How Japanese Religion Influenced Pokémon 

Magikarp (a carp) which, after many trials and tribulations, evolves into Gyrados (a water dragon) references the traditional folklore that a carp will become a dragon if it manages to swim up a great waterfall. A carp swimming up a waterfall to become a dragon is used as a symbol of achieving greatness through diligence and perseverance. This tradition, like many others, originates in China. In East Asia dragons are (usually benevolent) water deities associated with rivers, waterfalls, storms and the sea.

“A world where humans and godlike beings intermingle” AND WE MAKE ‘EM FIIIIIGHT!!! WHOO!!!

There is at least one Pokémon (and it’s evolution) that is based of Buddhism, Darumaka (and Darmanitan). Darumaka is based on Daruma dolls, which are good luck talismans that represent a stylized caricature of Boddhidharma, the founder of Zen Buddhism.

I remember taking a class in college, (race, ethnicity, and minority relations). The teacher lived in japan for a number of years. What i found most interesting was the almost picking and choosing of religion based on the need. Shinto was dominant, but Buddhism was popular for funerals, as shinto is all about purity and doesn't deal will with death. Christian style weddings becoming more popular due to the larger celebratory aspect. Might make a cool video

My community was also gripped by the second Satanic Panic of the mid-nineties. Pokemon's Shinto connections coupled with urban legends surrounding the seizure incident in Japan quickly became fodder for pastoral concern. I can still recall an evangelical pamphlet that made the rounds in our local churches, which ultimately prompted my aunt to ban us from watching the series after school. Parental concern about the demonic nature of the game (and the actual problem that "collecting" quickly took a turn towards gambling among kids) lead to its prohibition on the playground. The anti-Pokemon hysteria eventually died down and largely fell away; my aunt had another son a decade and a half later and she freely permits him to watch the show and play the video games. Religious leaders fighting Pokemon GO in 2016 had already lost the battle with most of their parishioners having warmed to the fantasy critters long ago. Similar efforts failed to eradicate RPGs (read the tract Dark Dungeons) the decade prior or rock music before that. Now Pokemon is joined on American television and in Happy Meal boxes by Yokai Watch, which unabashedly features entities from Japanese folklore (i.e. religion) as the central premise.

My parents threw out all my pokemon cards, movies, games, etc.. when I was a teenager (back when there was only 150 pokemon) because of the demon scare that our church was preaching. Some of the cards were rarities and would have been worth alot today. That was a sad day in my childhood. Of course in Christian circles they translate mythical gods & demons to actual demons that want to prey on your children's souls. They even went as far to say that the names of pokemon were the names of real fallen angels. (eyes roll) Even when I was a Christian teenager I always figured some pokemon had to have some mythical influence, but so do most fictional things so it never bothered me and even when I was a fundamentalist Christian I always thought the church was over reacting and reading more into it than what it was. Clearly most pokemon are random ideas of what new abilities a made up fictional animal might have. With so many mythical figures though, it would be really hard to create any made up creature that doesn't already somewhat resemble or could be translated into a traditional mythical figure. I wouldn't read mythical influence into every pokemon just because their abilities match up to a demi-gods or demon. Certainly some of them are influenced since it's Japan and they're often inspired by their lore, especially in anime, but I'm also sure alot of it is coincidence since traditional mythical beings have practically filled every niche of abilities that a made up character could possible have. Also there are a handful of pokemon are not only inspired by Japanese lore, but Greek mythology as well.

I hate when I go to put on my sandals and there's a ghost inside.

Watch to the very end! You won't regret it

I love how Earth is wearing a fedora.

I was not expecting that ending! I am so glad I stuck it to the end! LOL

Amazing video! Just a interesting thought regarding the difference between kami and youkai. Kunio Yanagita said yes, that youkai could be seen as lower or fallen kami, but not in the way of fallen angels or fallen gods like in western tradition. Folklorist Komatsu Kazuhiko has build on Yanagita's approach and written that youkai are fallen gods in the way that they are no longer worshipped as deities but still revered as supernatural beings. Which is quite interesting. Komatsu also writes that the main difference between Youkai and kami is worship. kami are worshipped, youkai are not.

