# A Guide to Japanese Demonology

An episode of [Human History ASMR](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/6793196842), 29 Sep 2026, 1 h 11 min.

Audio: https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/api.spreaker.com/download/episode/75116750/a_guide_to_japanese_demonology_human_voiced_no_ads.mp3

Journey into the mysterious world of Japanese demonology and explore the spirits, demons, monsters, and supernatural beings that have shaped Japanese religion, folklore, literature, and popular culture for centuries. From terrifying oni and wandering yūrei to mischievous yōkai and powerful supernatural creatures, this episode explores the beliefs behind Japan's extraordinary spiritual traditions. Discover the many different beings found within Japanese supernatural traditions, including oni, tengu, kitsune, kappa, rokurokubi, yuki-onna, and countless other yōkai. Learn why these creatures cannot always be understood simply as "demons" in the Western sense, and explore the different roles they played as protectors, tricksters, punishers, monsters, and mysterious inhabitants of the natural world. Explore the religious foundations behind Japanese supernatural beliefs and discover the influence of Shinto, Buddhism, folk religion, ancestor veneration, and older regional traditions. Examine concepts of spirits, pollution, death, karma, possession, purification, and the boundary between the human and supernatural worlds. This episode also explores famous stories of ghosts, demons, haunted locations, supernatural encounters, and encounters with yōkai. Discover how monks, storytellers, artists, writers, and ordinary communities preserved these traditions, and how supernatural stories were used to explain misfortune, teach moral lessons, warn against dangerous behavior, or simply entertain. The history of Japanese demonology also changed over time. Explore how medieval Buddhist texts, illustrated scrolls, Edo-period literature, woodblock prints, and later modern media transformed the appearance and personalities of supernatural beings. Drawing on religious texts, folklore collections, historical literature, artwork, archaeological evidence, and modern scholarship, this episode separates traditional beliefs from later interpretations and popular myths. Narrated with a calm, human voice, this immersive journey is perfect for history enthusiasts, Japanese history lovers, mythology and folklore fans, occult history listeners, relaxation, or listening before sleep. Enter the supernatural world of Japan and discover the strange beings, ancient beliefs, and haunting stories that continue to fascinate generations.

## Transcript

[0:01] Speaker 1: According to Japan's traditional Shinto faith, our world is inhabited
[0:06] Speaker 1: by countless spirits. In fact, there's even an old expression
[0:12] Speaker 1: that says eight million kami surround us in the mountains,
[0:18] Speaker 1: the seas, the forests, and even in the very air
[0:21] Speaker 1: that we breathe. Some of them are playful tricksters. Others
[0:27] Speaker 1: are wrathful beings that can bring calamity if angered. But
[0:33] Speaker 1: how exactly did the Japanese come to believe in such
[0:36] Speaker 1: demons and spirits? And furthermore, what exactly is a demon
[0:41] Speaker 1: in the Shinto context? And how were these entities understood
[0:45] Speaker 1: and dealt with across history? I'm sure you'll admit, Shinto
[0:52] Speaker 1: demonology is It probably wasn't on your list of things
[0:56] Speaker 1: to talk about today. But now that you're here, let's
[1:00] Speaker 1: get into it together. Far from the simplistic notion of
[1:04] Speaker 1: demons as purely evil beings, Shinto demonology is a rather
[1:10] Speaker 1: complex world. And that line between demon and god can
[1:17] Speaker 1: certainly be quite a blurry one. But don't think that
[1:21] Speaker 1: we're here to twist things around like some horror movie clickbait.
[1:26] Speaker 1: We're only interested in the facts of it. It's not
[1:29] Speaker 1: a ghost story. It's not a fantasy. It's just traditional
[1:36] Speaker 1: Shinto theology. So keep an open mind as we begin.
[1:41] Speaker 1: Perhaps you might encounter something you did not expect. In
[1:46] Speaker 1: any case, all manner of otherworldly beings await you, should
[1:52] Speaker 1: you choose. To spend the next hour with me. Now,
[1:58] Speaker 1: allow me to welcome you to the channel. It's always
[2:00] Speaker 1: good manners to do so, isn't it? If you've not
[2:04] Speaker 1: subscribed yet, I invite you to do so, only if
[2:07] Speaker 1: you feel inclined. And for those returning, it's good to
[2:10] Speaker 1: see you again. Leave your thoughts down in the comments.
[2:14] Speaker 1: Where are you listening from? What time is it in
[2:17] Speaker 1: your part of the world? Now, this video is 100% ad-free.
[2:24] Speaker 1: along with all the other videos on this channel, for
[2:27] Speaker 1: your uninterrupted enjoyment. This is made possible by the generous
[2:31] Speaker 1: contributions of those on Patreon, YouTube memberships, the occasional donation
[2:37] Speaker 1: on PayPal or YouTube, super thanks, and also those who
[2:42] Speaker 1: checked out the merch store. A few little Japanese goodies
[2:46] Speaker 1: on there, too, if you are curious. Well, with all
[2:51] Speaker 1: that said and done, let's get nice and relaxed, And
[2:55] Speaker 1: we can begin our dive into Shinto demonology. Now, if
[3:02] Speaker 1: you are starting from a foundation of not really understanding
[3:07] Speaker 1: what the Shinto worldview is, I don't really blame you.
[3:11] Speaker 1: It's a little bit of a niche topic. So let's
[3:14] Speaker 1: first just get a grasp on the Shinto worldview of kami.
[3:19] Speaker 1: You heard that word in the introduction, didn't you? But
[3:22] Speaker 1: the term kami in Japanese means is often translated as
[3:27] Speaker 1: gods or spirits, but it's a bit of an umbrella term,
[3:32] Speaker 1: a broad range of sacred or numinous entities. You'll get
[3:39] Speaker 1: the grasp of it as we keep going along. Now,
[3:42] Speaker 1: kami can be deities of awe-inspiring natural phenomena, like the sun,
[3:47] Speaker 1: the mountains, the sea, etc., The spirits of ancestors, too.
[3:52] Speaker 1: Or even local spirits of a village, or even an object.
[3:58] Speaker 1: In Shinto thought, the world is inherently sacred and alive. Everything,
[4:04] Speaker 1: notable or strange, may have a spirit attached to it.
[4:10] Speaker 1: Traditional law speaks of the Yao Yorozu no kami. That
[4:16] Speaker 1: is literally eight million kami. to signify an infinite multitude
[4:21] Speaker 1: of spirits present in everyday life. And unlike Western religions,
[4:28] Speaker 1: these spirits are not strictly divided into good and evil camps.
[4:33] Speaker 1: It's a little bit more complicated than that. Each Kami
[4:39] Speaker 1: is a being with its own personality and mood. And
[4:43] Speaker 1: as a matter of fact, Shinto traditions often say that
[4:47] Speaker 1: a deity has two souls or aspects, a gentle, harmonious
[4:51] Speaker 1: side called the Nigimitama, and a wild, rough side, Aramitama.
[4:57] Speaker 1: Now the Aramitama aspect of a kami can manifest as
[5:01] Speaker 1: violent or dangerous if the deity is provoked, or if
[5:06] Speaker 1: perhaps the proper rituals are neglected. Thus, a god who
[5:12] Speaker 1: is normally benevolent and friendly, might take the mask off
[5:19] Speaker 1: and become demonic in its rage. A concept quite different
[5:24] Speaker 1: from an absolute evil demonic figure. Now crucially, in Shinto
[5:31] Speaker 1: there was no single personification of evil, nothing like the
[5:37] Speaker 1: devil in more Christian theology. Instead, Misfortunes and malevolent events
[5:44] Speaker 1: are often attributed to either an upset kami or perhaps
[5:47] Speaker 1: to wayward spirits. Some kami are, however, explicitly seen as
[5:53] Speaker 1: troublemakers or destructive forces when not appeased. Classical texts do
[6:00] Speaker 1: refer to the Araburu kami or the Makatsuhe no kami,
[6:06] Speaker 1: essentially wild or calamitous deities. who can cause illness, disorder
[6:13] Speaker 1: and disaster on varying scales. But these are not evil
[6:19] Speaker 1: in a moral sense. Rather they are embodiments of the
[6:23] Speaker 1: chaotic and dangerous side of nature and existence, which, if
[6:27] Speaker 1: you have the peaceful side, you have to have the
[6:29] Speaker 1: other side of it too. The response in Shinto is
[6:34] Speaker 1: typically to pacify or balance these forces, not to cast
[6:38] Speaker 1: them aside as irredeemable, malevolent devils. It's just part of nature. Offerings, prayers,
[6:49] Speaker 1: and rituals are given to angry, kami, or wandering spirits
[6:52] Speaker 1: to soothe them, so that that harmony can be restored.
