Located in the far east, this collection of islands is home almost exclusively to the short-lived races. At one point the ogres dominated the region (which may be what kept the long-lived races out for so long), but ogres have fallen out of power and are now very rare. There are no dungeons here and very few monsters, but there’s constant war between humans.
The tall-men of the Eastern Archipelago only consider tall-men to be humans, and all other races are demi-humans or non-humans. Izutsumi says there are no half-foots in the East, however it’s hard to say if that’s actually true,or if Izutsumi has just never seen any.
In Dungeon Meshi, the Eastern Archipelago is made up of two large, and many smaller islands. Wa is a small island at the extreme southwestern corner of the Archipelago. The culture of Wa Island appears to be inspired exclusively by historic Japan, since all of the characters that come from Wa have Japanese names, clothing, weapons, and magic, they eat Japanese food, imagine traditional Japanese-style artwork, and obey Japanese social norms. However, Wa culture seems to be over-represented in the story of Dungeon Meshi despite the island’s extremely small size. This is because all of the characters we see from the Eastern Archipelago are from Wa, or have been living in Wa for most of their lives.
But it’s implied that there are other cultures in the Eastern Archipelago besides Wa Island. We have seen hints of clothing from Central or Northern Asian cultures, and maybe even a few food items that originate from China.
We are told that different islands in the Archipelago speak different languages, and a few character names may possibly be derived from the Chinese language. The name “Wa” itself also suggests the existence of the Dungeon Meshi version of the Chinese language. In the real world, Wa is an exonym applied to the Japanese people by China.
Because of all this, though it is never explicitly said, I think it’s most likely that while Wa Island is inspired by Ancient Japan, the other islands in the Eastern Archipelago are probably inspired by other real-world Asian cultures, such as China, Korea, Mongolia, etc.
We know that Wa Island, and probably the rest of the Eastern Archipelago, is constantly plagued by war between different tall-man factions due to the collapse of the ogre society that used to dominate the region. This prevents them from presenting a unified front against the long-lived races, which puts them all at a disadvantage when it comes to negotiations. So most likely the individual islands are all feeling some pressure from the long-lived races to allow them to enter their territory and exploit them through unequal trade agreements.
As I mentioned in Rin’s section in Chapter 4, I believe something similar to Sakoku (Tokugawa Japan’s closed country policy) may exist in the Dungeon Meshi world, and that the people of the Eastern Archipelago may be limiting trade between themselves and other countries, banning foreigners (especially those that aren’t tall-men) from living or traveling in the region, and trying to prevent common people from leaving by only allowing the upper classes to travel outside of the archipelago.
Toshiro and his brothers are a good example of this; nobility sent to travel abroad by their father to gain experience with the outside world in order to prepare them for negotiating and coming into conflict with outsiders once they take on leadership positions.
In the real world, Wa is the oldest recorded name for Japan, and Wa Island in Dungeon Meshi appears to be heavily inspired by Sengoku-era Japan. There is a feudal system of government, constant warfare, and the use of ninja spies and samurai warriors is commonplace.
The Sengoku era is the period in Japanese history in which civil wars and social upheavals took place almost continuously in the 15th and 16th centuries, and is roughly contemporary to the Renaissance era that Kui appears to be inspired by in the European-influenced parts of the Dungeon Meshi world.
The Sengoku period was characterized by the traditional master-servant relationship between lords and their vassals frequently breaking down. This included vassals eliminating their lords, internal clan and vassal conflicts over leadership of the lord's family, and frequent rebellion and puppetry by branch families against the lord's family.
This phenomenon of social meritocracy, in which capable subordinates rejected the status quo and forcefully overthrew their aristocratic superiors, became known as gekokujō (下克上), which means "low conquers high."
This radical idea of meritocracy instead of seniority deciding leadership is reflected in Toshiro’s father telling his three sons to compete with each other for who should inherit leadership of their clan.
Chinese and Korean scribes used the Chinese character 倭; submissive, distant, dwarf to refer to the inhabitants of the Wa kingdoms, who they classified as “barbarians.” The Ancient Japanese considered this name offensive, and in the 8th century they replaced the 倭 ("dwarf") character for Wa with the homophone 和 ("peaceful, harmonious").
The name was eventually further changed to Nihon/Nippon (日本) which literally means “Origin of the Sun”, a name which describes both Japan’s location relative to China, and also claims divine, cosmic origin for the Japanese as a race of people descended from the sun goddess Amateratsu.
Since one of the original meanings of Wa was “country of dwarves”, and Dungeon Meshi’s Wa is the island closest to the Southern Continent (which has the largest dwarven population), and dwarves are actually a race that exist, I think it’s very possible that Wa Island is called “country of dwarves'' because of the island’s proximity to and/or involvement with the dwarven race! This is a really fun, subtle twist for Kui to make.
We don’t know anything about dwarven magic use, but if they do use magic they probably use the gnomish system. Dwarves and gnomes are often confused with each other by other races, and the two groups are known to coexist peacefully in the same territory. The tall-men of the Eastern Archipelago might not distinguish between the two groups, and “Country of dwarves” could be a reference to either or both races.
We know that the magic Maizuru uses is derived from the gnomish magic system. The gnomish magic system is known to be easier for tall-men to use, and the animistic beliefs of the gnomes have a lot in common with the animistic beliefs of many Asian cultures. I don’t think it’s a big reach to assume that gnomish-style magic is probably the most common one used on Wa Island, and probably the rest of the Eastern Archipelago as well.
So it would make perfect sense if dwarves (and some gnomes) used to live in and control Wa, giving it its name. At some point in the distant past, they were pushed out by the ogre warlords that controlled the region, leaving behind parts of their culture, and taking parts of Wa Island culture with them to the Eastern Continent.
In the real world, the country of Japan is actually an archipelago itself, made up of 14,125 islands (260 are inhabited in the modern day) extending along the Pacific coast of Asia. The term "mainland Japan" is used to distinguish the largest islands of the Japanese archipelago from the remote, smaller islands; These are Hokkaido, Honshu, Kyushu, and Shikoku.
