And if we mix the supernatural stuff in, too (and mind, this is primarily my *own* cultural references, and what I know of similar East Asian systems)...there could be another reason for the bits of female gear, too.
Kusuri-uri has always struck me as a shamanic sort, if only because of some of his appearances and actions reminding me a bit of Korean mansin or mudang, shamanesses. (And yes, the wards/o-fudo/bujeok strike me as that, and I've even seen some pics of mudang that have similar robes. And, as I've noted to you in other replies over on mononoke_anime shamanism and Buddhism aren't seen as incompatible there.)
In a lot of shamanic traditions (Korean shamanism definitely counts, the concept is also apparent in a lot of Native American shamanic systems, and I'd not be shocked to have seen it survive in Japan either) it is *not* uncommon for gender-bending in practice, and in fact people who are "gender-bendy" (male to female or female to male) are seen as especially spiritually powerful. In Korean shamanism, almost all the shamans are female (there is a small group of male hereditary shamans on Jeju Island, but most people in Korea who are shamans are female and had a "shaman illness" or otherwise "got the Dreaming" of being a shaman), but routinely take male roles in kut (shamanic rituals)--and yes, this includes regularly bitching out the men in attendance for throwing things out of balance. (Of particular note here, Korean gender roles are also very sharply divided, and generally not in women's favour outside of shamanic context.)
I can definitely see Kusuri-uri (as a magickal worker) doing some genderbendy stuff in relation to that, and your commentary regarding "identifying with women" actually *would* fit in with this--even a fair number of the spirits he deals with are either women or have very close connections with them, so you could ultimately say it's sort of a reversal of the trope with mudang taking male roles (and typically dealing with male spirits, including being "ridden" by them).
(Of note, there's another series that also (surprisingly) plays with this, but with more explicit androgyny--I was *very* surprised to see this show up in a form in "Gundam 00" with not only Tieria Erde (who is androgynous, male, but crossdresses in season 2--but the enemy finds out first) but, more specifically, Erde's *mobile suit* (in the first season, his MS--easily the most robust--has a hidden form which is more powerful, "Gundam Nadleeh"; nadleeh is a Dine/Navajo term for anyone in a "gender-bendy" role (such as transgendered, transvestite, or homosexual/bisexual people) with a definite connotation of being more spiritually powerful than most folk. Many nadleeh or "two-spirit (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two-spirit)" (yes, that's the literal translation of the Lakota equivalent of nadleeh) people tended to end up as shamans because they could deal with both "male" and "female" spirits...)
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Date: 3 Dec 2008 06:28 pm (UTC)Kusuri-uri has always struck me as a shamanic sort, if only because of some of his appearances and actions reminding me a bit of Korean mansin or mudang, shamanesses. (And yes, the wards/o-fudo/bujeok strike me as that, and I've even seen some pics of mudang that have similar robes. And, as I've noted to you in other replies over on
In a lot of shamanic traditions (Korean shamanism definitely counts, the concept is also apparent in a lot of Native American shamanic systems, and I'd not be shocked to have seen it survive in Japan either) it is *not* uncommon for gender-bending in practice, and in fact people who are "gender-bendy" (male to female or female to male) are seen as especially spiritually powerful. In Korean shamanism, almost all the shamans are female (there is a small group of male hereditary shamans on Jeju Island, but most people in Korea who are shamans are female and had a "shaman illness" or otherwise "got the Dreaming" of being a shaman), but routinely take male roles in kut (shamanic rituals)--and yes, this includes regularly bitching out the men in attendance for throwing things out of balance. (Of particular note here, Korean gender roles are also very sharply divided, and generally not in women's favour outside of shamanic context.)
I can definitely see Kusuri-uri (as a magickal worker) doing some genderbendy stuff in relation to that, and your commentary regarding "identifying with women" actually *would* fit in with this--even a fair number of the spirits he deals with are either women or have very close connections with them, so you could ultimately say it's sort of a reversal of the trope with mudang taking male roles (and typically dealing with male spirits, including being "ridden" by them).
(Of note, there's another series that also (surprisingly) plays with this, but with more explicit androgyny--I was *very* surprised to see this show up in a form in "Gundam 00" with not only Tieria Erde (who is androgynous, male, but crossdresses in season 2--but the enemy finds out first) but, more specifically, Erde's *mobile suit* (in the first season, his MS--easily the most robust--has a hidden form which is more powerful, "Gundam Nadleeh"; nadleeh is a Dine/Navajo term for anyone in a "gender-bendy" role (such as transgendered, transvestite, or homosexual/bisexual people) with a definite connotation of being more spiritually powerful than most folk. Many nadleeh or "two-spirit (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two-spirit)" (yes, that's the literal translation of the Lakota equivalent of nadleeh) people tended to end up as shamans because they could deal with both "male" and "female" spirits...)