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!

PC Woes.

I was lamenting my lack of an operable computer when I thought, let’s see if I can use my phone. 

So here we go!

Well, look at that. It worked! I brought a half dozen sweet potatoes in and encouraged my students to go nuts. They all* did a great job if I do say so. 

*Except one. Not only did he hog all the carving from his partners, he also drained all the gas on my candle lighter trying to heat up some yam. Sigh. 

In the other class of 18, I gave them a choice of six DVDs and they wanted to see the American version of Ring. Unfortunately it took too long trying to get it set up that we couldn’t watch a 115 minute flick. So we watched “Lost Boys” instead. About only six were interested, the rest snoozed or played on their phones. Sigh. 

Last Friday when I played volleyball (my knees are still aching), I wore this mask and a couple of different kids said, “Spider-man!”  I couldn’t figure out why. I took a few selfies and noticed that I need to adjust the eyeholes properly or it loses its appeal. Take a look. 

It’s a generic Jack o’lantern mask though I suppose since it covers my entire face it could be construed as Spidey. Or maybe they’re mixing it up with Green Goblin. A mystery. 

Speaking of Jack, I carved up a Colin Key Melon to a pretty good result. 

Oops. I should’ve cropped that. 

Okay I’m going to try a link to a brief video. 

Nope, that didn’t work. You’ll have to copy and Google it yourself. https://youtu.be/4w5LQNCUYuc?si=3_gJuw1wf24Yn8n_

Here are some Mall Minions. I think there’s a Stamp Rally but I was rushed for time. 

I’m still working out the bugs of a phone entry, so I’ll call it a night for now. 

(Hmm not sure how to add labels. Never mind.) I have a computer again!

Persistent Persimmons!

Holy Crap! Sendai has another Yokai, this one is fruity! The Tantan Kororin or the Kaki Obake appears when you don't pick the persimmons off your tree in a timely fashion and they begin to rot. They then appear as ōnyūdō–giant monks–who materialize near their trees. These monks have round, red faces that resemble persimmons.

Tantan Kororin is the sound made when persimmons fall and roll around. Kaki Obake sounds a little more serious. Listen to this story. (Yeah, it's in Japanese but nicely illustrated.)

Here's some back story and folktales:

Origin: Tantan kororin comes from the folklore of Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture. It was described by Yanagita Kunio in Yōkai dangi. The original meaning of its name was never recorded; however kororin is an onomatopoeia for the sound of things rolling around, so it’s possible that the name comes from the sound of persimmons falling and rolling on the ground.

Legends: Long ago in Sendai, there was an old house with five or six large persimmon trees. The people who lived in the house were very old, and they no longer had the strength to pick the persimmons from their trees. So the persimmons just hung in the trees until they fell off on their own. One day the villagers noticed a man who looked a monk wandering about the town. His sleeves were stuffed full of ripe persimmons, which continuously dropped out from his sleeves and rolled away as he walked. They were scared of the man, so they followed him from a distance to see what he was doing. Eventually, he wandered back through the gate of the old house, walked up to a persimmon tree, and vanished.

At a temple in the mountains, a strange man approached a young monk. The man used a mortar to grind up his own feces into a paste, and the ordered the young monk to eat the paste. The young monk protested, but the man became angrier and angrier, until the young monk had no choice but to obey. He was shocked to discover that the man’s feces were sweet and tasted just like a delicious persimmon. Later, the young monk told the temple’s high priest what had happened. The two of them searched for the strange man together. They saw him climb deep into the mountains and disappear. They followed his trail all the way to an huge, old persimmon tree loaded with ripe fruit. The high priest believed the man must have been the spirit of the persimmon tree. They gathered up all of the ripe fruits and brought them back to the temple. The strange man was never seen again after that.

In Kurihara, Miyagi, a serving girl looked out at the splendid persimmon tree in her master’s yard. It was full of ripe, delicious-looking persimmons. She longed to pick and eat one. That night, a strange man with a bright red face appeared by her side. He ordered the girl to dig at his rear end with a skewer. Too terrified to disobey, the girl did as she was told. Then, the red-faced man ordered her to lick the skewer. To her surprise, the man’s rear tasted like sweet persimmons. The following morning she looked out at the persimmon tree again, and she saw that the persimmons had finger-sized holes gouged out of them.

I didn't know we had so many creatures in town. This explains why I don't like persimmons very much.

Well, would you look at that. Just "yesterday" I was talking about a Drifting Classroom and today I found a manga called "The Dissolving Classroom"! Here is a link to the Junji Ito Wiki and here is the cover of the book.

I'll dive into the book later and snap some inserts from it. Meanwhile, here are some Zombie Fruit for you to taste.

Unfortunately, I only have the Ringo-Zombie above. Below is a Pear that has been fondued. (A Fond Dude?)

These two comics are neither fruit nor classroom related, I just happen to like them.

 

This blogger is sort of linked to classrooms, check out Tales from the Back Room if you dare...

There! I'm all caught up but, darn it, I missed the midnight deadline. So it looks like I'm behind again.

You Otter Like This.

I'm gonna get all lazy on my Junji Ito selection today and just use some screencaps from yet another ad for a Popup Store.

I'm a big fan of this Goth chick!

Today's Yokai is the Kawauso, or River Otter. As with most animals in Japan, they develop magical powers when they reach old age. These meter-long, cute & furry otters are playful and mischievous. (Like me!) They love sake and often play pranks hoping to score some. Some occasionally turn into beautiful women trying to score in other ways with gullible males. Warning sometimes these encounters turn violent and the dudes end up as half-eaten corpses floating in the river. 

You otter ought to click here for a Gegege tale

Apart from Weasel on the Suicide Squad, I can't think of any Comics featuring otters. 

This gal kind of fits the bill. Here is Rima.

Instead of Gatcha, how about

Today's treat is a pearkin (I have no idea if that link will work.) It may take you to a Reel of the following:

I took an Asian pear (shaped like an apple but the size of a grapefruit) and carved it up.

 

Hollow it out, shove in a candle and voila!

The nice thing is that I can eat its guts. Hopefully it'll last long enough to take to school on Monday to show off.

This is my first time visiting raincausespaininmybrain, it looks pretty good so far.

Tomorrow I'm driving for a few hours to Morioka for a wedding, so I'm off to bed early. Let's see if I can get into some mischief after the nuptials...