She Slays Sailors at the SeaShore.

I was going to write about the 濡女 (ぬれおんな) or Nure Onna but I wrote about her several years ago.

Suffice to say that she's a blood sucking Yokai who hangs around the shore waiting for good Samaritans to hold on to her screaming baby. The baby than turns into a boulder, weighing them down and then she proceeds to suck them dry. Nasty. 

One of her colleagues is the 牛鬼 (うしおに) or Ushi Oni who hangs around the same beaches and similarly preys on fishermen or surfer dudes. " The name literally means “ox demon,” and it refers to a number of different monsters with bovine traits. Most Ushi oni resemble an ox from the head up and a demonic horror below. Many variations are known to exist; the body of an ox with a head like an oni; the head of an ox on a body like a spider’s or a cat’s; or even an ox’s head on the body of a kimono-clad human (a Japanese version of the Minotaur)."

Here is an Ushi Oni in action!

 

Ushi oni are exceedingly cruel and savage. They breath toxic poison, and eat humans. Some ushi oni are lurkers, attacking people who draw too close to their lairs; others are hunters, roaming the coasts seeking prey. The cruelest ushi oni ravage the same towns over and over, inflicting terrible curses or bringing diseases.

These two Yokai often work alongside another seafarer, 磯女 (いそおんな) or Iso Onna, a far prettier Yokai who often shares her meals with the above.

"In most cases, they appear as beautiful women who have just come out of the water, dripping wet. Their hair is long and matted, reaching almost all the way down to the sand. Their eyes are heavy with sultry, sexual energy, and their nearly transparent wet clothes stick to their skin. From the waist up, they appear like ordinary human women. But from the waist down, they are blurry and slightly transparent, betraying their otherworldly nature."

On rocky coasts without sandy beaches, iso onna appear sitting on the cliffs and calling out to passersby in an eerie voice. Their victims are mesmerized, and walk straight towards them, ignoring the dangers posed by the rocky cliffs. They walk off the cliffs and fall to their deaths, leaving the iso onna free to feed on their bodies. Iso onna are most commonly encountered during the holiday seasons of Obon and New Year’s Eve, when the border between the realm of the living and the spirit world can be more easily crossed.

I'm definitely going to more wary when I go to the beach! 

You may have noticed that I neglected to blog yesterday. Well, I went to a party for a friend's school and had a few brew (only a few, I had a wedding today!) and partook in festivities. Disappointingly, there were very few costumes of note, mostly just cat or bunny ears. (Admittedly, I too was extremely lazy in my costume, just wearing my Gachapin sweats. I'll be wearing the same gear tomorrow for another Halloween party.) One guy went all out. He actually went and got an eye infection for the cause!

Impressive! He even wore a contact lens to shrink his pupil! This school has the best pupils! Here are a few more who attended an after party.

I was given a huge Asian pear last week, and I carved it Friday morning to bring to the gig. It turned out all right.

I asked the students to provide some eerie sounds for the video version. 

On the way back from my wedding today, I popped into my friend's college who had an Open House.

I was coaxed into buying an overly sweet marshmallow concoction.

Junji Ito provides a Slug Girl!

I gave away a couple of these Key holder thingies at the party.

As for a comic, going along with the seaside creatures, how about this little ditty from DC.

That's it for tonight! I have to get up early for yet another Halloween party, this time with several dozen screaming brats!