Banchō Sarayashiki

Banchō Sarayashiki

Banchō Sarayashiki or Bancho Sarayashiis a Japanese ghost story of love separated by social class, broken trust and broken promises, leading to a dismal fate.

The story of Okiku and the Nine Plates is one of the most famous in Japanese folklore, and continues to resonate with audiences today.

The story of Okiku is an old one, whose true origins are unknown; however, it first appeared under the title Bancho Sarayashiki in July 1741 at the Toyotakeza theater. The familiar ghost legend had been adapted into a ningyō jōruri production by Asada Iccho and Tamenaga Tarobei I. Like many successful puppet shows, a Kabuki version followed and in September 1824, Banchō Sarayashiki was staged at the Naka no Shibai theater starring Otani Tomoemon II and Arashi Koroku IV in the roles of Aoyama Daihachi and Okiku.

A one-act Kabuki version was created in 1850 by Segawa Joko III, under the title Minoriyoshi Kogane no Kikuzuki, which debuted at the Nakamura-za theater and starred Ichikawa Danjūrō VIII and Ichikawa Kodanji IV in the roles of Tetsuzan and Okiku. This one-act adaptation was not popular, and quickly folded, until it was revived in June 1971 at the Shimbashi Embujō theater, starring the popular combination of Kataoka Takao and Bando Tamasaburō V in the roles of Tetsuzan and Okiku.

The most familiar and popular adaptation of Banchō Sarayashiki, written by Okamoto Kido, debuted in February 1916 at the Hongō-za theater, starring Ichikawa Sadanji II and Ichikawa Shōchō II in the roles of Lord Harima and Okiku. It was a modern version of the classic ghost story in which the horror tale was replaced by a deep psychological study of the two characters' motivations.

Japanese Ghost Stories

http://gominekobooks.com/books.html

Size: 8 ” x 11.5” 

Pages: 124 

Published: 2009

Price: $48

Binding:  Softcover

WE MADE 300 LIMITED EDITION S/N HARDBACK EDITIONS AS GIFTS TO THE ARTISTS. 

THE REMAINDER ARE AVAILABLE THROUGH THE WEBSITE WHILE SUPPLIES LAST.

Japanese Ghost Stories is the end result of a year long art project. It includes illustrations based on four different Japanese ghost stories, submitted by 62 unique international artists, including Jack “Horimouja” Mosher, Horimasa, Ade, Cody Meyer, Tim Kern, Horizaru, Horigyn, Hougen and more. The project was created to explore how Westerners approach old Japanese myths and legends, most of which are quite culturally diverse and unique. The artists were asked to adhere to certain elements of the story but ultimately were given creative license. The artwork submitted for the project was incredibly varied in terms of style and approach, making this a compelling collection of illustrations and an interesting look into how the western mind, as well as that of present day Japan, approach these antiquated tales.

Raijū

Raijū

Raijū (雷獣,"thunder animal" or "thunder beast") is 

a legendary creature from Japanese mythology.

 Its body is composed of lightning and may be in the shape of a cat, fox, weasel, or wolf.

 The form of a white and blue wolf (or even a wolf wrapped in lightning) is also common. 

It may also fly about as a ball of lightning (in fact, the creature may be an attempt to explain the phenomenon of lightning). Its cry sounds like thunder.

Raiju is the companion of Raijin, the Shinto god of lightning. While the beast is generally calm and harmless, during thunderstorms, it becomes agitated and leaps about in trees, fields, and even buildings (trees that have been struck by lightning are said to have been scratched by Raiju's claws).

Another of Raiju's peculiar behaviors is sleeping in human navels. This prompts Raiden to shoot lightning arrows at Raiju to wake the creature up, and thus harms the person in whose belly the demon is resting. Superstitious people therefore often sleep on their stomachs during bad weather, but other legends say that Raiju will only hide in the navels of people who sleep outdoors.

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.

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. 

Bake-danuki

Bake-danuki

Bake-danuki (化け狸) are a kind of tanuki yōkai (ghost) found in the classics and in the folklore and legends of various places in Japan.