Japan has historically had several different native cultures, and many of these are tied to specific islands in the archipelago. The largest groups are the Yamato, Ainu, Ryukyuan, Emishi, and Hayato.
Something similar to these different ethnic groups may exist in the Dungeon Meshi world, and simply be spread across Wa Island, separated from each other by rivers and mountains instead of ocean…
But we can also see that there are several small islands near Wa on the world map. These islands could contain some of the different ethnic minorities of Japan as well. So Wa Island may have its own versions of Hokkaido or Okinawa on these islands, if they aren’t just part of the Wa mainland.
Japanese personal names were fluid in the pre-modern era. Men changed their names for a variety of reasons: to signify that they had attained a higher social status, to demonstrate their allegiance to a house or clan, to show that they had succeeded to the headship of a family or company, to shed bad luck that was attached to an inauspicious name, or simply to avoid being mistaken for a neighbor with a similar name.
Changes in women's personal names were recorded less often, so they may not have changed their names as frequently as men did, but women who took jobs (such as maids or entertainers) frequently changed their names for the duration of their service. During their employment, their temporary names were treated as their legal names.
The only characters we have kanji for, as far as I know, are Toshiro, his father and grandfather, because they are named in a gag where Kui showed classical Japanese style portraits of all of them, including their names written in kanji, with furigana to help readers identify how the names should be pronounced, since the kanji used are not common.
This was probably done primarily because it would look “wrong” for Japanese readers to see these names written in katakana, and wouldn’t fit with the aesthetic of the joke. It could be compared to using a futuristic sci-fi font on an ancient scroll.
However, the use of kanji for Toshiro and his ancestor’s names could also possibly mean that the people of Wa Island use kanji as their writing system, and we just never see other Wa character’s names written out, or that the kanji is a writing system used only by the Wa nobility.
Toshiro was sent out into the world outside of Wa Island by his irresponsible father, Lord Nakamoto, to prove that he isn’t boring. Toshiro must bring something “interesting” back home to earn his place as head of the Nakamoto family, and his two younger brothers are attempting to do the same.
Toshiro is a shy, sensitive man that likes flowers, bugs, and other small creatures commonly thought of as “gross”, and he falls in love with Falin because of this shared interest and their similar personalities. When Falin was eaten by the red dragon, Toshiro quit the Touden party immediately and begged his retainers, a group of highly skilled ninja, to go into the dungeon with him to slay the dragon and save Falin.
Toshiro is one of the strongest fighters in Dungeon Meshi. He’s humble, kind and rule-abiding, concerned with obeying social conventions, and not upsetting or inconveniencing others even at the cost of his own happiness. All of these attributes make him the pinnacle of Japanese heroics, manliness, and virtue, which is probably why his name is comically generic.
Toshiro and Nakamoto are both common Japanese names, and so creating a heroic samurai character named Toshiro Nakamoto is similar to naming an English swordsman Adam Knight (or Nite, to reflect the unusual kanji spelling of Nakamoto).
The name Toshiro is a common Japanese name, and has many potential meanings depending on what kanji is used to write it, however it generally means a man, a samurai, a sharp blade, a person who is very moral, severe and strict, and who has aspirations for improving his status. All of these things describe Toshiro’s character perfectly.
The first kanji character of Toshiro’s name, 俊, means superior, excellent, a wise or sharp person. It can also mean severe or strict. The second character, 朗, means an explicit, cheerful personality, and honesty.
Nakamoto is also a common Japanese family name most often found in the Ryukyu Islands, and generally means “someone who lives in the middle or central region.” It’s also the name of a type of rare butterfly from the Lycaenidae family, Catapaecilma nakamotoi, found only on Mindanao Island in the Philippines. Toshiro loves insects, so his family sharing a name with a butterfly would probably make him happy.
Some common ways to write Nakamoto are 沖本, 中許, and 中元, but Kui uses 半本 (commonly read as Hanamoto), which I can’t find anywhere other than in Dungeon Meshi. The first character, 半, means “half” and the second character, 本, means “book.” So 半本 could mean half book, or an unfinished book, a book that hasn’t been read or written completely.
The character 中 (Naka) used in other spellings of Nakamoto is often thought of as being related to nobility or royalty in Ryukyu, because it is a character used in the name 中城 (Nakagusuku).
Nakagusuku is famous for being part of the former domain of the Crown Prince of the Ryukyu Kingdom. He resided in Nakagusuku Palace, near Shuri Castle. Nakagusuku Castle was also within his domain.
The kanji used suggests Toshiro is a man that behaves in a strict, honest way, who is wise, and superior to those around him. It also describes several things that Toshiro isn’t such as explicit (direct), cheerful, and honest. These are traits Toshiro says he envies in Laios, but that he struggles with himself.
Toshiro also tries to do everything according to the rules (“by the book”)... But only half way, since he’s willing to make compromises and break the rules under certain circumstances, though it clearly stresses him out to do so. So “half book” could imply that he will only obey the rules as long as he feels he needs to, and that he will follow his own moral code after a certain point.
Nakamoto meaning “from the center/middle” might also imply that Toshiro (or his family) tends to avoid any extreme stance.
Laios, mishearing Toshiro’s name during their first meeting, started calling him シュロー (Shurow), and told everyone they met that his name was Shuro. Toshiro, too embarrassed to correct him, has allowed this to continue for the three years that they’ve known each other.
Shuro is a Japanese name, but it isn’t a nickname for Toshiro. The correct nicknames for Toshiro would be Toshi, or Shiro. Shuro sounds similar to Shiro, but it would be like calling someone named Robert the nickname Bart instead of Bert, or calling Matthew Pat.
Shuro is a Japanese name, and depending on the kanji used it can mean several things. I think the most appropriate kanji is 修郎.
