I started off this evening with a simple blog about a boy and ended up (down) several rabbit holes leading to what is Sendai's only Yokai!* Chouchin Kouzou (Lantern Priest Boy) is a tween lad with a cherry-red face who shows up in an area where a horrid murder has taken place. The good news is that he's a fairly benign yokai who means you no harm, just wants to freak you out by walking in front of you and staring you down.
This video does a pretty good job of depicting the situation.
The music is eerie, the actress is a cutie (Mai Horai, based on a few of the commenters, she has a following) and the boy is suitably creepy.
Now we get to the good part, I've scammed his origin from Yokai Finder and the lad "lives" downtown.
Origin: Chōchin kozō are associated with a particular neighborhood in Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture: the area of Aoba Ward between Tsutsumidori Amamiya Machi and Kamisugi. The first sightings took place in the summer during the early 18th century, after a man horribly murdered his wife and her body dumped in that vicinity. The yōkai were thought to be somehow connected to the ghost of the murdered woman.
Here's a blurb from Wikipedia that narrows down his address.
It is said to have appeared in Tsutsumi-dori, in the northern part of the castle town of Sendai Castle (currently Tsutsumi-dori Amemiya-cho and Uesugi 1-2-chome, Aoba -ku, Sendai City 仙台市青葉区堤通雨宮町および上杉1～2丁目. Maybe you'll have better luck with Google Maps than I did.) Its appearance is that of a boy around 12 or 13 years old in human years, but its face is bright red, and it is often likened to the color of ground cherries.
When a person is walking down a rainy road at night, this lantern boy appears from behind, passes the person, then stops, turns around, and stares at the person. The person who is passed becomes suspicious and passes in front of the lantern boy and continues walking, at which point the lantern boy passes them again and stops. The lantern boy repeats this behavior without causing any particular harm to humans, and after a repetition, he disappears.
There is also a theory that the location where the Lantern Boy appears is the place where an unjust murder took place on July 15th during the Shōtoku era (1711-1715 ).
This depiction is by Gegege artist Shigeru Mizuki, (above) and he has his own statue in Tokyo, (below).
*You ninny! You wrote about Sendai's other Yokai, Kashikobuchi, here!
I spent so much time on Lantern Boy, that what follows will be a truncated version.
A while back, I wandered through the book section of e-Beans and came across the Junji Ito display. I don't want to spend full price on any manga, but it does have a nice selection.
I don't have covers for any Green Lantern books, nor have I ever read any Red Lantern book, but just for fun here is the Red Lantern Oath:
With blood and rage of crimson red, ripped from a corpse so freshly dead, together with our hellish hate, we'll burn you all, that is your Fate!
Instead, let's use a different comic cover. I haven't read it yet. Is that a Red Lantern?
Finally, let's take a look at a Gatcha. Nothing particularly Lantern-related, so how about some pumped up bunnies just in time for Moon-Viewing time.
Hey, the Wonderful Wonderblog has some Halloween tidbits to check out. See ya tomorrow!
