The alphabet letter K is the same as the Cyrillic/Russian alphabet, used for the hard “c” sound in most words. Countries starting with a from A to Z in alphabetical order can be found in Britannica’s list of countries in alphabetical order. These countries share common characteristics such as geographic location, history, and culture. Low magic and natural magic are associated with peasants and folklore, with simpler rituals such as brief, spoken spells. The history of magic extends from the earliest literate cultures, who relied on charms, divination, and spells to interpret and influence nature. The word “Kustom” was first coined by George Barris, the famous American custom car builder from the 1950s. Moroccan women are known and feared for their ability to cast spells and practice witchcraft to steal or keep husbands at bay.
There are various low-level cantrips, spells, and magic items, as well as reskins of published spells and items that deal in time. Electronic services designed for customs clearance cater to the needs of individuals and businesses. For more information on the ESTA application process or Frequently Asked Questions, explore the help topics below. Albania, located in southern Europe, is known for its spells that allow casters to designate targets and deal damage or heal them.
📹 The Old Kamigawa | Japanese Traditions and Customs in Magic
This video is about building Kamigawa from the artifacts and histories of feudal Japan. It’s also about a very old tree. Support: …
What country does AK stand for?
The Russian AK-47, also known as the Kalashnikov Model 1947, is a widely used Soviet assault rifle. It was designed by Mikhail Timofeyevich Kalashnikov in 1947 and was widely recognized for its simplicity, durability, reliability, and mass production. The weapon was built around a 7. 62-mm round with a muzzle velocity of around 700 meters per second and a cyclic firing rate of 600 rounds per minute. It was capable of both semiautomatic and automatic fire.
The AK-47 was manufactured in two basic designs: one with a wooden stock and the other, designated AKS, with a folding metal stock. In 1959, the AK-47 was replaced in first-line Soviet service by the AKM, a modernized version with longer-range sights and cheaper mass-produced parts. The AK-47 was manufactured in two basic designs, one with a wooden stock and the other with a folding metal stock.
What country uses AK?
The AK 47 is a powerful, lightweight, and portable weapon that has been used in various revolutions worldwide. It can hit a target 2, 000 feet away in one second, weighs no more than 10 pounds, and is 14 inches long. It is effective, lightweight, portable, and reliable, with no military expertise required to use it. The AK 47 has been in the hands of men, women, and children in Serbia, Sudan, Iraq, Nigeria, India, and Iran.
In 1947, Mikhail Timofeyevich Kalashnikov aimed to build a cheap, easy-to-use sub-machine gun that could be mass produced at a minimal cost and used by anyone regardless of military training. The Soviet Union began equipping their soldiers with the AK 47 in 1949, but it did not become popular until the Cold War.
During the early 1950s, the United States began supplying nations part of NATO with a similar weapon, the M16 (Gra 300). This led the Soviet Union to equip nations part of the Warsaw Pact with the AK 47 (Gra 300), which was cheaper to produce, easier to use, and more reliable in muddy, wet, or sandy conditions.
The AK 47 became a symbol of communism and a threat to democracy in Western eyes. However, it leaked into other nations, and the former Soviet Union marketed the weapon to any country that would pay. The AK 47 ended up in the hands of soldiers and civilians alike, and it was sold to guerilla armies, drug cartels, insurgents, and revolutionists in developing countries worldwide.
When the United States sought to occupy Nicaragua, they were met by the revolutionist Sandinistas, who carried the AK 47. When Great Britain granted the Sudanese independence, they were confronted by the Anya-Nya guerilla army, who carried the AK 47. When the United States began its War on Terrorism, the Taliban in Afghanistan wielded the AK 47, making it a symbol of warfare in various parts of the world.
What country has an AK?
The coat of arms of Mozambique comprises a cogwheel symbolizing industry, a crossed hoe and AK-47 at the center representing agriculture and defense, a book and rising sun behind representing education and new life, corn stalks and sugar cane at either side representing strong agriculture, and a red star above representing socialism.
Which country is famous for AK-47?
The AK-47, also known as the Avtomat Kalashnikova or Kalashnikov, is an assault rifle chambered for the 7. 62×39mm cartridge. Developed in the Soviet Union by Mikhail Kalashnikov, it is the originating firearm of the Kalashnikov family of rifles. The AK-47 model and its variants remain one of the most popular and widely used firearms globally. Design work began in 1945, and it was officially accepted by the Soviet Armed Forces in 1949. The AK-47’s global popularity is attributed to its reliability under harsh conditions, low production cost, availability in various regions, and ease of use.
As of 2004, around 100 million firearms belong to the Kalashnikov family, with three-quarters being AK-47s. The AK-47 model serves as the basis for the development of various types of individual, crew-served, and specialized firearms.
Do Germans use AK?
The AK-47 is a gas-operated assault rifle used in Eastern bloc countries, including East Germany during the Cold War. Adopted in 1947, it was designed by Mikhail Kalashnikov and produced by Russian manufacturer Izhmash. Known as the “Best Automatic Assault Rifle”, it is compact, has comparable range, moderate power, and can fire selectively. East German AK copies served with the National People’s Army.
