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The Japanese world of the
supernatural comprises a dizzying array of characters, from the
humorously bizarre to the downright terrifying. In the 18th
century, Toriyama Sekien attempted to categorize the many
different types of ghostly beings that inhabit the Japanese
landscape, its heavens and its hells; the results of his efforts
filled four huge volumes. Here, we take you on a slightly more
abbreviated tour.
Obake
Obake, the Japanese "ghost," is exactly what its name suggests: o
is an honorific prefix, while bake is a noun from bakeru, the verb
meaning "undergo change." Japanese ghosts, then, are essentially
transformations. They are one sort of thing that mutates into
another, one phenomenon that experiences shift and alteration, one
meaning that becomes unstuck and twisted into something else.
Obake undermine the certainties of life as we usually understand
it.
The Japanese ghost is a thing of summer. There are none of the
scary tales told around a winter fire - flames spitting and logs
crackling, as shadows deepen and listeners become too afraid to go
to bed. Myths about Japanese ghosts do not talk of the ghoul on
the frozen staircase, the skeleton in the musty closet, or the
drafty bell-tower, but of the tangled bedclothes or the broken
fan. The classic type are spawned from steamy weather - squeezed
out, as if in some fetid moment, from other things.
The materials that breed obake can be many, and often routine, as
if it is precisely the near-at-hand object that is the most
susceptible to transformation. A discarded umbrella may enter the
world of the strange as an umbrella obake - steam seeming to rise
oddly from the waxed-paper brim and forming a leering face. There
is also the lamp (chochin) obake that grows out of a normally
swinging lantern, investing its approachable, dangling form with
weird life, as the shade and candle inside bounce angrily against
the blasts of a gale.
Obake can possess an element of cuteness as well; indeed, they
sometimes evoke more amusement than fear. Children make drawings
of umbrellas with grinning faces, and may giggle at the image of a
ripped and gaping lantern. Most of the time such things are
perfectly harmless. But therein also lies their danger--no one can
ever be quite certain when the transformations will take place.
A significant number of obake are explicitly related to fire. In
many societies, fire is seen as the chief helper of working
people, but also as their deadliest menace, and so fire is often
an indication of strange forces in the offing. A face suddenly
appears and then disappears in the flames of a bonfire, a
"will-o'-the-wisp" (hi no tama) lingers too long above harvested
paddies, the "fox fire" (kitsunebi) is both seen and not seen
behind hedges and thickets. Fire is one of the greatest of all
transformers, for it alters anything it touches, turning dead meat
into food, frigid pallor into warmth. But fire will also reduce
homes or temples to ashes, destroy the labor of many hands, or
cruelly terminate life. The fire obake will not submit to anyone's
control.
Centuries ago in India, the Buddha taught that nothing in this
world is stable, no form of existence is anything more than a
wandering through flux. People may think they have a self, and may
strive to build an ego, or worry about their personal
consistencies or reputations, but these concerns are delusions. A
"self" is an imaginary construct; and so, in a sense,
"transformation" is actually the truest manifestation of being.
Obake, the ultimate transformers, point up the folly of our human
security in the unchanging status of things, and obliterate our
proud sense of understanding the structure of the world.
Obake both reflect and remind us of the inherent mutability in the
world around us. At the same time, the elements of the observable
world that appear particularly prone to change naturally come to
be thought of as obake. For example, the fox is both an animal in
nature and a bakemono, or "transforming thing." Once very common
throughout Japan, foxes were nevertheless seldom seen since they
moved at night; dead birds, broken fences and chicken's blood were
the only evidence of their nocturnal passages. It may have been
the difficulty of seeing a fox, or of keeping it in view for any
period of time, which led to the notion that they undergo actual
physical shift. A fox might skulk into the farmyards looking like
a fox, but exit in an entirely different form--as an old woman, a
boy, a demon, or a princess. In Japanese lore, they live a sort of
mirror image of human society, with fox lords and ladies, servants
and laborers--standing on hind legs, dressed in human clothes, and
carrying out their mystic rituals by lantern light in the middle
of the forest.
