Pokemonis a series with creatures that many western audiences equate with animals. After all, some are kept as pets and on farms. Many also resemble animals such as sheep, dogs, cows, birds, and so much more. The belief in Pokemon being like animals has reached ethical arguments, such as how making them fight or stay in Pokeballs is bad or good. Even PETA has condemned the franchise for how it treats its “animals.” However, western audiences really don’t understand thatPokemonis linked to Japan’s Shintoism, animism, and kami. They are actually not animals at all.
Shintosim dates back to around 300 BC and is a religion native to Japan. Due to this,Shintoism is greatly ingrained in Japanese culture, and in its media. The religion is polytheistic, with an infinite number of kami. To call a kami a god is not quite appropriate though, as kami can be historical figures, inanimate objects, mountains, and forces of nature. They are more akin to spirits, with some being powerful enough to create a country and others just being a family’s favorite bowl.
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The Parallels Of Pokemon And Kami
The creator ofPokemon, Satoshi Tajiri, was partly inspired to makePokemonthrough his love of bug collecting. Due to his life growing up in Japan, though, Shintoism also played a huge influence on his creations and ideas. ThePokemon typesthemselves are reflective of a possible way to categorize kami, as kami can be beings of grass, flying, ghost, bug, steel, fairy, and all the rest. Many Pokemon are based on specific kami in Shintoism, such as Whiscash, who resembles namazu from Shintosim, which are catfish that can cause earthquakes.
There is also Shiftry, a grass and dark type that resembles kami called Tengu. Ninetails is inspired by kitsune, a kami fox that can possess people and shapeshift. Mawhile are based on Futakuchi Onna, women who have a second mouth hidden in their hair. Drowzee are based on baku, which are dream-devouring tapirs. Snorunt is inspired by Yuki-Warashi, children that come to life when made of snow that hold traditional straw jackets. Inanimate objects like Pokeballs andsandcastles becoming Pokemonare also much like the Shinto idea of a spirit possibly being in all the things. The list goes on and on.
Miltanks are no more just cows than Ninetails are just foxes, as every Pokemon, like kami, has supernatural powers and abilities. These powers and abilities make them greater than humans in the fact that they can bring others back from death, burn down cities, understand human speech, and control minds withmoves like Hypnosis and Confuse Ray. People in thePokemonworld also treat Pokemon more like kami in Japanese culture than animals. In the Sinnoh region, it is mentioned that people and Pokemon once married each other, which references a lot of Japanese folklore between humans and kami.
The Western Misunderstanding
With the western misunderstanding that Pokemon are animals, there has been plenty of discourse online whether the games promote animal cruelty like cock and/or dogfighting. The designs are focused on while the powers, abilities, and backstories of the Pokemon are thrown under a rug. Shintosim is a religion strongly focused on the harmony between man and nature. To work together with the natural world, in Shintoism, is to live with high honor.Pokemonas a seriesalways put the relationship between humans and Pokemon first. Pokemon that are caught through Pokeballs are not like an animal in a trap, but a kami deciding whether the human is strong enough to handle their power and to travel the world as partners or warriors.
TheBlackandWhitegames, with N seeking Pokemon freedom, added further misunderstanding with western audiences and the nature of Pokemon. The conclusion of N’s mission was not the lesson that trainers practice animal cruelty, but the lesson that trainers should just support what theirPokemonwant. By the end of the games, N faced a reality that Pokemon with good trainers enjoy battles as a sport, which is certainly what a kami would feel, not an animal.