While Toshiro’s actual name describes him very well, his nickname, given to him by Laios, is also extremely accurate. Remember that Laios’ name means “left” and “wrong”, so Toshiro’s name potentially meaning things like “right”, “correct” and “to fix” is extremely funny and appropriate!
They can fix their friendship!
Shuro (棕櫚 or シュロ) is Trachycarpus fortunei, the Chinese windmill palm or Chusan palm. It is a species of evergreen palm tree in the family Arecaceae, native to parts of China, Japan, Myanmar and India.
Windmill palm is one of the hardiest palms. They tolerate cool, moist summers as well as cold winters.
Trachycarpus fortunei has been cultivated in China and Japan for thousands of years, for its coarse but very strong leaf sheath fiber, used for making rope, sacks, and other coarse cloth where great strength is important. The extent of this cultivation means that the exact natural range of the species is uncertain.
The Ryukyu Islands have a history of being culturally and politically unique from the rest of Japan, so the fact that the Nakamoto family name is common in the islands is very intriguing.
Historically, Ryukyuans had a distinct culture with some matriarchal elements, native religion, and cuisine which had a fairly late (12th century) introduction of rice. In the 14th century, three separate Okinawan groups merged into the Ryukyu Kingdom, which played a central role in the maritime trade networks of medieval East Asia and Southeast Asia.
Many Chinese people moved to Ryukyu to serve the government or to engage in business during this period, bringing technology and culture from China with them. Ryukyuan ships, often provided by China, traded at ports throughout the region, which included, among others, China, Đại Việt (Vietnam), Japan, Java, Korea, Luzon, Malacca, Pattani, Palembang, Siam, and Sumatra.
In 1609, the Satsuma Domain (based in Kyushu, Japan) invaded the Ryukyu Kingdom. The Kingdom maintained some independence as a vassal, subordinate to both China and Japan, until it was eventually annexed and dissolved by Japan in 1879 to form Okinawa Prefecture. The Ryukyuan monarchs were integrated into the Japanese nobility system.
Is the Nakamoto clan in Dungeon Meshi from someplace like Ryukyu? Are they Wa nobility sent to help rule the Ryukyu islands as part of a colonization movement? Are they Ryukyu nobility that were incorporated into Wa’s nobility, and moved to Wa Island? Any of these, or none of these could be true, but they all paint different, interesting pictures of what the Nakamoto family are like, and what their role is on the Island of Wa.
Toshiro uses a type of sword called a tachi (太刀), which was worn by the samurai class of feudal Japan. The tachi style of swords preceded the development of the katana, and even after the katana became the primary bladed weapon of the samurai, tachi were often worn by high-ranking samurai as a symbol of their status. The tachi is generally longer than a katana, and was specifically designed for use on horseback against foot-soldiers.
Giving Toshiro a weapon like this is probably meant to signal both the time period he is from and his status as nobility. Using an extra-long blade while on foot probably makes him seem intimidating and powerful, and is only possible because he’s unusually tall for a Japanese person. Being capable of wielding such a weapon makes him seem very cool.
The Lady who Loved Insects (虫めづる姫君) is a twelfth-century Japanese tale of one who defies social convention and breaches decorum.
The protagonist is a Heian court lady who befriends insects, names her attendants after them, and engages in poetic exchanges involving furry caterpillars, which makes people laugh at her. She is eccentric and has a total disregard for her physical appearance: she leaves her hair untrimmed; has unplucked eyebrows; neglects to blacken her teeth; and allows herself to be seen by men, all things that were seen as unacceptable in the era. No one in the story is surprised when the lady fails to attract any romantic interest, and her love affair fails.
The story's most common interpretation is satirical, describing a comically extreme version of a person who does not and should not exist in the mind of the author, a woman who loves insects and doesn’t take care of her personal appearance. On the other hand, the story may also be intended to suggest the moral superiority of Buddhist truth (all of life is pain, and only in abandoning desire can one find release from suffering) over the highly artificial court practices of the Heian period.
It is easy to see how Kui is parallelling this classic story with Toshiro and Falin’s relationship. The subversion is that Toshiro finds Falin’s love of insects enthralling, because he also loves insects. He says that he “loves the way she thinks,” and later says that he envies some of Laios’ traits, such as his ability to speak bluntly and directly, as well. So Toshiro is someone who doesn’t have the traditional view of The Lady who Loved Insects, and instead finds such an eccentric and “weird” personality worthy of love and admiration.
The Lady who Loved Insects may also be a reference to Fujiwara Munesuke, a court bureaucrat of the Heian period who was famous for his love of bees. He nicknamed his favorites things like "Long Legs" , "Short Horns", and "Speckled Wings". Perhaps Toshiro is supposed to be the Munesuke to Falin’s Lady, and something as conventional and “normal” as marriage is not suitable for either of them.
Rice has historically been the staple food of the Japanese people, and a fundamental part of most meals. Its importance is evident from the fact that the word for cooked rice, gohan or meshi, is synonymous with "meal" in Japanese, much like how the word “meal” in English comes from the milled grain (meal/flour) that used to be the foundation of every meal European people ate.
Since Japan is an island nation, both spices and meat were rare commodities in the past. Rice, vegetables and fish with minimal seasoning are the main components of the traditional Japanese diet.
This is why when Maizuru begins to prepare food for Toshiro, she immediately starts cooking rice. No matter what else they eat, rice will always be the foundation and the bulk of the food they consume, and no matter how good any other ingredient might be, if the rice isn’t good, it could ruin the rest of the meal.
We often see Maizuru giving (or trying to give) Toshiro onigiri (おにぎり), which is a Japanese food made from white rice formed into triangular or cylindrical shapes and often wrapped in nori (seaweed paper). Traditionally, an onigiri is filled with pickled plum, salted salmon, bonito flakes, kombu seaweed, fish roe, pickled mustard greens or any other salty or sour ingredient as a natural preservative.
Because it is easily portable and eaten by hand, onigiri has been used as portable food from ancient times to the present day. Originally, it was used as a way to use and store left-over rice, but it later became a regular meal.