To the end of mitigating the powers that these worrisome animals
possessed, shrines were erected, and the fox-god, Inari, became
the most popular roadside divinity, honored with a clap of the
hands on passing by, or with a gift of flowers, sake, or fried
tofu (aburage, believed to be a favorite food of foxes). Even
today, it is common to see a little street-corner shelter with a
ceramic fox image housed behind a grill, offerings carefully
placed in front to ward off all dangerous eventualities. Foxes
have to be placated, for they are potentially disastrous to the
livelihood of the farmer. They are also constant and salutary
reminders of the fox-like characteristics that lie at the root of
human behavior as well.
In the 1780s the scholar and artist Toriyama Sekien began an
exhaustive study of ghosts and ghouls in which he attempted to
offer the reader a full list of all known types. The project was
slightly absurd, of course, since ghosts cannot be counted up in
that way, and by their very nature, obake resist normal
categorization. The first volume appeared in 1781 under the title
of The Hundred Demons' Night Parade. Toriyama produced The
Illustrated Bag of One Hundred Random Ghosts (Gazu Hyakki
Tsurezure-bukuro) three years later, and completed two further
volumes in the years that followed, ultimately compiling what
remains the most definitive list of spectral types. Each volume of
the set was fully illustrated with monochrome pictures, one entire
page devoted to the likeness and description of each particular
spook. Toriyama's books were wildly popular in their day, and went
through numerous impressions. Most modern collections of Japanese
rare books have at least a few copies.
The various ghouls, ghosts and monsters that Toriyama set out to
categorize are generically termed yokai. However, he also included
some creatures that are usually thought to lie outside the realm
of yokai - for example, oni, the Japanese demon, shaggy-haired and
horned, and often wielding a huge gnarled club. Oni are generally
malevolent towards humanity; they are fearsome creatures that
guard the portals of hell. Once a year on February 3rd there is an
oni-bashing ceremony, when beans--symbolizing wealth--are thrown
outside of doorways and throughout the house to cries of "Oni out,
good luck in!" (Oni wa soto, fuku wa uchi). But oni, like all
other beings, are susceptible to shifts; it was even said that
they could be turned to good. One, included in Toriyama's list,
permitted itself to become the bearer of a lamp to light a
Buddhist altar. But such oni remained demons nonetheless, and
would likely revert to their old selves at some unsuspecting
moment, for neither their good nor their bad states were constant.
In a category all by itself, separate from yokai, is yet another
type of Japanese ghost: the yurei. Whereas yokai, for all their
creepiness, can have a certain element of fun to them, yurei are
downright scary. They are the spirits or souls of the dead, and
so, unlike yokai in this way as well, were once ordinary people.
Suzuki Kosai, Exorcizing Oni With Beans
(Spencer Museum of Art, University of Kansas, The Thayer
Collection)
Yurei
More specifically, yurei are the ghosts of those who at the moment
of death were deprived of the time to repose themselves. Quietness
is necessary to achieve the spiritual calm required for attainment
of Buddhahood, and the most common cause of ending up as a yurei
is sudden death by murder, slaying in battle, or rash suicide. The
soul of the Japanese person cut off too soon is left to mope
through a sorry existence until it is properly laid to rest, but
it will never allow itself to be laid to rest until its purpose
for remaining among the living (usually revenge) has been
fulfilled. Most yurei ultimately avenge themselves and rise to a
better state of being, but this may take centuries--and some are
never quite appeased. It is rumored that Oiwa, Japan's most famous
yurei, who obtained vengeance for her husband's cruel deeds over
three hundred years ago, still haunts the area around her grave.
