#Japanese Ghost Story

[moonmausoleum]

Banchō Sarayashiki — the Ghost of Okiku

One of the more well known ghost stories in Japan is of the poor servant Okiku in the ghost story Banchō Sarayashiki has become the very image of a Japanese ghost story. The girl that died in the well and comes back, forever counting the plates.

One of the more well known ghost stories in Japan is of the poor servant Okiku in the ghost story Banchō Sarayashiki has become the very image of a Japanese ghost story. The girl that died in the well and comes back, forever counting the plates of her master, hoping that one time, she won’t be missing any. Okiku Well: by Katsushika Hokusai, most known for making the The Great Wave off Kanagawa,…

[technically-human]

*Reverses your Christmas*

A gift from @i-am-as-normal-as-you-are to all of you :) we really wanted the boys to get along for once, and what better occasion than Christmas? anything to make the Edwins happy!

[old-skyguy]

The silly stupid alien show about ghosts that steal your cock and balls just pulled the most gut wrenching, poignant shit possible and portrayed it so artistically and meaningfully what is even life.

This was MASTERFULLY done. The visual and environmental storytelling, the subtle foreshadowing, and inject those motifs into my fucking BLOOD.

Ho. Ly shit. Good fucking lord.

[beifongkendo]

Beautiful art by Yuko Shimizu for the vintage classic edition of ‘The Snow Ghost’ and other Japanese tales.

[horygory]

Junji Ito Maniac: Japanese Tales of the Macabre (2023)

[forgetful-river]

A ghost at the end of the world

[yoga-onion]

Heart Sutra ~ A sutra that describes “The Heart of the Perfection of Wisdom" (9) 

Hoichi the Earless – A Japanese tale about spiritual merit of the Heart Surtra

When Xuanzang crossed the Silk Road to India, recited the heart Sutra and protected himself from evil demons through its spiritual power. (Ref). There is a folk tale in Japan that tells its spiritual merit.

A young Biwa-hōshi (lute monks) named Hoichi lived at Amida-dera Temple in Akamaseki. Hoichi was a master storyteller of the Tale of the Heike, especially the Dannoura battle, which is said to ‘make even the demons shed tears’.

The Battle of Dannoura was a historical fact, once a decisive battle between the Genji and Heike clans, with many Heike warriors and court nobles sinking to their deaths in the sea, and perished. The temple was built on the coast overlooking Dannoura to commemorate the Heike family.

One night, when the abbot is away, a warrior suddenly appears out of nowhere. Hoichi is begged by the warrior to go to the palace of the ‘nobleman’ to play his biwa. Although the blind Hoichi could not understand them, many noblemen seemed gathering. They requested a piece about the battle of Dannoura. Everyone is sobbing aloud and looking intensely moved. Hoichi is asked to play a whole week, and starts going out every night.

The abbot became suspicious and had temple men follow him one night. It was raining heavily, and Hoichi was alone in the empty cemetery of the Heike clan, playing his biwa in front of the grave of Emperor Antoku, who had died an untimely death as a child, surrounded by a frighteningly large number of demon firebrands. The astonished temple men forcefully bring Hoichi back home. The abbot then, knowing the nature of the grudge spirits that the body parts on which the sutras are written are transparently reflected and invisible, copied the Heart Sutra on Hoichi's whole body together with the temple men, so that the grudge spirits could not recognise Hoichi. However, they did not realise at the time that they had forgotten to copy the sutra on his ears (auricularia). 

That night, as Hoichi sat alone, the warrior came for him as usual. However, Hoichi's body, on which a scripture is written, is invisible to the grudge spirit. Puzzled, the grudge spirit looked around for Hoichi, and found only his ears in the darkness, which were forgotten to copy the sutra. The grudge spirit used its monstrous power to tear the ear off Hoichi's head. The spirit left, silently. When the abbot returned at dawn, he realised that when he had written the Heart Sutra on Hoichi's body, he had forgotten to write the sutra only on his ears, and apologised to the bloodied Hoichi for his oversight.

After that, the Heike ghost never appeared before Hoichi again, and the wound in Hoichi's ear was soon healed by the good doctor. This strange event spread throughout the world, and he came to be known as ‘Hoichi the Earless’.

(There is also a version where Hoichi dies.)

