12 most amazing and dangerous creatures from Japanese mythology

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

In ancient legends, there are things worse than dead girls crawling out of TVs.

1. Kama-itachi

Kama-itachi is a Japanese youkai (that is, an evil spirit) in the form of a weasel. The literal translation is "weasel with sickles." Tales of kama-itachi are popular in the Kosinetsu region of Japan.

These creatures always appear in threes - it is believed that they are triplets. They are engaged in cutting off the lower limbs of people. The sequence of actions is as follows: the first weasel knocks down the victim, the second removes the legs with sickles that grow instead of claws, and the third stops the blood and sutures the wounds.

But most surprising of all, the Kama-Itachi trinity, carried in the form of a dust tornado, moves at about the same speed as the Flash in the DC universe.

And it takes them less than a second to do the dirty work.

Kama-itachi manage to turn the amputation so that the victim does not feel pain at all. It's very nice that caring weasels take the time to patch up the victim before flying away and taking his legs with them.

Morality:do not leave the house in a dust storm.

2. Konaki-diji

Konaki-diji is a supernatural creature that looks like a small child or even a baby, but with the face of an old man. True, he is always prudently positioned in such a way that his physiognomy can be seen only when it is too late to do something.

Konaki-diji sits down on the side of some mountain path in uninhabited places and roars.

A casual traveler or traveler, seeing an abandoned child, raises him in his arms to comfort him. As soon as the konaki-diji is lifted off the ground, it sharply acquires additional mass (plus 2-3 centners) and flattens the kind-hearted traveler.

Women especially suffer from this youkai. First, they cannot walk past a crying baby. Secondly, the average Japanese woman has little chance of surviving after being hit by a konaki-diji. But a particularly strong samurai has a chance to survive, in which case the youkai will reward him for endurance.

Morality:keep away from small children.

3. Oshiroi-baba

A ghost in the form of a terrible, disgusting hunchbacked old woman. Her face is roughly covered with powder, and in her hand she holds a bottle of sake. Oshiroi Baba walks the streets with an umbrella and a stick looking out for beautiful young women.

When she finds one, she immediately runs up to her and begins to persuade her to buy some powder from her in a soulful voice.

A naive girl agrees to take a sample, smears herself with powder, and her face falls off.

Morality:if you are a young beautiful woman and an obsessive makeup dealer comes up to you, leave silently.

4. Ittan-momen

The Japanese have a belief that if some forgotten object remains for a long time (for example, 100 years), it will regain consciousness and turn into a youkai - tsukumogami. Ittan-momen is a sensible sheet.

This wild but cute ghost without a motor loves to bump into passers-by at night and choke them.

There is a legend that this cursed levitating sheet once almost strangled one samurai. But he managed to take out the wakizashi blade and cut the ghost. Ittan-momen disappeared, leaving bloody footprints on the warrior's hands.

Other legends mention that ittan-momen can make friends with a person and even serve him if he manages to earn the trust of a ghost. True, what a flying piece of fabric can serve for you, no one knows.

This is because no one has yet managed to make friends with him, and in fairy tales this moment is tactfully avoided. So if you find yourself in Japan and meet ittan-momen, you will have to test this theory yourself.

Morality:do not hoard old things, or they will try to kill you.

5. Kasa-obake

Another type of tsukumogami. An umbrella that has been left unattended for 100 years turns into a kasa-obake. He grows one leg, two arms, an eye and a long tongue and goes about his business.

Doesn't sound very dangerous, right? You are wrong, in Japan even an umbrella will try to kill you.

If in the Higashiuwa area, in Ehime Prefecture, on a rainy night you see an umbrella standing alone in the dark - run. Because if he looks at you with his only eye, he will paralyze you.

In addition, sometimes a demonic umbrella grabs people with claws on its only leg and, driven by a strong wind, rises into the sky and flies away with the victim in an unknown direction.

Morality:it's time to run headlong to disassemble the contents of the closet.

6. Tsuchigumo

Once the word tsuchigumo ("earthen spider") called the tribes of the indigenous inhabitants of the Japanese islands, who stubbornly did not want to obey the sun-like Nihon emperor. But over time, the barbarians were conquered, and the demonic image remained in folklore.

Tsuchigumo is a terrible youkai with the body of a tiger, spider limbs and a scary physiognomy that makes any European demon look quite cute and even cute. These monsters live in the vicinity of Mount Yamato Katsuragi. They feed on unwary travelers. Although, strictly speaking, periodically use and cautious.

Once a samurai dragged himself to Mount Yamato, apparently to visit the local temple and meditate, admiring the mountain cherry blossoms. On the way, he met a tsuchigumo spider. The monster tried to braid the warrior with a web, but he silently pulled out a katana and cut the arthropod into two halves. Exactly 1,990 skulls fell out of the tsuchigumo's belly - the samurai was not too lazy to count.

See, these Japanese legends are true. Otherwise, would the storytellers give such exact numbers?

When the slain youkai fell to the ground, thousands of small spiders scattered from its sides in all directions. The samurai followed them into their lair, holding a katana at the ready - although any sane person would have poked into such a place only in an OZK suit and a flamethrower. The warrior found 20 more skulls in the spider's hole.

Morality:spiders are disgusting and dangerous.

7. Sirime

Time for specific Japanese humor. For a long time, a certain samurai walked at night on the road to Kyoto. Walking around at night in the wilderness, as you know, is a very bad idea - especially in Japan. But a warrior should not bother his mind with such trifles. The samurai has no goal, only the path.

Suddenly he heard requests to turn around behind him. The warrior did so and saw a strange man in a kimono. This exhibitionist immediately turned his back on the samurai, took off his clothes and bent down.

