神河当時 - 文化的背景：空民

昨日の記事の続きです。

The Soratami
Moonmen attack!: Although ’soratami’ means ’sky-people,’ they were originally conceived as the ’moon-men’ or ’tsukibito’--a name which didn’t pass R&D’s rigorous standards of pronounceability.

Move over, X-Files: Believe it or not, there is an actual Japanese mythological precedent for a race of men from the moon, to be found in the Taketori Monogatari ("The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter"), written somewhere between 850 and 950 A.D., one of the earliest Japanese folktales and probably the first honest-to-goodness science fiction story in the world. The gist of the story is as follows: an old bamboo cutter chops into a fresh stalk of bamboo one day, and much to his surprise, out jumps a beautiful girl. The old cutter raises her as his own, and plans are made for her to marry, until she reveals that she is from the "palace of the moon" and messengers are coming to take her back. Then in the first alien abduction scene ever, she is whisked away in a beam of light, never to return. Roswell ain’t got nothing on ancient Japan!

The Ears: Many of you have noticed by now those long dangling things hanging down by the sides of the soratami’s heads. The soratami owe those ears to...the rabbit that lives in the moon! In Japan, not only is the moon not made of cheese, but instead of a friendly man, they see a rabbit’s profile in the moon. Autumn, the time of the year for moon-viewing in Japan, sees a surge in rabbit-themed goods, greeting cards, and special rabbit-shaped cakes for moon-viewing parties. Wacky to us perhaps, but somewhat more comforting than the thought of all that cheese hanging up there.

引用元
TRUTH IN FANTASY Posted in Feature on March 7, 2005
https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/truth-fantasy-2005-03-07

当初は、ムーンフォークは「月人（つきびと）」とされていました。しかし、発音しやすさの点から「空民（そらたみ）」に変わったようです。

また、月から来た種族の伝承『竹取物語』も紹介されています。この内容は日本人なら誰でも知っているでしょうから、改めてここで語るまでもありません。

一方で、月にウサギが住む、という伝承から、ウサギのような長い耳を持つようにデザインされています。