About

Medjed is an Egyptian god who rose to popularity in Japan after an illustration of the god was placed on display at a museum on Tokyo. In the depiction, Medjed appears to be a figure covered in a sheet with only the eyes and feet showing.

Origin

The first mention of Medjed (Egyptian: "The Smiter") comes from the ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead in the Greenfield papyrus. Medjed's name means "The Smiter" and he has the power to fly and "shoot from his eye". In the papyrus, two vignettes are included which are believed to represent Medjed, depicting a figure hidden underneath what appears to be a sheet (shown below).

In 2012, the British Museum held an exhibit at the Mori Arts Center Gallery in Tokyo, Japan where the Greenfield papyrus was put on display. Visitors to the museum noted Medjed's strange appearance, claiming he resembled a type of mascot character.^[2][3]

Spread

Medjed's popularity began on Twitter, likely by those sharing the picture on the papyrus. Following the circulation of Medjed images on the Japanese web, the @Medjed_tweet Twitter feed was launched, which gained over 11,600 followers over the next several years.^[5][6] In 2014, a game titled Flying Mr. Medjed was released, featuring the god as a playable character (shown below).^[7] Medjed has also appeared on numerous pieces of merchandise, such as t-shirts, dolls and foods.^[8] On July 21st, 2015, the anime news blog Anime News Network^[9] published an article about the god's Internet fame in Japan.

Various Examples

As of September 2015, the Japanese art site Pixiv returns over 900 results in a search for "Medjed".^[4]

Search Interest

External References