Kitakami

Art featuring Kitakami in The Teal Mask

The land of Kitakami (Japanese: キタカミの里 Land of Kitakami), known simply as Kitakami, is a region featured in The Teal Mask expansion for Pokémon Scarlet and Violet.

In the games

A great mountain towers over the land of Kitakami, and the people live at its base. It is a place of tranquil natural expanses, featuring rice paddies and apple orchards.^[1] The Pokémon Okidogi, Munkidori, and Fezandipiti are revered as heroes, Loyal Three by the people of the village for having protected the land of Kitakami in the past.^[2]

The player is taken to Kitakami on a school trip to join an outdoors study opportunity held jointly between the Naranja Academy^S/Uva Academy^V and Blueberry Academy.^[3] The trip coincides with a seasonal festival that is regularly held in the village in Kitakami, during which the village is bustling with various street vendors and stalls.^[1] During the trip, the player meets BB students Kieran and his older sister Carmine, who both grew up in Kitakami.^[4]

Geography

Kitakami is a landlocked region that is mostly mountainous, as a large mountain comprises most of the region, though some rivers are present at the top of the mountain and around it, some even leading outside the region. There is a town at the base of the mountain with its own Academy for students, being one of, if not the only, town or city in Kitakami.

Kitakami is its own separate region, have little to nothing to do with Paldea, where the Player is originally from. It is also thought to be far away from Paldea but yet in Unova as the game states thats where the Blueberry Academy is located.

Demographics

Notable locations

Settlements

Map	Name	Population
	Mossui Town

Trivia

Origin

To promote The Teal Mask, Pikachu and Ogerpon appeared at the 2023 Aomori Nebuta Matsuri as a float. The festival is the largest in the Tohoku region. The choice to showcase the Nebuta at the 2023 World Championships in Yokohama leans to the idea of the real life region of Tohoku region of Japan bearing a close resemblance to Kitakami.

• The culture of Kitakami resembles Japanese culture with the main characters of the story wearing clothing known as a jinbei (甚平). The architecture of the houses as seen in Kitakami also resemble typical Japanese houses.
• Food stalls (or Yatai (屋台)) can be seen around the shrine, of Shinto style. The path is flanked by stone lanterns similar to Ishidoro (石灯籠) in Japanese culture. Paper lanterns called Chōchin (提灯) can also be seen.
• The main characters of the story also participate in the Festival of Masks in Kitakami Hall, similar to matsuri (祭り) in Japan with its ties to spirtual animals, spirits, and/or deities according to ancient folklore. In the case of Kitakami, the summer festival celebrates "The Loyal Three" (Okidogi, Munkidori, and Fezandipiti) the Pokémon that protected Kitakami from the "Ogre" (Ogerpon). This story is similar to the Japanese folk tale of Momotarō (桃太郎), where a boy born from a peach who grows up to vanquish some ogres.
• The name of the Iwate Prefecture in the Tohoku Region means Rock (Iwa) Hand (Te). This comes a story where a deity names Mitsuishi (Three Rocks) vanquished an ogre called Rasetsu, who left an imprint of its hand on a large boulder on Mt. Nansho.^[5] This bears resemblance to the Loyal Three vanquishing Ogerpon.
• The culture of one of the largest festivals in the Tohoku region, Aomori Nebuta Matsuri, is very similar to the themes explored in The Teal Mask (i.e. ogres appearing in many floats, which are typically depicted by humans by wearing a mask, reminiscent of Ogerpon.) Alongside these cultural similarities, a real life nebuta float of Pikachu and Ogerpon appeared at the 2023 Aomori Nebuta festival.
• Ogerpon wears a mask, which could be a reference to Onikenbai (鬼剣舞) (lit. Ogre's Sword Dance), a traditional mask-wearing folk performance from the real-world Kitakami, Iwate. This city is also home to a large traditional mask museum called Oni no Yakata (lit. Ogre's Museum).^[6]
• Ogerpon could be inspired by Menreiki (面霊気) which is a “mask essence” (or a Yokai (妖怪) born from a collection of masks). In the Tohoku region of Japan, it is considered a form of Tsukumogami (付喪神).
• The Loyal Three are revered through small statues wearing red bibs, similar to that of Ojizo-sama (お地蔵さま) or Kitsune (きつね) found across Japan. The colour red is believed to ward off evil spirits in Japanese culture.^[7]
• Okidogi may be inspired by the large Japanese dog, Akita. "Okidogi" is also a portmanteu of "Ooki" meaning "big" in Japanese and "Doggy". The Akita dog also originates from Akita Prefecture in the Tohoku region of Japan, where Kitakami may be inspired from.
• Munkidori may be inspired by the Japanese macaque which originate from Aomori Prefecture of the Tohoku region.
• Fezandipiti may be inspired by the Japanese Green Pheasant, Kiji. The Kiji is also Iwate Prefecture's symbolic bird^[8]. Fezandipiti's Japanese name is "Kichikigisu", which contains the word "kigisu". Kigisu is an archaic reading for pheasant.
• Dipplin, the evolution of Applin also features in Kitakami. Sweet apples are often served during summer festivals in Japan. With Aomori Prefecture being the largest producer of Apples in Japan, it is well known for its Apples around the world. As such, it is possible that Aomori's apples were the inspiration behind Dipplin. The trailer of the Teal Mask also heavily showcases an apple orchard, apple consumption, and a photoshoot with an Apple cutout board.
• Poltchageist is inspired from Tsukumogami (付喪神) which is a spirit (or Yokai (妖怪)) that is born from every-day inanimate objects, which is typical concept in Japanese Shinto belief.
• Kitakami features a large mountain which can be scaled. This could be inspired by Mt. Iwaki, which means "God's Home" (カムィ イワキ) in the local Ainu language. Mt. Iwaki is also known as the "Northern Fuji" due to its similar apperance. The reference to a deity and the north is similar to Kitakami, which means "Northern God".

Name origin

References

This article is part of Project Locations, a Bulbapedia project that aims to write comprehensive articles on every location in the Pokémon world.