Ask John: Why is the Number 108 Significant in Anime?

Question:
I’ve always been wondering about the significance of the number 108 in anime and manga, and in Asian culture itself. It pops up a lot- for example, Mokona-Modoki mentioning that he has 108 special techniques in Tsubasa Chronicle; Karin having to perform 108 good deeds to get out of transforming into a giant pig in Tonde Buurin; and Ryang having to endure 108 failed romances in the Korean manhwa Faeries’ Landing. I’m sure that are many more examples that I can’t think of off the top of my head.

Answer:
As you’ve pointed out with Japanese and Korean examples, the number 108 is a significant symbolic number throughout Asia. Reportedly the significance of the number 108 originated in India. In early Hindu religions, the number 9 represented wholeness and divinity because if you multiply 9 times anything then add the digits from the answer together, the result is always 9. For example, 9×6185=55665, 5+5+6+6+5=27, 2+7=9. The number nine, according to the theory, represents God because God is the ultimate result of everything. Early Hindu religious mathematics determined that the number 108 represented all of existence because 1+0+8 equals 9.

Buddhism seems to have adopted this spiritual number. Buddhist beaded necklaces, called “malla,” have 108 beads. Buddhist temples in Japan ring the temple bell 108 times at midnight on December 31st of each year to ring in the new year and purify listeners of the 108 evil passions that plague every human. In anime, the number 108 also appears in Crying Freeman as the sinister society of 108 Dragons, and Devil Hunter Yohko is the 108th generation demon slayer in her family.