In general, yurei do not roam arbitrarily, but stick to familiar
locales--such as the place marking their untimely death. A
late-night sojourner (specifically one traveling between the hours
of 2:00 and 3:00 AM, when yurei are apt to appear) who unwittingly
crosses a field where someone once took her own life, or who
traverses a bridge spanning a river in which a body was once left
to float, may well encounter a yurei. Rising up from the darkness,
yurei reanimate themselves with the flame of their passion. This
makes them partially human again, reinvested with their original
mind and something of their former bodies to--scars, blood and
all. But unlike a living person, yurei are utterly concentrated on
a single goal. Retribution or clearing their name occupies their
entire being, and so they lack the roundedness of a mortal. A
yurei is a purpose.
Many yurei are female ghosts who suffered badly in life from the
vagaries of love, and whose powerful emotions of jealousy, sorrow,
regret, or spite at their time of death has brought them to seek
revenge on whomever it was who caused their suffering. Male yurei
are less common, and less likely to be seeking revenge; a common
type is the warrior who was killed in battle and so has no
personal grudge (since to die was part of his profession), but
cannot pull himself away from the historical events in which he
figured. This type of yurei figures often in Noh plays, and he is
often indistinguishable at first sight from a real person. He
hangs around ancient battlefields or moss-covered temple precincts
waiting for a kindly person to come along who will listen to his
story of what took place there in the past. A record is set
straight, a smeared reputation untarnished, a name cleared. Such
ghosts let out the secrets of history, and are bent only on
letting the truth be known. The matters in which they had been
involved in life are too long past for the struggles to be
rekindled.
An interesting physical aspect of yurei is that they have no legs,
trailing off instead into smoke-like wisps where a person's legs
would normally be. The absence of legs fits with the general
non-corporeality of the yurei, for their whole bodies are
wraithlike and lacking in that outer boundary of skin or scale
that holds other living things in shape. Legs serve to join
creatures to the soil, they root being to the earth, and so to be
legless is in a sense to be disengaged. This feature of the
Japanese ghost is not dissimilar to the ability of the Western
ghost to float slightly above the ground, or slightly beneath it,
without using the legs it still theoretically has.
There is another point to be made of the legless ghost: by binding
people to the soil, legs stress what part is on top and what is on
bottom; they advertise a right way up and a wrong one. To be
without legs is to be devoid of this proper standard. Ghosts are
likely to come at night, not only because they relish the dark,
but because people sleep lying down, their feet on the same level
as their heads. At funerals, Japanese corpses were buried seated
(although cremation is common today) so that they entered the next
life still in the correct posture, mind firmly at the top. Ghosts
are apt to invert.
This would all seem quite far off to contemporary Japanese. They
may know the stories, but they surely don't believe in them. Or do
they? Such myths tend to run deep. And is it not intriguing that
in this very year, Toriyama's books were reissued again after a
lapse of over two centuries? A deluxe edition appeared a couple of
years ago, just in time for a long and abnormally torrid summer.
1. One Hundred Stories of Demons and Spirits
2. House of Plates; 3. Rokurokubi (Long-necked Demon)
Attributes of Yurei
According to Shinto beliefs, all people are endowed with a spirit
or a soul, called reikon. When a person dies, the reikon leaves
the body and joins the souls of its ancestors, provided the
correct funeral and post-funeral rites have been performed.
Ancestral souls are a comforting presence; they are believed to
protect the family, and are welcomed back to the home every summer
during the obon festival.
However, when a person dies in an unexpected manner or with an
excess of emotion, or when he or she hasn't been given an
appropriate funeral, the reikon may become a yurei, a tormented
ghost who remains among the living in order to seek revenge or
take care of unfinished business.
In the beginning, yurei were visually indistinguishable from their
original human selves. Then, in the late 17th century, as kaidan
("ghost stories") became increasingly popular in literature and in
the theater, yurei began to acquire certain attributes which
continue to characterize them today. It is believed that the main
purpose of these attributes was to make it easier to distinguish
yurei in art and on the stage from ordinary, living characters.
