The Dark Side of Japan: Ancient Black Magic, Folklore, Ritual

by Antony Cummings

  The Gracious King and the Assassin

  Yoji Chi served King Chihaku, but King Chihaku fell under the sword of his rival King Chojoshi. Chojoshi took the head of the fallen king and sawed through the top of the skull, having the skull lacquered to use as a drinking vessel. The servant Yoji Chi was outraged and wanted revenge for his fallen leader. During the first attempt to assassinate the king he was captured, but the king spared his life, knowing he was a loyal retainer on a sacred quest of vengeance. Next he dressed as a leper and waited under a bridge; again he was stopped, and again the king forgave him. Standing there in front of such a fine king, Yoji asked for the king’s cloak so that he could symbolically hack it to ‘death’, thus achieving his goal of revenge. He killed himself when he was done, as his task was complete.

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  LEGENDS FROM TONO

  The following short collection comprises legends and stories collected by the late Mr Yanagita, a devotee of folklore preservation who at the end of the nineteenth century and in the first half of the twentieth century collected folk tales from various areas. Given the period in which he worked, the tales are relatively modern. While this is just a selection, it includes some of the more grotesque stories collected from Tono in Iwate prefecture.

  Choja’s Daughter

  One day a daughter of the Choja family was kidnapped, and after a while was presumed dead. Years later, a huntsman went hunting in a mountainous area that was seldom visited. It was in this area that he found a girl. He took aim – for some reason any story in the collection with a girl and a hunter has the hunter trying to shoot the unarmed girl – but she cried out, saying that he was in fact her uncle and that she had been kidnapped years ago. She had been forced to have babies with her kidnapper, but when they were delivered he ate them up, cannibalising his own offspring. Upon hearing this the hunter ran away in fear, and when he got back to the village he had forgotten the position and a rescue could not be attempted.

  Mt Goyo

  On Mount Goyo there lived a woman who had been kidnapped by a man with strange and piercing eyes. She gave him baby after baby, but he said they were not his and took them away; when she was freed she said that she believed he ate or killed them.

  The Fall of the House of Choja

  The house of Choja was a prominent family in the village, with a history that went back a long way. One day, the people of the house found some strange mushrooms that had never been seen before. Some of the members said they should not eat the mushrooms, but one family member said that they knew a way to nullify any poison – this was done by soaking them in water and mixing the water with a few grasses. They all agreed to try and cook them in this manner. After diner they all grew ill, and one by one they died – apart from a small girl who was playing outside and did not attend the dinner. People in the village came to the Choja residence and took goods, claiming they were owed money by the family; in the end only a bare shell of a house remained. Thus passed the house of Choja, an ancient family that fell in a single day.

  Howling Wolf

  One night the wolves were howling loudly, and a drunken man on his way home decided he would join the cacophony; to his dismay, the wolves came to join the howl around him. He fled into his house, but the wolves surrounded his house and howled all night long. In the morning he found that the wolves had gotten into his livestock and killed many of his animals, and from that day on the house was an unlucky one.

  Tetsu and the Wolf

  Tetsu means “iron” in Japanese and so the gentleman in this story is named “Iron” because he was as hard as metal. Tetsu was a large man and wrestled as a pass time, we should think of him as the village strongman. The village were being plagued by wolves so Tetsu, being the strongest went out to fight them, no weapons in hand. The Alpha backed away from him but the female came on. Tetsu wrapped his kimono jacket around his arm and forced his hand into the she-wolf’s mouth, at the same time the she-wolf bit down. He called for aid but no one would move, so he reached down and forced his hand into the stomach of the she-wolf as the she-wolf gnawed at his upper arm. The wolf died there but Tetsu was carried back to the village where he died of his wounds, thus ends the story of Tetsu – the man of iron.

  Kuma and the Bear

  Kuma in Japanese means bear, and this gentleman was named so because of his fight with such an animal. One day, some friends were in the mountains when a bear attacked them, or at least threatened them. The man wrestled the bear and both fell down a steep hillside into a river; as the rest looked on, they saw that the bear had died but the man survived. Thus did he take on his new name.

  Monkeys in Armour

  This is the tale of a monkey that had somehow melted pine resin and mixed it with sand, covering his fur in the mixture. When dry, the mixture became hard like armour and even bullets could not stop him. It is interesting to know that pine resin, crushed bone and sand do indeed form a hard substance.

  The Kappa in the Bucket

  Kappa are strange sea creatures (as discussed earlier), and once in the area of Tono a kappa lost its way from the water and took refuge under a bucket. When the village people saw the bucket, they wondered why it was upside-down. As they tried to lift it, they saw the hand of a kappa and all wondered what to do. An agreement with the kappa was made and it arranged to leave the village alone if they let it go. It is said that the kappa still haunts a pond nearby.

