Kazenbō

Kazenbō (火前坊 – Bonze Before the Fire) is a type of yōkai depicted in the Konjaku Hyakki Shūi.

This creature is said to rise form the bones of those interred on Mount Toribe when smoke rises over the mountain.

This site was also the area where Buddhist monks practised self-immolation and so this creature may also relate to the monks which did not rest in peace.¹

External Links

• View the book online here: Konjaku Hyakki Shūi Online.

Footnotes

1. Yoda, H. and Alt, M. (2016) “Japandemonium: Illustrated: The Yokai Encyclopaedia of Toriyama Sekien.”. New York: Dover Publications, Inc.

List of Supernatural Creatures

Abura akago * Aka Manto * Akaname * Akashita * Amanozako * Amefuri Kozo * Ameonna * Amikiri * Aoandō * Aōbozu * Aonyobo * Aosagi no hi * Ayakashi * Buruburu * Chochin bi * Dōjōji no kane * Dōmeki * Dorotabō * Enenra * Funa Yurei * Furaribi * Fūri * Furutsubaki no rei * Gaikotsu * Ganbari Nyudo * Gagoze * Gangikozō * Gensuke * Haka no hi * Hangonkō * Hannya * Hashi-Hime * Hatahiro * Hiderigami * Hikeshi baba * Himamushi-nyūdō * Hinode * Hitodama * Hitotsume Kozō * Hiyoribo * Hōkō * Hone Onna * Hyōsube * Ikiryō * Inugami * Jakotsubaba * Jatai * Jorōgumo * Kamaitachi * Kamikiri * Kanedama * Kageonna * Kappa * Kasha * Katawa Guruma * Kawa Akago * Kawauso * Kazenbō * Kidōmaru * Kitsunebi * Kejoro * Kerakeraonna * Kodama * Kokuribaba * Kosamebō * Kosode no te * Kosenjo no hi * Kurozuka * Makurageishi * Mikoshi * Minobi * Momiji-gari * Momonjii * Morinji no Kama * Nekomata * Ningyo * Ninmenju * Noderabō * Nopperabo * Nuppeppō * Nurarihyon * Nureonna * Nuribotoke * Nyūnai Suzume * Obariyon * Oboro-guruma * Ōkaburo * Ōkubi * Okiku * Ōmagatoki * Oni * Onihitokuchi * Onmoraki * Osakabe * Oshiroibaba * Otoroshi * Ouni * Ōzatō * Rokurokubi * Sakabashira * Samebito * Sansei * Sarakozoe * Satori * Sesshō-seki * Seta * Shinkirō * Shirachigo * Shiranui * Shōkera * Shokuin * Shuten-dōji * Sōgenbi * Suiko * Takaonna * Tamamo-no-mae * Tanuki * Tenasobi * Tenjō-Kudari * Tengu * Tengu Tsubute * Tenome * Teratsutsuki * Tesso * Tōdaiki * Tōfu Kozō * Tsurubebi * Ubagabi * Ubume * Umibozū * Umizatō * Ushinotoki-mairi * Ushioni * Uwan * Waira * Wani * Wanyudo * Yamabiko * Yamauba * Yamawarawa * Yanari * Yukionna * Zenki and Goki

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Dorotabō

Dorotabō (泥田坊 – Mudman) is a type of yōkai depicted in the Konjaku Hyakki Shūi.

This creature is described as a dark figure with three fingers (like an Oni) and only one eye who resides in one particular rice paddy.

He is also heard to say the phrase “ta kaese! ta kaese!” (Till my paddy). This phrase is also a homonym for ‘give back my paddy.’

The creatures is said to have appeared following certain events. An old man worked a rice paddy he had bought in the north and he worked the paddy no matter the weather. After passing his family abondoned farming for sake. Whe the plot was sold to someone else this creature appeared.

The inclusion of him having only three fingers is to show its inhumaness but also the ‘3 poisons’ which are considered the root of all suffering in the Buddhist faith, these being jealousy, hatred and delusion.¹

External Links

• View the book online here: Konjaku Hyakki Shūi Online.

