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TEACHIN~ ENGLISH ilk JAPAN: HELP #GT WANTED The Japanese world of the supematural comprises a dizzying array of characters, from the humorously bizarre to the downright terrifying. In the 18th century, Toriyama Sekien attempted to categorize the many different types of ghostly beings that inhabit the Japanese landscape, its heavens and its hells; the results of his efforts filled four huge volumes. Here, Tim Screech takes us on a slightly more abbreviated tour.

the Japanese "ghost," is exactly what its name and logs crackling, as shadows deepen and listeners become suggests: o is an ho[mrific prefix, while bnke is a too afraid to go to bed. Mytlas about Japanese ghosts do not Obake,noun from bakeru (~t~-Yo), the verb meaning talk uf the ghoul nn the frozen staircase, the skeleton in the dergo change." Japanese ghosts, then, are essentially trans- musty closet, or the drafty bell-tower, but of the tangled bed formations. They are one sort of thing that mutates into an- clothes or the broken fan. The classic type are spawned from other, one phemmaenon that experiences shift and alteration, steamy weather--squeezed out, as if in some fetid momenk one meaning that becomes unstuck and twisted into some- frmn other things. thing else. Obake undermine the certainties of life as we usu- The materials that breed obake can be many, and often ally understand it. routine, as if it is precisely the near at-hand ohject that is the The Japanese ghost is a thing of summer. There are none most st~sceptible to transformation. A discarded umbrell¢~ of the scary tales told around a winter fh-e--flames spitting may enter the world of the strange as an umbrella obake--

14 Mangajin GHOSTLY TERMS ATTRIBUTES OF YOREI

Obake (~ 1’l~-)/Bakernono According to Shint5 beliefs, Literally, "transforming thing." Refers to any type of preternatural people are endowed with a spirit or a being. Comprises y~kai and yerei, and can also be used more gee- soul, called reikon (~). When a emily to refer to anything that is weird or grotesque. person dies, the reikon leaves the body and joins the souls of its an- cestors, provided the correct funeral and post-funeral rites have been Y~kai Yfirei (~) performed. Ancestral souls are a U~terat~y, "bewitching appari- L;~teratty, "dim/hazy/faint comforgng presence; they are be- tion." Encompasses a wide spirit," Spirits of the dead who lieved to protect the family, and are spectrum of ghouls, goblins remain among the living for a welpomed back to the home every and monsters--some frighten- specific purpose, usually to summer during the obon festival. ing, some amusing, and many seek vengeance. YBrei bizarre. Yhkai usually appear generally appear between However, when a person dies in at dawn or dusk. 2 and 3 AM. an unexpected manner or with an excess of emotion, or when he or she hasn’t been given an appropri- ate funeral, the reikon may become "Demons" or "ogres." Ferocious creatures with horns and fangs that a yOreL a tormented ghost who re- are best known for manning the gates of the various Buddhist hells mains among the living in order to and performing some of the tortures that take place in them. seek revenge or take care of unfin- ished business. In the beginning, y~rei were visually indistinguishable from their original human selves. Then, in the late 17th cen- SOME WELL.KNOWN tury, as kaidan (’1~.~, "ghost stories") became increasingly popular in literature and in the theater, y~rei began to ac- quire certain attributes which continue to characterize them Tengu (~ ~i~): A powerful mounlain goblin, originally por- today. It is believed that the main purpose of these trayed with a long beak and tributes was to make it easier to distinguish y~rei in art and wings but gradually becoming on the stage from ordinary, living characters. more human-like, with a long Most of the yhrei’s characteristics derive from Edo-period nose instead of a beak. Tengu funeral rituals. For example, they appear in white, the color can assume various forms and can be kind protectors or cruel in which people were buried at that time--either in white tricksters, carrying off small chil- katablra (~, a plain, unlined kimono) or in kyhkalabira dren, starting fires, end even (,~1~-, a white katabira inscribed with Buddhist sutras). inciting wars. Kappa (i~ ~): A scaly river Y~rei also appear with a white triangular piece of paper or monster with a beak-like snout cloth on their forehead--usually tied around the head with and a waterfi~led dish on its string--called hitaikakushf (~,~. L, lit. "forehead cover"). head that gives it supernatural These were originally conceived to protect the newly dead powers. Kappa are dangeroue from evil spirits, but eventually became just part of the ritual pranksters, known for dragging people into the water and then ornamentation of Buddhist funerals. pulling their intestines out YOrei began to appear without legs in the mid-18th cen- through their anuses. Kappa tury, as par~ of the movement toward increasingly lurid and love cucumbers and sumo gruesome kaidan. Some attribute this wrestling--but if you are chal- new characteristic to Maruyama (~kyo lenged to a bout, and value your life, you had best let the (~IZI~,-~) a well-known artist of the Rokurokubi (~ ( ~ ~-): kappa win. time. In the theater, actors portraying A female monster with an ex- yQrai wore long kimono to cover their tremely flexible neck. At day legs, and were often hung by a hid- they are indistinguishable from den rope to appear more yhrei-like. normal women, but after night- The outstretched arms and dangling fall rokurokubi stretch their hands typical of y~rei also arose as a necks out to any length in search of prey. According to one convention of the theater. theory, they are seeking out See sidebars on pp. 18-19 for two men in order to suck the life energy out of them. famous kaidan,

