This is one of those things that I thought was something most of the fandom had picked up on, but recently realized might not be the case. For people who watch A Lot of anime/read a lot of manga, you might be going “Jesus Dave why do you feel the need to make a post about something so obvious???” But not everyone has this knowledge that relies on an understanding of specific folklore and a related holiday! So let’s begin with a basic bit of information.
As it turns out, the main cast all have Significant Birthdays with a clear pattern to them. Most people know this part of it – that Leorio’s birthday is 3/3 and it goes onward from there with Kurapika – 4/4, Gon – 5/5, Hisoka – 6/6(/6), and then finally Killua – 7/7.
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Maybe you also know that some of these are holidays or otherwise significant! Leorio’s birthday is hinamatsuri. Kurapika’s birthday doesn’t fall on a holiday, but as 4/4, it’s an inauspicious day to have a child (to summarize v. briefly, because of similarities in pronunciation with the word for death 4 is considered an unlucky number in many Asian cultures, similar to Western fixation on and phobia of the number 13/specifically the idea of Friday the 13th). Gon’s birthday is Children’s Day! Hisoka’s birthday may or may not be a genuine reference to the whole 666 concept, but given it’s a Judeo-Christian thing I feel like it’s more A+ coincidence.
Some of these holidays are more meaningful/linked to the characters than others – Gon’s birthday being Children’s Day seems more of a cheerful nod to him being the child hero/protagonist of the series, and Leorio’s birthday holiday doesn’t seem to be relevant at all to his character (though it should be said in caps and underlined, March 3rd is the day that HxH chapter 1 was first published). Kurapika’s birthday has an air of misfortune suitable to his character type. Hisoka is Satan.
But Killua’s birthday is one that has a little more to sink your teeth into than the others. Because unlike hinamatsuri or Children’s Day, July 7th is a festival holiday with a myth attached to it. A tale of star-crossed lovers, almost literally, and one that is reflected in so many aspects of Killua’s life.
Because Killua’s birthday falls on Tanabata.
The tale of Tanabata is, like many folklore stories, one that varies slightly from telling to telling. Some details get omitted, things get tweaked, but the important parts never change. The origin of the story is from Chinese folklore, but as Togashi is a Japanese author I feel his usage of the themes of it are more Tanabata than the original Weaver Girl and Cowherd story from Chinese folklore. So to reflect that I’ll be using the Japanese names for the holiday and deities involved in it.
Tanabata is the tale of Orihime and Hikoboshi, two lovers who are separated by the river of the Milky Way. As the legend goes, they are only able to meet once a year.
This is the part of the tale that people typically know – if you have any inkling of what Tanabata is, it’s certainly this aspect of it at least. But there’s much more to the story than just that, and that’s the part that I really want to talk about.
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The basis of the story is this – Orihime is the daughter of the Sky King, and each day she sits by the river of the Milky Way and weaves beautiful clothing. This is the job her father has given her, and her work delights him and makes him happy. But because all she does is weave, Orihime is horribly lonely and sad – she works hard to please her father, but because of this she will never be able to meet someone and fall in love.
Seeing that his daughter is unhappy, the Sky King introduced her to a man who worked as a cowherd on the other side of the river, Hikoboshi. The two fell in love almost at first sight and married.
But with her newfound happiness, Orihime no longer cared do to the job that pleased her father. She abandoned her work, spending her time with her husband instead of weaving for her father. To add salt to the wound, Hikoboshi allowed his herd to graze across Heaven.
Angered by these events, the Sky King tore the lovers apart, banishing Hikoboshi to the other side of the Milky Way and forbidding the two from meeting again. But his actions devastate Orihime, who begs him to allow her to see Hikoboshi once more. And the Sky King relents, telling Orihime that if she finishes her weaving and works tirelessly, he will allow her to meet with Hikoboshi on the 7th of July.
But when the day comes, the two lovers come to a realization – though they were no longer forbidden to meet at least for this day, there was no bridge for them to cross to do so.
