Month: October 2020

Yokai

A spirit child plays with a ball and a top

Two years ago, I went to Iwate for the summer holiday. My mother suggested that I stay at her friend’s sister house. And so I did. After supper, I retired to the tatami guestroom to sleep. However, through the night, I was awakened repeatedly by pitter-patters. Following morning, at breakfast, I told the owners that there are rats at the guestroom. But they just shrugged. They said, “Not to worry. You have just slept with zashiki-warashi, the naughty spirit child.”

Evidently, zashiki-warashi are house yokai that prefers the zashiki to any other room. Zashiki are Japanese-style parlour rooms to receive and entertain guests. In fact, these rooms have tatami floors with cushions to sit on. Zashiki-warashi are harmless but playful yokai. They enjoy small mischief and poltergeist activities. Also, they are believed to bring in wealth and luck. As such, they are considered guardians spirits of the house.

Appearance

Even though they are child-like, zashiki-warashi comes in many forms. The ghost child may be a girl with a bobbed hair in furisode or kosode. Or, a boy in warrior clothes. There are, even, descriptions of it being vague and shadowy but still child-like. Interestingly, only children can see zashiki-warashi. So, their accounts are somewhat inconsistent.

All across Japan, there are different types of zashiki-warashi. And they are of different rankings doing different activities. For example, there is kurabokko (倉ぼっこ) who inhabits and plays at warehouses. Another is makura–gaeshi (枕返シ) who frequents the bedroom and flips over your pillows. Especially when you are sleeping on it.

Conclusion

Nonetheless, zashiki-warashi is often tightly linked to the household fortune. It is said, if the spirit child leaves the house, the family’s prosperity would decline. On the other hand, if there are two or more zashiki-warashi inhabiting the house, wealth would increase multi-fold. So, if you have child-like poltergeist activities in your home, play with it. Or, if you meet an unfamiliar child in your home, do not scare it away. You may just chase you riches and fortune out the door.

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Yokai Details

  • name: zashiki-warashi ( zah-she-key-wah-rah-she )
  • kanji: 座敷童子 (ざしきわらし)
  • aka:
    zashiki-warabe (座敷童)
    zashiki-warashi (座敷童衆)
    zashiki-bokko (座敷ぼっこ)
    zashiki-kozō (座敷小僧)
    okura-bokko (御蔵ボッコ)
  • meaning: parlour child
  • abilities:
    1. wealth manipulation — able to attract money & riches
    2. intangibility — move through solid objects at will
Henge, Yokai

A bot-bellied raccoon dog wearing a straw hat with sake in hand.

Of all the yokai, tanuki is definitely in the top three most popular yokai across the globe. Second, only to kitsune (狐) the supernatural fox of Japan. The popularity of tanuki significantly increased after Studio Ghibli‘s Pom Poko movie. The movie showed the prowess of the tanuki as shapeshifting yokai with massive balls.

In Japanese folklore, tanuki, kitsune and mujina (貉) are the most common yokai shape-shifting ability. In fact, tanuki is the master at shape-shifting and deception. They can transform into anyone and anything. In one story, a tanuki changed into a shamisen player and then, instantaneously transform into a horse’s ass. That is shape-shifiting skills at its best.

Edo-Period Depictions

In the first volume of Gazu Hyakki Yagyō, Toriyama Sekien illustrates tanuki as a typical racoon dog. The plain creature stands on two feet staring at the moon. By contrast, contemporary depictions show tanuki as a kawaii pot-bellied yokai. One that walks on two legs and pesters Japanese citizens.

Also, many Edo period illustrations show tanuki behaving as fishermen, farmers or merchants. They fish, smoke and even participate in a matsuri. They transform into faceless man to prank village folks. However, these pranks are nothing compared to tanuki‘s massive balls.

Gold Sacks

Interestingly, many Edo period artworks show tanuki with large scrotums. As illustrated, tanuki use their malleable scrotum as sails for boats and nets for fishing. Furthermore, tanuki are renown for using their nutsacks as parachutes. In contrast, the myths and legends hardly talk about the large scrotum. In fact, only modern stories embellish tanuki‘s prowess.