I want to be the very best... religious explainer there ever was...

the ending ended me.

People complained about Klefki's design being unoriginal, but keys are some of the most popular objects for tsukumogami to inhabit because keys are kept safe by their owners and are almost never thrown away or replaced.

Maybe the most interesting thing about Shinto is that it was essentially an ahistorical invention. People in the Meiji period looked around them and saw all these various traditions and then just decided to interpret them as a single coherent whole. Which is, of course, not to say that Shinto is "fake" or "illegitimate" or anything.

Religion in general has always been interesting to me, as well as seeing religious hints in games. I love this channel

Hey I used to work with Michael Foster! I was a department secretary for East Asian Languages and Cultures. Cool guy. Also, as for other pokemon, I once read somewhere that the Dratini-Dragonair-Dragonite set was based on a specific type of Korean dragon that had a pearl in its mouth or something? I can't remember. I could google it, but why?

Also cf. Koopas from Mario, an almost direct facsimile of the Kappa of Japanese mythology, generally depicted as a sort of turtle-person.

Kami appear to be more specific to elemental spirits and nature orientated. There are loads of Pokémon inspired ones too. Snorlax is based on a totoro which simply translates into "troll" kami. Ghastly, haunter, gengar, misdreavous, banette and shuppet seem to be general ghost\demonic motifs among others. Similarly for all dragons. The kami are not just exclusively Japanese. Meowth (Chinese lore), golem (Jewish lore), magikarp and ho-oh (chinese lore), moltres (the phoenix\slavic and multi region lore) xatu and zapdos (native american lore), xerneas\yveltal\zygarde (Norse mythology), dunsparse (jaspasnese cryptozoology) jynx\froslass (yukinko Japanese)

Kyogre and Groudon represent the Behemoth and Leviathan from the old testament.

I was just talking to my co workers about this today.

Also Claydol is based on a prehistoric figure that looks almost exactly as this pokemon, so there is also some prehistoric influences in that design.

Shows/Toys/Games that are influenced by my favorite anime, Pokemon: - Bakugan - Chaotic - Digimon - Dinosaur King - Drawn Together (especially the character, Ling-Ling) - Invizimals - Kaijudo - Matt's Monsters - Mix Master - Mix Master: Final Force - Monsuno - Slugterra - Tai Chi Chasers - Turning Mecard (Mecard) - Yu-Gi-Oh!

I’m surprised no one has mentioned Raijū, (I.e. Raichu) the Japanese thunder beast. Raichu is the evolved form of Pikachu, the most famous of all Pokémon.

You really need to do Avatar: The Last Airbender next!

Well, Pokemon is short form for Pocket Monster. A pokemon ball is like a spiritual device to contain the monster; similar to how Thai amulets contain spirits.

6:19 A wild lecturer appears He uses the move... _FAIRY GODPARENTS!!_

That outro was amazing

As an East Asian (Hong Konger; a Christian though), we are used to the culture of thinking that spirits can be anywhere. And to my limited understanding of the Japanese culture, 妖怪 youkai are not necessarily evil. They are mythical creatures that explains (/and are at times blamed for) unlucky events. On the other hand, I think Western monsters like Minotaur would be categorised as 妖怪. And there is actually a word for demon, which is 悪魔 akuma, so caiming Pokemon be demons is just not accurate.

Am I the only one that is impressed by his style? You have amazing content and an excellent collection of sports coats. Keep it up!

There's another cartoon (anime?) called Yokai Watch. That's when I found out what Yokai was! You're looking very professorial today, by the way :D Edit: Lotad is another one! That's the one with a bowl of water on its head. I don't remember the name of the original myth though.

