Thursday, December 17, 2009

Day XVII - Shōjō

Japanese redhead,
Alcoholic sea spirit,
Abundant sake.



A Japanese sea-spirit with a never-ending supply of sake, the Shōjō is described as being like a benevolent, drink-bringing orangutan-man with red-face and red hair. Found in the folk-tale of White Sake (moral: the pure of heart will get healing beverages when they are ill whereas the malicious will end up with disgusting poison), the creature's name is popularly used to refer to happy heavy-drinkers, hell-raisers and all sorts of things of a red hue in Japanese culture. The Shōjō is also a common character type in the mask and makeup theatre of noh and kabuki, and is probably the kind of spirit that you'd want to see at the beach party. Kampai!

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