Thenurikabe (塗り壁 or塗壁,[3] literally "plastered wall",[4][a]) is ayōkai, or spirit, fromJapanese folklore.
It is said to manifest as aninvisible wall that impedes or misdirects travelers walking at night.[4][3][5] Thisyōkai is described as quite tall, to prevent people from climbing over it, and wide enough to dampen any attempts to go around it.[3]
Japanese scholar and folkloristKunio Yanagita recorded perhaps the most prominent early example ofnurikabe and otheryōkai in his books.[6] Manga artistShigeru Mizuki claims to have had anurikabe-like experience, being stuck in coal tar inNew Guinea, inspiring anurikabe character in hismangaGegege no Kitarō.[6][2]
It was thought that no pre-modern pictorial depictions ofnurikabe existed until it was noticed in 2007 that a 17th century yōkai picture scroll held byBrigham Young University included a "white dog-elephant like creature" labeled as "nurikabe" (see figure at right) matching a later copy held in Japan.
Thenurikabe takes the form of a wall—usually invisible—that blocks the path of travelers as they're walking. With the exception ofMizuki Shigeru's experience in New Guinea, most legends and accounts ofnurikabe come fromKyūshū, in theFukuoka andŌita prefectures.[6]
Specifically, folkloristKunio Yanagita (1938) gives the following lore:
It is said in the sea coast ofOnga County (kōri),Chikuzen Province (now district of the same name inFukuoka Prefecture) that when one is walking a path at night, suddenly the destination one is going towards [i.e., the spot ahead] suddenly turns into a wall, and one becomes unable to go anywhere, as it happens sometimes. This [yōkai] is called thenurikabe and is held in fear. If one takes a stick and sweeps at the bottom, it goes away, but striking its top does nothing.
Note the quoted text above does not explicitly refer to the wall's invisibility, so this is an aspect inferred by commentators.[4][3][5]
Yanagita's writing on thenurikabe[9] is thought to represent the earliest attestation of folklore record,[13][14] or at least he is credited for making it widely known throughout Japan.[15]
Some iterations of the legend say that trying to go around the wall is futile as it extends forever.[16][verification needed] It has been suggested that the legend of thenurikabe was created to explain travelers losing their bearings on long journeys.[4][17]
Somenurikabe-like experiences that have been recorded have been attributed as the doing of atanuki (enchantedJapanese raccoon dog) in Ōita Prefecture. These happenings, instead of involving a wall, are instances where the traveler suddenly cannot see in front of themselves. This legendary phenomenon is referred to as "tanuki no nurikabe (狸の塗り壁; "racoon dog's plaster wall")[6][18] The same phenomenon is calleditachi no nurikabe (イタチの塗り壁; "weasel's plaster wall") locally inKakaji (now incorporated intoBungotakada, Ōita).[18]
Superstition tells that thetanuki erects a "blind wall" by outspreading itsscrotum into a wide sheet, blocking the nighttime traveler'sfield of vision.[c] Either the raccoon dog's or the weasel'snurikabe wall can be defeated by sitting down in place andsmoking a puff oftobacco,[d] then the traveler's vision will be restored, and he is able to resume his journey.[18][20]
There is a tradition ofnurikabe folklore inUsuki, Ōita as well.[21] Usuki is known forabura shikkui ("oil plaster"), a proprietary plastering technique, and walls administered this kind of coating will repel water, whose weird appearance may have originally inspired thenurikabe monster, according to one theory.[22]
Minamiamabe District, Ōita (now incorporated intoSaiki city) has a folk legend that thenurikabe appears on asloped path namedShichi-magari ("Seven Bends"), accompanied by another yōkai calledazuki-togi ("adzuki bean washer"). When a person is walking along at night, thenurikabe appears suddenly and the view ahead completely darkens. Its true identity is atanuki, which hops on to the back knot of theobi around the person'skimono, then covers the person's eyes with its forepaws. Hence, the way to avoid this misfortune is to tie theobi in such a way as to prevent the beast from riding it.[23]
An illustration labeled as "nurikabe" of a three-eyed quadruped white creature[25] (see top image) was found inBrigham Young University'sBakemono no e (化物之繪; "Illustrations of Supernatural Creatures") picture scroll[26][27] (which some date to c. 1660[7][24]), held by the BYUHarold B. Lee Library under theL. Tom Perry Special Collections Library's[27] Harry F. Bruning collection of[7] Yōkai folkloristMichael Dylan Foster thinks this creature resembles anelephant,[7] though the later copy (described below) is considered to look like a (stylized) lion or dog by Japanese commentators.[26][27]
Thus, a near identical, but unlabeled, later copy of this painting exists (with different coloration) in a picture scroll belonging toKōichi Yumoto [ja].[e] and this unlabeled beast can now be characterized as another "nurikabe" painting by comparison conducted in January 2007.[27][26][24] Yumoto's scroll was painted by Kanō Yoshinobu (由信) of theKanō school in the year1802/Kyōwa 2 dated on thecolophon of the scroll.[27][26][24] The "discovery" was made in January 2007 when Associate Professor Lawrence Marceau of theUniversity of Auckland carried photographic data of the BYU scroll and visited Yumoto to make comparison.[27][24][2] Subsequently in August 2007, Yumoto announced the exhibition of his picture scroll illustration now identified as "nurikabe".[f][27]
