This good-looking guy is the bearer of the last of the Five Canons of Martial Arts, the Book of Mind. The stance's skills are Bluedragon-hill kick, Breath of Hyunmoo, Half-moon kick, and Atomic whitetiger-strikes.
The interesting part is that this new martial artist seems to be named Byako, at least according to the URL for his pictures. That sounds really close to "Byakko", which is the name of one of the guardian constellations in Chinese and Japanese astrology.
Similarly, the forums name this RNPC Bai Hu, the Chinese equivalent of Byakko.
The guardian constellations are:
Azure Dragon of the East. Qīng Lóng in Chinese, Seiryuu in Japanese.
Vermilion Bird of the South. Zhū Què in Chinese, Suzaku in Japanese.
White Tiger of the West. Bái Hǔ in Chinese, Byakko in Japanese.
Black Tortoise of the North. Xuán Wǔ in Chinese, Genbu in Japanese.
Yellow Dragon of the Center. Huáng-lóng in Chinese, [occasionally] Ouryo in Japanese.
Each of these five constellations is tied to a cardinal direction, a season, and an element. The five elements involved correspond roughly to the five cardinal elements often found in Asian philosophy and culture.
Azure Dragon - East - Wood - Spring
Vermilion Bird - South - Fire - Summer
White Tiger - West - Metal - Autumn
Black Tortoise - North - Water - Winter
Yellow Dragon - Center - Earth - The change of seasons
With that in mind, let's try to match the Five Books of Martial Arts and their warriors up with the guardian constellations:
Gracielo - Book of Wind = Azure Dragon, East
Jean Pierre - Book of Earth = Yellow Dragon, Center
Irawan - Book of Fire = Vermilion Bird, South
Soso - Book of Frost = Black Tortoise, North
Byako - Book of Mind = White Tiger, West
Well, now you know how deep Granado Espada's roots go as far as East Asian astrology and culture are concerned ^^
***
Sources:
http://doratomo.jp/~sannpomiti/graphic/npc/normal_m/byako/1.html - Byako / Bai Hu pictures.
http://doratomo.jp/%7Esannpomiti/info/421.html - Chapter of Mind.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Symbols_%28Chinese_constellation%29 - Chinese guardian constellations.
Thursday, December 13, 2007
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3 comments:
little we known Ninemoons is a famed feng shui expert =p =p =p
now this is fushigi yugi :P
darrick
-www.sipchil.com
I am impressed at your research. This really makes a lot of reference to the East Asian astrology.
Although, it's almost close to Miyamoto Musashi's "Book of the Five Rings".
@ darrick
erm, yeah, was it kind of obvious abt the FY thing? hehe XD
@filsimmer
i considered putting in the five rings as well, but the Japanese elements were not easy to match up with the Chinese elements.... maybe i need to try again in future
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