Most of the yurei's characteristics derive from Edo-period funeral
rituals. For example, they appear in white, the color in which
people were buried at that time--either in white katabira (a
plain, unlined kimono) or in kyokatabira (a white katabira
inscribed with Buddhist sutras). Yurei also appear with a white
triangular piece of paper or cloth on their forehead--usually tied
around the head with string--called hitaikakushi (lit., "forehead
cover"). These were originally conceived to protect the newly dead
from evil spirits, but eventually became just part of the ritual
ornamentation of Buddhist funerals.
Yurei began to appear without legs in the mid-18th century, as
part of the movement toward increasingly lurid and gruesome kaidan.
Some attribute this new characteristic to Maruyama Ohkyo, a
well-known artist of the time. In the theater, actors portraying
yurei wore long kimono to cover their legs, and were often hung by
a hidden rope to appear more yurei-like. The outstretched arms and
dangling hands typical of yurei also arose as a convention of the
theater.
How to spot a Japanese Ghost
The yuurei usually wear pale clothing and may have a triangular
white paper or cloth on their forehead (called a hitaikakushi).
This and the fact that they don't have feet. The white clothing
and forehead cover came from funeral rituals but the loss of the
feet is probably a result of cultural influence. As ghost stories
became increasingly popular in the late 17th century, how ghosts
were depicted changed so viewers could easily distinguish them in
art or stage presentations.
Men commit ritual suicide by harakiri or seppuku - disembowelment
- but women cut their own throats, so many yuurei suicide ghosts
show up with gashes across their throats and blood running from
their mouths. Starting in the 18th century, women were depicted as
having long, loose straight hair, waving or beckoning hands, and
no feet (probably from theatrical fashions), while men are
depicted normally as unkempt, with limp hands and perhaps one
crossed eye (also a kabuki symbol of determination).
An interesting note about the lack of feet - in Rurouni Kenshin,
when Sagara the commander appears to Sanosuke, he knows it's a
ghostly apparition and not a dream because the commander has no
feet. This is rather entertaining since he certainly could have
dreamed that Sagara had no feet, so in a way this is a little joke
about Sanosuke's gullibility.
For some reason yuurei most commonly appear in the 'dead' hours of
the night, 2 and 3 a.m. In the Momoyama and the Edo periods (mid
1500's through mid 1800's) there was a belief that if a man died
of disease or in an epidemic, he turned into a monstrous demon
yuurei. However in the earlier Heian era (end of the 700's through
the end of the 1100's) it was believed that ghostly spirits
floating above the living actually causing disease, plague and
hunger.
An example of a yuurei spirit doing such a thing to an extreme
shows up in Fushigi Yuugi in the form of Mitsukake's angry wife's
when we first meet him. In Ayashi no Ceres, the treatment of the
celestial maiden Ceres has pretty much warped her into a savage
and obsessive yuurei bent on revenge even though she was
originally a higher level being. A female yuurei type appears in
the Sailor Moon episode "Mizuumi no densetsu youkai! Usagi kazoku
no kizuna" ("Last Resort" in the DIC dub). I know it says "youkai"
in the title, but the episode is about a woman who drowned in a
lake due to her own jealousy and has returned as a vengeful
spirit.
Bancho Sarayashiki (The Story of Okiku)
Okiku works as a maid at the home of the samurai Tessan Aoyama .
One day while cleaning a collection of ten precious ceramic
plates--a family treasure--she accidentally breaks one of them.
The outraged Aoyama kills her and throws the corpse into an old
well. Every night afterwards, Okiku's ghost rises from the well,
counts slowly to nine and then breaks into heartrending sobs, over
and over and over again, tormenting the samurai. Finally,
vengeance is wrought when Aoyama goes insane. (In an alternate
version, Aoyama wishes Okiku to become his mistress, and falsely
accuses her of breaking a plate so that he can offer forgiveness
in exchange for her love. When she refuses, he kills her.)
