Sunday, October 30, 2005

   Yay! It's almost Halloween!
Thank goodness! It's almost Halloween! Tommorow, Ghost Xi and her brother are coming over to my house to give out candy! Bonzai! I'm finally done the lab report (it's not due until Tuesday. But I'm not doing any homework tomorrow.) I cleaned the house (sort of ) and watched scary movies all day. The best was The Fly. The main girl character gives birth to a maggot. (Can't remember her name.)

Japa-ween Day 3: Make Up Your Own Ghost Story Day.

Today's the day to make up your own ghost story, but to keep in spirit here's some Japanese ghosts:

(From About.com)
It's Halloween time! Like many other western customs (Christmas, Valentine's Day etc.), the Japanese easily adopt it, especially for commercial purposes. There are pumpkins displayed at the stores, and some people wear costumes and go to parties. However, there is no real custom for Halloween in Japan. I never experienced "Trick or Treating" with a cute costume when I was little...

I will tell you about Japanese ghosts, though the Japanese ghost is usually a thing of summer. The Japanese have their own ghosts, and there are a few terms to describe them.

Obake, Bakemono

Literally means, "transforming thing." "O" is an honorific prefix and "bake" is a noun form for the verb "bakeru (to change, to transform)." It can also be used more generally to refer to anything that is weird or grotesque.

Yuurei

According to Shinto beliefs, all people have a soul called "reikon." When a person dies, the reikon leaves the body and joins the souls of its ancestors. However, when a person dies suddenly by murder, is slain in battle, commits suicide, or when he or she hasn't been given an appropriate funeral, the reikon may become a yuurei to seek revenge. Many yuurei are female ghosts who suffered badly in life from love, jealousy, sorrow, or regret. Male yuurei are less common.

Yuurei usually appear in a white kimono (katabira), which people were buried in the old days, and have no legs. They also wear a white triangular piece of paper or cloth (hitaikakushi) on their forehead. They usually appear between 2 and 3 a.m. Click here to learn the kanji characters for "yuurei."

Here is one of the famous yuurei stories "Bancho sara-yashiki (The Story of Okiku)" in Japanese and English.

Okiku wa Aoyama Tessan no ie ni, jochuu to shite hataraite imashita. Aruhi kahou de aru juu-mai no kouka na touki no sara o katazuketeiru toki, Okiku wa ukkari sono sara no ichi-mai o watte shimaimashita. Okotta Aoyama wa Okiku o koroshi, sono shitai o furuido ni nagesutemashita. Sonogo maiban Okiku no yuurei ga ido kara araware, sara o yukkuri kyuu-mai made kazoeruto, totsuzen hitsuuna susurinaki o hajimeru no deshita. Sore wa nandomo nandomo kurikaesare, Aoyama o kurushimemashita. Tsuini Aoyama wa ki ga kurui, Okiku no fukushuu wa hatasareta no deshita.

Okiku works as a maid at the home of the samurai Tessan Aoyama. One day while cleaning a collection of ten precious ceramic plates, which is a family treasure, she accidentally breaks one of them. The outraged Aoyama kills her and throws the corpse into an old well. Every night afterwards, Okiku's ghost rises from the well, slowly counts out nine plates and then breaks into heartrending sobs, over and over and over again, tormenting the samurai. Finally, vengeance is wrought when Aoyama goes insane.

Oni

Oni, demons or ogres, are one of the most famous youkai. They are huge and have horns. The color of their body is red, blue, or black. They usually carry a big iron club (kanabou). They are best known for guarding the gate of Buddhist hell. They also often appear in folktales. (Momotaro, Issun-boshi etc.) They are dumb, cruel, and malicious.

On Setsubun (Feb. 3rd), there is a custom to drive away evil sprits. People scatter soybeans outside of doorways, shouting "Oni wa soto, Fuku wa uchi! (Demon out, Good luck in!)."

Kappa

Kappa are supernatural creatures which live both on land and in water. They are as tall as a four or five year old child. They have a beak-like snout, and fins on their hands and feet. They also have a shell on their back, and a water-filled dish on their head. As long as the dish is full of water, kappa keep their supernatural powers. Kappa are known for dragging people into the water and pulling out their livers through their anuses.

Although kappa harm people sometimes, there are also many tales where they have helped people. They are very curious. They often appear in cartoons because of their lovable images.

Kappa love sumo wrestling and cucumbers. That is why cucumber sushi rolls are called "kappa maki". "Okappa" are bobbed hairstyles because they look like the kappa's hairstyles. Kappa are excellent swimmers. There is a saying "Kappa no kawa nagare (a drowning kappa)" which means, even an expert can make mistakes sometimes.

Rokurokubi

Female monsters with long, flexible necks. They look just like ordinary humans during the day, but at night, they extend their necks to frighten or spy on people. They sometimes turn their human faces into those of demons.

Yuki-Onna

A snow woman, appears in a white kimono on a stormy night. She causes travelers to become lost and freeze to death. Click here to read the story of "Yuki-Onna" by Lafcadio Hearn (Koizumi Yakumo).

Hitotsume-Kozou

A one-eyed goblin, literally has a large eye in the center of its face. It looks like the shaved head of a priest. It does not play tricks, but just scares people.

Happy Halloween and Dewa mata!

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