Psychedelic Mushroom

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Psychedelic Mushroom

Post by onizuka-gto »

This discussion was moved from the chapter "Melancholy Of Asahina Mikuru"
Commonly known as magic mushrooms or laughing mushrooms, these mushrooms are known to cause whoever who eat them to fall into an insane fit of laughter. See here[[2]]


TRANSLATOR'S NOTE: In the original novel, Kyon mentioned something about Karakasa and laughing mushrooms, which I have no idea how to translate, so I opted for the closest meaning, the psychedelic mushroom. Can anyone shed some light on this matter? I would like to retain the translation as close to the original as possible. Thanks in advance. --HolyCow 19:32, 26 November 2006 (PST)

Well a Karakasa is just that, a Karakasa. It's a proper noun. An very specific type of entity out of Japanese folk lore. There is no other word for it, really. I'd leave it as Karakasa and link the text to wikipedia, unless you are attempting to hide the Japaneseness of the source material from prying Western eyes. In that case you might make due with 'mischievous spirit' or 'Goblin' which of course can't capture the specific implications of a Karakasa.

For the record many other fan translations and even some professional translations I've seen have left it as 'Karakasa' or otherwise substituted a silly description such as 'one footed umbrella monster' along with a translation note in either case.

As a further side note, I do know that sometimes rice, and I think onigiri, would be left as an offering to spirits. Whether or not one would do this for a Karakasa I don't know, but it might provide a useful lead for you in trying to figure out the meaning behind Kyon's description. Though my Japanese probably isn't good enough to help much by reading the actual source text, I can imagine a karakasa, which already has a rather silly looking face, would certainly be a sight to behold after downing one of those chili and magic mushroom laced onigiri, which it possibly took to be some sort of offering. (Assuming onigiri offerings are applicable to Karakasa.) --68.231.151.135 03:18, 27 November 2006 (PST)


REPLY: But I still don't get what a Karakasa has to do with laughing mushrooms. The original mentioned something about a kind of mushroom being used as an ingredient in one of Karakasa's dishes, or somehing along those lines. Since I have no idea what mushrooms they mean, I just took the most similar one - the Psychedelic mushrooms. --HolyCow 07:11, 27 November 2006 (PST)

REREPLY: From the sound of that, it might be a reference to a specific Japanese folk tale involving a karakasa eating such mushrooms. I wouldn't know what one that is off hand, I've actually tried to look for folk tales on karakasa in the past with little by way of results. Is it possible karakasa might also be a certain type of food or something involving mushrooms? The other thing I can think of, is the karakasa usually has a very silly facial expression, usually like it is laughing. --68.231.151.135 17:50, 27 November 2006 (PST)
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Post by Guest lol »

Heh, shroomies! lol
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Xerain
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Post by Xerain »

For the record, I am 68.231.151.135, I was just too lazy to register for both the wiki and the forum. Also I assumed this would probably be moved here eventually anyway.
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Post by HolyCow »

So the question is, do we stick to the psychedelic mushrooms or do we try to decipher what it means? I've tried google, wikipedia and the sort but I still can't seem to find any darned connection.

BTW, the original was __________ mushrooms, and there was a translator's note saying that the _________ mushrooms were used by Karakasa in preparing the ________ dish. Any one know how to fill in those blanks? XD
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Xerain
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Post by Xerain »

Could we see the kanji or something? I know enough Japanese where I could benefit from seeing them. Also this way I might be able to ask other people as well. Maybe if it is possible to just post that excerpt from the book. I was understating my ability with Japanese a little bit.
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Post by HolyCow »

I don't have the Japanese text since I translate directly from chinese, but here's the chinese text if it helps:

春日的表情活像是吃了用涂满辣椒的糯米纸包起来的笑菇粉末(注:笑菇为鬼伞“一夜菇”科,有毒,食用后会呈兴奋状态,大笑跳舞而得名。)之后的反应,也就是要笑不笑的,但又不到火男的丑样。(注:火男是一种眼睛一大一小、噘嘴模样滑稽的面具。用吹火竹吹火的男人就是这副模样而得名。)
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Post by Xerain »

I'm trying to see if I can find the Japanese text for that somewhere. I have an idea of where I might be able to get it.
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Kaz
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I just came across this..

Post by Kaz »

I was just reading the book for the first time, and isn't the word Karakasa referring to the umbrella shape of the mushrooms? That's the impression I got.


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Post by Smidge204 »

唐傘; 傘 【からかさ】 (n) paper umbrella

I have the full Japanese text available. Just tell me where it is and I can fetch it.

=Smidge=
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juuoku
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Re: Psychedelic Mushroom

Post by juuoku »

its Japaneses folk lour right? try here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kasa-obake it is an umbrella monster. so it might be something with mushrooms and monsters
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Re: Psychedelic Mushroom

Post by juuoku »

http://www.nara-edu.ac.jp/ECNE/mushroom ... rakasa.JPG its a mushroom in that looks like the umbrella
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Tenorphin
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Re: Psychedelic Mushroom

Post by Tenorphin »

The closest I can find to the term "laughing mushroom" is a kind of psychoactive mushroom, Gymnopilus Spectabilis. Here is the link to its wikipedia page. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gymnopilus_junonius

The term "karakasa" though, from what I've read from the chinese text, is only used to describe the family of the shroom, which I think is a fictional one due to the unscientific term used, literally "one night mushroom" family. Additionally, the "laughing mushroom" is a widely used fictional apparently-edible mushroom in Chinese and Japanese literature.
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