[6:59] Speaker 1: In other words, we can put it this way, Shinto
[7:01] Speaker 1: demonology is rooted in restoring balance between the spiritual world
[7:07] Speaker 1: and the human world. And then there's another key concept,
[7:13] Speaker 1: that is kegare, that is impurity, versus purity being harae.
[7:20] Speaker 1: Evil or demonic influences in Shinto are often linked to
[7:25] Speaker 1: pollution or impurity rather than to a sin in an
[7:29] Speaker 1: evil sense. Death, blood, and disease, they're all sources of
[7:36] Speaker 1: kegare impurity that attract or generate harmful spirits. For example,
[7:42] Speaker 1: if someone dies with a strong negative emotion, or in
[7:46] Speaker 1: a traumatic way, this spirit may linger as polluted, an angry,
[7:51] Speaker 1: malevolent force that can't rest. Human misdeeds or violations of
[7:57] Speaker 1: the natural order, called tsumi, or pollutions or offences, can
[8:03] Speaker 1: likewise breed calamity if not properly cleansed, as humans are
[8:08] Speaker 1: thought to be fundamentally pure in Shinto belief. These kinds
[8:12] Speaker 1: of defilements are considered to be temporary conditions that can
[8:17] Speaker 1: be corrected through purification. And there's that word, purification. We
[8:24] Speaker 1: also have ritual purification practices, and they're quite important. Washing
[8:30] Speaker 1: with water, sprinkling salt, or even the grand ceremonies of Oharae,
[8:36] Speaker 1: the great purification, performed twice yearly. They're all aimed at
[8:42] Speaker 1: expelling impurities and any clinging malevolent spirits. And just a
[8:49] Speaker 1: quick note on language. When you hear this prefix, or
[8:54] Speaker 1: in Japanese, it usually means something big or it's placed
[8:57] Speaker 1: as an honorific. So, one may say that Shinto's demonology
[9:05] Speaker 1: is actually more of a system of preventative medicine for
[9:09] Speaker 1: spiritual well-being. of community and environment, keeping those unquiet spirits
[9:15] Speaker 1: at bay through cleanliness, offerings, and reverence. Of course, there's
[9:21] Speaker 1: different opinions on it, but that's boiled down to its
[9:25] Speaker 1: simplest definitions, for the point of just building a foundation
[9:28] Speaker 1: to understand this from. But do keep in mind that
[9:33] Speaker 1: it's also important to note that from early on, Shinto
[9:36] Speaker 1: beliefs were coexisting and influence it by other belief systems
[9:41] Speaker 1: such as Buddhism and Taoism, which introduced their own concepts
[9:47] Speaker 1: of hell, ghosts and demons. By the first millennium CE,
[9:53] Speaker 1: the Japanese did not sharply distinguish whether a troublesome spirit
[9:56] Speaker 1: was Shinto or Buddhist in nature. No, the goal was
[10:02] Speaker 1: just to avert danger. Thus, Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples
[10:08] Speaker 1: often worked in tandem to address supernatural threats. This syncretic
[10:13] Speaker 1: environment gave rise to a rich variety of demonological ideas.
[10:19] Speaker 1: For instance, The word Oni, usually translated as demon or ogre,
[10:26] Speaker 1: is written with a Chinese character, meaning a dead or
[10:30] Speaker 1: hidden spirit. In Chinese, it is pronounced Gui, and usually
[10:36] Speaker 1: means pretty much the same thing, but has more of
[10:38] Speaker 1: a ghost connotation. The notion of horned, man-eating Oni was
[10:45] Speaker 1: partly imported through Buddhist and Chinese folklore. Yet it merged
[10:50] Speaker 1: seamlessly with Japan's indigenous spirit beliefs. In Shinto context, though,
[10:56] Speaker 1: oni and similar beings were seen as just another category
[11:00] Speaker 1: of a troublesome spirit to be repelled as needed. So
[11:07] Speaker 1: there's your introduction. And we must understand things within this context.
[11:13] Speaker 1: Shinto provides us with a world alive with spirits. Some
[11:17] Speaker 1: can bless. Some can harm. Sometimes it depends on their mood.
[11:23] Speaker 1: And evil is not an external cosmic adversary, but a
[11:29] Speaker 1: matter of impurity, imbalance, or a soul in anger. And so,
[11:37] Speaker 1: now we can explore how, across time, the Japanese identified
[11:41] Speaker 1: certain beings as demons and developed stories and rituals around them.
[11:46] Speaker 1: Shinto demonology will certainly reveal itself as a continuum from
[11:49] Speaker 1: the mythical gods who punish and test, to ghostly apparitions
[11:54] Speaker 1: and shapeshifters that challenge the living, and of course, to
[11:59] Speaker 1: those enduring cultural practices that try to keep all of
[12:03] Speaker 1: these forces in check. So, let's get to the records
[12:09] Speaker 1: of Shinto. Where exactly do we get all this information from? Well,
[12:13] Speaker 1: in terms of our primary records, sources, the contemporary records
[12:17] Speaker 1: of the time, the oldest recorded myths are found in
[12:20] Speaker 1: the 8th century chronicles, the Kojiki, the record of the
[12:25] Speaker 1: ancient matters. Now when we say 8th century, more particularly,
[12:30] Speaker 1: it's 712. We also have the Nihon Shoki, the chronicles
[12:36] Speaker 1: of Japan, chronicled 8 years later in 720. Now why
[12:41] Speaker 1: are these texts important? Well, They recount the creation of
[12:45] Speaker 1: the islands of Japan and the deeds of the first kami.
[12:52] Speaker 1: While their main purpose was to legitimize imperial lineage, they
[12:56] Speaker 1: also incidentally contain early examples of demon-like entities and more
[13:01] Speaker 1: than a few dangerous spirits. The way these old primordial
[13:08] Speaker 1: stories describe the netherworld and monstrous beings is certainly laid
[13:12] Speaker 1: that groundwork for the later Japanese conception of demonic forces.
[13:18] Speaker 1: One of the most dramatic episodes is the myth of
[13:21] Speaker 1: Izanagi and Izanami, the divine couple who created the land.
[13:29] Speaker 1: When the goddess Izanami dies giving birth to a fire god,
[13:33] Speaker 1: she descends into Yomi. That is a shadowy land of death. Grief-stricken,
[13:42] Speaker 1: the god Izanagi ventures into Yomi to retrieve his beloved wife.
[13:47] Speaker 1: But Izanami warns him not to look upon her, as
[13:51] Speaker 1: she has partaken of the food of the underworld, blinding
[13:55] Speaker 1: her there. You know your Greek mythology. You might be
[13:59] Speaker 1: raising a few eyebrows at the moment. Well, of course,
[14:04] Speaker 1: overcome by curiosity, or perhaps a little bit of concern,
[14:10] Speaker 1: Izanagi breaks that taboo and lights a torch, only to
[14:15] Speaker 1: behold a horrifying sight. Izanami's once beautiful body is now
[14:20] Speaker 1: a decaying corpse, teeming with maggots, and from her remains
[14:25] Speaker 1: have sprung the eight thunder deities, Yatsukami, crackling, coiling all
[14:32] Speaker 1: round her. While this terrifying image in the Kujiki is
[14:38] Speaker 1: essentially a proto-demonic scene. The birth of a wrathful storm
[14:42] Speaker 1: god from the rotting goddess. Izanami, humiliated and enraged at
[14:48] Speaker 1: being seen in this awful state, flies into a fury.
[14:54] Speaker 1: As Izanagi turns to flee in terror, she screams that
[14:57] Speaker 1: she will kill him for this betrayal. The Kojiki relates
[15:01] Speaker 1: that Izanami calls forth a horde of fearsome underworld spirits
[15:05] Speaker 1: to chase Izanagi. and among them is the Yomotsu Shikome,
[15:11] Speaker 1: often translated as the Hag of Yomi, a furious female
[15:17] Speaker 1: demon of the afterlife. As for Izanagi, he barely escapes,
[15:23] Speaker 1: racing out of the underworld, pursued by this vengeful Shi
[15:27] Speaker 1: demon and an army of ravenous spirits. He manages to
[15:32] Speaker 1: block the passage between worlds by rolling a huge boulder
[15:35] Speaker 1: across the entrance to Yomi. From the other side of
[15:38] Speaker 1: that boulder, the enraged Izanami, who is now transformed into
[15:43] Speaker 1: a fearsome, cursing entity, shouts that she will strangle one
[15:48] Speaker 1: thousand living people every single day in revenge. Well, Izanagi
[15:55] Speaker 1: has a plan to balance that out. He says that
[15:58] Speaker 1: he will ensure fifteen hundred are born each day, securing
[16:03] Speaker 1: the balance of life and death. Not sure how he's
[16:06] Speaker 1: going to do that. I don't think he means it
[16:09] Speaker 1: in a practical sense. In any case, this founding myth,
[16:14] Speaker 1: we see an archetype that will echo throughout Japanese lore,
[16:18] Speaker 1: and that is of the wronged woman and her wrath
[16:22] Speaker 1: birthing a demonic force. Also the idea that ritual acts,
[16:28] Speaker 1: sealing the cave, purifying afterwards, are needed to contain the
[16:32] Speaker 1: pollution of death and anger. But the story's not quite
[16:38] Speaker 1: over yet. After escaping from Yomi, Izanagi himself undergoes a
[16:43] Speaker 1: ritual purification to cleanse the impurity of death from his body.
