第136回：The Wanonites

I’m not an expert on kimono so there’s probably a good deal of details lost on me, but Toki Amatsuki’s kimono hides some interesting family details that will probably come to light as we move along in the Wano story.

Notice the design on the kimono which appears to be that of a winged creature flying towards a crescent figure. It’s easy to assume they’re a bird and a crescent moon, but I wanted to go into this without assumptions because you never know if Oda is going for a fake out.

But before we get into the shapes, is that actually Toki’s family crest or simply a design that Oda-sensei felt was appropriate? It could easily go either way but for the sake of ‘fanalysis’ let’s say it’s at least symbolic of her family crest. So how would this relate to her family name? Amatsuki is a fictional family name and while it sounds cool and there might be a lot of anime characters with the name, no such name exists on a real-life Japanese family name database making it difficult to compare to existing Japanese family crests.

Difficult, but far from impossible. I went through a list of existing Japanese family crests and just as I was giving up hope…. BOOM!

I expected to find something similar but nothing this close! This family crest design is called ‘tsuki ni hotogisu’ or ‘Moon with a Lesser Cuckoo’.

“Okay, so…it *is* a crescent moon and a bird. Cool story bro. Next please.”

No my friend. The full impact of this only hits when one looks at the kanji.

〝月に時鳥〟

月or ’tsuki’ means moon which should send up some important signals right away. This is the same as with the 光月 Kozuki and 霜月 Shimotsuki and now 天月 Amatsuki clans. (More on that in the Chapter 965 section below)

But it’s the 時鳥 that’s very interesting. These kanji are read ‘hototogisu’ which is the Japanese name of the ‘lesser cuckoo’. However, that’s not how the family name using this crest is read, the family name the crest represents is pronounced ‘Tokidori’ and taking it one step further, separate both kanji and you have 時 ‘toki’ (time) and 鳥 ‘tori’ (bird).

WHAAAAT!? Toki Amatsuki, wielder of the Toki Toki Fruit, has the ability to travel forward in time, seems to come from the time period of the Blank Century, and her family crest represents a bird flying in front of (towards!?) the moon? Fantastic. While Toki herself may be designed after the Japanese crested ibis (literally called ‘toki’ but no relation to the ‘time’ kanji) the detail in choosing this crest specifically for her family is an incredibly minute detail!

What’s more, I don’t think Oda-sensei decided to draw Toki in a skimpy kimono just because it looks flattering. Based on how roughed up it looks, the kimono seems to have seen better days. This suggests she may have left Wano as a child in a hurry with (literally) only the clothes on her back. Over the years she grew out of the kimono but didn’t want to discard it and thus the only remnants of her past are the items she’s carrying with her!

A few lines from ‘Granny Exposition’ reveal to us the names of the five great daimyo families of Wano: Fuugetsu, Amatsuki, Uzuki, Kurozumi, and Shimotsuki.

Now, aside from dissecting these names for their origin (which range from ancient Japanese names for months to the names of popular ramen restaurants). Including the ruling shogunate Kozuki family, the majority of these families share one thing in common, a reference to the moon or ‘tsuki’ (also read as ‘zuki’ or ‘getsu’ depending on the kanji combination). As these are Wano’s most powerful and therefore most likely well-established families, there’s *strong* reason to believe they either came from or had a relationship of some form with individuals who came from the moon.

I’m interested in Amatsuki’s descendant’s shadow depiction here as well! This suggests that the Amatsuki family not only still in Wano, but also continuing to prosper. This is curious, because then why would their ancestor -Toki- be traveling through time, desperate to reach them? What message does she carry? Is the Amatsuki family line a false one?

And as for this granny, I want to know if she really is who she says who she is! Is she the real puppet master behind the scenes here? Our current knowledge of Devil Fruits suggests that she’s no longer alive (not to mention her age) but One Piece being One Piece, I can’t help but wonder if there’s a card Oda-sensei is holding back, one that reveals even Orochi himself has been played like a fiddle.

And who is this guy!?


Last but not least, a coworker of mine came to me after he read the chapter and mentioned something pretty cool about how Oda-sensei drew Roger in that final panel. Cover up his face from his nostril down. Now who do you see? Noice Oda-sensei, noice!