And then the warrior saw a huge sparkling eye.

Offended by such an indecent gesture, he immediately grabbed his katana and hacked to death on the spot … no. In fact, this unworthy coward, unable to follow the Bushi code, simply fled.

Sirime literally translates to "eye and buttocks." Why is this youkai acting like this? Probably just because he can afford it.

Morality:don't mess with vagabonds. And don't turn around.

8. Nurarihyon

Nurarihyon is the ayakashi, the supreme demon youkai. His standard appearance is an extremely ugly monk with a huge head. However, Nurarihyon has a superpower: when he enters someone's house, he begins to look and behave just like the owner of this dwelling.

Having penetrated inside, while the owners are not there, the Nurarihyon begins to use the dwelling as if it were his own. For example, he drinks tea, picks up the things he likes, and even, perhaps, subscribes to paid streaming services at your expense. He calmly informs the neighbors that the trip simply did not take place, so he is at home.

Just imagine: any friend you visit may not be a well-known person, but a gloomy supreme youkai.

Perhaps it is because of Nurarihyon's tricks that the Japanese are so courteous and obsessed with formalities and decency. Well, or all the fault of the samurai, who loved to chop off heads for any sidelong glance. And this greatly contributes to the development of politeness among the survivors.

Morality:be extremely careful even with those you know for a long time. You never know.

9. Sazae-oni

European culture has created mermaids - sea seducers who destroy sailors who yearn for female warmth. Or grow legs and marry princes - as luck would have it. Japanese culture gave birth to sadzae-oni. And believe me, the eastern counterparts of mermaids are much more severe than the western sea maidens.

Literally sadzae-oni translates as "devil's clam". If a sea snail lives a very, very long life, sooner or later it will grow into a huge slug-like creature that can turn into a beautiful girl. This is sadzae-oni.

Another option: if a beautiful girl unrequitedly falls in love with a sailor and drowns in the sea from grief, she will transform into a terrible mollusk. And he, in turn, will, of necessity, turn back into a girl. I hope you are not confused.

Once a gang of Japanese pirates were sailing through the night in their ship and saw a woman drowning in the sea. They saved her, and in gratitude, the beauty invited them to spend time together. And the next morning, the weary robbers discovered that their testicles had disappeared.

The versions of the story differ: in some sadzae-oni bit them, in others - tore them off. Why the pirates did not notice what happened until the morning, we can only guess - perhaps they went too far with strong drinks.

The pirates threw the seducer overboard in a rage. But then they realized that they got excited and swam after her, begging the sadzae-they to give them back their courage.

The sea maiden, who assumed her usual form as a monstrous slug, willingly agreed to return the stolen goods for ransom. The filibusters had to give her all the stolen gold, and she returned the severed body parts to them.

There is a play on words in the legend: in Japanese, these most vulnerable parts of the male body are called kin-tama, "golden balls." So the mermaid exchanged gold for gold.

If you believe that the sadzae who robbed the bandits, they distributed the treasures to those from whom the pirates took it away, - nothing like that. Behind this, in fairy tales about Robin Hood, and here we have a harsh story from feudal Japan.

Morality:avoid connections with strangers, especially if you find them at sea.

10. Gasadokuro

If you do not remove the dead from the battlefield or bury people in mass graves, their bones will eventually collect in gasadokuro. It is a huge skeleton made up of skeletons of normal size. It is known that a gasadokuro is exactly 15 times larger than an ordinary person, and his height is 27 meters.

Don't ask where the Japanese got the exact numbers, just take it for granted.

The very first legends about gassadokuro date back to the 10th century. Since the monster appeared from the remains of those who died from war, epidemics or hunger, his character, as you understand, is not very pleasant. Gasadokuro hunts lonely travelers, and you can learn about his approach from afar, because he keeps chattering his teeth.

But in general, the skeleton, perhaps, is not evil in itself - it's just that his life is hard. Sometimes he even shows friendliness to those who have done him a favor. There is one tale from the book Nihon Ryōiki, written between 787 and 824. One day a Japanese man was walking at night (bad idea, very bad idea) across a field in Bingo province in Hiroshima prefecture and heard monstrous howls: “Eye! My eye hurts!"

A sensible person would immediately screw it away, but not this samurai. He found a giant skeleton with a bamboo shoot sticking out of its eye socket, took out a stem and treated the Gasadokuro to boiled rice. Impressed with kindness, he told the hero the story of how he died, and generously rewarded the warrior. And then crumbled, finding peace.

Morality:be kind and help others. Or run away right away, otherwise you will be eaten.

11. Katakirauwa

Have you noticed that all Japanese ghosts are quite unusual characters? Well, against their background, the katakirauwa looks rather modest. These are ghosts of black pigs that have one ear and do not cast shadows, but otherwise look pretty decent. However, there is one problem with them.

If the spirits manage to run between your legs, they will devour your soul, and one of the piglets will move into your body.

Better a 27-meter skeleton, right? You can even see it from afar.

Morality:watch your step.

12. Heikegani

The most amazing creature on the list is only because it … exists in reality. This arthropod is called Heikeopsis japonica. According to legend, heikegani are obtained from the severed heads of samurai. Take a look at the photo and say - well, it looks like it.

If you catch such a crab, you must immediately release it. And then he will reward you with good luck for a whole year.

Carl Sagan somehow suggested that the samurai mask on his shell turned out as a result of evolution - supposedly Japanese sailors ate simple crabs, and the samurai were released, and the sign was fixed.

Another scientist, Joel Martin, refuted this idea, pointing out that heikegani is not eaten. So a samurai mask appeared on his shell by accident, and such were even found in fossil crabs long before the human settlement of Japan.

Morality:sometimes legends have a real basis.