[16:49] Speaker 1: According to myth, many new kami are born from this
[16:52] Speaker 1: act of cleansing. Notably, he washes his eyes and nose.
[16:58] Speaker 1: He gives birth to the sun goddess Amaterasu, the moon
[17:04] Speaker 1: god Tsukuyomi, and the storm god Susanol. But significantly, the
[17:11] Speaker 1: act of cleansing also produces minor deities of impurity and disaster,
[17:17] Speaker 1: and they are known as Magatsuhi no kami. These are
[17:23] Speaker 1: essentially the kami of calamity, that is the translation roughly,
[17:28] Speaker 1: spiritual residue of Yomi's pollution, and they suggest that misfortune
[17:34] Speaker 1: and malign spirits are inescapable byproducts of this cosmic order,
[17:41] Speaker 1: present from the very beginning, and will be present till
[17:44] Speaker 1: the very end. Other early Japanese texts thus acknowledged that
[17:49] Speaker 1: along with the divine light came darker forces that needed
[17:53] Speaker 1: to be acknowledged and appeased. The Shinto myth also features
[17:59] Speaker 1: monstrous creatures that later generations viewed as demons in a
[18:05] Speaker 1: pretty strict sense. The famous example is the Yamata no Orochi,
[18:12] Speaker 1: the eight-headed, eight-tailed dragon or serpent. The Kojiki's narrative says
[18:18] Speaker 1: that the storm god Susanoo, during his wanderings on earth,
[18:23] Speaker 1: encounters an elderly woman weeping because a terrible serpent has
[18:26] Speaker 1: devoured seven of their eight daughters, and the last daughter's
[18:30] Speaker 1: turn is coming up soon. The Orochi, is described as
[18:36] Speaker 1: so gigantic that its body spans eight hills and valleys,
[18:41] Speaker 1: its belly forever bloody and inflamed. Susanoo devises a clever
[18:48] Speaker 1: plan to kill the beast. He has the couple brew
[18:51] Speaker 1: exceedingly strong sake, which, I mean, is a kind of
[18:55] Speaker 1: rice wine in Japan, if you don't know, and set
[18:58] Speaker 1: out eight vats of it. The eight-headed dragon arrives, and
[19:03] Speaker 1: finding the sake irresistibly fragrant, plunges each of its heads
[19:07] Speaker 1: into the vats to drink. And soon, the Orochi becomes
[19:13] Speaker 1: thoroughly drunk. When the monster is incapacitated, Susanoo drew his
[19:18] Speaker 1: sword and sliced the Orochi into pieces, cutting off each head.
[19:25] Speaker 1: In the Tale of the Serpent, his sword hit something hard.
[19:30] Speaker 1: and it revealed the divine sword known as Kusanagi, which
[19:34] Speaker 1: he takes as a trophy. The sword later becomes one
[19:37] Speaker 1: of the Imperial Regalia, by the way. Now, this myth
[19:41] Speaker 1: of Susanoo slaying the dragon is Japan's equivalent of a
[19:44] Speaker 1: heroic demon slayer tale. Their very own Hercules-like character, The
[19:50] Speaker 1: Orochi embodies a terrifying, chaotic force of nature, perhaps originally
[19:57] Speaker 1: a symbol of floods and storms, and Susanoo's victory symbolizes
[20:01] Speaker 1: the taming of wild nature. But what is really notable
[20:06] Speaker 1: in a Shinto context is that Susanoo himself is a
[20:10] Speaker 1: kami with a troubling reputation. He was cast out of
[20:14] Speaker 1: heaven for his violent antics. No one really thought he'd
[20:18] Speaker 1: be going and doing such a deed as this. Yet,
[20:23] Speaker 1: here we are, and he functions as a protector by
[20:26] Speaker 1: destroying this demonic menace. Once again, the line between god
[20:34] Speaker 1: and demon can be quite thin. Susanoo's furosity can be
[20:39] Speaker 1: either harmful or beneficial. It all depends on the context.
[20:46] Speaker 1: And as for Orochi, though monstrous, it is treated as
[20:50] Speaker 1: just another part of that tapestry of kami and creatures.
[20:54] Speaker 1: Other early Japanese legends and regional folklore mention various strange beings.
[21:00] Speaker 1: These are recorded in sources like the Fudoki Chronicles of
[21:04] Speaker 1: the 8th century. We hear of wicked spirits of the
[21:09] Speaker 1: mountains and rivers that demand sacrifices, or animal spirits that
[21:13] Speaker 1: bewitch travelers. Though not all are detailed in the Imperial Chronicles,
[21:21] Speaker 1: archaeology and oral tradition suggest that the Japanese attributed spiritual
[21:25] Speaker 1: agency to things like the fox and the snake as
[21:29] Speaker 1: early as prehistoric times. Let's take this for an example.
[21:34] Speaker 1: The snake or serpent was often venerated as a water deity,
[21:38] Speaker 1: but also feared and potentially dangerous, a very malevolent spirit
[21:43] Speaker 1: if provoked. There is one myth. A water serpent annually
[21:49] Speaker 1: demands a young maiden until the hero intervenes. A theme
[21:53] Speaker 1: similar to the Orochi story. Such tales illustrate that from
[21:58] Speaker 1: the dawn of the Shinto mythology, The Japanese had certainly
[22:02] Speaker 1: recognized a class of supernatural beings that we might call demons,
[22:07] Speaker 1: threatening creatures, ghosts that cause harm. Of course, they must
[22:13] Speaker 1: only be dealt with by rituals. And if that doesn't work,
[22:18] Speaker 1: wait for the hero to show up. But it is noting,
[22:22] Speaker 1: before we move on, that while Shindo myths themselves do
[22:26] Speaker 1: not moralize these creatures as evil in a Christian sense,
[22:32] Speaker 1: they clearly identify them as forces of destruction or chaos.
[22:36] Speaker 1: The response is typically either confrontation or ritual appeasement. These
[22:42] Speaker 1: twin approaches, fighting demons versus just pacifying them, remain quite
[22:48] Speaker 1: a duality in the Japanese tradition. And so as we
[22:51] Speaker 1: move forward in time, we will see periods where one
[22:55] Speaker 1: approach dominates, Sometimes it's the exorcist hero archetype, while other
[23:02] Speaker 1: times the appeasement approach is the front and center. Now,
[23:10] Speaker 1: as we enter the classical era of Japanese history, centered
[23:15] Speaker 1: on the Heian period, that is, 94 to 1185, by
[23:19] Speaker 1: the way, the capital city, which is now Kyoto, in
[23:23] Speaker 1: that time called Heian-kyo, became not only a hub of
[23:27] Speaker 1: aristocratic culture, but also, in the minds of the people,
[23:30] Speaker 1: a haunt for restless ghosts and malignant spirits. Now, just
[23:35] Speaker 1: a quick little detour. If you want to see this
[23:39] Speaker 1: represented in a interesting medium, look up the game Cosmology
[23:45] Speaker 1: of Kyoto. It is interesting, to say the least. In
[23:53] Speaker 1: any case, let's get back to the Shinto demonology? Well,
[23:58] Speaker 1: it is this era, the Heian period, that provides for
[24:02] Speaker 1: the clearest historical examples of what we might term as
[24:05] Speaker 1: Shinto demonology in practice, though again the cosmology was a
[24:10] Speaker 1: mix of Shinto Buddhism and folk belief. In the refined
[24:14] Speaker 1: society of the Heian court, natural disasters, plagues, political misfortunes,
[24:20] Speaker 1: they were often blamed on a rather interesting creature called
[24:24] Speaker 1: an onryō, literally grudging or vengeful spirit. Now these were
[24:32] Speaker 1: usually the souls of persons who had died with strong resentment,
[24:36] Speaker 1: especially those who were wronged or mistreated in life. Rather
[24:40] Speaker 1: than departing peacefully to the ancestral beyond, an undue spirit
[24:44] Speaker 1: would linger in the living world to wreak havoc on
[24:47] Speaker 1: those who had offended it, or even on the state
[24:51] Speaker 1: at large. Now, the notion of an onryo reflects a
[24:55] Speaker 1: deep-seated idea in Japanese culture, and that is the idea
[25:00] Speaker 1: that the unsettled dead can wield so much enormous destructive
[25:05] Speaker 1: power only until they are placated. The aristocrats of the
[25:11] Speaker 1: time took such ghostly grudges very, very seriously. Now, let's
[25:18] Speaker 1: look at the 9th century court chronicle, that is, the
[25:21] Speaker 1: Nihon Sandai Jitsuroku. Now, by the way, just a quick
[25:25] Speaker 1: aside into language again. You will hear Japan being mentioned, too,
[25:30] Speaker 1: as two different things. That word, Nihon, is more of
[25:34] Speaker 1: a casual rendering, but Nippon, with two P's, that is N-I-P-P-O-N,
[25:42] Speaker 1: is a little bit more in a formal context. In
[25:45] Speaker 1: any case. Well, that Nihon Sandai Jitsurukku and various other
[25:50] Speaker 1: diaries of nobles record a few strange incidents. Sudden outbreaks
[25:56] Speaker 1: of disease, lightning striking important buildings, or even key political
[26:01] Speaker 1: figures inexplicably falling ill seemingly out of nowhere. Frequently, a
[26:08] Speaker 1: diviner or an onmyoji, a ying-yang divination specialist, would be
[26:15] Speaker 1: consulted to identify the supernatural cause. The onmyōji, a professional
[26:22] Speaker 1: in the line of esoteric onmyōdo system that combined astrology,
[26:27] Speaker 1: feng shui, and magic, might determine, for example, that the
[26:30] Speaker 1: angry spirit of so-and-so is responsible for whatever calamity that
[26:36] Speaker 1: had befallen the state or the individual or the family.
