Goshingyu-sama
| Goshingyu-sama | |||
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| ゴシンギュウサマ | |||
| Character Data | |||
| Romaji | Goshingyū-sama
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| Debut | Kemono Friends 3 | ||
| Cryptid Data | |||
| Classification | Kami
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| Origin | Japanese
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| F.R.A. | Kemono Friends 3
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| Based On | Ox
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| Read More | Goshingyu (Wikipedia JA)
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| Conservation | 
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| Goshingyu-sama | KF3 | Gallery |
Goshingyu-sama is a type of mythical Friend that appeared on Twitter for the Year of the Ox, and would go on to debut in Kemono Friends 3.
Appearance
Goshingyu-sama is a Friend with brown skin, yellow eyes with horizontal, ovular pupils—a common trait for bovid Friends—and black hair with gray side-bangs, with yellow ends. The black hair and gray side-bangs together create a shape reminiscent of a bull's head, with the black central bang evoking a snout. She wears her long black hair in a high ponytail; the hair splays out into eight fronds, each tipped in a yellow gradient akin to her bangs. She has black ears with gray fur, akin to the ears of an ox, as well as a pair of golden-yellow horns atop her head; her left horn has been cleanly cut about halfway up, while the right horn is fully intact and displays a gray gradient at its tip. She also sports an ox's tail at her rear.
Goshingyu-sama wears a long-sleeved grey blazer with a peaked-style lapel, with its sleeves rolled up and ending in blue cuffs with teal, white, and gold accent stripes. The blazer has a left-side breast pocket, and three gray bows run down the front of the garment. She wears a black dress shirt under this, accented with a red and white tie composed of three diamond-shaped segments; the tie is seemingly worn messily, with the tail end being visible and the blade not being tucked under the blazer. The colors of this tie likely represent the red-and-white headbands worn by some Goshingyū statues. She sports a short, black, knife-pleated skirt, black ankle socks somewhat similar to split-toed tabi, a ruffle-edged red garment around her right thigh, and short-strapped gold sandals with thick soles and a cleft in the front of the toe and back of the heel, evoking a bull's cloven hooves. Goshingyu-sama also sports a pair of black, form-fitting fingerless gloves running up the length of her arms, a blue ribbon of a similar style to her sleeve cuffs tying her ponytail up—notably, the ribbon's ends splay akin to a whale's tail—and, at the base of the ponytail, she wears a three-segmented blue, teal, white, and gold headpiece, each segment being shaped somewhat like a shark's tooth and pointing up.
Series Appearances
| Media | Role | |
|---|---|---|
| 2019 | Kemono Friends 3 | ↪ Minor character, obtainable |
Origins
Goshingyū (御神牛, or ごしんぎゅう) statues are statues of bulls which are found at Tenmangū (天満宮, or てんまんぐう) shrines, dedicated to the deified Japanese scholar Sugawara no Michizane (菅原 道真, or すがわら の みちざね). The statues, typically made of stone or metal, are placed at Sugawara no Michizane due to the close connection he is said to have had to cattle; having been born on the Midsummer Day of the Ox (effectively, June 25th) in 845, which was the Year of the Ox, Sugawara no Michizane is said to have loved the animals deeply. He also passed away on what was effectively February 25th, 903, which is said to have been the pre-spring Day of the Ox. When Sugawara no Michizane died, he requested his body be pulled by an oxcart and buried where the bull came to rest; for this reason, Goshingyū statues most always depict cattle that are laying down, just as the ox who pulled the oxcart of Sugawara no Michizane's body did as he was buried beside it.
Goshingyū statues are said to be guardians, and are associated with the same wisdom attributed to Sugawara no Michizane. It is said that petting the statue in a place where one ails on their own body will grant health, and that rubbing the head of the statue will grant wisdom. The three Goshingyū statues found at the Tenmangū shrine in the city of Dazaifu, in the Fukuoka Prefecture, wear headbands of twisted red-and-white rope; these are likely shimenawa, lengths of hemp rope used for purification in Shinto rituals and at sites valued by Shinto practitioners.
Trivia
Friend Trivia
- Goshingyu-sama's segmented tie resembles the shape of shide, paper streamers used in Shinto rituals for purification and demarcation. Shide can often be found tied onto shimenawa, like the ones the Goshingyū statues in Dazaifu wear, further suggesting this link.
Origin Trivia
- Though likely sheer coincidence, the shimenawa worn by the Goshingyū statues of the Dazaifu Tenmangū shrine somewhat resemble hachimaki, flat red-and-white headbands often worn as a symbol of great effort; notably, students who are studying hard may be seen or depicted wearing hachimaki, so the fact that a statue associated with wisdom is also adorned with a red-and-white headband is of some interest.
References
- Goshingyu, at Wikipedia JA
- Tenmangū, at Wikipedia JA
- Sugawara no Michizane, at Wikipedia JA
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shimenawa
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shide_(Shinto)