Moreover, testicles are known as kintama (金玉), literally golden balls in Japan. This links back to past metallurgists who use real tanuki scrotum to make gold leaves. In fact, workers hammer thin gold sheets between scrotum skins. In fact, tanuki skin can to stretch without breaking. Some say it can stretch 8 tatami wide (about 13 square meter).

Conclusion

Nonetheless, this is far from sufficient to show the tanuki influence. In the future, we will discuss many more yokai that fall under the tanuki category. At this point, appreciate the many wonders of this shapeshifting yokai. A creature found in many Japanese myths and legends. And lastly, a yokai with mystifyingly massive balls.

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Yokai Details

  • name: tanuki ( tah-nu-key )
  • kanji: 狸 (たぬき)
  • meaning: racoon dog
  • aka: タヌキ, 化け狸
  • abilities:
    1. shapeshifting — change its form to impersonate others
    2. voice manipulation — change their voice to fit their disguise
    3. inanimate morphing — transform itself or parts of itself into inanimate objects like drums,weapons and umbrellas
    4. scrotum enlargement — able to enlarge its testicles to various sizes
Josei, Mononoke, Yokai

An old hag holding two snakes, one in each hand.

During my travels in Kawagoe, Saitama, I came across a lesser-known Itsukushima Jinja. Interestingly, there was a setsumatsuha (摂末社) that enshrines a pair of white snakes protecting a golden egg. The auxiliary shrine reminds me of a yokai that protects sacred snake mounds. She is jakotsubabā, the warden of the serpent mounds.

As it is said, there are numerous serpent mounds all across Japan. These mounds are sacred sites that enshrines snake kami. Jakotsubabā protects these serpent mounds, especially the abandoned and forgotten ones. She is the guardian that zealously attacks any unwanted trespasser.

Original Jakotsubaba by Toriyama Sekien

Red Snake, Blue Snake

Jakotsubabā bears two snakes, one on each hand. But her snakes are unlike the more popular albino snake kami of pure white. She carries a blue snake on her right hand and a red one on her left. This harkens to the opposing duality similar to the yokai namahage. Hence, the red and blue snakes may represent the male and female sex respectively.

On the other hand, the red and blue colour may be more akin to akamanto. The two colours are options and either lead to death. When jakotsubabā confronts the trespasser, she offers him a the red and blue choices. Firstly, the red choice which will reveal a red venomous snake that bites and poisons its victim to death. Alternatively, the blue choice unveils the blue constrictor snake and it squeezes and crushes its the victim.

Foreign Origins

Originally, Toriyama Sekien (鳥山 石燕) claims that jakotsubabā comes from the mythical land of Bukan (巫咸) in China. Also, Bukan is called Fukan or Wuxian in Chinese. Interestingly, Wuxian (巫咸) is also the name of a powerful shaman during the Shang Dynasty. Sekien says that Bukan lies north to the land of Jochū (女丑), literally meaning ox-woman. The jochū are girls that were sacrificed for a bountiful harvest, or so it has been said.

Additionally, Sekien writes that jakotsubabā is the wife of a great snake yokai named Jagoemon (蛇五右衛門). And, she is tasked to protect her husband’s the sacred burial mound. In Bukan, they call her jagobabā (蛇五婆), meaning Jago’s Hag. At the end of the notation, Sekien suspiciously said “the truth is unknown”.

Conclusion

As you can see, there are little information about jakotsubabā. In fact, we have more questions to its origin then we first began. But one thing is for sure, jakotsubabā is not to be trifled with. She takes her tasks and vocation seriously. The bony old hag fiercely protects the snake shrines all across Japan. Jakotsubabā is the true warden of the serpent mounds.

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Yokai Details

  • name: jakotsubabā ( jah-koh-tsu-bah-baa )
  • kanji: 蛇骨婆 (じゃこつばばあ)
  • meaning: snake bony hag
  • abilities:
    1. ophidiokinesis — the ability to influence and control all forms of snakes
    2. parseltongue — the ability to speak with serpents