The ubiquity of white rice in Japanese cuisine is the basis for a subtle joke where Laios assumes white rice is Toshiro’s favorite food (Ch 40). Laios has probably seen Toshiro try to eat it every time he possibly can, so he must really like it, right? Actually Toshiro’s favorite food is soba… Which is funny because “soba” is the word Japanese people often use to refer to any kind of noodle, so while he doesn’t like cheese, he might be enjoying Mediterranean-style noodle dishes while he’s on Merini Island! They have so many foreign types of soba!
These are all normal Japanese names, and they’re made up of similar sounds, since Kui obviously wanted them all to match. We know the kanji for the grandfather, father, and Toshiro, but neither of his younger brothers.
The kanji used for the grandfather and father’s names are not standard ones, so I’ve just listed the meaning of each individual character. Since we have no kanji for the brothers, I selected some common potential meanings.
Maizuru, Hien, Benichidori, Inutade and Izutsumi are servants that work for the Nakamoto family, and they have been assigned to travel with Toshiro, serve and protect him. In some translations they have been called retainers. I’m not sure what the original Japanese calls them, but most likely some form of servant or vassal, such as 家臣 or 家来.
A retainer is a part of a retinue, which is a group of people who are "retained" (employed) in the service of nobility, royalty or a dignitary.
Retainers can have many varied functions, such as domestic servants, personal attendants, bodyguards, porters, musicians, tutors, translators, guides, etc. Retainers often wear some kind of uniform, possibly bearing the colors or insignia of their lord. They serve their master, but they also expect to be protected and cared for by their master as a part of his household.
All of Toshiro’s servants, Maizuru, Hein, Benichidori, Inutade and Izutsumi, have real names and work-issued code-names, similar to the Japanese practice I mentioned previously. Only Izutsumi seems to mind this, the rest of the characters use their aliases all the time.
All of the ninja code-names are plant-based, and Maizuru, Hein and Benichidori’s names also have a bird theme, something they do not share with Izutsumi and Inutade. All of the birds they are named after have been popular in Japan since ancient times and are considered lucky symbols. The plants Maizuru, Hein and Benichidori are named after are also all beautiful flowers, while Izutsumi’s is a toxic shrub and Inutade’s is a weed.
This may be meant to show how Izutsumi and Inutade’s status is separate and lower from the other three.
Interestingly, although Toshiro is their master, he also has a nickname, given to him by Laios, that sounds like a plant! Perhaps this is a hint that Toshiro does not want to enforce his position as a superior to his subordinates, but wants to treat them with compassion and empathy, because he does not consider himself better than them. This unusual humility and kindness is probably why the World Guide says Maizuru thinks Toshiro will be a better leader than his father.
None of these characters have kanji for their names, so I can only guess at Kui’s intended meaning. In order to do this, I have done my best to figure out what the most-common kanji meanings for their names are (if there are any), or if there is anything famous that sounds like their names.
Maizuru is the leader of Toshiro’s servants, and the highest ranking ninja among them. She’s served the Nakamoto family for a long time, and was retired from front-line espionage activities to be a nanny for Toshiro. It’s unclear if she also raised his brothers.
Maizuru loves Toshiro like he is her own child, and they were very close until Toshiro realized Maizuru was his father’s mistress. This knowledge has made things awkward between them, and Toshiro has pulled away from her somewhat.
Maizuru is her ninja code name, and comes from “maizurusou” (マイヅルソウ), which is maianthemum dilatatum, the snakeberry plant, also known as the Two-leaved Solomon's Seal and the False Lily of the Valley.
The Seal of Solomon is the legendary signet ring attributed to the Israelite king Solomon in medieval mystical traditions. It is often depicted in the shape of either a pentagram or a hexagram. In Islamic and Jewish lore, the ring is described as giving Solomon the power to command the supernatural, and also the ability to speak with animals. The ring was supposedly a gift given to Solomon directly from heaven.
Maizuru appears to be Toshiro’s party’s only magic user, and she summons various spirits to serve her in battle. She also is the one in charge of Izutsumi, a beast-kin, so you could say that she talks to animals.
Lily of the Valley is a plant associated with motherhood and virtue… So Maizuru being a false Lily of the Valley implies that she is a false, replacement mother, and also hints at the way that Toshiro became cold towards her when he realized she was his father’s mistress, and not a pure, virtuous mother-like figure that he thought she was. Also, lilies are toxic to cats, which makes sense since Maizuru and Izutsumi have an extremely bad relationship.
Maizuru (鶴) also means “dancing crane”, which is why her kimono sleeves are shaped like bird wings, and the color scheme of her design (black and white with red accents) resembles the red-crowned crane.
The red-crowned crane (Grus japonensis), also called the Manchurian or Japanese crane, is a large East Asian crane, and among the rarest cranes in the world. It is known as a symbol of luck, longevity, and fidelity. The red-crowned crane is territorial, monogamous and long-lived, and believed to mate for life. The elaborate courtship dance of the crane is famous for its beauty.
We know that Maizuru is an incredibly skilled warrior, but also Toshiro’s father’s mistress, so associating her with the dancing crane probably is meant to reinforce that she’s powerful, graceful, beautiful, and loved by someone in a romantic way. The irony of course is that Maizuru is faithful, but she is directly involved in adultery because of Toshiro’s father’s actions.
Maizuru is Toshiro’s father’s true mate, even if she isn’t his wife. The fact that cranes are territorial is funny, since Maizuru is hated by Toshiro’s mother, to the point where Maizuru is banned from certain areas of the house. Is Maizuru territorial, or just the victim of another woman’s territoriality? Kui tells us that Maizuru respects Toshiro’s mother’s strong will.
Cranes are also believed to reward people for acts of kindness. The Crane Wife is a famous Japanese myth where a man saves a bird’s life, and the crane returns the favor by becoming a woman and being his wife. When the man discovers the crane’s true identity, the crane wife is forced to leave him.
