Rokurokubi
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Rokurokubi (ろくろ
Etymology
[edit]The word rokurokubi may have derived from the word rokuro which refers to a potter's wheel,[2] a water well's pulley (since it elongates)[3][4] or an umbrella handle (which also elongates).[2][3][5]
Head flight
[edit]
The nukekubi are rokurokubi whose heads come off and float about. These were the last of the rokurokubi whereas the other kind came before.[7] Nukekubi sometimes perform bad deeds such as attacking at night and drinking their victims' blood. It is theorized that the nukekubi has a weakness when it is sleeping and the head is floating around: if the body moves, then the head cannot be re-united to the body.[8] Classical literature about rokurokubi describe tales of people witnessing and encountering floating heads at night time.[8]
Sometimes, the action of the head separating from the body is seen as the soul wandering away from the body, i.e. somnambulism. For example, in the Sorori Monogatari (曾呂
A different story appears in Shokoku Hyaku Monogatari (
Hokusō Sadan (
In Kokon Hyaku Monogatari Hyōban (
In the Churyō Manroku (
In the Kasshi Yawa (
Although rokurokubi and nukekubi are usually female, in Shousai Hikki (蕉斎
In the essay Mimibukuro by Negishi Shizumori, a woman who was rumored to be a rokurokubi is married, but manages to live well since the rumor was nothing more than a rumor. She was not actually a rokurokubi, so she achieved a happy ending, which is unusual for tales about rokurokubi because bad fortune almost always results when the true identity of a rokurokubi is discovered.[8]
In the Edo period encyclopedia, Wakan Sansai Zue Rokuokubi like creatures from Chinese lore are described. They are written as
Neck extension
[edit]Starting in the Edo period, tales were written about people's necks stretching when they were asleep. Examples of these tales are Buya Zokuda (
It is thought that the idea of an extending neck originated from people misinterpreting visual depictions of nukekubi, the earlier kind of rokurokubi. There was the idea that nukekubi had a string attaching the head to the body and when this string was depicted in visual depictions, people misinterpreted this string as an elongated neck.[15]
In the Kasshi Yawa (
In the late Edo period yomihon (illustrated novel), Rekkoku Kaidan Kikigaki Zōshi (
In some stories, rokurokubi are not a yōkai, but rather people who have an affliction that affects the body. For example, the Edo period author Ban Kōkei in his work "Kanden Kōhitsu" told a tale of a geisha at the Yoshiwara brothel whose neck would elongate in her sleep. It stated that her neck stretched due to her "heart becoming loose".[19]
Oral tradition
[edit]Rokurokobi also appear in the oral tradition of Japanese myths. For example, there is a myth about an old highway between the villages of Iwa and Akechi in Gifu Prefecture where it is said that a snake shapeshifted into a rokurokubi.[20] Another example is a myth from the oral tradition of the Koikubo area of Iida, Nagano Prefecture where it is said a rokurokubi appeared in someone's home.[21]
In the Bunka period, a kaidan story became popular, where there was a prostitute whose neck would smoothly stretch and would lick the oil of paper lanterns when she slept with guests, showing how rokurokubi were spoken of as things that women would transform into or an illness that they would be afflicted with. In this period, rokurokubi were also popular in freak shows.[4] The Shohō Kenbunroku (
Tales of rokurokubi appeared even in the early Meiji period. There was a tale of how a merchant and his wife from Shibaya town, Ibaraki, Osaka Prefecture who witnessed their daughter's neck stretch every night. Despite their supplications in Shinto and Buddhism, their daughter did not get better and eventually the whole town learned of it. The couple couldn't bear it anymore, so they left, leaving no clues as to where they went.[22]
Magic shows
[edit]The rokurokubi is also a kind of Japanese magic trick using curtains and life-sized dolls without heads. It's reported that a doll without a head wearing a kimono in seiza is put in front of the curtain. There's a rope behind the curtain and a female performer connected to it who shows only her face. As she stands and squats, the fake neck would stretch and contract, as if it were a rokurokubi.
Explanations and pictures about what's behind this trick were written in magazines of the Meiji period (1800s), giving a date for how early these shows first appeared.[23] This was a time period when mystery phenomena were vigorously exposed by the scientifically-minded, so for magic tricks to be revealed is fitting with the zeitgeist.
In the Taishō period, there were businesses arranging rokurokubi to appear in show tents in festivals and fairs at temples and shrines and they were quite popular.[12]
Similar tales from other nations
[edit]The type of rokurokubi whose necks separate from the rest of the body is said to have derived from stories of the Chinese yōkai, the hitōban (
There are legends of creatures including Palasik, Kuyang, and Leyak from Indonesia, Penanggalan in Malaysia, and Krasue in Thailand. The heads of these creatures would separate from the body and float about with the entrails attached.[4]
The Chonchon is a mythical creature of South America which takes the form of a human head flying around in the air, sucking the life out of people.
The manananggal is a creature of Philippines mythology. This female monster is slightly different since its whole body from the waist up detaches and grows giant bat-like wings.
The yōkai researcher, Tada Katsumi states that these stories arrived in Japan in the Muromachi to Azuchi-Momoyama periods, when there was still trade with southern China and Southeast Asia. In the Edo period, when Japan adopted an isolationist policy an original Japanese yōkai, the rokurokubi evolved.[4]
In popular culture
[edit]- The Pokémon family of Misdreavus and Mismagius is based on the nukekubi.
- In Hellboy: Sword of Storms, Hellboy has encounters with both nukekubi and rokurokubi.
- The Touhou Project character Sekibanki is a rokurokubi.
