神河当時 - 文化的背景：大蛇

昨日の記事の続きです。

The Orochi
Little Orochi, Big Orochi: Orochi is an archaic word in Japanese which can mean "serpent" (whence the orochi we know and love) or "wyrm," in the sense of a big dragon-like creature. The many-armed orochi of Kamigawa are a Magic original, but the multiple-limb theme probably got its inspiration from...

The Biggest Orochi of All: The most famous orochi of Japan is definitely the "Yamata-no-orochi," an enormous eight-headed beastie that was the inspiration for Godzilla’s nemesis "King Ghidrah" and for...

O-Kagachi: This guy is the biggest and the baddest of them all, and the power of the card his picture graces stands as a testament to that. "Kagachi," like orochi, is another Japanese word for serpent, though even most Japanese wouldn’t know it as it only shows up in a few little-known poems. O-Kagachi’s ancestor-in-spirit, the Yamata-no-orochi, was a Bad Ass in his own time, known for flattening villages, devouring maidens, and the like. The tale of his final defeat is actually quite humorous and deserves a brief retelling here. Responding to pleas from the father of the next maiden slated to be sacrificed to ease the great serpent’s hunger, Susa-no-o, (previously "Susanoh," the slightly archaic Romanization used in Anthony’s article) the wayward brother of the Sun Goddess Ama-no-terasu, comes to the rescue. After a few false starts, he defeats the creature by--I kid you not--placing eight barrels of some heady sake wine out by the entrance to the place where he knows the creature will come to claim its snack. In what was perhaps the Yamata-no-orochi’s Final lack of good Judgment, the conveniently eight-headed creature promptly downed the eight barrels, got really smashed, and then got his heads chopped off by the sly Susa-no-o who was hiding nearby, laughing his Smart Ass off the whole time.

Tree Tribes: If you’re familiar with the Kamigawa glossary (see also the Betrayers glossary), you know that the different tribes of orochi are named after tree types, but did you know that each tribe is so-named because it represents a quality of its namesake? For example, the Matsu (pine) Tribe are archers. (Pines have needles, get it?) A bit more on the subtle side, we have kashi (oak) known for its strength, and sakura (cherry), often used as a ceremonial tree, thus the connection to the tribe of shamans.

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

「オロチ（大蛇）」とは、日本の古語で、蛇や大きなドラゴンのような生物（ワーム）を意味しており、神河の蛇型ヒューマノイドが「大蛇/Orochi」とと呼ばれているのは、これに由来します。神河の蛇が多腕であるのは、日本一有名なオロチである八岐大蛇（ヤマタノオロチ）を意識した、MTG流のアレンジです。

「カガチ」もまた、蛇を表す日本語であり、大口縄（オオカガチ）の名前の由来となっています。そのモチーフであるヤマタノオロチの討伐物語が解説されていますが、それはここで改めて語るまでもないでしょう。

また、オロチの各部族が、木の種類（松・樫・桜）に由来していることも解説されています。そのように設定された理由までは語られていないのが惜しいところですが。