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Wondering what a seishi is and where the concept
comes from? The concept of the seishi is based on the ancient
Chinese knowledge of stargazing. However, in the anime of Fushigi
Yuugi most of the names used are Japanese instead
of Chinese. According to the ancient Chinese, there were four animals
representing the four seasons and four directions of the Earth. In Fushigi
Yuugi, these four gods are said to govern the four countries
of the land. Genbu rules over Hokkan in the north, Byakko
over Sairo in the west, Seiryuu over Kutou in the east, and
Suzaku over Konan in the south. Each of the gods are assigned
seven constellations, and each constellation represents a seishi. |
In the story of Fushigi Yuugi, the writer Watase
Yuu adapted ancient Chinese astrology into her story. In FY, each of
the seishi are human beings born with special powers.
Each country has a miko, a woman-priestess, who will appear from another
world and come to save the country. The gods each grant their miko
three wishes, after which the miko will be killed by their god, unless
the girl happens to be extremely strong-willed and good. The seishi
are the people who are born with special powers, and their duty is to use
their skills to protect their own miko. As with the star constellations,
every miko has seven seishi to protect her. These seishi are often
marked by certain chinese characters that are found on their body.
In Hotohori's case, he's known for a long time that his destiny was to
protect the miko of Suzaku. His own special symbol is the character
meaning star, read as "hoshi" in Japanese, which is located on the side of
his neck. Hotohori's special power as a seishi is very unclear compared
to the other characters in Fushigi Yuugi. Apparently being a seishi
makes him an especially talented swordsman, lending him extra skill
that cannot be obtained by mere training alone. |
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