Tsukioka Yoshitoshi, The Ghost of Okiku
(The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO)
Tokaido Yotsuya Kaidan (The Ghost Story of Tokaido Yotsuya)
The masterless samurai Iyemon has fallen upon hard times. It is a
constant struggle to support his beautiful but ailing wife Oiwa
and their newborn child, and he grows increasingly resentful of
her. He finally succumbs to temptation when the granddaughter of a
well-to-do neighbor falls in love with him. Encouraged by the
grandfather, who wants Iyemon as a son-in-law, he poisons Oiwa
with a supposedly "medicinal" drink. She becomes horribly
disfigured from the poison and dies a brutal death.
To justify his murder of Oiwa, Iyemon fabricates the story that
she was having an affair with his servant, Kobotoke Kohei. He then
murders Kohei, nails the two bodies to opposing sides of a door,
and throws the door into a river.
Now Iyemon is free to enjoy his wedding rites.
Flush with joy, he lifts his bride's veil to kiss her--but alas,
he is confronted by the terrifying visage of Oiwa instead. In a
panic he cuts off her head, only to find that he has really just
killed his new wife. He rushes off in horror to confess to the
grandfather, but his path is blocked by the appearance of Kohei's
ghost. Again he slashes off its head, this time to find that he
has killed the grandfather.
Wherever Iyemon goes, he encounters the grisly spirits of those he
has murdered. One day he goes fishing to seek solace, only to reel
in the door with the corpses of Oiwa and Kohei attached.
Terrified, he escapes to a mountain cottage, where he is
continually tormented by frightening images, such as that of
Oiwa's face emerging from a lantern that swings over his head.
Finally Iyemon is put out of his misery when Oiwa's brother
arrives at the cottage to take vengeance for his sister's death.
Shunkosai Hokuei, The Latern Ghost of Oiwa
(Spencer Museum of Art, University of Kansas, Gift of H. Lee
Turner)
Summary of Ghostly Terms
Obake / Bakemono
Literally, "transforming thing." Refers to any type of
preternatural being. Comprises yokai and yurei, and can also be
used more generally to refer to anything that is weird or
grotesque.
Yokai
Literally, "bewitching apparition." Encompasses a wide spectrum of
ghouls, goblins and monsters--some frightening, some amusing, and
many bizarre. Yokai usually appear at dawn or dusk.
Yurei
Literally, "dim/hazy/faint spirit." Spirits of the dead who remain
among the living for a specific purpose, usually to seek
vengeance. Yurei generally appear between 2 and 3 AM.
Oni
"Demons" or "ogres." Ferocious creatures with horns and fangs that
are best known for manning the gates of the various Buddhist hells
and performing some of the tortures that take place in them.
Artists depict the ¡¥Oni¡¦ with horns and wearing tiger skins. They
have no neck, but a crest of hair and a big mouth; their fingers
are clawed, and their arms elevated to the shoulders. These
artistic renditions of demons not only represent the supernatural,
but also embodiments of the evil facets of human nature. The earth
¡¥Oni¡¦, according to Buddhist belief, are responsible for disease
and epidemics (they are dressed in red). The ¡¥Oni¡¦ of hell (red or
green bodies) hunt for sinners and taking them by chariot to Emma-Hoo,
the god of hell. There are invisible demons among the ¡¥Oni¡¦ whose
presence can be detected because they sing or whistle. The ¡¥Oni¡¦
who are women are those transformed into demons after death by
jealousy or violent grief. The Buddhist ¡¥Oni¡¦ demons did not
always represent the forces of evil.In Buddhist lore there are
tales of monks who after death became ¡¥Oni¡¦ in order to protect
temples from potential disasters. The belief in the ¡¥Oni¡¦, reached
its zenith in the 18th and 19th centuries.
1. Tengu; 2. Kappa;
3. Rokurokubi
Some Well Known Yokai
Tengu: A powerful mountain goblin, originally portrayed
with a long beak and wings but gradually becoming more human-like,
with a long nose instead of a beak. Tengu can assume various forms
and can be kind protectors or cruel tricksters, carrying off small
children, starting fires, and even inciting wars. (more
details below)
Kappa: A scaly river monster with a beak-like snout and a
water-filled dish on its head that gives it supernatural powers.
