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Yokai, Kaidan, Kaiju: Japan's affinity for the weird

This version was saved 13 years, 1 month ago View current version     Page history
Saved by Anders Johnson
on February 10, 2011 at 4:21:04 pm
 

 

 YOKAI, KAIDAN, & KAIJU - JAPAN'S AFFINITY FOR THE WEIRD


Anders Johnson

 
  •      Yokai, Kaiju, Kaidan highlight a long-standing fascination with the strange & weird in Japanese culture, and their ever-changing relationship with weird creatures speaks to their shifting relationship with the other, the outsider, the new, & unknown.
  •        Yokai, Kaidan, & Kaiju all share the common Kanji character "Kai" which translates to "weird, strange or mysterious." In Yokai, it is paired with "yō" meaning "attracting" or "bewitching with."  In Kaidan, it is paired with "dan" meaning "to discuss or speak about." In Kaiju, it is paired with "ju" meaning "beast."  
  • So we have 
    • Yokai: Attracting weird, strange or mysterious 
    • Kaidan: Talking about something weird, strange or mysterious 
    • Kaiju: Weird, strange or mysterious beast.

 

YOKAI

 

Kappa: A water spirit residing in Japan's ponds, rivers, and lakes with the back of a turtle, a beak-like snout, and a flattened or bowl-like head ringed by a tuft of hair. One of the most popular Yokai, a Kappa's character ranges from mischievous prankster to bloodthirsty, murderous monster. They are said to pull people down under water till they drown, feast on people's livers, drink their blood, victimize animals and even rape women. They also love cucumbers and are said to be very very polite. If you should run into a Kappa, simply offer them a cucumber with your name carved into it as a bribe for your life, or bow to them. A Kappa will naturally bow back but in doing so, spill all the water out of the top of their head, rendering them unable to move until their head fills back up with water.  Kappas can also be won over, making them benevolent guardians.

 

 

 

 

ONI :  Great big demonic ogres who are said to be able to eat a man in one gulp. They move freely between the world of the living and the world of the dead and are usually depicted in artwork viciously tormenting people in hell or roaming the mountainsides, wreaking havoc. An Oni can be a terrible, destructive force to be feared or they can be a powerful protector and guardian. They can even be depicted as beautiful and sexy. Their relationship with humans varies a great deal. A 1933 children's book "The Red Oni Who Cried" tells a story about the misunderstood Red Oni who only wants to be friends with the humans but they're too frightened of him. The Blue Oni has no interest in humans but assumes the role of destructive monster so that Red Oni can be the hero, save the humans and be accepted as their friend. 1966's War of The Gargantuas (known in Japan as Frankenstein's Monsters: Sanda versus Gaira) is a giant monster film with quite a few parallels  (Red Gargantua raised by humans, wants to protect them from Green Gargantua who kills and destroys humans.)

Even more interestingly, the term Oni is sometimes applied to real people. Long ago,  people from the lowlands would encounter people from the mountains, mine workers, o other strangers and unsure what to make of them, they would describe them as Oni. During WW2, Americans were often cast as Oni in Japanese propaganda.  

 

 

 

   

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tsukumogami:  Ordinary objects that come alive on their 100th birthday. This doesn't happen anymore because everything is cheap and plastic and not likely to last that long.

 

   

Kasa Obake  - Umbrella Monster

 

Chochinobake - Paper Lantern Ghost

 

 

 

 

Obake:  Shapeshifters. . .  Certain animals are revered for their shapeshifting abilities and mischievous nature.

 

TANUKI - The Raccoon Dog

 

Not to be confused with a raccoon,this animal is actually a canine native to Asia.

 

     

Tanuki are famed for their rather prominent testicles which they are illustrated using as backpacks, boats, sails, carpets, etc.

 

         

The 1994 Anime film Pom Poko tells the story of a tribe of Raccoon dogs who use their supernatural shape-shifting powers to frighten humans away from their forest home before it's entirely demolished to make way for subdivisions.

 

 

 

 

KITSUNE - The Fox

 

 

 

 

  

Kitsune are said to be very intelligent and able to assume human form. They are closely associated with Inari, a Shinto Kami and are revered as Inari's messengers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

WTF? Yokai

 

Nuppeppo - a lumpy mass of stinky flesh

 

 

Nure-onna: Snake woman   -    Rokurokubi: Long necked woman   -   and other long necked demons

 

 

  

Maikubi – the quarrelling heads of 3 dead miscreants

 

The 3 dead heads from Miyazaki's Spirited Away

 

 

 

 

 

 

    

Tengu - "Heavenly Dogs," they appear to have characteristics of humans and birds of prey

 

 

 

 

Hanako-San: toilet monster and Akaname: the licker of untidy bathrooms

They have a word for everything!

