Mahoutokoro

Subject: Mahoutokoro
Author: Matt Cipher
Posted on: 2016-01-30 21:16:00 UTC

Since hS and Scape shared their knowledge on the African school, I feel like I should tell what I know about Japanese culture that is relevant to Mahoutokoro.

FIrst of all, the name - Mahōtokoro - is a compound, consisting of two words: mahō meaning 'magic', and tokoro meaning 'place', 'location', 'spot'... but we know this already from the HP wiki. How about something we've just learned.

The location - Minami-Iwo-Jima, or Southern Sulfur Island, is located about 1300 kilometers (or, 807 miles) south of Tokyo. This is how it looks like.

The school itself is mentioned to be a palace, therefore it most likely looks like the traditional Japanese shiro castle - [CLICK] - and the 'mutton-fat jade' it's made of is simply another name for very light yellow nephrite. Very... Chinese, if I can say so myself; if I recall correctly, the Japanese didn't use as much nephrite.

The reason that the students start school at seven, and then can choose to board it when eleven, is because in Japanese culture the odd number (3, 5, 7, 11, etc.) are considered lucky. There even is a festival which celebrates children of those ages, called the Shichi-Go-San (lit. "Seven-Five-Three").

The most surprising for me was the colours. It's logical for the robes to start as cherry blossom pink, since the sakura tree is an important symbol and the moment of blossoming is a nation-wide festival. I can see gold being the top colour, since it does symbolize strength... white is what caught me off-guard since the symbolism of the colour is generally positive. But then I dug a little deeper and found out that besides 'life' the colour white represents 'anger' and 'danger', which is quite appropriate for those who took the Mahoutokoro equivalent of the Dark Side.

Reply Return to messages

Jump to this post's position in the thread ↴

Pottermore: Wizarding Schools Revealed by Matt Cipher on 2016-01-30 14:55:00 UTC Reply

Not all of them, but it's still something:

We learned that Brazilian students at Castelobruxo are particularly adept at Herbology and Magizoology; Japanese witches and wizards at Mahoutokoro wear enchanted robes that change colour as their magical knowledge improves, and that the only address ever given for Uagadou in Africa is ‘Mountains of the Moon.’

And, to all my American friends I present the American School of Magic

ILVERMORNY

Mahoutokoro by Matt Cipher on 2016-01-30 21:16:00 UTC Reply

Since hS and Scape shared their knowledge on the African school, I feel like I should tell what I know about Japanese culture that is relevant to Mahoutokoro.

FIrst of all, the name - Mahōtokoro - is a compound, consisting of two words: mahō meaning 'magic', and tokoro meaning 'place', 'location', 'spot'... but we know this already from the HP wiki. How about something we've just learned.

The location - Minami-Iwo-Jima, or Southern Sulfur Island, is located about 1300 kilometers (or, 807 miles) south of Tokyo. This is how it looks like.

The school itself is mentioned to be a palace, therefore it most likely looks like the traditional Japanese shiro castle - [CLICK] - and the 'mutton-fat jade' it's made of is simply another name for very light yellow nephrite. Very... Chinese, if I can say so myself; if I recall correctly, the Japanese didn't use as much nephrite.

The reason that the students start school at seven, and then can choose to board it when eleven, is because in Japanese culture the odd number (3, 5, 7, 11, etc.) are considered lucky. There even is a festival which celebrates children of those ages, called the Shichi-Go-San (lit. "Seven-Five-Three").

The most surprising for me was the colours. It's logical for the robes to start as cherry blossom pink, since the sakura tree is an important symbol and the moment of blossoming is a nation-wide festival. I can see gold being the top colour, since it does symbolize strength... white is what caught me off-guard since the symbolism of the colour is generally positive. But then I dug a little deeper and found out that besides 'life' the colour white represents 'anger' and 'danger', which is quite appropriate for those who took the Mahoutokoro equivalent of the Dark Side.
Awesome! I knew there was an American school (nm) by Dark Brother 16 on 2016-01-30 21:02:00 UTC Reply
Uagadou by Huinesoron on 2016-01-30 16:49:00 UTC Reply

-Appears to be named after Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso. Amusingly (given Scapegrace's comments on Ilvermorny) this is a Frenchified spelling of Wage sabre soba koumbem tenga (apparently). That means 'Head War Chief's Village'; the lack of the '-gou' presumably means one or two of those words are missing, or - given the massive compression in the name - have been changed for others.