Is it possible that Maizuru feels indebted to Toshiro’s father? He’s in love with her, but how does she feel about him? She’s clearly loyal and devoted, and she raised Toshiro like her own child. Does Maizuru feel gratitude towards Toshiro’s father or the Nakamoto family that binds her to them, like Tade? Or is there something else keeping her in this uncomfortable situation?
Maizuru’s kimono with its unique bird wing design reminds me of the tennyo (天女, lit. "Heaven(ly) Woman") story, Hagoromo. In this story, a tennyo comes to earth and takes off her magical feathered clothing (羽衣) that allows her to fly. A fisherman spies her and hides her clothes in order to force her to marry him. After some years he tells his wife what he did, and she finds her stolen clothes and returns to heaven, leaving him behind.
I don’t think Maizuru is actually a tennyo, because if she were I’m certain Kui would have told us about it, however it is possible that the kimono she wears is either simply meant to remind readers of a tennyo’s magical clothing, or actually be a magical garment.
If it is a tennyo’s feathered garment, it was probably gifted to her by Toshiro’s father. Being a divine item, it would be an extremely valuable gift, showing how much he loves her. This would obviously be a point of conflict, since such a gift shouldn’t be given to a mere mistress.
On the other hand, if Maizuru’s kimono is only meant to remind us of the crane and the tennyo, it could suggest that Maizuru’s relationship to Toshiro’s father is not a simple case of a consensual affair. He loves her, but she is tied to him by duty, servitude, and now Toshiro. Maizuru loves Toshiro as if he were her own child, and perhaps that love, and her desire not to be parted from Toshiro, is the thing keeping her trapped in the Nakamoto household.
Maizuru’s true name is Iyo. Iyo (伊予) is the name of an ancient Japanese province, in an area now called Ehime Prefecture, located in northwestern Shikoku island. Perhaps Maizuru or her ancestors originally came from Iyo.
Shikoku has historically been rather isolated and therefore it has kept the original characteristics of Japan for a longer period, especially in regards to vegetation and some architectural techniques. There are many Buddhist temples.
The Iyo area was dominated by fishermen and sailors who played an important role in defending Japan against pirates and Mongolian invasions.
The oldest extant hot spring in Japan, Dogo Onsen, is located in what was once Iyo. According to legend, Prince Shotoku (574–622) used to partake of the waters.
Dōgo Onsen is famous for the Dōgo Onsen public bathhouse, which was organized by Dōgo Yunomachi mayor Isaniwa Yukiya and built in 1894. Built on three levels for maximum capacity, the baths remain popular and are usually crowded at peak times, such as in the early evening before dinner. The bath house in the film Spirited Away is partially based on this bath house.
There is a bath room specially reserved for the Imperial Family called Yushinden, and a room called Gyokuza no Ma that is reserved for the exclusive use of the Emperor. Having a special reserved space in the bath house for him and his family suggests that Dogo Onsen is extremely prestigious, and somehow worthy of the imperial family’s patronage.
There are two famous legends in Dogo about the hot spring water healing injuries. One is about a heron, and the other is about the minor god, Sukunabikona no Mikoto, who was so vigorous after the waters healed him, he did a dance that left a footprint behind in the stone ground.
The heron obviously matches Maizuru’s bird motif (herons are also long-legged, long-necked, long-beaked birds), and Sukunabikona matches the “dancing” part of her name.
Iyo being famous as a retreat where people go to heal themselves and find rest and relaxation makes perfect sense with Maizuru’s position as Toshiro’s father’s mistress. She is his source of solace in a life where he is not allowed to do the things he wants due to the demands of being head of the clan. There is also a connotation of bath house attendants working as prostitutes.
By sending his sons out into the world to bring back “something interesting”, Toshiro’s father is probably trying both to live vicariously through them, and to give them a chance to enjoy life before they must also take on the burden of running the family.
Maizuru’s magic is said to be based on the gnomish magic system in-universe, but aside from that, it’s also heavily inspired by many real-world Japanese magical practices. Maizuru’s clothing and the spells she uses imply that she is some type of onmyōji (陰陽師), a user of the Onmyodo (陰陽道, Literally 'The Way of Yin and Yang') system.
Onmyōdō is a system of natural science, astronomy, mantras, almanac, divination and magic that developed independently in Japan based on the Chinese philosophies of yin and yang and wuxing (five elements).
In 701 CE, the Taiho Code established the Bureau of Onmyō for onmyōji who practiced in the Imperial Court. From around the 9th century during the Heian period, Onmyōdō interacted with Shinto and Goryō worship in Japan, and developed into a system unique to Japan.
Onmyōji were specialists in magic and divination. Their court responsibilities ranged from tasks such as keeping track of the calendar, to mystical duties such as divination and protection of the capital from evil spirits. They could divine auspicious or harmful influences in the earth, and it is said that they could summon and control shikigami, and inflict curses on political enemies.
Onmyōdō was under the control of the imperial government, and later its courtiers, the Tsuchimikado family, until the middle of the 19th century, at which point it became prohibited as superstition.
The onmyoji is a classic figure of occultism and magic users in Japan, so of course Maizuru being an onmyoji makes perfect sense.
Maizuru’s primary method of using magic is to employ shikigami to serve her.
Shikigami (式神) are conjured beings from Japanese folklore, made alive through a complex conjuring ceremony. They are thought to be some sort of kami. The belief of shikigami originates from Onmyōdō.
A shikigami’s power is connected to the spiritual force of their master. If the caster is powerful, their shikigami can possess animals and even people and manipulate them. If the master is weak or careless, their shikigami may get out of control in time, gain its own will and eventually kill its master.
Usually shikigami are conjured to exercise risky orders for their masters, such as spying, stealing and enemy tracking. Shikigami are said to be invisible most of the time, but they can be made visible by binding them into small, folded and artfully cut paper manikins. Some shikigami can manifest as animals.