Other AK-type rifles include the MPi-K, MPi-KS, MPi-KM, MPi-KMS-72, MPi-KMS-K, and MPi-AK-74N, MPi-AKS-74N, and MPi-AKS-74NK. The StG-940, a possible replacement for the MPi-AK-74N rifle, was procured in 1985 and was cancelled after the end of the Cold War in 1989.
Does Germany use AK-47?
The AK-47 is a gas-operated assault rifle used in Eastern bloc countries, including East Germany during the Cold War. Adopted in 1947, it was designed by Mikhail Kalashnikov and produced by Russian manufacturer Izhmash. Known as the “Best Automatic Assault Rifle”, it is compact, has comparable range, moderate power, and can fire selectively. East German AK copies served with the National People’s Army.
Other AK-type rifles include the MPi-K, MPi-KS, MPi-KM, MPi-KMS-72, MPi-KMS-K, and MPi-AK-74N, MPi-AKS-74N, and MPi-AKS-74NK. The StG-940, a possible replacement for the MPi-AK-74N rifle, was procured in 1985 and was cancelled after the end of the Cold War in 1989.
What state is AK for?
The Post Office Department introduced the five-digit ZIP Code on July 1, 1963, to accommodate the ZIP Code in the last line of an address. State names needed to be abbreviated to accommodate the ZIP Code. The Department provided an initial list of abbreviations in June 1963, but many had three or four letters, which was still too long. In October 1963, the Department settled on the current two-letter abbreviations.
In 1969, at the request of the Canadian postal administration, the abbreviation for Nebraska was changed to NE to avoid confusion with New Brunswick in Canada. A list of state abbreviations since 1831 is provided, and a more complete list of current abbreviations is available online.
What country is AK in?
Alaska, located in the extreme northwest of North America, is the largest peninsula in the Western Hemisphere and is technically in both hemispheres. It is bounded by the Beaufort Sea and Arctic Ocean to the north, Canada’s Yukon territory and British Columbia province to the east, the Gulf of Alaska and the Pacific Ocean to the south, the Bering Strait and the Bering Sea to the west, and the Chukchi Sea to the northwest. The capital is Juneau, located in the southeast.
Alaska is central to the great circle route connecting North America with Asia by sea and air, making it equidistant from most of Asia and Europe. The state’s eastern border with Canada is 1, 538 miles long, more than one-third the length of the entire U. S. boundary with Canada. Alaska’s western maritime boundary, established in the Treaty of Cession of 1867, separates the waters of the United States and Russia.
The boundary leaves a patch of international waters known as the “Doughnut Hole” in the Bering Sea. Both Russia and the United States have shown tacit tolerance for unintentional airspace violations, which are common in bad weather.
Does Finland use AK?
The RK 62, designed by Valmet engineer Lauri Oksanen between 1957 and 1962, is based on the Polish licensed version of the Soviet AK-47 design and uses the same 7. 62×39mm cartridge. It was produced jointly by Valmet and Sako between 1965 and 1994, and is the basis of the IMI Galil, an Israeli-made assault rifle. The RK 62 features a three-pronged flash suppressor and a groove for a specially designed knife bayonet.
The RK 95 TP is a modern, improved version of the RK 62, with an open-ended, three-prong flash suppressor with a bayonet lug on its lower side. The development of a Finnish assault rifle in the 7. 62×39mm Soviet intermediary cartridge began in the 1950s, with the Soviet AK-47 being the most important model.
Does Germany use AK?
East German AK copies were used by the National People’s Army, with various variants derived from the original AK-47 and AKS. The StG-940, a replacement for the MPi-AK-74N rifle, was procured in 1985 and was later cancelled after the end of the Cold War in 1989. The first German FALs were ordered in late 1955/early 1956 for several thousand “Canada” models with wooden furniture and prong flashhider, intended for the Bundesgrenzschutz (border guard) rather than the nascent Bundeswehr (armed forces), which used M1 Garands and M1/M2 carbines.
Why is the AK-47 so popular in Africa?
The Soviet Union’s production of the Avtomat Kalashnikov rifle, the most common rifle globally, has facilitated the creation of unique rifles in many developing countries that lacked the financial resources to design, prototype, and assemble their own.
📹 Myth or Magic: Does “Custom” Matter in Menswear?
#custom #mythormagic #notsponsored SHOP THE VIDEO: → Wool Challis Tie in Sunflower Yellow with Green, Blue & Red …
Something I love about this era: no Planewalkers, no multi-Planar threat, just pure, striking story-telling about individual worlds and their denizens. Mirrodin, Kamigawa, Ravnica, and Lorwyn are my favorite blocks/eras of MTG for the Vorthos part of my brain. It’s nice to return to Kamigawa and its futuristic evolution. 🙂
“She will be wrapped in shiminawa rope and stand towering above a metropolis of glowing lights, defiantly resisting the fallacy of progress, and embodying the passage of time. She looks like her relatives, the great cedar trees of Japan who, like its people, endure.” Damn dude, that is some beautiful writing. Just incredible stuff. Every time I watch a Rhystic Studies article I come away inspired. What a genuine gift.
I wanted you to know that your articles manage to transcend the Magic audience. My mother, who was born in Kyoto, absolutely adored this article and praised the accuracy, and attention to detail. She has never once expressed interest in Magic, but she couldn’t help but feel enammered with the art and story behind them. Keep up your incredible work, and congratulations on your degree.
