Japan is an amazing, unique and still mysterious country, located as if on a small boat, far from the rest of the world. To many foreigners, the Japanese seem to be some kind of "freaks", which are sometimes really difficult to understand and correlate with their worldview. Nevertheless, interest in Japan is only growing, and its legends are gaining even greater fame ...
"The legend of the dinosaur and the monstrous bird"
Many legends of Japan can be seen thanks to the film adaptation. One such opportunity is a film about a dinosaur and a bird, shot by director Junji Kurata at Toei Studios in 1977.
Genre: Kaiju Eyga - a film about monsters.
Plot. In the summer of 1977, fossilized eggs of ancient creatures, dinosaurs, are found in the crevice of Mount Fuji. For millions of years, they slept in a calm, dead sleep, until natural disasters awakened them from their long hibernation. A series of terrible events followed: human deaths, headless horses, mass panic and, finally, the eruption of a volcano.
"The Legend of the Dinosaur" from Japan hit the screens of the Soviet Union in 1979 and surprisingly had an audience success of about 49 million views.
"The Legend of Narayama"
Like the example described above, this name also belongs to the 1983 film. The director and screenwriter Sehei Imamura set to work, taking the stories of Sitiro Fukazawa as the basis of the plot.
Genre: Drama.
Plot. In a small primitive village hunger reigns - the XIX century. Only elder sons are allowed to create families in the village, while younger ones are used as workers. Girls are sold or exchanged for some things, such as salt. Infants are sometimes killed, and a family stealing someone else's crop is buried alive.
The meaning of the legend of Narayama in Japan is that the village has a really creepy custom. Elderly people who have reached 70 years of age should no longer be fed food, as they are considered "extra mouths." Therefore, the eldest son is obliged to take his father or mother on his shoulders and convey to Mount Narayama, where the ancestor will die from thirst and hunger.
Ancient legends of Japan
Japanese myths and legends embody the features of the religions of Shintoism and Buddhism, as well as folk tales.
The mythology of this Asian culture is assigned the status of "the country of eight million deities", since in Japan there really are a very large number of gods.
"Koto Amatsuki" is a group of five kami (the god in Shinto's traditional religion of Japan).
When heaven and earth were born, the three Hitorigami deities descended to the earth's surface. These creatures were:
- the dominant god is Ame-no Minakanushi no Kami;
- the god of domination and achievement is Takamimusuhi-no kami;
- the god of creation or birth is Kamimusuhi no kami.
When the earth was filled with seas, the others awoke:
- Hikoi no kami;
- Tokotati no kami.
Further, according to the legend of Japan, after the Amatsuki came the divine era of seven generations called "Kamie Nanae", whose last representatives were Izanami and Izanagi - the creators of the Japanese islands.
The deities became engaged, and other islands of the Japanese archipelagos were born from them. When the fire god Kagutsuti appeared, he crippled his mother Izanami, and she went to the underworld Emi. Izanagi, in a fit of anger, killed the son of Kagutsuti and went in search of his wife in the same underground kingdom.
Izanagi found his beloved, despite the endless darkness. However, she had already tasted the food of the dead and became forever a slave to the underworld. When the husband completely refuses to leave his wife, she agrees to return with him, but before that she asks her lover to give her the opportunity to relax a bit. After waiting too long, Izanagi enters her bedchamber with a lighted torch and sees that his wife’s body is a rotting corpse that has been covered in larvae and other abominations for a long time. Izanagi in complete horror flees and closes the underworld with a large stone. Izanami, in a rage, promises to rob him of 1,000 live per day, but Izanagi replies: "Then I will give life to 1,500 people every day."
Thus, according to the legend of Japan, death appears.
After being in the world of the dead, Izanagi decides to purify himself by taking off his clothes and precious jewelry. Every jewel and drop falling from it is transformed into a new deity. So are born:
- Amaterasu (from the left eye) - the most famous goddess representing the sun, sky and agriculture;
- Tsukuemi (from the right eye) - lord of the night and moon;
- Susanoo (from the nose) - the god of the sea, ice, snow and storm.
