alt title(s): Shishi Odoshi; Souzu; Bamboo Fountain; The Japanese Thing That Goes Doink; The Japanese Bamboo Thing That Goes Doink; Deer Scarer
*DOINK*
To establish that a
Big Fancy House belongs to a family that is both traditionally Japanese and exceedingly wealthy one can show many aspects of the home that seem extravagant. There's the big yard, the high fence, the sheer size of it. But for something that just screams "Rich Japanese Family" you need
The Thing That Goes Doink.
This is a traditional water feature that is found in the yards of Japanese homes, properly called a
shishi-odoshi or "deer scare"/"deer-chaser". It has a bamboo cup on a fulcrum that slowly fills with falling water. When it fills, it tips over and empties; when it flips back upright, its hollow back end hits a stone underneath it and makes a distinctive hollow-log "doink" sound. With a simple two-second shot of this device doing its thing, it is established without a doubt that this
Big Fancy House is a place of wealth and tradition.
Don't confuse the sound of
The Thing That Goes Doink with that of the
tsuzumi, a drumlike instrument used in
Kabuki theatre which can be heard in a number of anime. The two sound very alike, but the
shishi-odoshi is always shown when it makes its noise.
The Thing That Goes Doink is often used in the
Aspect Montage.
In addition to indicating a moneyed and traditional household,
The Thing That Goes Doink is sometimes used to signal an imminent
Hot Springs Episode.
This link
contains instructions on how to build one.
Not to be confused with
the thing that goes parp,
the thing that goes ding when there's stuff,
the scientific progress that goes boink,
the machine that goes ping,
the thing that goes bong bong,
the man who goes BONK,
The Knights Who Say Ni! or
Tonberries.
Examples:
Anime and Manga
- When Alto from Macross Frontier visits his home for the first time in a while, a thing that goes doink is heard in the background.
- The Mendou family from Urusei Yatsura are quite possibly the richest people in the world; and they prove this by having multiple shishi-odoshi around various parts of their town-sized palace-and-villa-filled fortress
- Tenchi Muyo: Outside the shrine.
- Sakura's family estate in Sendai, in Sakura Taisen. During the first episode of the first OVA series, the sound of the shishi-odoshi is used to punctuate the passing of time as the young Sakura struggles to learn the secrets of her family's style of kendo.
- Tokine's House in Kekkaishi
- Honoka's home in Futari Wa Pretty Cure.
- Gokujou Seitokai, unusually, has one in the school's women's bathing room. Of course, said school is very large and very rich.
- Miki's house in Tenshi Na Konamaiki.
- In the second episode of Saber Marionette J To X one is shown outside a meeting at which Otaru and several townspeople debate whether to hold an upcoming festival in the traditional fashion or add new elements from other countries.
- When the members of the Six Houses of Kyoto meet in Code Geass, one is visible nearby.
- One is prominently displayed in the courtyard of the Aoiya in Rurouni Kenshin.
- There is one in the third episode of Ouran High School Host Club.
- And at the Haninodzuka resident in episode 18. Twice.
- Soun has one in Ranma 1/2. It's not used to show opulence, but more that Soun has a rather traditional house/dojo set up. It was sometimes used to show time had passed. The sight gag of it 'doinking' being used to show time had passed was used in the anime, even when the action was at the Tendos. The Kuno mansion has at least one of them, if not several. Sasuke Sarugakure has to drink from them. The Daimonji school of Martial Arts Tea Ceremony also has one in the anime.
- In Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha Captain Lindy has one... on a spaceship.
- Both Tezuka and Echizen's homes in Prince Of Tennis have them.
- in HistorysStrongestDiscipleKenichi this is at Ryōzanpaku and often is a focal point or the only thing heard.
- There's one on a desert planet in Birth.
- Naruto. Every episode involving a flashback from Sasuke, or the Hyuga household.
- In "Shippuden", there's one at the Nara household, as well.
- Not to mention almost half of the filler stories.
- Bleach. Every episode involving the Kuchiki household.
- Touya Akira's large, traditional house in Hikaru No Go, usually heard (and sometimes seen) when Touya's large, traditional father is given screentime. The sound of water pouring from the thing, followed by the doink, nicely resembles the rustle of a hand in a bowl of Go stones, followed by the 'pok' of a stone hitting the board. I hope this is intentional.
- One can be found in the hot springs at the Hinata Inn in Love Hina.
- Project A Ko has one of these inside the cabin of the "Max 5000" mecha. Really.
- Hikaru Shidou's house has one.
- Jyabura's garden has one in One Piece.
- Higurashi No Naku Koro Ni: there's one on the grounds of the Sonozaki estate.
- Maison Ikkoku: The very aristocratic family of Kujo Asuna have one, naturally.
- Detective Conan: Whenever Kogoro, Ran, and Conan visit the house of a rich client, this is the first thing you see.
- One of these show up in at least one of the later episodes of Yu Yu Hakusho at Genkai's house-temple-thing. It's probably to show wealth, as her property is revealed in the last episode to be immense.
- Yomi also has one of those at the house where he meets with Yusuke.
- Full Metal Panic? Fumoffu! Shows one quite prominently at the Yakuza home of Mikihara.
- Nozomu Itoshiki of Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei turns out to be from a traditional and wealthy family, complete with their own doinker.
- Used immediately to show the wealth of the Shishidou household in Sora Wo Kakeru Shoujo. And we do mean "immediately" - it's the very first shot in the anime.
- Jotaro Kujo and his mother, Holly, have one of these in their house. It's used a couple of times in the first episode, then never seen again.
- The powerful Kannagi family in Kaze No Stigma have one.
- One can be heard in Japan's Image Song from Axis Powers Hetalia
Video Games
- The Hazuki residence in Shenmue.
- A modest-sized one can be found and rolled up in the Katamari Damacy game.
- When Baiken uses her Instant Kill in the Guilty Gear video game series, the scene abruptly changes to show her and her opponent's silhouettes through the wall of a traditional-style house, with The Thing That Goes Doink in the near foreground.
- Large things that go doink are used as levers and platforms at various times in Okami, to make use of the Water Spout power. In the English version (at least), Issun doesn't know what to call them, either.
- In Animal Crossing, the "deer scare" is a small piece of furniture that can be bought or gained. It makes the little doink sound, as is seen in a few different layouts in the residents' houses. Goes with the stone lanterns and mossy rocks of the "Zen Garden" ensemble.
- Okami uses these in the Imperial Palace. The catch? You're two inches tall, and the things that go doink are now bridges.
- Genuinely enormous ones also appear in several other areas of the game, serving as switches to open doors. (Though in their case, it's more of a BOOM than a doink.)
- Parodius has a giant one of these as an obstacle... as befitting Parodius, it uses penguins instead of water.
- In Goemon's Great Adventure for the N64, there was one area (Frog Mountain) that used a giant one of these as the fork in the road (one route behind it, one route above it doubling back) — however, you wouldn't know it unless you bothered to go all the way to the end of the giant thing, which conveniently enough went off-screen.
- The PS 2 music/rhythm game Unison has its lead female characters dancing to a traditional Japanese enka song called "Yo Sa Ku". The establishing shot of the performance hall shows one of these underneath a statue of an Eastern dragon.
Film
- It also makes an appearance in the snowy courtyard of the House of Blue Leaves, the site of the Bride's final duel with O-Ren Ishii in Kill Bill Volume 1.
Other
- An automated thing that goes *doink* can be found in the courtyard of The Enchanted Tiki Room at Disneyland that tells when the next "show" will be.