“The world is old. It rewards those who take time to grow.” Damn, dude. That actually made me tear up. I’m am amateur artist, but there’s a reason I don’t paint professionally, why I feel like I’ll always be an amateur. I’m slow, painfully slow. To give you an idea, there’s a piece I’m working on for a friend that’s taken me over two years already. And he hasn’t exactly been patient. I know he’s just excited, but it’s still frustrating and depressing… Part of it is my obsession with details people will never ever notice, like scratches in metal or scuffs in fabric, reflections in tiles. Frankly, it’s kind of exhausting which is why I have to take long breaks between sessions. Not helping matters. Despite how many people tell me how amazing they think my work is, it’s always been tainted by the knowledge that it probably took way too long to create. Like, a better artist would do it faster. But that line at the end there. It’s the first time I’ve ever considered that my methodical nature could be an asset. I don’t know. That choked me up. I’m probably still too slow, lol. But that was a nice thought. I’ll remember that whenever I paint now. Thank you.
I’m half Japanese, and have been very close to Japan throughout my whole life. Neon Dynasty was the block that started my very recent magic journey, and I’ve been in love with the world of Magic ever since. Trying to make a 5 colour spirit Edh deck has lead me to look through a lot of blocks, but mainly Saviors of Kamigawa. Journeying through and seeing all these cards, Wizards have done such a good job representing and showcasing Japanese culture, and it has made me feel proud, grateful, and more in love with magic. Thanks for making this article man, appreciate it.
When I first read the flavor text on Guardian of Solitude way back, it really put things in perspective. I was going through a difficult time in my life and reading that flavor text was theraputic in a sense. It has stayed with me to this day and reminds me that things could always be worse despite how hopeless it all seems now. Beautiful article.
I grew up in a small town far away from big box stores and game shops. My introduction to Magic was building, battling, and breaking down decks from a few boxes of bulk commons my brother brought home from a trip to Alaska. I remember buying my first pre-constructed deck from a shop in Berkeley about a year after I started playing, it was the Ninjas deck from Betrayers. Through the films of Miyazaki I was primed to be enchanted by the lore in the Kamigawa block. One such film was Princess Mononoke, which also featured vengeful spirits with heavy inspiration from Shinto tradition. That film holds a special place for me to this day, as does Kamigawa. Both of these pieces of art take liberties with cultural tradition to tell a story, while maintaining enough integrity to immerse us in their mythos. If artists were never to take liberties with cultural tradition I don’t think we would have much diversity of tradition, which live primarily through rich storytelling histories. I never felt like Kamigawa made the promise that it was a strict representation of Shinto, and don’t think that the use of Kami as a metaphor for nature striking back at the hubris of humans is an artistic mistake unless the story is interpreted literally. We should indeed be cautious on misrepresenting religious traditions, but shouldn’t we also be protective of the artistic liberties that birthed those traditions as well?
I’ll be honest. It is incredibly hard to do what Kamigawa’s artistic and writing direction team did. I see it as a respectable attempt to incorporate real culture into a game, and I see no problems with it. It was not made with disdain or ill-intent, nor was it made to simply sell cards. They portrayed a world, a conflict, different ideologies and characters, and it shows. And even if they failed in representing it truthfully, even if they fail to convey the intricacies of its real life inspiration… they tried to. And in these cases the “intent” is the most important aspect. I can imagine that a lot of kids probably searched or looked-up a lot of these creatures’/objects’ inspirations and probably learned something new. At the end of the day, I’ll ask this question: “If it had not been made, would we have lost something of good value? Or would we instead recognize that this worthy of making, despite its flaws and misconceptions?” Most of the time the answer is yes. We would have lost something. Because even if we are given a partial or wrong answer about a given topic, if it motivates us to learn more and find out more for ourselves, then it means it sparked something inside of us.
I started playing “Legend-Lander” (it would be years before commander would be codified and become part of the Magic community’s general consiousness) during the Kamigawa block’s tenure in standard. During a game of Extended, I made an opponent’s Sword of Light and Shadow fall off of their creature with Eight-and-aHalf-Tails’ ability turning the Sword white, then blocked and killed the attacker. I quickly came to love the card, and my friends and I each decided to build a mono-color Highlander deck around a different Legend from the block. While it’s gone through steady changes over the last decade and a half, I’ve never once taken the deck apart. The deck also survived intact when the rest of my collection was destroyed a few years after I created it. If not for it, my relationship with Magic would be very different, if it would even exist at all. So for that, thank you Eight-O, and thank you, Kamigawa for the memories.
I always loved the feeling kamigawa gave of myself. But I never really knew quite what it was that endeared this set to me in ways none other since could. But now I realise, it is indeed the feeling of a real and ancient world, it does not feel like this world was created for a card game out of nothing, only to last for a year and then move on to the next story. It feels OLD, like it has always been there for ages, like it has been lived in and shapen by people. Like a world you can actually step into unlike most others of the fantastical mtg worlds, it feels like a world you can live a life in, rather than one you visit for a few moments before returning to reality. Thank you for this article.