Urban legends of Japan: onre
Traditionally, all the stories inherent in the cities of the country are most often devoted to creepy and terrible creatures that harm people in revenge or simply because of their sinister nature.
Most often, the main character is onre - an offended and therefore vengeful spirit. The very legend about him comes from Japanese mythology of the VII century.
It is believed that most of the bodies that became onre were previously historical figures of Japan. The state government tried to deal with them by various methods, the most ambitious of which was the construction of temples on the onre graves.
Do you need legs?
The legend of Japan tells about a certain old woman who may come up and ask: do you need legs? Despite the initially comical plot, everything ends in disrepair. The correct answer does not exist. If you answer the question in the negative, the spirit tears off the person's lower limbs; if you agree, then sew him a third.
The only way out is to try to answer like this: "I do not need, but you can ask him about this." At the moment when the enemy switches his attention, the person will have a chance to escape.
Kashima Reiko
Another scary legend in Japan is the story of Taek-tech, or Kashima Reiko - a girl whose body the train moved. From that moment, the unfortunate woman wanders in the darkness, moving on her elbows, thus making a knock (hence the nickname Taek-tek).
If she sees someone, and especially a child, she will chase the victim until she gets rid of her. Typical methods of reprisal are either cutting obliquely in half, or remaking a person into the same creature as she is.
Kaori
The girl, having entered high school, wanted to mark this event with a piercing of the ears. To save money, she decided to do it with her own hands and at home. A few days later, her ear began to itch. Looking in the mirror, Kaori found a white thread in the earring and immediately realized that it was precisely because of it. When she pulled the thread without a second thought, the light in front of her eyes immediately went out. It turned out that the cause of the illness of the high school student was not just a thread, but an optic nerve, the rupture of which led to blindness.
After such a tragedy, the girl began to persecute others. If the answer to the question “Have you got your ears pierced?” Was positive, then she bit off their unhappy victim.
Hanako
In the legends of Japan there is a whole separate topic about ghosts that live in schools, and most often in toilets. Why there? Perhaps this is due to the fact that in Japan, the water element represents the world of the dead.
Hanako is the most famous of all such ghosts. According to myth, she appears on the 3rd floor in the 3rd booth when she is asked the question: "Are you Hanako?" With an affirmative answer, you must immediately run, otherwise you have a chance to drown in not the most pleasant and clean waters.
Aka manto
Aka is the second most popular "dressing" representative, but this time a fabulously beautiful young man acts as a spirit, who goes into women's toilets and wonders at the victims what kind of cloak they would prefer: red or blue.
If the first option was chosen, the young man chopped off the unfortunate head, thereby creating the appearance of a red cloak behind his back. If a person chose the second color, he was expected to suffocate, thus acquiring a blue complexion.
If any neutral response follows, then hell will open before the victim, into which they will be carried away by deathly pale hands.
Kushisake she
One of Japan’s most creepy legends is a tale of a girl with her mouth torn. According to the most common version of the prehistory, she herself committed such violence against herself, having escaped from a psychiatric hospital.
But if you listen to ancient beliefs, you can conclude: the woman's face was cut by her husband in a fit of jealousy, since she was one of the most beautiful girls in the country.
Since then, the most interesting legend of Japan begins. Unhappy, full of hatred, wearing a bandage on her scars, she began to roam the streets and pester the victims with questions about her beauty. If a person was rushing about, Kushisake took off her mask and showed in all its glory her scar, crossing the skin from ear to another, as well as a huge mouth with teeth and a snake tongue. After which the girl asked again: "Am I beautiful now?" If a person gave a negative answer, then she would tear off his head, if she said that she was beautiful, then she would draw him the same scar.
The only way to avoid a terrible fate is an obscure evasive answer like "You look average" or ask something before her.