Tomihiko Morimi and the fun-filled civet cats in Kyoto: On [You Dingtian Family]

When you mention Kyoto, what comes to your mind? It may be the historical Kiyomizu Temple, which contains the heartbeat of this historical ancient city; it may also be the lively Wushan Sending Fire. Between light and shadow, the past and the present seem to overlap and loom, allowing tourists who visit this place to enter the difficult truth. In the fake time corridor, you can't extricate yourself. However, behind these bright and colorful colors, there are neither humble nor arrogant civet cats, arrogant and arrogant tengu, and human beings who live between the two races and are disturbed in the world. Just like a silly civet cat in the city. Shimogamoya Saburo said: " Tengu, tanuki, and humans are the three major groups living in Kyoto. Together, they turn the giant wheel of this era, watching it roll, it is very interesting and never gets bored... "

About the Author: Morimi Tomihiko

Tomihiko Morimi was born in Ikoma City, Nara Prefecture in 1979. When he was in college, he studied at the Faculty of Agriculture of Kyoto University, focusing on life sciences. Morimi, who is full of the spirit of the group, published his first novel [Tower of the Sun] in school, and won the Japanese Fantasy Novel Award, which opened the door to his literary path.

Morimi's stories and characters are full of Kyoto flavor, and he incorporates his bizarre fantasies into the novel, giving his overall narrative backbone a surreal atmosphere: with the value of Japanese historical traditions, while not falling behind. The stereotypical background setting and storyline made him and the famous writer Wancheng Mugaku, who also graduated from Kyoto University, known as the " Kingda Double Beauty ".

In addition, readers must be curious about the origin of his special pseudonym! In the pseudonym "Mori Tomihiko", "Morimi" is his real surname, and "Tomihiko" is taken from the Japanese Shinto god "Tomi Nagamihiko", which has a deep relationship with his hometown of Nara Prefecture. , so it was used as part of the pen name.

In addition to his debut work [Tower of the Sun] , Morimi's famous works also include [Four Layers and a Half Myths], [The Spring Night is too short, let's go girl! ] , as well as [Youdingtian Family] and [Youdingtian Family 2 Return of the Second Generation] , the latter four have all been made into TV animations and movies, which shows that their influence plays a pivotal role in the literary world or animation scripts.

Story introduction - the tanuki cat Kyoto full of love-hate entanglements

The story of [Youdingtian Family] is mainly from the perspective of Yazaburo Shimogamo, the third male of the Shimogamo family in the tanuki family, to participate in, watch, tease and comment on the various events that happened between tengu, humans, and civet cats. Since the death of the head of the Xiaya family, Soichiro Xiaga, the Xiaya family suddenly lost their support, and their reputation in the civet cat world plummeted. The eldest brother of the Shimogamo family, Yaichiro, took on the important task of reviving the family, trying to gain power in one go in the leadership election of the tanuki world - the "pseudoemon election", so that the tanuki world once again respected and valued the gradually declining Shimogamo family. In the process of this election, all kinds of fantastic and suspenseful things happened in Kyoto, involving all the three major ethnic groups in Kyoto, forming a large group drama full of fun but also full of moving...

"Family affection, self-worth, meaning of life..." The "fool" outlook on life taught by civet cats

1. Tengu give birth to tengu, the true meaning of hair balls: family affection

In [You Dingtian Family], the important bond that maintains the relationship between the tanuki world is "blood". Whether it is the Xiaya family that pursues "foolism", or the Yichuan family who is full of business acumen, although the two are in a state of hostility, because the owners of the family are brothers, they are always in a delicate relationship: they compete with each other, but each other There are constant emotions in between. For example, the love between the protagonist Shimoya Saburo and the daughter of the Yichuan family, Yichuan Haixing. Although the two have a good impression of each other, they will always be obstructed by the two brothers of the Yichuan family, Jinge and Yinge, trying to end this marriage that has been cut and unreasonable.

Another interesting example is the relationship between the brothers Shimogamo Soichiro and Ikawa Soun . She fell in love with the same girl, the pink female raccoon known as "Peach Fairy", but was eventually captured by Soichiro; she also wanted to compete for the position of pseudoemon, but Saeun seemed to be teased by the god of fate. Doing anything is always inferior to his brother, and he is still defeated in the power struggle. In the end, for the peace of the Xiaya and Yichuan families, Zaoyun had to marry into the Yichuan family and become the head of the Yichuan family. Since then, a series of failures and anger have planted the seeds of hatred in Zaoyun's heart, making him decide to take revenge on his brother Soichiro and take away what he can't get - the end result is that Soichiro was boiled into a tanuki hot pot , the Yichuan family rose and the Xiaya family fell.

Tomihiko Morimi is good at portraying human nature, especially the light and dark sides of people's hearts. The psychologist Jung believed: "The dark side is the dark, erased and repressed aspect of the self-complex." Igawa Saoyun and Shimogamo Soichiro are like two sides of the same character: the former is ambitious, often envious of others' achievements, And he has ghosts and wants to put people in difficult situations; the latter is calm and relaxed, and he believes in the truth of life that the boat reaches the bridgehead naturally: "Life is not for other things, but to make life more interesting." In Jung's point of view, people must learn to live with The bright side and the dark side of their own are at their own pace, just as the two families, Ruya and Yichuan, seek a balance between quarrel and cooperation.

