Toriko: The Four Heavenly Kings (Analysis)
Why on Earth are they called the "Four Heavenly Kings" when they're not actual Kings, not exactly 'heavenly', and there's only four of them on a good day?
(Very very long explanation & very very abbreviated Buddhism crash-course below the cut)
The Japanese writing for the Four Heavenly Kings is 四天王 (Shitennō). This comes from the Four Heavenly Kings of Buddhist tradition. To grossly abbreviate, the Four Heavenly Kings are four gods in Buddhism said to each watch over one cardinal direction of the world.
It's a little hard for me to explain this, since in my experience as a half-Japanese, this story barely ever came up (my family was not particularly religious, and more Shinto than anything).
The Four Heavenly Kings (in Japanese Buddhism) are as follows:
Bishamonten/Tamonten:
Direction: North
Season: Winter
Element: Earth
Colour: Black
Represents: One who "hears all", always listening
Often depicted as: Warrior, punisher of evildoers
Note: He's often depicted separate from the Four.
Jikokuten:
Direction: East
Season: Spring
Element: Water
Colour: Blue
Represents: The Guardian of the Nation
Zōchōten:
Direction: South
Season: Summer
Element: Fire
Colour: Red
Represents: Spiritual growth, wisdom
Kōmokuten:
Direction: West
Season: Autumn
Element: Metal
Colour: White
Represents: One who "sees through evil", or has a third eye
Often depicted as: Carrying a brush and scroll
Further reading: Here's the Wikipedia page.
Now. This doesn't sound at all familiar, right? (Sarcasm sarcasm)
...
My initial connection was that each of the Toriko Kings are based off the Shitennou. After all,
Toriko was born in spring (25 May), has blue hair, and seeks to guard the world from war by capturing God. Also, where was he after Froese sought to protect him and Star from Acacia? On a boat, in the water | Spring, blue, guardian, water = Jikokuten
Coco was born in autumn (29 October), when he goes through his character transformation his hair turns white, he can see things nobody else can and is defined by his incredible sight, and is generally the more diplomatic/planner of the group. This may be a stretch, but his poison travels in his blood, often associated with metal due to its iron content | Autumn, white, sight, scroll, metal = Kōmokuten
Sunny was also an autumn baby, but earlier than Coco (therefore closer to summer). More importantly, his name is Sunny. On top of that, he focuses on growing his 'intuition'. | A stretch, but sunshine and wisdom = Zōchōten
Zebra was born in winter (9 February), is often separate from the group (it takes him like half the first arc to join the crew and is generally distinct form the group). Much like Coco and his eyesight, Zebra is defined by hearing everything. He's considered 'war-like', but punishes those he considers 'cocky' (his version of immortality). The first time we see him, it's an underground arc (Mellow Cola) | Winter, warlike, punisher of evildoers, distinct from group, ground/Earth = Bishamonten
This was part of my theory on how they got their names, initially. Toriko is the exception (as discussed in a previous post), but:
Coco's name should technically be romanised as Koko, possibly a diminutive/derived from Kōmokuten
Sunny's name, possibly a connection to Zōchōten's association with summer
Zebra... yeah I've been trying to figure this one out for years and I still don't get it.
But there's... one massive problem with this immediate connection.
And you probably caught on as soon as I mentioned the four cardinal directions...
Obviously, the Four Beast was meant to allude to the four cardinal directions that the Shintennō must guard, as each limb came from one cardinal direction.
Let's recap:
GAOH: Fang King - Toriko's beast, from the East (the lion-like thing)
INVITE DEATH - Coco's beast, from the North (the poison one)
KING OCTOPUS KONG - Sunny's beast, from the West (the pink slimy octopus that made him squeal)
MOUNT TURTLE - Zebra's beast, from the South (volcano turtle)
Now, I'm mostly not looking into the actual limbs themselves for symbolism. Why? Because they were audience submissions.
But let's look at what we've got.
Toriko, the spring Guardian king, is guarding from the EAST
However,
Coco is guarding from the NORTH (Bishamonten's direction)
Sunny is guarding from the WEST (Kōmokuten's direction)
Zebra is guarding from the SOUTH (Zōchōten's direction)
But... why?
It's entirely possible I was completely out to lunch looking at the superficial birthday connection.
After all, Coco and Bishamonten are both associated with black (Coco wears all black and has black hair), Coco was born close-ish to winter, and Coco is rather standoffish and could be considered separate from the other Kings (being the only one who actually quit Hunting). Sunny has partially white hair, and was born in autumn as Kōmokuten is associated. Zebra and Zōchōten, aside from starting with the same letter, are both red (Zebra has red... ish hair and wears a dark red, if you squint) and rather fiery. Plus, Zebra fought a Volcano Turtle (fire).
Unfortunately, this would also put me back at Square One trying to decipher their names.
Then again, it's also entirely possible they weren't all meant to represent one, singular King. We've established that Shimabukuro will play loosey-goosey with tradition, since it's a silly kid's show after all. He might've gone "I'll call them the Shitennou because there's four of them" and later went "AND the Four Beast will come from four different cardinal directions!" Maybe the connections were superficial and nothing more. After all, it's definitely odd that Toriko isn't modelled after the 'stand-out' Shintennō in any way. Or maybe I'm missing something huge (entirely possible since I'm not Buddhist)
TLDR:
From a superficial standpoint, it seems, at the very least, we can pin down that Toriko's symbolism was likely inspired by Jikokuten, the Heavenly King of Spring who guards from the east.
The other kings could be viewed in two different ways:
One, the superficial view:
Coco represents Kōmokuten | Why: Eyesight ("third eye"), temporary white hair when he 'levels up', autumn birthday, poison in his blood | Possibly his name was a diminutive from Kōmokuten (his name is technically Koko)
Sunny represents Zōchōten | Why: Sunny = summer connotation, intuition may represent wisdom | Possibly named for the summer connotation
Zebra represents Bishamonten | Why: Hearing ("hears all"), winter birthday, war-like and a punisher, often separate from the others
Two, the Four Beast view:
Coco represents Bishamonten | Why: Invite Death came from the North, Coco has black hair (and wears all black), and is often separated from the group for being the only one who quit Gourmet Hunting
Sunny represents Kōmokuten | Why: King Octopus Kong came from the West, Sunny has white(ish) hair, and was technically born in autumn.
Zebra represents Zōchōten | Why: Mount Turtle came from the South, Zebra is a fiery personality, and has red(ish) hair and wears (dark) red, and he fought Mount Turtle which is a turtle with a volcano on its back.
So I'll leave it up to y'all which you choose to interpret. Or as something else entirely?
