Household Shrine

​With my ongoing love of Guardians of Azuma, I became deeply invested in traditional Japanese culture.  I set up a Shinto shrine in my home thanks to many individuals in Japan.  

I make daily offerings and give thanks for all blessings.

The virtual reality of Azuma has enriched my life greatly over the past year.  


Little by little, I intend to add photographs of actual traditional items and symbols that are found in the game.


Here for example is a tsuba that has the symbols of the Sacred Drum Ulalaka entrusts to you.A tsuba is a guard for a traditional Japanese sword or tanto.  It can be made of iron or copper with a combination of metals used to decorate it, including gold.  The drum shown in gold on this tsuba is a tsuzuki drum.

From the Taiga series, ‘What will you Do, Ieyasu?’, an elegant kimono that has the symbol of the tsuzuki drum embroidered on a silk background.  The series received praise for its dramatic costumes and their high quality.



Here is a vintage or even antique Horagai, used for the call to attack as well as in Buddhist rituals.  

Remember the marvelous event when Kai pretends to bring his army from the Underworld to take control of Azuma?  You clearly can hear the Horagai’s call to attack.

Popular posts from this blog

Traditional Japanese Festivals

Image
​The creators of Guardians of Azuma expressed a wish to invest the game with as many of the traditions of Japan as possible. Japan of course has diverse spiritual as well as mundane cultures and each has had its own special influence through the centuries but the Japanese managed to create a very unique synthesis finally between some of its native religions and beliefs rather than continuing to perceive other belief systems as a hostile or corrupting threat.   I am not an expert in Shinto beliefs but I studied and taught comparative religion and legends and to me, Guardians of Azuma enshrines Shintoism far more than any other belief system.  Although Buddhism has played a large part in shaping the culture and aesthetics of religious art and rituals, the animism that is so much a part of  Shinto beliefs is very apparent the world of Guardians of Azuma.  Thus, the reverence shown to Ulalaka’s sacred cherry tree that is displayed at the very beginning of this game and t...
Read more

Walkthrough Links in Order

Last updated on 4 April:  I should make this a pinned post but work on my phone nowadays and the app version of these blogs is very basic. As Freyashawk, I once was a very thorough guide writer for this series, among others.  I came back to Rune Factory recently after almost a decade of going through hell in my own real life to fall in love with Guardians of Azuma.  I then decided to create a site for the last guide I probably ever will write even if no one else ever reads it or uses it.  The walkthroughs can use improvement, including many typographic errors caused by my use of a small mobile device to write, and I will make those, but I want this post at the top always now because this has all the walkthroughs for this game through the Forest of Endings.  I made many other posts that were more personal to me about marriage to various candidates and so on, but the links here give the walkthroughs. This is a post to give links to my complete walkthrough for Guar...
Read more

Starting a New Game, Post 1, Restoring the Spring Village

Image
Comprehensive Guide by Freyashawk: This is the first in a series of posts that will constitute a detailed Walkthrough.   Restoring the Spring Village: (Above, note the little bubble the Monster holds or has with him.  This denotes a villager who has been transformed into a Momster.  There will be a number of these in the four seasonal villages.  Some are Chemists and others Carpenters.  When defeated, they will come to one of the Villages as humans again. I started a new game to minimise errors and maximise options as well as being able to write a guide.  What I have decided is that 'make haste to repent at leisure' does apply to some extent.  Your abilities do increase with use.  I now believe even physical acts such as jumping may increase with better stats.  I will try to test this when I return to more difficult dungeons. I 'beat the game' fairly early but had much frustration with Blight and puzzles.  I doubt there is any 'fix' wher...
Read more