While hunting around for meanings to Basho's haiku poems... I stumbled upon a couple sites that may be of interest for those thinking about looking up a bit on Shinto beliefs.

http://www2.kokugakuin.ac.jp/ijcc/wp/bts/index.html -- Basic Terms of Shinto

http://eos.kokugakuin.ac.jp/modules/xwords/ -- The Encyclopedia of Shinto (partially done, same institution who did the glossary above)

I've been trying very hard to research and find other creatures that were like me. I found a link on here left by crowgoblin and I couldn't find anything there either.
I am a tiger. In this life people call me Tora (lj name is a cross between tora and mouko XD.) I feel so close to wolf kin that maybe we were closely related or tied together somehow. I remember flying. I am not sure if all is fact, I am just going by instinct and trying to understand.
Has anyone come across legends or myths of tiger creatures?
Just curious. Thank you

-Tora

I just thought i would share this piece of tanuki artwork I did recently... more behind cut! ( Read more... )

I think some of you might appreciate this so I'm posting it here. Some where eager to see some of the stuff in our collection so we took a few pictures. I'm just going to link the actual gallery itself because the images are ginormous.

http://pics.livejournal.com/kyoudai02/gallery/00006bbt

Some basic descriptions for each image.

X-posted to shrineofinari and asiankin, and our personal journal.

~Solo

At some point soon--hopefully over the weekend--I intend on going through Asiankin and sorting all relevant stuff into the Memories section. That way newcomers who come here can see the nice resource we've built up and hopefully have something to work on, so to speak.

Also, people are more than welcome to post thoughts, rants, essays, whatever. Even art, as long as its behind a cut.

I think once everything is sorted all out it can be easier also for people to go back and look up old stuff. Hopefully this'll be useful hehe.

~Solo

In the interest of promoting awareness of mythos less popular than those of Japan and China, here are some links passed to me by an acquaintance.

The many and strange beasts of thai folklore

A few Filipino creatures such as the Tikbalang.

a while back I mentioned I was searching for info on asian 'unicorns' (see here). anywho, I've found, based on what sources I could find and what this aspect feels like that he is in fact a Sin You (also known as a 'Kai-Tsi' according to one source altho I've only seen that mentioned in two sources, it also appears to have a connection to the Chinese Chiai Tung). now, it's hard finding information on Sin You, most of what I found out was from brief comments mentioned in articles focusing on the K'i-lin/Kirin. (sadly) the best source I found focusing only on the Sin You was in a Llewellyn book.

what I find most interesting about this aspect, which I've taken to calling Kouen (香煙), is he insists he didn't die... he just decided he wanted to give being something else a try. this is also the first male aspect I've had awaken, and there's still a little weirdness with that, since he's still integrating with the rest. now, as well as all that, altho I haven't found any mention of a Sin You's dietary preference he has a rather omnivorous feel to him. I was hesitant to call him carnivorous/omnivorous based on the fact he does have fangs since I've seen Asian unicorns compared to muntjacs, but I still get this feeling his diet did consist of some animal protean.

anywho, just giving an update, reminding I'm still looking for new sources of information regarding Asian unicorns, and letting you know I'm slowly gathering up what info I do have into a little info sheet/writeup/pseudo-essay to post here if it comes out decent.

Hi everyone. I don’t remember if I ever posted an introduction so I’m going to do one or another one which ever it is.
~My name is criofan and I’m a Kitsune. I was Kitsune before being Kitsune was trendy and I don’t feel the need to hide that fact just because everyone thinks that Kitsune are Kawaii. If they really understood Kitsune they wouldn’t think so because every one I know is moody bitchy and very high maintaince. But that’s neither here nor there. The point is that we as Kitsune should be ourselves a not let anyone beat us around because they think we are trendy.
~I not only embrace my Asian ancestry as a Kitsune but I am also very connected to the Celtic culture. Which at times causes some issues when both cultures pull me in their ways. I am now questing to try to find a balance between the two.

A long-time interest in Shinto, Japanese culture and language was made more interesting after a Native American-style "find your totem spirit" search strongly suggested "fox" to me. This inevitably led me down a kitsune path. I also have a strong interest in "trickster" mythology and teaching methods.

For those interested in Inari and fox in Shinto( and later religions) and Japanese religion and culture, I highly recommend The Fox and the Jewel: Shared and Private Meanings in Contemporary Japanese Inari Worship as a resource.

http://www.degruyter.de/journals/fabula/2004/pdf/45_69.pdf

While searching out commentary for an article I was reading for class (of which I'm going to right now...) I found this PDF file via Google.

There's a Korean tale in this, supposedly a famous one but I'm not familiar with Korean mythologies. There's also some analysis of it, so perhaps people might like to read it, and garner some interest into such things.
I realize a lot of our focus has been on Japan, mainly because there's so much of it coming out into the mainstream of western cultures in the form of Japanimation and music, so this might be a good change over, or at the very least a good digression.

And I'll comment individually on people's intros and whatnot... soon.