sillyhnytheories

[sillyhnytheories]

*Please note that my knowledge of Wuxing only comes from reading some online articles on the subject. I am far from an expert . Yashahime appears to be using it in a very simple way and what follows is my attempt to explain how. But just know that it much more complex than what I go into here. I recommend additional research if the subject interests you.*

Wuxing, or the 5 phases is a Chinese philosophy that is applied to various and widely different things like martial arts, tea ceremony, cosmic cycles, politics, even music and the interactions of medicine.

The Phases are often likened to the classic elements of earth, wind, water, and fire. However, while generally it would be incorrect to make such a comparison, I think in Yashahime's case we can because they are using it in such a simple manner.

Each Phase is has it own "element" with associated colors, seasons, animals, cardinal directions and more.

The Phases are:

Earth

Fire

Wood

Water

Metal

Thus far, I have found this chart from wikipedia adequately displays the phase associations Yashahime is referencing in the show and additional material. The phases are called a "movement" in this chart which is another way to describe them.

I think the pearls, children and parents have been assigned an phase. Also, some of the villians and others have been connected to a phase as well.

Metal

Metal contains two columns and has two color associations of indigo and white. Overall, white is used to represent the phase. Silver is used instead of white in Yashahime. So the silver pearl belongs to this phase. At the moment I also think Riku's blue pearl is actually supposed to be an indigo pearl and also goes here.

I think Towa has been assigned the metal phase and needs both the silver and indigo pearl to be "complete". I noticed Sunrise has posted many close up pictures of her eyes where the glow of sword cause her right eye to appear blue. I think this is a clue.

At the moment, no villian has been shown to represent metal. At least that I have noticed, except perhaps Riku if he turns out to evil.

Originally I thought Sesshomaru would be a sole representation of Metal. Now I think Yashahime is using a combination of Metal and Earth to represent both parents.

Earth

Earth also contains two columns and is associated with purple and yellow (gold) with yellow being the general color association. Thus the purple and gold pearls are assigned to this phase. I think Setsuna is the earth phase and needs the two "earth" pearls to be complete.

As with Metal Sesshomaru/wife jointly represent Earth.

Kirinmaru, Lady Kyuki and Joka are the earth associated villians.

Yawaragi is also a earth associated character.

Fire

Fire is pretty simple. It the red pearl, Moroha and Inuyasha. Tokotsu is assigned villian.

Wood

Wood represents Kagome, the green pearl and Konton.

However, it gets a little tricky. First, although green is often used to represent the wood phase, it's true color is actually called qing which is more of a bluish green. And like metal and earth, it has two color associations of scarlet and green. Now everyone thinks Jyūbei has the green pearl but it could be Konton. Notice he has two qing orbs hanging off his sleeves. The green pearl in promotional materials is qing too.

I think they made them both qing for simplicity's sake. Technically one should be scarlet.

Or if Jyūbei does have the real green pearl, I think it's possible that there is second wood associated pearl we don't know about and it could be green or scarlet.

ETA: In episode 15, Riku was seen to also possess a green pearl. It could be this is the real one and the others are fakes. Or maybe there are multiple sets of pearls.

Water

This phase is represented by the color black, sometimes it's a very dark blue.

Assigning anyone or anything to this phase is complicated.

In the second opening we see Moroha's red pearl flash black temporarily. I think this is a hint that the red and black pearl are connected like the gold/purple and silver/indigo pearls.

Inuyasha's black pearl and it's purpose really fits the association connected to the water phase but he himself does not.

But I do think that Moroha is being connected to this phase as well as fire.

Rin also belongs to this phase at the moment. Her current situation really reflects the deeper associations with the water phase. If I am right about my yukionna theory then this will be a permanent association.

So how is Yashahime using the 5 phases?

Besides what I described above, there is:

Konton's fu dogs were named wind and thunder and were also green and scarlet, connecting him to the wood phase.

The purple coded villians, Kyuki and Joka, both had mountain lairs. The purple part of the earth phase is associated with mountains.

Yawaragi in the last episode is also a earth associated character but they drew from the two different earth columns to indicate this. She was associated with yellow and mountains.

