Well, with the semester having ended I finally got a chance to finish playing
Ōkami (Okami [Ookami], if your browser doesn't support the O-with-
macron). There's a
Wii version out now, but I've been playing the PS2 version.
I'm convinced the game started as a pun. You play as the sun goddess Amaterasu, incarnated as a wolf. Ōkami (大神), or “Great God” (part of Amaterasu's more formal name, Amaterasu no Ōkami) is homonymous with Ōkami (狼), or “wolf.” I imagine a couple
Clover employees were in a bar one night after work, getting a little drunk. Their conversation became increasingly boisterous, and went something like:
Employee 1: Dude, wouldn't it be crazy if, like, an Ōkami were an Ōkami?
Embloyee 2: (Trying hard to process that) Uh, what?
Employee 1: You know, like if an Ōkami from the Kojiki or something were an Ōkami, like a dog.
Embloyee 2: Oh... yeah, that WOULD be crazy!
The next morning they were hung over and remembered nothing of the conversation, but in one of their pockets they found a crumpled napkin with the idea scrawled on it, and the game was born.
The game is a delightful romp (yes, I just wrote “delightful romp”) through the world of classical Japanese literature. In addition to the
Kojiki, there are references to
Issun Bōshi,
Taketori Monogatari,
Urashima Tarō,
Shita-kiri_Suzume and
Hakkenden. Even
Benkei makes a cameo, as does
Yoichi from
Heike Monogatari. The capital city, Seian-kyō, is an obvious allusion to
Heian-kyō, which is the centerpiece of the great body of Heian literature, including
Genji Monogatari. I'm sure there are other references I didn't catch as well.
However, the most interesting aspect of the game is the main character. Amaterasu is generally the most revered deity in the Japanese pantheon, yet in the game she is depicted as a wolf, doing various things that are very recognizably canine; barking, growling, cocking her head, howling, curling up and napping, etc. She is accompanied throughout the game by Issun, who in addition to providing helpful explanations to the player also regularly berates Amaterasu for her slowness or misguidedness and addresses her by a pet name.
Because of this it is tempting to view Ōkami as an attempt to demystify Amaterasu. However, I think that would be ultimately incorrect. For one thing, Amaterasu does not speak, even to people who are able to understand animals. Lack of speech is, of course, very mystifying. Furthermore, she is portrayed as a weakened version of her true self. Throughout the game the player must strive to recover Amaterasu's thirteen “brush techniques,” which she uses to draw on the canvas of reality and create small miracles. At the end of the game, with the help of the prayers of all the people she has met, Amaterasu's true power is restored, and she becomes radiant and powerful. Naturally the player is only allowed to finish off the final boss battle with Amaterasu in this form, not perform any of the more mundane tasks that make up the staple of the game. So in the end the mystification of Amaterasu in her true form is maintained.
Most conspicuous, however, is the absence of Amaterasu's most prominent role: the ancestor of Japan's emperors. All Japan's emperors, including the current Akihito, can trace their lineage back to Amaterasu herself, thereby creating not only a divine right to rule but a personal divinity as well. In the game, there is no mention of this link at all. Amaterasu meets the emperor, but he does not show any signs of recognizing her as an ancestor, or even a goddess. In fact, the emperor is portrayed as an unremarkable, overweight, middle aged man more concerned with trading curio items than anything else.
Therefore it is clear that the game demystifies the emperor and de-links Amaterasu from him. At the same time it seems to maintain the mystification of Amaterasu herself. What can we make of this?
I think the game attempts to transform Amaterasu into a goddess suitable for the modern era. In the final stages of the game, Amaterasu regains her true power when all the people she has encountered throughout the game offer prayers to her. Significantly, she is portrayed as being accessible to everyone, not just the imperial clan. Worship of Amaterasu is not an exclusive imperial domain but appropriate for all people. Therefore, the game can be interpreted as an attempt to transform Amaterasu from an imperial deity into a national deity. Her worship (and, presumably, largess) sphere is shifted from a clan identity to a democratic, national identity.
How appropriate, then, that her “rising sun” brush technique, which the player can use to turn night into day, looks remarkably similar to the
old Japanese flag, a powerful symbol of nationhood.