[26:41] Speaker 1: At that point, the court would respond with rituals to
[26:43] Speaker 1: appease the spirit. Now this could involve Buddhist masses to
[26:48] Speaker 1: comfort the dead, Shinto ceremonies of pacification, and often the
[26:55] Speaker 1: posthumous elevation of the angry spirit to a more benevolent status.
[27:03] Speaker 1: And we have one famous case. It involved Prince Sawara,
[27:08] Speaker 1: that is the imperial prince Sawara-no-miya, the younger brother of
[27:12] Speaker 1: the emperor Kanmu in the 8th century. Soara had been
[27:17] Speaker 1: disgraced and exiled. This was under the suspicion of treason.
[27:24] Speaker 1: And he died in that exile. Likely, it is said,
[27:27] Speaker 1: by starving himself in protest. Soon afterwards, Kyoto, or Heian-kyo
[27:34] Speaker 1: at the time, was beset by a series of misfortunes. Fires,
[27:40] Speaker 1: violent storms, even an epidemic. which, people whispered, were caused
[27:46] Speaker 1: by Prince Sawada's enraged spirit seeking vengeance for the injustice
[27:51] Speaker 1: he suffered. But the court was deeply alarmed by this,
[27:56] Speaker 1: and so they took extraordinary measures. They posthumously pardoned the prince,
[28:02] Speaker 1: and even declared him to be emperor, bestowing the title
[28:05] Speaker 1: of Sudotenō, and enshrined him as a kami at the
[28:10] Speaker 1: new shrine. They even moved the capital from a short-lived
[28:15] Speaker 1: site at Nagaoka back to Heian-kyo, in part because of
[28:21] Speaker 1: the perceived spiritual disaster linked to Sawada's curse. Now, in time,
[28:27] Speaker 1: these gestures apparently calmed the disturbances. Prince Sawada's case did
[28:34] Speaker 1: set a precedent, a very shinto way of handling demonic wrath.
[28:40] Speaker 1: turn the vengeful ghost into a protective deity by showing
[28:44] Speaker 1: it respect and giving it a place of honour. In
[28:49] Speaker 1: other words, convert the vengeful Onryo into a guardian kami,
[28:54] Speaker 1: a kind of otherworldly reconciliation. But perhaps the most renowned
[29:01] Speaker 1: Onryo story is that of Sugawara no Michizane, a high-ranking
[29:07] Speaker 1: scholar official in the 9th century. Michizane was brilliant and
[29:12] Speaker 1: quite a popular statesman, but fell victim to court intrigues
[29:16] Speaker 1: and was exiled far from the capital, where he died
[29:20] Speaker 1: in 903. But that wasn't quite the end of it.
[29:26] Speaker 1: After his death, Kyoto was struck by disaster. Lightning repeatedly
[29:31] Speaker 1: hit the Imperial Palace, setting it on fire. Flames and
[29:36] Speaker 1: droughts also afflicted the land. Michizane's chief political rivals from
[29:41] Speaker 1: the Fujiwara clan died in quick succession, and a son
[29:45] Speaker 1: of the emperor suddenly passed away as well. Of course,
[29:50] Speaker 1: people whispered in terror that it was Michizane's onryo, furious
[29:56] Speaker 1: at the justice, injustice rather, that had been done unto him.
[30:00] Speaker 1: now manifesting as a powerful thunder god striking from the heavens.
[30:06] Speaker 1: The court tried various appeasement rituals. According to one record
[30:10] Speaker 1: from 955, a young boy through spirit possession conveyed a
[30:15] Speaker 1: message that the angry spirit of Michizane had become the Raijin,
[30:21] Speaker 1: the deity of thunder and calamity, and demanded to be honoured.
[30:27] Speaker 1: The authorities responded by dedicating a grand Shinto shrine in
[30:32] Speaker 1: Kyoto to him, that is, the Kitano Tenmangu, and posthumously
[30:38] Speaker 1: restoring his titles and rank. So Michizane's spirit was now
[30:46] Speaker 1: symbolically transformed into what is known as a Tenjin, a
[30:50] Speaker 1: benevolent kami of scholarship. Indeed, to this day, Tenjin is
[30:55] Speaker 1: worshipped as the patron deity of learning, and students across
[31:00] Speaker 1: Japan pray to him for success in exams, perhaps unaware
[31:04] Speaker 1: that he began as a fearsome ghost, or perhaps very
[31:08] Speaker 1: well aware. The transformation of Michizane from the dreaded demon
[31:13] Speaker 1: to a revered god shows a core theme in Shinto demonology.
[31:17] Speaker 1: The demon is often a god in disguise, angered by mistreatment,
[31:23] Speaker 1: who needs to be pacified and showed reverence. Throughout the
[31:29] Speaker 1: Heian period, the capital saw many ceremonies called Goryo-e, that is,
[31:34] Speaker 1: rites for honorable spirits, intended to soothe Onryo and other
[31:40] Speaker 1: harmful deities. Well, these were elaborate affairs. Some were Buddhist
[31:46] Speaker 1: rituals where monks chanted sutras for the dead. Others were
[31:50] Speaker 1: Shinto festivals with music and dance to please the spirits.
[31:56] Speaker 1: Sometimes Shinto priests, Buddhist monks and Omyoji diviners all collaborated
[32:02] Speaker 1: in these events, reflecting an integrated approach. And the logic
[32:07] Speaker 1: of it all was pragmatic. Whether the danger came from
[32:10] Speaker 1: a malignant kami or a restless ghost, it needed to
[32:15] Speaker 1: be calmed. In effect, the Heian court had developed a
[32:18] Speaker 1: kind of state-sponsored demonology. identifying, naming, and neutralizing spiritual threats
[32:26] Speaker 1: to the realm. Literature of the era also reveals the
[32:31] Speaker 1: fear of vengeful spirits. Classical works like the Tale of
[32:37] Speaker 1: Genji from Tenno 8 hint at it. In one famous episode,
[32:42] Speaker 1: the living jealous spirit of Genji's former lover, Lady Rokujo,
[32:48] Speaker 1: possesses and kills Genji's new wife. a scene that was
[32:52] Speaker 1: later popularized, by the way, in Noh theater as the
[32:56] Speaker 1: play Aoi no Ue. Collections of tales from the 12th century,
[33:05] Speaker 1: such as Konjaku Monogatari-shu, that is, the tales of times
[33:09] Speaker 1: now past, are filled with ghostly encounters and demonic stories
[33:13] Speaker 1: that circulated in both elite and popular imagination. For example,
[33:19] Speaker 1: one Konjaku tale, told of a no-woman who boasted he
[33:21] Speaker 1: could face any demon. To test his mettle, he went
[33:26] Speaker 1: one night to the bridge at Agi in Omi province,
[33:30] Speaker 1: a spot reputed to be very haunted. It was there
[33:34] Speaker 1: he met a beautiful young woman who seemed to be
[33:36] Speaker 1: in distress. But when he let his guard down, the
[33:40] Speaker 1: woman transformed into a towering oni and attacked him. The
[33:44] Speaker 1: man barely escaped with his life. Quite chastened, but no
[33:48] Speaker 1: longer as boastful, While stories like this were moral lessons
[33:54] Speaker 1: wrapped up in a ghostly garb, they reinforced that human
[33:58] Speaker 1: arrogance or wrongdoing could invite supernatural punishment. At the same time,
[34:03] Speaker 1: they enriched the lore of what demons looked and acted like.
