#i let out a bunch of informations that i couldnt linked to bd first gen so feel free to look at it by yourself if you want to learn more

[just-sp-in-inginthevoid]

SAITO MUSASHIBO BENKEI, THE JAPANESE GOD OF WAR, THE FOUR HEAVENLY KINGS AND DRAGON SYMBOLISM BOTH IN CHINA AND JAPAN

— AND BLACK DRAGON FIRST GEN

(I’ll start with Benkei since he’s the reason this post exists. And also it makes things easier.)

BENKEI

Saitō Musashibō Benkei (西塔武蔵坊弁慶), popularly known as simply Benkei (弁慶), is said  to have defeated 200 men in each battle he was personally involved in. In Tokyo Revengers, Benkei’s actual name is Arashi (荒師) Keizo (慶三) and if you take a closer look both ‘-kei’ in Benkei and Keizo are the same. They are written with the same kanji. Isn’t that beautiful. (In Tokyo Revengers ‘Benkei’ is only written in Katakana.)

He was first named Oniwaka (鬼若 ; demon/ogre child), because he was born with wild hair, long teeth and grew faster than other children. He was also a troublemaker, fighting with other children, breaking things. Because of his behavior he was behavior sent him to a monastery. Getting into a monastery and becoming a monk didn’t not calm Oniwaka down who kept getting in troubles and sent from monastery to monastery, from temple to temple. At seventeen he left the monasteries for good and take on the name Saito Musashibo Benkei.

Benkei wandered around Kyoto every night to take 1000 swords. After winning 999 swords (he had never lost a battle in his life), he came across Minamoto no Yoshitsune who he decided he’ll take the sword of and get his 1000th sword. Minaomoto no Yoshitsune’s sword was gilded. He was also much more shorter than Benkei since he was a child (10 years old or so). Benkei lost. Not long after he asked for a rematch and lost once again. After that he became Minamoto no Yoshitsune’s servant, followed him and fought by his side. They stayed together as outlaws until they both died. Benkei is seen as the picture of loyalty.

The temple Atago, nowadays the temple Benkei, has a statue of Benkei which is six feet and two inches tall (just like Benkei in Tokyo Revengers). There’s only ruins and a single pine tree where the ancient temple Benkei once was.

Minamoto no Yoshitsune(源 義経), born Ushiwakamaru (牛若丸 ; young bull) is one of the most famous and liked samurai in Japan. Since Benkei swore loyalty to him, there could be Shinichiro (+his sword was gilded). Yoshitsune was also said to fight as if he was flying so perhaps Wakasa ? But Benkei would never admit any kind of defeat against Wakasa if it even ever happens (there’s a reason why Kanto was cut in half between those two). So Senju ? She’s stronger than Benkei and Wakasa as a teen. I don’t know. Wakasa, Oniwaka and Ushiwakamaru share the same ‘waka’ kanji (若). It could mean nothing. But also Wakui could’ve chosen another name for Wakasa and not let me questioning things. And like. The ‘Ushi’ in both Ushiwakamaru and Imaushi is the same (牛) as well. So. Perhaps. Wakasa is Minamoto no Yoshitsune. But i’m a bit iffy about it. But since Wakui wrote them as a duo and you can’t talk about Benkei without talking about Yoshitsune and vice versa...

GOD OF WAR, FOUR HEAVENLY KINGS

(Hope y’all remember Shinichiro nicknamed Takeomi ‘rain bringer’)

I thought ‘god of war’ refered to Hachiman, and it might since he’s a japanese god of war and of agriculture (so perhaps has a weak or strong link to the rain) and I think he is to an extent since he was the protector of the Minamoto clan AND Hachiman is said to be the one to determine a samurai’s fate (aKa if they win or lose their battles) just like Takeomi says ("I was feared, sice my decisions determined how any conflict would end.") BUT. The Four Heavenly Kings. Vaiśravaṇa (means: ‘very famous’). Bishamonten. God of war and warriors, seen as a punisher of evildoes and ruler of rain. Carrying an umbrella ('chatra' ; which symbolizes kingship, sovereignty).

Dhṛtarāṣṭra. Jikokuten. King of the east. Associated with the color white. In China, he is named Chíguó Tiān (持國天 lit. "King who holds a country") (Dhṛtarāṣṭra means ‘protector of the nation’) because it is said he helps support a country against enemies. Wakasa is the one who at the end harmonized Kodo Rengo and caused the twelves gangs to unionize and ruled over the eastern side of Kanto. He is often pictured with a fierce expression trampling a jaki. (we're gonna talk about jaki later, i promise you)

Virūpākṣa. Birubakusha. King of the west. Associated with the color red. Whether it be in China or Japan, he is shown having a red skin. He is also sommonly seen trampling a jaki. Or, Benkei, also nicknamed Red Cliff, and once ended up painted in red with enemies' blood, who ruled the western side of Kanto with Ragnarok. Virūpākṣa means ‘wide eyes’ and refers to awareness.

Virūḍhaka. Birurokusha.The only one left. Definitively Shinichiro. Although with how Dhṛtarāṣṭra is described (‘harmonious and compassionate, protects all beings’ I did doubt a bit as whether it was really Wakasa bc he is the one to have become leader of Kodo Rengo among the twelve gangs forming it). In China, he is called Zēngzhǎng Tiānwáng (增長天 lit. Growth King) because he has the ability to teach to sentient beings how to grow compassion. Virūḍhaka in Sanskrit means ‘sprouting grain’ or ‘growing large’, still referring to this idea of ‘increase’ or ‘growth’. In Japan, he has a fierce expression while trampling a jaki.

(By the way, Kakucho, Mochi, Shion and Ran are the Four Heavenly Kings of Tenjiku. But I’m still convinced it fits BD first gen better)

Alright, so what a jaki ?

Amanojaku or Amanjaku is a small oni able to see into people’s heart, to detect and inflame a person’s darkest desire and convince them into doing gravely wicked deeds. When Amanojaku is ordered to do something, it does the opposite. It is considered an opponent of Buddhist teachings and is commonly depicted as being trampled on and subdued into righteousness by one of the Four Heavenly Kings (often Bishamonten). In this context only is it called jaki. One of the most famous appearance of Amanojaku is in Urikohime (melon princess) where it kidnaps and sometimes impersonates her after eating her.

So yeah, I think I’ve found Mikey’s dark impulses.

DRAGONS

(starting with chinese culture)

The Chinese dragon symbolizes prosperity and good luck, potent and auspicious power. An easy thing to point out is the Dragon being the symbol of Chinese emperors but it is as easy at it is relevant. Because, if Black Dragon, Shinichiro, ruled over Japan, then yes, he was an emperor. Most importantly, during the Qing dynasty, the imperial dragon was yellow/gold like Shinichiro’s image color and during the Ming dynasty it was red, like Mikey’s. The Dragon is also believed to be the ruler of water, such as rain but also waterfalls, typhons, seas… It is sometime called ‘Dragon King ‘ although there are severals (5) Dragon Kings, one for each cardinal point and seasons (Black/Dark/Mysterious dragon – north - winter ; white dragon – East – fall ; Cannibar/Vermillon dragon – south – summer; Azure/blue-green dragon – west – spring) each who ruled on different sea who were metaphorical boundaries of China during pre-Han dinasty (the south sea, the west sea which were both real and the made-up west and north seas (which were ‘discovered’ later – they’re lakes. Qinghai Lake and Lake Baikai)). The last ruled on the ‘middle’, the Yellow (or gold, really) Dragon. (linked with late summer)

Also, I think if we have to link a Dragon to one of the first gen members, the white dragon would go to Wakasa and red/cannibar/vermillon to Benkei but then. Hear me out. Takeomi is the azure/blue-green dragon and Shinichiro is the yellow one. And the black/dark/mysterious is left alone. Because it’s the whole gang. But the Yellow dragon is the dragon kinda piecing everything together and that’s the point. Shinichiro as BD creator and leader embodied both the gang as a whole and himself as an individual. Black Dragon is the Black/Dark/Mysterious dragon and also the Yellow dragon and Shinichiro is the Yellow dragon and the Drak/Black/Mysterious dragon.

BUT THEN. The Dragons Kings and the Four Guardians/Gods are basically the same thing. So The white dragon (Byakko, Baihu in Chinese) is a tiger, the black dragon (Genbu, Xuanwu in Chinese) is a tortoise, the red (Suzaku, Zhuque in Chinese) dragon is a bird and the blue dragon (Seiryu, Qinglong in Chinese) is a… dragon. Japan doesn’t seem to have a Yellow dragon, they are only four of them – like the OG BD founders. (but also it kinda does ? I’m still confused about whether or not they have five or four dragons sorry about that.)

BUT THEN. Because nothing can be easy. The black tortoise is written with those kanji 玄武 (can also be read ‘mysterious warrior’) and you know what ? Takeomi’s name is written with those kanji : 武臣. (and also Senju said to Takemichi that they are the mysterious siblings once). So at the end it’s the azure dragon that is left alone. Since, while Japan doesn’t have a yellow dragon, Shinichiro’s image color is gold. Edit: The Kanji for 'Take' in 'Takemichi' is also 武.

Since the Dragon was seen as the ruler of water and water-related weather phenomenas, many temples were dedicated to them and they were offered sacrifices when drought or flooding were happening or in time of dryness. So it was to either ask for the water to stop or to come.

The Dragon God/King worship is celebrated with sacrifices (to only name the one religious pratice I succeeded to link to TokRev –). It was on the fifth or sixth moon (/month) of the Chinese year. In 2003, the Chinese year started on the 1st of February. So six months later, it’d be August. And… the Worship of the Dragon God is celebrated especially on the date of his birthday the thirteenth day of the sixth moon. Shinichiro died on the 13th of August. (+it's the first day of Obon, the Japanese days of the dead that lasts from August 13th to August 15th; ghost are said to come back on earth and visit their family)

Yeah.

So, now that we’ve established how Shinichiro is linked to the dragon let me add that people who are deemed excellent and outstanding are compared to dragons in chinese culture.

In Japan, once knowledge/believes from China (Tang dynasty) came in, buddhist raimaking ritual prayers involved dragon kings. And the rain ritual was performed regularly.

Still, Japan already had dragons before Chinese people came in. Japanese dragons are also linked to their emperors since it is believed a Dragon is the ancestor of the emperors. They are more nuanced than the helpful Chinese dragons – Japan has dragons who are both ‘good’ and ‘bad’, they’re humanized. They’re shapeshifting masters – if a human sees them in their dragon form is because they decide so, otherwise they’re able to look and act like a human (and mate. There . You have your explanation as to how a dragon can be a human’s ancestor.) or any other thing/being they want to appear as. Some rule from the clouds and others from the water. The one coming from the water are linked to bodies of water and rain (which seems to be most of them, the dragon is seen as a water deity) like their chinese counterpart. They very rarely have wings, when they do their wings are as small as those of a bat.

The Japanese blue/azure dragon is the guardian of cities. The japanese white dragon (O Goncho) which appears every 50 years as a golden bird, its cry means famine is coming.

Dragons symbolize wealth, perseverance and wisdom in Japan.

ADDITIONAL STUFFS

- The Dragon and the Tiger are seen as mighty rivals (龍虎, Ryūko, the kanji are literally 'dragon' and 'tiger') in Japanese culture - hence, Kazutora being the one to kill Shinichiro was a good way to show the balance was no more (as neither the Dragon nor the Tiger ever win against one another) + might be the reason why Mikey chooses his neck to have his dragon tattoo and why he chooses the left side (Kazutora having his tiger tattoo on the right) - it's for the symbolism

- Four clans dominated politics during the Heian period. Now, the four clans don’t seem to hold any informations that can be relevant to Tokyo Revengers. Except for one. And I don’t see in what but it has to be. It’s the Tachibana (橘) clan and you’d think, what a coincidence but op it might not be the same kanji. It is. It is and it’s beautiful but I can’t find how it can be important. It’s probably isn’t, honestly. But. But it’s here.

- The logo of Ragnarok was a Byakko. A white tiger, so a Byakko, was said to appear when the emperor rules with absolute virtue or if there was world peace. Ironic for a gang named ‘Ragnarok’. (But then wasn't Shinichiro —?)The Byakko is the guardian of the West, it is the white dragon. In Chinese art, it often depicted alongside the dragon. In Japan, the dragon is often seen with a tiger so it honestly surprises me there aren’t that much tigers in TokRev. I can name Kazutora but no other character comes right to my mind when thinking of tigers.

