The Chronicles of Nara: Chapter One - Civil War

the people of nara are at civil war.

there are those who feel that sento-kun is the one that should be the town mascot and others feel that the title belongs to manto-kun.

but seriously, for the most part people want manto-kun to represent them.

in order to celebrate the 1300th anniversary of this city, they hired a man out of Tokyo to create a mascot for the celebration, spending big money in the process, something to the tune of 50000 american dollars.

after spending all that time and money developing a good mascot, they came up with this.

he is an ugly demonic like creature made to look like a baby Buddha with deer antlers. this seems appropriate as nara is associated with that old time Japanese religion and the city is famous for at least 1000 deer that live here and roam around uncontrollably.

but many people, including myself, think this thing is hideous and would like nothing to do with it.

so they created a rival. spending a significantly less amount of time and money, a designer out of saitama, the city above Tokyo, created this.

this is manto-kun. he is like a brown marshmallow with a temple roof and antlers for a hat. much more cute and much less blasphemous to Buddhism, he seems to be the perfect choice to represent the city.

manto-kun is the kind of guy that, just by looking at him, you would feel proud of having marry your sister. he is the kind of guy that looks like you could eat and would taste something like peanut butter. his white cape makes him look like he would fight crime using his horns and his deer hoof hands and feet. he has the smile and demeanor to break a lot of hearts.

because I love manto-kun so much, I was able to attend his birthday party. there was music, poetry reading, and some guys talking about a jail. I didn’t know what all that was about, but the poetry reading was just as boring, so the best part about going was being able to listen to an old woman sing enka music.

I got bored with the poetry reading and was heading out when I got the surprise of my life.

there he was…

it was the creator of manto-kun. he had come all the way from saitama to celebrate in the first birthday of his beautiful creation.

I told him how much I loved manto-kun and how sento-kun sucks and I hate him. then just got kicks, I made a birthday card for manto-kun.

then me and the father of manto-kun held up our own individual creations together. he said my art skills were very good, but I think he was just saying that. even though I know my art skills are great, he seems much better.


I never got the chance to talk to manto-kun in person, but being able to meet the creator himself was the next best thing.

the civil war continues here in nara, and with definite bloodshed in the future, I can only urge the disciples of sento-kun to lay down their guns and raise their flag of surrender, allowing manto-kun to take his rightful place as nara city mascot