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What’s a Shikigami?
A long time ago, shikigami were considered a type of spirit that ancient Japanese sorcerers could summon to serve them. Some books call them demons, although the proper Japanese term, oni, actually refers to any mythical creature. In the West, this would include fairies, leprechauns, unicorns, elves and dragons. The shikigami were small spirits, like brownies and fairies. Today, however, most Japanese don’t think of shikigami as spirits but as pieces of paper temporarily brought to life. Often, these shikigami are created to perform chores, much like the brooms Mickey Mouse created in Disney’s Fantasia. Shikigamis play a big role in modern Japanese movies, TV shows, games and comics such as Spirited Away, Shaman King, InuYasha, Kekkaishi, Naruto and Tales of Symphonia. We chose the name because of our goal to make games that bring characters to life. We want to turn inanimate bits of your computer, the pictures on your screen, into lifelike characters that you care about. It’s not easy to find a word for that. We could have used the European term homunculus but it’s not a particularly pretty word, is it? |