Footnotes

1. Yoda, H. and Alt, M. (2016) “Japandemonium: Illustrated: The Yokai Encyclopaedia of Toriyama Sekien.”. New York: Dover Publications, Inc.

List of Supernatural Creatures

Abura akago * Aka Manto * Akaname * Akashita * Amanozako * Amefuri Kozo * Ameonna * Amikiri * Aoandō * Aōbozu * Aonyobo * Aosagi no hi * Ayakashi * Buruburu * Chochin bi * Dōjōji no kane * Dōmeki * Dorotabō * Enenra * Funa Yurei * Furaribi * Fūri * Furutsubaki no rei * Gaikotsu * Ganbari Nyudo * Gagoze * Gangikozō * Gensuke * Haka no hi * Hangonkō * Hannya * Hashi-Hime * Hatahiro * Hiderigami * Hikeshi baba * Himamushi-nyūdō * Hinode * Hitodama * Hitotsume Kozō * Hiyoribo * Hōkō * Hone Onna * Hyōsube * Ikiryō * Inugami * Jakotsubaba * Jatai * Jorōgumo * Kamaitachi * Kamikiri * Kanedama * Kageonna * Kappa * Kasha * Katawa Guruma * Kawa Akago * Kawauso * Kazenbō * Kidōmaru * Kitsunebi * Kejoro * Kerakeraonna * Kodama * Kokuribaba * Kosamebō * Kosode no te * Kosenjo no hi * Kurozuka * Makurageishi * Mikoshi * Minobi * Momiji-gari * Momonjii * Morinji no Kama * Nekomata * Ningyo * Ninmenju * Noderabō * Nopperabo * Nuppeppō * Nurarihyon * Nureonna * Nuribotoke * Nyūnai Suzume * Obariyon * Oboro-guruma * Ōkaburo * Ōkubi * Okiku * Ōmagatoki * Oni * Onihitokuchi * Onmoraki * Osakabe * Oshiroibaba * Otoroshi * Ouni * Ōzatō * Rokurokubi * Sakabashira * Samebito * Sansei * Sarakozoe * Satori * Sesshō-seki * Seta * Shinkirō * Shirachigo * Shiranui * Shōkera * Shokuin * Shuten-dōji * Sōgenbi * Suiko * Takaonna * Tamamo-no-mae * Tanuki * Tenasobi * Tenjō-Kudari * Tengu * Tengu Tsubute * Tenome * Teratsutsuki * Tesso * Tōdaiki * Tōfu Kozō * Tsurubebi * Ubagabi * Ubume * Umibozū * Umizatō * Ushinotoki-mairi * Ushioni * Uwan * Waira * Wani * Wanyudo * Yamabiko * Yamauba * Yamawarawa * Yanari * Yukionna * Zenki and Goki

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• • Period: Heian Period / Kamakura Period
  • Occupation: Buddhist Monk, daisōjō
  • Family: Fujiwara no Tadamichi (father) Kanoe no Motozane (brother) Fujiwara no Motofusa (brother) Kujō no Kanezane (brother) Fujiwara no Kanefusa (brother) Fujiwara no Masako (sister) Fujiwara no Ikushi (adopted sister) Fujiwara no Teishi (adopted sister)
  • Birth: c.1155AD
  • Death: 1225AD

Jien

Jien (慈円), also known as Fujiwara no Yoshimizu was a member of the Fujiwara Clan living from c.1155-1225. He was the son of Fujiwara no Tadamichi.

At the age of 11 he joined the Tendai Sect, quickly finding himself becoming Tendai-zasu (superior), a role known as daisōjō. During his life he studied under the monk Myōun and became chaplain to the retired Empeor Go-Toba. He was also master to Jigen and admitted Shinran into the Shōren-in monastery.

He is known to be the author of the Gukanshō and a collection of waka called the Shūgyoku-shū. We can also find some of his poems in Imperial Anthologies such as the Senzai wakashu and the shin kokin wakashu. He is included as one of the New Thirty-Six Poetic Geniuses.

