Japanese legends and horror stories. Fish in Japanese legends is a symbol of evil and death. The Japanese legend of the crane

For many years, Japan was in cultural isolation. The period of isolation contributed to the birth of an exceptional in its content of the oral and visual creation, close to European surrealism.

In Japanese legends, the roots of which stretch from ancient times, reflected both the original Shinto beliefs and the later philosophical parables of Zen Buddhism. In folk art, all this fancifully interwoven with traditional superstitions and moralizing stories for children.

Modern Japanese tales and legends in many ways bear the imprint of those times when nature, according to simple Japanese, was inhabited by spirits; Coming out at night on a deserted road, you could easily meet a ghost; And communication with these creatures often ended in the death of a person.

The image of a fish from the lower world

In the mythology of different peoples, there are fishes endowed with some unusual qualities, like representatives of the mysterious lower world, populated, according to shamanistic beliefs, by the spirits of the deceased. This is their potential danger. But if, knowing the fish habits, to behave correctly, you can achieve a lot.

Japanese legends and myths in this sense are no exception. Assistant in worldly affairs was traditionally considered a carp endowed with exceptional courage and willpower, which allows him to move even against the current.

Soma also declared the origin of earthquakes, which Japan is so famous for. This fish in Japanese legends is as frequent a guest as earthquakes. After 1885, when the city of Edo was practically destroyed (the ancient name of Tokyo), the people were of the opinion that it was the tricks of the giant Soma Namazu. Since that time, there have been several engravings depicting catfish, tamed by the god Kasima.

Shark - the fish of evil and death in Japanese legends

Throughout Japan there are shrines in the form of processed stones with inscriptions dedicated to the tailed demons of the bija and the elements subject to them: wind, water, fire, lightning and earth.

By the force of water, he owns a bija in the shape of a horned shark. It is also depicted as a cross between a tortoise and a toad, with three tails and three frightening fangs. This creature, according to legend, dwells at great depths, only occasionally swim to breathe to the surface. Then a powerful storm rises, which can not be resisted.

The shark demon is characterized by immense aggression and bloodthirstiness. That's why this fish in Japanese legends is a symbol of evil. She appears accompanied by a fish called Samehade, helping her to transform food into energy that the sharka-bija uses to control the elements of water.

Of course, occasionally there is an event that does not correspond to the logic of this monster, and it helps someone. However, this has to be paid too dearly.

Legend of the Snow Woman Yuki-onna

Until now, the old Japanese legend about Yuki-onna, a white-faced woman who freezes men with her kiss, remains popular. One winter night, she almost killed a young man named Minokity, who had to wait a blizzard with his father in a forest hut. Snow witch decided to spare him in exchange for a promise not to tell anyone about their meeting.

The following year he met an orphan girl named O-Yuki. After a while they got married and got a bunch of wonderful white kids. Everything was wonderful in their marriage, it's only strange that O-Yuki did not age at all.

And then one day, when he saw his wife in the light of a night lamp, Minokity suddenly remembered that incident in the winter forest, and told her about him, which he regretted more than once. The enraged and frustrated woman admitted that she was Yuki-onna, accusing her husband of violating the oath. Only children peacefully sleeping next to her, kept her from killing her husband.

Going into the world of spirits, Yuki threatened that she would watch for Minokity to take care of them.

Legends of Cranes

The Japanese like this freedom-loving bird, about which many legends are composed. Here's one of them. Once upon a time, a young man saved a crane, which turned into a beautiful girl. They got married and were happy until the young man recognized her secret, seeing how she weaves the canvas from her feathers. Then the indignant girl turned back into a crane and left her lover.

Another story about the origami master. All his life he put different figures of paper, and then gave them to their neighbors' children. One day he presented one of the figures to a wandering monk, who foresaw the master wealth and fame if he remained faithful to his vocation.

Master even during the war continued to make his figures, putting their soul in them. Once his crane waved his wings and flew. And then the war ended. So he became a symbol of peace and fulfillment of desires. This is the story of the Japanese legend about the crane: any desire will come true if you add 1000 such figures.

Plots of urban legends

Modern Japanese city legends were influenced by the traditional oral story of kaidan, whose main characters are the restless spirits of onyre. As a rule, these are ghosts of dead people who have come to restore justice, revenge or execute a curse. On the basis of the plots taken from the Kaidans, the plays for the Kabuki Theater were often written.

Required components of the classical kaidan:

• In the story, not only ordinary people are involved, but also supernatural beings, usually ghosts, eager for revenge.

• Behind external action is the law of the inevitability of karma or retribution.

• Revenge is the basis of almost any plot.

• There are not many characters, and each of them is drawn brightly, down to the grotesque.

Otherworldly beings are monsters of obae and bachemono, which are capable of changing their form. A kind of obake is the youkai, which can denote any undead. There are also "they" - demons living in a local species of hell.

Urban Legends of the Meiji Period

After many years of isolation, under the Emperor Mutsuhito of the Meiji Dynasty, in the second half of the 19th century, revolutionary changes took place in the country that unfolded her face to the world. When there was a sharp transition from the traditional to the European way of life and the associated technological revolution, Japanese legends appeared, which reflected the fear of the inhabitants of the rapid changes in life.

Since 1872, railways have been built all over the country, and this has caused massive cases of ghost trains being observed. Most often they were seen by the machinists themselves late at night. They looked like ordinary trains, rushing along the same paths. However, before the collision, the ghosts disappeared. The appearance of ghostly trains was sometimes confirmed by observations of scientists, but it was explained in no less strange way: they say that werewolves (foxes, badgers or raccoons) are to blame for everything, whose bodies were found in places of failed collisions.