The justice that was never done for Kamigawa is now shined upon. Thank you 🙏 I’m sure there was much more you couldn’t fit into the article, but I like this dive into these with you narrating. I’m not kidding it feels like everything has slowed down around me, like you explained in the forest, when perusal your articles. Being able to slow down and enjoy every detail we overlook on a day to day basis is perfection. Thank you!
That ancient feeling the block managed to capture was what originally enraptured me. To walk among an old growth is a treasure, a portal through time and space that connects us to millennia past. Some of my favorite cards ever printed were in this block. I’ll always remember playing Godo, Marrow-Gnawer, Boseiju, Shirei, and many others. Very entertaining article.
Kamigawa was my first introduction to the game. The artwork on those Forest cards always resonated with me, and to this day I always make sure to include those Forests in my green decks. Most of my appreciation for Old Kamigawa can be attributed to art/flavor/nostalgia. I was hoping I’d feel that way again with the release of the upcoming return to Kamigawa, but unfortunately that isn’t the case 🙁 But thanks for showcasing the spirit of Old Kamigawa the way I remember it 🙂
Kamigawa was my first contact with magic, and growing up with many many Manga & Animes, it really laid the foundation for my love & interest in japan & its folklore 🙂 Only later as a more advanced player i’d discovered that – mechanically- kamigawa wasnt well taken … but that only increased my love for this set!
I’m so glad we finally have a return to one of my favorite planes. Kamigawa’s rich and beautiful setting had me hooked and pushed me to learn more about Japanese history, mythology, and practices. I totally get the dissonance of have the Kami attacking mortal reality, but I always chocked it up to Konda’s actions. Daimyo Konda stole O-Kagachi’s immortality for himself. O-Kagachi, being the spirit of all things is tied to all other Kami, and the world itself in every way. If a being so powerful was wounded and enraged, with ever other spiritual being like cell in a body. It wouldn’t matter how benign, peacful, or inactive each other Kami was; if O-Kagachi willed it, they would become violent. That’s just the take I understood way back when I first read those detailed Planar Pages for Champions of Kamigawa.
Great article. I have to disagree about them overstepping. There is a lack of well-defined depictions of what kami look like, and the drawings that exist tend to vary greatly. This lends itself very well to artists’ freedom of interpretation. I personally think they did an excellent job overall, having been given a very difficult task. I think the art in this set is some of the most unique in MTG to this day. This is the set that really got me into the game. Kamigawa was the first time I ever bought a booster box. Now I’m much older and don’t even play, but I can’t wait to naively open my NEO box and enjoy whatever they’ve created.
Of all the cards I’ve seen through over a decade of Magic, the simple blue 1/1 with no abilities is the card that stayed with me. It drives home the settings of the entire block with just a few words, in a way that no legendary spirits ever could. Thank you for including Wandering Ones in your article, I love that card.
Kamigawa was the first block I really got interested in Magic. It was truly Magical in a sense – different from reality, yet similar enough that it was approachable. Mirridon was cool but it was completely futuristic with few heros and relatable characters. Then in Kamigawa you had people like Takano, Azuela, etc. and it was awesome.
Great vid. I disagree re: unnecessary oversteps with regard to having a different take on Shinto, kami, etc. I think that’s what prevents it from simply being use of the existing world and culture and more into development of the fantastical, much the same way that Japanese creatives have developed their own narratives and concepts from European folklore and Abrahamic religions. I would be hard pressed to say something like Evangelion even remotely resembles Judeo-Christian practice, but in using it as a baseline it creates its own thing entirely. I think it’s a good thing, overall.
i dont play mtg arena anymore for like 1,5 years now. but my friend, who i played magic with in end of 90s, early 200s, sent me all his magic cards. so i was in love with old land arts for the last few days. this new dynasty set coming out. i mean, i have very similar opinions to many new entries of old franchises. they took the new wave theme, that like everybody uses these days for their youtube intros, release articles, and put it into magic 😀 this is a behaviour of reoccuring “classic” you can notice in the whole gaming industry as well.
Great article! One thing usually overlooked when people talk about why this set was perceived as a failure; it’s the competition when it was released. At that time, one of the other big CCG was Legend of the five rings (L5R), a Feudal Japanese inspired card game. So many people felt it was a New coke move; try to chase the competition when you’re number one. I was working at a game store at that time a some people asked what was the diferencie between Kamigawa and L5R. Some of the old L5R sets still in display where published by WotC, and this added a lot of confusion.
Never clicked faster! By far my favorite set! Every card and every flavourtext oozed of flavour and a hid a story to be told, the art is haunting and gorgeaous and the kami totally otherwordly, that like teardrop kami sais we cannot unerstand. On top of that it introduced a ton of new concept and had plenty of cards that forced a brewers brain to work hard to get an advantage out of an unassuming but big effect f.e. discard ur hand, or players can only play cards during their turns or cards we only found the value way later in like the top. Despite the samourai maybe every tribe looked very original and ull have trouble finding a card that doesnt offer anything, even the plain 1-1 wanderers, evry bit builds the world.
Kamigawa is the set that got me into MTG in the first place, that art and flavour was just so good. I did not see the psychedelic Kami representations as an “issue” for a user. To me, its mysticism definitely was the strength of the set and got my imagination going. Still my favourite set so far, even if I have trouble making its mechanics work well (I’m also not a hardcord MTG player, I almost like the art more than the playing). Great article.