Jien also went by the names of Yoshimizu Sō Jō and Jichin.¹

Footnotes

1. Louis Frederic, translated by Kathe Roth (2002) “Japan Encyclopedia”. London: Harvard University Press.

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• Period: Heian Period
• Occupation: Writer, Monk
• Family: Fujiwara no Morosuke (father) Fujiwara no Tamemitsu (brother) Fujiwara no Koretada (brother) Fujiwara no Kanemichi (brother) Fujiwara no Kaneie (brother) Fujiwara no Kinsue (brother)
• Birth: –
• Death: 994AD

Fujiwara no Takamitsu

Fujiwara no Takamitsu (藤原 高光) was a member of the Fujiwara Clan, more specifically the Hokke Branch of this clan.

Uncle to Fujiwara no Michinaga he died in 994AD.

During his lifetime he may have authored the Takamitsu nikki, a perhaps apocrophal diary about the years 961-962. The diary is also sometimes called the tōno mine shōshō monogatari.

In 961 he bacame a monk residing on Mt. Tō no mine.¹

Footnotes

1. Louis Frederic, translated by Kathe Roth (2002) “Japan Encyclopedia”. London: Harvard University Press.

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• Period: Nara Period
• Occupation: Buddhist Monk, sōjō
• Family: –
• Birth: –
• Death: 746AD

Priest Genbō

Priest Genbō (玄昉) was a Buddhist Priest and court official known to have died on 746AD.

In 717 he was sent to China alongside Abe no Nakamaro and Kibi no Makibi where he studied the Hossō Sect doctrines.

He later returned to Japan in 735 with Makibi, becoming influential at court under Tachibana no Moroe, and in 737 was made sōjō.

During the rebellion of Fujiwara no Hirotsugu, Genbō’s position became insecure, and his power later declined with the rise in power of Fujiwara no Nakamaro.

He was banished by Fujiwara no Nakamaro in 745 to Kyushu where he died the following year.¹

Footnotes

1. Kodansha. (1993) ”Japan: An Illustrated Encyclopedia”. Tokyo: Kodansha Ltd.

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This page serves to list all different job titles associated with the Buddhist faith.

We will continue to update as we add to the site.

Sami

Sami (沙弥) was a title meaning ‘Cleric of Minor Orders.’ This title was given to people by themselves. Until the arrival of Chien-Chien in 754 all religious members were self ordained. This particular titles mean the person holding it neither required or performed taking the tonsure.¹

People who held the title:

• • Priest Manzei

Footnotes

1. Miller, R. A.. (1981) “The Lost Poetic Sequence of the Priest Manzei”. Monumenta Nipponica. Vol.36 No.2 pp.133-172

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• • Period: Heian Period
  • Occupation: sesshō, kampaku
  • Family: Fujiwara no Michinaga (father) Fujiwara no Morozane (son) Fujiwara no Michifusa (son) Fujiwara no Kanshi (daughter) Fujiwara no Genshi (adopted daughter) Fujiwara no Kenshi (sister) Fujiwara no Ishi (sister) Fujiwara no Sonshi (sister) Fujiwara no Kishi (sister) Fujiwara no Seishi (sister) Fujiwara no Shōshi (sister) Fujiwara no Kanshi (sister) Fujiwara no Yoshinobu (brother) Fujiwara no Yorimune (brother) Fujiwara no Norimichi (brother) Fujiwara no Nagaie (brother)
  • Birth: 992AD
  • Death: 1074AD

Fujiwara no Yorimichi

Fujiwara no Yorimichi (藤原 頼通) was a member of the Fujiwara Clan, more specifically the Hokke Branch of this clan.

Yorimichi lived from 992-1074AD¹ was the son of Fujiwara no Michinaga¹² and father to Fujiwara no Morozane, Fujiwara no Michifusa, Fujiwara no Kanshi and. He adopted as his daughter Fujiwara no Genshi.¹

He held onto the positions of sesshō and kampaku during the reigns of Emperor Go-Ichijo and Go-Suzaku.¹²

It was his father who gave to him the position of kampaku, afterwards Michinaga retiring and directing policies through his son Yorimichi.²

Yorimichi lost control over the imperial succession when none of his daughters gave birth to an heir¹ and so in 1068 he was forced to accept onto the throne Emperor Sanjō and later passes on his title of sesshō to his brother Fujiwara no Norimichi.¹²

His two daughters had been married to Emperor Go-Suzaku and Go-Reizei.¹

The power of the Fujiwara then began to decline as this new Emperor was not a Fujiwara and wished to reassert Imperial Control.

