Japan has been culturally isolated for many years. The period of isolation contributed to the birth of an exceptional in its content layer of oral and visual creativity, close to European surrealism.
In Japanese legends, whose roots go back to ancient times, both original Shinto beliefs and later philosophical parables of Zen Buddhism are reflected. In folklore, all this is bizarrely intertwined with traditional superstitions and moralizing tales for children.
Modern Japanese tales and legends in many respects bear the imprint of those times when nature, according to ordinary Japanese, was inhabited by spirits; going out on a deserted road at night, 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 lower world
In mythology of different nations, there are fish endowed with some unusual qualities, like representatives of the mysterious lower world, inhabited, according to shamanistic beliefs, by the spirits of the dead. This is their potential danger. But if, knowing the fish habits, to behave correctly, you can achieve a lot.
Japanese legends and myths in this sense are no exception. The carp was traditionally considered an assistant in worldly affairs, endowed with exceptional courage and willpower, which allows him to move even against the tide.
Soma was declared the culprit of the earthquakes that Japan is so famous for. This fish is as frequent a guest in Japanese legends as earthquakes. After 1885, when the city of Edo (the ancient name of Tokyo) was practically destroyed, people believed that these were tricks of the giant catfish Namazu. Since that time, there have been several engravings depicting catfish, pacified by the god Kashima.
Shark - the fish of evil and death in Japanese legends
All over Japan, shrines are found 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 controlled by a biju in the shape of a horned shark. He is also depicted as a cross between a turtle and a toad, with three tails and three frightening fangs. This creature, according to legend, lives at great depths, only occasionally floating to breathe to the surface. Then a powerful storm rises, which is impossible to resist.
The demon shark is immensely aggressive and bloodthirsty. That is why this fish in Japanese legends is a symbol of evil. She appears accompanied by the fish Samehada, helping her transform food into energy, which the shark biju uses to control the elements of water.
Of course, occasionally an event occurs that does not correspond to the logic of this monster, and it helps someone. However, you have to pay too much for this.
The Legend of the Snow Woman Yuki-onna
The old Japanese legend about Yuki-onna, a white-haired woman who freezes men with her kiss, remains popular. One winter night, she nearly killed a young man named Minokichi, who had to wait for 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 following year, he met an orphan girl named O-Yuuki. After some time, they got married and got a bunch of wonderful white-skinned kids. Everything was wonderful in their marriage, but it was strange that O-Yuuki was not old at all.
And once, when he saw his wife in the light of a night lamp, Minokichi suddenly remembered the incident in the winter forest and told her about him, which he later regretted more than once. An angry and upset woman admitted that she was Yuki-onna, accusing her husband of breaking the oath. Only the children sleeping peacefully nearby kept her from killing her husband.
Leaving for the spirit world, Yuuki threatened that she would see to it that Minokichi took care of them.
Crane Legends
The Japanese like this freedom-loving bird, about which many legends are composed. Here is one of them. Once upon a time, a young man saved a crane, which turned into a beautiful girl. They got married and were happy, until the young husband found out her secret, seeing 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 put together various figures of paper, and then gave them to neighboring children. Once he presented one of the figures to a wandering monk who prophesied wealth and fame to the master if he remained true to his calling.
The master, even during the war, continued to make his own figures, putting his soul into them. Once his crane, flapping its wings, flew. And then the war ended. So he became a symbol of peace and fulfillment of desires. This is what the Japanese legend about the crane tells: any desire will come true if you add 1000 of these figures.
Plots of urban legends
Modern Japanese urban legends were influenced by the traditional oral narrative of kaidan, whose protagonists are the restless spirits of onre. As a rule, these are ghosts of dead people who came to restore justice, revenge or execute a curse. On the basis of plots taken from kaydans, plays for the kabuki theater were often written.
Necessary components of a classic kaydan:
• The plot involves not only ordinary people, but also supernatural creatures, usually ghosts, hungry for revenge.
• Behind external action is the law of the inevitability of karma or retribution.
• Revenge is the basis of almost any plot.
• There are few characters, and each of them is traced brightly, down to the grotesque.
Otherworldly creatures are represented by monsters of obake and bakemono, which are able to change their shape. A variation of obake is youkai, which can mean any undead. There are still “they” - demons living in the local species of hell.
Meiji City Legends
After many years of isolation, under the emperor Mutsuhito of the Meiji dynasty, in the second half of the 19th century, revolutionary changes took place in the country, turning her face to 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, in which the fear of the townsfolk about rapid changes in life was reflected.
Since 1872, railroads began to be built across the country, and this caused massive cases of ghost train sightings. Most often, they were seen by the machinists themselves late at night. They looked like ordinary trains rushing towards the same tracks. However, just before the collision, the ghosts disappeared. The appearance of ghost trains was sometimes confirmed by observations of scientists, but it was explained in a no less strange way: they say that werewolf animals (foxes, badgers or raccoons), whose bodies were found in places of failed collisions, were to blame.