Another story relates to power lines: they suspected that it was not tar, but the blood of virgins that used to insulate the wires. This led to the fact that the girls began to be afraid to leave the house or disguised themselves as elderly women, so that they could safely go out into the street.

Features of modern urban legends

Terrible Japanese legends are created around the ghosts of people who died as a result of an injustice or a banal accident committed against them. They are simply obsessed with the theme of revenge, and in the most perverted way they are framing the act of retribution, horrifying all around them.

For example, they like to ask ambiguous questions - peculiar Zen koans, which can not be answered literally, so as not to lose any part of the body or life itself. City ghosts can now be found in the cabins of school toilets or in the night bathroom. The ghost may be a woman with a gauze bandage on her face, and anywhere you can attack a lady with a half-cut train cut off.

Perhaps, telling such stories, the Japanese maintain their mentality, but at the same time create a kind of environment for the correct education of the younger generation. Cautions against dangerous night walks, accustom to cleanliness, warn of possible consequences of betrayal.

Numerous Japanese legends and horror stories can be divided into main themes.

Revenge

The main theme of horror stories, as already mentioned, is revenge. And ghosts do not try to figure out who is right - who is to blame, and revenge everyone in a row. This illogicality of their behavior and aggravates a special horror. After all, to guess who will be the next victim is simply impossible. The only thing that can be understood in the sequence of murders is the attachment of a ghost to a specific place. The place where he was deprived of life.

There are also Japanese legends in which others seek revenge for the murder. For example, the story of a woman in a purple kimono. Grandmother took revenge for the death of her grandson, killed by classmates, tearing the liver from children. The color of her clothes was a clue, as her questions had to be said: "purple." Only in this way it was possible to survive.

The most popular horror story on this topic is the legend of Hanako - a toilet ghost. The stories about the girl, killed in the school toilet cubicle, are told by schoolchildren of Japan in different ways. Many believe that it can be found in any school toilet.

Cursed places

In the city folklore there are many attractions of this kind. These are abandoned houses, hospitals, whole streets and parks. Japanese legends and horror stories are very often associated with such places.

For example, the Sennichimae district in Osaka is famous for its ghosts, where in the last century there was a severe fire that killed over a hundred people. Since then, scary ghosts wander the streets of this accursed area at night, frightening their own kind of rare nocturnal passers-by.

Or take the story of the "bad apartment" located in an old high-rise building without an elevator (7 floors, staircases in 7 steps). Nobody stayed in this apartment for a long time, but everyone kept quiet about why.

Everything came out when the next resident was found dead in his bed. Then the mystery of the room was revealed: at night, a ghostly child was approaching her, who was climbing the steps and informing her of her approach until she opened the door to the apartment. That guy could not stand such a strain.

Frightening ugliness

About the ugly essences of yuray mention numerous ancient Japanese legends. These ugliness were hidden by them for the time being under the hair or were frighteningly visual, showing excess parts of the body or their absence.

Modern Japanese have continued this theme, having combined a legend about "the woman with the cut off mouth" (Kutisake Onna). This lady in a gauze dressing walks the streets of different cities, and asks one question to her children: "Am I beautiful?" She tears off the bandage, concealing a terrible scar and bared teeth, and repeating it with a large pair of scissors at the ready. And you can only be saved without answering anything concrete - "yes" or "no" will only mean getting a similar ugliness or cutting off the head.

Another horror story called "Tak-Tak." She's talking about a woman, cut by a train in half. The unfortunate night ghost moves on his elbows, and his movement is accompanied by a characteristic sound, for which he was nicknamed Tak-Tak. The woman pursues the children she met on her way, until she slashes them with a scythe. This is a warning for young children who are playing in the street in the dark.

Animating dolls

It's not good to leave or throw away your favorite dolls - Japanese legends tell about it, in which puppets revenge for the fact that they are forgotten by former masters. In horror stories of this type, the idea that we put a particle of our soul into objects with which we interact for a long time is embodied.

This is the famous for the whole of Japan doll Okiku, whose hair began to grow, as if her deceased mistress embodied in her body. The little girl was very fond of her and almost never parted with her "girlfriend". When Okiku suddenly fell ill and died, her family began to pray to the left doll in her home altar, once noticing that her hair was growing. I had to even cut them.

But another doll was unlucky - they got rid of it as an unnecessary old thing. It was Lika-chan. Once her former mistress was left alone at home, and suddenly the phone rang. An unnatural voice told the girl that it was Lika-chan, and she was heading for her mistress. And so it was repeated several times, until the doll did not say that she had a girl behind her.

Technological horror stories

This is perhaps the most recent topic that feeds modern Japanese legends. For example, the story of mobile phones.

To call Satoru-kun, who has an answer to any question, you need to call from the machine to your mobile number. Then, waiting for the connection, call Satoru-kun through the machine's pipe. As in the legend of Liku-chan, now calls to the mobile will report the approach of the mysterious Satoru.

And finally he will say that he is already here, behind your back. Now it's time to ask your question. But if you hesitate or turn around, Satoru-kun can drag the curious into his ghostly world.

Fear or hope?

It was possible for a long time to talk about the world of the Japanese legend, filled with magic, a kind of oriental humor, bloodthirsty monsters and horror stories. Modern cinema, in an effort to add more adrenaline to its products, draws from this world a large spoon. Who did not see the movie "Bell", in which the most frightening character was a girl with black hair?

And at the same time, the romantic legend of 1000 cranes is widely known, which became a symbol of hope and peace on earth. This happened a few years after the bombing of Hiroshima, when a small girl suffering from radiation sickness, who believed in this legend, began to add crane figurines.

She managed to make a little more than half of the cranes, and her dream of recovery and peace on the planet did not come true. But the legend itself became the property of mankind.