Hyakki Tsurezure Bukuro (百器徒然袋 – A Horde of Haunted Housewares) is a compendium of Yōkai, demons and ghosts compiled by Toriyama Sekien, published in 1781.

The books were inspired by the 10th Century Demon Horde’s Night Parade. These books, alongside the previous books, the Gazu Hyakki Yagyō, Konjaku Gazu Zoku Hyakki and Konjaku Hyakki Shūi are different to earlier depictions of Yōkai as they place the Yōkai in a time and a place instead of just depicting them on a blank background.

This book was created as a set with the Gazu Hyakki Yagyō though they weren’t released together. The book was divided into three sections and contains 48 different Yōkai.¹

Introduction

The introduction of the book reads:

There’s an old joke about a man told to resemble a holy tree. Viewed from a distance, it’s branches soar like peaks of a mountian range against the spring sunshine. Up close, however, its roots are infested with shape-shifting foxes.

This could well have been written about Sekien. A man who appeared to the West of Tiantai, peers beneath shrines, consorts with thousands of demons, and generally wows the world with his drawings of the wierd. Thus he wound up with the nickname, “old fox.” Fitting, is it not?¹

Part One – Jō – 上

Takara bune	Chirizuka kaiō
Fuguruma yōhi	Osa kōburi
Kutsu tsura	Bakenokawa goromo
Kinu tanuki	Kōroka
Tenjō name	Shiro uneri
Hone karakasa	Shōgorō
Hosu mori	Sazae oni

Part 2 – Chū – 中

Part 3 – Ge – 下

External Links

• View the book online here: Hyakki Tsurezure Bukuro.

Footnotes

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

	Check out the Japan Archives, our Japanese History Podcast. Instagram (Japan): @japan_archives
	Check out our Gaming Channel on Youtube. Instagram (Minecraft): @mycenria
	Find the website useful? Please consider donating to help up keep the website running.

The post Hyakki Tsurezure Bukuro appeared first on . A History . . of Japan . 日本歴史.

Footprints of the Buddha

The Footprints of the Buddha is a 21 poetic sequence which can be found preserved on an inscribed stele at Yakushiji in Nara, the sequence brought together through use of the Principles of Integration.

The authorship is unknown and studies have shown some of the poems from the collections are earlier than others as they contain different linguistical time differentials.¹

Footnotes

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

	Check out the Japan Archives, our Japanese History Podcast. Instagram (Japan): @japan_archives
	Check out our Gaming Channel on Youtube. Instagram (Minecraft): @mycenria
	Find the website useful? Please consider donating to help up keep the website running.

The post Footprints of the Buddha appeared first on . A History . . of Japan . 日本歴史.

Principles of Integration

The Principles of Integration were a group of ‘rules’ employed in the compilation of poetic anthologies. Integration was made by progression and association.

They can be found mentioned within the Shin-Kokinshū, however we know that the Principles date to before this work as they are seen in the 21 poems of the Footprints of the Buddha.¹

Footnotes

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

	Check out the Japan Archives, our Japanese History Podcast. Instagram (Japan): @japan_archives
	Check out our Gaming Channel on Youtube. Instagram (Minecraft): @mycenria
	Find the website useful? Please consider donating to help up keep the website running.

The post Principles of Integration appeared first on . A History . . of Japan . 日本歴史.

• • Period: Heian Period
  • Occupation: Lady-in-Waiting, Nun, Poet
  • Family: Ōe no Masahira (husband)
  • Birth: c.957
  • Death: 1041

Akazome Emon

Akazome Emon (赤染衛門) living from c.957-1041, was the Lady-in-Waiting to Minamoto no Rinshi¹², and potentially her daughter Empress Shōshi.¹

She was married to Ōe no Masahira and later became a nun after his passing at the end of her life.²

One of the foremost female poets during her life at court we can find 93 of her poems in Imperial Anthologies beginning with the Shūi wakashū.

Her personal anthology the Akazomeshū contains over 600 poems.¹²

She has traditionally been creditted with writing a part of the Eiga Monogatari¹² as well as a travel diary called Owari kikō.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.

	Check out the Japan Archives, our Japanese History Podcast. Instagram (Japan): @japan_archives
	Check out our Gaming Channel on Youtube. Instagram (Minecraft): @mycenria
	Find the website useful? Please consider donating to help up keep the website running.

The post Akazome Emon appeared first on . A History . . of Japan . 日本歴史.

Utatane no ki

The Utatane no ki (うたたね) was a book generally agreed upon as being written by Abutsu-ni. It is a recount of a nap from 1238.¹

Footnotes

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

	Check out the Japan Archives, our Japanese History Podcast. Instagram (Japan): @japan_archives
	Check out our Gaming Channel on Youtube. Instagram (Minecraft): @mycenria
	Find the website useful? Please consider donating to help up keep the website running.

