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Paper short abstract

The Japanese fire god Kagutsuchi is characterized as a villain in the 2023 local tokusatsu action hero film “Tenson Koorin Himukaizer The Movie: Kizuna”, and later as a hero. I analyze this folkloresque narrative located in Kagutsuchi's birthplace of Miyazaki, its contexts, and its contents tourism.

Paper long abstract

Kagutsuchi the fire god is a well-used motif in Japanese popular culture narratives. Originally, he burned and killed his mother Izanami in childbirth and was cut to bits by his father, according to the Kojiki. This paper focuses on his characterization in a local tokusatsu action hero franchise, Tenson Koorin Himukaizer, set in Miyazaki, Japan where Izanami gave birth. In the 2023 film “Tenson Koorin Himukaizer The Movie: Kizuna” Kagutsuchi is brought back to life by villains. He wreaks havoc as he seeks to destroy the boundary to the underworld to meet Izanami. Having failed in resolving his mother issues, Kagutsuchi is returned to heaven by the heroes at the film’s end. But in subsequent live performances, he reappears on the heroes' side fighting against the villains. These modifications of the original narrative are folkloresque. They reinterpret Kojiki legend in the frame of a local tokusatsu action hero series set in Miyazaki, the original Kagutsuchi narrative location, now all the more a contents tourism spot. In this paper, I employ Foster’s frameworks for folkloresque narrative development. I analyze elements of the contemporary narrative in contexts of its origin, the Himukaizer action hero franchise and the particular affordances of the tokusatsu genre, the means of production, and connections to the locations of both the original narrative and the filming. My analytic perspective derives from multiyear fieldwork on the franchise, English translation of this film and previous works for subtitles, and, in the aftermath of its release, localization for a live performance in Los Angeles at the Japan Film Festival, where it won the 2025 Best Hero Film award.