[34:08] Speaker 1: The Oni in this story was nine feet tall, with
[34:12] Speaker 1: wild hair, often described as having an ugly, bestial face.
[34:18] Speaker 1: Certainly not something you want to encounter on a night out,
[34:21] Speaker 1: that's for sure. Well, we've certainly talked in a good
[34:26] Speaker 1: bit of detail about the onryo, those vengeful spirits, but
[34:30] Speaker 1: we did mention before the oni, and it's pretty important
[34:34] Speaker 1: that we go into them in great detail too. No
[34:37] Speaker 1: discussion of Japanese demonology is complete without that. You ask
[34:42] Speaker 1: any Japanese person to draw a demon, and they'll sketch
[34:46] Speaker 1: an oni, typically a hulking, horned ogre with sharp teeth,
[34:53] Speaker 1: Wild and messy hair wearing a tiger-skin loincloth. Oh, and
[34:58] Speaker 1: don't forget that massive iron club, too. Can't go without that. Well,
[35:05] Speaker 1: this image is so ingrained that it might be surprising
[35:07] Speaker 1: to learn that the Oni's origin is a blend of
[35:10] Speaker 1: imported and native ideas. The Oni, as we know it today,
[35:16] Speaker 1: crystallized in the medieval era, drawing on ancient ingenious oh,
[35:20] Speaker 1: excuse me, indigenous ghost lore, as well as the ogres
[35:25] Speaker 1: and hell-wardens of Buddhism. Over time, oni became a kind
[35:32] Speaker 1: of catch-all symbol for evil and misfortune in Japan. Yet interestingly,
[35:38] Speaker 1: oni are not always purely malevolent in the stories. Now,
[35:42] Speaker 1: you see the word oni in Chinese characters pronounced gui
[35:47] Speaker 1: in Chinese? literally means something like the Hidden One or
[35:51] Speaker 1: Spirit of the Dead, although translations from those original Chinese
[35:57] Speaker 1: characters are always a little bit touch and go, but
[36:00] Speaker 1: you get the point. In any case, early Japanese uses
[36:05] Speaker 1: of the term referred generally to scary, invisible spirits that
[36:09] Speaker 1: caused illness or disaster. By the Heian period, oni were
[36:14] Speaker 1: frequently mentioned as tangible creatures. especially in Buddhist texts describing
[36:19] Speaker 1: the hells. In the Buddhist view, only are the demons
[36:24] Speaker 1: that populate the underworld punishing sinners at the command of
[36:29] Speaker 1: King Yama, that is Enma Diao in Japanese. Now, monks
[36:37] Speaker 1: preached about the domains of hell to instill morality, complete
[36:41] Speaker 1: with vivid depictions of horned demons boiling the wicked in
[36:45] Speaker 1: cauldrons or These gruesome images filtered into popular imagination and
[36:54] Speaker 1: oni soon came to be visualized in artwork and literature.
[36:58] Speaker 1: By the medieval era, roughly 12 to 16 centuries in Japan,
[37:03] Speaker 1: oni were often depicted as red or blue-skinned humanoids, with
[37:08] Speaker 1: sharp claws, two long horns and a monstrous face, features
[37:13] Speaker 1: that we certainly see carried over into depictions today. The
[37:17] Speaker 1: tiger-skin loincloth and iron club, that legendary kanabo, were added
[37:23] Speaker 1: attributes that accentuated their brute strength and exoticism. You see,
[37:27] Speaker 1: tigers were not native to Japan. So tiger-skin showed that
[37:33] Speaker 1: otherworldly nature of an oni. In folklore, oni are blamed
[37:39] Speaker 1: for everything from causing diseases to kidnapping children. There is
[37:43] Speaker 1: a saying in Japanese, oni no yon na, It means
[37:48] Speaker 1: something devilishly awful or powerful. Well, in many village tales,
[37:55] Speaker 1: Oni live in remote mountains or caves, menacing humans until
[37:59] Speaker 1: a brave warrior, or perhaps even a clever peasant, outwits them.
[38:04] Speaker 1: For example, the pretty quintessential legend of Momotaro, that is
[38:09] Speaker 1: the Beach Boy. It features a young hero who travels
[38:12] Speaker 1: to Oni Island to defeat the band of Oni plaguing
[38:16] Speaker 1: his homeland. With the help of animal companions, Momotaro subdues
[38:21] Speaker 1: the Oni and takes back their stolen treasure. This story,
[38:26] Speaker 1: though a mere folktale, is likely codified in the Edo
[38:31] Speaker 1: period and shows how Oni had become stock-standard villains. That
[38:38] Speaker 1: them in the us-and-them equation that must be overcome to
[38:42] Speaker 1: restore peace and prosperity. Oh, and don't forget the balance.
[38:47] Speaker 1: all about the balance. However, oni aren't always just simple villains.
[38:54] Speaker 1: They also embody the theme of transformation of good into
[38:57] Speaker 1: evil and evil into good, rather, as we saw with
[39:00] Speaker 1: the onryo. Buddhist folklore in Japan tells of some oni
[39:05] Speaker 1: who turned into protectors. One legend speaks of a monk
[39:10] Speaker 1: so pious that when he died, he chose to be
[39:12] Speaker 1: reborn into an oni in order to guard the temple
[39:16] Speaker 1: that he loved scaring away any who would harm it.
[39:20] Speaker 1: Such benevolent oni remain fierce in appearance, but their actions
[39:24] Speaker 1: serve the dharma that is the Buddhist law, or just
[39:28] Speaker 1: the community's good. That line, not all demons are evil,
[39:36] Speaker 1: became part of the Japanese law, and in fact medieval
[39:40] Speaker 1: Setsua tales include clever inversions, such as an anecdote where
[39:45] Speaker 1: an official says, real oni know right from wrong. And
[39:50] Speaker 1: that's what makes them truly frightening. Suggesting that the worst
[39:54] Speaker 1: demons are the ones who have moral agency, but still
[39:59] Speaker 1: choose cruelty. Conversely, an oni that acts righteously is perhaps
[40:06] Speaker 1: more admirable than a human that does not act. Oni
[40:12] Speaker 1: as personifications of misfortune, also gave rise specifically to rituals
[40:17] Speaker 1: to drive them away and invite good fortune. The most
[40:22] Speaker 1: famous is Setsubun, which is still practiced every year in
[40:26] Speaker 1: early February. During Setsubun, people perform a ceremony called the
[40:31] Speaker 1: Tsui Na or Oni Arai, that is the expelling of
[40:36] Speaker 1: the Oni. At shrines, temples, and even at homes, Roasted
[40:43] Speaker 1: soybeans are thrown, while participants shout, meaning, out with the demons,
[40:51] Speaker 1: in with good fortune. Well, it's pretty charming, isn't it?
[40:57] Speaker 1: Symbolically belting demons with beans. The idea, actually, is that
[41:02] Speaker 1: beans thought to be purifying will hurt and repel the
[41:05] Speaker 1: malevolent spirits. Some say they only flee because the beans
[41:09] Speaker 1: resemble pebbles used in the old myth to trick Izanami's
[41:12] Speaker 1: pursuing hag. In any case, in many households a family
[41:18] Speaker 1: member might don an oni mask and play the role
[41:20] Speaker 1: of the demon being chased out the door by laughter
[41:23] Speaker 1: and bean throwing. And the ritual is half serious, half
[41:29] Speaker 1: festive today. But its origin certainly lies in ancient palace
[41:33] Speaker 1: ceremonies recorded as early as the Heian period. where the
[41:37] Speaker 1: Empress Court would enact the driving away of demons at
[41:40] Speaker 1: the turn of the seasons to ensure a prosperous new year.