  The Sly Fox

  One day a hunter was poised to shoot down a fox. He took aim at the creature, but it stopped dead in its tracks and looked at the hunter with an expression of indifference. When the hunter shot, nothing happened. Looking at his weapon, the hunter found that the barrel had been blocked by dirt. That crafty, sly old fox!

  Obaku – The Eater of Dreams

  Evil dreams are caused by evil spirits. Such dreams can include two snakes together, a fox with the voice of a man, bloodstained garments, a talking rice pot, or other such curiosities. You can ask an obaku to devour the dream for you, or you can have a picture of an obaku on your wall or write his name on your pillow. The creature has the face of a lion, the body of a horse, the tail of a crow, a rhino’s horn and the feet of a tiger.

  The Tradition of Cancelling Each Other Out

  It is said that the snake, the toad and the snail cancel each other out. The idea is that there needs to be a power check in place. It works like this: the snake will eat the toad, but the toad has eaten a snail so that when the snake digests the toad, the snail (which is considered poisonous to a snake), kills the serpent. Therefore, the snake does not eat the toad as he knows it will kill him in the end.

  The Fox Dream

  One night a fisherman was working very late, past midnight, and while packing away his boat he saw his wife walking eerily along the beach in the sand. Knowing that his wife would never leave the house at this time, he considered the vision to be a fox. Taking his knife, he crept up behind the ‘wife’, stabbed her and cut her throat. She fell down dead. Looking down and expecting to find a transformed fox, he simply saw the body of his dead wife. Panic set in. She should have changed back into a fox! Running home, he was pleased to find his wife still asleep and so woke her. On waking she said that she had dreamt she was forced into action by a fox. The fisherman went back to the site of his deed and found that it had turned into a fox at last – all was well.

  The Fox with Its Head Stuck

  A traveller was walking through a village at night and needed shelter. He saw one lit house, and asked to be taken in. The occupant was glad and said that he was welcome because a woman had just died and the man needed to fetch some things. He therefore asked if the traveller would look after the body while he was away. Desperate, the traveller said yes and waited in the next room to the old dead woman. During the night, the traveller heard something and looked through the paper screen to the light beyond; the dead lady sat upright. Scared but with his wits still intact, he took a closer look. There in the corner of the room was the head of a f
ox, coming through the side of the wall. He went around the back of the house and, sure enough, the fox had its head stuck in the wall through a small hole. The traveller picked up a log and beat the fox to death, which brought an end to the matter.

  Tokutaro and the Fox Bet

  Tokutaro did not believe in the power of foxes, and so his friends made a wager with him challenging him to stay on the moor overnight. He agreed, journeying to the moor in the dark. He had not been there long when a fox crossed his path, but it disappeared out of sight. At this point a girl came from the darkness, saying that she was visiting her parents nearby and that he should go with her as a guide. Fully suspicious that it may be the power of the fox, he followed behind. When they got to the house, the family were surprised to see their daughter away from her husband. Tokutaro said that it was not their daughter but a fox-witch. He made them leave the room, where he beat and tortured the girl. As she would not confess to being a fox he burnt her alive, at which point the family rushed in and restrained him. A priest came by and asked the family to spare him so that he may become a priest for the remainder of his life. Tokutaro, happy at not being arrested for murder, agreed and let the priest shave his head. However, the priest and the house disappeared; it had all been an illusion. Tokutaro sat there with a shaved head. The foxes had tricked him, and he lost the bet.

  The Kind Fox

  One day a man was walking along a road when he came upon some boys tormenting a fox cub. The man saved the fox cub from the boys and let it return to its family. The man actually had a son who was very ill, and the only remedy was the liver of a live fox. Later, a stranger came to the door and said he had found the man a fox liver, and the boy was cured. The next day a woman appeared, and said that she was the fox cub’s mother. She said that she knew of his need to save his own child, so out of compassion for his kindness she had removed the liver from her own cub and had her husband bring it to him.

  The Hunter and the Demon Priest

  A hunter sat under a large tree at night when on a trip in the mountains. He had set up holy ropes to protect himself from evil, and he had loaded his musket and set it across his chest. During the night he woke to the sound of a great flapping, and above him was a demonic priest with a cape of scarlet. The demon could not pass the barrier of the holy rope, although thrice that night he tried.

  The Wife and Her Horse Husband

  There was a man who had only a daughter and a horse. The daughter loved the horse very much, and announced that it was to be her husband. The father, horrified, took the horse to the woods and hanged it from a tree. The girl was distraught when she discovered this and ran to the hanging horse in tears, clinging to it. The father cut the head off the horse, at which point his daughter turned into a white goddess and flew away. The branch that the horse was hung from was cut into three sections, and a figure of the goddess was carved in each one. It is said that at least one of those figurines remains in the village to this day.