Jung also said, "It is unhealthy to ignore the shadow side, but it is equally unhealthy to take on too much of the shadow side." If a person takes on too much of the shadow side, he will do many outrageous and immoral things, making the individual's The behavior is completely broken. "When people are too close to the dark side, their vision will be blurred - they will not be able to distinguish between right and wrong." Just like Yichuan Zaoyun's tragic end after doing bad things: being dragged into the nine-phase map of hell , never see the light of day. Even though Soichiro Shimogamo was murdered by his own younger brother, he was still calm, neither humble nor arrogant when he was about to be boiled into a civet cat hot pot and eaten by humans. The human exclaimed, "I've never seen such a solemn tanuki! It's like King Fudo!" Soichiro replied, "I've accomplished all the things I'm supposed to do in my life, and now I'm facing the juncture of life and death, may everyone enjoy me, Happy to be able to eat!" Such an open-minded and generous attitude may be due to the "fool's blood" in his mouth.

2. The great civet cat. The Death of Soichiro Shimogamo: Self-Worth

In the first part, let's get to know the strict and confused second-generation family owner, Shimo Kamo Yaichiro. As the successor of the great civet cat. The eldest son of Soichiro Shimogamo's family head, Yaichiro has always been paranoid in his identity: in order to be worthy of his father, he "must" choose a pseudo-emon, honor the lintel, and restore the family; for the sake of the younger brothers in the family, He "must" play the role of a father, taking care of every worrying civet cat so that they can grow up safely. Shimogamo Yaichiro's life has been chained by his father's reputation since his father went to Huangquan Road: having such a great father may be a bit proud, but more is the pressure under his huge shadow. In the process of this election, he gradually found his true purpose in life. He realized that he was always carrying the cross of his father's reputation, but instead went against the words that his father had always kept on his lips - life is not for the sake of Others, just to make life more interesting. What do you want in your heart? You must learn to talk to your own mind before you can get out of this shackled dead end. In the last few episodes of the animation, almost all of the Shimoga family was framed by Yichuan Zaoyun's tricks and fell into a deep crisis, but Yaichiro turned into a tiger regardless of his life, guarding the whole family's bravery, which led him to find his ideal: The most important thing is to let the whole family live happily and safely. Stop worrying about reputation and elections. The bond between family members should be stronger and indestructible than anything else.

In the second part, let's take a look at Yajiro Shimogamo, the "fool brother" of both frog and raccoon. Shimogamo Yajiro is a very special tanuki in the story. Rather, he is not a tanuki— it should be a frog. The reason why Yajiro turns into a frog but can't come back, and the great father. Shimogamo Soichiro's death. On the day when his father was boiled into a civet cat pot, he and his father drank wine all night and enjoyed the family happiness between father and son. When Yajiro was intoxicated with wine, he even turned into a " pseudo-Eizan tram ", carrying his father on a rampage in Kyoto, enjoying himself. However, when he returned home after sobering up, he received news of his father's death.

In the sad heavy rain that day, he saw his mother's grief-stricken cry and the uneasy expressions of his siblings, which caused a huge blow to his mind. From then on, he turned into a frog and lived in seclusion in the ancient well of the Liudao Zhenhuang Temple in Kyoto. Staying home, separated from family. Perhaps it was the guilt that forced him to dare not see his mother again from the day he turned into a frog. Even though his family urged him to go home, he still did not say a word. At night, he always shed tears silently in the ancient well, always trying to remember that tragic night, what was the last word his father said to himself?

He was so timid and timid that on the night when his family suffered, he regained his long-lost transformation ability: he once again turned into the frightening "pseudo-Eizan tram", slamming into the ominous air in Kyoto, saving him The blood of the duck family. Yajiro's inner demon has always originated from himself: the cowardice that he did not dare to accept the reality made him confined in the form of a frog. The civet cat can only transform when his mind is still and his mind is calm. The reason why he can't transform must be that he can't get along with his own heart. However, on the day he saved his family from fire and water, he finally re-understood his own value and the relationship between his family. tie down. When he got back on the phone with his mother, Yajiro must have a thousand words to say. Every day in the ancient well, his thoughts about his mother would spew out; however, Yajiro could no longer utter a single word. ——The throat has long been filled with thoughts, and the eyes are filled with tears of joy. What can such a civet cat say? Choking has already represented everything, and it also symbolizes that the big stone in Yajiro's heart has finally been put down and bid farewell to his past self.

The splendid curtain call of the large group portrait drama in Kyoto: What did [Youdingtian Family] teach us?

As mentioned at the beginning, [You Dingtian Family] is a group drama surrounding the three major ethnic groups. Its character depiction is so real that viewers can see their own reflections from the characters: whether it is Yaichiro, who is uncertain about his own life, Yasaburo, who is happy with his life, or Taoxian, a mother who is worried about his children, there are different Races, tanukis, tengu, or humans of different backgrounds all represent the various emotions and states we have as a "human". Its charm lies in being so real, but the fantasy world view keeps it from being vulgar.

[Youdingtian Family] contains a variety of different types of life philosophies, from the confusion of teenagers about love, to how the old man in his dying years makes the few remaining waxes glow - no matter what age group people come to watch it, they can Gain some truth and experience from your own unique perspective. And I personally like the " fool's outlook on life" that it teaches us the most - maybe life is ill-fated and difficult, but please please the great civet cat. Hold the teachings of Soichiro Shimogamo tightly in your hands! "If we go on furry like this, there will always be a way to the front of the mountain, because we are civet cats." Even if the situation is ups and downs, it will be endless fun, because fun is a good thing. In short, everyone is alive, in short, came here happily, only to live happily is what we should do.