# Hinomoto Oniko (日本鬼子)
> Hinomoto Oniko is a 2010 moe character born from Japanese internet users reinterpreting a Chinese anti-Japanese epithet as an adorable demon girl in traditional kimono and naginata.
Hinomoto Oniko (日本鬼子 / ひのもとおにこ) is a moe anime character created by Japanese internet users in October 2010 to neutralize a Chinese anti-Japanese slur. By reinterpreting the Chinese insult *rìběn guǐzi* (日本鬼子, "Japanese devils") as a cute girl's name using alternative Japanese readings of the same characters, artists on 2channel turned a wartime epithet into an adorable demon girl wearing a kimono and carrying a naginata. The project went viral across Japanese platforms and left Chinese netizens largely baffled, producing thousands of fan illustrations and videos within weeks.
## Origin
The idea was born on 2channel's Breaking News (VIP) Board in mid-October 2010[4]. The timing was no accident. Just weeks earlier, a Chinese fishing trawler had rammed Japanese patrol boats near the disputed Senkaku Islands (known as Diaoyu Islands in China), triggering a major diplomatic crisis between the two countries[1]. Anti-Japanese protests flared across China, and the old wartime slur 日本鬼子 saw heavy use online[5].
Anonymous 2ch users noticed the linguistic loophole and proposed turning the insult into a cute anime girl. On October 19, 2010, a dedicated wiki site launched under the name "Let's turn the Chinese moe-moe by making a character called Hinomoto Oniko!"[3]. The site formalized the character's design through a voting-based contest, established guidelines discouraging political messaging, and served as a hub for the rapidly growing fan community.
The project's stated goal was straightforward: flood search engines with cute artwork so that anyone typing the slur 日本鬼子 into Google or Baidu would find adorable anime girls instead of hateful content[3].
- **Platform:** 2channel (concept), Pixiv / Nico Nico Douga (fan art and video spread)
- **Creator:** Anonymous 2channel users (concept creators)
- **Date:** 2010
## Overview
Hinomoto Oniko is a fictional moe character designed as a young woman between 16 and 18 years old with long black hair, pale skin, two small devil horns, and red eyes that appear when she's angered[3]. She wears an autumn leaf-patterned kimono, sometimes carries a hannya mask from traditional Noh theater, and wields a naginata polearm[4]. The character was deliberately crafted to be politically neutral. Expressions promoting Sino-Japanese friendship or anti-Chinese feelings were both discouraged by the project's organizers[3].
The entire concept hinges on a linguistic trick. In Chinese, 日本鬼子 is pronounced *rìběn guǐzi* and means "Japanese devil," a slur dating back to the Second Sino-Japanese War[5]. But the same characters can be read using Japanese kun'yomi readings as "Hinomoto Oniko," which sounds like a perfectly normal (if unusual) female name[4]. The "surname" Hinomoto (日本) means "origin of the sun," and the given name Oniko (鬼子) ends with the feminine suffix *-ko* (子), commonly found in Japanese girls' names[7].
## How It Spread
The first Hinomoto Oniko illustration appeared on Pixiv on October 20, 2010, posted by user 1号[3]. Fan artists jumped in at a staggering pace. By November 5, just 15 days later, the 1000th Oniko illustration had been uploaded to Pixiv. The 2000th dropped in early December[3].
Video content followed close behind. The earliest Oniko videos appeared on Nico Nico Douga on October 27, 2010, mostly as slideshows compiling fan art[3]. On November 8, a Vocaloid song titled "Hakumei" was uploaded and quickly gained traction, climbing to the number one spot in Nico Nico Douga's video rankings by November 18[3].
On November 6, the project expanded with a second character. "Konipon" (小日本, short for Kohinomoto) was created from another Chinese insult, *xiǎo rìběn* ("little Japan")[3]. Konipon appeared as a younger girl with short black hair, a cherry blossom kimono cut short like a miniskirt, and a katana as tall as herself[4].
Japanese news media picked up the story quickly[3]. English-language coverage followed through sites like Sankaku Complex, ChinaHush, Akemi's Anime Blog, and DarkMirage's blog[2][9]. The Times of London ran a feature on December 4, 2010, calling it Japan's "deadliest psychological weapon" against Chinese insults[11].
Chinese internet users discovered the project through threads on Baidu, Tiexue.net, MOP, and Jandan[3]. Taiwanese media also covered it, with newspaper The Liberty Times publishing articles and TV station CCTV airing a segment[3].
## How to Use
Hinomoto Oniko isn't a meme template in the traditional sense. There's no exploitable image macro or fill-in-the-blank format. Instead, it's a participatory art project. Artists typically draw a young woman matching the established design: long black hair, two horns, a kimono (often with autumn leaf patterns), and optionally a naginata or hannya mask[3][4]. The character's eyes are commonly drawn red, particularly in battle scenes. Side characters like Konipon, Hiwaidori, or Yaikagashi can be included for added detail[3].
The original intent was for these images to appear in search results for the slur 日本鬼子. Artists would tag their work with the Chinese characters to maximize search engine visibility. The approach works best as a collective effort: the more artists participate, the more thoroughly the cute imagery displaces the hateful original meaning in search results.
## Cultural Impact
The Hinomoto Oniko project attracted coverage from The Times of London, which framed it as Japan "unleashing its deadliest psychological weapon yet: a joke"[11]. The article described how the project aimed to make Hinomoto "so prevalent that every time a Chinese internet user enters the phrase *riben guizi* into a search engine, they will be confronted by a cute reversal of their bitterness"[11].
Taiwanese media gave the story significant coverage, with The Liberty Times running both online and print articles, and Taiwanese CCTV featuring it on a news broadcast[3]. Multiple Japanese news outlets also reported on the project[3].