I love kamigawa. Kamigawa was the most recent block to come out when I got into the game, and the imagery and mechanics were so alien and wild it really captured my imagination. And one of my favourite draft events ever, which I also won, was a kamigawa block draft where I turboed out Oyobi, Who Split the Heavens and played a cycle of ‘Onna’ cards that all had etb effects that also bounced back to my hand when I played another spirit, and Oyubi would just spit out an army of 3/3 spirits. The format was so janky and odd but damn I loved it. <3
My first booster pack was for Champions of Kamigawa. I remember before buying it, looking at the lists of potential cards that I could find in it. I got really thrilled about “Azusa, Lost but Seeking”… and that was the rare of the booster that I bought. It’s a set that holds a lot of value to me, so I am very grateful to you for making a article about it.
I never really showed interest in Kamigawa, suffering from exactly the 4 challenges presented in the beginning of this article. This helped bridge this gap somewhat and now I can’t wait to dive deep into it’s history and lore in order to present this plane to my tabletop players. Thanks for the awesome article and your attention to detail.
watching his articles makes you love this game even more. I have watched all of his articles at least 3 times apiece. I watch them when building decks and when bored. I love having this knowledge to brag about it at game night lol. all in all best mtg articles on the internet and maybe the most thoughtful ever.
Kamigawa was the first set I played when I first started out. I don’t know if it had just came out or it was just the set that me and my friends had cards from, but I remember flinging cards over dinner-tables, learning the ins and outs of this complex game (not always successfully). Kamigawa may not be the best set, but I love it just the same. Cards like Bushi Tenderfoot, Initiate of Blood and Nine and a half Tails are the cards I remember most fondly. I’m always sad that I don’t have my old box of cards, not because it might hold an old Senseis Divining top, but for those old decks I used to play with my friends.
I believe that the kami turning against humans makes sense, the humans did betray them in a profound and terrible way, so its only natural that they’d try to take back what was stolen from them. Also, as far as I know kami do become vengeful if they are disrespected and mistreated, and sometimes evil spirits become kami themselves after being divinized and purified through worship.
I have seen a LOT of fantasy worlds using the trappings of traditional Japan— ones created both by the Japanese and by foreigners, and Kamigawa feels the most like someone spent a day with some library books, wrote down some cool-sounding words and what they mean and then used them to paint-by-numbers in a fairly bog-standard fantasy world. I think they did more work than that, but that is still what it feels like. I also find it so strange that they went with these other-worldly and frightening creatures, calling them kami, when, if that is the aesthetic they were going to go with, then Japanese and Shinto myths have the equally, if not more frightening yokai, who already have intense appearances and lore to draw upon.
Champions of Kamigawa was the first set that brought me into the world of Magic. Justin Sweet’s art of Iname, Death Aspect on the cover of the Soulshift intro deck caught my eye while walking down the game section of my local Target and I’ve enjoyed it ever since. I always take it personal when I hear the block was a commercial failure. Haha
The most surprising thing to me in this article – having last played magic around the end of kamigawa block, original – is that it was regarded as a failure. My friends and I loved kamigawa; we would just make random decks from huge piles of mirrodin and kamigawa cards and it was huge fun. The arcane synergies and weird creatures were very jolly. Sometimes not being exposed to the outside world is a blessing, I suppose
Nice shout put to rob scallion. That guy is a friggen musical genius. His different instruments played with a western twist are great! (Master of puppets on ukelele) but his understanding of the scale, tempo, tone and musical history of which the instruments is astounding! It’s just like what you do for magic, only for music. Which when you think about it is only a two letter difference. Music can be magic, and magic can be music.
I started with Magic right before end of Legacy era (Scourge was on shelfs) and I was all into Classical Fantasy.. so Mirrodin block and then (for me at least) this “Alien” Kamigawa block were something bad and I was stuck with older cards/sets till Ravnica came. Now, almost 20 years since I started, Mirrodin and Kamigawa brings so much nostalgia and also still that classic gameplay feel I love.. so I can say that I grew to it and these blocks hold in my heart same place as Onslaught and Urza blocks. Gems lost in time.
As someone who speaks Japanese fluently, thank you for pronouncing Kamigawa (and the other Japanese/Japanese-inspired words) the way you did. It’s not perfect, but the way most people pronounce them is like nails on a chalk board to me. (for anyone curious, in Japanese, a letter is either a vowel sound or a consonant sound followed by a vowel sound. So in “Kamigawa” Ka, mi, ga, and wa are each separate letters (when writing in hiragana, let’s ignore kanji because kanji doesn’t matter too much when pronouncing words). In Japanese, with one exception, all letters are pronounced the same all the time. In the case of Kamigawa, Ka is like “kah”, mi is like “me”, ga is like “gah” and wa is like “wah”. Mainly what bothers me about how most people who pronounce Kamigawa is how, for some reason, Ka is pronounced like “Kya”. Just… no.)