Another amazing video from an amazing channel - keep it up!

the reason you offer them fried tofu to the kitsune statues is because in folklore it is said to be their favorite food! it's also why udon with fried tofu on top is called kitsune udon! kitsune directly translates to fox.

Then there's also a game and anime called Yokai Watch which is quite similar in appearance to Pokemon which I guess just straight up calls their monsters Yokai. Interesting stuff.

Great and informative video!

4:45 not a minion!

Perfect timing! I just flew into Japan last week and will be here for a bit on business.

Good timing for the Detective Pikachu movie 🖒 are there any other religious similarities or examples in other franchises that you noticed?

The full beard & plaid dress jacket, look very good!! Also, like always, very informative!!

That end tho

Oh my, I like your channel!🧡

I always find very interesting how Japanese culture is clearly present in all of these games, creatures like Sneasel or Frosslass seem to me to be very inspired on kamaitachi (a weavel like kami who is reponsible from the cuts that the wind makes ont he skin when travelling during a snow storm) and Yuki Onna another Winter realted Yokai.

Hah, evangelicals again?! Sick of them twisting others’ cultures...

THAT OUTRO

This is fantastic content, as always. This particular topic reminds of me an academic paper I read once on the spirituality of Avatar the Last Airbender. I'm not sure if you're familiar with the series, but I would love to see your take on it! The Avatar in that universe is essentially a living God - the Chinese characters at the start of the series describe it as "The divine medium who has descended upon the mortal world." The spirits you describe here are also very similar to how the spirit world works in that series. Anyway I won't go on too much about it, but I hope you check it out or do something with it!

Pika

Weird I l listening to one my favorite podcasts "Astonishing Legends" a couple weeks ago on Yokai. My dad being a Zen Buddhist and I being a Polytheist I wanted to understand the relationship Yokai and Kami have to each other, This spelled it out a lot more clearly than a lot of other other sources I found about the topic. Thank you! You truly are the best that no one ever was.

Anyone else in love with his penguin classics collection?

I'm surprised that Froslass wasn't mentioned--that one is rather blatantly based on a Yuki Onna (Snow Woman).

"This might include umbrellas, haunted tea kettles... I'll leave other examples as a challenge to you all." Huh, I wonder if the haunted tea kettle Pokémon has anything to do with that

Nobody: Nobody at all: Itachi Uchiha: Amaterasu!

I think you should be made aware of the Gaijin Goombah channel. He has many, many videos about yokai, kami and other Japanese folklore in popular culture.

The ending though!!! 😂

Subbed. Great explanation.

I love this foray into non-Western/Monotheistic/Abrahamic religions! To me it's all fresh and new. Really awesome :)

Pokémon my friend is rife with Japanese legends and folklores of yokais and kamis and what not. It's very interesting and amusing a little to see you do a video on Pokémon among all the serious talks about religion. And you forgot to mention Pokémon like Gastly, Bronzong, Mawile, Lombre and Froslass to name a few which are based on Japanese folklores. But it's nice what you did..... Pokémon yeaaahhhh.

Such a good and in depth video 😊

Well time to get back to work. Wait! A new Religion for Breakfast video. Well, there is no rush to get back to work. 😃

HOW did you EVER get to walk an EMPTY?! inari fushimi taisha ..theres always a million people shoulder to shoulder

This isn't directly related to this video, but I figured it would be a relevant to this channel. Do you know anything about the misconceptions spread by Alexander Hislop's "The Two Babylons" and other similar conspiracy texts?

A question. Would you say that this idiosyncratic and dynamic identification of deities/entities with either yōkai or kami is reminiscent of the identifications of the daimones, angels/messengers and various deities in the Greek and Egyptian "magical" papyri? I could not help but notice some similarities (of course I am not suggesting a connection, merely stating a similarity).