The concept of "moe-fying" hostile symbols to neutralize them proved influential. When ISIS emerged as a global threat several years later, internet users applied the same playbook, creating ISIS-chan to flood search results with cute anime imagery instead of terrorist propaganda[4]. Hinomoto Oniko demonstrated that otaku culture's ability to anthropomorphize anything could be deployed as a form of soft cultural resistance.
The Vocaloid song "Hakumei," composed specifically for the Oniko project, reached the number one position on Nico Nico Douga's video rankings on November 18, 2010, bringing the meme to audiences well beyond the original 2ch community[3].
## Fun Facts
- The 1000th fan illustration was uploaded to Pixiv just 15 days after the first one appeared[3].
- One of the most notable Chinese reactions to the project was a calm request to "please give her long straight black hair"[9].
- The character Yaikagashi is named after an actual Japanese tradition of frying smelly fish heads at the end of winter to drive away evil spirits[3].
- Hinomoto Oniko's design specifies that when she gets angry, the ends of her sleeves and dress produce autumn leaves, while Konipon's produce cherry blossom petals that can transform into heart shapes[3].
- The project explicitly banned both pro-friendship and anti-Chinese expressions to stay politically neutral[3].
## Frequently Asked Questions
### What is Hinomoto Oniko?
Hinomoto Oniko is a moe anime character created by Japanese internet users in October 2010 from the Chinese anti-Japanese slur 日本鬼子 (*rìběn guǐzi*, "Japanese devil"). By reading the same characters with Japanese kun'yomi pronunciation, the insult becomes a cute girl's name[4].
### Where did Hinomoto Oniko come from?
The concept originated on 2channel's Breaking News (VIP) Board in October 2010, shortly after the Senkaku Islands fishing trawler incident had intensified anti-Japanese sentiment in China[4][1].
### What does Hinomoto Oniko mean?
The name breaks down as Hinomoto (日本, "origin of the sun," an old word for Japan) and Oniko (鬼子, "demon child"), using kun'yomi and nanori readings of characters that Chinese speakers read as "Japanese devil"[7][4].
### How do you use Hinomoto Oniko?
Artists draw the character (a young woman with horns, a kimono, and often a naginata) and tag their work with 日本鬼子 so the cute imagery appears in search results for the slur[3][11].
### Is Hinomoto Oniko still popular?
The initial burst of activity was concentrated in late 2010, when thousands of illustrations were created within weeks. The character's legacy is more conceptual than ongoing, having established the template for "moe-fying" hostile symbols that was later applied to projects like ISIS-chan[4][3].
### What was the Senkaku Islands incident that inspired this meme?
On September 7, 2010, a Chinese fishing trawler rammed Japanese Coast Guard vessels near the disputed Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands, triggering a major diplomatic crisis that included China suspending rare earth exports to Japan and Premier Wen Jiabao calling the captain's arrest "completely illegal"[1].
### How did Chinese internet users react to Hinomoto Oniko?
Most Chinese netizens treated it as a joke. Translated reactions included "Japan is a dangerous country," "Perhaps we should admit our loss," and "We boo and jeer them and their response is a moe character... We're helpless before them"[10].
### Who is Konipon?
Konipon (小日本, also called Kohinomoto) is a companion character derived from another Chinese insult, *xiǎo rìběn* ("little Japan"). She's depicted as a younger girl with cherry blossom motifs and a katana[4][3].
### How many fan artworks were created?
The Pixiv community produced at least 2,000 illustrations by early December 2010, with the 1000th submitted just 15 days after the first appeared on October 20[3].
### What is the connection to ISIS-chan?
ISIS-chan used the same strategy Hinomoto Oniko pioneered: creating cute moe characters to flood search results and neutralize hostile imagery. Wikipedia directly lists the two as related concepts[4].
### What media covered Hinomoto Oniko?
The Times of London ran a feature on December 4, 2010, calling it Japan's "deadliest psychological weapon." Japanese news media, Taiwanese newspaper The Liberty Times, and Taiwanese CCTV also covered the story[11][3].
## References
1. [The San Diego Union-Tribune: Local News, Sports and Things to Do]()
2. [Resolving the China-Japan Conflict Over the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands — History News Network]()
3. [Akemi’s Anime Blog : » Hinomoto Oniko: Moe Meets Racial Slur : AAW]()
4. [Hinomoto Oniko - 日本 鬼子 - Know Your Meme]()
5. [Hinomoto Oniko]()
6. [Anti-Japanese sentiment]()
7. [Anti-Japanese propaganda]()
8. [Fukuzawa Yukichi]()
9. [Datsu-A Ron]()
10. [Anti-Japanese sentiment in China]()
11. [Anti-Japanese sentiment in Korea]()
12. [Second Sino-Japanese War]()
13. [Senkaku Islands - Wikipedia]()
14. [Kun'yomi - Wikipedia]()
15. [Japanese Devils - Wikipedia]()
16. [2005 anti-Japanese demonstrations - Wikipedia]()
17. [On'yomi - Wikipedia]()
18. [Hannya - Wikipedia]()
19. [Bishōnen - Wikipedia]()
20. [Kimono - Wikipedia]()
21. [Japanese sword - Wikipedia]()
22. [Naginata - Wikipedia]()
23. [Latest Videos | CNN]()
24. [Hinomoto Oniko | Ramblings of DarkMirage]()
25. [Japan Fights China with Moe, China Crushed – Sankaku Complex]()
26. [Japan blunts Chinese insults by turning them into cutesy figures]()
---
Source: https://meme.com/memes/hinomoto-oniko
Published by meme.com — The Internet Meme Library