-Is in the Mountains of the Moon. That is brilliant. The Mountains of the Moon exist on old maps, but not in the real world - they're a cartographical artefact that was never really there. Or, the wizards of Africa have taken whatever it is that's hiding Hogwarts to a whole new level, and have made an entire gigantic mountain range invisible and unnoticeable to anyone else...

hS

This makes a lot of sense. by Scapegrace on 2016-01-30 17:38:00 UTC Reply

I didn't know about the Mountains of the Moon being a cartographical artifact, despite owning Umberto Eco's The Book Of Legendary Lands. I feel like a derp.

Also, the Ouagadougou is a Francophonization of the name of the old kingdom, Wogodogo, one of the four that made up the original Mossi empire. This particular kingdom was named after the capital; others were sited at Tenkodogo and Fada N'Gourma. There were other splinter states like Yatenga and Rizim, but primarily the Mossi was a potent contiginous empire rather than a confederation of city-states. Just something I thought might be interesting to you. =]
I really like this school A LOT. by Silenthunder on 2016-01-30 16:56:00 UTC Reply

I mean, dream-creatures that send you the invitations in your sleep? Come on, people, that's pretty awesome! Also there's thew whole fact that one can become an Animagus with more ease since they focus on things like that there.

Heh. Hehe. Haahaahaaaaaaa! by Scapegrace on 2016-01-30 16:31:00 UTC Reply

There's a convincing argument that it's in America... but not in the US.

Ile Vert-Morne, or Green Hill Island, sounds like a good corruption of wherever it is. This puts it in either French Canada or among the Cajuns - who, by the way, are also from Canada. Cajun is itself a corruption of Acadian.

Of Course going by that... by [EvilAI]UBEROverlord on 2016-01-30 17:08:00 UTC Reply

If it is Cajun that would place it in Louisiana, now if it were Creole, that could place it in a few places but most likely in Louisiana or Haiti (or somewhere else in the Caribbean). But going on the map it looks like you can see Nova Scotia and it clearly looks like the Mississippi River is visible.

So if we take it as Nova Scotia and the Mississippi River as being on the map, it also appears that the westernmost edge of Lake Superior is visible. So if we take all that I would say that it appears to be located in one of two possible places. First at the conflux of Lake Superior, Lake Huron, and Lake Michigan. That would place it somewhere around Sault Ste. Marie and the Michigan/Ontario Border. Alternatively it also looks like it could be located on or near Niagara Falls at the New York/Ontario Border. It would be easier to tell without the smoke around the Castle. Based on the actual Castle's structures and the landmarks that appear to be clear to me (Nova Scotia and the Mississippi River), it appears to be located on or about Niagara Falls.

Oh heck yes. by Iximaz on 2016-01-30 17:17:00 UTC Reply

Brb going to play Quodpot over the Falls.

And now onto something I actually know about. by Scapegrace on 2016-01-30 16:48:00 UTC Reply

Uagadou obviously refers Ouagadougou, the present capital of Burkina Faso and former seat of the Mossi empire, a major regional power and arguably a successor state of the Empire of Mali. Additionally, Burkina Faso (actually the modern name of the country) has cropped up in the Potterverse before; the Runespoor, a three-headed snake featured in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, is native to the region, and mention is made of a Burkinabé Ministry of Magic with the power to make entire forests Unplottable.

