Tengu (Trailer)

Trailer for my new Feature Film "Tengu" (J 2009, 63 min).
(Llink to the movie: http://www.taoistmovies.com/for/ )
Starring: Ted Taylor, Mimori Sento, Sakiko Ikegami and the legendary Kan Mikami.
Written and directed by Roger Walch.

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[altarush]

@JackHatred Maybe you could send me from information on them.

[falrapax]

does this assume a tengu paradigm separate from its Chinese origin as described by M. W. de Visser? If your research concludes that the origin of the red-faced long-nosed formulation of the tengu is unrelated to a perversion of its earlier avian characteristics I would be very much interested, as this is a point of some difficulty in the creature's 'evolution' if you will.

[JackHatred]

I'm familiar with the diverse qualities of Tengu, hehe, the stories are pretty funny... the evolution of the creature... their role as the punishers of the prideful. I've even heard that for this reason their myths were used by shinobi mono... I've never read of SoJoBo outside of the context of Buddhism, though. Given his name, it would be kinda weird. He seems part of a tradition of guardians of Buddhism and teachers... like Hanzobo... All of the Daitengu have names that relate to Buddhism.

[rowmuse]

In fact Tengu tended to prey on Buddhist clerics in the mountains. They typically acted as tricksters and were capable of appearing in the guise of humans. Until the 14th century, tengu were always portrayed as malevolent. But later they came to be regarded as creatures capable of both bad and good deeds. Some good tengu morphed into guardians of Buddhist temples and monasteries. Tengu Sojobo's buddhist nature was first mentioned by philosopher Hayashi Razan in the beginning of the 17th century.

[rowmuse]

unfortunately I have no blog so far. give me your email and i can send you a pic or two. shooting on location was indeed quite difficult. actually i got permits for (almost) all locations, but it was not easy.

[JackHatred]

no doubt... do you have a blog for your film. post the link.

[rowmuse]

Here is part of a Tengu definition by the Online Dictionary of History and Traditions in Japan: "Because of their physiognomy (red face and great nose), there exists a thesis that they might be survivors of a wrecked Arabic or Jewish merchant ship." I could send you some pictures of Western looking Tengu that I took in some Tengu temples.

[JackHatred]

I'd probably believe soujoubou was Korean or Chinese before I'd believe he was russian... given the Buddhist connection. After all, his name is SouJouBou, which is like great monk or something right? Would a Russian living in the mountains be a Buddhist ascetic.

...Trying not to maliciously ball bust. Just making conversation.

-Congratulations on your film. It must have been crazy to try and shoot it on location. Did you get a permit to shoot in japan?

[JackHatred]

Yes, I've been to kurama. I remember getting passed by obaachan on the way to the top, hehe... I remember the space alien temple... but I don't remember a russian soujoubou. I'll have to check that out if I ever go again. I've never seen a tengu with a european face. I've never heard/read any theory of this. I'd be interested to read about it if you have any sources you could cite.

It's a wild idea, given how far inland Kurama is and how Japanese the monks are, who actually trained Ushiwakamaru.

[rowmuse]

You are right that more Oni than Tengu are related to foreigners, but in fact also some local Tengu legends can be connected to (shipwrecked) foreigners. According to some theories the famous Kurama Tengu (who lived in the mountains North of Kyoto and taught martial arts to the famous warrior Minamoto Yoshitsune) was supposedly of Russian origin. In some local temples I saw images of Tengu with surprisingly Western looking faces. My movie tells a fictitious story, though.