10. FMP: Context/Research (Oni Folklore Tales)

Deciding on my main characters’ Yokai being one of an Oni, I decided to look further into some tales about its kind, documented into folklore history, in order to get a better image of the way they act.

Oni Folklore Tales

Otakemaru

Otakemaru (meaning ‘great mountain peak’) is a very well-known and powerful Oni that is known to be a horrific threat to humans. He supposedly lived in the Suzuka Mountains on the border of Ise and Omi sometime around 781 and 806. During that time he was known as one of the most powerful and fearsome Oni of all time.

There are a few tales that are based around Otakemaru, but his battle with Tamuramaro stands out as the most well-known and interesting of the lot.

The story takes place long ago when Otakemaru was a powerful Oni who was known to terrorize travelers near and far. Everything was well, until the day he stole items of importance to the Emperor in Kyoto. This did nothing short of infuriating him, ordering his shogun, Sakanoue no Tamuramaro, to kill Otakemaru.

Tamuramaro summoned and trained up an army of around 30,000 horsemen and entered the mountains of which Otakemaru had inhabited to fulfill his goal of killing him. When they reached the area, they were unpleasantly surprised by the power of Otakemaru, who had used black magic to summon an almighty storm that completely covered the mountain range and made it nearly impossible to see. It battered the troops with non-stop rain and wind. This storm had continued to rain and brew for seven years. The men barely survived and despite their efforts to continue searching, they never managed to even catch a glimpse of Otakemaru.

As those years passed, Otakemaru was busy in a more personal mission within the Suzuka Mountains. According to legends, a beautiful goddess named Suzuka Gozen inhabited the rocky peaks and Otakemaru was stunned by her beauty, determined to impress her. He transformed into a selection of supposedly handsome forms, like a dashing noble man, and many more, but continued to enter Suzuka Gozen’s palace and get denied by her every time.

Returning to Tamuramaro after 7 years of being stuck in the mountains, he became irritated and laid his hand upon prayer to the gods and the buddhas to help him. Coincidentally, the night after that, Tamuramaro got a vision in his sleep of an elder saying to him, “To defeat Otakemaru you must gain the help of the Suzuka Gozen.”

After this epiphany, Tamuramaro sent what was left of his army back to Kyoto and began his trek up the Suzuka Mountains all by himself. After walking for some time, he stumbled upon a grand palace entering where he was greeted by a beautiful woman. She invited him to come inside, spending the night with him. The next morning, she told him “I came down from heaven to help you defeat the demon who haunts these mountains. I will capture him for you,” and following this, Tamuramaro realized that this woman must be Suzuka Gozen.

Suzuka Gozen proceeded to lead Tamuramaro through the mountains, showing him Otakemaru’s palace. She told him that Otakemaru could not be defeated for as long as he had full possession of the Sanmyo no ken (Kenmyoren, Daitoren, and Shotoren: three holy swords of great power). After that, they created a trap and waited for Otakemaru. That night, as assumed and planned for, Otakemaru came to visit her again to ask for her love. For the first time, Suzuka Gozen invited him inside and said to him: “A warrior named Tamuramaro is coming here to kill me. Please, lend me the Sanmyo no ken so that I may defend myself.” Entranced by her beauty, Otakemaru gave her Daitoren, and Shotoren to defend herself with, but still kept Kenmyoren for himself.

Following this, the fate of the 7-year battle had finally begun to change, things looking up for Tamuramaro. He came face-to-face with the Oni and started his final battle against the demon. The fight was nearly even, but through luck and perseverance, he managed to overpower Otakemaru and defeat him for good.

Although Otakemaru was defeated in a somewhat anticlimactic ending, this tale highlights the significance of just how strong the Oni was- managing to keep at bay 30,000 soldiers for a long 7 years.

Naita Akaoni (Red Oni who Cried), Hirosuke Hamada, 1933.

In this tale, a red Oni tries to make friends with humans, going through measures of writing friendly messages on his house and making sweets. However, due to the stereotypical nature of Oni, which are first and foremost known for being scary and sometimes man-eaters, everyone stayed away. Distraught, he asks his friend, the blue Oni, for help on what he should do to let the humans know he wasn’t a threat and wanted to be their friend.

The blue Oni comes up with a fool-proof plan that goes as followed: he would take on the role of an evil Oni and attack the village, and the red Oni would come in and save the humans by getting rid of him. The plan goes underway, and the red Oni manages to befriend the humans as he had intended.

After some time, he comes to realize that his blue Oni friend hasn’t returned from their plan, and goes to his house to see if something happened. He finds a letter from him that explains about the unfortunate side effect to the plan- he has no choice but to stay as far away from the humans as he can so that the red Oni can still be friends with them (as the humans would recognize him as the evil blue Oni that grieved them). The ending is one of a tragedy as the red Oni weeps, distraught at the sacrifice his friend had made for him.

After doing this research, I have come to conclude that Oni are seen as incredibly powerful and sociable Yokai, despite their negative presence and overwhelming distastefulness. They are naturally loud Yokai, driven passionately by their goals with the flaw of acting before they think- overall very bashful and somewhat greedy.

After analysing the Oni traits from these folklore tales, I will be able to construct a personality for my Oni character which will be true to its lore as a Yokai.

Harvard References:

conspirator (2020). The Japanese Troll Oni & Their Tales. [online] The Conspiracy Legend Blog. Available at: https://theconlblog.com/2020/09/the-japanese-troll-oni-their-tales/ [Accessed 23 Mar. 2022].

Japanese Oni Masks. (n.d.). Oni Masks. [online] Available at: http://japaneseonimasks.com/collections/oni-mask [Accessed 3 Feb. 2022].