The dream gazing flashback has Setsuna standing on a field and bathed in golden light. In the yellow (gold) section of the earth phase, a field is the association.

As I said, Joka is a "Earth" associated villian. In her episode, the round part of her earrings went back and forth between purple and gold and I think this is so viewers will make the connection that the gold and purple pearls go together.

The recent Christmas themed article calls special attention to the present in Moroha's hand and it's wrapped in red and qing, representing her two parents.

There have been other, smaller visual call outs where the colors of blue/white/silver and purple/gold/yellow are used together.

Using the Wuxing associations alone for clue detection is very much not recommended. I do sometimes but I have also gotten very familiar with the way I think it's used and have reseached the subject on a deeper level than what's presented here.

Yashahime mostly uses the color associations and there is a limited number of colors. Every instance of red is not going to be a reference to the fire phase and the characters associated to it.

Wuxing simplified

There is a very simplifed way to use the Wuxing theory by focusing on the combination of colors Yashahime has assigned to the families.

For InuKag/Moroha: Red, Black and Green.

For Sesshomaru/wife/twins: Yellow or gold and purple. Technically the metal phase colors belong here too but I noticed that they rarely use it except for with Towa.

If you see a combination of those colors focused on in a scene, character or object then maybe it's meant to be associated with the respective family. I would make sure there are additional contextual clues to support the idea.

For example, when I saw the comet in episode 15, I immediately thought Inukag reference because it was red black and green. And I think it is. The comet is an analogy for the shikon jewel and also the 500 years between Kikyo reincarnating into Kagome.

It's not completely tied to Wuxing but Yashahime does a similar thing with the MirSan/Kohaku family and Rin. They get associated with orange/black/dark blue and diamond patterns a lot. Why Rin is associated with this is explained in my Yukionna theory. I will link to it as soon as I clean it up.

[sillyhnytheories]

This is pinned listing of some of my HNY theories that I have polished up. Some of them go into crack theory territory and others are more valid. One theory may contradict another. It's all in good fun. If you want to discuss one or see that I have made an error, please contact me under my main, @trashahime .

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The Four Perils are/represent the parents:

Takechiyo and Riku are Zashiki Warashi:

Moe Higurashi is a kitsune

[sillyhnytheories]

The Perils represent the missing parents. Part one.

ETA: since writing this I have come to realize that almost all of the villians and a few others are also parent representations.

By representation I mean the character is meant to be a callout to the parent, not the actual person.

Also, I wrote this up before Tōtetsu was introduced and he is a special case that explained in his section at the end.

*

I think the Four Perils represent the four missing parents of the twins and Moroha, and they are actually aligned with Sesshomaru. And there is a lot of evidence to support this crazy idea.

To start, all but one of the Perils have two horizontal-ish stripes on their face. I feel like this is a definite clue because Konton's stripes are barely visible in the anime, but Sunrise really emphasised them in his profile pic. I think this indicates we should associate them with Sesshomaru.

Kirinmaru's mask has the same but in this close up, you can see his actual face has only two on the left side.

Also consider that even though the Four Perils are "evil" they have been given the imagery and association of "good" figures in Eastern mythologies and folklore. I will explain how in each Perils section.

Tokotsu

In his character profile picture, we see Tokotsu has a floating sash which is called a tenne. It is often used as an indication of divinity and sometimes goodness as well.

He is portrayed as a wild boar demon and here is a screenshot from wikipedia as to how the Japanese view the boar:

Additional research confirmed wikipedia's claims. The description immediately put me in mind of Inuyasha. There is also the fact that the red pearl is associated with him.

Take a look at the screenshot included in the profile picture. They really want us to notice it seeing as how they even put an arrow on it. The picture shows a single jagged stripe on the side and glowing red eyes. It's very suggestive of Inuyasha's demon form.

Further evidence pointing to Tokotsu being a stand in for Inuyasha:

This is the episode where more of Inuyasha can be seen in the first opening credits. It could be said he "emerged".

Setsuna says the "See the arhat, kill the arhat. See your parents, kill your parents." line in the battle with Tokotsu.