[Image below: The tragedy of the young Emperor Antoku drowning in the arms of his grandmother, Taira no Tokiko]

般若心経 〜「智慧の完成」の精髄を述べる経典 (9)

耳なし芳一 〜『般若心経』の霊験にまつわる日本の物語

玄奘三蔵がシルクロードを越えインドに渡るとき、『般若心経』の霊験を信じ口誦し悪鬼どもから身を守ったことは先にも述べた（参照）。その霊験を物語る日本の民話がある。

赤間関の阿弥陀寺に芳一という若い琵琶法師が住んでいた。芳一は盲目だったが、平家物語、特に「鬼も涙を流す」といわれる壇ノ浦の合戦を語る名手だった。(琵琶法師とは、平安時代から鎌倉時代にかけて活躍した僧侶の姿をした琵琶の弾き語りで、ほとんどが盲目だった。）

壇ノ浦の戦いは、かつて源平���決戦となり、多くの平家の武士や公家が海に沈んで没した、という史実である。壇ノ浦を見下ろす海岸に、平家を弔うために阿弥陀寺が建てられた。

ある夜、住職の留守の時に、突然どこからともなく一人の武者が現われる。芳一はその武者に請われて「高貴なお方」の御殿に琵琶を弾きに行く。

盲目の芳一にはよく分からなかったが、そこには多くの貴人が集っているようであった。彼らは壇ノ浦の戦いについての曲を所望した。皆、声を上げてすすり泣き、激しく感動している様子で、芳一は自分の演奏への反響の大きさに内心驚く。芳一は七日七晩の演奏を依頼され、毎晩出かけるようになる。

不審に思った住職は、ある夜、寺の者たちに尾行させた。大雨の降る中、誰もいない平家の墓地で、幼くして非業の死を遂げた安徳天皇の墓の前で琵琶を弾いていた芳一は、おびただしい数の鬼火に囲まれていた。驚いた寺男たちは、強引に芳一を連れ帰る。

そこで住職は、怨霊の「お経が書かれた体の部分は透明に反射して見えない」という性質を知っていたので、寺男たちと一緒に芳一の全身に般若心経を写し、怨霊が芳一を認識できないようにした。しかし、その時、耳(耳介)にお経を写すのを忘れていたことには気づかなかった。

その夜、芳一が一人で座っていると、いつものように武者が迎えにきた。しかし、経文の書かれた芳一の体は怨霊である武者には見えない。怨霊は当惑し、芳一の姿を探し回った挙句、写経し忘れた耳のみを暗闇の中に見つけ出した。怨霊は怪力でもって芳一の頭から耳をもぎ取った。怨霊はそのまま去っていった。 夜明けに戻ってきた住職は、芳一の全身に般若心経を書いたとき、耳だけにお経を書くのを忘れていたことに気づき、血まみれの芳一に自分の見落としを詫びた。

その後、平家の亡霊は二度と芳一の前に現れることはなく、芳一の耳の傷はすぐに良医によって癒やされた。この不思議な出来事は世間に広まり、彼は「耳なし芳一」として知られるようになった。

（芳一が死亡してしまうバージョンもある）

[jareckiworld]

Kuniteru Utagawa (1808-1876)—Nitta Shirō Tadatsune and the White Dragon Ghost [woodblock print, 1848]

[kinokoshoujoart]

CORRECT TAGS‼️‼️‼️‼️ @rn0na-lizard you are so so so correct….. my favorite ‘Normal Girl’ in hmds…….i almost never see anyone talk about these aspects of her let alone also love her for them as they should.

i feel like Leona/ DS lumina gets mischaracterized super often which is understandable bc out of all the DS candidates leona is the least like her ancestor (who i also love, for different reasons).

in AWL lumina was the only kid in the valley for a very long time, but many of the DS residents have lived in the valley their whole lives. while lumina had accepted her role as a proper young heiress by chapter 3 of AWL— and when DS begins Leona already at this point of her life— lumina still had a lingering sense of uncertainty and angst and loneliness and doubt, and unresolved worries about her parents. absolutely none of this is present with leona

in this world leona starts with Lumina’s 22 year old appearance, she’s just rich as hell and living her best life (as she deserves), she’s unabashedly shallow, puts herself first always, speaks so politely and affably yet she can be so casually cruel in the most genuine cute way and out of touch with reality and and i fucking love her and i’d die for her. my beloved girlboss girlkeep girlypop

more iconic Leona Moments

when muu/muffy asks for beauty advice leona’s recommendation is “this brand of mail order beauty cream is simply divine! and it was quite inexpensive too, just 100,000 G 🥰” everyone else looks uncomfortable and muu is like “you’re as frivolous as always….”

