Japan has been culturally isolated for many years. The period of isolation contributed to the birth of an exceptional layer of oral and visual art, close to European surrealism.
Japanese legends, whose roots stretch back to ancient times, reflect both primordial Shinto beliefs and later philosophical parables of Zen Buddhism. In folk art, all this is intricately intertwined with traditional superstitions and moralizing tales for children.
Modern Japanese fairy tales and legends largely bear the imprint of those times when nature, according to ordinary Japanese, was inhabited by spirits; going out at night on a deserted road, one could easily meet a ghost; and communication with these creatures often ended in the death of a person.
The image of a fish - a messenger from the underworld
In the mythology of different peoples there are fish endowed with some unusual qualities, as representatives of the mysterious lower world,inhabited, according to shamanic beliefs, by the spirits of the dead. This is their potential danger. But if, knowing the habits of fish, behave correctly, you can achieve a lot.
Japanese legends and myths are no exception in this sense. An assistant in worldly affairs has traditionally been considered a carp, endowed with exceptional courage and willpower, which allows it to move even against the current.
Soma was declared the culprit of the earthquakes that Japan is so famous for. This fish in Japanese legends is as frequent a visitor as earthquakes. After 1885, when the city of Edo (the old name of Tokyo) was practically destroyed, there was an opinion among the people that these were the tricks of the giant Namazu catfish. Since that time, there have been several engravings depicting catfish being pacified by the god Kashima.
Shark - the fish of evil and death in Japanese legends
Across Japan, there are shrines in the form of processed stones with inscriptions dedicated to the tailed biju demons and the elements subject to them: wind, water, fire, lightning and earth.
The power of water is possessed by a biju in the form of a horned shark. He is also depicted as a cross between a tortoise and a toad, with three tails and three frightening fangs. This creature, according to legend, lives at great depths, only occasionally coming up to breathe on the surface. Then a powerful storm rises, which cannot be resisted.
The demon shark is characterized by immense aggressiveness and bloodthirstiness. That is why this fish in Japanese legends is a symbol of evil. She appears accompanied by the fish Samehade, who helps her transform food intothe energy that the bijuu shark uses to control the element of water.
Of course, occasionally an event occurs that does not correspond to the logic of this monster, and he helps someone. However, this comes at a heavy price.
Legend of the Snow Woman Yuuki-onna
An old Japanese legend about Yuki-onna, a white-faced woman who freezes men with her kiss, still remains popular. One winter night, she almost killed a young man named Minokichi, who had to wait out a blizzard with his father in a forest hut. The Snow Witch decided to spare him in exchange for a promise not to tell anyone about their meeting.
The next year he met an orphan girl named O-Yuki. After a while they got married and had a bunch of wonderful white kids. Everything was wonderful in their marriage, only it is strange that O-Yuki did not age at all.
And then one day, seeing his wife in the light of a night lamp, Minokichi suddenly remembered that incident in the winter forest, and told her about it, which later he regretted more than once. The enraged and upset woman admitted that she was Yuki-onna, accusing her husband of violating the oath. Only the children sleeping peacefully nearby kept her from killing her husband.
When leaving for the spirit world, Yuuki threatened to make sure Minokichi took care of them.
Legends of Cranes
The Japanese love this freedom-loving bird, about which there are many legends. Here is one of them. Once upon a time, a young man saved a crane, which turned into a beautiful girl. They aremarried and were happy until the young husband found out her secret when he saw how she weaves a cloth from her feathers. Then the indignant girl again turned into a crane and left her lover.
Another story about an origami master. All his life he folded various paper figures, and then gave them to the neighbor's children. Once he presented one of the figurines to a wandering monk, who prophesied we alth and fame to the master if he remained true to his calling.
The master even during the war continued to make his figurines, putting his soul into them. One day his crane, flapping its wings, flew away. And then the war ended. So he became a symbol of peace and fulfillment of desires. This is what the Japanese legend of the crane tells about: any wish will come true if you add 1000 of these figures.
Plots of urban legends
Modern Japanese urban legends have been influenced by the traditional oral story kaidan, whose protagonists are the restless onryo spirits. As a rule, these are the ghosts of dead people who came to restore justice, take revenge or fulfill a curse. Based on stories taken from kaidans, plays for kabuki theater were often written.
Necessary components of a classic kaidan:
• The plot involves not only ordinary people, but also supernatural beings, usually ghosts, seeking revenge.
• Behind the external action is the law of the inevitability of karma or retribution.
• Revenge is the backbone of almost every storyline.
•There are few characters, and each of them is drawn brightly, up to the grotesque.
Otherworldly beings are represented by obake and bakemono monsters that are able to change their shape. A variant of obake is yōkai, which can represent any undead. There are also "they" - demons living in a local version of hell.
Meiji Urban Legends
After long years of isolation, during the reign of Emperor Mutsuhito of the Meiji dynasty, in the second half of the 19th century, revolutionary changes took place in the country, turning it towards the world. When there was a sharp transition from the traditional to the European way of life and the technological revolution associated with it, Japanese legends appeared, which reflected the fear of the inhabitants of the rapid changes in life.
From 1872, railroads began to be built throughout the country, and this caused mass sightings of ghost trains. Most often they were seen late at night by the machinists themselves. They looked like ordinary trains rushing towards them along the same tracks. However, just before the collision, the ghosts disappeared. The appearance of ghostly trains was sometimes confirmed by the observations of scientists, but was explained in no less strange way: they say, werewolf animals (foxes, badgers or raccoons), whose bodies were found in the places of failed collisions, are to blame for everything.