Msngajin 15 Feature-Story

(colltimled ftvm page 14) steam seeming to rise oddly from the A face suddenly ticularly prone to change waxed-paper brim and forming a leer- appears and then naturally come to be ing face. There is also the lamp disappears in the thought of as obake. For chgchin) obake that grows out of a nor- flames of a bon- example,/he fox is both an mally swinging lantern, investing its ap- fire, a "will-o’-the- animal in nature and a proachable, dangling form with weird wisp" (’)<© ~,-, hi bakemono (’~)~q’;~), or life, as the shade and candle inside no tama) lingers too "transforming thing." Once bounce angrily against the blasts of a long above har- very common throughout gale. vested paddies, the Japan, foxes were neverthe- Obake can possess an element of "fox fire" less seldom seen since they cuteness as well; indeed, they some- kitsunebi) is both seen moved at night; dead birds, times evoke more amusement than fear. and not seen behind broken fences and chick- Children make drawings of umbrellas hedges and thickets, Fire en’s blood were the only with grinning fhces~ and may giggle at is one of the greatest of all evidence of their nocturnal the image of a ripped and gaping lan- transformers, for it alters passages. Jt may have been tern. Most of the time such things are anything it touches, turning the difficulty of seeing a perfectly harmless. But therein also lies dead meat into food, fi’igid fox, or of keeping it in view their danger--no one can ever be quite pallor into warmth. But fire for any period of time, certain when the transformations will will also reduce homes or which led to the notion that take place. tenaples to ashes, desta’oy the they undergo actual physi- A significant number of obake are labor of many hands, or cru- cal shift. A fox might skulk explicitly related to fire. In many soci- elly terminate life. The fire into the farmyards looking eties, fire is seen as the chief helper of obake will uot submit to like a fox, but exit in an en- working people, but also as their dead- anyone’s control, tirely different form--as liest menace, and so fire is often an in- Centuries ago in India, the an old woman, a boy, a de- dication of strange forces in the offing. Buddha taught that uothing in mon, or a princess. In Japa- this world is nese lore, they live a sort stable, no form of Anonymous, Oni of mirror image of human existence is any- society, with fox lords and : thing more than a ladies, servants and labor- wandering ers--standing on hind through flux. People may legs, dressed in human clothes, and car- think they have a self, and rying out their mystic rituals by lantern may strive to build an ego, light in the middle of the forest. or worry about Iheir personal To the end of mitigating the powers consistencies or reputations, that these worrisome animals possessed, but these concerns are delu- shrines were erected, and the fox-god, sions. A "self" is an imagi- Inan (’~lM,q), became the most popular nary construct; and so, in a roadside divinity, honored with a clap sense, "transformation" is of the hands on passing by, or with a actually the truest manifesta- gift of flowers, sake, or fried t0fu tion of being. Obake, the ul- (aburage, believed to be a favorite food timate transformers, point up of foxes). Even today, it is common to the folly of our human secu- see a little street-corner shelter with a rity in the unchanging status ceramic fox image housed behind a of things, and obliterate our grill, offerings carefully placed in front proud sense of understanding to ward off all dangerous eventualities. the structure of the world, Foxes have to be placated, for they are Obake both reflect and potentially disastrous to the livelihood remind us of the inherent of the farmer. They are also constant and mutability in the world salutary reminders of the fox-like char- around us. At the same time, acteristics that lie at the root of human the elements of the observ- behavior as well. Tsukioka Yoshitoshi, The Fox-Woman Leaving Her Ohild (The Nelson-Atkins Musaum of Art~ Kansas City, MO) able world that appear par- In the 1780s the scholar and artist

yawarageru/nadameru ¯ salutary = ~ ~ ~2 vueki-no

16 MangajJn FeatureoStory

Toriyama Sekien began an exhaustive study of ghosts and ghouls in which he attempted to offer the reader a full list of all known types. The project was slightly absurd, of course, since ghosts cannot be counted up in thnt way, and by their very nature, obake resist normal categorization. The first vol- ume appeared in 1781 uader the title of The Hundred De- mons’ Night Parade (~ ~ ~’~, Hyakki YakS). Yoriyama pro- duced The IlIustrated Bag of One Hundred Random Ghosts (~[] ~-~:,,~,,~, Gazu Hyokki Tsurezure-bukuro) three years later, and completed two further volmnes in the years that followed, ultimately compiling what remains the most definitive list of spectral types. Each volume of the set was fully illustrated with monochrome pictures, one entire page devoted to the likeness and description of each particular spook. Toriyama’s books were wildly popular in their day, and went through numerous impressions. Most modern col- lections of lapanese rare books have at least a few copies. The various ghouls, ghosts and monsters that Toriyama set out to categorize are generically termed ySkai However, he also included some creatures that are usually thought to lie outside the realm of y~kai--for example, oni (~), the Japanese demon, shaggy-haired and horned, and often wielding a huge gnarled club. Oni are generally ina- levolent towards humanity; they are fearsome creatures that guard the portals of heli. Once a year on February 3Id there is an oni-bashing ceremony, when beans--symbolizing wealth--are thrown outside of doorways and throughout the house to cries of "Oni out, good luck in !" (Oni wa solo, fuku wa uchi). But oni, like all other beings, are susceptible to shifts; it was even said that they could be turned to good. One, included in Toriyama’s list, permitted itself to become the bearer of a lamp to light a Buddhist altar. But such oni remained demons nonetheless, and would likely revert to their old selves at some unsuspecting moment, for neither their good nor their bad states were constant.

Suzuki Kosai, Exorcizing Oni With Beans (spencer Museum of Art, University of Kansas, The Thayer CoJleclion)

d~kobokono/gotsugol~lu shit~t ° revert = ~ ~’7~ modoru

Mangajin 17 Feature.Story

Banch~ Sarayashiki (The Story of Okiku) Okiku works as a maid at the home of tha samurai Aayama Tessan. One day while cleaning a collection of ten precious ceramic platen famiF/trousure-she accidentally breaks one of them. The outraged Ao~/ema kills her and throws the corpse into an old well. Every’ night afterwards, Okiku’s ghost rises from the well, counts slowF/to nine and then breaks into heartrending sobs, over and over and over again, tormenting the samurai. Finally, vengeance is wrought when Anyama goes insane. [In an PuNished by BABEL PRESS nltomate oursion, in Japan~700 Ao’/ama wishes Oklku to become his mistress, and falsely’ accuses her of breaking a plate so that he can offer forgiveness in exchange for her love. When she refuses, he kills her.] Tsukioka Yoshitoshi, The Ghost of Okiku (3~ne Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas Cffy, MO)