  Tengu Hill

  Once a man went up Tengu Hill and met a stranger with whom he wrestled – the stranger being truly strange in that he was too tall to be Japanese. The stranger knocked the man out and left him there. Months later, the same man went back up the hill and never returned. The villagers later found his body ripped to shreds.

  The Fool of Fire

  Yoshiko was a village fool who wandered from house to house. She used to pick up wood and smell it, turning it in her hands, giving it her full concentration. From time to time she would throw a stone or block of wood at a nearby house and shout, ‘Fire!’ Then, without doubt, days or weeks later the house would catch fire. Noticing this, the villagers began to protect their homes from Yoshiko. However, every house touched in this way by Yoshiko burned down. The question remains, was this Yoshiko’s talent to predict or to curse?

  Fukuji’s Wife

  Fukuji was a man who had lost his wife and son in a tidal wave. One night in the fog he saw two figures, one his wife and the other her first and true love. Fukuji talked with his wife, pleading for her to return from the dead to see their remaining children. She refused, and the dead lovers returned to the mist. After this conversation, Fukuji was ill due to his encounter with the dead.

  Mountain Mother

  Yamahaha is a mountain hag and may be close to other versions of mountain demons. In Tono she is called mother-mountain, but she seems to be supernatural in her powers and is akin to the wicked old hag of Western fairy stories. Below are two stories of Yamahaha.

  I

  One day a girl’s parents leave her at home, and in classic fairy tale style they tell her not to open the door to anyone. Of course, a few hours later there is a knocking at the door and there is old Yamahaha. The girl refuses her entrance, but the hag says she will break down the door so the girl reluctantly lets her in. The old crone shouts for food; the child makes it and then flees as fast as she can. At first she hides with a woodcutter behind a stack of wood, but Yamahaha smells her out; again she flees, but this time she ends up in a reed field. Again she is discovered. In her escape she finds a pond and hides in a tree above it. Yamahaha smells the air and sees the reflection of the girl in the pond and jumps in, thinking it is her. The girl flees once more and comes to a bamboo hut where another girl is sitting. Giving advice, the girl in the hut tells the escapee to climb into a stone chest. In bursts Yamahaha, asking where the runaway girl is, but the girl in the hut says she is not there. Yamahaha says she can smell human flesh and that she is lying. The girl responds by saying she has just cooked a sparrow and that’s what she can smell. Yamahaha, getting sleepy, says that she will rest a while and wonders if she should sleep in the stone chest or the wooden chest. The girl says that the wooden chest is warmer, and so Yamahaha gets into that chest. At this point both girls plan their escape. The girls lock up the wooden chest, burn holes in it and pour a vat of boiling water though them to kill the old witch.

  II

  A girl is soon to be married, and her parents go to town to buy things for the wedding. They tell her not to answer the door until they return. Yamahaha breaks into the house, kills the girl and butchers her corpse, eating her flesh and wearing the skin to disguise herself as the daughter with her mountain magic. The parents return to find their ‘daughter’ unharmed, dutifully waiting for them. They show her all the gifts they have bought, but in the yard a cockerel cries, ‘That’s not your daughter, look in the corner, cock a doodle do.’ The parents, perplexed, ignore the strange event. They put her on a horse to leave for the wedding, but the cockerel cries again, ‘That’s not your daughter, that’s Yamahaha, cock a doodle do.’ The parents drag their ‘daughter’ from the horse and beat her to death. They investigate the corner as the cockerel advised and they find a pile of bones, the remains of their true daughter.

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  GAMES AND GHOST STORIES

  Japanese games, whether for men, women, children or just for drinking, encompass such a large area. This is just a quick glance at the darker side of such pastimes, but it does give an idea of the haunting and ghostly games that were once popular in the land of Japan.

  Hyakumonogatari Kaidankai – One Hundred Haunted Poems

  A group of people will sit in a single room with one hundred candles or lamps with one hundred wicks. They take it in turns to tell a poem about a ghost or some other scary subject, normally only a few lines long. After each poem one of the candles is snuffed out, making the room grow darker as the tension builds and the stories reach a climax. At the telling of the hundredth poem, the last wick is put out and it is said that a real ghost will appear and that the players should all cry out in a ghostly fashion.

  Kon Dame Shi – The Game of Soul Examining

  In what is probably the most terrifying children’s game of all time, the players (or hardcore thrillseekers) place flags or strips of cloth in the most horrible, dark and haunted place they can – for example, a graveyard, a haunted wood or an abandoned house – and in the dark they tell each other sca
ry stories. After each story is told, a single player has to venture deep into the haunted area and retrieve one of the flags. This is done until there are no flags left or no one wishes to go in and fetch them.