THE SPOOKENING: Unwritten Anime Rules #8

Unwritten Anime Rule #8: Yokai Are Everywhere

Why This Rule?

TV shows have featured people gathered around a campfire, telling bone-chilling stories or tales of urban legends where people encountered otherworldly beings or monsters. Just like the rest of the world, the Japanese also have tales of the spirits, demons, monsters and otherwise; tales of Yokai.

Yokai - otherwise known as monsters, ghosts, ghouls, spirits and demons - are numerous in tales and legends throughout Japan. It’s only natural that they’d show up in anime and manga because of the cultural influence. More commonly seen in slice of life, action series in the Edo period (1800s), and the supernatural/mystery genres of today, yokai are a key storytelling factor seen more than we think about it. For example, ever seen a demon in anime? Exactly. The threat to humanity ranges, but they’re commonly seen throughout the medium. Some are beneficial, others are neutral, and the rest negatively impact humanity. The range and powers associated are what make them so...mysterious. And spooky.

Examples and Exceptions

Thinking about the folklore-related ones, anime with Yokai include: Mushishi, Yu Yu Hakusho, Ghost Stories, Ghibli movies like Spirited Away, and various others that I haven’t personally experienced. However, I would say that even more recent anime like Bleach, Naruto, The Boy and the Beast, Gintama, Berserk, and Gantz have them as well. Especially Bleach and Yu Yu Hakusho because Hollows like Grand Fisher and demons in Demon World are definitely the more scary of the bunch.

Anime grounded in the physical world that we all know and love don’t normally have spiritual beings. Dramas focused solely on relationships in school are not known for their inclusion of the spirits.

Origins

Thanks to the hard work of Matthew Meyer, who has an collected an extensive online database of Yokai, I can confidently describe what they are. According to Matthew, Yokai is a combination of two words - “yo” meaning “attractive/bewitching/calamity” and “kai” meaning “mystery/wonder” and describe “strange and supernatural creatures from Japanese folklore (1). Similar to any cultural boom, there was an upsurge in popularity in the Edo period making ghost stories and perhaps monsters everyday conversation (1). From creational spirits of legend to others about food, there is a huge amount of Yokai folklore. If you want to know more - I HIGHLY recommend that you see what information Matthew has collected on his website (cited below).

A modern twist on Yokai folklore are urban legends. If you’re like me and spent too much time reading creepypasta and browsing Youtube, you may have heard of Kuchisake-onna. This urban legend is about an apparition in the form of an adult woman with black hair and a surgical mask over her mouth. Surgical masks are normally used to prevent the spreading of sickness in Japan, but Kuchisake-onna uses it to cover her disfigured mouth cut at the sides from ear to ear like The Dark Knight’s Joker. “Am I pretty?” she’ll ask. If you say no, you’ll either get the same disfigured cut or you’ll be killed. If you say yes, she’ll remove the mask and ask, “How about now?” The only way to survive this one is to say “So-so or average” so she’ll be confused and you can escape (2). Based on a story about a beautiful but disloyal woman in the Heian period, the samurai cut her mouth from ear to ear to ruin her beauty (2). There was even a true case where someone with a mouth like hers was chasing children in Japan - so beware (2).

Overall Judgement

Yokai are an interesting piece of Japanese culture that has directly influenced anime and for good reason. There’s so much creativity, malice and beauty to come out of these tales passed down through generations, so you can see where the mangaka get their creativity from.

Likelihood that you’re going to see ghosts or monsters in that anime you’re watching:

75%

1. Matthew Meyer. “Yokai.com.” Tsuchigumo – Yokai.com. <yokai.com/about/.>

2. Andrew Black. “Kuchisake-Onna.” The Mask of Reason, 9 Mar. 2016. <maskofreason.wordpress.com/the-book-of-mysteries/know-your-ghosts/eastern-asia/kuchisake-onna/.>

#UAR