Female oni x human6/19/2023 ![]() Okiku (painting by Tsukioka Yoshitoshi) 1. Also, admitting this may get me in trouble with the experts, but I don’t make any strict distinctions between ghosts, monsters, yokai and so on-I tend to think of them all as kinds of wild ladies. The versions of the tales I’m relating here are the ones that I read and heard when I was growing up. It also made me think afresh about Japanese women, myself included, who, so long as they don’t die or assume an entirely different form, remain unable to reveal their true natures.įolktales and tales of yore have lots of geographical variations, and can undergo further changes when they’re set down in certain versions by particular artists. Maybe I had a wild lady inside myself, maybe I myself was a wild lady as well-these thoughts brought with them all the joy of a revelation. As well as a sense of surprise at how unusual they seemed, they generated in me a feeling of familiarity-as if what they were portraying was a part of myself as well. ![]() Female spirits deviated wildly from the way that women are demanded to be by Japanese social norms, and it was that discrepancy that attracted me. I suppose that being a woman myself had something to do with it, but there was more to it than that: the female ghosts and spirits seemed to me simply more interesting, more full of character. I asked myself why it was that I liked female spirits more than the male ones. Although oni have been described as frightening creatures, they have become tamer in modern culture as people tell less frightening stories about them like Oni Mask and Red Oni Who Cried.Into adulthood, it occurred to me that what draws me to these female spirits is the way that they expose the true nature of people leading a regular lives in society, which they’ve grown accustomed to hiding without a second thought. They are popular characters in Japanese art, literature, and theater and appear as stock villains in the well-known fairytales of Momotarō ( Peach Boy), Issun-bōshi, and Kobutori Jīsan. The tachi (Japanese long sword) " Dōjigiri" with which Minamoto no Yorimitsu decapitated Shuten-dōji' in the legend is now designated as a National Treasure and one of the Tenka-Goken (Five Greatest Swords Under Heaven). The legend of Shuten-dōji has been described since the 14th century in various arts, traditional performing arts and literature such as emakimono, jōruri, noh, kabuki, bunraku, and ukiyo-e. Shuten-dōji has been regarded as the most famous and strongest oni in Japan. It was not until the legend of Shuten-dōji was created that the oni began to be depicted in paintings, and the 14th century Ōeyama ekotoba ( 大江山絵詞) is the oldest surviving emakimono (picture scroll) depicting Shuten-dōji. There is the theory that the reason why stories of onihitokuchi were common is that wars, disasters, and famines where people lose their lives or go missing were interpreted as oni from another world appearing in the present world who take away humans. In Nihon Ryōiki, The Tales of Ise and Konjaku Monogatarishū, for example, a woman is shown being eaten in one mouthful by a oni. A prominent depiction of oni is that they eat people in one mouthful, which is called " onihitokuchi". ĭuring the Heian period (794–1185), oni were often depicted in Japanese literature, such as setsuwa, as terrifying monsters that ate people. As monstrous as oni are, they have been linked to bringing good fortune and wealth. When in disguise, oni are capable of appearing as a man or woman, regardless of their gender. Female oni are sometimes referred to by the name Yamauba. ![]() Oni can be male or female, but have been predominantly male throughout history. Oni are able to change their looks to fool their victims into trusting them. They also have three to six digits on each hand and foot tipped with claw-like nails. They are typically depicted with red, blue, black, or yellow colored skin, wearing loincloths of tiger pelt, and carrying iron kanabō clubs. They are typically portrayed as hulking figures with one or more horns growing out of their heads, massive teeth, and occasionally a third eye in the center of the forehead. Oni are known for their superhuman strength and have been associated with powers like thunder and lightning, along with their evil nature manifesting in their propensity for murder and cannibalism. They are believed to live in caves or deep in the mountains. An oni ( 鬼 ( おに )) ( / oʊ n i/ OH-nee) is a kind of yōkai, demon, orc, ogre, or troll in Japanese folklore. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |