Amaterasu, Okami and Shintoism

In a previous post I mentioned Amaterasu, who is the a sun goddess in Japanese folklore (pictured in the center of the above painting). She was created to rule over the world by Izanagi and Izanami, the two supreme Japanese deities in Shintoism. Her brother Susano-o (pictured below) is the god of the sea and storms and both of these gods are very popular and well known throughout all of Japan.

With these characters being so popular in Japan, it was not difficult for the youth of Japan to recognize the obvious symbolism in the popular game Okami. However, American and European audiences for the most part knew nothing about the symbolism behind Okami and today that's what I hope to shed some light on.

In this game the main playable character is a god in wolf form named Amaterasu. Another main protagonist, though he's not playable, is Susano-o. The story told in the game is Clover Studios own version of some Japanese folktales where Amaterasu and Susano-o are on a quest to save Nippon (this is the Japanese name for their own country) from being destroyed by Orochi, who is an eight-headed dragon from the same tales and folklore that Shintoism was born from. The story in Okami is very playful and light-hearted, which has a funny contrast to the serious characters and their normal stories from legend. The story, when translated into English and other European languages, was not changed despite the creators knowing that the symbolism would be lost on most of the non-Japanese audience. What they hoped would happen from this is that the western audiences would become curious and look into these characters for themselves and at that point they would truly understand the depth of the game. Well, they were somewhat successful in that since my first big experience into Japanese folklore was from this game.

Aside from the characters, the name of the game as well as the art style also has more depth than most realize. The name of the game, Okami, is Japanese for wolf which seems fitting since the character is in a wolf form. The title also is a pun, with okami also translating as "great deity." The art style of the game is very similar to that of old Japanese woodblock prints as well as sumi-e (ink and brush) style drawings.

All of these aspects combined make Okami deep with symbolism, lessons and insights into Japanese culture. If you haven't played this game yet, now would be a good time to start and don't be afraid to do your own research while playing the game as questions arise!

Sources: A lot of information was taken from sources listed on Okami's wikipedia including interviews with translators and creators. http://www.1up.com/features/wolf-talk

Also, see the Kojiki and Nihonshoki.