ukiyo-e print of y-kai, by Aotoshi Matsui
Y-kai (--, "demon", "spirit", or "monster"-) are a class of obake, creatures in Japanese folklore ranging from the evil oni to the mischievous kitsune or snow woman Yuki-onna. Some possess part animal and part human features (e.g. Kappa and Tengu). Y-kai generally have a sort of spiritual or supernatural power, and so encounters with human beings tend to be dangerous. Y-kai also have different motives and agendas from human beings, which are often completely incomprehensible.
Japanese folklorists and historians use y-kai as "supernatural or unaccountable phenomena to their informants". In the Edo period, many artists, such as Toriyama Sekien, created a lot of y-kai inspired by folklore or their own ideas, and in the present, not a few y-kai created by them (e.g. Kameosa and Amikiri, see below) are wrongly considered as being of legendary origin.[citation needed]
Some y-kai simply avoid human beings; they generally inhabit secluded areas far from human dwellings. Other y-kai, however, choose to live near human settlements out of some strange attraction to Mankind. Perhaps they are drawn by the warmth of human houses or the oil that humans keep to feed their fires. Y-kai are traditionally associated with fire, the direction northeast, and the season of summer, when the spirit world is closest to the world of humans. Y-kai and obake are often depicted in guises as much humorous as terrifying.
From the 1960s on, manga artist Shigeru Mizuki popularized many types of y-kai in his works (e.g., the titular one-eyed y-kai protagonist in Ge Ge Ge no Kitaro). Lafcadio Hearn's collection of Japanese ghost stories entitled Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things includes stories of y-rei and y-kai such as Yuki-onna.
Types
There are a wide variety of y-kai in Japanese folklore. In general, y-kai is a broad term, and can be used to encompass virtually all monsters and supernatural beings, even including creatures from European folklore on occasion (e.g., the English bugbear is often included in Japanese folklore to the point that some mistakenly believe it originates from said folklore).
Shapeshifting animal
A good number of animals that are thought to have magic of their own can be found in Japan. Most of these are henge (--, henge-), shapeshifters, which often imitate humans, mostly women. Some of the better known animal y-kai include the following:
Oni
One of the most well-known aspects of Japanese folklore is the oni, which is a sort of mountain-dwelling ogre, usually depicted with red, blue, brown or black skin, two horns on its head, a wide mouth filled with fangs, and wearing nothing but a tigerskin loincloth. It often carries an iron club or a giant sword. Oni are mostly depicted as evil, but can occasionally be the embodiment of an ambivalent natural force. They are, like many obake, associated with the direction northeast.
Tsukumogami
Tsukumogami are an entire class of y-kai and obake, comprising ordinary household items that have come to life on the anniversary of their one-hundredth birthday. This virtually unlimited classification includes Bakezouri (straw sandals), Karakasa (old umbrellas), Kameosa (old sake jars), and Morinji-no-kama (tea kettles).
Human transformations
ukiyo-e print of y-kai, by Kawanabe Kyosai
There are a large number of y-kai which were originally ordinary human beings, transformed into something horrific and grotesque usually by some sort of extreme emotional state. Women suffering from intense jealousy, for example, were thought to transform into the female oni represented by hannya masks. Other examples of human transformations or humanoid y-kai are the rokuro-kubi (humans able to elongate their necks during the night), the ohaguro-bettari (a figure, usually female, that turns to reveal a face with only a blackened mouth), futakuchi-onna (a woman with a voracious extra mouth on the back of her head), and dorotab- (the risen corpse of a farmer, who haunts his abused land), among many others.
Miscellaneous
There are countless number of y-kai that are too bizarre to fit into broad categories. These are usually some sort of perversion or transformation of creatures found in ordinary life, or are entirely new types of goblin-like creatures. Some examples are the abura-sumashi, an old, smug-faced and potato-headed goblin who drinks oil; the ami-kiri, a creature that exists for no other purpose than to cut mosquito netting; and the ushi-oni, a cow demon that is sometimes depicted with the body of a giant spider.
Popular culture
Various kinds of y-kai are encountered in folklore and folklore-inspired art and literature, particularly manga and Japanese horror. The man to whom most of the credit should go for keeping y-kai in the popular imagination (at least in Japan) is Shigeru Mizuki, the manga creator of such series as GeGeGe no Kitaro and Kappa no Sanpei. With the exception of three volumes of GeGeGe no Kitaro, however, Mizuki's works have yet to be translated into English.
Y-kai have continued to be a common theme in modern works of fiction. They served as the stars in the 1960s Yokai Monsters film series, which was loosely remade in 2005 as Takashi Miike's The Great Yokai War. They often play major roles in Japanese animation and comics, including animated films such as Studio Ghibli's Pom Poko, and various series such as Jigoku Shoujo, Rosario to Vampire, Y-kai Ningen Bem, InuYasha, Hell Teacher N„b“, Karas, Naruto, Tactics, YuYu Hakusho, Saiyuki, Kekkaishi, Shonen Onmyouji and Harukanaru Toki no Naka De. They also appear commonly in video games, such as Darkstalkers, “kami, xxxHolic, Touhou and Pocky & Rocky They were also the enemy for 1994's Ninja Sentai Kakuranger.
Foreign works
In the English-speaking world, knowledge of y-kai is slowly, but surely, developing a dedicated following. Hawaiian folklorist Glen Grant was known for his "Obake Files", a series of reports he developed about supernatural incidents in Hawaii; the grand bulk of these incidents and reports were of Japanese origin, though in retelling have been much modified from their original forms in Japanese folklore. Additionally, Mexican-American folklorist and author Alfred Avila included "La Japonesa", a story about a nekomusume, in his collection Mexican Ghost Tales of the Southwest.
Another cultural reference was in the 1st Edition Oriental Adventures Dungeons and Dragons rulebook where one of the playable player races were the hengeyokai, animals that could change into a human form.
As a location
In more modern works, y-kai (--, y-kai- note the different kanji) and makai (--, makai-) are used synonymously as the supernatural world where y-kai live. Works which have included one or the other include the manga series Tokimeki Tonight and the young adult fiction series Y-kai Navi Luna (-, Y-kai Navi Luna-).
See also
Reference
- Hiroko Yoda and Matt Alt, Yokai Attack! (2008) Kodansha International, ISBN: 978-4-7700-3070-2 [1]
External links
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