Before this "discovery", pre-modern depiction of thenurikabe was thought not to exist.[26][24] Manga artistShigeru Mizuki called the find "significant"[7] or "important yōkai national treasure"[27][24]。After 2007, the visual depiction ofnurikabe circulating around Japan changed completely, from the flat wall creature with eyes, arms and legs depicted by Mizuki, to this "white dog-elephant-like creature".[24] Mizuki's version was solely based on his imagination and written folklore[7] (cf.§ Mizuki's manga below)
But some Japanese scholars are not convinced this image actually depicts the samenurikabe known by the oral lore of Kyushu.[24] Writer-researchersNatsuhiko Kyogoku,Katsumi Tada [ja],Kenji Murakami [ja] and journalist Osamu Kato ofAsahi Shimbun held a panel discussion published in the periodicalKwai [ja], which rendered opinion that it is unclear whether the scroll picturenurikabe and the oral folklorenurikabe are the one and the same.[28]
One theory is thatnurikabe is ahomonym for completely different yōkai, and the name match merely coincidence. Another possibility is that the picture labeled "nurikabe" or justnurikabe's name alone circulated to the Kyushu region, and was forcibly matched with local lore that seemed to fit.[28] FolkloristKazuhiko Komatsu [ja] et al. (2009) also deem as "uncertain" the exact relationship between the scroll picture and thenurikabe of Yanagita's folklore.[29]
In the Edo Period illustrated yōkai narrativeInō mononokeroku [ja] ("Record of strange occurrences in the Inō household", 1749)[31]), there is a scene where a face with eyes and a mouth appears on the wall and glares at the person. There had been advanced theories in the past that this "face on the wall"[35] might be the traceable origin of thenurikabe.[32]
On the 30th day of the 7thlunar month (Inō Heitarō is haunted every day this month[32]), the protagonist is met with a mass ofash (in the form of a humanlike head) which spews a herd ofearthworms (which Heitarō hated), and the wall nearby has sprouted eyes and a mouth, laughing.[34][33]
This "face in the wall" is related tohitobashira (human sacrifice for buildings)[g] according to literary critic Shirō Kuramoto, as it is quite conceivable for a sacrificed human to be plastered into the wall.[33] Though Kuramoto is not referring to thenurikabe monster itself but rathernurikabe (plaster wall) as a construction technique, a somewhat similar line of thought is already seen in the theory that thenurikabe monster originated from walls finished with so-called the "oil plaster" of Usuki city (see above).[22]
The yōkai manga authorShigeru Mizuki created the characterNurikabe [ja], a large wall with eyes, hands and feet (see fig. under§ In popular culture below). The visualization was strictly the invention of Mizuki's mind, except that he relied on Yanagita's folklore[10] that the "wall appears" ahead (tr. Foster).[7] So this Nurikabe is essentially a folk legend based fictional character.[29]
Thenuribō ofIki Island (administered byNagasaki Prefecture) is considered a similar creature. It is said to jut out from the side of the mountain next to the road at night.[10]
Thenobusuma (野襖;lit. "field fusuma") is ayōkai which in some versions has been likened to thenurikabe.[36][5] Thenobusuma down south from Tokyo in theShikoku region, inTanokuchi [ja] village,Hata District, Kōchi, purportedly blocks the way and it is so expansive, there is apparently no end to it whether you seek up and down or sideways. When blocked, the traveler needs to calm down and smoke[d] his tobacco.[37][38][h]
Hiroshi Aramata comments that the above creature should be distinguished from anothernobusuma (野套;lit. "field quilt/bedding") (pronounced the same but written differently[39]), the other type, according to legend around theTokyo area, flies up to humans and covers their eyes.[5] But that tactic does resemble the eye-hiding by the tanuki that rides the obi sash behind a person's back,[23] described above. In fact, another yōkaireference considers thenobusuma a kindred or subtype of thefūri (風狸) which would generally be construed in Japan to mean "wind tanuki".[40][i] More specifically, thenobusuma is said to glide through the air by night, latch onto the back of a mountain hiker, cover his eyes and mouth, andsuck the blood.[40] Thenobusuma is illustrated and annotated byToriyama Sekien (in hisKonjaku Gazu Zoku Hyakki, 1779), where he describes it as "essentially aflying squirrel (musasabi)", which eats nuts and fire.[39]
In the neighboring prefecture within the sameShikoku region, similar lore exists concerning thetanuki that blocks the way using other pieces of furniture as impediments, namely thetsuitate-danuki [ja] using atsuitate (portable partition) as screen,[3][41] and thekayatsuri-tanuki [ja] which hangs amosquito net.[41] Both are legends ofMima, Tokushima.[41][42]
Thetanuki ofItoshiro [ja] village,Echizen Province (now mostly incorporated intoGujō, Gifu with the remainder inŌno, Fukui), was credited with using a similar tactic of propping up afusuma (screen panel) to hinder the wayfarer's path.[43] (Cf.§ Nobusuma,§ Tsuitate-danuki,§ Kayatsuri-tanuki above).
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 ja:File:Nurikabe.JPGBronze statue ofnurikabe.Mizuki Shigeru Road [ja]. |
There is anurikabe character named Nurikabe inShigeru Mizuki's manga seriesGegege no Kitarō. This manga-version ofnurikabe (second half of the 20th century) is depicted as a visible, solid wall with hands, feet and eyes, somewhat anthropomorphically.[4][44] The character's main function is to be a shield in order to protect other members of the Kitarō family. Mizuki attributes much of his inspiration for the series to an experience he had with anurikabe in New Guinea[45] duringWorld War II, as well as to the writings ofKunio Yanagita.[44][6]
現代、柳田國男「妖怪名彙」の記述をもとに、もとに、水木しげるが姿を与えたぬりかべ近年、江戸時代の絵巻に描かれた「ぬりかべ」が発見された。ただし、柳田國男「妖怪名彙」に収録された「ぬりかべ」との影響関係は不明である。
灰が噴出し.. 塊となり.. ミミズが這い出し.. 平太郎はうろたえ.. 壁の顔は.. 睨みつけて
