The Suzaku Seven

[Here I must apologize for lack of an old Chinese drawing-- Unfortunately, looters had destroyed most of the drawings of Suzaku, and thus it was impossible for me to scout out an authentic drawing. A scene from "Fushigi Yuugi" will have to do!]

Ahhh! Here we hit the real pay dirt! Suzaku, the red bird/phoenix of the south, is one of our major players in "Fushigi Yuugi--" the good guys! Its constellations are up now, and I love looking for them. The following is a breakdown of Suzaku's constellations.

Japanese Name	Meaning	Corresponding Constellation
ChichiriBoshi	Well (Literally, place where you draw water)	Gemini
TamohomeBoshi	Ogre, Devil, Perhaps Ghost	Cancer
NurikoBoshi	Willow	Hydra
HotohoriBoshi	Stars	Hydra
ChirikoBoshi	Stretched net	Hydra
TasukiBoshi	Wings	Crater
MitsukakeBoshi	Chariot Cross-Board, perhaps strings of Koto, Sadness	Corvus

Here's a quick pronunciation guide to Suzaku's constellations/warriors: ChichiriBoshi= Chee-cheer-ree-bo-she
TamohomeBoshi= Ta-moe-hoe-may-bo-she
NurikoBoshi= New-ree-ko-bo-she
HotohoriBoshi= Hoe-toe-whore-ee-bo-she
ChirikoBoshi= Cheer-ee-ko-bo-she
TasukiBoshi= Task-ee-bo-she
MitsukakeBoshi= Mitz-oo-kah-kay-bo-she

Each of these constellations has a warrior attached in "Fushigi Yuugi," albeit with their names shortened to Chichiri, Tamohome, Nuriko, Hotohori, Chiriko, Tasuki, and Mitsukake. I will showcase these in detail later, but here is a picture of all seven together. (You may have noticed that I wear a shirt with this picture on it, every now and again!) Chichiri is the light-blue-haired one holding a staff in the upper left, Tamohome is the black/blue haired guy in the lower left whose hand seems to be grabbing the border, Nuriko is the is the guy with the purple hair and red suit wearing gold gauntlets at the top, Hotohori is the blondish-brown-haired man in the back right whose profile we see, Chiriko is the little brown-haired boy under Nuriko's arm and to the right of Chichiri who seems to be facing away from us, Tasuki is the flaming red head, who is peering up at the bottom right, and Mitsukake is just above Tasuki with a lavender cat on his shoulder. The girl in the middle is Miaka, the priestess of Suzaku. There are no female warriors in the Suzaku seven, just a cross-dresser or two.

Alright! It's time for my pick! My pick was difficult (after all, with the exception of Chiriko and Mitsukake, they are all prime ages and really cute!) But one warrior of Suzaku stands out above the rest, and that is:

Chichiri always wears a mask to hide the scar that seals his left eye shut, so I included a picture of him with the mask off and on to show him off. He is the BEST character by far in the entire series, regardless of cardinal point. He is a wandering monk, but my shrine to him took care of that, heh heh heh. Go to my shrine to see how! Anyway, I think his power and sweet nature led me to like him best-- or maybe I just have a thing for one-eyed men. My Genbu pick would seem to point in that direction . . .

Anyway, I will have plenty of time sing his praises when I start showcasing the warriors. So, let's move on.