Oni yokai

Interest in Japanese yokai culture has exploded in recent years. Painting and prints of shape-shifting animals, water-spirits oni yokai city ghouls are emerging at exhibitions all around Japan, oni yokai, and across the world. The eerie and strange has long influenced Japanese art. But what is a yokai, where are they from, and what do they do?

Oni are a type of yokai that can be in the form of demons, devils, ogres, or trolls. Oni are generally thought of as evil beings. All oni possess extreme strength and constitution, and many of them are also accomplished sorcerers. They are ferocious demons, bringers of disaster, spreaders of disease, and publishers of the damned in Hell. They are usually depicted with red, blue, brown or black skin with red and blue being the most common , two horns on its head, a wide mouth filled with fangs, and wearing nothing but a tiger skin loincloth. They are humanoid for the most part, but occasionally, they are shown with unnatural features such as odd numbers of eyes or extra fingers and toes.

Oni yokai

Born in Specializes in Japanese religious history. Completed her doctorate in history and anthropology at Tsukuba University in While many researchers in Japan have studied ancient and medieval materials to write about the oni from the viewpoint of literature or folklore studies, scholar Koyama Satoko is the first to trace the image of the oni and its social background from a historical perspective. Tracing the oni lineage means peering into the psyche of the Japanese people. Gui were talked about as part of the world of folk religions, Confucianism, and Daoism, and also took influence from Buddhism, after it spread to China. Gui were also thought to spread disease. The concept spread to Japan no later than the seventh century, transforming to become more easily accepted. In the Heian period [—], mononoke [the spirits of unknown people] were sometimes called oni , but the Chinese idea of using the word for all the spirits of the dead was only partially adopted. In China, gui could be good or evil, but the word oni came to be used only for evil beings in Japan.

Oni, 19th Century, the Met Museum, oni yokai. How many yokai are there? Oni are a type of yokai that can be in the form of demons, devils, ogres, or trolls.

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Interested in Japanese mythological creatures? Check it out! Any mythology involves fantasy stories like fairy tales and demons and similarly, Japanese mythology also features a wide plethora of intriguing stories that ought to be known. Oni in Japanese mythology is known to have a terrifying appearance that can scare anyone instantly just by watching them. This demon holds a significant position in Japanese folklore and its characteristics are portrayed distinctly in various narrations. So keep reading further down below! According to Japanese mythology, Oni is a type of Japanese Yokai that have a daunting appearance and a barbaric nature. Yokai is the Japanese term for demons and they can also mean shapeshifters, ogres, evil entities, ghosts, etc. Oni by nature are known to carry bad omens like tragedy and bad luck and even seeing an Oni in your dream is interpreted to be a bad sign.

Oni yokai

Ushi-oni is a demon from the Japanese folklore of western Japan. The demon is known for its bovine-headed appearance and brutal, savage personality. According to the folklore, there are various kinds of ushi-oni, but the depiction of a bovine-headed monster is the most common.

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From the Meiji era — , oni became associated with war. View fullsize. Originally written in Japanese by Kimie Itakura of Nippon com. This text, originally compiled from the fourth to the third century BC, may have arrived in Japan before the Heian period and influenced the Izumo story. If they were weak, they would not be seen as oni. There was also a strong influence from esoteric Buddhism , which had incorporated the concept of godlike oni. The way the Japanese saw foreign people with a different language and appearance as oni shows how much they feared them. These yokai are mischievous pranksters that resemble human children, though they are only visible to residents of a home. They are ferocious demons, bringers of disaster, spreaders of disease, and publishers of the damned in Hell. However, take care when a heavy snowstorm approaches because it could mean that Yuki Onna is not too far away! The Daikokuten in this early, twentieth century painting, is an example of a benevolent ijin. Gui were also thought to spread disease. Although they were subject to prejudice based on their low rank, they were also feared for their occult powers. While many are benevolent creatures who respond to the prayers of humans, others are terrifying beings inflicting terror upon humans.

Yokai — shapeshifting spirits and fantastical demons of Japanese folklore. But which of these mystical creatures could be considered the most powerful and iconic? According to medieval folktales, Shuten-doji was an oni warlord who lived years ago and terrorized Kyoto during the Heian period.

Some records described humans giving birth to oni , as babies born with nontypical bodies were called onigo oni children. Using the label of oni carried a fixed image, which shut down any thought of other people or situations as being multifaceted. It is fine to enjoy oni as interesting characters, but Koyama says we should not forget their negative history. Tracing the oni lineage means peering into the psyche of the Japanese people. Kappa Netsuke, 18th Century, the Met Museum. It is no coincidence that their rise to the forefront of artistic culture began at a time when the printing press and publishing technology became widespread. Lying between the periphery of the known and unknown, a yokai is named after the impressions it leaves or after its reported characteristics. In modern day Japan, the Tatsu continues to be a revered yokai; they can be found on the grounds of temples and shrines. Occasionally, when a human is so utterly wicked that his soul is beyond any redemption, he transforms into an oni during life, and remains on Earth to terrorize the living. Where Do Yokai Come From? If they were weak, they would not be seen as oni. The eighteenth century iron masks above displays the most recognizable and contemporary depiction of the Tengu on the left, beside the older, more traditional representation on the right.