There are a lot of bizarre animal yokai out there, and we’ve seen a few this week. Today we’ll look at a strange chimerical monster called the Nue!

Nue

Nue (鵺)

The nue is one of the oldest yokai to be written down, having its first appearance in the Kojiki (712 CE), an account of the early histories of Japan. It also appears in the Heian-period encyclopedia Wamyo Ruijusho (938 CE), and again in the Heike Monogatari (1371 CE), a record of one of Japan’s bloodiest civil wars and most tragic family clans. It is recorded as having the head of a monkey, the body of a tanuki, the tail of a snake, and the limbs of a tiger. In ancient times it was thought to be a kind of nocturnal bird — it’s call is supposed to sound like that of a White’s thrush — and thus its name is written with a kanji that contains the meanings “night” and “bird.”

Unlike some of the Japanese chimeras we’ve seen (kirin, baku, houou), the nue is not a holy animal, and is not good at all. In fact, they are considered to be pretty evil monsters. One very famous account of a nue attack occurs in the summer of 1153 in Kyoto. Emperor Konoe began to have nightmares every night, and grew very ill. Neither medicine nor prayers had any effect on his illness, and the source was attributed to some kind of evil spirit which was visiting the palace every night, early in the morning. These events climaxed some days later in a storm which appeared over the imperial palace around 2 AM. Lightning struck the roof, setting it on fire. The emperor summoned the legendary samurai Minamoto no Yorimasa, to deal with the evil spirit. Yorimasa brought his trusted companion I no Hayata, and his legendary bow which he received from Minamoto no Yorimitsu, to hunt the best. During the night, a strange wind came over them, followed by a black cloud. Yorimasa fired his arrow into the clouds above the palace, and out from the sky came a horrible scream as a nue dropped to the earth. I no Hayata immediately leaped upon the body, dealing it a finishing blow. The emperor immediately recovered from his illness, and rewarded the heroes with the legendary katana Shishiou for their service. This event has been immortalized in numerous paintings and ukiyoe prints.

After the nue was slain, the inhabitants of Kyoto were so afraid of a curse for killing the best, that they loaded its body in a ship and sent it down the Kamo river. The boat with the nue’s body eventually washed up on the shore near the village of Ashiya in Hyogo prefecture, and the good citizens of Ashiya removed the body and built it a burial mound and gave it a proper funeral. Apparently, you can still visit the mound, “Nuezuka,” today, though I’ve never been there…

Are you interested in yokai? Can’t get enough of strange Japanese culture? Then you should check out my book, The Night Parade of One Hundred Demons, on Amazon.com and learn the story behind over one hundred of these bizarre monsters! | 今週はちょっと奇妙な動物の妖怪を紹介してきましたが、その他にも日本には色々な動物の妖怪がいます。今回も一風変わった動物の妖怪を紹介しましょう。

Nue

Nue (鵺)

鵺は日本で最も古い妖怪のうちの一つであり、古いものでは古事記（712CE)にその記述がある。また、平安時代に作成された辞書、和名類聚抄（938CE)や平家物語（1371CE)にも鵺の記録がある。

記述によると頭は猿で胴体は狸、尾は蛇で肢体は虎であるという。元々は夜行性の鳥の声だと思われており、そのために鵺の漢字には夜と鳥が使われているとも言われる。

これまでに紹介した事のあるキメラに似た妖怪たち（麒麟・獏・鳳凰）と異なる点は、鵺が聖なる動物としては扱われていないという所である。それどころか、凶鳥といわれる事もあるという。
鵺と人間との対峙が伝えられている物の一つに1153年の夏の京都での出来事がある。当時の天皇、近衛天皇は毎晩悪夢にうなされ、しだいに病に伏せるようになった。祈祷師や薬は全く功を奏さず、呪術師はこの原因に連日御所に訪れている物の怪があると伝えた。ある夜、夜中2時頃に御所の周囲には暗雲がたちこめ、稲妻が屋根に落ちて燃え上がった。天皇は弓の達人源頼政を呼んで怪退治を命じ、頼政は家臣の猪早太を連れ源頼光から受け継いだ弓を手に退治に向かった。すると再びあの暗雲が彼らの頭上に現れたので頼政がその雲めがけて矢を放った所、雲からは恐ろしい叫び声が聞こえて鵺が地上に落ちてきた。そこに猪早太が瞬時に鵺にとどめを刺した所、天皇の病は消えてなくなったという。その褒美として、天皇から授かった褒美が伝説の刀獅子王であり、この物語は多くの浮世絵に描かれこれまで伝えられてきている。

鵺の死後、京都ではその祟りを恐れたため鵺を鴨川から流したとされている。鵺の体は流されて兵庫県芦屋に流れ着き、芦屋の住人は屍骸を弔って塚を建てて葬ったという。私はまだ行った事がないが、現在でも兵庫県芦屋の鵺塚を訪れる事ができるとあります。

他の妖怪にも興味をもっていただけたなら、是非アマゾンから「The Night Parade of One Hundred Demons（百鬼夜行）」をどうぞ！

Yikes! Today’s yokai took a long time to finish! I’m sure some of you were wondering where the heck today’s yokai was… Well, here he is, and I hope you’ll find that the extra bit of wait time was worth it!