Towa mentions a "cup of noodles" in the middle of the battle and we certainly associate that with Inuyasha.

Heavy focus on Moroha and Inuyasha's father in the episode.

Which brings us to Jakotsumaru. I think he may be Moroha's unknown brother. There is some similarity between the two when she is in Beniyasha mode. More evidence for that in the Konton section.

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Technically, Lady Kyuki is next but her section is long, complicated, and probably controversial so I am saving it for last.

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Konton

I think Konton is Kagome's stand in. He is portrayed as a priest and that is an obvious analog to Kagome being a Miko/priestess. The Chinese Peril he is based on, Hundun, is associated with the concept of the "world egg". Essentially, the beginning of everything. It could be said the INU/HNY universe began with Kagome falling down the well.

He is also associated with the green "Kagome" pearl. Notice the two greenish orbs hanging off his sleeves.

There's also his minions, green and red beasts who are Chinese fu lions. Their Japanese equivalent, komainu, are often used to guard Shinto shrines, which is another Kagome connection. The fu dogs themselves are highly suggestive of Kagome and Inuyasha. The red one even has a hinting of Inuyasha's doggy ears.

Another thing possibly pointing to a Kagome/Konton connection is a heavy focus Moroha, family and mentions of mothers in episode 9 when he introduced.

Also, I have long thought the preview pics are more significant than we realize. Sunrise chose to release this picture of the green beast.

It shows the beast has breasts, indicating it's a female. And also a round fat belly suggestive of a pregnancy. I think this is another clue that Moroha has a brother. As this episode also had a father/son theme like episode 5, I think Meifuko was standing in for Moroha's brother. His interactions with his father were much like the ones between Tokotsu/Jakotsumaru with the father instructing the son. He also aided Towa in fighting Konton, keeping with the "kill your parents" theme. I think when it comes to actually defeating Konton, we will see Meifuko again and he will have a big role in that.

It's far more obvious when actually animated but baby Moroha and Meifuko even look alike.

I have posted a theory on my trashahime account on who the brother is and after I consolidate those posts, I will add a link in this post.

There will probably be more Kagome connections to add when we see again and I will update this post.

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Due to an image limit, I have continued in second post.

[sillyhnytheories]

This is a continuation of my theory the perils are or represent the parents. Make sure you have read the first part before reading this post.

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Lady Kyuki

Lady Kyuki is complicated because I think she is a representation of the twins's mother and we don't know who that is yet. It's a matter of opinion, but for me the most likely candidate is Kagura and I will explain why.

But let me get into her "good" imagery first. She has wings which are highly suggestive of an angel. And she is also a white tiger, which is also also a "good" figure in a lot of Eastern folklore and one of the Celestial Animals.

Lady Kyuki is a Qiongqi, which was once thought to be a Kamaitachi in Japan. Kamaitachi are now considered a weasel demon with cutting whirlwinds but it used to just be "devilish cutting whirlwinds".

IIRC, Kagura was only referred to as a wind or Kaze youkai. It would be very easy for Sunrise to retcon her into always having been a kamaitachi. The manga implied she was still around as the wind and it could go that she simply return to this formless state instead of "dying" and somehow returned.

Other things that connect Kagura and Lady Kyuki are:

The way Kyuki was plotting against Kirinmaru mirrors the way Kagura plotted against Naraku. As Lady Kyuki died so quickly, and nothing came of it, it seems like a pointless plot point. Maybe it was put in to simply make this allusion and it worked. Fans were calling her Kagura 2.0.

Kamaitachi are also known as kazakama which means sickle wind. Kagura's dance of blades looks like sickles.

Kyuki's kimono contains red stripes and it could be a call out to the red stripes on Kagura's fan. Relatedly, the outer layer of Kagura's kimonos have all been striped.

The bell around her neck could be a callout to the kagura suzu.

Their hair styles are similar. Kagura also has curled hair when her hair is down.

Both were adult women portrayed with bare feet. Usually it was children.

For me, one of the more significant connections is that her tiger form eyes look exactly like Kagura's jade earrings and hair bead. It's like they just did a cut and paste. Also the stripes around her eyes are shaped like Kagura's feathers in her hair and when she uses them to fly. Remember, Sunrise purposely chose to use a close up of the tiger's eye instead of her entire beast form for Lady Kyuki's keyword profile. And I think it's because they were providing a clue.