The text on Yomiji is fantastic. It is a haunting notion that the Kami would willingly return their foes from death, simply to make them suffer the horror of war again and again. You can see how in peacetime such a gift would be beloved…now it is a testament to what a cruel and alien force the Kami can be…
All these years after buying the “Kami Reborn” theme deck, Kamigawa remains a beautiful and fascinating block in my eyes. As for the tension between staying too close to actual Shinto practice and misrepresenting the nature of spirits, I have always appreciated the block as one inspired by that mythology, rather than an accurate representation thereof, and think its deviations make for a compelling narrative hook and art style; the kami, especially, look phenomenal.
I loved kamigawa when it first came out. I was i middle school, and too young to really understand or care about the kami being based on real world beliefs, but they had an interesting visual design different than anything I’d seen before and the set had a sort-of cosmic horror vibe that I loved before I even knew that was a genre that existed. I didn’t understand the game well enough to know that the sets weren’t very good mechanically either, but I grew up to care more about flavor and lore than mechanics anyway, so that never bothered me. It might have been a flop of a block in the eyes of most, but it meant a lot to me, enough that the world going cyberpunk was a bittersweet thing for me. Its not the same kamigawa I love, but at least we get to go back.
It feels weird hearing that criticism that Kamigawa’s essentially Japan and thus the warlike take on Shintoism is going too far. Maybe it was growing up reading the picture books my mom had as a child, but the kami being so different from what I grew up with actually helped sell to me that this was a Japanese based world that took its inspiration seriously, but it’s not just Japan in Magicland. Saying that it shouldn’t have done that actually makes the world feel weaker, since it reads like you’d want it to just be a copy and paste job, albeit a better researched one than normal (especially since I have family members that share given names with some of the cards). What I liked about Kamigawa was that it made a twist that wouldn’t make sense in the real world, and it followed through with how the consequences of that twist would drastically change how old familiar things like kodama or baku would completely manifest almost unrecognizably as a consequence of that twist (and the people of Kamigawa also feel it’s fundamentally wrong.). As long as a detail can somewhat follow as a consequence of that twist, Kamigawa is better off not being Japan in that case. It’s like imagining the US in the 1800’s if the Mississippi River didn’t exist. It’s complete nonsense, but it’s more interesting to think about than just what we already know happens because you’d try to figure out what’s different and what remains the same.
Excellent article! Kamigawa always stood out to me compared to other ‘real world’ planes because of the amount of analogies to real world history and religion that made it into the sets, and honestly I quite like it in the same way I like older cards having flavor text straight up lifted from Bible passages or lines from old literature. It wasn’t afraid to be distinctively Japanese in its identity and even if in retrospect it flew too close to the sun, it’s an experience and approach to it that is distinctively unique to those sets and I do like it. Glad to see they’re still going in on the folklore and history hybrid stuff with the new set. Tatsunari, Toad Rider is a pretty sweet reference to Jiraiya, I absolutely love Rairyuu, Storm’s Edge referencing Yasuke, the black samurai, and Sagas are an absolutely slam dunk addition for the set and fit perfectly for telling the history of the plane. I thought Neon Dynasty was a cool but very polarizing idea when it was first announced, but it seems they’ve managed to make it work super well by balancing it with the old stuff and I like it a lot.
As always, an incredible article. I sincerely think that you are one of the best content creators of this platform. The storytelling, the ambiance you create, the information, it’s all so perfectly balanced and makes for incredible articles. I do however have to nitpick on one error you made, at 21:57 when you briefly mention Hayao Miyazaki. Hayao Miyazaki has not worked on Heisei Tanuki Gassen Ponpoko. It is Isaho Takahata’s movie and Hayao Miyazaki was not involved in it. It’s just a detail but I had to correct it as an anime expert, it does not take away from the great work you did on the article.
I never thought of the Kami as evil aside from the ones designated “Demon Spirit” I always imagined it like they take the form of their emotions… they appear angry and distorted because they are bereaved by war and That Which Was Taken. The same Kami could just as easily appear cute and friendly when they’re happy.
Wild never knowing this, Saviors of Kamigawa was my first entry into MTG as a kid. Gameplay wise it didn’t hold up to my playstyle very well compared to other sets but holds a special feeling for me of nostalgic love. Obviously knew it was Japanese inspired just not to this degree, but still appreciate it’s existence.
Kamigawa was one of the sets that pulled me into reading Magic content so I’m ready for Neon Dynasty. With the Pyrexians and the cyberpunk aesthetic I’m sensing some clash of relics of the past and advancements of the future in the next storry. Would also like to add how things that seemed iffy were merely a stepping stone that had potential, and just needed time to pass to understand its merits fits not only for the plane but for things in real life too. We can learn a lot to improve the future through what did or did not work from the past.
