2013年1月24日木曜日

Hitotsume-kozō

Hitotsume-kozō

Hitotsume-kozō are roughly "the size of ten-year-old children," but otherwise "resemble bald Buddhist monks."
Their most distinctive feature, however, is a "single, giant eye peering from the center of the face, along with a long tongue, much like a Tsukomogami.
Hitotsume-kozō are relatively harmless creatures, content to "run about frightening people or telling loud people to be quiet."


Since many people consider an encounter with a [Hitotsume-kozō] to be a bad omen ... often [they] leave bamboo baskets in front of their houses, as these are reputed to repel the creatures. A reason for this may be that, in seeing the basket's many holes, the Hitotsume-kozō will see the basket as having many eyes, and run away jealous and ashamed at only having one.












2013年1月19日土曜日

YAMANBA


Yamauba (山姥 or 山うば), Yamamba or Yamanba
are variations  on the name of a yōkai found in Japanese folklore.








Description 
in Classical Japanese FolkloreDepending on the text and translator, the Yamauba appears as a monstrous Crone, “her unkempt hair long and golden white ... her kimono filthy and tattered,” with cannibalistic tendencies.  In one tale a mother traveling to her village is forced to give birth in a mountain hut assisted by an apparent kindly old woman, only to discover, when it is too late, that the stranger is actually Yamauba with plans to eat her newborn child.  In other story the yōkai raises the orphan hero Kintarō, who goes on to became the famous warrior Sakata no Kintoki. 

Yamauba is said to have a mouth at the top of her head under her hair. 
In one story it is related that her only weakness is a certain flower containing her soul.