Yokai

[Clayton]

What do you know about Japanese ghost, monsters, myths and legends?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yokai

[Master_Yoma]

Sorry I only know about northern european, native american and any thing about wolfs

[Yu Ominae]

The one I'm interested in was in the creation of Japan and the origin of the Imperial family. That stuff is placed in mythology.

Studied them in Japanese History all the way to pre-20th century.

[Xion Valkyrie]

Originally Posted by Clayton

What do you know about Japanese ghost, monsters, myths and legends?

They usually take the form of cute girls

[TinyRedLeaf]

I think this topic belongs better in the Japanese culture thread.

Not really sure which specific spirits or legends you're asking for, as there are literally millions of them in Japanese mythology. Like many cultures, not just those in East Asia but also those elsewhere around the world, there isn't a clear distinction between "gods" and "monsters" in Japan.

A semi-legendary figure to feature large includes Abe no Seimei. He was an onmyoji, a sorceror of sorts, who lived in Heian Japan (794 - 1185). The legends say that his mother, Kuzunoha, was a kitsune (a fox spirit) that took on human form to marry Abe's father. She was later forced to leave her child, heartbroken, because her real identity was discovered.

Her story, based on a poem she left behind, inspired this particularly haunting song featured in Shinichiro Watanabe's Samurai Champloo (2004).

[Arbitres]

*sigh* I swear.... You people need to use search engines just a tad more.

Oh well~

The most mythology I know relates to the creation mythos. I know the Sword story/stories of Muramasa, and a few others like the Yukiona(s).

I'm afraid my real mythology forte is Arthurian mythology and Ulster Cycle mythology, along with Norse and the relation to Norse and German mythology via Sigurd/Siegfried.

[Wrath88]

Lessee... Kappas are like western trolls, bribe them with cucumbers or force the water out of their head dish to pass the river where they live.

Fox spirits like to play tricks, rain on a clear sky is caused by foxes to hide their weddings from humans. In anime however, they seem to have VERY high libidos.

Then there's some stuff about a sacred sword that I can't recall.

[Arbitres]

Then there's some stuff about a sacred sword that I can't recall.

Do you mean Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi?

[milan kyuubi]

Originally Posted by Clayton

What do you know about Japanese ghost, monsters, myths and legends?

If you like this kind of stuff, than you need to check this out.

[TinyRedLeaf]

Originally Posted by milan kyuubi

If you like this kind of stuff, than you need to check this out.

Oh ho, great find.

I'm especially intrigued by the entry on Hanako-san.

Spoiler for protecting the weak-hearted:

"Hanako-san is a Japanese urban legend about the ghost of a young girl that's supposed to haunt school toilets, opening and closing doors and scaring anyone who enters the bathroom, knocks on her stall, and calls her name.

"Hanako, the ghost in the toilet almost achieved the status of a national phenomena in Japanese legend 20 years ago, when a wave of stories of ghost-sightings swept through the nation’s school yards.

"Every child had a 'Hanako' story to tell. The stories, of course, are many and varied but every schoolchild in Japan, at one time or another, has stood in dread and anticipation as he or she ventured into the school toilet alone."

I first heard about the above "hauntings" from The Making of Silent Hill 3, in which character/monster designer Masahiro Ito talked (at around 18:00) about the reason why toilets feature so often in the Silent Hill games.

Masahiro Ito: "In Japan, there is a tale of horror that takes place in the toilets. All Japanese children are familiar with this tale, that's why we connect the toilets with fright and horror. That's not all. Until recently, the Japanese still used the "squat type" toilet, that looks like a hole between two footrests, in which dejections where directly falling. There was a story that some children had fallen in and vanished. In a way, the toilet can be taken as a spooky hole, impossible to get out of once you fall in. Hence the connection with horror in Silent Hill."

I've been curious about that particular ghost since, but never found further references to it until now.

[Clayton]

Some bathroom ghosts are much worse than hanako. Red mantle for example.


So what are the rest of your favorite monsters from japan? Kitsune? Oni? Dragons? Snow ladies? The slit mouthed woman?


you knwo they've only had human emperors for the last few thousand years.

[Honeysuckle]

YUKI-ONNA
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1210/...h.htm#yukionna

MUJINA
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1210/...0-h.htm#mujina

ROKURO-KUBI
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1210/...0-h.htm#rokuro

KWAIDAN: Stories and Studies of Strange Things
By Lafcadio Hearn (1850 - 1904)

[SaintessHeart]

Spoiler for off-topic:

I am not exactly sure where the Ouija actually originated from, but I played it once. Everyone placed their hands on a glass and the glass is supposed to move.

The glass is placed in the middle of a piece of paper with the Chinese word of "home" written in the middle. Then 1-10 are written in numerical form on top, "me" is written on the left, "you" is written on the right.

The glass didn't move at all, so I gave up and went to sleep while my friends continued playing through the night at the chalet. The next day, one of them got knocked down by a car on our way out.

Coincidence or what? I don't know.

Well there is the "oni" of the Japanese myths, but nobody can ascertain if they are bad or good. That is all I know.

@ TRL & Milan Kyuubi - I think you guys missed this out :