Arahabaki

A Dogū on display at the Tokyo National Museum

### Spirit of

Treachery, rebellion, debauchery, broken gods, travel, medicine, machinery, Iron.

### Pantheon

pre-shinto japanese

**Arahabaki** was an ancient japanese god, who was worshipped before the realization of Shintoism.

## Overview

Arahabaki is a deity shrouded in mystery. Not much is known about the god, even its existence is a debated topic.

Nothing that we know about Arahabaki is 100% certain. Many theories have propagated over the aspects of Arahabaki, ranging from it being an earlier rendition of Shinto belief, to it being an adaptation of several mainland religions.

Due to Arahabaki's major presence, its thought that it may have been the chief god of a pantheon.

One supposed legend depicts Arahabaki as the god of travel, protecting travelers. This rendition stated that it had an army of servants known as Momunofu.

## Appearance

Arahabaki's original appearance is unknown but some dubious accounts may point to a serpentine body or an iron one.

Its current depiction is that of a Japanese Dogū, its unclear on why Dogū are corelated with Arahabaki, seeing that Dogū originate from before the documented worship of Arahabaki.

## Personality

Arahabaki's original personality is completely unkown. However its current personality is that of a bitter and vengeful god, who has a distain for the current Japanese gods, and the humans who worship them. Its considerably conceited, letting the wrongs done against it consume their consciousness, becoming a bitter god. It's absorbed in its own arrogant self-pity, believing its just in its crusade to wipe out the other gods, despite how many innocents are in the way.

## Powers and Abilities

* **Energy Manipulation**: Arahabaki is able to manipulate and blast powerful geysers of energy, typically vaporizing most who come into contact with it.
* **Metallic arsenal**: Arahabaki can manipulate and transform its Avatar's robotic body to form a multitude of weapons.
* **Earthen cocoon**: As Arahabaki's original body is resting in the earth it continues to stockpile energy for the broken god.
	+ **Avatars**: Because of the Earthen cocoon, Arahabaki doesn't actually fight with its original body, but of an avatar body that it can produce.
* **Momunofu**: Arahabaki's personal army, the Momunofu are a robotic and seemingly unending storm of endless statues. Taking on the form of a mini Arahabaki, Momunofu aid the avatar body in fights, typically firing lasers and acting as missles.

## History

What is known about the early history of Arahabaki is that it predates the worship of the Kunitsukami and the Amatsukami. Though Arahabaki predated Shinto practices, its worship was still younger than those of the Kamui.

The fall of Arahabaki starts with the reign of Emperor Jimmu. A rebel who opposed Emperor Jimmu's expantion named Nagasunehiko worshiped Arahabaki. Nagasunehiko enraged Jimmu through his never ending defiance, eventually Jimmu had Nagasunehiko killed and wipe out the history of everything related to the rebel. Originally Jimmu defaced Arahabaki by depicting it as a god of rebellion and debauchery before attempting to erase the entire history of the pre-shinto religion. Because of the erasure of its history and the poisoning of its belief, Arahabaki broke, its divinity left its body leaving it a broken husk.

From this Arahabaki became jaded, it blamed the entirety of the Shinto gods for its demonization. It writhed in its own self-pity and rage, these emotions fueled it as it scrounged around for any sources of power, ultimately burrowing itself deep within the earth to absorb the energy of the earth.

Once it gained enough energy Arahabki immediately enacted a dastardly plan. Knowing of the torrent of emotions that formed within the Spiritual world because of the pacific war, Arahabaki broke open a brief gateway to said emotions, forming a path for that rage and resentment to manifest in the physical world, ultimately spawning the Yamato.

## Myths and Legends

Today Arahabaki's main focal point in pop culture is its mysterious and broken nature. Unfortunately pop culture is the main reason for a lot of misconceptions around Arahabaki, some of those misconceptions mirrored in this article. If you wish to see an analysis of Arahabaki, check out this post by an esteemed history enthusiast and pseudohistory debunker.