Tokoyo vs Aarhus

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Tokoyo is a figure in Japanese mythology. She was the daughter of a samurai named Oribe Shima. Shima had displeased the Emperor, who was in an ill state of health, and was subsequently banished. As a result, he had to set up home on a group of islands called the Oki Islands, away from his daughter. Both he and Tokoyo were miserable at being separated, and she became determined to find him. She sold all her property, and set out for a place called Akasaki, which was just off the coast from the Oki Islands. Although she asked the fishermen to ferry her there, they all refused, since it was forbidden to visit anyone banished there. One night, she took a boat and sailed to the islands herself. She spent the night on the beach. The next morning while searching for her father she encountered a fisherman, whom she asked about her father. The fisherman replied he knew nothing, and warned her not to ask anyone else about his whereabouts. As a result, she was forced to eavesdrop on people's conversations, rather than simply asking them directly. Unfortunately, Tokoyo could not gather any useful information this way. On one evening, she came upon a shrine of Buddha, and after praying to him, collapsed and fell asleep. She was awoken by the sound of a girl crying, and looked up to see a young girl and a priest. The priest led the girl to the edge of a cliff and would have pushed her off the edge, if it wasn't for the intervening of Tokoyo.

The priest said he was going to sacrifice the girl in order to appease the god Okuninushi, who demanded the annual sacrifice of a young girl. Tokoyo offered to take the girl's place, begrieved and hopeless from not finding her father. After praying to Buddha again, she dived down into the ocean; dagger in her teeth. At the bottom of the ocean, Tokoyo found a mighty cave, which housed a statue. The statue was of the emperor who banished her father, and she immediately decided to destroy it. However, thinking better of it, she tied it to herself and began to swim back with it. Before she could leave the cave, a serpentine creature (not Okuninushi, but some unnamed monstrosity) confronted her. Devoid of fear, Tokoyo first stabbed it in the eye, blinding it, then relentlessly attacked until she succeeded in killing it. When she arrived at the shore, the priest and girl carried her to town. Word of her heroic deed spread. The emperor's unknown ailment had also suddenly been lifted. He realized that Tokoyo must have released him from a curse, because of what she did to the statue. He ordered the release of Oribe Shime. The father and daughter happily returned to their home town. Legend has it that the city of Edo was renamed to Tokyo in honor of Tokoyo.

Source: Wikipedia

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Aarhus (, also US: , Danish: [ˈɒːˌhuˀs] (listen); officially spelled Århus from 1948 until 1 January 2011) is the second-largest city in Denmark and the seat of Aarhus municipality. It is located on the east coast of the Jutland peninsula, in the geographical centre of Denmark, 187 kilometres (116 mi) northwest of Copenhagen and 289 kilometres (180 mi) north of Hamburg, Germany. The inner urban area contains 280,534 inhabitants (as of 1 January 2020) and the municipal population is 349,983 (as of 2020). Aarhus is the central city in Business Region Aarhus and in the East Jutland metropolitan area, which had a total population of 1.378 million in 2016.The history of Aarhus began as a fortified Viking settlement founded in the 8th century and with the first written records stemming from the bishopric seated here from at least 948. The city was founded on the northern shores of a fjord at a natural harbour and the primary driver of growth was for centuries seaborne trade in agricultural products. Market town privileges were granted in 1441, but growth stagnated in the 17th century as the city suffered blockades and bombardments during the Swedish Wars. In the 19th century it was occupied twice by German troops during the Schleswig Wars but avoided destruction. As the industrial revolution took hold, the city grew to become the second-largest in the country by the 20th century. Today, Aarhus is at the cultural and economic core of the region and the largest centre for trade, services, industry, and tourism in Jutland.

The city ranks as the 92nd-largest city in the European Union, and as number 234 among world cities. It is also a top 100 conference city in the world. Aarhus is the principal industrial port of the country in terms of container handling and an important trade hub in Kattegat. Major Danish companies have based their headquarters there and people commute for work and leisure from a wide area in Region Midtjylland. It is a centre for research and education in the Nordic countries and home to Aarhus University, Scandinavia's largest university, including Aarhus University Hospital and INCUBA Science Park. Being the Danish city with the youngest demographics, with 48,482 inhabitants aged under 18, Aarhus is also the second fastest growing Danish city, with an average growth of 4,500 people per year since 2008.Aarhus is known for its musical history. In the 1950s, many jazz clubs sprang up around the city, fuelled by the young population. By the 1960s, the music scene diversified into rock and other genres. In the 1970s and 1980s, Aarhus became the centre for Denmark's rock music, fostering many iconic bands such as Kliché, TV-2 and Gnags. Aarhus is home to the annual eight-day Aarhus Jazz Festival, the SPoT Festival, and the NorthSide Festival. In 2017, Aarhus was European Capital of Culture along with Paphos in Cyprus.

Source: Wikipedia