Hien (ヒエン) has a bold and blunt personality, high self-confidence, a curvy body, and she is the leader of the ninja girls that work under Maizuru. Both of her parents are ninja who serve the Nakamoto clan, and so she’s been training to be a ninja her whole life. She expected that because she was Toshiro’s second in command, that she would inevitably end up as his mistress, and is surprised that it hasn’t happened.
Hien is her ninja code name, and comes from “hiensou” which is the rocket larkspur, also known as the doubtful knight’s spur (consolida ajacis). It is frequently grown in gardens as an ornamental for its spikes of flowers. The aerial parts and seeds are poisonous. This is funny since Hien is the ninja who makes her entrance by doing an aerial attack, dropping out of the sky to land on Kabru’s shoulders, and causing a huge explosion with a bomb! How fitting!
Historically larkspur has been used to treat hemorrhoids, colic and wounds, but some people experience contact dermatitis after handling larkspur. Kui’s done some gag comics about Hien that suggest she has a forceful personality and self-confidence that hits people like an explosion. So Hein is hard to handle, abrasive, and some people might get a metaphorical rash just from being near her!
Because of the rocket larkspur’s association healing wounds on the battlefield and helping to fight lice infestations among the troops, larkspur is sometimes associated with soldiers and other heroic types. This fits with how Hien is surprised that Toshiro didn’t fall in love with her, since he’s a generic samurai man and she’s his childhood friend. She assumes they would naturally end up together.
Additional mythological references include the flower coming from Aphrodite’s tears, and a Medieval Italian tale about the blood of a slain dragon mixing with its venom on the grass to create a beautiful but poisonous blue flower.
Hien (燕) also means swallow. Swallows are a type of passerine songbirds found around the world on all continents. They are highly adapted to aerial feeding, making them graceful and agile fliers, similar to what we see of Hein’s fighting style. Many swallows have a distinctive black and white appearance, similar to the Nakamoto ninja uniforms.
In Japan, swallows build nests under the eaves of houses, and it is said that houses with swallow nests will prosper, so the nests are treated with great care and respect. So Hein may be considered a valuable asset to the Nakamoto family.
Naka (ナカ) is her real name, and the term for the second player (out of three) in a Japanese card game. This is suggestive of Hein’s position as Maizuru’s immediate subordinate, and also how she is Toshiro’s childhood friend, expected to be at his side always.
The most interesting kanji I saw for naka were 仲, which means “relationship,” and 中, which can mean inside, middle, second, average, or even “red light district.” Any of these could be a reference to how Hein assumed she would someday become Toshiro’s mistress, or that she was destined to be Toshiro’s wife. 家内 (kanai) is an archaic Japanese term for wife which literally means “person inside the home.”
Though we don’t know exactly what Hien used in the bombs she threw into the sea serpent’s mouth, based on context clues we can guess it was probably an early form of gunpowder, called black powder. This is different from modern smokeless powder, although both are often called gunpowder.
Black powder is the earliest known chemical explosive. It consists of a mixture of sulfur, charcoal, and potassium nitrate (saltpeter). Originally developed by Taoists in China for medicinal purposes, black powder was first used for warfare around 904 CE. In the real world, black powder eventually led to the invention of guns.
Although we know that the tall-men of the Eastern Archipelago use magic, the lack of influence from the long-lived races may have led to a society that is more dependent on other types of technology, and thus the invention of black powder. Since Hien is the only person we see using it at any point in the manga, we can theorize that it originates from the Eastern Archipelago, and perhaps she specializes in the use of it.
(This would be funny, since the World Guide comics featuring her both include explosions…)
Benichidori (ベニチドリ) originally came from an old farming village, and her family sent her away to be a servant in someone’s house at a young age. Later she was purchased by the Nakamotos. Benichidori is petite and quiet, and suffers from intense body dysmorphia. She’s unable to go out in public without putting on a lot of makeup first.
Despite this fear, it’s suggested that Benichidori is actually very beautiful. Hein remarks that she doesn’t need to wear so much makeup, and the World Guide calls her “the beauty of the ninja group.”
Benichidori is her ninja code name, and is a type of plum tree (prunus mume) that originally comes from southern China, and has proliferated all throughout the rest of Asia. Plum blossoms are a famous and beloved subject of traditional art in many Asian cultures, and the fruit is used to make alcohol, sauces, pickles, traditional medicine, and a million other things.
In China, the plum blossoms are viewed as blooming most vibrantly amidst the winter snow, exuding an ethereal elegance, while their fragrance is noticed to still subtly pervade the air at even the coldest times of the year. Therefore, the plum blossom symbolizes perseverance and hope, as well as beauty, purity, and the transitoriness of life.
Meihua chuang (梅花妝 Literally "plum blossom makeup") became popular amongst ladies in the Tang and Song dynasties. According to legend, Princess Shouyang was resting near the plum trees, and a plum blossom drifted down onto her face, leaving a floral imprint on her forehead that enhanced her beauty. The court ladies all started decorating their own foreheads with small plum blossom designs.
All of this suggests that Benichidori is a great, feminine beauty, despite her intense fear of allowing herself to be seen.
The plum blossom is also regarded as one of the "Four Gentlemen" or “Flowers of the Four Seasons” in Chinese art, and so the plum blossom is often featured in sets of four with other plants and flowers. Not counting Maizuru, who is their superior, there are four ninja girls in Toshiro’s group, and Benichidori is considered to be the “great beauty” among them, like a plum blossom.
Benichidori also means plover. Plovers are a type of wading bird that have short bills, and hunt by sight, rather than by feel as long-billed wading birds usually do. Plovers engage in false brooding, a type of distraction display, in order to conceal the true location of their nest. Examples include pretending to change position or to sit on an imaginary nest site.
In Japan, plovers are thought to bring good luck, and they are a popular traditional design motif.
Benichidori is a ninja that specializes in makeup and disguise, so she is active in espionage. This involves tricking people by presenting a false appearance and behavior, just like the plover with its false brooding behavior!
