Today's Yokai can be found in lakes and deep ponds all over Japan but especially in Miyagi. She isUnagi Hime or the Eel Princess. There aren't that many pictures of her, here's one.
And some dude drew this one himself.
You can draw one yourself if you just follow this video's instructions.
Unagi hime live at the bottom of lakes and ponds. Very little is known about them, and stories about them are short and lacking in detail. Sometimes they are said to weave clothing on looms at the bottom of their ponds. The clacking sound of a loom can be heard near the banks of a pond where an unagi hime lives.
Here is the origin and a legend...
Origin: In Miyagi Prefecture, eels were believed to be guardians of the ponds they inhabit. A number of local legends tell of eels which battle with other guardian animals such as crabs and spiders. The eels usually take the form of beautiful women and try to recruit the help of humans in their fights. Sometimes the human is a famous warrior or priest, other times he is unnamed, but in most stories the eel loses the battle.
Legends: There is a pond nearby which a warrior named Genbē lived. One rainy summer night, Genbē took a walk around the pond. The eel who owned the pond appeared before Genbē in the form of a beautiful woman. She told the warrior that on the following night, the spider who owned a nearby pond would come and fight her. She begged the warrior to stay by the pond and protect her, for with his help she would surely win the battle. Genbē promised to help. However, on the following evening, he grew cowardly and stayed at home, shaking. The next morning, he returned to the pond and found the severed head of a giant eel. Its unblinking eyes stared at him with such hatred that he lost his mind. He threw himself into the pond and drowned.
I don't have any eels to speak of, though I did buy a Gatcha capsule of Ahab's nemesis today.
I didn't buy any, but here are some Frog gatcha that would have gone well with a previous post.
As a follow-up to yesterday's post about Junji Ito's story, The Dissolving Classroom I snapped a few pics from its interior. Pretty bizarre stuff.
As usual, when I transfer from my pc, the pages are out of order. Not that it makes much of a difference.
Going back to a nautical theme, I suppose Aquaman should make a reappearance here.
I'll save a few more for a later naughty-cal post.
Since I was in the mall today and there just happened to be a Curious George Pop-up store, I popped in to have my picture taken.
I didn't want to leave empty-handed.
No new entries on the Countdown to Halloween from our old pals at i-mockery though there's always something there to enlighten and entertain if you click around.
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.
