Greetings yokai fans!

Today I bring you the jinja hime!

She’s pretty straightforward, so I’ll let the post and the picture do most of the talking. What I really like about this one is that it hearkens back to the kudan, which was the very first yokai that I did in the Patreon project! I chose kudan back then because I thought it would be nice to have an auspicious yokai be the start (and also because I just loved the way kudan looks with his dopey cow face). As it turns out, jinja hime is likely the origin of the kudan! She, too, has an adorably dopey face, which I hope I captured well.

神社姫
じんじゃひめ

TRANSLATION: shrine princess
HABITAT: deep lakes and oceans
DIET: unknown

APPEARANCE: A jinja hime is a serpentine creature roughly six meters long. It has two horns on its head, a long tail, a dorsal fin, and flippers. Its face is that of a human woman. It resembles a ningyo, the Japanese mermaid.

BEHAVIOR: Jinja hime spend most of their lives underwater, and as a result rarely interact with humans. They are the servants of Ryūgū, the palace of the sea dragon king.

ORIGIN: Jinja hime was first sighted in Hizen Province (present-day Saga and Nagasaki Prefectures) in 1819 by the Edo period scholar Katō Ebian. He recorded the encounter in his book Waga koromo. According to Katō, he encountered a fish-like creature on a beach in Hizen. The creature spoke to him: “I am a messenger from Ryūgū, called jinja hime. For the next seven years there will be a bumper crop. After that, there will be an epidemic of cholera. However, those who see my picture will be able to avoid hardship, and instead will have long life.” After delivering her prophecy, the jinja hime disappeared into the sea. Katō printed an illustration of the jinja hime in Waga koromo so that all could see it and be protected.

The news of the jinja hime and her prognostication became so popular that it spawned numerous copycat stories across Japan. Not long after the sighting of jinja hime, stories about other yokai with foresight, such as kudan and amabie, began popping up all over Japan. Jinja hime is thought to be the basis for all of these stories.

The giant oarfish strongly resembles the size and description of jinja hime. Its name in Japanese is ryūgū no tsukai, which means “servant of Ryūgū.”

http://yokai.com/jinjahime/

Greetings yokai fans!

Today I present to you April’s last yokai (though it will be May by the time most of you read this…) — the Daidarabotchi!

This is a giant like the onyudo or umibozu from The Night Parade of One Hundred Demons, only its much bigger! You could call it a giant giant!

This one is pretty fun because of all of the local lore about it. Just about everywhere in Japan has a local name for this guy, as well as local legends about this mountain or that lake being formed thousands of years ago by a giant. I noted a few of them in the entry, but the list is just far to long to include every single one.

I actually went hiking in Yatsugatake a few years back, but at that time I didn’t realize that it had been created when a daidarabotchi lay down to rest his aching back. If only I had known!!

Daidarabotchi

大太郎法師
だいだらぼっち

TRANSLATION: giant priest
ALTERNATE NAMES: daidarabō, daidabō, daidara hōshi, daitarōbō, deidarabotchi, dairanbō, dendenbome, reirabotchi, ōki bochabocha
HABITAT: mountains all over Japan
DIET: omnivorous

APPEARANCE: Daidarabotchi are colossal humanoids which resemble bald-headed priests. They have big, rolling eyes, long, lolling tongues, and pitch black skin. They share a lot of similarities with other giants, like ōnyūdō and umibōzu, but they are by far the largest giants found in yōkai folklore.

BEHAVIOR: Daidarabotchi are so large that their movements shape the world. They build mountains by piling up rocks and dirt. They even pick up and move mountains to other places. When they walk, they leave lakes and valleys behind in their footprints. Because of this, many places across Japan are believed to have been made by daidarabotchi. Some are even named after them.

ORIGIN: Because daidarabotchi legends are found all over Japan, they have countless local name variations.

LEGENDS: Mount Fuji is sometimes said to have been made by a daidarabotchi. The giant scooped and dug up all of the dirt in Kai Province (Yamanashi Prefecture) to make the mountain, and that is why the area around Mount Fuji is a large basin. He gathered more dirt for the mountain by digging in Omi Province (Shiga Prefecture), and the area he dug became Lake Biwa.

