I’m a little confused by がんばり入道. Apparently it’s one of the many 妖怪 that might come out of the toilet, back when the toilets were of the 汲み取り kind, with an ominously large hole:
To make sure nothing would come out of the toilet, on New Year’s Eve you had to chant がんばり入道 ホトトギス to keep them away. (ホトトギス is a bird of the cuckoo family that was considered ominous.)
You could also specifically call がんばり入道 though, by calling his name. A head would appear out of the toilet, and if you tucked it into the left sleeve of your kimono, it would turn into a gold coin?
I feel like I need to know more about this perplexing 妖怪.
In Wikipedia it’s seen as looking into the toilet rather than coming out of it. I may have misunderstood something.
I got the same understanding of the がんばり入道 when I read it too. It seems that there is a section on Wikipedia with both the “looking in the toilet” version and the “head in the toilet turning into a coin” version (though there aren’t any pictures of the latter).
Today’s yokai was ダイダラボッチ, a giant yokai whose head brushed the clouds. He’s said to have created Mt Fuji by digging up dirt and piling it together, and the hole he left behind filled up with water and became Lake Biwa, the largest freshwater lake in Japan. The mountains between Mt Fuji and Lake Biwa were created from the dirt he dropped while moving between the two.
In a side note, there’s a festival in Japan called わらじ祭り where people create giant sandals. It’s said that this is done to scare off a bad giant yokai called ダンダラボッチ and make him think there were even bigger giants around. When I looked up the festival, I found this fun picture (some of the news headlines say it weighs 2 tons, which… damn!)
Today’s yokai is 提灯小僧, a mischievous prankster who, back in the day when there wasn’t so much light pollution from all the 24 hr コンビニ, would appear as a stranger with a lantern walking behind you late at night. It would keep following you, slowly freaking you out, until it finally showed its face as a little yokai brat and disappeared.
I missed the last few days so I read a chunk of entries at once which contained a few fun 妖怪 such as the well-known 河童. Will I ever be able to swim in water again without worrying about my 尻子玉？I am not sure.
I also enjoyed 砂かけ婆, an old woman who throws sand at people walking on 神社 grounds, and スネコスリ, a dog-like creature who rubs up against the thighs of people walking in the dark. It does seem like a lot of 妖怪 come from unexplained bodily sensations experienced at walking around at night in the dark before electricity or outdoor lighting was widespread.
Today’s yokai is the 付喪神, which is when everyday objects can gain spirits after a long time, sprout faces and limbs, and potentially get revenge on you if you haven’t been taking care of such objects very well. To prevent this, there’s a tradition of doing a big household cleaning at the end of the year. Also, in the past, some people would save old needles instead of throwing them out, so that they can give them a proper memorial service at a shrine or temple.
Today’s yokai is 通り悪魔, which is a yokai that possesses people, forcing them to attack other people around them, and then commit suicide. As an example, one time there was a samurai who was sharpening his blade when he looked over into the garden and saw a band of warriors standing there giving him death glares. He ignored them and pretended to not see them, and soon they vanished, terrorizing one of the neighbors instead.
Today’s yokai is 人魚! Though apparently the classic image of pretty mermaids didn’t become widespread until later in Japanese history. Older stories talked about 人魚 who were more monkey-like rather than human, and some were perhaps based off of the Japanese giant salamander. Apparently, it was said that eating the flesh of a 人魚 could grant you a very long life.
I think this is a more modern (and unusual) depiction, but I had to share when I saw it on wikipedia:
Today’s yokai is the 鵺, which is a chimera with the head of a monkey, the limbs of a tiger, and the tail of a snake. On dark cloudy nights, you might hear it make eerie bird sounds, as an ill omen. Its namesake is actually the bird called 鵺, or トラツグミ, whose calls were also a harbinger of misfortune.
One time, the archer 源頼政 (みなもとのよりまさ) shot down a nue crying over the imperial palace, and its body is said to have washed up in Osaka, where there is a grave for it.
Today’s yokai is ぬらりひょん, who is often thought to be the leader or supreme commander of the yokai, and is said to sometimes wander into people’s homes to drink tea and smoke, without anyone noticing. However, these aspects of ぬらりひょん seem to have been made up over the years, as the original depictions of him just include his name and appearance. (Strangely the book doesn’t talk about his weird head, lol)
I thought the name sounded familiar - turns out it’s the same ぬらりひょん that is referred to in ぬらりひょんの孫, which I came across many years ago (and probably read some of the manga).
which is literally just a shed above a big hole in the ground. I was terrified as a kid and tbh, still feel not quite comfortable using one of these. It’s a big black hole. I mean, the opening of your average loo cover is big enough for a child to fall through…
Today’s yokai is the のっぺら坊, who is a faceless yokai. It may be related to the ヌッペッポウ who is a blob with hands and legs. Some のっぺら坊 are considered to actually be tanuki playing pranks on humans, while others are their own thing.
Today’s yokai is the 獏, who is for once a friendly yokai. It’s based off of the 貘 (giant panda) in Chinese folklore. It’s said that it siphons away bad energy and eats bad dreams. Because the dream you dream on the second day of the year is said to be a portent of the year to come, people put drawings of 宝船 and 獏 under their pillows the night before to try to have good dreams.
Today’s yokai is 歯黒べったり, a yokai that takes the form of a woman on her wedding day. Her teeth is all blackened as was often done in the Edo period to signify that one was married, and she has no eyes or nose, just a mouth crammed with black teeth. You might find the 歯黒べったり near old shrines. If you call out to her, she will turn around and laugh at you.
Turns out 歯黒べったり is another one of the tricks that tanuki and kitsune like to play on humans.
One day late, but I am caught up. There are now 76 entries left.
I might just continue reading on… at least until I have only 48 entries left… then I can do a 2 entries per day calendar next year.
Today’s entry is about the 百鬼夜行, which is a regular nightly procession of yokai, which often appeared in Kyoto in the Heian period. All sorts of yokai would parade in the streets, making a ruckus and bringing illness to humans nearby. The procession was marked on the traditional Japanese calendar so people could know when to stay at home to avoid it.
I’m in the process of catching up (a little late, but so be it). I just read the entry for 鵺. There’s apparently a festival in Izu Nagaoka where they shoot down several 鵺 after a dance. I somehow got worried that these would be birds, but no, here are the 鵺 in question:
And here’s a video with the call of 鵺, or トラツグミ. I wouldn’t say it sounds ominous, but it does feel a bit sad.
Oh, and a note on the 人魚: Apparently every other temple or so has a 人魚 mummy, feeding the rumours that they’re real. Actually these mummies are constructed out of the body parts of different animals There were people specializing in making these long ago, for use in freak shows…
(some of the news headlines say it weighs 2 tons, which… damn!)
And the 人魚, which you talked about yesterday.
There were people specializing in making these long ago, for use in freak shows…