

What, specifically, are the Chimimo?

[Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chimim%C5%8Dry%C5%8D) says that
Chimimoryou are "monsters of the mountains and monsters of the rivers" which
is a category that would contain more than one type of spirit or youkai, it is
an unrefined term. For example, the same term appears in
[Berserk](https://berserk.fandom.com/wiki/Chimimoryo) as well as [Shaman
King](https://shamanking.fandom.com/wiki/Chimimoryo).

I thought the Chimimo anime was better than its reception, a funny combination
of Minami Ke and Keroro Gunsou, but I am still left with the question of what
specifically are the Chimimo?

I think it's also unclear whether [Jigoku
San](https://myanimelist.net/character/206510/Jigoku-san) is a product of
eastern or western "hell" but I think he is most similarly modeled after a
[Namahage](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Namahage) where as the Chimimo don't
seem to have so clear of a model.

If you have a link or something concrete please educate me! thanks.

For reference here is the cast: [![enter image description
here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/fDTQ3.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/fDTQ3.png)

And here is jigoku san, which is a nickname they give him because he is from
hell. His actual name is Jabberwock the 8th - I was unclear about whether he
is eastern or western because the jabberwocky is a creature from a famous poem
by English author Lewis Carroll who wrote Alice in Wonderland. The picture
here is before and after they cleaned him up, he may be based on an oni but
the namahage (which is probably a kind of oni) is what he looks most like to
me. In retrospect, oni are usually seen wearing tiger stripe and even though
the clothes he wears originally belonged to one of the sisters, I doubt it's a
coincidence his pants are tiger striped.

[![enter image description
here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/hsvx1.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/hsvx1.png)

It has also now occurred to me that perhaps they are just mochi, with a horn
and a face. I know that anime/manga often likes to shorten words to make
titles more condensed - perhaps there is a pun in calling them "chimimo" which
is not shortening chimimoryo exclusively, but abbreviating chimi - mochi. Mei
even calls one of the chimimo by the nickname "mochi", it just didn't occur to
me that they would be based on a rice dango. I wish I had author input to back
this up, given the info which was brought to light about chimimoryo being used
to describe a faceless mob.

[![mochi?](https://i.stack.imgur.com/x27iD.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/x27iD.png)


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chimimo
What specific kind of youkai (or other creature) are the Chimimoryou from the Chimimo series?


Disclaimer: I don't know the anime. This is based on literal meaning of those
Japanese words.

Jigoku-san should be based on a typical image of
[Oni](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oni), with horns and often curly hair. As
for Namahage, it is rather an instance of Oni. To my knowledge, Oni is often
translated as _goblin_. In my understanding of _goblin_ (from Final Fantasy)
and _devil_ , Oni actually may be more a Japanese counterpart of the latter.
Basically, Japanese/Eastern Jigoku is inhabited by many Oni's torturing sinned
humans.

Chimimoryo(魑魅魍魎) is a collective term referring to the 'inhabitants' of the
underground world. In this sense, it includes Oni and to some extent
synonymous to yokai. Yokai tends to mean non-human beings 'living' among us.
Chimimoryo just refers to 'them' as a whole, Oni, ghosts and the rest. Using
analogy with biology, Chimimoryo can be considered as a highest taxonomic rank
covering them (Yokai kingdom?). But obviously usage is not that systematic.

In terms of the connotation of Chimimoryo, it sounds like a mass of nameless
entities. So, chimimo are not particularly anything. I mean, they [look
like](https://anime.shochiku.co.jp/chimimo/) just a ball with horn; they
should be designed as just one of the ghosts without much character.

* * *

The following is a bit roundabout, but hopefully gives some idea.

Chimimoryo often figuratively refers to _a mass of fishy/dubious people_. For
example, there are investigations going on around bribery in Tokyo Olympics.
At the moment, the center of the scandal is [Haruyuki
Takahashi](https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E9%AB%98%E6%A9%8B%E6%B2%BB%E4%B9%8B),
ex-[Dentsu](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dentsu) guy. There are lots of
corruptions in Japan, just like everywhere else in the world. This kind
situation surrounding Olympics is described as 'Chimimoryo are marching',
meaning 'lots of fishy people swarming around to grab money'. 'Chimimoryo'
here refers to the bunch of nameless, trivial people mobbing around the money.
In a sense, 'big' guys like Takahashi is one of them, but Chimimoryo more
refers to 'the rest of them'. In this sense, the absence of specifics should
be part of chimimo's.

FYI: Dentsu is the largest advertising agency that is involved most animes (I
believe).


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