Great video. I don't know if you've heard about the Yo-kai Watch games, but their monsters are pretty much all based on youkai.

"TORNADUS, WE MUST CONFER WITH THE ELDER GODS!"

Exeggutor = Jimenju Jynx = Yamanba Dunsparce = Tsuchinoko Celebi = Kodama Shiftry = Tengu Ludiccolo = Kappa Mawile = Futakuchi-onna Froslass = Yuki-onna

The third member of the genie trio, landorus, is loosely based off of Inari. There's also Judeo-Christian influences, such as the weather trio being based off of the leviathan, behemoth, and ziz, the legendary golems being, well golems, and the gardevoir line being based off of angels.

Super interesting. Also that beard is a keeper, bud.

Awesome video as usual. Great work!

Is Shuckle the supreme kami in Shinto?

Thanks for this video! Really interesting!!

雷神's disc-like things are the drums. We think that thunder is caused by his drums.

I wish you would have gone into how PoGo was started and talked about Ingress. That's much more scary lore.

The Snorunt line is based on different yokai: Snorunt is based off of yukinko. Glalie is basically a combination of an oni and a hockey mask. And Froslass is based off of the yuki-onna.

You should do a video on the religious aspects of Neon Genesis Evangelion and a video on Thelema. Love your videos!

Shows/Toys/Games that my favorite anime, Pokemon is influenced by: - Final Fantasy

Thanks for making that good content, ya bro keep the good work

Please review the video game series Shin Megami Tensei. It is basically Pokemon but much older, for a mature audience, and portrays actual mythological creatures and supernatural beings from all the major religions in the world. It blows my mind that the games that were released in NA and EU did not create a massive controversy.

Can you please tell me the location of what I see in this video at the 5:36 mark? I don't recognize it, but I would like to go there to visit when I have the chance. Thank you in advance!

So the Christians understand that by saying demons of other religions are real they are validating that religion,that they call superstition, to.some extent? Because having the ability to have demons means they have the ability to.have their gods, too?

Many pokemons are also inspired in extincted animals

it might be worth noting, that the japanese concept of demon is rather different from that of... well, a christian.

2:47 This creature is similar to Gajkesri or Gajsimha From Hindu mythology in Appearance

I realized that alot of these spirits you named also have references in Naruto

Supernatural alien animals, people forget the moon episodes 0:30 so Kami is local demigod/small deity and yokai are former worshipped deities and monsters you scare children with

Was half-expecting you to end with 5:10 with: "but that's just a theory, a...GAME THEORY!"

your videos are always great

That baku thing looks like Varuna's vahana the makara

An example of yokai being worshipped are the prophetic yokai. Yokai that come up from the sea, warn of a disaster that follows a period of good fortune, and recommend that people hang a picture of and sometimes prey to it to ward off the disaster. More info: yokai.com/amabiko/ yokai.com/arie/ yokai.com/kamiikehime/ yokai.com/umidebito/ yokai.com/hounengame/ Does this make them kami?

Golduck is a kappa, which I believe is some sort of deity/river monster

I hope there's a video about Greek Buddhism in Central Asia one day

Ninetales is my absolute favorite Pokemon!

Probably the meanings between kami and yokai would be clearer if understood in light of their chinese characters. Also, this whole area could not be understood without bringing in the works of manga by Mizuki Shigeru. It would be interesting if a video could be made, attributtig his work.

There's also a Yokai Watch game which is basically a slightly more macabre version of Pokémon.

Boi, that ending!

ReligiomForBreakfast dont forget shaman king the anime itself has a concept of shamanism to summon pagan gods.

The first 12 seconds made you realize that you really need to look into shin megami tensei

Does this mean your series on Shintoism has kicked off?? :D

Oh boy you are going to love Shin Megami Tensei

In the various anime Digimon are explained away as Tsukumogami. Since computers move faster than normal life, they reached their 100 years is less real time.

Very, very interesting

Naruto rules!