aside from the 3 who take literally half your money (Witch💖, moi, and thomas) leona and panama (romana) take the most money from you if they carry you home when you faint. just a couple of girl bosses holding on to their girlpire (btw shout out to sebastian, the only resident in the entire valley who carries you home for free)

neither panama nor leona attend the harvest festival, they send sebastian there by himself to test the food first lmao (if you poison it like the witch they’re harboring on their property requires you to do, sebastian is just like “i can’t serve this to Mistress Panama…”)

once again sebastian attacks mukumuku for her sake, this time not to make her a paintbrush but she told him to get her the best slippers and this was apparently the easiest way. sebastian gets fucking mauled btw

leona has hands down the best romance route in hmds. all her scenes are incredible but god the slow burn friends to lovers with your DVD player….

in her purple heart event she shows up at your house because she heard you have a DVD player, asks you to show her how it works, and then just leaves after she’s done playing with it

in her yellow heart event she has sebastian fetch van so she can buy a DVD player for herself but van’s like “i’m so sorry …. Pete… bought the last one….”

leona is so unable to stomach the idea of other people having things she doesn’t that she starts to cry and the only way to placate her is to tell her she can go to your house anytime she wants just so she can use your DVD player. that’s not a setup to a budding romance that’s her final heart event

it’s the most incredible romance arc in the world like girl you have infinite money you can just. buy a DVD player somewhere else?? “i want to watch DVDs at my house just like you!” leona you have three entire bedrooms

“rich girl love interest who has everything except love, win her heart by having genuine conversation with her”: done to death, tired, i don’t have time for that

“rich girl love interest who has everything except a fucking DVD player, win her heart by giving her expensive stuff and ‘relax tea’ and access to your DVD player”: audacious, intriguing, never been done before, innovative

if you deny her god-given right to access your DVD player she is like “Is that so……………Just let me be alone for a little bit.” incredible tragedy i understand. take as much time as you need to grieve darling

oh but her first heart event asks you to pick a side in an argument she’s having with panama and the correct answer is to say “sebastian is the one who’s wrong” (sebastian has said nothing wrong this whole time and yet both of them have just been yelling at him to shut up)

and her blue heart event is “help me find this heirloom necklace… boohoo…” and when you find it she’s like “perfect! now grandma won’t get mad at me. hmm, you seem pretty dependable…♡” augh she’s way too good at this…….!!! i’ll do anything for you!

when you propose she says “of course, i always dreamed of having a romance and a wedding♡” and says nothing abt how she feels about you <3

also if you marry her, once a week she goes to hang out at her ex love interest’s place for 6 hours straight and comes home saying “whew… i had so much fun that i must have lost track of time… i’ll hurry on home”

if you marry another girl she starts flirting with you like “I’m so envious of your wife, having such a fine husband… Pete.” (or whatever your name is)

i’ve become obsessed with her and romeo’s horrible trainwreck soap opera marriage since replaying cute in jp… it’s SO… i have so much to say about them that it should be its own post but i’ll just give the cliffnotes

shotgun wedding vibes. romeo is surprised by his own wedding. they’re childhood friends but he himself has never considered marrying her. her words to him at their wedding are “Make me happy♡” (command)

she understandably can’t stand his terrible table manners or his clothes or anything about him (except that she wants to watch him surf and have his child. but he instead walks in circles all day. coward) and he’s both really good at accidentally stepping on landmines and just ever so slightly majorly terrified of her after marriage (“but surely her angry outbursts are just her way of showing love hahahahaha” you’re going to die. she’s going to kill you). the only positive things they say about their marriage are extremely shallow. they can’t communicate with each other because romeo always says the Dumbest Shit obliviously and leona always responds by cutting him out of her life forever!!!!!! (for 5 seconds) while he has no idea what happened

they are both so melodramatic and they both just do nothing except make each other worse and run away from each other and push each other away but they can’t escape each other. neither of them ever has to grow or change if they marry each other because an elderly overworked man is sustaining both of their existences and neither of them can take care of themselves and i love them your honor

also romeo’s first crush as a kid was apparently her mom, and if leona falls for YOU she flirts by mentioning that sebastian says you look like the spitting image of her dead father. dear fucking god

they’re the epitome of “You're both just enabling each other's mental illnesses. You're both perfect for each other. Never change. Just never involve anybody else in what you've got going on.”