[41:43] Speaker 1: A direct example of how Shinto and folk practices merged
[41:49] Speaker 1: to manage the demonic threat. Not by a grand battle
[41:53] Speaker 1: of absolute good and evil, no revelations here, but by
[41:58] Speaker 1: an annual house-cleaning, cleansing away bad influences, demonic and otherwise,
[42:06] Speaker 1: to start afresh. Who knows? Maybe it's all metaphorical. But
[42:12] Speaker 1: the persona of Oni also took on a symbolic role
[42:16] Speaker 1: in society. By the Edo period, 1603 to 1868, Oni
[42:23] Speaker 1: were so popular in art and theatre that they were
[42:26] Speaker 1: even used satirically. In Noh and Kabuki plays, actors donned
[42:32] Speaker 1: ferocious Oni masks to portray the inner human passions like
[42:37] Speaker 1: jealousy or rage. Many folktales portray the onare or female oni,
[42:44] Speaker 1: where a woman driven by jealousy or sorrow literally transforms
[42:47] Speaker 1: into a demon, horns and fangs included, a concept that
[42:52] Speaker 1: ties back to Izanami and Lady Rokujo's rage. The stories
[42:57] Speaker 1: often had a moral. Unchecked negative emotion could turn anyone
[43:02] Speaker 1: into a monster. Conversely, Edo period people enjoyed sometimes making
[43:09] Speaker 1: light of Oni. Small carvings called Netsuke from that era
[43:15] Speaker 1: show Oni being comically chased by beans or subdued by
[43:19] Speaker 1: folk heroes, and that shows a level of playfulness with
[43:23] Speaker 1: the once dreaded image. It was also a way to
[43:28] Speaker 1: psychologically tame one's own fears by laughing at the demon
[43:32] Speaker 1: you robbed of its power. All in all, the Oni
[43:37] Speaker 1: is pretty complex, don't you think? It can represent the
[43:41] Speaker 1: embodiment of disaster, plague, war and famine, such as the
[43:46] Speaker 1: belief that if somebody died of a terrible illness, their
[43:48] Speaker 1: spirit might become an Oni and it can represent the
[43:51] Speaker 1: dark side of human nature. But through rituals like Setsubun
[43:56] Speaker 1: and countless stories of Oni being defeated or even reformed,
[44:00] Speaker 1: Japanese culture traditionally sought to keep an Oni at the margins.
[44:05] Speaker 1: they are acknowledged as part of the cosmos, yet firmly told,
[44:10] Speaker 1: you're not welcome here, please leave. And sometimes, a redeemed
[44:17] Speaker 1: Oni might even become an unlikely ally of humans, as
[44:22] Speaker 1: long as harmony is maintained. Now that's where the nuance
[44:26] Speaker 1: comes in, treating demons with a mix of fear and
[44:29] Speaker 1: respect and humour. That's the hallmark of Shinto-influenced demonology, Now,
[44:38] Speaker 1: beyond the specific category of oni, Japan's imagination teems with
[44:43] Speaker 1: a vast menagerie of yokai. Now, what is this term, yokai?
[44:49] Speaker 1: Let's translate it. Basically, it means strange apparition, maybe even
[44:55] Speaker 1: mysterious phenomenon, and it serves as an umbrella for all
[44:59] Speaker 1: manner of supernatural creatures and ghosts. While not all yokai
[45:03] Speaker 1: are demonic in the sense of evil, many have Trickster
[45:08] Speaker 1: or dangerous traits. Within a Shinto context, Yokai are often
[45:13] Speaker 1: seen as minor kami or spirits of a place or object.
[45:18] Speaker 1: Sometimes benign, sometimes harmful. Essentially the spiritual wildlife populating the
[45:24] Speaker 1: borderlands of our human realm. From medieval times onward, people
[45:30] Speaker 1: told countless stories about encounters of Yokai. So let's get
[45:34] Speaker 1: to know a few of them. They're pretty essential to
[45:37] Speaker 1: the demonological landscape of the Shinto tradition. First, we have
[45:44] Speaker 1: the Tengu, often called goblins or mountain demons. Tengu are winged,
[45:52] Speaker 1: beak-nosed or long-nosed creatures dwelling in remote mountains and forests.
[45:58] Speaker 1: Early depictions show them as bird-like humanoids, sometimes with actual bird-heads.
[46:06] Speaker 1: They were blamed for frightening woodcutters, abducting monks, or leading
[46:12] Speaker 1: people astray in the wilderness. Tengu were originally seen as
[46:16] Speaker 1: malicious demons of pride and strife. In some legends, fallen,
[46:20] Speaker 1: arrogant priests became Tengu. However, by the late medieval period
[46:25] Speaker 1: and into the Edo, Tengu underwent a remarkable evolution in character.
[46:31] Speaker 1: There are some stories that portray them as stern but
[46:34] Speaker 1: wise mountain guardians. they could tutor worthy monks in secret knowledge,
[46:40] Speaker 1: or even offer their protection to certain temples. By the
[46:45] Speaker 1: 18th and 19th centuries, rural folk venerated Tengu as part
[46:50] Speaker 1: of a, well, as a type of local kami in
[46:53] Speaker 1: the mountains. People would leave offerings before entering a peak
[46:58] Speaker 1: to avoid offending the Tengu. And even today, festivals in
[47:03] Speaker 1: mountain villages may involve Tengu masks or dancers honoring these creatures.
[47:09] Speaker 1: A Tengu's appearance in art ranges from the grotesque Birdman
[47:14] Speaker 1: to a more human-like figure, just with an extremely long
[47:19] Speaker 1: nose that's said to signify its supernatural status. Kind of
[47:24] Speaker 1: hard to mix. Anyway, this dual nature, both perilous trickster
[47:29] Speaker 1: and possible ally creature, It made the tengu one of
[47:33] Speaker 1: the most intriguing yokai. And then we have the fox, kitsune.
[47:41] Speaker 1: In Japanese folklore, foxes are very intelligent creatures, and they
[47:45] Speaker 1: also have magical abilities, especially its power to shapeshift into
[47:49] Speaker 1: human form, often into a beautiful woman or perhaps a beggar.
[47:54] Speaker 1: A kitsune may be a faithful guardian or a playful trickster,
[47:59] Speaker 1: depending on the tale. And Shinto has a special relationship
[48:03] Speaker 1: with foxes, by the way, through the deity Inari, the
[48:06] Speaker 1: god or goddess of fertility, rice, prosperity, whose sacred messengers
[48:12] Speaker 1: are all white foxes. Inari shrines are famously adorned with
[48:19] Speaker 1: fox statues. These foxes are benevolent, protecting the shrine's rice
[48:24] Speaker 1: granaries from pests. But outside the shrine precincts, foxes could
[48:29] Speaker 1: be quite mischievous. Countless Edo period stories tell of foxes
[48:35] Speaker 1: beguiling humans. A lonely man marries a mysterious woman who's
[48:40] Speaker 1: later revealed to be just a fox in disguise. Or
[48:45] Speaker 1: foxes producing illusory fires at night to lure travellers astray
[48:50] Speaker 1: from their path. In many cases, the fox's trick is
[48:54] Speaker 1: morally ambiguous, sometimes punishing greed or vanity in the victim.
[49:01] Speaker 1: People in old Japan both feared and respected foxes. Fox
[49:05] Speaker 1: possession was a dreaded condition. If someone exhibited erratic behavior
[49:09] Speaker 1: or madness, villagers might suspect a fox spirit had entered them.
[49:13] Speaker 1: A condition called kitsune-tsuki. In a case like that, you'd
[49:20] Speaker 1: need a Shinto priest or a folk medium to perform
[49:23] Speaker 1: an exorcism, coaxing or forcing the fox out. Yet on
[49:28] Speaker 1: the other hand, a fox might also bring blessings. There
[49:32] Speaker 1: are tales of foxes rewarding kind humans with riches or
[49:36] Speaker 1: saving someone from danger. Okay, next we have the tanuki.
[49:43] Speaker 1: Commonly translated as raccoon dog. The tanuki is another shapeshifter
[49:48] Speaker 1: of folklore. They're typically portrayed as jolly and bumbling tricksters.
[49:54] Speaker 1: Legends often show them transforming into monks or teapots to
[49:58] Speaker 1: trick people. Though usually their pranks are more comedic than dangerous.
[50:04] Speaker 1: No harm done. One famous 16th century folktale From the
[50:08] Speaker 1: collection Otogizoshi recounts the Bunbukuchagama, wherein the tanuki transforms into
[50:16] Speaker 1: a tea kettle and gets inadvertently taken to a temple.
[50:21] Speaker 1: Unable to maintain the form, it reverts halfway, resulting in
[50:24] Speaker 1: a half-tanuki, half-kettle creature that becomes a beloved temple treasure
[50:30] Speaker 1: performing dances. Unlike the often eerie fox, The tanuki is
[50:36] Speaker 1: seen as a bit more benign, if even a little foolish,
[50:40] Speaker 1: depending on the interpretation. In Shinto villages, tanuki spirits were
[50:45] Speaker 1: considered of the wild. Not worshipped, but acknowledged with a
[50:52] Speaker 1: bit of good humour. To this day, ceramic statues of plump,
[50:57] Speaker 1: cheerful tanaki are placed outside restaurants and shops as good
[51:00] Speaker 1: luck charms. Carrying a comically oversized flask of sake, It's
[51:06] Speaker 1: a kind of jovial demon. Not something to be afraid of. Well,
[51:15] Speaker 1: then we have the yurei, which are something to be
[51:19] Speaker 1: afraid of. These are not exactly yokai species like the above,
[51:25] Speaker 1: but the general term for ghosts of the dead literally
[51:30] Speaker 1: means faint soul. Now, yurei appear in countless stories. usually
[51:36] Speaker 1: a pale woman with long disheveled head in a white
[51:38] Speaker 1: burial kimono. An iconic image still seen in Japanese horror films.
