I wanted to be a touch more exact on some of the parts for Mugen’s character. He’s such an interesting character that even though he is almost purely made up out of the minds of the creators, he still has a few bits of actual historical pertinence to him.

The part I’m addressing now is the interesting way in which he comes back to life by meeting the “Shamans” as referred to in his character profile. In the Okinawan belief system, these shamans are called “futuki” and they are the only spirits from the other world who intercede into human affairs.

These beings are generally thought to be an individual's own direct ancestors (both male and female), and the same individual's future descendants (which makes it kind of interesting that Mugen has a center place in the ongoing line of them; maybe there is something to the theory that Spike is his descendant...). Anyway, the futuki are generally masked and wear feathered cloaks, and are indistinguishable from each other, at least in this world. During one of the many interesting flashback montage’s, we see not only the long line of them, but one watching Mugen from the road through the forest, and a couple of other spots, which suggests to me that he's someone they're keeping an eye on. It would make sense by traditional Okinawan beliefs but it is pure speculation on my part.

The feathered apparel particularly have always made me wonder about that tropical looking red bird that seems to observe Mugen so closely in that grove; maybe another spirit observer? And it might also be interesting to note that the underworld where he deals with the futuki, Nirai-kanai, is represented in Okinawan folklore as an island you can only reach by swimming underwater; if you try to sail there it'll always be on the horizon no matter how far you go. I think that's why everything there appears upside down, you have to "sink to rise" there, so to speak; and Mugen "falls back to the surface" when he leaves that place.

I know this is an encyclopedia but a lot of that info couldn’t be found here, so I just wanted to put it here to get some feedback on what other people think.