Another story related to power lines: it was suspected that not tar, but the blood of virgins was used to insulate the wires. This led to the fact that the girls began to be afraid to leave the house orthey disguised themselves as elderly women so that they could safely go out into the street.
Features of a modern urban legend
Scary Japanese legends are created around the ghosts of people who died as a result of an injustice committed against them or a banal accident. They are simply obsessed with the theme of revenge and arrange the act of revenge in the most perverted way, terrifying everyone around.
For example, they like to ask ambiguous questions - a kind of Zen koan, which cannot be answered literally, so as not to lose some part of the body or life itself. City ghosts can now be found in school toilet stalls or in the night bath. The ghost could be a woman with a gauze bandage on her face, and anywhere you could be attacked by a lady with half of her body cut off by a train.
Perhaps by telling such stories, the Japanese support their mentality, and at the same time create a kind of environment for the proper upbringing of the younger generation. They warn against dangerous night walks, accustom to cleanliness, warn of the possible consequences of betrayal.
Numerous Japanese legends and horror stories can be divided into main themes.
Vengeance
The main theme of horror stories, as already mentioned, is revenge. Moreover, the ghosts do not try to figure out who is right - who is wrong, and take revenge on everyone. This illogicality of their behavior and pumps a special horror. After all, it is simply impossible to predict who will be the next victim. The only thing that makes sense in the killing spree is the bindingghost to a certain place. The place where they took his life.
There are also Japanese legends in which others avenge a murder. For example, a story about a woman in a purple kimono. The grandmother avenged the death of her grandson, who was killed by classmates, by tearing out the liver from the children. The color of her clothes was a clue, as her questions had to be said "purple". It was the only way to survive.
The most popular horror story on this subject is the legend of Hanako, the toilet ghost. Stories about a girl killed in a school toilet cubicle are told by schoolchildren in Japan in a different way. Many believe that it can be found in any school toilet.
Cursed places
There are a lot of sights of this kind in urban folklore. These are abandoned houses, hospitals, entire streets and parks. Japanese legends and horror stories are very often associated with such places.
For example, the Sennichimae district in Osaka is famous for its ghosts, where in the last century there was a strong fire that killed more than a hundred people. Since then, terrible ghosts roam the streets of this cursed area at night, frightening the rare night passers-by with their appearance.
Or take a story about a "bad apartment" located in an old high-rise building without an elevator (7 floors, 7 steps of stairs). No one stayed in this apartment for long, but everyone hid why.
Everything came out when another tenant was found dead in his bed. It was then that the secret of the room was revealed: at nighta ghostly child approached her, climbing the steps and reporting his approach until he opened the door to the apartment. Here is a guy who could not stand such tension.
Frightening deformities
Many ancient Japanese legends mention ugly yurei entities. These deformities were hidden by them for the time being under the hair or were frighteningly visual, demonstrating extra parts of the body or their absence.
Modern Japanese have continued this theme, adding up the legend of the "woman with a slit mouth" (Kutisake Onna). This lady in a gauze bandage walks the streets of different cities, and asks the children she meets one question: “Am I beautiful?” Tearing off the bandage that hides a terrible scar and bared teeth, she repeats it, holding large scissors at the ready. And you can only be saved by not answering anything specific - "yes" or "no" will only mean getting a similar deformity or cutting off your head.
Another horror story is called "Tek-Tek". It's about a woman cut in half by a train. The unfortunate night ghost moves on his elbows, and his movement is accompanied by a characteristic sound, for which he was nicknamed Tek-Tek. The woman pursues the children she meets on her way until she cuts them with a scythe. This is a warning for young children playing outside at night.
Dolls come to life
It is not good to leave or throw away your favorite dolls - Japanese legends tell about this, in which dolls take revenge for the fact that their former owners forget them. In horror stories of this typethe idea is embodied that we put a particle of our soul into objects with which we interact for a long time.
This is the Okiku doll, famous all over Japan, whose hair began to grow, as if her deceased mistress had incarnated in her body. The little girl loved her very much and practically did not part with her “girlfriend”. When Okiku suddenly fell ill and died, her family began to pray to an abandoned doll in their home altar, one day noticing that her hair was growing. I even had to cut them.
But the other doll was unlucky - they got rid of it like an unnecessary old thing. It was Lika-chan. One day, her former mistress was left at home alone, and suddenly the phone rang. An unnatural voice told the girl that it was Lika-Chan, and she was heading towards her mistress. And so it was repeated several times, until the doll announced that she was behind the girl's back.
Technological horror stories
This is perhaps the most recent theme that fuels modern Japanese legends. For example, a story about mobile phones.
To call Satoru-kun, who has the answer to any question, you need to call from the machine to your mobile phone number. Then, after waiting for the connection, call Satoru-kun through the handset of the machine. As in the legend of Liku-chan, now calls to the mobile phone will inform about the approach of the mysterious Satoru.
And finally, he will report that he is already here, behind your back. Now is the time to ask your question. But if he hesitates or turns around, Satoru-kun can drag the curious into his ghostlypeace.
Fear or Hope?
It was possible to talk for a long time about the world of Japanese legend, filled with magic, peculiar oriental humor, bloodthirsty monsters and horror stories. Modern cinema, in an effort to add more adrenaline to their products, draws from this world with a big spoon. Who hasn't seen the movie The Ring, in which the black-haired girl was the scariest character?
And at the same time, the romantic legend of 1000 cranes is widely known, which has become a symbol of hope and peace on earth. This happened a few years after the bombing of Hiroshima, when a little girl suffering from radiation sickness, who believed in this legend, began to fold figurines of cranes.
She managed to make a little more than half of the cranes, and her dream of recovery and peace on the planet did not come true. But the legend itself has become the property of mankind.
