Some things are not universal after all

[baruch menachem]

We all know DEATH from Terry Pratchett. He is very old, as he has been part of western civilization since, well, forever.


However, things are done differently in other parts of the world. Meet the Japanese Anthropomorphic Personification of DEATH.



Here name is Botan, and she is quite different from the way things are seen in the west. Like in the west, she conveys folks across the river to the afterlife, and the thing she is riding is an oar.

I think she is kind of cute. But I am not anxious to meet up with her.

[Tonyblack]

I read somewhere that Death is female in Italy as well. If you Google "death personified" you'll get a Wiki with a whole list of various versions of Death around the world - including (I didn't know this) the Welsh Death:

To the Welsh he is Angeu and Ankou to Bretons. He is regarded as a man in a hooded robe (invariably black) sometimes carrying a scythe.

I thought his name was Dai...


I'd put a link to the page, but it wouldn't work as they've included brackets in the url.

Whoever wrote it has obviously never heard of Terry as they've not included the DW Death in the "popular culture" section.

[poohbcarrot]

Botan is actually the Japanese Death's grand daughter. The actual Japanese Death has gone off to find himself and is currently playing pachinko in Osaka, followed by karaoke, a sushi dinner and a visit to a hostess bar.

Death's assistant, Arberto has gone to look for him.

[Jan Van Quirm]

[BaronBreton]

(from the Bretons ^^)

Botan is a shinigami (a god of death), we can also see this in other mangas like Death Note and Bleach...

But yes, she's indeed the japanese cousin of Suzan !

[Trish]

She looks like Ysabell. All that pink....

[Dotsie]

There might well be a bunny rabbit on the pocket of that kimono