“Yokai” is one of those words that is impossible to translate from Japanese into English, so generally “yokai” is considered acceptable today. But years ago, authors and translators tried their best to translate every word into English instead of leaving some in their native Japanese (in old books you’ll see kimonos called “dresses,” sushi called “raw fish,” and weird titles like “duke” and “prince” attached to Japanese rulers’ names). Many of these attempts at translation have used “fairy,” “goblin,” “monster,” or “demon.” I actually have an old book of Japanese “fairy tales” which are anything but fairy tales! “Monster” isn’t too far off, and certainly some of them closely resemble demons, fairies, or goblins, but none of these truly fit as an all-encompassing definition.
Today’s preview is one that I’ve seen translated as “one-eyed goblin” and actually fairly accurately fits that translation. Hitotsume means “one eye,” and kozou literally means “little monk” but is a general nickname for young boys and children. In any case, this yokai certainly is the most goblin-y of of the ones we’ve seen so far.
Hitotsume Kozou
I’ve noticed that a lot of Yokai have either monk in their names or in their back stories. Is this because in Japan monks and temples are so engrained in daily life?
For a lot of yokai, yes. Many of them have a religious/spiritual background, and many of those beliefs were absorbed by the Buddhist church when it arrived in Japan (just as old pagan European beliefs were absorbed into Christianity when it arrived). Lots of yokai were once animistic gods and that were re-invented as demons, ghosts, or other supernatural entities under Buddhism.
On the other hand, a lot of their names simply reflect archaic speech patterns. Just like if you read very old English texts you can find references to “deer” and “corn” that are actually referring to different animals and different grains (“deer” being a catch-all term for game animals in olden times, and “corn” not coming to mean “maize” until long after it was introduced to Europe from Mexico).
Words like “bouzu” and “kozou” and “nyuudou” and so on show up in many yokai names, but each one is a different story. Some of them were indeed named after corrupt priests (such as the Hitotsume-nyuudou) as a sort of parable or allegory warning people to be good. Others were just named according to the proper parlance of the time.
In the case of Hitotsume Kozou, he was actually a Shinto mountain spirit in ancient times, and he eventually devolved into a god of bad luck and a messenger between earth and the gods of punishment and disaster. Finally he devolved into the degenerate and mischievous little yokai we know today.
brilliant pictures, poor cat!
LW
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