The towns of Daita in Setagaya ward of Tōkyō and Daitakubo in Saitama are named after daidarabotchi. These towns are said to have been created by daidarabotchi.

Daizahōshi Pond in Nagano Prefecture is named after a daidarabotchi, and is believed to have been created by one. Senba Lake in Ibaraki Prefecture is also said to fill the footprint of a particularly large daidarabotchi.

The Takabocchi Plateau in Nagano’s Yatsugatake quasi-national park is said to have been formed when a daidarabotchi lay down to rest his back for a bit.

http://yokai.com/daidarabotchi/

Greetings yokai fans!

I have to admit that this yokai was a little hard to do, because centipedes freak me out. Especially the centipedes over here, which give me actual nightmares. If you can picture a huge, think centipede over 8 inches long with bright orange legs and and head, you’ll have some idea. Also, they are fast, and very aggressive, so they will actually chase after humans! They can’t be killed easily. Even if you cut them up, they will still run around for 30 minutes or more. You can burn them, boil them, but they just don’t die. And if you squash them, they release pheromones that attract more of them to come. They like to hide in shoes, bedsheets, toilets, bathtubs, and clothes drawers… so basically anywhere that you are most vulnerable. They also drop down from the ceiling onto people. They are venomous, and their bites are extremely painful. If a big one bites you on the chest or head, you have to go to the hospital.

So yeah… there is at least one thing I don’t like about Japan.

On the plus side, today we get to hear about our old from Fujiwara no Hidesato, who you may remember from the Dodomeki  and Taira no Masakado  entries!

 Ōmukade

大百足
おおむかで

TRANSLATION: giant centipede
HABITAT: mountains and caves; any dark and humid place big enough to hold it
DIET: carnivorous
CRITICAL WEAKNESS: human saliva

APPEARANCE: Ōmukade are monstrous mukade–centipedes (Scolopendra subspinipes) with dark bodies and bright orange legs and heads. They are often depicted with dragon-like features. While their non-monstrous cousins can grow up to 20 cm in length, the upper size limit on yōkai mukade is not known.

BEHAVIOR: Like their smaller relatives, ōmukade are vicious and highly aggressive. The bite of a regular mukade is venomous and very painful, but rarely fatal. Ōmukade, on the other hand, are much more venomous and very strong. They have even been known to torment dragons.

An ōmukade’s exoskeleton is so tough that it can’t be pierced by weapons. They do have one weakness though: human saliva is toxic to them. A weapon coated in saliva may be able to pierce through its armor and wound it.

INTERACTIONS: Ōmukade are extremely rare. When they are seen, they pose a threat to all in the area. Throughout history, the responsibility of exterminating these monsters has fallen on the shoulders of brave warriors.

LEGENDS: There is a famous bridge in Shiga Prefecture known as Seta no Karahashi. Long ago, a great serpent appeared on the bridge and would not move. The villagers were too afraid to approach the serpent, and so they could not cross.

One day, the brave warrior Fujiwara no Hidesato came to the bridge. He was not afraid of the serpent, and he crossed the bridge, crunching its great body under his feet. The serpent slithered back into the lake, and the bridge was clear again.

That night, a beautiful woman visited Hidesato. She introduced herself as the daughter of the dragon king of Like Biwa. The dragon king had sent her to Hidesato to ask for his help. Her family was being tormented by an ōmukade who lived on Mount Mikami. She knew that Hidesato must be a brave warrior, because he had so fearlessly trampled her body. Hidesato agreed to help the dragon king. He took up his sword and his bow and headed to the mountains.

Upon reaching Mount Mikami, Hidesato saw an enormous centipede coiled around its top. Its was so long that its body wrapped around the mountain seven and a half times. He fired his arrows at it until only one arrow remained, but he was unable to pierce the beast’s armor. Hidesato coated the tip of the arrow in his saliva, and said a prayer to Hachiman, the god of warriors. This time his arrow struck true, and he brought down the ōmukade.

The dragon king’s daughter was so grateful to Fujiwara no Hidesato that she gave him marvelous gifts: a bag of rice which never became empty no matter how much rice was taken from it; a roll of silk which never ran out no matter how much was cut from it; a cooking pot which always produced the most delicious food without the need for fire; and a large temple bell, which Hidesato donated to Mii-dera. The grateful dragon king also told Hidesato the secret to defeating Taira no Masakado, the rebel whom Hidesato had been charged with bringing down.

http://yokai.com/oomukade 

Greetings, yokai fans!

