yokai Archives - Page 2 of 5

Kameosa Provides for its Human Companion

There are hundreds of tsukumogami (付喪神)around Japan and most of them are vile and malignant. But today’s yokai is one of the very few yokai that is friendly, benevolent even. This charitable yokai called Kameosa, provides for its human companions.

Not many articles are available concerning kameosa or about its origin. Most illustrations show an earthenware pot or jug that continually pours out water or sake (Japanese rice wine). Many yokai enthusiasts believe that kameosa evolved from an earthenware crock that has been cared for, probably by sake brewers and over many generations. After a hundred years or more, the sake jug changed into a tsukumogami that never runs out of water, or sake, to show appreciation to its owners.

Others believe that a benign water, or river, god resides within kameosa and continually provides spiritual water like a spring source. This would make the kameosa more Suijin (水神) than tsukumogami. Nonetheless, there is insufficient documents and evidence regarding this yokai to truly identify its true nature.

In any case, there is a good moral that can be taken out of the kameosa. If you take good care of an item or person over the years, you will receive your reward multiple folds. So treasure and atttend to your family heirloom, you may just change into a tsukumogami that benefits you in return.

Yokai Details

name: kameosa (kah-mee-oh-sah)
kanji: 瓶長 (かめおさ)
meaning: crock elder
aka:
- kameosa (甌長)
- kameosa (甕長)
abilities:
1. hydrokinesis — manipulate & generate water or sake

Onryō, Yokai

Teketeke the Vengeful Spirit

One of the most popular urban legend is about a ghost that haunts the Japanese railway line. This yokai continually toils along the tracks, dragging herself around looking for her next victim. Her crawling and scratching sound amplifies in the quiet night. That yokai is a teketeke, a vengeful spirit who looks for that someone suffer as much as she has.

Teketeke is a type of yurei known as an onryo (怨霊), a vengeful spirit. Usually in the form of a woman, the ghost haunts railway crossings and in some occasions dark isolated roads. Many believe that she is the malevolent spirit of a victim rail or road accident.

The onryo is described as a ghostly apparition with only the upper torso and holding the kama (鎌), a Japanese sickle or scythe. Teketeke, usually, moves around by dragging her limp body across the ground thus making the scratching “teke teke”sound. But there are also reports of her ability to float around upright. In such cases, the scratching sound is made by her dragging her kama along.

Railway Crossings

A young man managed to take the last train and was walking home. As he was crossing a railway crossing, he heard the “teke teke” scratching sound coming towards him along the train tracks. The onryo emerged out of the darkness, dragging herself faster and faster towards the man. As he turned around to run in the opposite direction, teketeke appeared floating before him and cut the young man in half.

Night School

A teenage boy returned late from school one night and was about to leave the compound when he noticed a girl at his classroom windowsill. As the girl smiled, he returned the smile and wondered why there was a girl in an all-boys school.

Suddenly, the girl jumped out from the 2nd floor, landed on the ground and started to crawl her way towards the school boy. When he saw that it was only her upper torso, the teenager froze in fear. Moments later, teketeke lunged forward and cut the boy in half.

Yokai Details

name: teketeke (teh-keh-teh-keh)
kanji: テケテケ
onomatopoeia: sound of body dragging
abilities:
1. levitation — possess the ability to hover
2. teleport — able to move or be at another place in an instant

Josei, Yokai

Notorious Ceiling Dangler Called Tenjo-kudari

Did you notice the dark stain in the corner of your ceiling? Maybe, you also see that the stain has grown over the past few days. What you have there is not just fungi and molds, but signs of the presence of a yokai. One that lives in the ceiling. The notorious ceiling dangler called tenjo-kudari.

Tenjo-kudari is usually illustrated as an elongated and hairy old woman with frenzied hair, hanging from an opening in the ceiling. She is said to live in the empty space in between the ceiling. At night, you can hear the yokai crawling around in the rafters and, even, moanings.

In Yamanashi Prefecture (山梨県), tenjo-kudari lives in the ceilings of abandoned houses and stays in wait for unwary travelers. At night, when the person is asleep, the yokai would silently drop down from the ceiling and eat the sleepyhead. Interestingsly this hanging behaviour is similar to sagari. Except the horse-headed yokai mainly operates outdoors.

Stories About Ceilings

In most Japanese houses, there is usually a crawlspace between the ceiling and the roof. This spaces, according to some old wives tales, are where bandits hide dead bodies of previous owners or imprison woman. This is also a place where many unwanted items are left behind. There is even a saying “to show [someone] the ceiling” (天井を見せる) which means show them something horrifying.

So, if you are looking around Japan for a place to stay, it is best to keep an eye out for the ceilings. Do not ignore the nasty stains in the ceiling. You may never know what harm can befall you when you sleep.

