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| Japanese mythology andfolklore |
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Japanese folklore encompasses the informally learnedfolk traditions ofJapan and theJapanese people as expressed in itsoral traditions,customs, andmaterial culture.
In Japanese, the termminkan denshō (民間伝承; "transmissions among the folk") is used to describefolklore. Theacademic study of folklore is known asminzokugaku (民俗学). Folklorists also employ the termminzoku shiryō (民俗資料) or "folklore material" (民俗資料) to refer to the objects and arts they study.
Men dressed asnamahage, wearing ogre-like masks and traditional straw capes (mino) make rounds of homes,[1] in an annual ritual of theOga Peninsula area of the Northeast region. These ogre-men masquerade askami looking to instill fear in the children who are lazily idling around the fire. This is a particularly colorful example of folk practice still kept alive.
A parallel custom is the secretiveAkamata-Kuromata [ja] ritual of theYaeyama Islands,Okinawa which does not allow itself to be photographed.[2][3]
Many, though increasingly fewer households maintain akamidana or a smallShinto altar shelf.[4] The Shinto version of thekitchen god is theKamado kami (かまど神), and the syncretic Buddhist version is theKōjin, a deity of the hearth enshrined in the kitchen.
Japanese popular cults orkō (講)[5] are sometimes devoted to particular deities and buddhas, e.g. the angryFudō Myōō or the healerYakushi Nyorai. But many cults centered around paying respects to sacred sites such as theIse Shrine (Ise-kō orokage-mairi [ja]) orMount Fuji (Fuji-kō [ja], by which many local mock-Fuji shrines have been erected). Pilgrimage to these meccas declined after theEdo period. But recently, theShikoku Pilgrimage of the eighty-eight temple sites (commonly known asohenro-san) has become fashionable. Popular media and cottage industries now extoll a number of shrines and sacred natural sites aspower spots [ja].
There is a long list of practices performed to ward evil (yakuyoke (厄除け))[6] or expel evil (yakubarai, oharai (yaku-barai [ja])), e.g. sounding the drums.[6] In some areas it is common to place a small mound of salt outside the house (morijio [ja]).[7][8] Salt-scattering is generally considered purifying[7] (it is employed insumo tournaments,[7] to give a well-known example). A stock routine in period or even contemporary drama involves a master of the house telling his wife to scatter salt after an undesirable visitor has just left. Contrarily, lighting sparks withflint just as a someone is leaving the house was considered lucky.
No one now engages in the silent vigil required by theKōshin cult, but it might be noted that this cult has been associated with the iconic threeSee no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil monkeys.[9]
There are certain vestiges ofgeomancy introduced into Japan from China throughOnmyōdō. The wordkimon [ja], "ogre's gate", colloquially refers to anything that a person may have constant ill luck with, but in the original sense designates the northeasterly direction, considered to be unlucky or dangerously inviting of ill-intended spirits[9] (cf.Konjin). There is also a Japanese version ofFeng Shui known askasō [ja][10] or literally "house physiognomy". Closely connected is theYin-yang path orOnmyōdō, and its concepts such askatatagae ["direction changing"] also known askataimi,[11] which was widely practiced by nobles in theHeian period. A widely known taboo (kitamakura [ja]) advises against sleeping with your head faced north,[12] though it is doubtful if anyone now seriously heeds this prohibition.[12]
In Japanese folklore,pheasants were considered messengers from heaven. However, researchers from Japan's Graduate University for Advanced Studies and National Institute of Polar Research claimed in March 2020 that red pheasant tails witnessed across the night sky over Japan in 620 A.D., might be a redaurora produced during a magnetic storm.[13]
As in most developed nations, it is increasingly difficult to find living storytellers of oral tradition. But there is a wealth of folktales collected through the ages. The namemukashi-banashi (tales of "long ago" or from "bygone times") has been applied to the common folktale, since they typically open with the formula "Mukashi..."[14] (akin to "Once upon a time..."). They also close with some set phrase like "dotto harai"[14] (a variant form beingDondo Hare).
These tales had been told in their local dialects, which may be difficult to understand to outsiders, both because of intonation and pronunciation differences, conjugations, and vocabulary. Many folktales collected from the field are actually "translations" into standard Japanese (or more like adaptations, merging several collected versions).
Classic folktales such asMomotarō, which most Japanese today are familiarized through pictured children's storybooks, manga, or other popularizations, can be traced topicture-books printed in theEdo period, though their prototypical stories may go back much further. The versions retold by children's story authorSazanami Iwaya (1870–1933; often considered thePerrault of Japan)[15] had a strong hand in establishing the forms usually known today.
Two creatures are particularly known for their abilities to transform into humans or other beings and objects, thekitsune (fox) andtanuki (theJapanese raccoon dog; pictured). They occur frequently in folktales of humorous nature, such as the tanuki, Bunbuku Chagama, who could shapeshift into a teapot.
Marriages between humans and non-humans (irui konin tan [ja] (異類婚姻譚,"tales of heterotype marriages")) comprise a major category or motif in Japanese folklore. Japanese heterotype examples such as the crane story describes a sustained period of married life between the interspecies couple, in contrast to Western examples likeFrog Prince or theLeda myth where the supernatural encounter is brief. An unusual pairing occurs in the story of theHamaguri nyōbo [ja] (蛤女房,"clam wife"), which exist in both a politer written version (otogi-zōshi) and in a more rustic and vulgar oral tale. The gender is reversed in the tale ofTanishi chōja [ja] where a bride is wedded to a tinytanishi (river snail).
A number of folktales were adapted for stage performance by playwrightJunji Kinoshita, notablyYūzuru (Twilight Crane, 1949),[16] based on the folktaleTsuru no Ongaeshi or "a crane who repaid its gratitude".
A great deal of interest currently gravitates towards Japanese monsters taken from traditional Japanese sources. Some of theyōkai or strange beings are the stuff of folklore, orally transmitted and propagated among the populace. But one must realize that many beings or stories about them were spun and deliberately invented by professional writers during theEdo Period and earlier, and they are not folkloric in the strict sense.
Some well-known craft objects such asnetsuke,raccoon dog earthenware (Shigaraki ware), may be classed astraditional Japanese crafts.
A number of articles of daily household use (mingu (民具)), amassed byKeizo Shibusawa, became the Attic Museum collection, now mostly housed in theNational Museum of Ethnology inSuita, Osaka. TheMingei movement spearheaded byYanagi Sōetsu sought to appreciate folk craft from an aesthetic viewpoint.
Some of the articles below are essential for understanding traditional Japanese culture. The type of material used is also part of folklore.
直接民衆の語る物語からではなく)巌谷小波が定型化し、それが国定 教科書によって広く普及されたそういう桃太郎の話
Dictionaries and encyclopedias
Monographs, studies
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