, a great evil disease will come, and people will certainly die. Therefore, I ask you to copy my portrait and spread it around the country. Those who see my picture even once will be spared from this evil disease. It will also serve as an amulet for the safety of the land and for long life.” Its body was nine meters long, and its face was about one and a half meters long.
Another ryūgū no tsukai appeared off of Kumamoto. Its body was eighteen meters long and its face was 90 centimeters long. It had two horns, and its back was covered in purple scales. It had six fins, a tail like a goldfish’s, and it carried three jewels. This creature explained that it was a messenger from the Dragon Palace and said, “This year there will be severe epidemic of a great evil illness, and the sick will not be saved. Therefore, in order to save many lives, I have come here to give you this message. All who hear my message are sure to be spared from the disease.”
Thank You All!
about 2 years ago
– Fri, Jan 05, 2024 at 07:35:20 AM
Greetings backers!
The campaign is over! We did it! Thanks to all of you, over 2000 of you, the campaign finished at 6418% of the initial goal!
So what's next?
Kickstarter will begin charging credit cards soon. After that, your orders will be imported into the Backerkit pledge manager. The store is not live just yet, but I will send a link out when it is ready.
The pledge manager will remain open for several months while The Palace of the Dragon King's final production is tweaked, including final edits, color tests, and design for the covers and slipcases. Currently I expect printing to bring in mid-spring to early summer, and I'll be posting updates regularly to keep everyone up to date on the production status of the books.
I'll send out an update again next week when the pledge manager is ready. For now, I just wanted to say thanks again to all of you, both new yokai fans and returning backers for making this book come true, and for making this the Year of the Dragon!
- Matt
Onna uo
about 2 years ago
– Thu, Jan 04, 2024 at 02:40:02 AM
Happy New Year, backers!
I hope you all had a great holiday. With the project ending tomorrow, I wanted to get one last post in before the deadline! The campaign ends on Friday at midnight, Japan Time. After that, Kickstarter will take a few days to charge everyone's cards, so keep an eye on your emails in case Kickstarter notifies of you of any card errors or things like that.
After that, in a few more days, the Backerkit pledge manager will open up. You will be able to add items to your orders for a few months while the book's final production stage is going on. In the spring, the pledge manager will close as the book goes into printing.
Now, I'd like to share another very cool yokai from the book, who also appears on the Servants of Ryugu poster add-on. Her name is onna uo, which means "woman fish," and she is the largest mermaid ever recorded! So large that in order to fit her on the Servants of Ryugu poster, I had to make the poster A1 size.
Onna uo was first published in Japan in the mid-19th century. Her publication was a bit later than most of the other mermaids on the poster. This is evidenced in part by the fact that she appears in an actual print, rather than in hand-drawn copies like the earliest ones. Here is how she appeared to people in the 1800s:
Her story also includes a feature that doesn't appear in many of the earlier mermaids' stories, but appears in some of the later versions: the name of the terrible disease that she predicted to kill massive swaths of the population. Onna uo calls the disease "ottosei," a name which appears in just a few other late Edo period servants of Ryūgū. The actual epidemics that struck Japan in the 19th century were dysentery and cholera, and neither of those is called ottosei. In fact, ottosei is not the name of any known disease. But ottosei does mean something in Japanese: the fur seal.
I wish I could tell you more about this bizarre name, how it got spread around as part of this mermaid legend, and what it has to do with fur seals; but I just don't know. Lots of names of mythical things eventually got used for real animals: kirin is a giraffe, baku is a tapir, wani are alligators... but how ottosei came to be both a disease and a fur seal is a mystery.
Below I'll share the progression of onna uo from my pencil sketch, to line work, to painting. And under that is text that is close to what will appear in the final book, including a translation of the Edo period document I shared above.
Onna uo 女魚
Translation: woman fish
Alternate names: hime uo, ryūgū no tsukai
Habitat: the ocean
Diet: unknown
Appearance: Onna uo are massive fish with horns and the faces of human women. Their bodies are approximately one hundred and forty-five meters long. When they surface, their body rises 33 meters above the waves. They have three swords on the tip of their tail, and three jewels on their belly.
