Maon Kurosaki, Akiba Goddess at Anime Expo (with video)

Maon Kurosaki, what a goddess! The whole Club Nokia was totally fired up by her awesome performance. Yes, she was 神 (kami), divine! Akiba Godess!

Akiba diva

秋葉 Akiba (Akiha) means “Autumn Leaves,” a jazz number by Miles Davis. God of Akiba is Kagutsuchi, the fire god, but the original Akiba god was Akiha-Sanshakubou-Daigongen, in short, Akiha-Gongen, named after Sanshakubou, an ascetic of shukendō, and Akihasan (Mount Akiha), a holy site for mountain worship. That’s where the name “Akiba” came from. Mount Akiha is a very powerful spot, located just beside the Tenryu River, which meets Median Tectonic Line, the convergence of world biggest tectonic plates, the most powerful spot on earth. People thought Akiha-Gongen was an avatar of Avalokiteshvara, like the current Dalai Lama. However, after the religious reform by the Meiji government, the Buddhist deities were abandoned and Akiha god was unified under Kagutsuchi. Anyway, the god of the Akiba shrine in Akihabara was Kagutsuchi from the beginning, not Akiha-Gongen. Tokyo was devastated by the huge fire in 1869, so the Emperor Meiji built the shrine to avoid the fire. But, the Tokyo people misconstrued that Akiba god was Akiha-Gongen. So, people called him “Akiba-sama.” And then, the shrine town came to be known as “Akiha-bara (Akiba’s field).” That’s how Akihabara got started. By the way, Akiha from Tsukihime is based on Akiba god.

So, it’s Kagutsuchi, equivalent of Agni, born from Izanami’s vagina. The soil gods from her anus, and the water gods from her urethra. Izanami died from vaginal burn because she gave birth to Kagutsuchi, which made her husband upset and decapitate Kagutsuchi. Probably this incident signifies the transition from the slash and burn farming to the water irrigation farming in Japan. That’s why the fire god was killed. So, Kagutsuchi went underground. Thus, he’s become the underground man. Or the underground woman.

Kagu-tsuchi, “Kagu” means “shine” or “burning smell, incense.” Kaguya-hime also means “shining princess.” So, yes, fire goddess is Kaguya-hime. Yes, Maon is Kaguya-hime! And the word “divine” originally came from PIE base *dyeu-“to shine.” So, yes, Kaguya-hime is “divine princess.” Therefore, Maon is divine! The divine diva!

Maon Kurosaki Concert – Club Nokia, Anime Expo 2011 from Anime Diet on Vimeo.

Akiba used to be the town of electronics and Tekiya (peddlers) such as Tora-san doing street performing sales. During the 70s the Akihabara Depart became a mecca for the peddlers, but closed down in 2006. The old Ziggurat went down, coincided with the mid 2000s, a peak moment of otakudom. So, electronics and peddlers have been superseded with IT, anime, game, otaku, moe, maids, and cosplayers as today’s center of Akiba. From Futen to NEET. From street vendor to net-business vendor.

Yes, Mount Akiha’s ascetic was the original god of Akiba. But now, Maon, herself an otaku/gamer, an idol from the otaku village, a community-based idol, is our new goddess! Even Madoka‘s theosis or Menma‘s buddhosis aren’t comparable! From Dear Stage at Dempa Building. Neo-Ziggurat! Its influence is incredible! Fukushima Maiko, a.k.a. Mofuku-chan, CEO of Moe Japan Co., Ltd., a company that runs Dear Stage, has converted Tabara Souichirou, the most famous political journalist in Japan, to embrace the Akiba subculture. As I wrote it before, she appeared on Tabara’s program to promote the Moe Village project. Tabara uses the otaku-tube niconico douga to hold intense debates about taboo subjects like the imperial family which can never be discussed on television. Yes, from television to the Internet. The repressed underground people are finally speaking out! That’s real change right there! And Maon represents that change. The idol of the latest Akiba. Akiba deity! Kannon-sama (Quanyin)! And she descended on America!

Thus, we witnessed the advent of Akiba-sama here in America!

 

Author: Monsieur LaMoe

A refugee from Japan. Live in NAFTA. Get hooked on Moe. Moe is opium? Twitter: @MonsieurLamoe

3 thoughts on “Maon Kurosaki, Akiba Goddess at Anime Expo (with video)

  1. Its been quite a while since I’ve commented on your blog posts, they remain good as always.

    Japanese Idols is the one part of Japanese nerd/otaku culture I just can’t understand. From my perspective they seem like mere pop singers marketed towards otakus and as a British nerd myself, enjoying a pop singer seems rather….well…un-nerdy?

    Whats with the otaku love for these J-pop idols?

    1. @woo

      Long time no see! Welcome back! Thanks for the compliment.

      Maon comes from the otaku community, she has been performing for a long time at DearStage in Akiba before she became famous. So, she’s otaku’s idol rather than mainstream pop-idol. It’s different from pop-singers like Britney Spears who once was a Disney kid manufactured by multinational corporations rather than underground community of the folks.

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