Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Ama-no-kagaseo: "The Mikaboshi"

The Mikaboshi are cursed wizards, mainly Japanese, who practice dark and evil magic. The first and most powerful of them would retain the title of "Mikaboshi" and rule over the others. They would use the spirits of the dead and the cursed to serve them, building massive armies of Oni in their hellish realms. By controlling the Kimon, or Demon Gate, Mikaboshi could summon their demon servants to Earth where they would plague the people of Japan.

The main power of the Mikaboshi lies in manipulating emotions. Their presence alone can push people to extreme behavior; love turns to hate or jealousy, anger into rage or fear, etc. Their magic is never used blatantly or obviously, except in the cases of direct demon summoning, they much prefer to simply create an environment around them that fosters hate and chaos. The last Mikaboshi was rumored to have died before the 19th century. In Japan a legend has started regarding a new Mikaboshi. The legend says that a powerful wizard used ancient runes and glyphs to harness the almost instantaneous deaths of the people of Nagasaki and Hiroshima. That amount of sudden death-chi immediately transformed the wizard into a Mikaboshi and allowed him to control and access all Kimon. All traces of his runes disappeared although one reporter claimed to have found and photographed the apartment where the spell took place. These photographs are cursed and anyone who has seen them dies. Whether they are killed by the Mikaboshi, his Oni servants, or simply through curse or coincidence remains to be seen.

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