[51:44] Speaker 1: The concept of yurei overlaps with onryo, as discussed earlier.
[51:50] Speaker 1: During the Edo period, ghost stories became a hugely popular entertainment,
[51:54] Speaker 1: giving rise to famous tales like The Black Hair and
[51:58] Speaker 1: The Lantern Ghost. Many of these were compiled in collections
[52:02] Speaker 1: such as the Ugetsu Monogatari of 1776 by Ueda Akinari,
[52:09] Speaker 1: or recounted in Kabuki plays, still to this day, actually.
[52:13] Speaker 1: Even though Buddhism handled much of the afterlife rituals, Shinto shrines, too,
[52:18] Speaker 1: played a role where they could. For example, many communities
[52:22] Speaker 1: had and still have small shrines at the sites of
[52:25] Speaker 1: tragic death to calm a local spirit. The summer Bon
[52:31] Speaker 1: Festival is when the souls of the dead return to
[52:34] Speaker 1: their families. It's of Buddhist origin, but widely observed. There's
[52:39] Speaker 1: a time when ghost stories are traditionally told. The prevalence
[52:45] Speaker 1: of yurei stories in Edo Japan led to a sort
[52:48] Speaker 1: of demonology of ghost types. The ubume, a mother ghost
[52:53] Speaker 1: carrying a baby. The goryo, aristocratic vengeful spirit. and the
[52:59] Speaker 1: Zashiki Warashi, a child ghost that haunts the home benignly,
[53:04] Speaker 1: and so on. Now, while not demons in a Western sense,
[53:08] Speaker 1: these ghosts were part of the spectrum of beings that
[53:11] Speaker 1: Shinto practitioners would seek to appease to avoid any trouble.
[53:15] Speaker 1: Perhaps they just want to avoid them altogether. That's a
[53:18] Speaker 1: good idea. And again shows the broad scope of demonic
[53:22] Speaker 1: beings in Japanese thought. Now, our last category we're going
[53:27] Speaker 1: to talk about is the Tsukumokami, one of the most
[53:32] Speaker 1: charming and unique categories of yokai. It literally means artifact spirit. Now,
[53:41] Speaker 1: according to a widespread medieval belief, any object that has
[53:45] Speaker 1: served for 100 years could develop a spirit and come
[53:49] Speaker 1: to life on its 100th anniversary. The idea appears in
[53:53] Speaker 1: the Muromachi period. which is the 14th to 16th centuries,
[53:57] Speaker 1: and is documented in eras literature. For example, a famous
[54:02] Speaker 1: 16th century illustrated scroll called the Tsukumogami Emaki depicts the
[54:07] Speaker 1: abandoned household utensils, broken tools, old umbrellas, sandals, that kind
[54:12] Speaker 1: of thing, springing to life as mischievous creatures. And so
[54:18] Speaker 1: they band together in the night to take revenge on
[54:21] Speaker 1: the people who threw them away carelessly. Kinda sounds like
[54:25] Speaker 1: Toy Story, doesn't it? We're not aiming for the truck. Well,
[54:31] Speaker 1: this whimsical notion reflects Shinto's animistic core. You see, even
[54:37] Speaker 1: the seemingly inanimate have spirits that deserve respect. So look
[54:42] Speaker 1: after the things you've got. And if an object is
[54:45] Speaker 1: used respectively, its spirit remains peaceful. But if cast off
[54:49] Speaker 1: in anger or neglect, it may become a resentful little demon.
[54:54] Speaker 1: No one wants one of them chasing after you. Even today,
[54:58] Speaker 1: some shrines hold ceremonies for old dolls or needles, thanking
[55:03] Speaker 1: and laying to rest their spirits, so they do not
[55:07] Speaker 1: become angry Tsukumogami. And while Tsukumogami tales were often light-hearted
[55:14] Speaker 1: or satirical in tone, they certainly carried a message for
[55:17] Speaker 1: reverence for all things. Every item around you, in the
[55:21] Speaker 1: Shinto worldview, has the potential for life, and shouldn't be
[55:25] Speaker 1: wantonly mistreated. Of course, this barely scratches the surface of
[55:33] Speaker 1: Japan's yokai catalogue. We could speak of the Kappa, a
[55:37] Speaker 1: water goblin that drags an unwary into rivers, or the
[55:41] Speaker 1: Yuki Onna, the beautiful yet deadly snow woman who appears
[55:46] Speaker 1: on winter nights. But what is important is how ingrained
[55:50] Speaker 1: these beings were in everyday thinking. They were not official
[55:55] Speaker 1: Shinto deities enshrined in the imperial pantheon, yet they were
[55:59] Speaker 1: part of the lived tradition of the people. A farmer
[56:03] Speaker 1: might give a token offering at a known Tengu rock
[56:06] Speaker 1: to stay safe, or parents might tell their children not
[56:10] Speaker 1: to go near the lakes to avoid kapo. The boundary
[56:14] Speaker 1: between the yokai and Shinto kami is quite fluid. Some
[56:19] Speaker 1: yokai became worshipped as minor kami over time, and some
[56:22] Speaker 1: kami especially local nature deities, have folktales that show them
[56:29] Speaker 1: behaving much like Yokai would. And there's a bit of
[56:33] Speaker 1: fluidity in that. It shows the inclusive nature of Shinto.
[56:39] Speaker 1: It's a less strict theology, and more of a collection
[56:43] Speaker 1: of beliefs and practices, ones that acknowledge all sorts of
[56:46] Speaker 1: spiritual forces. And so demonology then wasn't a separate occult lore.
[56:54] Speaker 1: It was woven into Shinto shrine traditions, local superstitions, and,
[56:58] Speaker 1: of course, popular entertainment. Given this plethora of demons, ghosts,
[57:06] Speaker 1: and everything in between acknowledged in the Shinto tradition, how
[57:10] Speaker 1: did the Japanese historically safeguard themselves and seek peace? Well,
[57:15] Speaker 1: the answer lies in the rituals, the charms. and of
[57:20] Speaker 1: course the specialists dedicated to spiritual protection and purification. Shinto
[57:26] Speaker 1: at its core is a religion of ritual, rather than
[57:31] Speaker 1: one of doctrine. Let me explain. Many of its rituals
[57:35] Speaker 1: serve to prevent or expel what we might call demonic influences,
[57:38] Speaker 1: though the Japanese would often say impurity, or something along
[57:44] Speaker 1: those lines. So let's look at a few of the
[57:47] Speaker 1: key practices, and see if we can make sense of them.
[57:50] Speaker 1: First we have purification rituals, which are called harae, and
[57:57] Speaker 1: we've touched on them a little bit as a fundamental concept.
[58:00] Speaker 1: But in practice, Shinto ceremonies always begin with purification. This
[58:06] Speaker 1: can be as simple as worshippers washing hands and rinsing
[58:09] Speaker 1: mouths at the shrine's basin, which are called a temizuia,
[58:13] Speaker 1: by the way, to remove ordinary defilement before approaching the kami.
[58:17] Speaker 1: on a larger scale, the Grand Purification, O-Harae, remember that,
[58:23] Speaker 1: that respective O prefix, is performed nationwide at shrines in
[58:28] Speaker 1: June and December, intended to cleanse the community of sins
[58:32] Speaker 1: and misfortunes accrued over the half year. In the O-Harae,
[58:38] Speaker 1: a priest recites the Great Purification Prayer, listing sins and
[58:43] Speaker 1: impurities to be purged. Among these, are not only ethical
[58:47] Speaker 1: misdeeds but also calamities like illness and crop failure, implicitly
[58:51] Speaker 1: treating them as caused by spiritual pollution. Often a large
[58:56] Speaker 1: wreath of woven grasses called a chinoa is set up
[59:00] Speaker 1: and people walk through it in a figure-eight pattern, symbolically
[59:04] Speaker 1: casting off impurity. And all of this is to ensure
[59:07] Speaker 1: that any malign spirit or demonic influence that might have
[59:11] Speaker 1: attached itself to individuals or the community is neutralized and
[59:16] Speaker 1: sent on its merry way. The belief is that by
[59:20] Speaker 1: renewing purity, one naturally repels evil, since evil cannot cling
[59:25] Speaker 1: where cleanliness both physical and spiritual prevails. Well, then we
[59:35] Speaker 1: have Ofuda and Omamori. These are kind of like talismans.