9. FMP: Research (Yokai- Kappa)

In order to broaden my general knowledge on Yokai, I decided to delve into a different type of spirit I had found previously through my mindmap. This will ultimately relate to the project through relevance of species, being an unwanted spirit in hiding, and I could potentially hide one somewhere in my project.

Kappa

Kappa, translating to ‘river child’ are water-based human-like reptiles who live in the rivers of Japan. Simultaneously, they can be found in other water bodies, such as lakes, ponds, waterways, and wells. Kappa will eat almost anything, but their favourites consist of cucumbers and raw innards—particularly human anuses, with the intent to get to the shirikodama, a mythical ball of flesh located just inside the anus.

Kappa are clumsy on land due to their reptilian nature, fast in water, where they are at home in their natural habitat, with scaly skin that can be a dark green, red or even blue, similar to most water-dwelling creatures and webbed thumbless hands and feet, a bird-like beak and elastic skin that is said to be waterproof and irremovable, and thrive in the warmer months.

As humanoid Yokai, they take a form similar to one of a small human child, but physically have a strength more powerful than a fully-grown man. They are incredibly smart and are one of the few Yokai able to learn human languages, being so knowledgeable about medicine and the art of setting bones, where according to legend, the friendly Kappa taught these skills to humans.

The Kappa, despite taking on a human-like stature, possesses three anuses, with forearms attached to one another inside of their shells: pulling on one arm lengthens it while the other arm contracts.

Their most iconic characteristic is a dish-like cap that sits on top of their skulls. This dish is the source of its power and must be kept filled with water at all times. If the water spills and the dish dries up, the kappa will be unable to move, and potentially even die. Kappa are proud and stubborn, but also fiercely honourable- they never break a promise.

In water, it is almost impossible to best a Kappa. The preferred method of attack is to drown the victim and attack them through bites, reducing them to death underwater, along with going so far as to devour them alive. Despite all of this, on land, it is a completely different story. There is a possibility to outsmart it. If bowed at, the Kappa, being the honourable Yokai it is, will return a bow. If it bows so low that the water in its dish topples out, it can be bested. If the battle is lost for the Kappa, it will swear its loyalty and companionship to whoever managed to outsmart it until the day it dies.

Harvard References:

Yokai.com. (n.d.). Kappa | Yokai.com. [online] Available at: https://yokai.com/kappa/ [Accessed 21 Jan. 2022].

Lombardi, L. (2015). Kappa: Japan’s Aquatic, Cucumber-Loving, Booty-Obsessed Yokai. [online] Tofugu. Available at: https://www.tofugu.com/japan/kappa/ [Accessed 21 Jan. 2022].

admin (2019). The Kappa – An intriguing Japanese Monster. [online] Japanese Tales. Available at: https://japanesetales.com/kappa/ [Accessed 21 Jan. 2022].

8. FMP: Research/Context (Yokai Mindmap and Research) (Cultural Folklore- The Oni)

Zoom in for clarity :>

The next stage of the project is to decide on a Yokai origin for my character. Collecting a random few Yokai names and making a mindmap of what I found, I realised that there were a very wide range of Oni Yokai. To expand my knowledge on the Oni, I looked into the concept of the Oni further.

Oni

Oni, which translates to ‘ogre’ and ‘demon’, is a Yokai that mainly dwells in remote mountains, caves, islands, abandoned fortresses, and Hell. Their diets are large, consisting of alcohol, humans, and livestock, with a carnivorous appetite.

Oni are a popular icon in Japanese folklore- a symbol of wickedness. When a man is particularly hellish during his lifetime and beyond redemption, he will transform into an Oni, which possesses brutal strength with a build taller than any man and occasionally tree on most occasions, however Oni can come in all shapes and sizes. The Oni serve the Great Lord Enma, ruler of Hell, and seek out to crush and destroy any human they see solely for their own enjoyment.

Oni were frequently associated with bad luck and calamity due to their destructive nature, said to bring about war, plague/illness, earthquakes, and eclipses.

They come in many different variations- some having more eyes, fangs, horns, toes and tusks than others- but are most depicted with red and blue colour schemes and brutish facial features, commonly depicted as semi-human with a caveman-esque box build, large, wrinkled heads and muscular arms. They are stereotypically seen wearing a tiger pelt loincloth, although earlier variants wear pelts of great beasts they slaughter instead.

Despite the merciless cannibalistic nature of the Oni, their main purpose are to destroy the hellish humans that weren’t quite bad enough to transform into one of their kind through horrible punishments which include using their wielded large iron clubs (called kanabō- a studded/spiked war club used in Feudal Japan by samurai) with the intent to crush their bones, simultaneously using their long claws to peel off the skin of the human, and a minority wield the ability to be able to cast spells through sorcery to curse their victims.

The information I have learned through this research will aid me well in creating a character based on this Yokai. Characteristics and traits seen stereotypically in Oni will be transferred onto my own design and interpretation, with my own twists to make them fit into my universe.

Harvard References:

Yokai.com. (n.d.). Oni | Yokai.com. [online] Available at: https://yokai.com/oni/ [Accessed 14 Jan. 2022].

Youth Ki Awaaz. (2021). Oni: The Tale Of The Japanese Legend. [online] Available at: https://www.youthkiawaaz.com/2021/10/oni-the-japanese-folklore/ [Accessed 15 Jan. 2022].

Sciortino, M. (2021). Anthropology: The Mythology of the Japanese Oni and its Significance in Pop Culture. [online] Yoair Blog. Available at: https://www.yoair.com/blog/anthropology-the-mythology-of-the-japanese-oni-and-its-significance-in-pop-culture/ [Accessed 15 Jan. 2022].