Matsu マツ (待つ) is her real name, and it means pine tree. In Japanese culture, the pine tree is associated with longevity, endurance, steadfastness, and immortality. Matsu can also mean “the highest of a three-tier ranking system”, and even possibly to rub, paint, or erase (抹).
Benichidori’s name could be indicating a “third” to go with Hein’s “second”, or possibly her name could be an allusion to her heavy use of makeup, how she is using it to try and erase her real face.
The steadfastness of the pine tree reminds me of how Benichidori probably takes a long time to apply her makeup every day due to her body dysphoria, and could be suggesting that Benchidori isn’t “ready” yet, but someday she will “blossom” like the plum tree, and become a more beautiful, more desirable person, maybe because she has gained self-confidence. The extra comics about her learning to be her true self around Hein certainly suggest this kind of growth!
Inutade (イヌタデ) is an ogre woman. She was separated from her parents at a young age and raised to be a sumo wrestler. Toshiro’s father saw her first match and bought her immediately. Inutade is physically strong but also very large, so she isn’t good for espionage work. Maizuru is still trying to decide how to use her best.
She’s very cheerful and sweet, and doesn’t understand why Izutsumi is so determined to run away from the Nakamoto clan.
In Dungeon Meshi, ogres are a human race that has nearly gone extinct, although they once controlled a large empire. Now they are mostly found in remote villages in the Eastern Archipelago and some northern parts of the Western Continent. They’re very strong, but they require huge amounts of food, which is one of the reasons they may be dying out.
Though it isn’t explicitly stated, based on clothing and the ethnicities of the ogres we’ve been shown, their empire may have had some similarity to the Mongolian or Hun empires, minus the horses, since ogres are too big to ride them. They appear to have been a war-like, conquering civilization, proud of their immense strength. Inutade is the only ogre we see in Dungeon Meshi.
The ogres are based on the oni (鬼), which are a kind of yōkai, demon, orc, ogre, or troll in Japanese folklore. Oni are known for their superhuman strength, and they are typically portrayed as hulking figures with one or more horns growing out of their heads, massive teeth, and occasionally a third eye in the center of the forehead. They are typically depicted wearing loincloths made of tiger pelt, and carrying iron kanabō clubs.
Inutade uses an iron kanabō club, and her kimono is orange and black like a tiger’s pelt.
Inutade is her ninja code name, and is a reference to tade (蓼), Persicaria hydropiper, a weed also known as water pepper, marshpepper knotweed, or arsesmart, because the plant stings when it touches bare skin, and was often used to kill fleas. A widespread species, Persicaria hydropiper is found in Australia, New Zealand, temperate Asia, Europe and North America.
The plant grows in damp places and shallow water, such as ditches and other marshy areas and in the margins of small streams and ponds, but it is also commonly seen in normally dry areas where the ground has been disturbed, such as places where farm animals congregate, rural trash heaps, and construction sites.
The water pepper is eaten in Japan. The leaves are used as a vegetable, but only from the cultivar, not the wild type which has a far more pungent taste. There is also water pepper sauce, known as tade-zu (蓼酢), which is traditionally used as a compliment to grilled freshwater fish.
Considering that Inutade is a big ogre who was raised in extremely poor and abusive circumstances but still managed to survive, like a weed, is really appropriate! She’s big and strong and it’ll take a lot to take her down, even Falin’s chimera form wasn’t able to kill her.
Her full alias is Inutade, but most of the time this is shortened to Tade, which is a reference to a famous Japanese proverb: 蓼食う虫も好き好き (Tade kuu mushi mo sukizuki/Some insects eat water pepper and like it), which can be translated as "There is no accounting for taste", "To each to his own" or “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.”
This is most likely a reference to the fact that Inutade is happy with the Nakamotos while Izutsumi is miserable.
This proverb comes from the late 1500’s or early 1600’s, which makes it a period-appropriate reference for the characters to be making, which is fun!
Inu means “dog” in Japanese, and “tade” means weed or grass, so her name also means something like “dogweed”.
Inutade has several dog-like traits, such as being extremely loyal, happy-go-lucky, somewhat simple-minded, and food-motivated. The narrative often parallels Inutade with Izutsumi, who is a cat beast-man, so Inutade having dog-like traits, and her name having “dog” in it is very funny.
Hijouhi (ヒジョウヒ) is Inutade’s true name. Most likely it was given to her by her ogre parents.
Because this isn’t a real name, we don’t have any clue as to what kanji might be used to write it like the other names, where we can at least make educated guesses.
Based on sound, “hijou” could be either 非常 (emergency, extreme, terrible, severe) or 非情 (cold-hearted, heartless, callous, cruel). “Hi” could either be 火 (fire), 日 (day, sunshine) or it could be 妃, which is a suffix that means princess or consort.
Ogres seem to have a very war-like culture, so a name that means “Terrible fire”, “Heartless day/sunshine”, “Heartless Princess”, or “Cruel Princess,” might be extremely appropriate!
Izutsumi (イヅツミ) is a beast-man created by attaching a human soul to a monster cat, which is why she won’t ever be able to “turn back” into a human: she was never human to begin with. We don’t know what Izutsumi’s birth name was, if she even had one. The human that was killed was probably a baby or young child, since they don’t seem to have any memories of their mother, so they may not have ever been named.
We know that Izutsumi is from a different, larger island in the Eastern Archipelago to the northeast of Wa Island, however we do not know if this is the origin point of her human half, her monster cat half, both, or if this is just where she was made.
We do know that when she saw an illusion of what she thought was her human soul’s mother, the illusion was wearing something similar to North or Central Asian clothing, not Japanese clothing, so the island Izutsumi comes from is probably not culturally Japanese like Wa Island.
Izutusmi’s code name as a ninja is Asebi (アセビ), which is the Japanese name for Japanese andromeda (pieris japonica), a type of shrub. The kanji for this plant’s name is 馬酔木 and it literally means “horse intoxicating tree” because it was known to be toxic to horses and make their legs go numb. A code name like this could imply a rude sentiment like “you’re so unpleasant, just being near you makes horses sick.” Considering the hostile relationship Izutsumi has with the Nakamoto clan, this code name makes a lot of sense.
