Desperation can bring out the demon in the best of men - Ghost of Tsushima Cosplay

I'm not sure what brought it upon me to want to take random photos of me wearing my custom Ghost of Tsushima mask, but it happened the other night. I guess maybe I was just bored. Whatever the reason, these turned out pretty freaking awesome.

Ghost of Tsushima is one of my favorite video games of all time. Just check out all of the posts I made about this amazing game. It allows you to become a samurai and explore the beautiful landscape of Japan. I fell in love with this one right from the start. It's no wonder that I couldn't resist the temptation to buy this custom-made 1 of 1 mask whenever I saw it on Etsy.

One of my favorite parts of the game is the stylish outfits and different types of armor and masks your character can wear. There are so many great ones, they even inspired my Daltono logo design.

I may not have a full suit of armor, but I do have a pretty cool hooded Japanese shirt that I thought would be perfect to combine with my masks. Mix that with some red lighting and I knew it was going to be an interesting set of photos.

I did my best to look friendly, but it’s kind of hard to do when you are wearing an oni mask.

Oni: An oni (鬼おに) (/oʊni/ OH-nee) is a kind of yōkai, demon, orc, ogre, or troll in Japanese folklore. They are believed to live in caves or deep in the mountains. Oni are known for their superhuman strength and are associated with powers like thunder and lightning, along with their evil nature manifesting in their propensity for murder and cannibalism. They are typically portrayed as hulking figures with one or more horns growing out of their heads, massive teeth, and occasionally a third eye in the center of the forehead. They are typically depicted with red, blue, black, or yellow colored skin, wearing loincloths of tiger pelt, and carrying iron kanabō clubs. They also have three to six digits on each hand and foot tipped with claw-like nails. Oni are able to change their looks to fool their victims into trusting them. Oni can be male or female but has been predominantly male throughout history. Female oni are sometimes referred to by the name Yamauba. When in disguise, oni are capable of appearing as a man or woman, regardless of their gender. As monstrous as oni are, they have been linked to bringing good fortune and wealth. ^{Sourced from Wikipedia}

As you can see from the above excerpt, oni are meant to be intimidating. This makes perfect sense why. A samurai would wear a half mask such as this one.

I live in a tiny apartment, so I must get creative with my photos. Lighting is king in this situation. That and a badass-looking subject of course.

It’s obvious that I not only have a serious love for Ghost of Tsushima but also for Japan in general. I’d rate Japan as the most desirable destination in the world for me. I’d love to visit one day.

As for wearing this outfit while visiting Japan, I’m not sure whether or not I would instantly be respected by everybody in the community OR if I would become an outcast for being such a deadly-looking killer and imitating their history. I would hope they’d understand it’s just a cosplay from a popular video game.

By the way, if you have never played Ghost of Tsushima, but own a PS4 or PS5, you need to play it asap. It’s actually included with the PS Plus Extra gaming catalog as of right now.

I’ll leave you with a quote that I like a lot:
“Not everyone can be a samurai, but we're all capable of being killers.”

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