By the Gods!
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Momotarou, which can be translated as “peach boy” or “peach first son”, is a popular hero in Japanese folklore.
The story goes like this:
There once was an elderly, childless couple who lived out in the country. One day, the wife was washing the clothes in the river when she came upon a large peach floating towards her. Well, the wife grabbed that peach and brought it back with her to the house. She and her husband decided to open the peach, to eat the flesh inside. And what do they find when they cut it open? A little boy! The child went on to tell them that he was sent from Heaven to be their son. They were overjoyed, and named him Momotarou.
Years pass by and Momotarou leaves his parents to go and fight this band of marauding oni’s (demons or ogres) on a distant island. While he’s on his way there, he happens to befriend a talking dog, monkey, and pheasant; who all agree to to help him on his quest. At the island, Momotarou and his talking animal friends are able to penetrate oni’s fort and literally beat those oni’s into surrendering! Momotarou and his friends return from the battle, with treasure and the oni leader as their captive.
Momotarou returns home to his parents with all his spoils, and they all live comfortably from then on.
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Thanks for the awesome submission! If you’re interested in more of the Japanese-style myths in our archives, check out the Shinto and Buddhist directories!
The Tanuki
The Tanuki originate in Japanese folklore as mischievous raccoon-dog creatures with a love of sake. These critters are known for shape-shifting and making a ruckus, but are mostly thought of as kind spirits that bring fertility, financial luck and joy.
The most distinctive feature of a Tanuki would be his hilariously large testicles. In most artist’s renderings, Tanukis are seen lugging around doo-dads the size of two baby sperm whales (no pun intended). They use these gargantuan gonads for every day purposes, whether they need a towboat or to seriously bludgeon a cat fish. There’s even a song about their terrifying tallywags, which goes a little like this:
Tan Tan Tanuki no kintama wa,
Kaze mo nai no ni,
Bura bura
This song loosely translates to : “Tan-tan-tanuki’s testicles, there isn’t even any wind but still go swing-swing-swing.”
Testicles aside, they appeared as Raccon-dogs that walked upright, with large eyes and large tummies. The Tanuki were known for being harmless and productive members of society, who would partake in an occasional sake binge followed by a prank or two. Nowadays they are believed to only present their shape-shifted form to the greater public, so as not to upset the world. Possibly also due to unavoidable dress code mishaps.
Bakus
Have you ever woken up from a scary dream to completely forget it moments after? If so, you may have encountered a Baku, a japanese dream-eating spirit. These little monsters are said to be very lucky to have around and closely resemble malaysian tapirs.
Bakus appear as tapir-like spirits, with long snouts, the claws ‘n paws of a tiger and an overall fuzzy-wuzzy appeal. Though these lil’ critters may not be the cutest spirits around, they are the handiest to keep in the bedroom. They consume the nightmares until the supply runs out, then they wander off to the homes off those that are overly-paranoid or that have just watched “Paranormal Activity”.
There are other Baku descriptions that contradict the above info, stating that they are more prone to infesting a household. Some say that they horde into a home and eat every dream they find, whether it be a nightmare or otherwise. This thieving of the dreams leaves people dreamless, boring automatons.
So, to break it down, Bakus are either dream-eating gluttons or the spirit versions of night-lights. Personally, I’d take a Baku over a build-a-bear any day. No matter how much I love my lil’ Ahuizotl..
Futakuchi-Onna
The Futakuchi-Onnas originated in Japanese folklore and are two-mouthed women. A futakuchi-onna is a beautiful, skinny woman with a serious scalp condition. Under her hair at the back of her head is a large mouth with a sharp tongue that eats as much as it can find. The woman’s long beautiful hair acts as the mouth’s hands, reaching out for food and positioning itself to cover and hide the mouth whenever company is present. The woman herself does nothing to please the mouth other than lay beside a rice patch or dawdle near the fridge.
The mouth formed on the back of the head is normally connected to how little the woman eats. In many stories, the soon-to-be futakuchi-onna is a wife of a miser, so she rarely eats enough. To counteract this, a second mouth mysteriously appears on the back of the woman’s head. While little food passes through her normal lips, the mouth in the back of her head consumes twice what the other one would. Although these women eat so much unintentionally, they gain no weight. Where does the food go? If you don’t already know, I can’t tell you. (I don’t know.)
The most common story of the Futakuchi-onna goes a little like this: In a small village there lived a stingy miser who, because he could not bear the expense of properly feeding a wife, lived entirely by himself.
One day he met a woman who rarely ate anything, whom he immediately took for his wife. Though she never ate a thing, she was still a surprisingly hard worker. The old miser was thrilled with her, until his stores of rice started to slowly decrease. One day the miser pretended to leave for work, but instead stayed behind to spy on his new wife. To his horror, he saw his wife’s hair part on the back of her head, her skull split wide revealing a gaping mouth. She unbound her hair, which reached out like tentacles to grasp the rice and shovel it into the hungry mouth.
That is the whole story. I feel that we can safely surmise that Mr. Mouth was feeling a tad peckish that day and that the miser couldn’t run fast enough.
Note: When I say that this story is from “Japanese Mythology,” you might be wondering “well come on: which division of Japanese myth? Shinto? Buddhist? Agricultural folktales?” The correct answer seems to be a melding of the three. Buddhism did not simply override Shinto beliefs when it arrived in Japan, but adapted it, to give Japanese Buddhism its own individual flair. Folktales of this nature aren’t from any particular pantheon or belief set, but generate from the Japanese mythological identity as a whole, with all its subsets and separate communities and histories at play.
Fujin
One of the eldest of the Shinto deities, Fujin was the god of wind. He is said to have been present at the initial creation of the world, well before Izanagi and Izanami were sent to create the islands of Japan. During the world’s creation, Fujin released the wind from his bag, clearing out all the mists of the world, seemingly linking heaven with earth, allowing the gods to address the further creation of the world.