Also consider this:

When Myoga explains about the four perils, this picture is used:

Notice that Tokotsu looks the same but Kyuki's beast form is shaded, possibly meaning to be the usual tiger orange. But her beast form is actually a white tiger. It could be a visual clue symbolising Kagura's transition from an antagonist in Inuyasha to a protagonist in Yashahime.

Some things that connect the twins to Lady Kyuki/Kagura:

Wind powers

Kyuki's color scheme is dominated by red and purple. It matches the twins eyes and also Setsuna's ED banner.

Konton asked the girls to dance. It could be a callout to the dance of blades or the kagura dance.

Setsuna and Lady Kyuki have the same round fastener on their outfits.

I could go on but there's already a ton of posts out there connecting Kagura and the twins. Here's a post that has compiled some of them.

I also have a theory on how to connect Rin to Lady Kyuki. I will add it if more evidence comes to light. It's currently unsupported at the moment.

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So I always get asked how can the perils be the parents and are the girls really killing them.

Well, I have a theory Yashahime is illusion or simulation of sorts made by Sesshomaru to test his daughters and they were never truly separated. The parents could be illusioned and "acting" the part of the villians. Or they are simply projections connected to the parents like Yura of the hair or the large polar bear demon in Yashahime. My simulation theory has some support and after I combine the posts about it, I will provide a link.

If it's not simulation, it could simply be a metaphorical representation. Either way, the girls aren't actually "killing" their parents.

[sillyhnytheories]

Takechiyo and Riku are Zashiki Warashi

Or at least they have been given the appearance of one.

Zashiki Warashi are childlike spirit beings, sometimes considered youkai, or even the ghosts of dead children. They usually haunt zashiki storage rooms and are known to be pranksters. I've read that the closest western equivalent is a poltergeist. They are said to bring luck and fortune to the host family and so sometimes a family may set up a playroom to attract them.

There are few descriptions of them but for brevity's sake, I will only include that which applies to Riku and Takechiyo. It includes: an unclear gender appearance, bobbed haircuts, striped clothing (Riku) or that which has a kasuri pattern. The kasuri pattern often includes a hashtag like symbol like the one on Takechiyo's clothing in the memory flashback.

Compare him to the image of the Zashiki Warashi I found.

Male ones sometimes wear warrior outfits like the one Takechiyo currently has. They are also known for blushing red faces. In episode 9 Takechiyo dramatically turns to the camera with a red face.

It seems to be a trope to portray them with a little cowlick that sticks up on the top of their head. Look at Riku's official profile picture.

It's even visible in the promotional poster.

In some of the angles of Riku's head, his little ponytail should not be sticking up like that. I think Sunrise did this purposely to give the impression of that cowlick. His half pulled up hair is also a common feature of Zashiki Warashi, though in females. Takechiyo has this cowlick too. Here are some pictures of other ZW so you can make the hair comparison.

I'm not sure if or how them being Zashiki Warashi will factor into the story.

It's possible they both died but we're able to somehow come back as ghosts. That could explain the conversation between Jyūbei and Miroku when Jyūbei said he couldn't treat him the same and he would have to put him to work. Maybe the difference was an alive Takechiyo and a dead one.

One crazy theory I am currently entertaining is that Takechiyo and Riku's existence was somehow undone as a result of Sesshomaru and Kirinmaru messing with time. They somehow still exist, possibly something like a living "Mandela Effect" from a different timeline and that's why they are being portrayed as a "spirit child".

I think the new snake youkai, Jyoka, could possibly be Riku's mother and her vendetta against Sesshomaru could be related to whatever happened to her son.

Also, in regards to Riku…

It's said if a Zashiki Warashi leaves his host family it spells back luck for them. It's interesting to me because Riku indicated he was forsaken from his master, which is likely a reference to Kirinmaru, his possible father. If so, it could be Riku will have a major part in Kirinmaru's downfall. This is already hinted at since he is the one paying Jyūbei to go after the perils.