Japanese Tales of the Supernatural

Nara Period

-(710-784) -Establishment of capital at Nara based on model of Chang-an -Capital laid out on gird work pattern -Buddhist institutions prominent -Bureaucratic government established -Chinese writing as official language -Creation of first official records

Toriyama Sekien

-1712-1788 -Edo Period -An illustrator -Printed and created his own supernatural critters

Lafcadio Hearn

-1850-1904 -Translated Japanese folklore into English -Because of his western take on folktales when they were retranslated to Japanese the meaning changed -Professor

Inoue Enryo

-1858-1919 -Buddhist name -Lived during the ruso war and meji restoration -Collected legends and determined whether or not their true -Collected many stories of the yokai and supernatural -Buddhist scholar

Ema Tsutomu

-1884-1979 -Father of Yokai studies -Interested as a cultural phenomena -An academic -Contemporary of Enryo

Mizuki Shigeru

-1922-2015 -Creator of gegege kitaro -Manga Artist Have a yokai street in his hometown -created a number of his own yokai -Flourishing online and manga culture

Miyata Noboru

-1936-2000 -Academic -Interested in yokai in particular -He brought them into the urban setting

Kojiki

-712 -Commissioned by Temmu (672-686) --Scribe: O no Yasumaro -Presented to Genmei (707-715) -Three volumes -Provides a story of how Japan came to be -Recorded in Manyogana -Privileging of the oral

Nihon Shoki

-720 -20 volumes -Written in Chinese -Includes lots of variants -Reads extensively throughout the classical, medieval ages -First of "Six National Histories" -Begun under Tenmu -Completed under Gensho (715-723) -Official -Ends in contemporary times

Tanuki

-A raccoon dog -Shapeshifters -Brings good luck to businesses -Magic powers

Kyogoku Natsuhiko

-Author -Reading scholar of yokai -Propagating, celebrating and commercializing the supernatural

Komatsu Kazuhiko

-B. 1947 -Contemporary moderator of the interpretation of monsters today -Academic who writes for the public and part of the commercial industry --Yokai are not degenerating gods

Susanoo

-Bad brother of Amaterasu and Tsukyomi -God of storm and of the underworld -Born through the blowing of Izanagi's nose -Has to get 1,000 tables of food after being punished for what he did to Amaterasu -Has the Kusanagi

Kagutsuchi

-Brother -Fire God -Kills Izanami

Tsukuyomi

-Brother of Amaterasu and Susanoo -The Moon God

Nihon Ryoiki

-Compiled by a monk -3 volumes plus epilogue -116 Setsuwa -Oldest edition was written in 904

Recurring themes

-Distortion/expansion of space -Karma + penance -Restoration of order -The chosen hero -Strange things happening at dawn and dusk -Haunted, and abandoned spaces -Depictions of afterlife -Ocular taboo -Imperial power structure -Animals used as metaphors -Liminal places, times

Izanami

-Female -Wife, sister, and mother -Had to abort her first child (leech child) with Izanagi because she spoke first -Queen of the underworld -Told Izanagi that she'll kill 1000 people -Appears in both the kojiki and nihon shoki

Yanagita Kunio

-Founding father of folklore studies -Interested in the ethnographic study in folklore. -Person who collected and catagorized -Yokai are basically the degeneration of the Gods.

Kitsune

-Fox, shapeshift into beautiful women, trickster, very intelligent

Amaterasu

-Goddess of sun and divinity -In both the kojiki and nihon shoki -

Lute Genjo

-Has a personality -Was taken by an oni in the southernmost gate at the entrance to the capital Biwa

Yamato Takeru

-Has the KUsanagi and bag from his Aunt the High Priestess -Original name is Osu -Father thinks hes a crazy murderer -Goes to a few places, dies, and then turns into a white bird -Also is the reason why some names of Japanese places are what they are

Tengu

-Long nose with bird wings -Protect mountains and are warriors -Secret military powers

Izanagi

-Male -Created Japan with Izanami creating the islands -throws grapes and peaches -creates 1500 souls -Washes his eyes -

Night Parade of the Hundred Yokai

-Normal everyday objects become monsters

Yamanba

-Old hag/nurse/mother/seductress -Associated with mountains (causing disasters) -Mother of Kintaro -Ganguro -Twilight and darkness -Cautionary tales of the mountains -Ambivalence -Everything and nothing

Obon Season

-The dead are remembered -A lot of fire -Have character/straw hats lit on fire in Kyoto -Lighting lanterns in the evening

Honosusori

-The older brother of Hohodemi -The sea god -The jewels control the tide --come in and out

Hohodemi

-The younger brother of Honosusori -The Land God

The space-time continuum of the supernatural

-Times: Past/Present/Future/Alternative timescapes -Spaces: LOcal/National/Global/Alternative landscapes (otherworlds)

Edo Period

-Urbanization -Development of print -Trading with the dutch brought medical studies

What is the supernatural and where does it exist

-Written Documents -Oral Tales -Visual Representations Performances

How many realms of Buddhist belief

6 -Heavenly -Human -Animals -Suffering -Hungry -Ashura

Magic Numbers

8

Fudo

??

Yasumaro

Compiled the Nihon Shoki

Oni

Demons

Kusanagi

Grass sword Susano-o pulls out of the tail of the 8-tailed and 8-headed snake -Magical sword that susanoo gives to amaterasu

King Yama

Judge of the Underworld

Hiruko

Leech child -Izanami created because she spoke first