Kappa are dangerous pranksters, known for dragging people into the
water and then pulling their intestines out through their anuses.
Kappa love cucumbers and sumo wrestling--but if you are challenged
to a bout, and value your life, you had best let the kappa win.
Rokurokubi: A female monster with an extremely flexible
neck. By day they are indistinguishable from normal women, but
after nightfall rokurokubi stretch their necks out to any length
in search of prey. According to one theory, they are seeking out
men in order to suck the life energy out of them.
Tengu - The Mountain Demon
Another prominent demon in Japanese folklore is the ¡¥Tengu¡¦, a
mythological being living in mountain forests. Artistic depictions
of the ¡¥Tengu¡¦ range from stumpy, bearded creatures to beings with
great lumpy noses. According to lore, anyone entering the
territory of the ¡¥Tengu¡¦ unwittingly can fall into strange and
unpleasant situations. The ¡¥Tengu¡¦ can, in a flash, transform
themselves into ugly little men, women and children; then they
maliciously tease people with all sorts of nasty tricks. As
quickly as they appear, just as quickly they vanish. Some ancient
beliefs depicted the ¡¥Tengu¡¦ as creatures of war and conflict.
Sometimes their actions in legends are hypocritical. Artists
depicted them with a bird¡¦s head on a human body with spreading
wings and clawed feet. Until the 14th century, evil legends were
told about the ¡¥Tengu¡¦; but gradually they evolved into both good
and bad beings. Many tales were told of the ¡¥Tengu¡¦ overcoming
evil. In the Buddhist belief they became guides for monks in
understanding the Dharma tenets and sacred rites, and also
protected Buddhist shrines. In the 18th and 19th centuries they
were revered as mountain deities- tributes were offered to them.
The woodcutters and huntsmen offered tributes to the ¡¥Tengu¡¦
deities in order to receive success in their work.
Those that were less respectful found themselves in all sorts of
trouble. The belief in the ¡¥Tengu¡¦ continued until the beginning
of the 20th century. Today ceremonial festivals are held in their
honour. Tales are still being told of them in modern Japan. In
some areas, woodsmen still offer rice cakes to the ¡¥Tengu¡¦ before
starting their work.
Animals with Supernatural Powers
According to legend certain animals are created with supernatural
powers. They can transform themselves into anything they desire,
and can even acquire other magical abilities. The Japanese raccoon
(tanuki) and the fox (kitsune) are the most popular animals
attributed with magical powers. They have similar roles in
folklore. They are pictured as mischievous rogues who often get
themselves into trouble. They can, at times, be frightening
creatures, and at other moments be capable of making a negative
situation positive. Sometimes they are treated as godly figures
and become cultural heroes. The ¡¥tanuki¡¦ is sometimes seen as a
witch, a cannibal monk, or a one-eyed demon who murders his
victims with thunder, lightning or earthquakes.
The ¡¥tanuki¡¦ is a small hairy animal, and it is believed that he
can transform into a frightening creature. Sometimes he is
depicted humorously, having a gigantic scrotum which he drags
behind him or wears it as a kimono. In some Netsuke figures the
¡¥tanuki¡¦ appears as a Buddhist monk dressed in robes and banging
on his scrotum as if it were a temple drum. ¡§There is a fable that
tells of an incident by the abbot of the Morinji Temple. He bought
a tea-kettle and instructed one of the monks to clean it. Suddenly
a voice spoke from the kettle, ¡¥Ow that hurts, please be more
gentle.¡¦ When the abbot wanted to boil some water, out popped the
tail, legs and arms of a ¡¥tanuki¡¦ and the vessel started to run
about the room. It dumbfounded the poor abbot and he tried to
catch the kettle, but it eluded him.¡¨
The fox (kitsune) is frequently a subject in Netsuke figurines.
Many strange and uncanny qualities are attributed to the fox. The
¡¥kitsune¡¦ have the ability to change their shape, but their faces
remain fox-like. In folklore, foxes pretend to be humans in order
to lead men astray.