This and the Innistrad article are amazing. Not only informative in depth analysis but original critical takes that help you understand what went right and what went wrong. You are right that gothic and cosmic horror don’t mix and Wizards is still plugging both into Innistrad in the last set. You make the point here that original Kamigawa went too far in terms of wholesale cultural/ religious appropriation….and this makes me wonder about a cyberpunk set….a style that is ultimately an exploitation genre. Keep this up. It’s incredible!
i know this comment wont get seen but i just wana thank you so much for doing this! i accidentally ordered an old kamigawa set last year and it was when i just took my first steps into MTG . “champions of kamigawa” i thought was a cool name. had know idea what i was buying. and im really into japanese culture so getting this was just perfect for me. little did i know that one year later WOTC would announce Neon Dynasty. and i freaked out. immediately ran to the little spot i hid the binder. and i opened it like i was finding an old forgotten artifact . covered in dust it just sat there until now. fast forward to today. this article comes out. and man i cannot wait to dive into every card after i get home from work. this is gonna be epic . again. thank you
here in brazil, the country with the most concentration of japanese people out side of japan in the world, as far as i know kamigawa had good aproval of mtg players, especially in my city (Curitiba, the city with the second biggest nipo-brazilian population, being São Paulo the greatest), here we have a lot of stores owened by japanese, und the city’s popular market half of stores belong to nipo-brazilians, and sell japanese food and decorations, and in curitiba we have 3 festivals (matsuri) every year: hana matsuri (festival of the flower, budah’s birthday), imin matsuri (celebration of japanese imigration) and haru matsuri (spring festival) it’s funny to be remebered that only now japanese culture is being more presented to the US
the editing, the history angle, the topic, the writing…. amazing article. idk who else feels that way, but would have loved a return to feudal inspired japan tho, think the whole cyberpunk thing is somewhat played out. but so far from the spoilers it seems to NOT be what feared -> “cyberpunk world with kamigawa window dressing so people stop bugging us (wizards) about a return”
Turning Neon Dynasty into cyberpunk and generation clash was an amazing idea to market it better. I love its design in a time where MTG design repeats. I was looking forward to Bloomburrow but kinda wish they’d completely go for a different art direction in sets. The Japanese alternative arts look so incredibly appealing that I wish the whole set looked like it.
In my US high school World History class there was an assignment to do a presentation on one of the big 5 religions (Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, and Buddhism), but I talked my teacher into letting me do a presentation on Shintoism, not because I’m an anime nerd, but because I believe in spirits present with in all things.
Some of that art is dredging up memories I had long forgotten about. Kamigawa was the first release I was playing for. It and Mirrodin were two extremes of my interests back than that drug me into magic. When all of it rotated was when I stopped playing. I was a kid and loved anime and there was an evocativeness to it that wrapped me up combined with the naivete of the times. Im looking forward to the return with everyone involved being a little older and wiser on its execution.
I mean your criticism of the Kami is valid in general. But in lore, in world it also makes sense. Kami, even in Kamigawa didn’t used to be such bizzare and otherwordly creatures, they didn’t appear in the material world period, just like in OG Shinto. But i can see how the sheer audacity of ripping out a part of the very soul of the world, the kami that embodies Kamigawa wholesale, and forcing it into physical being, thereby opening a never before seen convergence of the spiritual and the physical could twist them to that degree. The whole world is in anguish, the very soul of what the Kami are ripped apart. I imagine that could result in some sort of identity crisis, even for the most passively animistic spiritual beings.
Snakes, rats, Kitsune, Moonfolk, Samurai, Ninja, etc. Kamigawa was a paradise for goofy tribal players. I still use a samurai deck and a ninja deck in tabletop. Old Kamigawa was one of my favorite blocks of all time, so I really hope Neon Dynasty turns out well. We already got a 2 drop ninja lord that also reduces ninjustu costs and allows you to sneak in fallen shinobi on turn 3. That’s amazing!
It’s weird that I look back fondly on sets that are often considered bad. I think it has a lot to do with what cards were prevalent when we start playing. When I started playing in 2009, we played with what little cards we had. The “older” cards floating around my boarding school would’ve been things like kamigawa and lorwynn and shadowmoor. Then alara was still standard legal so those were harder to get, and only those of us who could buy new packs would’ve been the first to get out hands on zendikar!
I don’t know what the timeline is on making these vidoes, but I can’t be more impressed with how you managed to analyze the old block and identify it’s main weaknesses from a story perspective. The reason I am so impressed is, being already a few days into the official spoiler season for Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty, I can see the ways they have tried to fix these issues with the story of the old block. Consigning the Kami War to history in this set, the conflict of the set is coming from an outside source, not an internal one. This story essentially evades the highlighted downfall of the original story in this way. And in choosing an outside source as the main antagonists of the set, they allowed themselves an out to create a multi-set story arch where Kamigawa is more a stop on a journey than a huge, overly ambitious project that fails to respectfully interpret it’s source material. Again, I don’t know how you managed to do it, but you’ve pointed out the main weakness of the original block and the most obvious solution to that weakness is what we’ve seen to be already implemented into the coming new set (at least, that’s what I’ve seen). Wonderful article!
Can I just say, I spent more money (or my parents lol) on kamigawa and betrayers than any other magic set ever. I even bought the books, which are amazing. I love Ocarina of Time, Princess Mononoke and The Last Samurai, so I also loved everything about this set. The soundtrack of The Last Samurai and playing this set with my brother are merged together in my mind; So many good memories. To this day, I am obsessed with overlapping worlds and liminal spaces. And as always, the artists (who are the real wizards of the coast imho) gave it their all as well. Amazing designs. Edit: On a side note, the tale of the bone cutter, which you fortunately mention, is straight-up Egyptian in origin, as Isis is the lady of the moon and Horus the child on his Papyrus reed (who climbs it to reach its top. Another equivalent type was the Lotus with its bean-shaped seed; This is where we get the Jack the Giant Slayer story). And Un-nefer (the beautiful/twice good hare) is a type of Osiris, the hare of the moon also mentioned here. Look out for Egypt guys, it’s at the root of many beloved things today. My source for this is Gerald Massey, if you want to read more about Egypt. His work is freely available online.
