Japanese urban beliefs and legends

By kevin tembouret

Japanese urban legends are passed on by word of mouth and come to you today, thanks to the illustrated book you are holding in your hands. Scary stories, popular beliefs, folk tales, ...

Explore all these mysteries and paranormal phenomena through the eras of Japan, from the Japanese Middle Ages to today. Follow the evolution of these stories that reflect the social and cultural changes of Japanese society in each period. To enhance your understanding of the folktales in this book, most stories include historical or cultural elements.

Discover now the vengeful ghosts that hide in the castles of Japan, the spirits that haunt the trains and all the other characters that make the richness of the Japanese urban legends: Sally-chan, the snow woman of Takigawa, the sisters of the slit-mouthed woman, etc.

• Language: English
• Publisher: kevin tembouret
• Release date: Apr 18, 2023
• ISBN: 9798223397922

Book preview

Preface

Japan is known for its stories of ghosts, Yokai (folk creatures) and demons. These stories are passed down from generation to generation and are an integral part of Japanese culture. In this book, we will focus on urban legends, those modern or pre-modern stories that spread rapidly for one purpose or another.

Over the centuries, these legends have evolved to fit the times and the changes in Japanese society. They have become a reflection of the state of mind of the Japanese people, their fears and their concerns. We will trace this evolution through the different eras of Japan, from the feudal age to the present day, by some stories.

For this book, I have chosen to highlight the most striking and popular urban legends, but also those that are less known and deserve to be discovered. Behind these legends, which you can tell to your friends at night, you will be led to better understand their existence by cultural elements: morals, reason for being, social or historical context.

I sincerely hope that this book will allow you to discover (or rediscover) the urban legends of Japan, and to better understand their evolution through the centuries.

Kévin Tembouret

Brief Table of Contents

Below are the main elements of this book, so you can quickly go to the chapter that interests you.

A more detailed table of contents is available at the end of the book.

Preface

The legends of the premodern era

The stories of the Meiji era (1868-1912)

From the Taishō era (1912-1926) to the Shōwa era (1926-1989)

From the Heisei era (1989-2019) and the Reiwa era (since 2019)

Table of contents

The UKIYOGRAPH project

The legends of the premodern era

To begin this book, let us look at the feudal age at the end of the Edo period (1868). Many legends, curses and beliefs reflect this bygone era, but still anchored in the Japanese identity.

An era more brutal at times, more superstitious at others, but always filled with a mysterious atmosphere.

To answer the existential questions of that time, the Japanese referred to Shintoism or Buddhism, and more particularly to divine punishments.

The urban legends of this period are linked to the popular beliefs and fears of everyday life, as well as to the values of the samurai, including loyalty and courage. Even during the Edo period, marked by relative peace and political stability, the stories had in their background illness, atrocious crimes, rejection in love or links with the divine and nature.

Now let's start this chapter with one of the most famous ghost stories in Japan.

The legend of Sara yashiki

皿屋敷伝説

Forty kilometers from Kobe is a beautiful white castle, the Himeji-jō, whose walls are steeped in a terrifying and very famous ghost story.

One plate ... Two plates ... Three plates .... At these words, the inhabitants of the city of Himeji shudder at the idea of meeting the beautiful Okiku.

We are in the Edo period, in the house of a vice-governor of Himeji named Aoyama Tetsuzan. He had hired a beautiful young woman called Okiku. Soft, calm and helpful, here are 3 qualities that this man was looking for in a woman. He tried several times to conquer her heart. But nothing made it, the young woman did not succumb to his charms. Frustrated and unhappy with this situation, he said to himself that if he wasn't his, she wouldn't give her love to anyone.

Every day, Okiku wiped beautiful plates that she held in admiration. There were 10 of them, not one less. One day, the vice-governor came to inspect her plates and said that there were only 9 and he exclaimed: Okiku! There is one plate missing and you are the only one looking at them with such envy. You are a thief! I can't let this crime go unpunished!

Okiku was as if paralyzed and she couldn't respond to that. He grabbed the innocent girl and took her outside.  When the rainy season was in full swing, he tied her to a pine tree in the castle garden and beat her with green bamboo three times a day and three times a night. There followed 17 days of terrible punishment. Okiku cried and pleaded her innocence, but Tetsuzan would not listen. He suspended her with a coarse rope and made