Shokera
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Shokera (しょうけら Shōkera, lit. Mole Cricket Spirit) is a kind of yokai from Japanese folklore. One appears in the 1970 Daiei film The Invisible Swordsman, and another in episode 13 of the 1974 Toho series Go! Kotaro Ushiwaka, entitled "Shokera's Venomous Claw."
Name
Shokera's name is a combination of the Japanese words shō (精), meaning "spirit" or "sprite," and kera (螻蛄), meaning "mole cricket." The yokai is also known by the names Shaukera (しゃうけら) and Seukera (せうけら). While sometimes written entirely in kanji as 精螻蛄 (Shōkera), the names of the Shokera in The Invisible Swordsman and Go! Kotaro Ushiwaka are written in hiragana, though pronounced the same.
Development
Though unconfirmed, Shokera's head may be heavily altered from that of Herara from Kure Kure Takora.[1]
Design
Shokera has an entirely dark green body with a bulbous head and permanently open eyes, red grinning lips and clawed fingers.
History
Showa era
The Invisible Swordsman
This section is a To be added.
Go! Kotaro Ushiwaka
"Shokera's Venomous Claw"
One night as Kotaro, Nyudo and Uragira were sleeping by a campfire, Coonjo appeared and extinguished the fire to allow Shokera to approach. Coonjo called out to Uragira, waking him and signaling him to steal Kotaro's naginata from under him. Now defenseless, the sleeping Kotaro was awoken by an attack from Coonjo and Shokera, dodging out of the way in the nick of time. Kotaro battled Shokera hand-to-hand for a time, but was eventually punctured by the yokai's venomous claw, greatly impairing him. After attempting briefly to fend Shokera off, Kotaro leapt into the air and landed next to Uragira, snatching his naginata back from his hands. Kotaro rejoined the battle and managed to slice off one of Shokera's hands, but again succumbed to the venom in his body. Shokera attempted to bring his hand back to him using telekinesis, but Kotaro chopped it out of the sky, injecting himself with more venom in the process. Just as Shokera and Coonjo prepared to deal the finishing blow to Kotaro, a clueless Nyudo reignited the fire with a flash, blinding both of them and killing Shokera.
Abilities
- Shokera's primary weapon in Go! Kotaro Ushiwaka was his sharp claws. One of these is a venomous claw (毒爪 dokuzume), which he may use to incapacitate an enemy.
- In Go! Kotaro Ushiwaka, Shokera, after surviving having his hand cut off, appeared to use some form of telekinesis to levitate the severed hand toward him.
Weaknesses
In Go! Kotaro Ushiwaka, Shokera was weak to light and thus operated primarily at night. When Nyudo lit a fire nearby Shokera, the flash of light blinded him and caused him to fall to the ground and explode.
Gallery
- Main article: Shokera/Gallery.
References
This is a list of references for Shokera. These citations are used to identify the reliable sources on which this article is based. These references appear inside articles in the form of superscript numbers, which look like this: [1]
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Comments
Showing 1 comments. When commenting, please remain respectful of other users, stay on topic, and avoid role-playing and excessive punctuation. Comments which violate these guidelines may be removed by administrators.
<comments voting="Plus" />
|
|
|