Utatana no ki
(FREDERICK)Utatana no ki is a book, which is generally agreed upon to have been written by Abutsu ni. It is an account of a nap from 1238.

The post Utatane no ki appeared first on . A History . . of Japan . 日本歴史.

Yoru no tsuru

The Yoru no tsuru (夜の鶴 – Night Crane) was a book written by Abutsu-ni and is a collection of poetics she sent to her son Reizei Tamesuke in Kyoto.¹

Footnotes

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

	Check out the Japan Archives, our Japanese History Podcast. Instagram (Japan): @japan_archives
	Check out our Gaming Channel on Youtube. Instagram (Minecraft): @mycenria
	Find the website useful? Please consider donating to help up keep the website running.

The post Yoru no tsuru appeared first on . A History . . of Japan . 日本歴史.

Izayoi Nikki

The Izayoi Nikki (十六夜日記) was a book written by Abutsu-ni and is an account of travel between Kyoto and Kamakura.

The book contains 166 poems by various people including the authors and finishes with a 151 verse choka poem.¹

Footnotes

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

	Check out the Japan Archives, our Japanese History Podcast. Instagram (Japan): @japan_archives
	Check out our Gaming Channel on Youtube. Instagram (Minecraft): @mycenria
	Find the website useful? Please consider donating to help up keep the website running.

The post Izayoi Nikki appeared first on . A History . . of Japan . 日本歴史.

• • Period: Kamakura Period
  • Occupation: Waka Poet, Author, Lady-in-Waiting, Nun.
  • Family: Fujiwara no Tameie (husband) Reizei Tamesuke (son)
  • Birth: –
  • Death: 1283AD

Abutsu-ni

Abutsu-ni (阿仏尼) was a waka poet who died in 1283.

She is best known as the author of the Izayoi Nikki and during her life served as Lady-in-Waiting to Empress Anka Mon’in.

Her additional works were Yoru no tsuru as well as generally being the accepted author of Utatane no ki¹. Her poems can be found in the Shoku kokinshū, Gyokuyō-shū and Fūga-shū.²

Around c.1250 she became the secondary wife of Fujiwara no Tameie, later becoming a nun once her husband passed away in 1275.¹

During her lifetime there was a dispute in regards to property and so she went to Kamakura to arrange for a transfer of possesion to her son Reizei Tamesuke, though she died before a judgement was given.²

She was also known as Anka Mon’in no Sijō and Anka Mon’in Emon no Suke during her lifetime.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.

	Check out the Japan Archives, our Japanese History Podcast. Instagram (Japan): @japan_archives
	Check out our Gaming Channel on Youtube. Instagram (Minecraft): @mycenria
	Find the website useful? Please consider donating to help up keep the website running.

The post Abutsu-ni appeared first on . A History . . of Japan . 日本歴史.

• • Period: Heian Period
  • Occupation: Poet
  • Family: Sugawara no Michizane (grandfather)
    
  • Birth: –
  • Death: –

Sugawara no Fumitoki

Sugawara no Fumitoki (菅原 文時) was the son of Sugawara no Michizane and had a poem in the Wakan rōeishū which went as follows:

‘Peach and Plum Blossoms do not speak.
How many springs have come and gone?
Spring mists leave no trace.
Gone like those who once lived her.’¹

Footnotes

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

	Check out the Japan Archives, our Japanese History Podcast. Instagram (Japan): @japan_archives
	Check out our Gaming Channel on Youtube. Instagram (Minecraft): @mycenria
	Find the website useful? Please consider donating to help up keep the website running.

The post Sugawara no Fumitoki appeared first on . A History . . of Japan . 日本歴史.

Kakurezato

Kakurezato (隠れ里 – Hidden Village) is a type of yōkai/place depicted in the Konjaku Hyakki Shūi by Toriyama Sekien.

This is the separate realm where yōkai, ghosts, mythical beasts, immortals and others not of this world live.

This depiction of Kakurezato shows a celebration headed by Daikokuten, the god of commerce and trade.

He is wrapped in a lucky bag, within his right hand appearing to hold cintamani jewels. The rice is overrun by mice with gold koban in their mouths.

The red snappers on the tables to eat, which in Japanese is tai, evokes the idea of medetai, or auspiciousness¹

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

	Check out the Japan Archives, our Japanese History Podcast. Instagram (Japan): @japan_archives
	Check out our Gaming Channel on Youtube. Instagram (Minecraft): @mycenria
	Find the website useful? Please consider donating to help up keep the website running.

The post Kakurezato appeared first on . A History . . of Japan . 日本歴史.