One of two Sento-kun mascots found in Nara. This one is located outside the Prefecture office while the other is inside the tourist information centre

Two bronze sculptures by Satoshi Yabuuchi, the left one is located in Hikone while the right was put up on Yahoo auctions

The final Sento-kun Kigirumi (fur suit costume) © 2010 Closedeyes

Sento-kuns older brother Rokubo

The shortlist of rival characters. The winning entry was Manto-kun (second row, 3 across)

Fan art showing Sento-kun taking on 30 mascots (Manto-kun can be seen in the middle)

Parodies and fan-art of Sento-kun

Left; Sento-kun provides inspiration for a costume

Main Players

Sento-kun

2010 marks the 1300th anniversary of the city of Nara so I thought I’d have an in depth look at Sento-kun. Sento can be translated as ‘moving the capital’ which is what happened 1300 years ago when Nara replaced Fujiwara as the nations capital. Sento-kun was unveiled to the public on the 12th of February 2008 and immediately drew criticism. Nara is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and famed for it’s many temples, shrines and ruins. The mascot references Nara’s Buddhist history with a representation of a young Buddha combined with a pair of antlers from the tame deer that are iconic to the area. The mascot was designed by Satoshi Yabuuchi a sculptor who normally works in wood or bronze. On the artists website it says

Born in 1953, the sculptor, YABUUCHI Satoshi, uses traditional techniques, acquired through his experience in the preservation and restoration of ancient cultural treasures, to create warm, tranquil, wooden sculptures that appeal to the hearts of the Japanese and the oriental view of nature.

However the character wasn’t so warmly accepted. Sento-kun offended local residents and Buddhist groups who objected to the design and the amount of money spent on the character. local residents angry at being excluded from the process subsequently organised their own competition to create a less offensive and more commercial character. The competition received 619 submissions with entries from all over Japan and even other countries. The entries were narrowed down to 30 designs and the final result was decided by an online ballot. The winner was Manto-kun; a short cute temple hat wearing creature who also has antlers. The large hat is modelled on the roof of Suzakumon Gate. According to his site the small antlers are in fact antennas that pick up peoples wishes. It also states that Manto-kun uses his magic cloak (manto is cape in Japanese) to time travel and appeared in Nara just before the start of the 1300th anniversary celebrations.

The two mascots were pitted against each other by the media who enjoyed the unusual pairing. The controversy surrounding Sento-kun helped propel the festival into the media and the supposed rivalry only extended the publicity for the event. Dentsu, Japan’s biggest advertising agency who had a hand in selecting Sento-kun no doubt realised the benefit of using such an unusual character and that the ensuing publicity would be beneficial in the long run. Personally I’m quite fond of Sento-kun. I’ve been researching 100′s of Japanese characters for my next book called Fuzz and Fur all about kigirumi (fur suit mascots) and I believe he is one of the most unique. One of the biggest criticisms (after its offensiveness to Buddhism) is the amount of tax money, 5 million yen to be exact which was spent on purchasing the copyright from the artist. I suspect however that it’s been a good investment as Sento-kun goods are extremely popular all over Japan. Its interesting to note that the two most successful yuru-kyara (weak characters or working characters as coined by Matt Alt) are Hikonyan and Sento-kun both designed by professional designers. The majority of Yurukyara are created in the same way as Manto-kun appealing to local residents to send in their ideas which are then put to the vote.

Interest in Sento-kun has been huge on the internet. Online community mixi had a group dedicated to the removal of the character while many others saw the potential for amusement and creativity. Illustrations based on the character can be seen here and here. I’ve also Included some of my favourites on the left.

The kimo-kawaii (scary but cute) character was made into a kigirumi and often travels all over Japan encouraging people to visit Nara. In late 2008 he met Manto-kun and Naamu-kun Naamu-kun another Nara mascot created by a Buddhist organization also unhappy with Sento-kun). The three seemed to get along well and obviously settled their differences. However, tension between the pair is likely to have increased after Renka-chan mascot for Taima-dera temple openly declared her feelings for Sento-kun. Renka-chan gave him a heart shaped chocolate cake on valentines day with the words ‘I love you’ written on it. Manto-kun on the other hand must have fealt a little jealous when all he received was a cake with the word ‘friend’ decorating the top.

In the three videos at the bottom of the post you’ll see all the mascots mentioned in this post. In the first video Sento-kun in Kamakura we see Sento-kun attacking a large Naamu-kun and launching Hikonyan across the ancient capital. To find out more about Hikonyan check out Matt Alts great write up on him. Hikonyan is the superstar of fursuit mascots or kigirumi and also appears in the next video as a wrestler ready to take on the scary Sento-kun. The last video is called Sento-kun THE MOVIE and has a surprise ending I won’t spoil.

**UPDATE**
Sento-kuns older brother Rokubo and grandfather Rokuji have been unveiled. Links to a host of other characters can be seen here.

Colonel Sanders

In Japan KFC is an important place for Christmas. Many families visit the restaurant to eat the popular Christmas meal of deep fried chicken. So every year the colonel is dressed as Father Christmas to get people in the festive spirit. Throughout the year Colonel Sanders is dressed in other seasonal and unique outfits. Akihabara, famous for its numerous maid cafes, has had the colonel in a maid outfit. Other branches have dressed the colonel up as a samurai, a lobster and even Spiderman. Check out the set of all the different costumes I could find on Flickr.

In Osaka the colonel statue took on a new importance when excited Hanshin Tiger baseball fans celebrated their 1985 national championship series win by launching the mascot into Osaka’s Dotonbori River. Since then they have never won the series again and it’s losing streak is often blamed on the Curse of Colonel. After 24 years, on March 10, 2009, the mascot was recovered from the river, missing two feet, his left hand and the Colonel’s trademark glasses. It’s hoped the curse has now been lifted and the Hanshin Tigers luck will improve.?

UPDATE
On Friday the 19th of March 2010 the Colonel Sanders mascot was put back on display near the Hanshin Koshien Stadium in Nishinomiya. The mascot is now behind a protective case as its very delicate. Sankei Shimbun has a video on youtube showing the mascot moved into place. It reminded me that I saw a great mobile phone strap in KFC that I wish I’d bought.