Japan's strange and weird monster culture

In Japan, if you happen to encounter someone wearing a ferocious mask and rushing into the door, and a family throwing soybeans at him, don't think you have encountered a gangster. This is a ceremony held by the Japanese to ensure the safety of the whole family."Sprinkle beans to drive out ghosts". In Japan, legends about monsters are diverse and varied throughout Japanese history. It can be said that monster culture is an important part of Japanese culture.

The image of monsters changes with the times

There are a large number of legends about monsters among Japanese people, which is probably related to the psychological tendency of the Japanese people in the island country. Japanese people who like to be serious classify monsters into categories and write large and thick books such as "Japanese Monster Monogues" and "Japanese Monster Complete Collection". They are also equipped with exquisite illustrations and can be seen in libraries. Old people from "local societies" in various places talked about the demons of the past and present, and talked about them with great relish.

The emergence of monsters was originally out of awe for nature and animals. People called all forces that they couldn't see, touch, and couldn't control as monsters. Japan is a country with water culture, so many legends are related to water. For example, Grandma Bean is a fairy who uses a sieve to fish people in the water to eat; Bridge Girl is a female ghost who throws herself into the water for love; and Kappa, who is active in rivers, its prototype is likely to be a fierce freshwater crocodile. Similarly, Japan is a mountainous country, so it is said that there are many monsters living on the mountains. For example, snow maidens are said to have been transformed by women abandoned by their lovers on snowy mountains. Therefore, they often lure pedestrians who go up the mountain, and anyone who is passionate about them will freeze to death. Therefore, in the original folk stories, monsters were often scary in shape and intimidating.

It is said that because there were too many ghosts, the ancient Japanese government established a special wizard-Yin Yang Master. The honor of this position reached its peak during the Heian era, when Japan's domestic society was in turmoil and people's unrest, and the ruling class had no solution, so they attributed various problems to gods and ghosts. Therefore, people cannot help but be cautious in their lives, lest they violate certain taboos and attract retaliation from ghosts and gods. At that time, the Yin-Yang Division was extremely powerful, and they interfered in the daily lives of the emperor and generals. The various taboos in today's Japanese culture are largely left over from that time.

In the Edo period, commercial handicrafts flourished, and people no longer had to rely solely on God for food. So the monsters also transformed themselves into elves living in various items and props. The most famous one is "Hundred Ghosts Night Painting Scroll", which depicts various old objects such as pipa, umbrellas, wooden fish, and pots that are turned into various monsters parading in the middle of the night because they are about to be discarded by people. This painting is known as the originator of Japanese monster painting. With the rapid development of Japanese anime after the war, the image of Japanese monsters became lovely and humane.

Shigeru Mizuki is the first person in Japan's ghost comics. The Kotaro series he created is all the rage. Toys, games, decorations, and costumes related to Kotaro have blossomed everywhere, and he is known as one of the three major animation idols of Japan. After that, horror comics became popular, and many professional magazines for horror comics appeared one after another. Like Inukiko, known as the queen of horror comics, she uses children's world as a stage to create a series of horror works on folklore, fairy tales, urban stories and other themes. People describe her comics as "interesting, cute and scary", and many Japanese people are addicted to them. In recent years, Hayao Miyazaki's animations have pushed the craze of Japanese monster culture to the world.

70% of monster prototypes come from abroad

Kunio Yanagida, the founder of Japanese folklore, believes that the biggest characteristic of Japanese monsters is that they have two sides, and good and evil can be transformed into each other. For example, if a resentful soul is worshipped well, it can also become a protective god. Western monsters, on the other hand, clearly distinguish between good and evil. Therefore, in the eyes of Westerners, Japanese monsters are always full of mystery. In recent years, Japan's monster image has either relied on modern high technology to create terrorist effects, or it has been likable with the image of a cute elf. It can be said that it has gone to two extremes.

It is said that 70% of the monster prototypes come from China, 20% come from India, and 10% are native Japanese monsters. For example, Tengu was originally a dog monster from China's "Shan Hai Jing". After it spread to Japan, it gradually combined with the celestial devils in Buddhism and the mountain gods in religion, and merged into a modern image. The activity of "scattering beans to drive away ghosts" at the vernal equinox originated from the exorcism ceremony in ancient China.

Evil daughter-in-law is called a "ghost marriage"

There are many sayings related to monsters in Japanese. For example, it is said that river boys love to eat cucumbers, so the dish of seaweed rolls with cucumber is called "river boys rolls"; the particularly powerful evil daughter-in-law is called "ghost marriage"; to say that people have a dog nose, it is to criticize others for being arrogant and complacent; if "ghosts spawn cholera", it means that heroes are afraid of disease;"dipping ghosts into vinegar to eat them" means that they are not afraid of heaven and earth.

The Japanese, who have always been known for their seriousness and rigidity, have studied monsters as a specialized subject. Professor Kazuhiko Komatsu, known as "Dr. Monster", led staff from the International Center for Japanese Cultural Studies to collect 16,000 rumors about various monsters. It took six years to create a huge database for research. Now,"Monster Studies" has been officially established as a branch of cultural anthropology and is taught in many universities. Not only Japanese students, but also foreign students are listening to it with great interest.