- The Kanji for Kodo Rengo (煌道連合) mean stuff:

煌 : glitter, gleam, twinkle

道 : road-way, street, district, journey, course, moral, teachings

連 : take along, lead, join, connect, party, gang, clique

合 : fit, suit, join. (The verb 合う means : to come together, to merge, to unite, to meet)

‘Rengo’ does fit Kodo Rengo well, since it is a gang made of several gangs who came/merged together. ’Kodo’ is also something, that while it doesn’t seem to hold that much meaning (i’m not fluent or anything in japanese, i can’t tell if it really doesn’t)

On the other hand, Ragnarok (螺愚那六)...

螺:small, edible, helical fresh-water mollusk

愚:foolish, folly, absurdity, stupid, foolishness; silliness; stupidity; folly

那: what ?

六: six

I don’t know. Maybe it does indeed mean something, maybe it’s just because those are kanji that sounds like ‘Ragnarok’ (six is pronounced 'roku', that I know of, so it's close to 'rok' - and the other are pronounced 'ra', 'gu', and 'na' respectively in on'yomi) when put together and they weren’t gonna wrote it in Katakana but – yeah, idk. Maybe I just didn’t find what this could possibly mean…

- Chinese dragons mostly have five claws whereas Japanese dragon mostly have three ! That’s why Draken and Mitsuya’s (and Manila/Bad Toman Mikey’s) tattoo has three claws :) ! Same thing for the Black Dragon’s flag ! I’m sure these (in red) are claws ! And those are wings (in blue), and that’s the body (green) (listen, either they can draw and it was a choice or none of them can and they did their best):

- For 武臣(Takeomi) Nihongomaster gives ‘warrior, military, chivalry, arms’ as translation for 武 and ‘retainer, servant‘ or ‘an hereditary title, originally one of the two highest such titles, later demoted to sixth highest of eight for 臣. So the first kanji can be there to 1. refers to his title of ‘God of War, of warriors’ and/or 2. the black tortoise/dragon and the second kanji can be there to show how he felt down in disgrace ? He was the Vice-president of Black Dragon and then he wasn’t – he lost significance.

- to add to Benkei’s name (Arashi Keizo), I don’t have more to say about ‘Keizo’ but Arashi (荒師) – 荒 means rough, rude, wild and 師 : expert, master, professional, teacher, a religious figure. And Benkei (as in, the mythological figure) was a troublemaker (at least as a child) and a (rebellious) monk

Edit.: Saitō Musashibō Benkei (西塔武蔵坊弁慶). Well. This Kanji seems rather common. Or did Wakui do it on purpose ?..

- I didn’t find anything about Wakasa and it pisses me off. Nor about him, nor about his name (Ushiwakamaru aside), nor about ‘white leopards’ and how they’re seen in japan. (EDIT: figured out the 'white leopard' part somewhere in this post)

- If someone knows what temple South’s name refers to, please tell me. His name means temple of the south it has to be important. Him, Senju and Mikey were called ‘the three deities’ there’s must be something and i don’t see it i hate this

Edit: Ok, so at the very start Christian missionary (and Japanese Christians) practice their religion in 南蛮寺; Nanba-ji. (reminder: South Terano; 南 寺野). 南蛮, 'Nanban' means 'South Barbarians' and was used to describe Japan neighbor countries at first (Southern China, Southern Asia, Ryukyu Islands...). But then it got used to describe European foreigners - mostly Portuguese (and Spanish) people (explorers, missionaries, merchants). The word 南蛮 isn't commonly used in Japan nowadays

I also recommend y'all to go search about irl Rokuhara Tandai and the fact they had two chiefs, the less powerful one being the one from the south (of kyoto)

- Brahman is 梵 and means the unchanging, infinite, immanent and transcendent reality which is the divine ground of all matter, energy, time, space, being and everything beyong this Universe (hinduism). The nature of Brahman is described as transpersonal, personal and impersonal. In chinese (figuratively) it means quiet, paeceful, undisturbed.

Bonten is 梵天 (can be read as Brahma (not Brahman)) and is either an alternative form of Brahman or it can refer to Brahma, one of the three supreme deities and the Hindu god of creation.

Remembering Senju dies in Bonten timeline I – yeah. She was Mikey’s childhood friend if not Takeomi and Sanzu’s sister.