In terms of Kamigawa’s commercial failures, these reasons are always given (especially by a certain person), but the context of the set it had to follow (most standard bans to date, insane power swing, first set with new borders) had a lot to do with why people were struggling with it, especially in terms of power level.
i loved kamigawa because it connected to a lot of concepts shown in movies like pom poko, totoro, and princess mononoke. at the time miyazaki movies werent half as popular as they are now and i think if these movies became sligtly more popuklar in the west the set could have seen much more success. i hope to see a set that is similar to the world of nausica.
As spoiler season rolls along, I listen to Terashi’s Grasp & my mind goes to oni-cult anvil: albeit for a dark purpose, it’s a craftsman’s tool that weaves an essence of life into what remains of other work, even using it’s own creations for it’s purpose. On a gameplay side, that card is going to be such a strong tool for Hidetsugu or Prosper decks, especially if they run the other in the 99
I had just reached adulthood when this set came out, was heavily into MTG via the original v2 of MTG Online, and it blew me away. The feel of the world, the captivating artwork, and a new and fundamentally different flavour and world to inhabit. It lives with me still, and your article, truthful and heartfelt in both its celebration and thoughtful, deserved criticism, reached out to me in a way I did not expect, even from a creator like you I have followed for a long time. Thank you.
Never forget the only reason kamigawa was a commercial flop is because it proceeded mirrodon’s great exodus from the game. Same is true for mercadian masques and ixalan. WotC will never own up to their own mistakes when it comes to their undertested overpowered sets and will always blame external factors like claiming magic fans are too dumb to understand Japanese culture
I will say, I disagree with your notion that Shinto isn’t a religion. Because while there isn’t a consensus on what is and isn’t a religion, it’s generally a series of socio-cultural beliefs, practices and ethics. It be a very different flavour of religion than say, Christianity, but it has specific spiritual beliefs and behaviours associated with those beliefs, which for me definitely does constitute a religion. Still, a very excellent article!
I don’t think twisting Shinto was such a bad idea. I’ve seen enough of Japanese horror to get the feeling that it’s not 100% off limits. All things considered Kamigawa feels very respectful of its source material. If they wanted to be disrespectful it would have been nothing but samurai, ninjas, and mechas. Oops.
your point on the kami being strangely designed and too disturbing for what they are supposed to represent was insightful, but you didn’t mention that they actually look like yokai. yokai have real physical forms in Japanese mythology and tend to look even more messed up than the illustrations in magic. that said, I’m not sure if the set would have been better if it had been some kind of samurai vs yokai story rather than being about the kami war, because yokai or demon in general battling stories are 5 yen a dozen in Japanese pop culture, both in 2004 and today. I think the kami war was an interesting twist that forged a new conceptual direction for Japanese period pieces, as much as it may have risked misinforming euro-americans on what Kami are. either way, the set sold quite well and still is fairly liked in Japan anyway, so I don’t think anyone was particularly offended.
I really like the explanation of why the Kami look so weird and hostile that the books give – Kamigawa isn’t actually directly Shinto, it’s Shinto inspired, and their spiritual world is literally its own alternate plane bound to the same plane. Crossing the boundary is difficult and they’re supposed to do it only peacefully and carefully, but when they’re buoyed by rage they end up looking malformed, like an upset disheveled person who had to dress in a hurry. It directly compares it to seeing a person covered in blood after they’ve run through a bough of thorns, which I thought was really interesting. For me, I think Kamigawa is fun if you take it as interesting for how much it tries to be directly inspired by Japanese culture while clearly having Western angles on it that don’t quite make sense or feel like what a Japanese work would do. I do think that the names being just Japanese words maybe makes it toe a little closer than I like for stuff that’s inspired by it, since it makes it kinda feel like it’s trying to be the actual thing and getting it wrong. But I think viewing it as a “western take on the ideas” is really fun, and I love when a game actually tries to do flavor based on their own research instead of something we all know. This is one reason why I don’t really like a lot of modern set flavor… it feels like the focus on resonance makes logical sense from the perspective of a company making money, but it lacks some of the “wow I’m learning something”, or “seeing something that expands my horizons when I go to research more” elements that I think MtG used to have more of.
In defense of kamigawas use of Shinto, it’s a cool set of ideas, and it’s kind of dumb to criticize artists for wanting to make cool art, but also a lot of anime have very similar, if not even more distasteful portrayals of Japanese beliefs, and they’re made by Japanese people. They tried to make an honest portrayal without bias of a culture that most of them are not a part of, and I’d say that’s all we can ask of someone in that situation. (Above) also I’m not saying that Japanese people don’t know they’re culture as well as me (an American) does, I’m saying that a lot of anime knowingly perpetuate misconceptions and simplifications of Japanese beliefs for the sake of good storytelling. And sometimes certain writers of anime portray Japan in certain time periods in a way that isn’t super correct or tasteful.