Yobanjin?

[Bayushi Senshi]

So, in an effort to get the Senshi thingy going strong on these forums I offer a question for discussion.

Just who are the Yobanjin?

[Utaku Kasumi]

Barbarian tribes for sure. We even have their fortress here I believe they were natives of Rokugan, but they didn't decide to follow Kami, so they moved to the north. Hmm, they are strong but because of their tribes fight with themselves... their power is wasted on that - and people of Rokugan can sleep soundly... well, at least till Unicorns are there

Hmm, I'd dare to say that they are a distant relatives of "us"

[Bayushi Senshi]

Ah, I was wondering if they were "Chinese"

[Moto Yoee]

As Kasumi said, the Yobanjin dudes originally lived in Rokugan, but refused to follow the Kami and had to emigrate to the northern mountains. There are frequent skirmishes between Yobanjin raiders and patrols from the Dragon and Phoenix clans, but it's not really a war, more like some kind of border issue.

However, somewhere during the "Emperor-less era", the Yobanjin guys tried to invade Rokugan, but they were repelled by Tsudao and her legions. In the most recent storyline (after the ascension of Iweko to the throne), they have been enslaved and magically "enhanced" (when they die, they go KA-BOOM!) by Tamori Chosai, the dark oracle of Fire, and sent to invade Rokugan once again, during what was called The War of Dark Fire.

Which makes me wonder... wouldn't it have been easier for them to attack Rokugan through the Dragon or Phoenix border, rather than the Unicorn one? This flanking maneuver is kinda confusing. Ô_o

Jan 21, 2011 11:07:11 GMT -5 Bayushi Senshi said:

Ah, I was wondering if they were "Chinese"

This is Rokugan, not Japan (nor Sparta), there are no Chinese people, no Mongol people, no Japanese people, no Indian people. Sure, these real-life people were sources of inspiration for the various people of Rokugan, but there is no possible transposition from real life to Rokugan.

[Bayushi Senshi]

Hence the quotation marks. I consider, as do many here, Rokugani as "Japanese". I also know of the Yotodai who are "Roman" and the Senpet, who are "Egyptian"

[Kakita Kyoshi]

Jan 21, 2011 11:07:11 GMT -5 Bayushi Senshi said:

Ah, I was wondering if they were "Chinese"

I have always seen the Yobanjin as something like the Ainu.

[Bayushi Senshi]

My japanese is supper rusty, isn't Ainu the word for blue? or was it monkey...

[Bayushi Matashi]

Isnt rokugan a mainland nation? Much of the japanese culture is a result of their island national character.

Rokugani couldnt be japanese for that region, I would suggest they are much more "generic-asian" than any particular cuktural identity.

Of course the samurai and ninja memes come from a japanese-ian trope, but those two things does not a cultural identity make. If anything the unicorn are much more chinese than japanese, while many dragon memes suggest mountain monasteries which feel mainland asia more than japan perse.

Rokugan isnt just japan in the same way that middle earth isnt just europe.

[Kakita Kyoshi]

Jan 21, 2011 12:27:26 GMT -5 Bayushi Senshi said:

My japanese is supper rusty, isn't Ainu the word for blue? or was it monkey...

Try Ainu people in Wikipedia...

[Akodo Tomatsu]

While technically your right, that Rokguan isn't Japan, even the game creators admit that the cultures in the game have been influenced by real cultures. That being said, they also expressly say that while there maybe influences, never rely on them for anything. So we are all kinda right in a bizarre, round about way.

Also because I have a degree in History, and I want to use it, the Ainu people were the predecessors to the ancient culture of Japan. If you ever heard of the underwater temples off the coast of Japan, then people hypothesized that they were Ainu temples, before they were found to be not man made.

[Bayushi Trevron]

It was my understanding that in fact the Kolat were native Rokugani people who, at the dawn of the Empire, refused to follow the Kami. This is not to expressly say that isn't what the Yobanjin are, but we all can agree probably that not all (or even many by my reckoning) Yobanjin are Kolat.
I have always had a dual view of Yobanjin- I feel that to the Rokugani people, Yobanjin is a catch-all word for the native poeples just outside of Rokugan (to the North and West) and refers to a specific tribe of these people. More appropriately the Yobanjin may be an ethnicity of Rokugani-like people who share the same relative geographic habitat, but have diverged somewhat from the people of Rokugan due a) to the xenophobia Rokugani are known for, and b) limited supplies and resources to live on in the area they're forced to inhabit.
Of course I could be way off mark.

[Kakita Kyoshi]

Jan 21, 2011 12:50:47 GMT -5 Akodo Tomatsu said:

Also because I have a degree in History, and I want to use it, the Ainu people were the predecessors to the ancient culture of Japan.

This is not correct. The Ainu were (and still are) a distinct ethnic. And they get discriminated by the japanese culture.

[Daigotsu Yukara]

You know, I wish the game had the option to support the Yobanjin, fighting them does not really support my goals.

[Bayushi Trevron]

Well so the Ainu are sounding more like Yobanjin, who were, and still are discriminated by Rokugani culture.
Also, (joking) SHAME on you Kuni. Wait until I spread the word that Kuni Yukara is a gaijin-loving Yobanjin supporter. What are you goals then? To support the Dark Oracle of Fire, crumble the Empire to dust and dash the Celestial Order to pieces?

[Akodo Tomatsu]

Perhaps you are right, I only ever took one Asian history class, my focus was in 20th Century Military history. I am only human after all