Yokai Details

name: tenjo-kudari (ten-joh-koo-dah-ree)
kanji: 天井下 (てんじょうくだり)
meaning: ceiling dropper
aka:
- tenjo-kudari (天井下り)
- tenjo-sagari (天井下がり)
abilities:
1. elasticity — able to stretch or contract one’s body
2. hair control — power to manipulate hair to attack

Josei, Yokai

Yuki-onna Blamed For Frozen Deaths

Today’s yokai is one of the more feared beings of the supernatural family. In wintry days of old, in the snow country regions, there were many frigid demise of lost travelers. And all villagers agreed that yuki-onna are to be blamed for these frozen deaths.

Legends of yuki-onna is notorious in the northern regions of Japan where snowfall are heavier and mountain paths more desolate. As such, she is known by other names such as snow daughter (yuki-musume) and snow sister (yuki-anesan), depending on the province. Interestingly, there are regions calling yuki-onna, yukifuri-baba (snowfall crone) and tsurara-onna (icicle woman), but I believe these are completely different yokai because they behave quite differently.

Cold Portrayal

Yuki-onna is a snow yokai usually in the form of a pale and beautiful young woman wearing a white translucent furisode (振袖). Some legends even say she roams through the white woods in the nude. She lures lone mountain travelers away from the main path and freezes them into ice pops. Other times, she will charm the vagabond off an unseen cliff.

Like the snowy weather, yuki-onna‘s wrath can be cold, frigid and deadly. But there is also her soft compassion, just like a fresh light snowfall. Usually she appears as ghost-like and floats across the snow leaving no snow prints. These traits led some to believe that yuki-onna is a yurei, the spirit of woman who perished in the snow, or left to die there.

Tale of Oyuki

A yuki-onna story made popular by Lafcadio Hearn, where two woodcutters were stuck in a snowstorm and met the ethereal yuki-onna. She froze one with her icy breath but decided not to harm the handsome Minokichi. In return, yuki-onna made him promise to not tell anyone about her or the incident.

Many years later, Minokichi met a beautiful lady, fell in love and got married. The woman named Oyuki was a good wife and bore several children. One night, Minokichi confessed about the yuki-onna incident to Oyuki who declared that she was the same snow woman. She wanted to kill him but changed her mind again, because of their children. Then Oyuki melted away and disappeared, never to be seen again.

Moral of the story is, avoid travelling through the mountainous forest in the dead of winter. And, if you have to, stick to the main well-taken path and avoid taking any detour for any reasons. Unless, of course, you really want to meet a yuki-onna and her kiss of death.

Yokai Details

name: yuki-onna (you-kee-on-nah)
kanji: 雪女 (ゆきおんな)
meaning: snow woman
aka:
- yuki-musume (雪娘)
- yuki-onago (雪女子)
- yuki-jorō (雪女郎)
- yuki-anesan (雪姐さん)
abilities:
1. cryogenesis — lower temperature of an area
2. frost breath — freeze multiple targets into blocks of ice

Henge, Kaibyo, Yokai

True Origin Of Catgirls, Neko-musume

Female characters with feline features are lovingly called nekomimi. They are a common part of the Japanese pop culture especially among otaku and cosplayers. But only a handful of them know the origins of catgirls originate and its relationship to another feline yokai, Neko-musume.

Neko-musume is a type of kaibyo that is quite different from the other cat-yokai counterparts such as the nekomata and bakeneko. She is usually described as a young girl with cat ears, and sometimes a feline tail.

Early documents about the neko-musume can be traced back to the misemono (見世物) of the 1700s. A Japanese sideshow carnival full of curiosities and oddities, mostly fakes and forgeries made by worksmiths. Around 1769, there is a show, in Asakusa district of Edo, that became very popular because it had a cat-girl as one of its exhibitor. Many who went and saw, swore that she was a genuine yokai with real feline features.

Human Connections

There are also many stories from the Edo period, of neko-musume that are of human parentage. They live with their parents and some even go to school. Neko-musume enjoy hunting for mice and rats, as such, she is seen as a benefit to the village and society.

So the next time you see a girl with cat ears, walking along the streets, maybe she’s not a cosplayer. Maybe, she’s a real yokai who can help you catch rodents and maybe even be a life-time companion.

Yokai Details

name: neko-musume (neh-koh-moo-soo-meh)
kanji: 猫娘 (ねこむすめ )
meaning: cat girl or daughter of cats
abilities
1. hyper senses — possess acute sense of smell and hearing
2. super agility — a very good sense of balance and body coordination
3. high metabolism — able to heal quickly from minor ailments and injuries

Tsukumogami, Yokai

Woman Fought With Kimono’s Obi Sash

There was once a woman who bought a second hand kimono for hanami (花見), a cherry blossom viewing festival. One night, she was abruptly awaken fought with the obi sash around her neck. After a long night’s fight, she finally overcame her ordeal and left her house. Next morning, she returned, to collect the sash-yokai and kimono, and went to a nearby shrine to cleanse and burn them.

Jatai is a type of yokai known as tsukumogami that gains sentience after reaching 100 years old. This yokai evolves from an obi-sash that has absorbed the negative energies of its previous owner over the years. This together with the years of abandonment provides the jatai a poisonous and bad attitude towards human beings

The strongest (and most vengeful) jatai are those that once belong to a spurned wife who used the same obi-sash to commit suicide. Such a corrupt object can develop vampiric energy that effect its new owner. This jatai will be strong enough to, easily, lift a grown man into the rafters.

