#LOOK OUTSIDE COSPLAY

[theravenzvolute]

do you guys like my wip aster cosplay

[lazylittledragon]

here's to self indulgence and cosplaying your own bg3 character

[demonslayedher]

Sanka: Mountain-dwellers not integrated into society

“What’s the shape of that cloud?” Not something that seems very important at a Hashira meeting, but perhaps something Muichiro used to know and pay close attention to. After all, not taking nature seriously enough can have dire consequences when you live and work in the mountains.

I’d like to dive a little into what it meant for the Tokito twins to have grown up in the mountains, keeping to themselves. These sorts of people, who were not integrated into society and may not have kept up with newfangled Meiji and Taisho societal regulations, were often called “sanka” by the people who lived in mountain villages and knew of them. The kanji used might vary from region to region, and their relationships to the sanka might vary depending on location and time period. After all, it was often people ostracized from society who had no choice but to live apart from it.

The "satoyama" areas

To back up a bit, many people lived in mountains. Depending on how you define it, two-thirds to three-fourths of Japan’s land is mountainous. Many of those mountains are too steep or treacherous to be hospitable to humans, but wherever they could, people made do.

Thus, you often found the rural areas split up into different zones: the villages people inhabited (hitozato), the deep mountains (okuyama), and the crossover zone between them, the satoyama. Literally, “village mountain.” These were the areas where people would venture into the mountains to collect from the bounty of the mountain.

Nowadays, “satoyama” is an important term when it comes to both retaining traditional culture and managing natural resources (and many, many organizations throughout Japan are dedicated to helping people learn about and experience satoyama practices). The Japanese Ministry of the Environment defines satoyama as areas consisting of farmlands, irrigation ponds, secondary forest, plantation forest, and grasslands around human settlements, but that does not quite capture the human element. Like in other places around the world, people who rely on mountains have developed knowledge of the natural world and used that to collect supplies like food, medicine, and timber, and they have managed the forest to maximize these benefits. There are entire habitats that other species would lose if humans were to stop managing those places now.

To place it in perspective, the Kamado family lived in, relied on, and managed the forest so that they could have a steady supply of their livelihood: charcoal. They fed themselves with fish from the river and edible mountain plants, but they also relied on the village below, whom they were economically and socially intertwined with. They lived a satoyama lifestyle.

But would we call them sanka?

Who were sanka, and how many were there?

Because sanka removed themselves from society, they did not impact a lot of Japanese history and culture. Hence, there is not much information to go on.

Way back in history, there were always people relegated to the mountains because they did not accept the rule of the Yamato clan (aka, the source of the imperial lineage). Many of these people became the sources of oni legends too, demonized by those who left a more tangible impact on Japanese culture. However, as the centuries went on, there were also rumors about, say, samurai who lost big wars, or who left their samurai lives behind and had nowhere to go but the mountains if they wanted to be left in peace.

There are even rumors that after the fall of the samurai in the Meiji Restoration, many of them became sanka. This was well over three decades before Yuichiro and Muichiro were born, so it’s possible that their grandfather was the most recent samurai of their family. If we consider generational trauma, it’s not a far stretch that this urgency to hide away from society might have led Yuichiro to be especially worried for their safety and disillusioned with the expectations of warriors.

However, it is hard to say for sure. Because they did not register themselves and their families like law-abiding citizens did, and because they were not a big topic of cultural study, it is hard to say anything for sure, but according to Professor Owada’s estimate in “Japanese History of Demon Slayers” (a book that is not officially tied to Kimetsu no Yaiba but rode on the tails of its success), there were maybe 200,000 sanka throughout Japan in the Meiji period (1968-1912), and by about the 1940s, there may have been about 10,000. They almost entirely disappeared within about ten years after that.

If we compare those numbers back to the Kimetsu no Yaiba timeline (with the majority of the plot having most likely taken place in 1915), that means there were plenty of mountain-dwelling, not-exactly-following-all-the-newfangled-law characters, and if Tanjiro only lived until the age of 25, he could theoretically have not had any reason to leave his humble mountain abode the whole time. However, at some point his descendants quit making charcoal and moved to the city.

Among sanka, there was likely a lot of variety, both in terms of how much they interacted with human settlements and in what sort of work they specialized in. For example, many people are familiar with the term “matagi.” They are sometimes referred to as hunters, especially for bears (like Yae and her father in the Tomioka Gaiden, or Urokodaki’s friend who was mentioned in a fanbook for having found Giyuu and introduced him to Urokodaki), but matagi could be just as well-versed in plants and medicine. Other people, like “kijishi,” were skilled in making everyday ideas out of materials from the mountains, and they would exchange their wares for what they needed from people in settlements.

Then we have “somabito,” who collected and delivered wood. This is where the Tokito family found their niche.