romeo really does feel like her stupid lackey. like the karen to her regina. they even had this dynamic in the games they played as kids… she was the Harvest Goddess and he was Servant A/Minion A (they might still be playing this game as adults…he calls her lady/mistress sometimes after marriage…)

btw leona’s best friend (wife) marivia is also just as… there’s an event where they just gossip about all the mineral town ppl and marivia says ann would win a gluttony contest and they both giggle

there’s also an event where marivia casually walks into Witch’s hut and just interviews her so she can write her into a novel. witch is left completely drained by this exchange. leona and marivia both are so chill about the horrible cruel villainess living in leona’s shed who wants the town poisoned and rewards you for killing animals and hurting yourself and is putting curses on everyone (and they’re right. she’s never done anything wrong in her life)

[fallbabylon]

A Tengu guards the entrance of a Yokai exhibition of historical Japanese Art- Bologna, Italy.

[books-and-strawberry-tea]

Books I always forget about cause they are on my kindle:

Am I the only one like this? I always forget what I have when its a digital collection. I've been collecting since I bought my kindle. I read heaps on my kindle. But I just keep adding more and more to my collection. So here's a list of books a want to read that's on there. If anyone has any feed back or recommendations about my list, please leave a comment! Also if you decide to look into the books on this list, be aware some are 18+ and have TW.

Vampires: Hollow - Legend (Series) Tethered (series) Court (started) The southern book clubs guide to slaying vampires (Started) Twilight (series) Court of the vampire queen (40%) From blood and ash Bitten and bound Vampire academy Die for you (aus) The vampire in the bookstore Bound to the vampires Empire of the vampire - Empire of the damned (series) Feathers so vicious (series) House of crimson hearts Shade of a blood moon blood oath - shadow heart - twisted soul (series)

Manga: Somethings wrong with us (Manga) Say i love you (Manga)

Contemporary/contemporary romance/dark romance ect: Den of vipers The predator The ritual Things we never got over The virgin suicides Ninth house - Hell bent (series) God of Malice Hate mail Hate (JAMES) Bridget jones diary Hunting adeline (Started) Kiss the sky The seven husbands of evelyn hugo Moments of mayhem Lights out Mine (AK ROSE) Falling leaves Twisted friction Saint - sinner - priest - midnight mass (series) Love of my after life Theif (MASSERY)

Fantasy/fantsy romance: The spell shop Yumi and the nightmare painter Gideon the ninth Kingdom of blood and betrayal (35%) - A kingdom of venom and vows (series) Heir of the beast (series) Whispers of the deep The crimson moth The orchid and the owl (started) The song of the marked A court of silver flames (started) Half a soul (series) The god and the gumiho A discovery of witches Psycho fae - psycho shifters - (series) Daughter of the moon goddess (30%) - Heart of the sun warrior Powerless The liars crown Forged by malice - bonded by thorns - Woven by gold (series) Heaven officials blessings The dragons bride Dark heir - dark rise (series) Legends and lattes Lightlark - Nightbane (ugh) The very secret society of irregular witches One dark window - two twisted crowns (series) The invisible life of addie larue One little nightmare Daughter of no worlds The unmaking of June farrow Feather so black Songbird of the sorrows What is dark within me (series) A dream so wicked - Sleeping beauty retelling Of darkness and ruination

Ghosty/Hauntings/Spirits/Halloweenie ect: When stars come out Black silk and Sympathy (Aus) Love letters to a serial killer Good girl bad blood (started) - as good as dead (series) House of hollow Chlorine Carving for cara Her soul to take (series) A soul to keep The curse of the flores women The haunting of blackwych grange Leather and lark Starling House A deadly education Spells for forgetting Rouge In the clearing (aus) In a dark mirror Creations captive

Japanese stories: 夏物語 (Breasts and Eggs JP ver) The full moon coffee shop If cats disappeared from the world (ENG/JP) Conveniance store woman Butter コーヒーが冷めないうちに - 川口 俊和 Days at the morisaki bookshop (series)

[southmountainninja]

‘Ugetsu’ (1953). Directed by Kenji Mizoguchi.

[kowai-araene]

Kwaidan (1964) by Masaki Kobayashi - 3h3m

☆this is an anthology who adapts four famous folk tales of japanese ghost stories in beautiful and original cinematography☆

[voidvisionsai]

Asking AI to create the Yurei ghost

[horygory]

Junji Ito: Korekushon AKA Junji Ito Collection (2018)

[spitblaze]

weirdos on Twitter loooove to assume that for any given localization job that the original Japanese is INHERENTLY better, as if one of the most common goals in localization isn't 'turn dogwater writing into something interesting'