[59:41] Speaker 1: A very direct way that Shinto helps people ward off
[59:45] Speaker 1: bad spirits is through talismanic objects. Ofuda are paper or
[59:49] Speaker 1: wood amulets issued by shrines, inscribed with the name of
[59:53] Speaker 1: a deity or a powerful phrase. And these are placed
[59:57] Speaker 1: in the home, often at the household shrine or on
[1:00:01] Speaker 1: the doorway to invite the kami's protection. For instance, a
[1:00:06] Speaker 1: family might get an ofuda from a shrine known to
[1:00:08] Speaker 1: a guard, to guard, rather, against fire, if they fear
[1:00:13] Speaker 1: their home might be susceptible to such disasters. There was
[1:00:19] Speaker 1: even a deity for that, etc., Atago Gongen, originally a
[1:00:24] Speaker 1: fire-controlling spirit. On the other hand, omamori are small charm
[1:00:29] Speaker 1: vouchers one can carry, for various blessings like safe travels
[1:00:34] Speaker 1: or good health. Inversely, they serve to ward off accidents
[1:00:38] Speaker 1: and illness, which might be viewed as caused by evil influences. Historically,
[1:00:44] Speaker 1: people also used items like shimenawa, that is, sacred ropes
[1:00:49] Speaker 1: with paper streamers tied around houses or villages. These indicate
[1:00:53] Speaker 1: a purified space that bad spirits should not enter, and
[1:00:57] Speaker 1: like a keep-out sign. The use of such charms is
[1:01:02] Speaker 1: a tacit acknowledgment that the world is full of these
[1:01:05] Speaker 1: unseen forces, and it's wise to use a bit of
[1:01:09] Speaker 1: spiritual armor. But when a specific haunting or possession occurred,
[1:01:16] Speaker 1: sometimes more direct intervention was called for. Japan had, and
[1:01:23] Speaker 1: still has, specialists that are akin to exorcists. Shinto priests
[1:01:29] Speaker 1: can perform ceremonies to pacify a particular spirit, For example,
[1:01:33] Speaker 1: if someone feels haunted by a deceased person, a priest
[1:01:37] Speaker 1: may conduct a ritual to call that spirit and persuade
[1:01:41] Speaker 1: it to move on peacefully. In addition, there have traditionally
[1:01:45] Speaker 1: been itinerant mystics and shamans, often outside the formal shrine system.
[1:01:53] Speaker 1: And one famous figure from the Heian era is the Onmyoji,
[1:01:56] Speaker 1: as mentioned earlier, who belonged to the bureau of the
[1:02:00] Speaker 1: Yin-Yang in the Imperial Court. Onmyoji, like the legendary Abe
[1:02:06] Speaker 1: no Seimei, were masters of astrology and spellcraft. They would
[1:02:11] Speaker 1: craft protective spells and wards, and perform exorcisms side by
[1:02:15] Speaker 1: side with Shinto rites. When Onmyodo is not Shinto per se,
[1:02:22] Speaker 1: it was employed to guard the emperor and capital from
[1:02:25] Speaker 1: evil spiritual forces, complementing the shrine's practises. But for the
[1:02:32] Speaker 1: common folk, there were miko, or spirit mediums, often women
[1:02:39] Speaker 1: in the Shinto tradition, who could become possessed by a deity,
[1:02:43] Speaker 1: or speak or convey its will. Some miko specialised in kamikakushi,
[1:02:50] Speaker 1: that is, spirit retrieval, if some were thought to be
[1:02:52] Speaker 1: taken by spirits, or perhaps in fox exorcisms for kitsune-tsuki.
[1:02:59] Speaker 1: In rural areas, Yamabushi, mountain ascetics affiliated with the Shugendo,
[1:03:04] Speaker 1: a mix of Shinto and esoteric Buddhism, were famous for
[1:03:08] Speaker 1: their magical prowess too. They carried conch shells and performed
[1:03:13] Speaker 1: loud rites to scare off demons, or used sacred talismans
[1:03:17] Speaker 1: from the mountain deities. The existence of such wrongs shows
[1:03:21] Speaker 1: that dealing with demons was recognized as a part of
[1:03:23] Speaker 1: spiritual life. When something fearful or weird happened, you'd want
[1:03:29] Speaker 1: to call in the experts, who knew the diagnostics and
[1:03:34] Speaker 1: cures in a demonological sense. Also, let's talk about the
[1:03:40] Speaker 1: community festivals and folk customs. We had many local festivals,
[1:03:45] Speaker 1: matsuri as they're called, even if joyful on the surface,
[1:03:49] Speaker 1: that had roots in demon-chasing rites. For instance, Some autumn
[1:03:55] Speaker 1: festivals where men parade in fearsome masks could trace back
[1:03:58] Speaker 1: to the rituals to scare away pests from crops or
[1:04:02] Speaker 1: evil from the villagers at the year's end. A notable
[1:04:06] Speaker 1: example is the Namahage custom in Akita. On New Year's Eve,
[1:04:12] Speaker 1: young men dress as monstrous ogre-like figures and visit houses
[1:04:16] Speaker 1: shouting admonitions. Though it looks like a scary prank, it's
[1:04:21] Speaker 1: actually a folk ritual. symbolizing demons being tamed. The household
[1:04:27] Speaker 1: offers sake to appease the demons, and in return the
[1:04:31] Speaker 1: demons bless the home for the year. It's both entertainment
[1:04:35] Speaker 1: and exorcism, all in one. Now, at times, certain kami
[1:04:41] Speaker 1: were invoked to combat particular demons of misfortune. For example,
[1:04:47] Speaker 1: doing epidemics people might pray to the Gozu Tenno, a
[1:04:50] Speaker 1: deity associated with warding off pestilence. interestingly syncretized with Susano,
[1:04:56] Speaker 1: the storm god, in some shrines like Kyoto's Gion Shrine. Likewise,
[1:05:02] Speaker 1: if locusts threatened crops, a shrine might hold a right
[1:05:06] Speaker 1: to dressing the spirit of the locusts, essentially asking the
[1:05:10] Speaker 1: insect devils to spare them. In all these the pattern holds,
[1:05:16] Speaker 1: recognizing even the pest as having a spiritual aspect, a
[1:05:20] Speaker 1: demon that can be negotiated with, or subdued by the
[1:05:24] Speaker 1: authority of a stronger kami. And so by the Edo period,
[1:05:30] Speaker 1: many of these practices were well systematized. Exorcism and protective
[1:05:36] Speaker 1: rites were not fringe magic, but part of common shrine services.
[1:05:43] Speaker 1: For instance, families would regularly bring their newborns at a
[1:05:46] Speaker 1: certain age to the shrine for the omiyamahiri, infant presentation.
[1:05:52] Speaker 1: to have their baby blessed and any evil warded off. Similarly,
[1:05:57] Speaker 1: individuals turning ages 42 for men and 33 for women,
[1:06:02] Speaker 1: considered yakudoshi, unlucky years, still often go to shrines for yakubarai,
[1:06:10] Speaker 1: a purification to clear away the misfortune that might be
[1:06:12] Speaker 1: attached to those ages. These customs show that underlying belief.
[1:06:19] Speaker 1: Misfortune isn't some random thing. It has a spiritual cause
[1:06:23] Speaker 1: or demon lurking, and thus can be averted by spiritual skill.
[1:06:33] Speaker 1: And that's where we come to the end of our
[1:06:36] Speaker 1: talk on Shinto-slash-Japanese demonology. We had good fun, didn't we? Well,
[1:06:45] Speaker 1: I did anyway. I'm going to thank my top dear
[1:06:49] Speaker 1: patrons and supporters. That's Kimberly, Christine, Sally, Amber, Susan, Cameron, Carrie, Charlene, Lynn, Therese, Katiana, Nicholas, Ovenia, Alexander, Charles, Christine, Dr. Neuronerd, Aaron, Jaden, Jim, Jeffrey, Jessica, Madeline, Melissa,
[1:07:09] Speaker 1: Orthodox Review, Scott, Cheryl, Wendy, Josie, Sarah, Ryan, Thor, Cameron, Stefan, Kevin, HMS8Change, Crystal, Talvery, Anthony, Lucy, Brandon,
[1:07:21] Speaker 1: Gugu Bubonic, Nicholas, Craig, Neftis, Alexander, Gokhan, Dorsey, Vanita, Claire, Courtesy, Carol, Robert, Mary, Bridget, Nefertari, Yvette,
[1:07:33] Speaker 1: Miss Mochi, Eleven, Allison, Free American, Jennifer, Brittany, David, Cody, Brian,
[1:07:42] Speaker 1: and Are You My Mum? That was what the username was, so, yeah. Okay,
[1:07:51] Speaker 1: well that's it from me. Thank you very much for watching.
[1:07:56] Speaker 1: Tell your friends and family about me. Hell, even tell
[1:08:00] Speaker 1: your enemies about me. And lots of love to you all.
[1:08:04] Speaker 1: Good night. Farewell for now.

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