Distraught, Orihime began to weep, and in response a flock of magpies promised her that they would make a bridge for her with their wings so that she could cross and be with her beloved. Each year, on July 7th, Orihime and Hikoboshi come to either side of the river, and if the skies are clear and free of rain the magpies will gather and help the two reunite once more. (You can read more about it on wikipedia but I’ve basically summarized it pretty thoroughly)
So, we can condense the story into a few key points:
- Orihime works for her father
- Orihime is sad that her work keeps her from falling in love
- Orihime expresses this wish
- The Sky King allows her to leave to meet with someone (Hikoboshi), expecting that once this wish is fulfilled she will return and work for him once more
- Orihime does not return
- The two lovers are forced apart
- Orihime has no choice but to return
- Orihime begs her father to allow her to see Hikoboshi again
- The Day Is Saved, Thanks To Birds
- The two part once more, to meet again another day
Now let’s look at Killua, condensing major parts of his character development events in the same way:
- Killua works for his father
- Killua is sad that his work keeps him from being a normal kid and making friends
- Killua expresses this wish (to Illumi, during the exam arc – “I want to be friends with Gon”)
- Silva allows him to leave to meet with someone (Gon*), expecting that he will return once it’s out of his system and go back to being an assassin, making Killua promise to never betray his friends
- Killua does not return
- The Chimera Ant arc happens, and they are forced apart due to Gon’s coma
- Killua has no choice but to return
- Killua uses the promise Silva made him make to force his hand into allowing him to do what needs to be done to save Gon (and see him again)
- The Day Is Saved, Thanks To Birds
- The two part once more, to meet again another day
*During the Zoldyck family arc, Leorio and Kurapika are there. But at no point does Killua show any real awareness that this is the case – he’s only excited to see Gon, to the point where he had to stop and think to remember their names (and he even messed up Leorio’s!). It’s clear that what Killua really wants is to see Gon, and that’s who he wants to meet with and be with.
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“Is this a Killugon thing?”
Well, it’s hard to say. I am trying to be pretty objective here because there’s room for interpretation.
You can strongly argue (and I do, this is the interpretation I take) that it’s meant to imply that Gon and Killua’s relationship is romantic or at least has romantic overtones (Tanabata is literally a holiday based on a love story), but at the same time a platonic interpretation is just as valid. It wouldn’t be the first time a myth or piece of folklore was reimagined with that kind of changed detail. So whether or not this strong bond is meant to be romantic/romantically tinged in accordance with the folklore allusion is up in the air until Togashi gives us something more concrete there, and he might not do so.
But it is very, very hard to deny that Killua’s story and relationship with his father is an allusion to Orihime and her own father. You could do it, but you’d be flying in the face of the evidence there, and everyone would know you’re willfully ignoring said evidence.
Killua’s birthday falling on July 7th shows concretely that this is was intentional – Killua is meant to hearken to Orihime, Gon to Hikoboshi (minor note, thanks @holyangelheart for reminding me: Gon is a taurus while Hikoboshi is a cowherd, which is probably coincidence bc Gon’s birthday is Children’s day but it is REALLY FUNNY) and Silva to the Sky King. This is a cultural nod that I feel a decent chunk of the English-speaking fandom doesn’t have the context for.
Yes, when you expand it out there is more and more that doesn’t fit in with the original myth, but it doesn’t make it any less of a cultural reference. Hunter x Hunter is not a retelling of the Tanabata myth, Killua is not literally Orihime (nor is Gon literally Hikoboshi, etc – the sentiment of their circumstances, yes, but the hard details, no), and Killua’s storyline/character arc(s) is only a small portion of the series. Which makes it even more notable when things start to fall back in line with the myth – it means Togashi is committed to this allusion with Killua. It would be something that Japanese readers would pick up on probably due to the repeated similarities to the myth.
Sure, “maybe it’s a coincidence” – but probably not. Maybe having a character born on December 25th and being an all-loving messianic figure who was martyred is a coincidence! But it’s pretty hard to argue that they’re not a reference to Jesus, and so along the same lines it’s pretty hard to argue Killua’s circumstances are not a reference to Orihime. The only way it could have been more overt is if it had been Killua’s birthday either when Silva let him leave the manor or when Gon was healed. It all seems pretty conclusive.
And, just like Orihime and Hikoboshi, Killua and Gon have had their story leave off with the same sentiment at least for now.
“We can’t be together just yet, but that day will come soon.”
Source: https://t-tees.com
Category: WHEN