It is probably thanks to these activities that they procured, say, the kitchen knife that Yuichiro used for cutting daikon. But as for how warmly the nearby village treated them, who knows. Yuichiro’s attitude was probably to go to the village, do only as much business as necessary, and then leave, for he may have felt that their family was distrusted because they were sanka.

Mt. Kagenobu: The Tokito family home

According to the first fanbook, Muichiro is from Mt. Kagenobu, a 727-meter mountain on the border of what would now be called Tokyo Prefecture and Kanagawa Prefecture. It is not a mountain I have been to, but as I understand, it’s not that bad of a climb for beginners (but you should still be adequately prepared). Depending on your course, it can take about 60-80 minutes to climb to the top. Even if they did live near the top, that’s not too bad of a trip for Amane-sama to take several times. However, even a satoyama area still has mountain dangers. Oni, for example. And places where you can slip and fall to your death, rain or no rain.

These are things that are probably engrained in Muichiro, whether he consciously remembers them or not. Plants, weather, animals, searching for and preparing food; somewhere inside of him, even at his foggiest, he probably still knew how to do all this.

And, maybe somewhere in how Yuichiro influenced him, he felt distanced from other people.

However, that’s not the only reason a warrior might wish to run away to the mountains, is it? After all, that is where they and their loved ones might live in peace and be happy.

Two more quick facts:

There is a tea house on Mt. Kagenobu that posts photos of the Mt. Kagenobu landscape, which might be very handy for fic writers, or just plain nice for Muichiro fans to check out! Yes, they are totally aware of Muichiro and love having that connection.

There is a kind of cherry blossom on that mountain called “kasumizakura.” Yes!!! “Mist” sakura!!!!!!!

[nesu-x99]

Sam Pony Town cosplay!

I love Look Outside, and I love PT! So, I just wanted to say, if anybody in this fandom also plays Pony Town I would love to meet up there with some fans to yap about this game and even roleplay if yall like those things. I surprisingly haven’t found any LO fans in PT yet so this is just a callout really

[sysig]

Skelekinz (Patreon)

[fexarii]

never get no cheese in Montreal bro

[kyzer-aqueron]

So...I got bored and found a navy blue shirt. I tied up my left arm and...basically I'm cosplaying a long haired, bearded and disheveled Sam. With Photo bomb middle finger from Paula lol

[chaoticknightt]

Aberrant attempt at making a Lyle from Look Outside mask (I'm still trying to fix it but wtf 😭😭)

[trevination]

im sorry i cant get over brody’s fit in the jimmy kimmel performance. why is bro so Snatched. how.

[tenebriism]

// It ain't Munday, but Saiki K was mentioned and now, I'm back to being hyper focused on it. That the fandom for it is near nonexistent is TRAGIC, because I have never, in my life, laughed at a series as much as I did Saiki. I'm talking deep, belly laugh, reduced to TEARS level.

Edit: ... this is... getting attention that I did not expect, oh dear.

Shameless Cosplay Instagram Plug.

[flamboyant-king]

Cammy is real!? 🌺

Photographed by: est_photoz on instagram 🌷

Edited by: me and my phone 🌸

[to-boldly-escape]

Wake up…

The Matrix has you…🐇🧪

Happy Halloween!! How did everyone celebrate this year? I just had a low key night-in with movies and treats…that didn’t stop me from getting dressed up though!

Also, can anyone into cosplaying tell me how you get into that community? I’m interested but I don’t know enough.

[aroaessidhe]

spent today working on my red cosplay a bit - starting on foam armour! I still have more things to make, and I need to figure out like more of the detail of the designs of the other things before I make them lol

[coridallasmultipass]

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[myspacelegend]

Seeing kids/teens on tiktok who are new to fandom spaces getting upset with people who are making content that is “not canon” is insanely funny….Like….thats where the fun is y'all.…Stop restricting your imagination….

A specific example I keep seeing is people getting mad over human Bill Cipher art lmao Like one….did not think that little triangle was gonna be spamming my feed ever again lol But seeing people be like “🤓🤓 ERRRMM ACTIALLYYY HE DOESNT LOOK LIKE THAT BEVAUSE ALEX DREW A FART ONE TIME SHOWING WHAT HE LOOKS LIKE AND WKDVJDBDVFKDBD”

Like y'all.…this is…nothing new…..who cares lol Its a cartoon….it does not matter how someone draws bill….him being human never happened. If someone wants to make the demon Dorito a sexy blonde twink…..who cares lol I have never even WATCHED Gravity Falls, but I have been on this website since before Bill was even a character lol these teens are pressed over the stupidest things 😩 please allow yourself to have fun and create whatever you want. Who cares what the damn author says or what is considered “canon”.!! (also I watched a video of Alex Hirsch talking about this exact thing and even he said the discourse is dumb and the human bill he doodled was just that….a dumb doodle….its not canon…its not that serious….))

[trevination]

for context, this will be july 2nd 7 pm, so it will be Hot Hot