Another story related to power lines: it was suspected that they did not use tar, but the blood of virgins to insulate the wires. This led to the fact that the girls became afraid to leave the house or disguised themselves as elderly women, so that they could safely go out.
Features of a modern urban legend
Terrible Japanese legends are created around the ghosts of people who died as a result of an injustice committed in relation to them or a banal accident. They are simply obsessed with the theme of revenge and in the most perverse way they arrange an act of retaliation, terrifying everyone around them.
For example, they like to ask ambiguous questions - peculiar Zen koans that cannot be answered literally so as not to lose any part of the body or life itself. City ghosts can now be found in the booths of school toilets or in the night bath. A ghost may be a woman with a gauze bandage on her face, and in any place a lady with a half cut off by a train can attack you.
Perhaps, telling such stories, the Japanese maintain their mentality, and at the same time create a kind of environment for the proper education of the younger generation. Caution 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 topics.
Revenge
The main theme of horror stories, as already mentioned, is revenge. And ghosts do not try to figure out who is right - who is to blame, and take revenge on everyone. This inconsistency of their behavior and escalates a special horror. After all, to predict who will be the next victim is simply impossible. The only thing that can be understood in a series of murders is the binding of a ghost to a specific place. The place where he was killed.
There are also Japanese legends in which others take revenge for the murder. For example, the story of a woman in a purple kimono. Grandmother avenged the death of her grandson, who was killed by classmates, tearing the liver out of children. The color of her clothes was a clue, since her questions had to be pronounced: "purple." The only way to survive.
The most popular horror story on this subject is the legend of Hanako - a dressing ghost. Stories about the girl killed in the booth of the school toilet are told by Japanese students in a different way. Many are sure that it can be found in any school toilet.
Cursed places
In urban folklore there are a lot of attractions of this kind. These are abandoned houses, hospitals, whole 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 severe fire that killed more than a hundred people. Since then, scary ghosts roam the streets of this damned area at night, frightening with their appearance rare night passers-by.
Or take the story about a “bad apartment” located in an old high-rise building without an elevator (7 floors, stairwells in 7 steps). No one stayed in this apartment for a long time, but everyone hid why.
Everything came out when the next tenant was found dead in his bed. It was then that the secret of the room was revealed: at night a ghostly child was climbing up to it, who climbed the steps and reported his approach until he opened the door to the apartment. So the guy could not stand such a strain.
Frightening deformities
Numerous ancient Japanese legends mention the ugly essences of yurey. These deformities were hidden by them for the time being under the hair or were eerily visual, demonstrating the extra parts of the body or their absence.
Modern Japanese have continued this theme, adding up the legend of “a woman with a cut mouth” (Kutisake Onna). This lady in a gauze bandage walks the streets of different cities, and asks the oncoming children one question: “Am I beautiful?” Tearing off the bandage that hides a terrible scar and bared teeth, she repeats it, holding large scissors ready. And you can only be saved without answering anything specific - “yes” or “no” will only mean getting a similar deformity or cutting off the head.
Another scarecrow is called Tek-Tek. She's about a woman cut in half by a train. An unfortunate night ghost moves on its elbows, and its movement is accompanied by a characteristic sound, for which he was nicknamed Taek-Taek. A woman chases the children she meets in her path until she cuts them with a scythe. This is a warning for young children playing in the street at night.
Living dolls
It is not good to leave or throw away your favorite dolls - Japanese legends tell us about it, in which dolls take revenge for being forgotten by their former owners. The horror stories of this type embody the idea that we put a particle of our soul into objects with which we have been interacting for a long time.
Such is the famous all over Japan doll, Okiku, whose hair began to grow, as if her deceased mistress was embodied 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 the abandoned doll in her home altar, once noticing that her hair was growing. I even had to cut them.
But the other doll was not lucky - they got rid of her as an unnecessary old thing. It was Lika-chan. Once her former mistress was left at home alone, and suddenly the phone rang. An unnatural voice informed the girl that it was Lika-Chan, and she was going to her mistress. And so it was repeated several times, until the doll said that she was behind the girl.
Technological horror stories
This is perhaps the latest topic that nourishes modern Japanese legends. For example, a story about mobile phones.
To call Satoru-kun, who has an answer to any question, you need to call the number on your mobile phone from the machine. Then, after waiting for the connection, call Satoru-kun through the machine's receiver. As in the legend about Liku-chan, now calls to a mobile phone will inform about the approach of the mysterious Satoru.
And finally he will inform that he is already here, behind your back. Now it's time to ask your question. But if you hesitate or turn around, Satoru-kun can drag the curious into his ghostly world.
Fear or hope?
One could talk for a long time about the world of Japanese legend, filled with magic, a kind of oriental humor, bloodthirsty monsters and horror stories. Modern cinema, in an effort to add more adrenaline to its products, draws from this world with a large spoon. Who hasn’t seen the movie “Call”, in which the most frightening character was a girl with black hair?
And at the same time, the romantic legend of 1000 cranes, which has become a symbol of hope and peace on earth, is widely known. 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 put together the figures 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 became the property of mankind.