In 1052 Yorimichi decided to return to his villa in Uji which he then converted into the temple Byōdō-in and became a monk.¹

He was also known as uji-dono.²

Footnotes

1. Kodansha. (1993) ”Japan: An Illustrated Encyclopedia”. Tokyo: Kodansha Ltd.
2. Louis Frederic, translated by Kathe Roth (2002) “Japan Encyclopedia”. London: Harvard University Press.

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Hear this tale on Episode 53 of our Podcast, the Japan Archives.

Bunbuku Chagama

Bunbuku Chagama (分福茶釜 or 文福茶釜) is a Japanese Folktale about a Tanuki who rewards the man who rescued him.

Synopsis

A Buddhist Priest comes across an old battered tea kettle amongst a pile of lumber. He takes the kettle and proceeds to clean it, and began to use it. Once on the fire, it grew a head, tail and legs and so tried to escape out of the Priests house.

The Priest with the help of an acolyte beat the tanuki with a broom and caught it in a box.  He took the kettle to a dealer who saw no animal inside the box, merely a kettle and would only pay a small amount for the item. The Priest eventually agreeing to the megre sum so he could be rid of the kettle.

That night the dealer heard movement in his house, and moving to see that cause found a tanuki dancing in his home. The dealer talking to a friend the next day was told about a bewitched tea kettle that did exist, and that this one must be it.

His friend tells him he should allow the tanuki to perform as it could bring fortune to him. And so a temprorary building was made for the tanuki to perform and many people came to watch. It would start off as a kettle and slowly transform before peoples eyes before performing.

The man grew rich and gave some of the money to the Priests to pray for him, as he feared invoking the wraith of a Buddhist deity.

The old priest who had once beaten the tanuki used the money to build himself a fine temple. And the kettle was canonized as the ‘Great Enlightened Spirit of Bumbuku.’¹

Yōkai

We can find the tanuki given its own page in the yōkai encyclopedia by Toriyama Sekien listed as Morinji no Kama (茂林寺釜).

His decription states the tanuki resided in Morinji.

Here it took the name of Shukaku and changed into a monk staying for seven generations. Always making tea. Whenever the kettle boiled, it remained hot for six or seven days.

The kettle became known as ‘bunbuku‘ (happily bubbling).²

Translations

One translation was made in 1878 by C. Pfoundes and was published in The Folk-Lore Record, here the story was named ‘The Bewitched Tea-Kettle.’¹

Footnotes

1. Pfoundes, C. (1878) “The Bewitched Tea-Kettle”. The Folk Lore Record, Vol.1, pp.118-119.
2. Yoda, H. and Alt, M. (2016) “Japandemonium: Illustrated: The Yokai Encyclopaedia of Toriyama Sekien.”. New York: over Publications, Inc.

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Gensuke was a victim to the practise of Hitobashira in 1608.

This event occured at the Matsue Ohashi Bridge. Attempts were being made to construct a bridge over the Ohashi river here, however, the pillars kept being washed away. A sacrifice was chosen (this being the next soul to walk passed the construction site) and so this man was taken and sacrificed. After this the construction went ahead with no more problems.

Lafcadio Hearn is known to have written about this man in Glimpses of Unfamiliar Japan (1894), and the ghostly spirit that he had left behind stating:

“Upon moonless nights… a ghostly fire flits about [Gensuke’s] pillar – always in the dead watch hour between two and three; and the colour of the light was red, though I am assured Japan, as in other lands, the fires of the dead are most often blue.”