This yokai was done by special request for a friend who came to my Hyakki Yagyou gallery show in Fukui in August. We asked everyone what their favorite yokai was, and more than one guest was adamant about the Inugami, so I just had to do one. And truly, it is an awesome yokai! I hope you enjoy it!

Inugami

Inugami (犬神)

Inugami are a kind of familiar, or spirit of possession, which are found in Kyushu, Shikoku, and elsewhere in West Japan. They are very similar to fox spirits like Kitsunetsuki, however Inugami are more common in those areas where foxes are not found. There is even evidence of an ancient tradition of Inugami worship stretching from Western Japan down to Okinawa. Powerful sorcerers were said to be able to create these spirits through monstrous ceremonies and use them to all sorts of nefarious deeds. Inugami are also known as In’game and Irigami in various local dialects.

How long the practice of creating Inugami begun is unknown, however, by the Heian period (some 1000 years ago, at the height of classical Japanese civilization) the practice had already been outlawed, along with the use of other animal spirits as tools of sorcery. According to legend, the creation of an Inugami is accomplished like this: the head of a starved dog must be cut off (often this was accomplished by chaining a dog up just out of reach of some food, or else burying it up to its neck, so that it would go berserk out of desperate hunger and its head could be cut off at the point of greatest desperation). Then, the severed head is buried in a street — usually a crossroads where many people pass. The trampling of hundreds or thousands of people over this buried head would add to its stress and cause the animal’s spirit to transform into an Onryou (a a malificent spirit with a serious grudge). Occasionally these severed heads were said to fly about, chasing after food — such was the power of the spirit’s hunger. The head was then baked or dried and enshrined in a bowl, after which the spirit could be used as a kind of fetish by a wicked sorcerer, doing whatever he or she commanded for the rest of time.

Like other Tsukimono, or possession spirits, they are beings of powerful emotion and are very good at possessing emotionally unstable or weak people. They do so usually by entering through the ears and settling into the internal organs. Signs of Inugami possession are chest pain, pain in the hands and feet or shoulders, feelings of deep jealousy, and suddenly barking like a dog. Other victims develop intense hunger and turn into gluttons, and it is said that people who die while possessed by an Inugami have markings on their body like a dog’s tooth and claw marks. Not only humans, but animals like cows and horses, or even inanimate objects, could be possessed by Inugami. Tools that were possessed by such a spirit were said to become totally and completely unusable.

People who found themselves possessed by an Inugami, or even if it was only suspected that a person was possessed, were in for an unfortunate treatment. The only way to be cured of an Inugami-tsuki was to hire another sorcerer to remove it. This could take a very, very long time. On the other hand, as binding souls in this manner was illegal and certainly frowned upon, if an inugami-mochi family was even suspected of bring evil upon another family, the accused family member was forced to apologize and then leave his comfortable estate (for usually it was the upper class who were involved in such black magic) and live on the outskirts of town, secluded from family, friends, and aristocratic life. Even if the victim was eventually cured, the accused family member (and all of his offspring for all generations to follow) usually had to maintain his solitary lifestyle, separated from the rest of society, as he was viewed by others to be wicked and tainted.

The technique for creating these fetishes was passed down along bloodlines, and such families are known as Inugami-mochi. These Inugami-mochi families kept their Inugami hidden in the back rooms of their houses, under their beds, in dressers, or among water jars. It is said that a family owned as many Inugami as there were members of the household, and when a new person joined the family, they too received their own spirit. Inugami were treated like family members by Inugami-mochi families, and most of the time would quickly run out to do their master’s bidding any time their master wanted something. However, like living dogs, occasionally a resentful Inugami might betray a master that grew too abusive or domineering, savagely biting him to death. And while Inugami, like other familiar spirits, were created to bring wealth and prosperity to their families, occasionally they might also cause a family to fall into ruin.

Are you interested in yokai? Can’t get enough of strange Japanese culture? Then you should check out my book, The Night Parade of One Hundred Demons, on Amazon.com and learn the story behind over one hundred of these bizarre monsters! | 今日の妖怪を描くのには大変時間がかかりました！次は何の妖怪かなと待ち遠しかった方もいると思います。しかし今日の妖怪は待つに値するものでしたよ！

今回の妖怪は、百鬼夜行展のお客様達から特別にリクエストされたものです。多くの方がお勧めされたように、今回の妖怪はとても興味深いものです。どうぞ今日の妖怪をお楽しみください！

Inugami

Inugami (犬神)

犬神は憑き物であり、九州、四国、その他西日本で伝えられている。狐憑きとよく似ているが、狐が生息していないこれらの地域では犬神が有名である。
犬神信仰は古来から西日本から沖縄にかけて信じられており、強力な呪術師は儀式によって犬神を創る事が出来るとされ、この魂を使って非道な行いをするのだという。犬神は地域によっては「インガメ」，「イリガミ」と呼ばれることもある。