Today I bring you the yasha. As I mentioned in the sketch post, it was hard to pin down a depiction of yasha, since the imagery has changed quite a bit — everything from and Indian-style god, to a Chinese warrior, to an oni, and a hannya. I went with the Chinese warrior style, partially because it fits with the style I have used for the other Indian imports, and also because the most common place you see yasha is in temple sculptures, which take on this style of depiction. The yasha that look like oni and kijo seem to be, for the most part, generic ghost or demon stories that were later attributed to yasha, or just a use of the word yasha to denote an evil spirit, but not necessarily the specific yasha we’re talking about here. 

It was hard to resist the urge to paint a ghost-like yasha, though. Particularly because of this movie: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0079041/ Yasha ga Ike, known as “Demon Lake” in English (it should be “Yasha Lake,” of course). The small, remote village in that movie is actually right here in Fukui prefecture, so that movie has a special place in my heart. I’m a sucker for the local legends.

Yasha 

夜叉
やしゃ

TRANSLATION: yaksha; demon gods from Buddhist cosmology
HABITAT: rivers, forests, and mountains
DIET: omnivorous; occasionally man-eating

APPEARANCE: Yasha are a race of powerful, high ranking nature spirits which appear in Buddhist cosmology. They are a type of kijin, or demon god–both worshiped as benevolent gods and feared as wrathful demons. They are fearsome warriors, and serve as guardians of the treasures of the earth. They have varied forms, but generally are humanoid in appearance, with brightly colored skin, spiked hair, sharp teeth, and fierce eyes. They are usually depicted carrying weapons and wearing ornate armor.

BEHAVIOR: Yasha are one of the members of the the Eight Legions–eight supernatural races who listened to the sermons of Shaka Nyōrai and converted to Buddhism. Along with the ten, tatsu, kendatsuba, ashura, karura, kinnara, and magoraka, they serve as guardians of the Buddhist teachings.

Yasha serve Buddhism in a number of ways. Most importantly, the Twelve Heavenly Generals (the twelve most fearsome yasha), serve as the personal bodyguards of Yakushi Nyōrai, the buddha of medicine. They wage war on sickness and fight the enemies of Buddhism. They are also important in astrology–as there are twelve of them, they are associated with the twelve animals of the Chinese zodiac, the hours of the day, the months, and the directions. Their leader, General Kubira, is also an important kami in the Shinto faith. He is believed to be the manifestation of Konpira, a god of fishing, seafaring, and farming. He is enshrined as Ōmononushi in the Kotohira shrine of Kagawa Prefecture, alongside Sutoku Tennō.

Yasha, along with another kind of demon called rasetsu, are used as soldiers in the armies of Bishamonten, one of the Four Heavenly Kings. Bishamonten is often depicted trampling a tiny, evil yasha (called a jaki or amanojaku) under his feet. His armor is also often decorated with scowling yasha faces. In this way yasha also serve as a symbol the triumph of virtue over wickedness.

ORIGIN: Yasha come from Hindu mythology. They were originally benevolent nature spirits and caretakers of the trees and earth. In Buddhism, they were interpreted as evil, ghost-like spirits who preyed upon travelers, but later gave up their wicked ways upon hearing the sermons of the Buddha. The Buddhist version of yasha is very similar to another class of Hindu spirits: the ogrish, man-eating demons known as rasetsu. When Buddhism was brought into China, it mixed with Chinese folk religion and astrology, and yasha grew even further away from their Hindu origins.

When Buddhism was brought to Japan from China, the Chinese interpretation of yasha was brought along with it. In Japan, yasha were often viewed as Buddhist manifestations of local evil spirits, like amanojaku and oni. Yasha took on some of the characteristics of these spirits, and sometimes even became synonymous with them.

http://yokai.com/yasha

Greetings yokai fans!

The cherry blossoms are beginning to fall from their branches this week, and the parks and rivers around here are so beautiful! This is a big festival week, of course, and neighborhoods around me are all having small block parties. Fukui’s “historical parade” takes place this weekend, when all the streets are closed off, and people wearing historical costumes parade from the castle, through the town, and up the mountain behind my house. It’s a fun festival, and I’m excited that this year I get to live right next to the parade route!

This painting took a little while because I was having trouble calling it finished. Finally, after taking a long walk under the cherry blossoms, I realized that it was missing a certain amount of motion. So I added the falling flowers and petals and all of a sudden the painting felt finished. So here it is: the karyobinga!

迦陵頻伽
かりょうびんが

TRANSLATION: a phonetic rendition of its sanskrit name, kalaviṅka
ALTERNATE NAMES: myōonchō (exquisite sounding bird)
HABITAT: Gokuraku jōdo, a realm of paradise
DIET: unknown

APPEARANCE: Karyōbinga are celestial beings from Buddhist cosmology. They have the head and arms of a bodhisattva, the body of a bird, and long, flowing tail feathers similar to that of a hōō. They live in a realm of paradise called Gokuraku jōdo.

BEHAVIOR: Karyōbinga possess voices of incomparable beauty. They begin singing while still inside of their eggs. After they hatch, they begin to dance and play heavenly musical instruments as well. They sing of the holy scriptures and the words of the buddhas.

ORIGIN: Karyōbinga come from Indian mythology. They originated in Buddhist scripture, which was brought to Japan from China. They differ very little from their Indian counterparts. They are usually used in paintings and sculpture as symbols of paradise and the Buddha’s words. They are a reminder that by living a holy life, one can be reborn into Gokuraku jōdo after their death. Practitioners of Pure Land Buddhism make reaching this paradise their goal. Gokuraku jōdo is a pure land of utter bliss–a celestial kingdom created by Amida Buddha. Its inhabitants can practice Buddhism directly under Amida’s tutelage, listen to the songs of karyōbinga, and achieve enlightenment themselves.

http://yokai.com/karyoubinga/

Greetings yokai fans!

I previously introducted the sketch of this as “ju,” which is another reading of the kanji for its name. However, when looking up information about it, it seems that in Japanese, kotobuki is the more common version of its name. This makes sense, as kotobuki is a common word and contains the celebratory and congratulatory nuance that this creature conveys.

Also, happy birthday to Kim, who requested this yokai. I hope it brings you good luck on your birthday!

Oh, one more thing! March marks the end of the first quarter, which means those of you in the $30+ patron category are going to get your physical goods shipped to you in April! As I mentioned before moving, I’ve been exploring the possibility of offering alternative rewards instead of simply three prints. A popular suggestion was to get original paintings instead of prints. Many of you messaged me to say that you loved the handmade inkbrush kenmun postcards. I’m really glad to hear that! So I figured that getting another original painting would be appealing for some of you.

I made a number of yokai paintings a few years ago, before I moved to the US. I kept them in storage here in Japan, and now that I’m here again, I’m displaying them in my art studio. Some of you who are very long-time supporters of my art purchased some of these paintings back before Night Parade was published! So if you’re interested in getting an original yokai painting this month instead of a set of three yokai prints, please let me know! Or, if you have a preference of three prints, please let me know what you’d like.

Ok, on to today’s yokai!

Kotobuki
寿
ことぶき 

TRANSLATION: congratulations, long life
HABITAT: unknown
DIET: unknown

APPEARANCE: The kotobuki is an auspicious chimera whose body contains parts from all twelve animals of the zodiac. It has the head of a rat, the ears of a hare, the horns of an ox, the comb of a rooster, the beard of a sheep, the mane of a horse, the neck of a dragon, the body of a boar, the shoulders of a tiger, the front legs of a monkey, the rear legs of a dog, and the tail of a snake.

ORIGIN: The kotobuki was first documented in the Edo period. Woodblock prints of it were popular gifts, as merely possessing an image of the kotobuki was enough to protect a person from sickness and disease. Almost no explanation about the creature was included in these prints, other than that it was said to come from India, it could understand human speech, and was called kotobuki.

Good luck charms featuring the animals of the zodiac were popular during the Edo period. Even without a description, customers would recognize the twelve zodiac signs hidden in this beast. Further, the name kotobuki is a celebratory and congratulatory word, which makes this creature instantly identifiable as a powerful and auspicious creature.

http://yokai.com/kotobuki/