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

 

 

 

 

 

KAIJU

Kaiju: Strange beast... it refers to the Japanese film genre wherein giant  monsters do one or more of the following: 

  •      Destroy cities and wreak havoc upon mankind
  •      Battle other giant monsters while destroying cities and wreaking havoc upon mankind
  •        Battle other giant monsters while heroically protecting mankind
  •        Battle other giant monsters while befriending small Japanese children

 

 

 

 

GOJIRA AKA GODZILLA

 

MEGALON  -  MECHAGODZILLA  -  GIGAN  -  GREEN GARGANTUA

 

MECHA KING GHIDORA - MOTHRA - JET JAGUAR

 

                                                        Jet Jaguar is friends with Godzilla                                                                                                  GAMERA!                                                              RODIN!

 

     

RODAN  -  BABY GAMERA??  -  SON OF GODZILLA

 

 

Everything is, of course, collectible . . . and cute. 

So what is going on here? Are monsters bad? - At first,usually . . .  but the longer they're around, the more roles they take on: Destroyer, Villain, Hero, Misunderstood protagonist, Friend, Ugly, Cute, Miniaturized, Collectible, Iconic, Ironic, etc.

 

 

 

KAIDAN

KAIDAN: Collected stories of the strange, the weird, the supernatural and typically, the ghostly...

  • In China, there was a tradition in which buddhists would gather together to tell 100 stories of the Buddha, thereby inviting a religious miracle to occur. In Japan, during the Edo period (1603-1868), we see this tradition brought over and adapted as a popular house game in which those gathered would try to tell 100 ghost stories in a night, inviting the appearance of a real ghost (See also: Koshin Machi- http://www.three-monkeys.info/1/ORIGIN/MockJoya.htm ).
  • Japan has always been rich with stories of weird things but it wasn't until the Edo era that the popularity of such storytelling drove them to begin compiling such stories into books. These collections are what is referred to as Kaidan.
  •  The fact that the entire religious context was stripped from this storytelling tradition seems to be typical in Japanese culture. Many of their popular ghost stories were popular stories brought over from China and so the Japanese versions can still be compared to the Chinese originals.
  • Chinese storytelling is thick with religious context & moral preaching. However, the Japanese versions often remove all religious contexts and even cut away the ending before any lesson can be gleaned from it. (see Noriko T. Reider: Tales of the Supernatural in Early Modern Japan: Kaidan, Akinari, Ugetsu Monogatar &   The Emergence of Kaidan-shu: The Collection of Tales of the Strange and Mysterious in the Edo Period) 
  • Why would they do this? Why would they remove what we might consider to be "the point" of the story?
    • That is our own cultural prejudice to call it "the point." I think the Japanese are more interested in having this beautiful and strange picture . . . this window into another world, unclouded by superfluous messages, morals, and religious doctrine. They just want to look. I suspect their lack of interest in moral instruction or religious interjections into their stories may have something to do with Shintoism and its rather vague & ill-defined notion of an afterlife. As far as I'm aware, in Shintoism, there is very little said about any cause & effect relationship regarding an afterlife. They are more interested in the here & now and their relationship with the world they live in.

 

Some of these images are not quite illustrative of "Kaidan" but they certainly get across a love or yearning for the strange and weird...

 

 

  

 

 

   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

mmm

 

 

      

 

     

Yurei - Ghosts

 

 

 

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  • So what is going on here? Why do monsters, ghosts, demons, and all manner of weird creatures hold so much fascination for the Japanese?
  • What compels them to collect so many different and oddly specific varieties of creatures?
  • Why are these creatures sometimes bad, sometimes good, sometimes sexual, and sometimes just plain weird?
    • If you look at all these creatures as a sort of collective representation of "the other," or what is different, and foreign, it makes sense...
    • During times of hardship, war, trauma, intense isolation, or a feudalistic society, Japan's weird creatures tend to be at their worst. They're frightful and threatening. They're a warning to be wary.
    • However, during periods of peace, flourishing trade, openness, & a commercial based economy, Japan's weird creatures seem tamed. They're just misunderstood. They're fascinatingly weird. They're exciting and bizarre. They are even friends.

 

 

 

 

 

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