Onmyo-Za

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Onmyo-Za(also Onmyouza or Onmyoza: Japanese; 陰陽座 literally " a band in Onmyodo") are a Japanese Visual Kei / heavy metal band who released their first commercial album in 1999. They play quite orthodox heavy metal music just compared to Iron Maiden or Judas Priest , mixed with Japanese folk / pop musical elements. They are also categorized as a Visual Kei band for their theatrical live performance with kimonos.

Contents

1 Band members
2 Stage Names
3 Theme and Inspiration
4 Discography

4.1 Albums
4.2 Singles
4.3 DVDs

5 External links

Band members

Matatabi - Bass and Vocals
Kuroneko - Vocals
Maneki - Guitar
Karukan - Guitar
Tora - Drums

Stage Names

Each of their stage names has double meaning with a sense of humor.
Kuroneko(黒猫) literally means a black cat, just symbolizing her personality. Matatabi(瞬火) is a flashing fire, but it can also be read as a silvervine(loved by cats). Maneki(招鬼) practically　means "summoning oni", but its reading reminds most Japanese people of maneki neko. Karukan(狩姦) is not clear in its literal meaning, though Karu(狩) independently means "attacking" or "hunting" and Kan(姦) is "adultery" or so. But its reading is familiar to Japanese people, as a brand name of cat food. Tora(斗羅) has little literal meaning, but its reading is same to tiger in Japanese. This suggests also that he is a fan of Hanshin Tigers.
So, all their stage names are related with a cat. And it forms an image that the four men are following their heroine.

Theme and Inspiration

Their songs mainly deal with oni, yokai, Japanese dragon etc, but some songs have more concrete theme and inspiration.
For example, Onmyo-za have ever composed 10 Ninpocho songs. "Ninpocho" means "tales of ninja magic", and those songs are tribute to Japanese author Futaro Yamada and his Ninpocho series. Koga Ninpocho, the latest Ninpocho song, was written for anime "Basilisk" of which original story is Futaro Yamada's "Koga Ninpocho".
There are also some other songs inspired by Osamu Tezuka and Kyogoku Natsuhiko.
The trilogy "Kumikyoku Yoshitsune" is based on the legend of Japanese ancient tragic hero Minamoto no Yoshitsune.

Discography

Albums

1999/12/05 - KIKOKU-TENSHO
2000/12/24 - HYAKKI-RYORAN
2002/01/10 - KOJIN-RASETSU
2002/07/24 - FUIN-KAIRAN
2003/01/22 - HOYOKU-RINDO
2003/06/25 - SEKINETSU-ENBU (Live Album)
2004/03/03 - MUGEN-HOYO
2005/06/22 - GARYO-TENSEI
2006/02/08 - INYO-SHUGYOKU (Best Album)
2006/06/07 - ONMYO...LIVE! (Live Album)

Singles

2000/08/19 - OKA NO KOTOWARI
2001/12/16 - TSUKI NI MURAKUMO HANA NI KAZE
2002/12/25 - YOKA NINPOCHO
2003/06/04 - HOYOKU TENSHO
2003/10/01 - MEZAME
2004/01/07 - NEMURI
2004/09/23 - KUMIKYOKU "YOSHITSUNE" - AKKI HOGAN
2004/10/27 - KUMIKYOKU "YOSHITSUNE" - MUMA ENJO
2004/11/26 - KUMIKYOKU "YOSHITSUNE" - RAISE KAIKO
2005/04/27 - KOGA NINPOCHO ("BASILISK" TV animation theme song)

DVDs

2003/06/25 - HAKKO-RANBU (Live Video)
2004/02/14 - HYAKKI KORINDEN (Live Video)
2005/03/02 - WAGASHIKABANE WO KOETEYUKE (Live Video)
2005/08/22 - YUGEN-REIBU (Live Video)
2006/06/21 - SYUGYOKU-ENBU (Live Video)

External links

[The official Onmyo-Za website]

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