Although the tanuki is an real, extant animal, the bake-danuki that appears in literature has always been depicted as a strange, even supernatural animal. The earliest appearance of the bake-danuki in literature, in the Nihon Shoki written by the Empress Suiko during the Nara period, consists of such passages as "in two months of spring, there are mujina in the country of Mutsu , they turn into humans and sing songs. Bake-danuki subsequently appear in such classics as the Nihon Ryōikiand the Uji Shūi Monogatari. In some regions of Japan, bake-danuki are reputed to have abilities similar to those attributed to kitsune (foxes): they can shapeshift into other things,shapeshift people, and possess human beings.

There are many legends of tanukis in the Sado Islands of Niigata Prefecture and in Shikoku, and among them, like the danzaburou-danuki of Sado, the awa-tanuki-gassen of Awa Province (Tokushima Prefecture), and the yasima-no-hage-danuki of Kagawa Prefecture, the tanuki who possessed special abilities were given names, and even became the subject of rituals. Apart from these places, there are few cases where tanuki are treated with special regard.

The character 狸, pronounced lí in modern Mandarin, was originally a collective name for medium-sized mammals resembling cats in China, with the leopard cat as its nucleus. When this character was brought to Japan, there were no animals to which it could be suitably applied. Japanese intellectuals used the character to signify tanuki, stray cats, wild boars, Eurasian badgers, weasels, and Japanese giant flying squirrels.

The tanuki of Japan from time immemorial were deified as governing all things in nature, but after the arrival of Buddhism, animals other than envoys of the gods (foxes, snakes, etc.) lost their divinity. Since all that remained was the image of possessing special powers, they were seen as evil or as yōkai, with tanuki being a representative type. Some also take the viewpoint that the image of the tanuki has overlapped with that of the mysterious and fearful 狸 of China (leopard cat).However, since the tanuki of Japan do not have the fearsome image that the leopard-cats of China do, unlike in China their image took the form of a more humorous kind of monster,[8] and even in folktales like Kachi-kachi Yama, and Bunbuku Chagama, they often played the part of foolish animals.

Compared with kitsune (foxes), which are the epitome of shape-changing animals, there is the saying that "the fox has seven disguises, the tanuki has eight (狐七化け、狸八化け)". The tanuki is thus superior to the fox in its disguises, but unlike the fox, which changes its form for the sake of tempting people, tanuki do so to fool people and make them seem stupid. There is also the theory that they simply like to change their form.

Ushi-oni

Ushi-oni

The Ushi-Oni (牛鬼, Ox Oni (demon)), or gyūki, is a creature which appears in the folklore of Japan. There are various kinds of ushi-oni, all of them some sort of monster with a horned, bovine head.

Perhaps the most famous ushi-oni appears as a protective symbol in the Uwajima Ushi-oni Festival, which is held in late July in Uwajima of Ehime Prefecture. Something like the dragon dancers at a Chinese New Year celebration, this ushi-oni is represented with a huge, multiple-person costume with a cloth body and a carved, painted head held upon a pole. It has a sword for a tail, and is thought to drive away evil spirits.

Another well-known ushi-oni is a massive, brutal sea-monster which lives off the coast of Shimane Prefecture and other places in Western Japan and attacks fishermen. It is often depicted with a spider- or crab-like body. This ushi-oni seems to be connected to another monster called the nure-onna, who sometimes appears before an ushi-oni attack and tricks the victim into holding her child, which then becomes stuck to the person's hands and grows heavier in order to hinder escape.

Yet another ushi-oni is depicted as a statue on the grounds of the Negoroji temple in Takamatsu, Kagawa Prefecture. It is a bipedal monster with huge tusks, spurred wrists, and membranes like a flying squirrel. A sign nearby explains that this creature terrorized the area about four-hundred years ago, and was slain by a skilled archer by the name of Yamada Kurando Takakiyo (山田蔵人高清). He dedicated its horns to the temple, and they can still be seen to this day. 

Ushi-oni are also mentioned in Sei Shōnagon's tenth-century diary The Pillow Book, and in the Taiheiki of the fourteenth century.