Now, most of the country is rolling grasslands, but the southeast - particularly in the Cascades Region that borders the modern state of Mali - is an enormous sandstone bluff that is home to the nation's largest peak. This peak stands at 749 metres. However, given what we know about the Burkina Faso Ministry of Magic's penchant for making things Unplottable, that puts the Uagadou school squarely there.

Quite far away from the current city of Ouagadougou.

And also from the old kingdom of Wogodogo that formed the core of the early Mossi empire.

...

Ah.

Per Twitter... by Huinesoron on 2016-02-01 09:25:00 UTC Reply

(... by way of this), Uagadou is apparently in Uganda. AKA nowhere near the place it's named after.

... and if I type in 'Mountains of the m', Google autocompletes with '-oon uganda'. Potterdom, ladies and Eldar.

Ahem. It also, bizarrely, places it quite a long way south of the traditional Mountains of the Moon - Wikipedia shows Uganda to be equatorial, but the mountains to be halfway to the Tropic of Cancer. On the other hand, the article says that the mountains were identified early on as the southern source of the Nile, which would place them south of Lake Victoria, which is itself south of Uganda.

All of which means Uagadou is apparently very good at making things Unplottable. Guess they must have trained Burkina Faso's lot...

hS

Maybe, maybe not. by Iximaz on 2016-01-30 16:36:00 UTC Reply

Looks like it's right on the boarder, unless I'm being derpy again.

This is a much better image than I've been looking at by [EvilAI]UBEROverlord on 2016-01-30 17:13:00 UTC Reply

So according to this map, north of the school is dominated by the Hudson Bay. Nova Scotia is clearly to the east. The Mississippi River is the large river to the south west. The Appalachians are to the south. This also makes it clear that it is east of the Great Lakes, so according to this map, I think this places it on or about Niagara Falls at the New York/Ontario Border.
I was trying to ignore the map and focus on the name... by Scapegrace on 2016-01-30 16:40:00 UTC Reply

But that works too. =]
*border. Jeez, I am being a derp. (nm) by Iximaz on 2016-01-30 16:39:00 UTC Reply

Say it with me, everybody: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA by SkarmorySilver on 2016-01-30 16:11:00 UTC Reply

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Really though, I love the touch given to Mahoutokoro and the color changing robes, which I assume was inspired by martial arts or something. And I look forward to hearing more about Il Vermorny - and I especially hope it shows up in the upcoming Fantastic Beasts movie! :D
Yay! She estabilished a canonical Brazilian school! :D by James Shields on 2016-01-30 15:51:00 UTC Reply

And it sounds pretty awesome! And yeah, Caipora would surely give Peeves a run for his money. I wonder if there is a Saci or a Curupira there as well. We sure have a lot of trickster spirits in our folklore. :P

And of course a Brazilian wizard would be part of a world-renowned Quiddicht team ! :D

*snatches up mini-Acromantula* (nm) by SkarmorySilver on 2016-01-30 16:12:00 UTC Reply
Sorry for the double posting. by James Shields on 2016-01-30 16:04:00 UTC Reply

I honestly the first attempt hadn't gone throught.

Yay! She estabilished a canonical Brazilian school! :D by James Shields on 2016-01-30 15:44:00 UTC Reply

And it sounds pretty awesome! And yeah, Caipora sure would surely give Peeves a run for his money. I wonder if there is a Saci or a Curupira there as well. We sure have a lot of trickster spirits in our folklore. :P

And of course a Brazilian wizard would be part of a world-renowned Quiddicht team ! :D
Step aside, American exchange students. by Iximaz on 2016-01-30 15:05:00 UTC Reply

Make way for the canonical Brazilian exchange program!

...I wish. :P

Eeee, can't wait to see more! I hope she gives info on the other magical schools she mentioned, not just Ilvermorny.

Ilvermorny. Has such a funny ring to it. :D

It sounds like "Silver Morning" to me. Etymology, anyone? (nm) by DCCCV on 2016-01-30 15:39:00 UTC Reply

Not yet. More info soon to come. (nm) by Matt Cipher on 2016-01-30 19:39:00 UTC Reply