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Official Harry Potter site releases info about the mysterious Japanese wizards and their school

KK Miller Feb 3, 2016
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Where do Japan’s young witches and wizards go to hone their magical abilities? Why, Mahoutokoro on the island of Minami Iwo Jima, of course!

Even though the official Harry Potter novels ended almost a decade ago, author J.K. Rowling has been able to add to her fantastical world through other outlets. The upcoming film, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, has cinema-going Potter fans wriggling with excitement, while literature buffs know exactly where to turn: Pottermore.

The official Harry Potter website has allowed Rowling to release her writings unto the world. Just last week, she dropped a trio of world-building pieces—information about other wizarding schools—that has Potter fans really excited.

▼ The faint red areas denote the location of a school.

One of the schools was Mahoutokoro, the exclusive and reclusive Japanese wizarding school. Evidence of such a school has been hinted at before as the current Champion’s League winners, the Toyohashi Tengu, are a team from Japan. Now we finally know where those wizarding phenoms have been raised and instructed: the ancient Japanese wizarding school of Mahoutokoro.

▼ Fan art of the school’s crest.

James Potter Wiki

Located on the volcanic island of Minami Iwo Jima, this secluded magic school seems like the perfect place for wizards to be learning their craft. Far away from prying muggle eyes, the island sits about 750 miles from the main island of Honshu.

Some other tidbits that were revealed concern the interesting robes the school’s students wear which change color as they learn more magic—gold robes, for example, symbolize top students whereas white robes denote that they have turned to the dark arts. Unsurprisingly, cherry wood wands are the most highly-prized wand wood at Mahoutokoro—we bet they can produce some spectacular cherry blossom explosions!

Readers who are familiar with the Japanese language will probably recognize the name of the wizarding school, Mahoutokoro, as simply meaning “place of magic”. Japanese speakers will also notice a bit of a quirk on the Pottermore website where there is a phonetic guide for English readers indicating how to pronounce the name, “Mah – hoot – o – koh – ro”. Not exactly how we’d pronounce it if we’re being honest (Ma-hoh-to-ko-ro, if you’re asking), but then again, we aren’t a world-famous writer who is worth a billion dollars.

For more information about this or other schools in the wizarding world, be sure to check out Pottermore.

Looks like we finally have a legitimate excuse to chibi-fy our favorite Harry Potter characters!

Source & Images: Pottermore