Interactions: Onna uo are sent by Ryūjin to deliver important prophecies to the surface world, predicting bumper crops, warning of epidemics, and explaining how to avoid them.
Origin: Onna uo are part of a large family of prophetic mermaids which originated in Hirado, Nagasaki and grew very popular during the 19th century. These tales spread across Japan like a game of telephone, each version changing a little bit from the previous one.
Legends: An onna uo appeared in the open seas off of Kumamoto in Higo Province (today Kumamoto Prefecture), and she could speak like a human. She said, “I am a messenger from the Dragon Palace. From this year, there will be seven continuous years of bountiful harvests. However, this year a terrible disease called ottosei will be spread. Those who contract this disease will never recover from it for as long as they live. Even with the best of medical care, the symptoms will never recover, and they will die within three days. So, in order to escape from this disease, you must spread word of it to as many people as possible. If you have the desire to save others, then you will to survive this disease.”
The onna uo’s words were recorded along with her illustration, and these were printed and distributed across Japan to ensure others would not only avoid the disease, but grow wealthy and flourish.
Sato, daughter of the chief priest of the Hachiman shrine
over 2 years ago
– Wed, Dec 27, 2023 at 06:16:14 PM
Happy holidays, backers!
I hope you're all enjoying your winter (or summer if you're in the Southern hemisphere) vacations.
Today I'd like to share a sample of some of the ongoing work that is being done to complete the book. There are just a handful of illustrations left to do, and today's is one of prophetic mermaids featured both in the book and on the Servants of Ryūgū poster add-on.
This is Sato, also known by her longer name Hachiman-gū no kannushi no musume Sato (Sato, daughter of the chief priest of the Hachiman shrine). Here is how she appears on the poster, and in the original document from the 1800s:
And here is how she appears in the book:
The format you see below is how the yokai entries are organized in my books. They start with the name and basic information about the yokai, its appearance and behavior, and what it does when it meets people. Following that is a section about where the yokai comes from -- books, scrolls, documents, oral folklore, and any additional cultural explanations that help make sense of these creatures from a Western perspective. Finally, some example legends about the yokai. In this instance, it's a translation of the Edo period document in the scan above:
Sato さと
Translation: none; this is her name
Habitat: unknown; possibly the sky
Diet: unknown
Appearance: Sato is a mermaid who was born from the drowned corpse of a seventeen year old girl. She has a long, fish-like body covered in scales, four flipper-like paws, a human-like face with long hair, and two horns protruding from the top of her head. Three jewels hang from her abdomen.
Interactions: Sato is a messenger from the gods, but she has only ever made one appearance to people: in 1819, when she predicted a coming bumper crop and a deadly epidemic. Once she delivered her message, she rose into the sky and disappeared. Afterwards, her image was used by people as a talisman to protect them from disease.
Origin: Sato's story follows a pattern shared by many prophetic mermaid yōkai collectively known as ryūgū no tsukai, or "messengers from the Dragon Palace." These stories were transmitted rapidly across Japan starting in 1819, developing into many different variations as they spread.
Legends: Sato was the name of the daughter of the head priest of the Hachiman Shrine in Shimabara Hirano Mura, Hizen Province (today part of Shimabara, Nagasaki Prefecture). In 1813, when she was seventeen years old, Sato drowned in a pond with a circumference of about two kilometers. Her body was never found.
However, on February 26, 1819, her corpse rose to the surface of the pond, with three jewels attached to her belly. She said, "I am a messenger from the gods. There will be a bumper crop for 8 or 9 years, however an illness will kill 30 to 50 percent of all people. All who see my image will be saved from this disaster." As soon as she said this, rain began to fall in torrents and black clouds rolled in around her. The water in the pond rose up and Sato ascended into the sky.
Her story and picture were then spread in order to save as many people from illness as possible.