A black fox is good luck, a white fox calamity; three foxes
together portend disaster. Buddhist legend tells of 'kitsune¡¦ who
disguise themselves as nuns, and wear traditional robes (depicted
in Netsuke figurines). Fables tell how the fox likes to appear as
women. Stories tell that while the ¡¥kitsune¡¦ is in such a guise,
he goes about tricking and misleading men into seduction. When the
seduced come to the realisation of the true identity of their
supposed love, the fox disappears. Legends tell of how ¡¥Kitsune¡¦
can hypnotize people and lead them into perilous situations. To do
this, according to the tales, they illuminate the path leading to
such disasters, and this illumination is known as a ¡¥foxflare¡¦ (kitsune
bi).
Tsukioka Yoshitoshi
The Fox-Woman Leaving Her Child
(The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO)
Dragons and Snakes
In Japanese legend there are tales that depict snakes and dragons
with supernatural powers. In ancient Japan the people believed in
the snake-god ¡¥Orochi¡¦, who lived on the very top of mountains.
The Buddhist religion told of the dragon-god ¡¥Ryu¡¦ who ruled the
clouds, the rain, and the water. There was the dragon ¡¥Yasha¡¦, one
of the demon-gods who protected Buddhism. All these deities have
wide mouths, sharp fangs, pointed horns, and all-seeing eyes.
In Japanese folklore there are tales told of people who turned
into snakes after death because of their evil ways and their
miserly habits. A male becomes a serpent because his desires are
not satisfied in life. A female snake appears as an attractive
woman who marries a human: if rejected by her lover, her jealously
will cause disaster. Women are often associated with snakes
because of tales told of them being fierce and possessive towards
their lovers. Children born of the union of a snake with a human
may either appear as a serpent or as a human with snake-like
qualities. They appear in the dreams of their family and friends,
asking them to pray for the release of their souls from their
snake-like bodies. The relative either reads a Buddhist sutra or
recites special prayers. Then the soul is saved and the snake-body
is shed. Some people are reborn in the guise of snakes after death
when they wish to avenge wrongful deeds. The avenger¡¦s ghost in
Japanese lore is usually considered heroic. Snakes were not always
thought of as symbols of evil, but also of love with no bounds.
¡§Long ago in Keicho era, there lived a beautiful girl in Senju in
the province of Musashi. A bachelor called Yaichiro fell in love
with her and sent her many missives of love to her; but she did
not respond. Yaichiro died of sorrow, and the girl married someone
else. On the morning after the wedding, the couple didn¡¦t emerge
from their room. When the bride¡¦s mother entered, she found the
bridegroom dead, and a snake crawling out of one of the bride¡¦s
eyes. The villagers believed that the snake was none other than
the heartbroken Yaichiro.¡¨
Serpents and dragons are also associated with nature. Natural
disasters, especially floods, are linked to them. It is believed
that after storms they are washed out of their dens and come into
the open. This is why they are believed to be producers of storms
and surrenders of waters- both water-controlling and
water-granting. There are four types of dragons in Japanese
mythology: the heavenly dragons who guard the palace of the gods,
the spiritual dragons who bring the blessed rain, the earth
dragons who determine the course of rivers, and the dragons who
are the guardians of all earthly treasures. In many paintings,
artists depict the dragon as the ruler of the waters, the ocean
and the rain.
 
1. The Ghost Kohada Koheiji; 2. The Ghosts of Togo and His Wife
Immortals and Heroes
The notion of immortality told in Japanese folklore is derived
from Chinese Taoism based on the ideas of the philosopher Lao-Tsu
in the fourth century BC. Even though Taoism never became an
official religion in Japan, the Taoist creed appears in their
literature and art. Those who achieved immortality could fly, walk
on clouds, and pass through water unharmed. They were considered
guardians of Taoism and protectors of humankind. The peach4 is the
symbol of immortality and many netsuke figurines are depicted with
this fruit. Immortals are also depicted carrying a three-legged
frog, or pictured riding on a giant carp5 or a horse. The most
famous of the immortals are the ¡¥Sennin¡¦, the eight Taoist
immortals. They are seen in art and netsuke figures breathing out
their souls via their breath, wearing the robes of Taoist sages,
or carrying gourds.
