More regarding Yuhiden
vanilla_ichigo reminded me of Yuhiden playright Suemitsu's interview (I'm guessing on the pronunciation of his name) posted at Enterstage. He makes it clear that the main inspiration for Hinata and Kairi are Izanami and Izanagi. However, there's more to it then that. I had previously only been able to scan it on mobile briefly so I had overlooked a lot.
Regarding Izanami and Izanagi, the characters of Hinata and Kairi are not at all a 1:1 match. As Suemitsu indicates, they are also informed by other similar myths in his re-writing of the myth to reflect the problems of modern Japan. However, he wanted to consider what could possibly have been truly meant by the birthing of Japan, and that took him to the nature of Japan's islands and the thought that Japan was born of earthquakes. And that led to him considering how the events of 2011 March 11 may give birth to a new Japan.
Well. What to say about that? It's certainly not heavyhanded, though that would be useful for this particular baka gaijin. Suemitsu in talks of how youth in Japan have been burdened and impeded by their elders' decisions, and live not just with the memories of the dead of 3.11 but, like Kairi, with expectations for their behavior that reduce their opportunities to take the country in new directions. Kairi at first is a diffident young man, unwilling to shoulder the responsibility being forced on him by birthright. The death of Hinata, and his misguided attempt to bring the dead to life, force him to actively fight against past, in the form of Hinata's undead army. It's in the subduing and sealing away of the past that Kairi, with the survivors, is able to stand with the rising sun.
(Anyways, this is where the similarity to the Taiko Reforms, which mystical_powers's student noted, might come in. Prince Shoutoku is widely venerated, both religiously and historically, as the person who created a centralized Japanese state, subduing the barbarians both militarily and by bringing them into his system. By the end of Yuhiden, it's possible to see Kairi in comparison to Shoutoku, having brought to his side those who had been his enemy, but not yet at the point where he's creating new laws.)
(Oh, yes. There are earthquakes in Yuhiden, but I'm at a loss to place them in the story. mystical_powers, what say you?)
Regarding Izanami and Izanagi, the characters of Hinata and Kairi are not at all a 1:1 match. As Suemitsu indicates, they are also informed by other similar myths in his re-writing of the myth to reflect the problems of modern Japan. However, he wanted to consider what could possibly have been truly meant by the birthing of Japan, and that took him to the nature of Japan's islands and the thought that Japan was born of earthquakes. And that led to him considering how the events of 2011 March 11 may give birth to a new Japan.
Well. What to say about that? It's certainly not heavyhanded, though that would be useful for this particular baka gaijin. Suemitsu in talks of how youth in Japan have been burdened and impeded by their elders' decisions, and live not just with the memories of the dead of 3.11 but, like Kairi, with expectations for their behavior that reduce their opportunities to take the country in new directions. Kairi at first is a diffident young man, unwilling to shoulder the responsibility being forced on him by birthright. The death of Hinata, and his misguided attempt to bring the dead to life, force him to actively fight against past, in the form of Hinata's undead army. It's in the subduing and sealing away of the past that Kairi, with the survivors, is able to stand with the rising sun.
(Anyways, this is where the similarity to the Taiko Reforms, which mystical_powers's student noted, might come in. Prince Shoutoku is widely venerated, both religiously and historically, as the person who created a centralized Japanese state, subduing the barbarians both militarily and by bringing them into his system. By the end of Yuhiden, it's possible to see Kairi in comparison to Shoutoku, having brought to his side those who had been his enemy, but not yet at the point where he's creating new laws.)
(Oh, yes. There are earthquakes in Yuhiden, but I'm at a loss to place them in the story. mystical_powers, what say you?)