- The Teacher from Little Nightmares 2 can extend her neck like a rokurokubi.
- The Murmur from the Alex's Mobs Minecraft modification attacks by extending their neck and spawns in Cherry Groves, a Japanese themed biome.
- In the video game Tomodachi Collection, a Mii can have a dream where they are a rokurokubi, their neck extending when interacted with by the player.
See also
[edit]Notes
[edit]- ^
村上 健司 編著 (2005).日本 妖怪 大 事典 . Kwai books.角川書店 . pp. 356頁 . ISBN 978-4-04-883926-6. - ^ a b
井之口 他 1988, p. 520 - ^ a b "Yahoo!
辞書 ". Archived from the original on 2007-01-24. Retrieved 2015-10-22. Yahoo Japan, ヤフー株式会社 Accessed 22 January 2008. - ^ a b c d e f g
多田 2000, p. 159 - ^
阿部 主計 (2004).妖怪 学 入門 .雄山閣 . p. 115. ISBN 978-4-639-01866-7. - ^ a b
著者 不 詳 (1989). "曾呂利 物語 ". In高田 衛 編 ・校 注 (ed.).江戸 怪談 集 .岩波 文庫 . Vol.中 .岩波書店 . pp. 13–15. ISBN 978-4-00-302572-7. - ^ a b c
篠塚 訳 著 2006, pp. 76–78 - ^ a b c
柴田 2005, pp. 30–36 - ^
柴田 2008, pp. 704–705. - ^
山岡 元 隣 (1993). "古今 百 物語 評判 ". In山岡 元 恕 編 太刀川 清 校訂 (ed.).続 百物語 怪談 集成 .叢書 江戸 文庫 .国書刊行会 . pp. 12–13. ISBN 978-4-336-03527-1. - ^
佐藤 成 裕 (1976). "中 陵 漫録". In早川 純 三郎 編輯 代表 (ed.).日本 随筆 大成 . Vol.第 3期 3.吉川弘文館 . p. 354. ISBN 978-4-642-08580-9. - ^ a b c
笹 間 1994, pp. 27–29 - ^
柴田 2008, p. 702. - ^
稲田 篤信 ・田中 直 日 編 (1992).高田 衛 監修 (ed.).鳥山 石燕 画図 百鬼夜行 .国書刊行会 . p. 64. ISBN 978-4-336-03386-4. - ^ a b
京極 夏彦 (2007). "妖怪 の形 について".妖怪 の理 妖怪 の檻 .怪 BOOKS.角川書店 . p. 386. - ^ a b
十返舎一九 (1997). "列国 怪談 聞書 帖 ". In棚橋 正博 校訂 (ed.).十返舎一九 集 .叢書 江戸 文庫 .国書刊行会 . pp. 246–248. ISBN 978-4-336-03543-1. - ^
柴田 2008, pp. 700–701. - ^
多田 克己 (1990).幻想 世界 の住人 たち. Truth In Fantasy. Vol. IV.新 紀元 社 . p. 264. ISBN 978-4-915146-44-2. - ^
柴田 2008, pp. 701–702. - ^
鈴木 孝司 他 編 (1971). "口承 文芸 ".旧 静波 村 の民俗 岐阜 県 恵那 郡 明智 町 旧 静波 村 .東洋大学 民俗 研究 会 . p. 191. ncid: BA5494848X. - ^
巻山 圭一 (1989). "家 ・屋敷 に出 る妖怪 ". In所 三男 他 編纂 (ed.).長野 県 史 . Vol.民俗 編 2巻 3号 .長野 県 . p. 100. ncid: BN00168252. - ^
岡市 二洲 (September 1933). "怪談 茨木 附近 ".郷土 研究 上方 . 3巻 (33号 ): 34. NCID: AN00045163. - ^
富田 昭次 『絵 はがきで見 る日本 近代 』青 弓 社 2005年 ISBN 4-7872-2016-0 p.131滑稽 新聞 社 発行 の雑誌 「絵葉書 世界 」(雑誌 とは言 っているが、絵葉書 の画集 )の中 に「見 せ物 の内幕 」と題 し、ろくろ首 の仕掛 けを暴 く絵 がある。絵師 は、なべぞとあり、切手 を貼 る所 には、驚 いている少年 が描 かれている - ^
水木 しげる (1993). カラー版 続 妖怪 画 談 .岩波 新書 .岩波書店 . pp. 152–153. ISBN 978-4-004-30288-9.
References
[edit]井之口 章次 (1988).相賀 徹夫 編 (ed.).日本 大 百科全書 . Vol. 24.小学 館 . ISBN 978-4-09-526024-2.今野 円 輔編著 (1981).日本 怪談 集 妖怪 篇 .現代 教養 文庫 .社会 思想 社 . ISBN 978-4-390-11055-6.笹 間 良彦 (1994).図説 ・日本 未確認 生物 事典 .柏書房 . ISBN 978-4-7601-1299-9.篠塚 達徳 訳 著 (2006).新釈 諸国 百 物語 .幻冬舎 ルネッサンス. ISBN 978-4-7790-0051-5.柴田宵曲 (2005).妖異 博物館 . ちくま文庫 .筑摩書房 . ISBN 978-4-480-42108-1.柴田宵曲 編 (2008).奇談 異聞 辞典 . ちくま学芸 文庫 .筑摩書房 . ISBN 978-4-480-09162-8.多田 克己 (2000).京極 夏彦 編 (ed.).妖怪 図 巻 .国書刊行会 . ISBN 978-4-336-04187-6.