Subjugating a demon is a favourite theme in the famous tales of
warrior heroes. The legend of the ¡¥Four Samurai of Minamoto no
Yorimitsu¡¦ conquering monsters and demons in their citadel is a
well-loved theme. Another favourite is ¡¥The Warrior Watanabe no
Tsuna¡¦ fighting the Demoness of Rashomon. Another prominent
fighter of demons is ¡¥Shoki¡¦, the exorcist of devils and evil
spirits. He was a giant of a man with great strength. ¡¥Shoki¡¦ is
usually depicted in art striding from left to right after a unseen
demon. He is usually coloured red, because it is believed that
this colour has the power to ward off misfortune. In the Kansei
era (1789-1800), long banners (nobori) were hung outside houses
inhabited by small children. These banners were sometimes
decorated with ¡¥Shoki¡¦, the exorcist, to repel demons and evil
spirits. Today in Japan they have begun to connect ¡¥Shoki¡¦ with
the Boy¡¦s festival, held on May 5th. In the past periods, this was
believed to be the day on which demons appear, and evil spirits
and ghosts bringing misfortune. In order to avert troubles on that
day, ceremonies were conducted to drive away these poisonous
creatures.
Fables and legends sustained these beliefs through art- in the
form of drawings, paintings, prints, sculpture, ornaments, and
words. Plays with ghostly and spiritual themes are still being
performed in theaters throughout Japan. Scenes recreate the lore
and mysticism of the spirits of the dead. The authors of such
dramas combine fact with fiction, violence and bloodshed, and the
classic tension between the tormented and the tormentor. These
productions create a sense of fear and suspense among the
audience, much to their delight. Even today, tales of ghosts,
demons and spirits are presented on television and in cinema.
Summary of Japanese Ghost Belief
Belief in ghosts, demons and spirits has been deep-rooted in
Japanese folklore throughout history. It is entwined with
mythology and superstition derived from Japanese Shinto, as well
as Buddhism and Taoism brought to Japan from China and India.
Stories and legends, combined with mythology, have been collected
over the years by various cultures of the world, both past and
present. Folklore has evolved in order to explain or rationalize
various natural events. Inexplicable phenomena arouse a fear in
humankind, because there is no way for us to anticipate them or to
understand their origins.
The mystery of death is a phenomena that does not offer a rational
explanation to various cultures. Death is an intruder. Death is
the change from one state to another, the reunion of body with
earth, of soul with spirit. Humans, throughout the ages, have
seldom been able to believe or to understand the finality of
death. For this reason fables and legends have evolved around the
spirits of the dead.
The Japanese believe that they are surrounded by spirits all the
time. According to the Japanese Shinto faith, after death a human
being becomes a spirit, sometimes a deity. It is believed that
eight million deities inhabit the heavens and the earth - the
mountains, the forests, the seas, and the very air that is
breathed. Traditions tell us that these deities have two souls:
one gentle (nigi-mi-tama), and the other violent (ara-mi-tama).
Buddhism, which was introduced into Japan in the sixth century CE,
added a new dimension to the belief in spirits and other
supernatural forces. The Buddhist belief in the world of the
living, the world of the dead, and the ¡¥Pure Land of Buddha¡¦ (Jodo)
achieved a new meaning. The way a man behaved during his lifetime
determined whether he would go to the world of the dead or the
¡¥Pure Land¡¦. Those driven to the nether-world found it to be a
hell in all its vileness.
The Japanese believe that after death a spirit is angry and
impure. Many rituals are performed for seven years to purify and
pacify the soul. In this way the person becomes a spirit.
According to belief, a spirit wanders between the land of the
living and the world of shadows. For this reason, prayers are
offered to insure passage to the Land of the Dead.
An artifact of Oni
Yes, they haunt ...
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