Fujin is portrayed as a distinctly freaky-looking demon. He wears animal skins and carries a large bag filled with the wind over his shoulders. The bag and the idea of wind being contained by the deity dates back to Greek mythology, specifically the depictions of the wind god Boreas, who wore a mantle similar to the representations of Fujin’s bag. There was a great degree of cultural diffusion and exchange between Greek, Chinese and Japanese beliefs in the Classical period, and so while he remained Fujin in Shinto mythology, the fusion of Fujin and Boreas was seen as Oado/Wardo in Chinese Buddhism. I don’t care what you call him, he’s scary as balls.
Izanagi and Izanami (Part Two)
Izanagi was understandably upset at the loss of his beloved Izanami to the land of the dead. Many deities were born of his tears, and when he sliced off the fire god’s head, even more deities came into being. After his rage subsided (poor fire god; it wasn’t his fault!) Izanagi went to Yomi to find Izanami. However, by the time he arrived there, Izanami had already eaten the food of the dead (just as we see in many mythologies with an underworld, this is a common theme. Think Persephone and Hades).
Izanami tried to persuade the gods of Yomi to allow her to return to the land of the living, but they refused her request. Izanagi stormed into the hall to save her, but when he saw his wife, he was terrified; she was now a walking corpse, squirming with maggots and snakes, and to top it all off eight thunder deities had taken up residence in her body. Izanagi, overcome with fear and sadness, ran like hell (pun intended). Izanami was now murderously pissed off at her husband for reacting the way he did, so she sent the hags of Yomi and an army of thunder spirits to hunt him down.
Izanagi used various magic tricks and his godlike strength and agility to escape, and stayed the hags by throwing peaches at them. You know, like you do with hags. Izanami herself pursued Izanagi, but Izanagi put a huge boulder in the passage that separated Yomi from the land of the living. Standing on each side of the boulder, Izanami told Izanagi that she would strangle 1,000 people every day as punishment for his behaviour. Izanagi replied that, each day, he would ensure that 1,500 people were born. He’s gonna be a busy guy.
Izanagi and Izanami (Part One)
According to Shinto belief, Izanagi and Izanami were the eighth pair of deities to appear after the heaven and earth had been formed out of chaos. They were ordered to create the islands of Japan, and did so by standing on the bridge of Heaven and lowering a spear into the sea and stirring. When Izanagi removed his spear, a droplet fell from its tip and became the first island. The two gods descended to the island, and built it up real pretty like.
One day, Izanami realized that her body was not fully formed in one place, and Izanagi realized that his had been formed in excess in that same place. You get what I’m saying? Might be a good pick-up line in the future. So, they brought these parts together, and Izanami bore a child, Hiruko, dubbed “Leech Child,” as he was deformed. They assumed he was deformed because Izanami, the woman, had spoken first during their courting ritual. They tried again with Izanagi speaking first, and this time Izanami gave birth to the islands of Japan, as well as to the gods and goddesses of waterfalls, mountains, trees, plants and the wind. Ouch. While giving birth to the god of fire, Kagutsuchi, however, Izanami was burned so badly that she died. Mega-Ouch. Even while dying she continued to bear more and more gods, but eventually disappeared to Yomi, the land of the dead.
There’s more to this story! Stay tuned for the conclusion of the tale of Izanagi and Izanami!
Oni
The Oni are giant horned demons said to have come to Japan from China with the arrival of Buddhism. Buddhist priests perform annual rites in order to expel them, but these evil brutes just keep coming back, it seems. The Oni are cruel and lecherous demons, said to swoop down from the sky to steal the souls of people about to die. They’re like otherworldly vultures, but uglier.
They appear in a variety of colours, and have three fingers, three toes and sometimes three eyes. Their depictions have changed and evolved a great deal over the years, as they are popular subjects for representation in pop culture. Some sources attribute them with the ability to shape-shift. The Oni of the Buddhist hell have the heads of oxen or horses, and hunt down sinners to take them away in their chariot of fire to Emma-O, the ruler of the underworld. Some Oni are held responsible fore illness and disease, and others are said to have been mortal women whose jealousy or grief transformed them into demons.
Bodhisattva
In Buddhism the Bodhisattvas are “enlightenment beings” who are destined to become buddhas. When the moment they finally achieve nirvana arrives, allowing them to escape the cycle of death and rebirth, they decline it. They do this that they might help others along the path to enlightenment. This is a big deal: these guys are sacrificing the ultimate goal of all Buddhists to lend their support to others on the path. Get it straight: they are nice guys.
They are shown robed as princes wearing five-leaved crowns, often sitting on a lotus. Two of the best known Bodhisattvas are Avalokiteshvara and Manjushri, pictured above. According to Mahayana Buddhism, human beings are sometimes able to enter paradise by means of a Bodhisattva’s merits and spiritual power rather than through their own, provided that they call on the Bodhisattva in faith. The Bodhisattvas give up their own chance at nirvana to help others along the path. That’s maybe the nicest spiritual being I’ve ever heard of.
Jurojin
In Japan, Jurojin is a Taoist god of longevity and luck. He is one of the Shichi Fukujin (also known as the seven gods of fortune), an assembly of deities gathered together in the 17th century by a monk who intended them to symbolize the virtues of a man of his time.
Jurojin was the god of luck, longevity and happy old age. He is depicted as a small old man with a long white beard, and is often shown in the company of the crane, tortoise or deer, symbols of long life. He carries a staff with an attached scroll, on which is written the wisdom of the world, and the lifespan of all things. Also, half the time he’s got an enormous head. In summary: he is an adorable old dude that likes animals and will help you win the lottery.
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