is sodden death by murder, slaying in In froma category yOkai, all is byyet itself, another separate type of battle, or rash suicide. The soul of the Japanese ghost: the yffrei (~,). Japanese person cut off too soon is left Whereas y~,kai, for all their creepiness, to mope through a sorry existence until can have a certain element of fun to it is properly laid to rest, but it will ne- them, yfirei are downright scary. They ver allow itself to be laid to rest until are the spirits or souls of the dead, and its purpose for remaining among the liv- so, unlike yOkai in this way as well, ing (usually revenge) has been fulfilled. were once ordinary people. Most y~rei ultimately avenge them- More specifically, yfirei are the selves and rise to a better state of be- ghosts of those who at the moment of ing, but this may take centuries--and death were deprived of the time to re- some are never quite appeased. It is ru- pose themselves. Quietness is necessary mored that Oiwa, Japan’s most famous (in Japan ¥800) to achieve the spiritual calm required for y~rei, who obtained vengeance for her attainment of Buddhahood, and the most husband’s cruel deeds over three BABEL INC. common cause of ending t~p as a y~rei (cantimted on page 69) 1-3-6 Nishikanda, Chiyoda-ku ¯ heartrendingsobs = ,#~ ~r~ ~ ~q~ ~y’~ ~ hOsu-na musebi~akl ¯ torment = ~ L ~3-~ kurushimeru ~ Tokyo 101 Japan Tei.03-3295-2304 ¯ deprived = ~ ;L ¢9 ~-~ ~ ataerarenat ¯ mope = .g ~ ~ .~’~ ~_, ~ ©~;~,K.~,~ ~J~:~ .~ fusagikomu, mata, sono jotai de hok5 suru

18 Mangafin FeatureoStory

Takaid6 ¥otswa Kaidan (The Ghost Story of Tfkaid Yotswa) The mcsterless samurai lyemon has fallen kiss her-but alas, he is confronted by the upon hard times. It is a constont struggle to terrifying visage of Oiwa instead. In a panic support his beautiful but ailing wife Oiwa and he cuts off her head, only to find thor he has their newborn child, and he gr~v~ inereaalngly really iuet killed his new wife. He rnahes off in resentful of her. He finally succumbs to horror to confess to the grandfather, but his temptation when the granddaughter of a well- path is blocked by the appearance nf Kohei’s to-do neighbor falls in love with him. ghost. Again he sloshes off its head, this time Encouraged by the grandfather, who wants to find that he has killed the grandfather. lyomnn as a snn-Maw, hn pnlsnns Oiwa with a supposedly "medicinol" drink. She becomes grisly spirits of those he has murdered. One horribly disfigured from the poison and dies a d~y he goes fishin~ to seek solace, only to brutal death. reel in the door with the corpses of Oiwa and To justify his murder of Oiwa, lyemon Kohei a~ached. Terrified, he escapes to a fatvicatos the story that she w~e h~vlng an m~nt~in co~e, ~h~e he I~ continually affair with his servant, Kobotoke Knhei. He tormented by frightening images, such as that then murders Knhel, nails the two bodies to of Oiwa’s face emerging from a lantern that opposing sides of a door, and throws the door swings over his head. Finally lyemon is put Into a river. out of hi~ misery when Oiwa’s brother arrives New lyomen is ~re~ to en~oV hi~ weddln~ ShunkSsai Hokuei, The Lantern Ghost of Oiwa rites. Flush with joy, he li~s his bride’s veil to (Spencer Museum of Art, University of Kansas, sister’s death. Gif[ of H. Lee Turner)

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Mangajin 19 ,~.. ~ ’~ "J ~ 4 "~- )~ ¯ What’s Michael?

Sound FX: Za? Za.t Za.t (scraping/scratching sound)

Husband: N "Hunh?" n represerlts a vague/uncertain grunt, in this case made when coming back to consciousness and becoming aware of the scraping/scratching sound.

Husband: A! "Oh no!" a!indicatesth~speakerhassudden~yn~ticed/rec~gn~zeds~mething~ike‘‘~h!~_~r~whenit~ss~mething bad/undesirable, "Oh no!" a small I.s.tt at the end era word or sentence implies the last syllable is spoken crisply/sharply, so it in effect ~erves as at~ exclamation point.

Feature,Story hundred years ago, still haunts the area around her grave. An interesting physical aspect of y~rei is that they have In general, y0rei do not roam arbitrarily, but stick Io fa~ no legs, trailing off instead into smoke-like wisps where miliar locales--such as the place marking their untimely death. a person’s legs would normally be. The absence of legs fits A late-night sojourner (specifically one traveling between the with the general non-corporeality of the y~rei, for their whole hours of 2:00 and 3:00 AM, when yurei are apt to appear) bodies are wraithlike and lacking in that outer boundary of who unwittingly crosses a field where someone once took her skin or scale that holds other living things in shape. Legs serve own life, or who traverses a bridge spanniug a river in which to join creatures to the soil, they root being to the earth, and so to be legless is in a sense to be disengaged. This feature of Rising up from the darkness, yOrei reanimate themselves with the Japanese ghost is not dissimilar to the ability of the West- the flame of their passion. This makes them partially human ern ghost to float slightly above the ground, or slightly be- again, reinvested with their original mind and smnething of neath it, without using the legs it still theoretically has. their former bodies too scars, blood and all. But unlike a There is another point to be made of tbe legless ghost: by living person, yOrei are utterly concentrated on a singie goal. binding people Io the soil, legs stress what part is on top and Retribution or clearing/heir name occupies their entire be- what is on bottom; they ad,~ertise a right way up and a wrong ing, and so they lack the roundedness of a mortal. A yurei is a one. To be without legs is to be devoid of this proper stan- purpose. dard. Ghosts are likely to come at night, not only because Many y~.rei are female ghosts who suffered badly in life they relish the dark, but because people sleep lying down, from the vagaries of love, and whose powerful emotions of their feet on the same level as their heads. At funerals, Japa- jealousy, sorrow, regret, or spite at their time of death has nese corpses were buried seated (although cremation is com- mon today) so that they entered the next life still in the cor- their suffering. Male yurei are less common, and less likely rect posture, mind firmly at the top. Ghosts are apt to invert. This would all seem quite far off to contemporary Japa- killed in battle and so has no personal grudge ~since to die nese. They may know the stories, but they surely don’t be- was part of his profession), bat cannot pull himself away from lieve in them. Or do they? Such myths tend to run deep. And the historical events in which he figured. This type of yfirei is it uot intriguing that in this very year, Toriyama’s books figures often in Nob plays, and he is often indistinguishable were reissued again after a lapse of over two centuries? A at first sight from a real person. He hangs around ancient deluxe edition appeared this spring, just in time for a long battlefields or moss-covered temple precincts waiting for a and abnormally torrid summer. kindly person to come along who will listen to his story of Tim Screech is a professor of Japanese art history at the School of what took place there in the past. A record is set straight, a Oriental and African Studies, University of London. smeared reputation untarnished, a name cleared. Such ghosts let out the secrets of history, and are bent only on letting the I A~tte~phen Addis (New York: George Braziller, Inc. in association ) truth be known. The matters in which they had been involved in life are too long past for the struggles to be rekindled. [ wilh the Spencer Museum of Art, University of Kansas, 1985), ~

Mangajin 69