犬神を創りだした時代については知られていないが、平安時代には犬神を含め他の動物を呪物として使う呪術は禁止されていた。伝説によると、犬神を憑けるためには飢餓状態の犬の首を切り落とす必要があるという。首だけ出して体を埋めるか、鎖につないだ状態の空腹な犬の眼の前に食べ物を見せておくと空腹により凶暴になって、そこで犬が最も飢餓状態に達した時に首を切り落とすのだという。

この切断された頭部は辻道に埋められ、人々がこの頭の上の道を踏みつけ行き来する事によって恨みが増してその魂は怨霊となる。時にその切断された頭は食べ物めがけて飛びつくとも言われている。頭は焼いたり乾燥させたりした後に器に入れて祀られ、その魂は呪物として一生術者に使うのだという。

他の憑き物とおなじように強い情動によるものであるため、情緒不安定な人や弱い人間にとり憑くといわれている。犬神は耳から体内に入り内臓に留まるため、犬神を憑けられた人間は胸や手・足・肩に強い嫉妬心のような痛みを持って突然犬のように吠えだすのだという。また、激しい空腹によって大食になり死に至る者までおり、その死体には犬の歯型や掻き傷がみられるといわれている。

犬神は人間に憑くだけではなく、馬や牛などの動物や道具にまで及んでとり憑き、憑かれた者（物）たちは使い物にならなくなるという。

犬神持ちの人が他の家に犬神を憑かせてしまった場合や憑かされたと疑われた場合には、謝罪に行ってその犬神が離れるまで山で隠遁生活を強いられる事もあるという。場合によってはその子孫までそこで暮らさなくてはいけなくなるという。

犬神を使う技術は世襲され、その家系は犬神持ちとして知られており犬神持ちの人々は各々の犬神を床の下、箪笥、水瓶の中などに住まわせるという。犬神は世襲であるため、新しい家族が増えたとしてもその成員もまた犬神持ちになるといわれている。

犬神は主人の求める事のためにすばやく働くとされる。しかし、実態の犬と同じように、時には傲慢で残忍になった主人を裏切って彼を殺してしまう事もあるという。また逆に犬神を祀り上げていればその家に富をもたらすとされているが、その裏には災難があるともいわれている。

他の妖怪にも興味をもっていただけたなら、是非アマゾンから「The Night Parade of One Hundred Demons（百鬼夜行）」をどうぞ！

One of the weirdest yokai I have ever come across is this monstrosity, the one-hundred-eyed demon known as Hyakume. I painted a version of him a few years back, in my Hyakki Yako panels from the first A-Yokai-A-Day series. This is the version that appears in Night Parade. |

One of the weirdest yokai I have ever come across is this monstrosity, the one-hundred-eyed demon known as Hyakume. I painted a version of him a few years back, in my Hyakki Yako panels from the first A-Yokai-A-Day series. This is the version that appears in Night Parade. Continue reading →

It’s late and I know some of you have been waiting all day for this, so finally here it is! Of all the yokai I’ve painted, the largest number of them come from Kyushu and West Japan. Up to now, I’ve only done one yokai native to Okinawa — the Kijimunaa — and so I thought it was time to give a little more love to Ryukyu and the southern islands. | これまで九州と西日本の妖怪は沢山描いてきましたが、沖縄の妖怪は一つ（キジムナー）しか描いていませんでした。そこで、今回はさらにもう一つ琉球の妖怪を紹介したいと思います。 Continue reading →

Today’s yokai will be familiar to anyone anywhere, regardless of whether you’ve been to Japan or not: the dragon! It’s one of the most iconic images in Asian art — or pretty much any culture anywhere in the world. However, the Japanese dragon has some very unique features that set it apart from dragons in other cultures. Here is the tatsu entry from Night Parade: | 今日の妖怪は日本ではとても有名でどこに行っても誰でも知っているでしょう。世界でもドラゴンはとても有名ですが、日本の龍はとても独創的です。こちらはNight Parade本からの龍です。 Continue reading →

Today we kick of A-Yokai-A-Day for the month of October (2012 edition)! I wanted to start with a few well-known yokai, some of which are featured in my book. So today’s yokai is an excerpt from The Night Parade of One Hundred Demons, featuring a very common creature found all over Japan: the komainu! If you have ever visit a Shinto shrine or Japan, or even just seen a photo of one, most likely you are familiar with the lion-dog guardian statues, but what exactly are they?… | Today we kick of A-Yokai-A-Day for the month of October (2012 edition)! I wanted to start with a few well-known yokai, some of which are featured in my book. So today’s yokai is an excerpt from The Night Parade of One Hundred Demons, featuring a very common creature found all over Japan: the komainu! If you have ever visit a Shinto shrine or Japan, or even just seen a photo of one, most likely you are familiar with the lion-dog guardian statues, but what exactly are they?… Continue reading →