Izutsumi (井堤) is a common family name in central Japan, especially Kanagawa Prefecture. It is historically affiliated with the Tachibana (橘氏) clan, which was one of the four most powerful kuge (court nobility) families in Japan's Nara and early Heian periods.
The Tachibana clan’s founder was Inukai Michiyo (犬養 三千代) whose name was changed to Tachibana Michiyo by Empress Genmei. Michiyo was a court lady of the early Nara period and mother of Empress Kōmyō.
The family name Inukai (犬養) literally means to own or keep a dog, but the character for dog historically refers not only to dogs, but to any four-legged animal, especially those that are ancient or magical.
Over the course of the 9th and 10th centuries, the Tachibana clan’s rivals pushed the Tachibana out of power, and the clan was scattered across the country. I’m not certain, but it sounds to me like “Inukai” as a family name describes a profession, in this case, someone who is in charge of keeping four-legged beasts of all kinds. In the world of Dungeon Meshi, maybe this name implies they are a professional monster keeper, or monster trainer.
Though it’s a somewhat tenuous connection, the idea that Izutsumi’s human half might have been a stolen child from the Tachibana/Inukai family, which tames monsters, is very interesting! Another possibility is that the Tachibana/Inukai family were the ones that provided the monster cat used for making Izutsumi. Perhaps they were experimenting with making beast-kin soldiers in an attempt to fight back against their rival kuge clans.
Let’s break down the name Izutsumi into its sound components and what they might mean.
The primary meaning for tsumi is 罪, a Japanese word that indicates the violation of legal, social or religious rules, so you could translate it as sin, abomination, or a crime against god and humanity.
In Ancient Japan the word usually implied that a divine punishment was occuring, and something that was tsumi would therefore carry disease, be polluted and unclean, suffer from disasters, or be ugly and unsightly.
Considering the way people of the Eastern Archipelago discriminate against all races that aren’t tall-men, and the way the Nakamotos make Izutsumi cover her body and face up completely, I think Kui probably meant for Izutsumi’s name to convey this meaning.
However, although the negative connotation is the most common, tsumi can also be a name, or part of a name (Tsumigiwa, Tsumiki, Tsumio, Tsumire, etc.) which makes it sound natural when used in Izutsumi’s name.
It can also refer to the Japanese sparrowhawk, Chinese mulberry, a spindle, a whelk, a child's wooden building blocks, to accumulate (bricks, like a wall, or savings, like money), to build a reputation or gain experience, atonement (for sin), to pluck, to load with cargo, or to send away.
These meanings are interesting, since they suggest that Izutsumi is “sent away” by Toshiro when he lets her go, and by joining Laios’ party she is gaining life experience, building herself up (like a wall, like a child with toy blocks), and becoming a more mature person, moving past her old identity of being a sinful mistake. Through the course of the manga she learns to accept herself as she is, and eventually discovers that there was nothing to “fix”, she cannot become a full human, because she wasn’t one to begin with.
Izu is either a girl’s name, or a component of several Japanese names for any gender (Izumi, Izuko, Izuchi, etc), so putting together Izu+tsumi creates a compound that sounds like a Japanese personal name, though I have found no evidence of it as an existing personal name.
Many names reference where a person or their family are from, so it’s possible that Izutsumi (or her family, or the magicians who made her a beast-man) are from a place called Izu.
Izu (伊豆) is the historic name of a province which is now part of the Shizuoka Prefecture, which is to the west of Tokyo. This area is the Izu peninsula, a large mountainous area, and it contains Izu city, and nearby is the Izu island chain.
Many of the Izu islands are and have been uninhabited, however a few of the islands do have small populations, and Jomon and Yayoi ruins have been found on several of them, indicating that the ancestors of modern Japanese people once lived in these places. I was unable to find any information about whether any other ethnic groups have specifically lived on these islands.
During the Tokugawa shogunate (one of the primary eras that Dungeon Meshi’s Wa Island resembles), the Japanese court frequently sent nobility into exile in the Izu islands because the region was far away from the capital, and it was considered an unlucky and bad place to be. It’s unclear if the Izu islands already had this reputation before they became a place of exile, or if the negative reputation was caused by its use as a prison. There is some indication that the Izu islands were somehow seen as ritually unclean or dangerous.
Eventually the criteria for banishment was broadened and the islands became penal colonies, where people were sent for murder, theft, arson, brawling, gambling, fraud, jailbreak, rape, and belonging to illegal religions (Christianity). Criminals exiled to the island were never told the length of their sentences, and the history of the island is filled with foiled escape attempts.
Not only were the islands used as a prison to keep politically dangerous people away from Kyoto, they also held an important religious role as a barrier between the supposed purity of the central court in Kyoto and the unclean dangers beyond the borders of Japan.
The islands were the first line of magical defense against the dangers that threatened Japan, and the ritual experts, a type of shaman called an urabe, practiced a special kind of turtle-shell divination in Izu.
It’s possible that Izutsumi’s human soul came from the Izu region. Izutsumi’s human part could have been a native of the Izu mainland, an Izu islander, or the child of a prisoner. No matter which one it is, being from Izu would make Izutsumi very low-ranking and unimportant, which would make her human half a perfect target for someone trying to find a baby or child that they could sacrifice to make a beast-man.
It’s also possible that the magician that made Izutsumi lived and worked in Izu, since it’s a place that had magical and ritual significance, was seen as a place of pollution and danger where such “unclean” work could be done, and where there is a ready supply of unwanted human beings (prisoners, islanders and their kin) available to be used as raw materials.
Perhaps they made many beast-men, and so since “tsumi” means abomination, perhaps the name Izutsumi simply means “abomination made in Izu.”
Izu (出ず “dezu”) is also an archaic verb used by the lower-class that can mean a great variety of things, though there does seem to be some common ideas being expressed through all of them. Here are the ones that I think apply the most to Izutsumi: