Archive for February 2014

Japanese Mythology

February 4, 2014 Art, Earth Dragon, Far East Asia, Far East of Asia, History, Japan, Japanese, Manchester, Mythical creatures, Project, research, studying, Uncategorized Comments Off

Japanese Mythology

[I really like reading and studying the mythical creatures that had the great effect on every artistic field such as painting, movies, animation and etc. So I would like to share some of them in here that helped my research too:) ]

Japanese Mythology contains a wide variety of unique and bizarre monsters. Yet others are counterparts to creatures in the neighbouring mythologies of Korea and China. Many are seldom known in the Western world, even today.Below is a list of Japanese creatures collected:

– Akamataa

– Akki (Oni)
– Gashadokuro
– Ghidorah
– Gojira
– Kappa
– Mothra
– Ningyo
– Rodan
– Sennin
– Shishi
– Tengu
– Yokai
– Yurei

Akamataa

The Akamataa is a serpent spirit in the Japanese folklore. It is a mix of a woman and a snake.

Oni (鬼^?) are a kind of yōkai from Japanese folklore, variously translated as demons, devils, ogres or trolls. They are popular characters in Japanese art, literature and theatre.^[1]

Depictions of oni vary widely but usually portray them as hideous, gigantic ogre-like creatures with sharp claws, wild hair, and two longhorns growing from their heads.^[2] They are humanoid for the most part, but occasionally, they are shown with unnatural features such as odd numbers of eyes or extra fingers and toes.^[3] Their skin may be any number of colors, but red and blue are particularly common.^[4]^[5]

They are often depicted wearing tiger-skin loincloths and carrying iron clubs, called kanabō (金棒^?). This image leads to the expression “oni with an iron club” (鬼に金棒 oni-ni-kanabō^?), that is, to be invincible or undefeatable. It can also be used in the sense of “strong beyond strong”, or having one’s natural quality enhanced or supplemented by the use of some tool.^[6]^[7]

Gashadokuro

A Gashadokuro according to Japanese folklore is a giant skeleton many times taller than a human. It is though to be made of the bones of people who have starved to death. After midnight the ghost roams the streets making a ringing noise that sounds in the ears. If people do not run away when the Gashadokuro approaches it will bite off their heads with its giant teeth.(Source – A Little Lesson in Japanese Ghost Lore: http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/691563/a_little_lesson_in_japanese_ghost_lore.html?cat=10)

Ghidorah

Ghidorah (Ghidrah, Ghidora, King Ghidorah, the three-headed monster, Monster Zero) is a fictional three-headed dragon-like monster featured in severalGodzilla films. It is often depicted with two wings, two feet, three heads and a tail. It always appears as an antagonist to Godzilla and Earth at large. Originally it arrived by a magnetic meteorite before being repelled into space (proving it can survive in a vacuum). Aliens return with Ghidorah as their mind controlled slave. Its havoc is again stopped, even killing the creature in the 1968 movie.The monster returns in several resurrected forms thereafter.

Gojira

Gojira monsters are huge sea monsters that are longer than the blue whale. They are extremely muscled and lean. The muscles make up at least 80 percent of its body weight. Its skeleton weighs nearly nothing but is sturdy enough to hold all of the muscle. These monsters have small eyes and usually use smell and hearing for tracking down food and enemies. Their thick tails with fringed fins make it very very fast. Its claws are longer than a bus. If you see a Gojira, do not get anywhere near teeth, because they are sharper than glass shards. The tongue has a gooey liquid on it that makes prey stick on. Its slitted nostrils are admirable to Voldemort or gorillas. It is at least 90 times bigger than the blue whale and the blue whale is what it eats. Extremely dangerous. Do not come in contact with a king of Gojiras, or it will swallow you whole in a second. Try to kill it somehow. Its most sensitive part is the underbelly.

Kappa

The Kappa (Kawataro, Kawako) is a dwarf-like water demon of Japan, sometimes listed as one of the Obake. They resemble shrivelled old-men, with webbed hands and feet, sporting a tortoise shell. Skin colour ranges from green to blue to yellow, and even red. Their face can contain a beaked nose or else look like a monkey. Crowning their head of page-boy style hair is a circular depression filled with water. A kappa covered in hair is known as a Hyosube. They are known to speak Japanese fluently.An origin for the demons could be they are the ghosts of drowned souls. Any pond or river may have one. They possess immense strength and can easily overpower a human. Although the source of this power comes from the stored water within the dish on their head. Emptying the dish reduces the kappa to frailty. This may be done by bowing to the kappa upon encounter. In a show of manners the creature will bow back and thus pour out the contents of its might.

Activities from this demon can range from mischievous to deadly. It enjoys passing gas and forever gives off a fishy odour. It may also try to look up women’s kimonos and swim down the plumbing to stroke a persons bottom as they defecate. Else they will overpower a person or animal to drown them. Once drowned they remove a person’s entrails through their backside, favouring the liver or something the Japanese call the shirikodama.Besides fresh flesh, the kappa also partakes in vegetarian cuisine. It enjoys eggplants and cucumbers. It is said carving your name and age into a cucumber, then throwing it into the water for a hungry kappa, will ensure that kappa cannot harm you. Though it is also dangerous to swim soon after eating a cucumber.Kappa also loved contests. They would challenge passersby to such games as pull-my-finger and sumo wrestling. Should the demon win, they usually drowned and ate you. One tale tells of a samurai who accepted a kappa’s request for tug-of-war. Fortunately he outsmarted the kappa and used a horse to pull in his stead. The outmatched demon fell, spilling the contents of its head upon the ground. Now too weak to get away, the kappa promised to teach the samurai the trick of bone-setting if it could be released.

Many kappas have proven to be quite knowledgeable on subjects of medicine and irrigation. In a case where one kappa lost its arm to a frightened horse, it petitioned the villagers for the limb’s return. The community forced the kappa to sign a contract with its webbed hand. From then on the kappa delivered to the village piles of fish, and warned of other kappa passing through the area.

Source: Myths and Magic Encyclopedia – http://mythsandmagicencyclopedia.wikifoundry.com/page/Kappa

Ningyo

Ningyo is a Japanese water fairy who cries tears of pearls. Some say that Ningyo has the head of a human and the body of a fish. Other believe it is clad in sheer silk robes that move about it, like waves. Ningyos dwell in gorgeous palaces beneath the sea, and are very seductive.

refrence: http://www.mythicalcreaturesguide.com/page/Japanese+Mythology

Archive for February 2014