Kojin

Kojin
Name
Japanese	虎人 (こじん)
Rōmaji	Kojin
Meaning	Tiger Human
Profile
Species	Yōkai
Gender	Male (2021)
Abilities	Agility
First Appearance
Novel	The Great Yōkai War: Guardians: Side Story: Heian Hyakkitan (2021)

For Qi's servants, see Tora-Otoko.

Kojin (虎人 (こじん) Kojin, lit. Tiger Human) is a tiger-like yōkai.

History

The Great Yōkai War: Guardians: Side Story: Heian Hyakkitan

He appeared as one of the unintentional antagonists, but was eventually defeated. Later, his body parts composed the physical appearance of Nue, along with respective body parts of Yato-no-Kami, Gyōbu-Danuki, Sarugami, and so on.

Powers and Abilities

Physical prowess

Agility

Legend

The Luolopu (Tiger Tribe), a branch of the Yi People in Xiaomaidichong village in Shuangbai County, Yunnan Province, China, hold an annual festival called the Tiào hǔ jié (跳虎节, Leaping Tiger Festival) during the 8th to 15th of the first month of the Lunar Calendar. In Yi culture, tigers are considered ancestors to people, so in this festival, eight young men often dress up as an ancestral spirit known as a Hǔ rén (虎人, Tiger Human). They wear bells arounds their necks, a black cloth around their backs, with large, tiger ears on top, and a tiger-like tail on their backs. Furthermore, tiger patterns are also painted on exposed parts of their skin, such as the face, limbs, etc.

In throughout the festival, the Hǔ rén have 12 sets of dances, often demonstrating levels of reproduction, such as kissing, copulating, and giving birth, alongside aspects of daily life, such as clearing roads and building houses, accompanied by music from large gongs and shengs, specifically the "Tiger Sheng", "Large Gong Sheng", and "Leopard Sheng". After the performance, the Hǔ rén visit local homes, bestowing blessings and warding off misfortune, chanting “Let the tiger play, let it play in front of every door. Good things, come inside; bad things, go outside. Gold and silver treasures, come inside; a bountiful harvest, come inside. Livestock prosperity, come inside; disasters and calamities, go outside.”

In the 15th and final day of the festival, known as the "Sending-off Day", the Hǔ rén, led by an old man dressed as the "Black Tiger King", leads them to a hill, where they are sent off to the direction of the sunrise after a sacred ceremony. After the Tiào hǔ jié ends, the Hǔ rén that was seemingly possessing the dressed men leaves to their own world.[1]

Shigeru Mizuki compares this festival to his local Japanese Namahage festivals.

Trivia

• One of Kojin's illustrations by Mizuki is inspired by tiger depictions in Korean Minhwa folk art, despite hailing from China.