Greetings yokai lovers!

Today’s yokai completes yet another fox! Although this is a generic term, not a specific one.

Although it may seem redundant, I feel like it’s important to have a few different entries for the different types of foxes in Japanese folklore. “Kitsune” is certainly a one-word-to-rule-them-all kind of term, but entire books can be written on the subject alone, so it makes sense to separate them on yokai.com as well. As we’ve already seen myobu, the good foxes, and kitsune, or foxes in general, it’s now time to look at nogitsune, or the bad foxes.

Later on we’ll look at some other types of foxes, such as tenko, the heavenly spirit foxes. For now, enjoy a closer look at the troublemakers of the fox world!

Nogitsune
http://yokai.com/nogitsune

野狐
のぎつね

TRANSLATION: wild fox
ALTERNATE NAMES: yako, yakan; many local variation exist as well
HABITAT: fields, forests, and wild areas
DIET: omnivorous; they particularly like wax, oil, lacquer, and women’s life force and blood

APPEARANCE: Nogitsune, also frequently called yako, are a type of kitsune—magical foxes found in East Asian folklore. Specifically the term refers to low ranking, wild kitsune that do not have a divine soul or serve as messengers of the gods. They are particularly known for transforming into humans. In folktales where humans are tormented, tricked, or possessed by kitsune, the culprit is almost always a nogitsune.

BEHAVIOR: Nogitsune are cautious creatures with a keen danger sense. They dislike bright light, and hide from the sun during the daytime. They are also afraid of bladed objects, and will avoid swords and knives. They are frightened of dogs as well. A nogitsune disguised as a human might accidentally reveal their true form when startled by a barking dog.

Nogitsune are able to recognize signs of human activity. They generally hide from humans when possible. However, they like to sneak into human-inhabited areas at night to steal some of their favorite foods: wax candles, lamp oil, lacquer, alcohol, and fried tofu.

Some types kitsune are viewed as holy animals; nogitsune are not one of these types. They are low-ranking members of the kitsune family, and do not act as divine messengers or serve Inari. Despite this, they seem to be comfortable in their position and don’t aspire to increase their standing.

INTERACTIONS: Nogitsune are notorious tricksters. One of their favorite activities is transforming in order to trick foolish humans. They use their power to scare people, and often to steal things from them as well. In order to change its shape, a nogitsune requires a magical focus of some kind; usually a bone from a cow or a horse.

Kitsunetsuki—possession by a fox spirit—is also commonly performed by nogitsune. Sometimes it is to punish humans they don’t like, other times it is just for the nogitsune’s own amusement. Women are a favorite target. This is sometimes said to be because women are weaker and easier to possess, but it is also because nogitsune can feed off of a woman’s life force.

Despite these conflicts with humans, nogitsune do occasionally interact positively with people. There are many tales of wild kitsune returning favors to those who are kind to them. There are even stories about men happily marrying nogitsune disguised as beautiful women. Unfortunately these stories almost always end in tragedy when the disguise is discovered. Humans occasionally ask nogitsune for favors. However, nogitsune are notoriously unreliable. If you ask a one to protect an object, it will only do so for a short time before it forgets its promise and wanders off.

ORIGIN: Nogitsune are known by many different names. The most common one—yako—is simply another reading of the kanji in its name. The name yakan (野干) is more archaic, and has its origins in a different animal.

Yakan are magical beasts from Chinese Buddhist scripture. The term literally means “wild dogs,” and their description can be found in various scriptures. They are small and cunning. They are yellow in color, and resemble small dogs with fluffy tails. They can change their shape, so their true form is unknown. They live in packs, and cry out at night like wolves. In the original Sanskrit, the animal referred to is the jackal. Jackals linger around burial grounds and eat carrion, and so they were viewed as wicked animals and servitors of evil gods. When Buddhism was transmitted to China, because jackals do not exist in China, the animal was not understood. They were assumed to be a creature similar to foxes, martens, or wild dogs. When Buddhism was brought to Japan, yakan was assumed to be a fox, and became synonymous with kitsune. Thus, the wicked deeds performed by jackals in Indian folklore came to be associated with foxes in Japanese folklore.

Greetings yokai fans!

Today’s yokai is another one for you meat lovers out there. Like most Americans, I had never eaten horse meat until I visited a foreign country. There’s a restaurant not far from my house that is specialized in horse dishes. It’s an interesting flavor, and quite delicious, so in a way I can sympathize with Chojiro here for wanting to eat salted horse meat. Then again, if I lived in a world where monsters actually appeared before people, and chickens could pop out of your mouths, I think I might be a little more careful with my diet.

http://yokai.com/shionochoujirou/
塩の長次郎
しおのちょうじろう

TRANSLATION: Salty Chōjirō
ALTERNATE NAMES: Shio no Chōji

APPEARANCE: Shio no Chōjirō was a man who was known for his love of horse flesh and the curse that this sinful pleasure brought upon him. His story is a famous example of umatsuki—possession by a horse spirit.

ORIGIN: Shio no Chōjirō’s story is an old and well known tale with many variations. Perhaps it’s most famous appearance is in the Edo Period collection of illustration stories Ehon hyakumonogatari, however it was a well known tale before then, with variations all over Japan. It may have been inspired in part by famous performance magician who lived in the late 17th century named Shioya Chōjirō. Shioya Chōjirō could perform sword swallowing and other tricks, but was best known for his mastery of of donbajutsu (“horse swallowing technique”) in which he would swallow a live horse before an audience. Illustrations of his performances appear to have been used as the basis for his illustration in Ehon hyakumonogatari.

LEGENDS: Long ago in Oshio no Ura, Kaga Province lived a very wealthy man named Chōjirō. Chōjirō was quite fond of eating meat—a practice which was taboo in feudal Japan. His household kept over 300 horses. Every time one of his horses died, he would pickle its meat in salt or miso to enjoy at his leisure. Thanks to this, he always had plenty of sinful meat to eat.

Gradually, Chōjirō’s horses began to dwindle, and consequently so did his stock of pickled horse meat. One the day that his supply of meat ran out, Chōjirō selected an old horse that was no longer capable of working. He slaughtered and ate it. That was the moment Chōjirō’s life changed. From then on, he was haunted by the old horse’s ghost.

Every night, the old horse appeared before Chōjirō in his dreams and snapped at his throat. Further, every evening at the very minute that Chōjirō slaughtered the horse, it’s vengeful ghost would appear before him. It would force itself down his throat and into his stomach, where it would violently thrash about.

Chōjirō’s suffering was unbearable. He developed a high fever and began to hallucinate. He screamed and babbled, confessing all of his life’s sins in painful delirium. Doctors examined him and priests prayed for him, but nothing helped. He descended into madness and his condition deteriorated.

One hundred days after his haunting began, Chōjirō finally succumbed to the horse’s curse. When he died, it is said that his body was bent like that of an old horse who had spent a lifetime carrying heavy loads.

Greetings yokai lovers!

Today’s yokai is hinoenma, the “flying fate demon.” I don’t think she actually flies. It’s a strange name with quite a few implications, which you can read about below.

It’s a pretty well known fact that folklore is often unflattering towards women. This is true all over the world, and especially true of Japanese folklore. It is often shocking just how blatantly sexist folklore can be. We like to think that we’re above and beyond that kind of attitude these days, but when male politicians can shameless profess that women should be forced to wear high heels in the work place, or should be forced to give birth, it’s clear that the attitudes that inspire this kind of folklore run deep in human societies.

I should probably offer a trigger warning. I do my best to present a sensitive voice in my yokai posts, but I also believe in staying true to the source material, even when it compared women to demons. This yokai is predates feminism and political correctness, but I think it serves as a valuable and fascinating insight into archaic and offensive religious views of gender. It’s also nothing that we haven’t seen before in yokai.

That said, I hope you can enjoy this yokai, and perhaps find entertaining the notion that men can be so insecure they feel the need to turn women into yokai in order to justify their own fear of them.

Hinoenma
http://yokai.com/hinoenma/
飛縁魔
ひのえんま

TRANSLATION: flying fate demon
ALTERNATE NAMES: enshōjo (fate hindering woman)
HABITAT: human-inhabited areas
DIET: men, especially clergy

APPEARANCE: Hinoenma are wicked female yōkai which look like beautiful women. They use their beauty to attract young men and destroy them.

BEHAVIOR: Hinoenma are paragons of feminine evil and the femme fatales of the yōkai world. They roam cities and streets looking for men (especially young monks) to make into their victims.

INTERACTIONS: Men who become enchanted by a hinoenma are quickly ruined. The hinoenma feeds on their virility and their lifeblood, causing them to become weaker and poorer. In the end, the man dies, and the hinoenma moves on to find another victim.

ORIGIN: East Asian folklore is full of cautionary tales in which hinoenma have used their beauty and charm to destroy men. The falls of three of China’s great dynasties are attributed to yōkai women. Mo Xi was said to be responsible for the collapse of the Xia Dynasty. Daji was said to be responsible for the collapse of the Shang Dynasty. Bao Si was said to be responsible for the collapse of the Western Zhou Dynasty.

Hinoenma is a Buddhist term warning about the dangers of beautiful women. Sex with women was viewed as a sin for priests because it was a worldly, carnal pleasure which distracted them from the path of spirituality. Phrases like “bodhisattva on the outside, yasha on the inside” were meant to remind monks that no matter how pleasing a woman looked, her true nature was as dangerous as a demon. This misogyny had multiple implications. Women were considered dangerous both to worldly status and wealth, as well as to spiritual health and religious pursuits. Women eat men’s food, spend men’s money, and drive men into financial and social ruin. On top of that, they force men to focus on worldly things such as sexual desires and material wealth (in order to maintain the extravagant lifestyles women demand), providing barriers to spiritual enlightenment. In other words, if you give a woman your heart, she will steal your soul.

The name hinoenma itself carries multiple interpretations. Literally translated, the name means “flying fate demon,” Fate in this case refers to the Buddhist concept of nidana, the cause-and-effect chain and birth-death cycle which links all things in the universe. Fate demon means a creature from Buddhist cosmology who tries to disrupt a person’s spiritual progression. Specifically it refers to Mara, the demon king who tried to disrupt the Buddha’s quest for enlightenment by tempting him with beautiful women.

Written with different characters, hinoenma can mean “fiery Enma,” referring to the king of hell—a hint at what awaits monks who allow themselves to be tempted by women. The name also evokes the phrase hinoe uma—the year of the fire horse—which occurs every 60 years according to the Chinese calendar. Women born in these years were said to be destined to ruin their husbands—a superstition which stems from the legend of Yaoya Oshichi.

LEGENDS: Yaoya Oshichi is the origin of a Japanese superstition about women born in the year of the fire horse. Oshichi was born in Edo in 1666, the year of the fire horse. During the Tenna Era, a great fire erupted at Daienji. Watching the fire, she saw a temple page named Ikuta Shōnosuke and fell in love at first sight. A year later, she attempted to set fire to Daienji in hopes that she would see him again. She was caught, and was burnt at the stake for arson. Since then, it has been believede believed that women born in the year of the fire horse are destined to have furious tempers and eventually destroy their husbands by consuming all that they own. In a testament to the superstition’s continued existence, the most recent year of the fire horse—1966—saw a 25% drop in births compared to the previous and following years. Supposedly weddings have even been cancelled by superstitious families upon finding out that the bride was born in the year of the fire horse.