Orochimaru Question

[nekilof.livejournal.com]

I was just thinking about this the other day, but how the heck did Orochimaru get a sword in his stomach? Any fans have speculation? Did he have a salad one evening with an extra ingredient, or is it just something random about Oro that we'll never know about?!?

Comments

[athelice.livejournal.com]

According to Japanese Mythology, there's a eight-headed snake called "Orochi".
It just happens that there's a legenary sword inside "Orochi"'s stomach, which later was stolen by a demi-god who uses "thunder", after he killed "orochi".
So, Kishimoto might be playing with the myth. I'm just curious as to how far he'll follow it.

[allthingsaaron.livejournal.com]

Bingo. The blade itself was called Kusanagi, and if you want to see a fun little homage Kishimoto stuck in, watch Blue Seed sometime. It's a show that focuses on the idea of the Kusanagi being a bladed human instead of a sword, and he's adorned with power gems called mitama. Orochimaru's earrings are exact replicaes of the Blue Seed mitamas.

[athelice.livejournal.com]

...isn't Blue Seed Hentai?
But hey, I always wondered about those ear rings. Nice.

[allthingsaaron.livejournal.com]

It straddles a fine, fine line. There's no actual nudity on the show, and while several of the monsters have tentacles there's no penetration junk. It has a reputation for being risque due to a couple of things, mainly the ton of panty shots per episode and one character's obsession with an underage girl's clothing. Other than that it's a pretty standard monster of the week show with some cool ties to the Kusanagi legend.

[ex-duelist.livejournal.com]

Actually, that shape itself -- the magatama (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magatama) -- is from Japanese tradition. :)

[allthingsaaron.livejournal.com]

Ahh, is that it? I'd been wondering, I've seen the symbol elsewhere but never knew the name.

The ones Orochimaru wears are a pretty clear homage though, right down to the shade of blue and the Kusanagi ties.

[ex-duelist.livejournal.com]

(sorry about the double posts earlier o_O)

Hm, I don't know, I think they're more likely to be a direct takeoff to Japanese mythology. Like the magatama, Kusanagi (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kusanagi) is part of the three Japanese imperial treasures, which have been featured in an awful lot of anime over the years. All Oro's missing is the mirror... X3;

[0x.livejournal.com]

I think Sasuke is the mirror, considering the team7/sannin parallels.

[0x.livejournal.com]

I never realized that, thanks for posting.

[belmoon.livejournal.com]

Well, sometimes a guy gets bored and does something stupid.

I don't even know why there's a snake in his belly. I would think it would feel weird, it being alive and all. But, now I'm just being silly and stuff.

This is what staying up late does to me. ):

[domlandbubbles.livejournal.com]

Yup. It was the salad. There was a big ol' sword cruton in there and he didn't notice until it was too late. Fortunately, he's tricky and used it to his advantage. More or less.

[thomasvye.livejournal.com]

People are quite correct about the mythology; in fact all 3 sannin are figures from Japanese mythology. In the story, Jiraiya and Tsunade (users of toad and slug magic respectively) are also married...;), and orochimaru originally has the name of Yashagoro.