There is also a superstition that if you sleep on top of an obi sash, you will dream of snakes. And if the obi sash belongs to a spurned woman, the snake would be a large poisonous snake that can easily constrict you to death. So, always, remember to take off your yukata before sleeping.

In any case, if you are thinking of getting a second-hand kimono because they are dirt-cheap, have second thoughts (even thirds). You never know who the kimono belongs to before, or how the obi sash was used then.

Yokai Details

name: jatai (jah-tah-ee)
kanji: 蛇帯 (じゃたい)
meaning: snake obi sash
ability:
1. flight — able to fly silently abilities:
2. elasticity — able to stretch twice its length

Mamono, Oni, Yokai

Evil Desires Of The Wicked Heart

Sometimes we have feelings of dislike towards a close friend or envy for a co-worker’s fortune. Sometimes our bad thoughts intensify to monstrous proportions. If you do have these feelings, breathe, calm down and look around. You may just see the evil yokai that is provoking the dark desires of your wicked heart.

Amanojaku (or sometimes Amanjaku), is a vile yokai that has been around before the arrival of Buddhism in Japan. Many scholars have suggested that this deity originates from a Shinto deity known as Amanosagume (天探女). But there are little similarities between the two.

A small oni-boy is, usually, how amanojaku is described. This half-naked yokai is red-skinned and has typical oni features such as horns and fangs. The crude creatures are dressed minimally with animal skins or just loincloth.

Tale of Urikohime

The yokai, Amanojaku, is also recognized from “The Tale of Urikohime” where it feasted on a kawaii bride-to-be, named Urikohime, who was left alone at home. Amanojaku even pretended to be the girl when her parents returned home by wearing her flayed skin. But eventually the creature’s masquerade was revealed by a crow. The whole village chased it down and beat it to a pulp.

Recent urban legend states that, you can summon amanojaku to do your evil deeds. To call forth the yokai to do your bidding, need to stand in front of a mirror at the stroke of midnight and call out Urikohime. Even if you don’t see amanojaku in your reflection, you can still request for your wicked acts to be fulfilled.

Having a vile wicked thought? Why not try to summon the yokai amanojaku. You may just get the revenge you wanted. If not, you can just beat the creature to a pulp. ;p

Yokai Details

name: amanojaku (ah-mah-noh-jah-koo)
kanji: 天邪鬼 (あまのじゃく)
meaning: vengeful spirit of the heavens
abilities
1. vile pollution — brings forth and intensifies the evil in a person’s heart abilities
2. skin-walker — disguise itself by wearing the flayed skin of another

Oni, Yokai

Are There Any Naughty Or Whiny Kids?

Every new year’s eve, on the Oga Peninsula (男鹿半島) or Akita Prefecture (秋田県), a yokai pair returns from the nether lands. They search for the bad and the lazy, especially children. Just like Santa Claus, or dark Krampus, the local red and blue yokai couple reminds the children to be well-behaved for the coming year.

In recent months, 10 festivals of the Raiho-shin (来訪神) has been inscribed into the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage, and the yokai, Namahage of Oga, is one of them. Namahage is a pair of red and blue oni-like yokai that visits households every new year’s eve. They are part of the Toshigami (年神) group because they are deities that return to the land of Japan with each new year.

Namahage are oni-like yokai with large teeth and horns who walk around the village looking for the delinquents, especially young ones. They are usually dressed in a traditional Japanese straw raincoat called mino (蓑). These deities will shout out loud, “Are there any naughty children?” or “Are there any children whining?” Many unsuspecting children will be caught and interrogated by the Namahage. Questions about their general behaviour over the year, and even whether they have been studying hard.

Namahage Types

The red Namahage is known as Jiji-namahage, or simply Jiji. He waves around an Onusa (大幣), a wooden wand with “lightning” paper streamers. This deity exorcises all forms of delinquencies, especially laziness and naughtiness. He ensures that the household is rid of bad habits that accumulates over the year. Purifying the house and family for the coming new year.

Baba-namahage is the other Namahage, the blue (and more threatening) one. In her right hand, she carries a kitchen deba knife (出刃包丁) and hunts for those who have idle excessively. She “helps” to cut the heat blisters which comes from lazing around the fire too much. Baba collects all these blisters in her teoke (手桶), a wooden hand bucket.

Many towns and villages have stopped the Raiho-shin (来訪神) practice and eventually these deities may become a footnote yokai like the tanuki. But until then, namahage make sure that everyone does their part for the community in the coming dead of winter. No lazing around. I’m looking at you kid!

Yokai Details

name: namahage (nah-mah-hah-gay)
kanji: ナマハゲ (なまはげ)
meaning: raw peels (archaic form)
abilities:
- phobia pheromones — release pheromones that induce fear among a large population
- exorcise delinquency — gets rid of laziness and discord
- oni transformation — able to change into a large semi-demonic ogre