Every year a festival is held for Gensuke called the Gensuke Matsuri which occours in late October which starts in Gensuke Park at the foot of the bridge. The festival involves a 30 minute Buddhist purification ritual before the festivities begin.¹

Footnotes

1. Yoda, H & Alt, M. (2012) “Yurei Attack: The Japanese Ghost Survival Guide” Tokyo: Tuttle Publishing.

List of Supernatural Creatures

Abura akago * Aka Manto * Akaname * Akashita * Amanozako * Amefuri Kozo * Ameonna * Amikiri * Aoandō * Aōbozu * Aonyobo * Aosagi no hi * Ayakashi * Buruburu * Chochin bi * Dōjōji no kane * Dōmeki * Dorotabō * Enenra * Funa Yurei * Furaribi * Fūri * Furutsubaki no rei * Gaikotsu * Ganbari Nyudo * Gagoze * Gangikozō * Gensuke * Haka no hi * Hangonkō * Hannya * Hashi-Hime * Hatahiro * Hiderigami * Hikeshi baba * Himamushi-nyūdō * Hinode * Hitodama * Hitotsume Kozō * Hiyoribo * Hōkō * Hone Onna * Hyōsube * Ikiryō * Inugami * Jakotsubaba * Jatai * Jorōgumo * Kamaitachi * Kamikiri * Kanedama * Kageonna * Kappa * Kasha * Katawa Guruma * Kawa Akago * Kawauso * Kazenbō * Kidōmaru * Kitsunebi * Kejoro * Kerakeraonna * Kodama * Kokuribaba * Kosamebō * Kosode no te * Kosenjo no hi * Kurozuka * Makurageishi * Mikoshi * Minobi * Momiji-gari * Momonjii * Morinji no Kama * Nekomata * Ningyo * Ninmenju * Noderabō * Nopperabo * Nuppeppō * Nurarihyon * Nureonna * Nuribotoke * Nyūnai Suzume * Obariyon * Oboro-guruma * Ōkaburo * Ōkubi * Okiku * Ōmagatoki * Oni * Onihitokuchi * Onmoraki * Osakabe * Oshiroibaba * Otoroshi * Ouni * Ōzatō * Rokurokubi * Sakabashira * Samebito * Sansei * Sarakozoe * Satori * Sesshō-seki * Seta * Shinkirō * Shirachigo * Shiranui * Shōkera * Shokuin * Shuten-dōji * Sōgenbi * Suiko * Takaonna * Tamamo-no-mae * Tanuki * Tenasobi * Tenjō-Kudari * Tengu * Tengu Tsubute * Tenome * Teratsutsuki * Tesso * Tōdaiki * Tōfu Kozō * Tsurubebi * Ubagabi * Ubume * Umibozū * Umizatō * Ushinotoki-mairi * Ushioni * Uwan * Waira * Wani * Wanyudo * Yamabiko * Yamauba * Yamawarawa * Yanari * Yukionna * Zenki and Goki

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Hear about the Chōjū-giga on Bonus Episode 17 of our Podcast, the Japan Archives.

Chōjū-jinbutsu-giga

The Chōjū-jinbutsu-giga (鳥獣人物戯画 – Scrolls of Frolicking Animals) Chōjū-giga (鳥獣戯画) are a group of 4 emakimono scrolls with varying animal and human depictions, many of the animals having human characteristics. They are also notable as they contain no text.¹²

Originally it was thought a man by the name of Toba Sōjō was the creator of these scrolls, but now it is thought several may have worked on them.¹²

The scrolls use of only ink and fluid lines were a prefigure to the rise of the ink monochrome style (hakubyō) as a major mode of Buddhist painting.

Scroll A is the most famous depicting animals burlesquing as well as monkls and laymen in various activities. Scroll B show animals in a more or less continuous landscape. These two are thought to date to the later Heian Period.

Scroll C has a date of 1253 upon it depicting a sequence of games and contests between monks and laymen. The scrolls ends with depictions of animals competing.

Scroll D, thought to date to the 13th Century, shows human clerics undertaking rituals and amusements.¹

Footnotes

1. Kodansha. (1993) ”Japan: An Illustrated Encyclopedia”. Tokyo: Kodansha Ltd.
2. Louis Frederic, translated by Kathe Roth (2002) “Japan Encyclopedia”. London: Harvard University Press.

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