![]() Luckily, these temples are easily recognizable by their typical red buildings and red torii gates. You can find many statues depicting these elegant, supernatural youkai in shrines dedicated to Inari, spread all throughout Japan. ‘good foxes), describes a type of benevolent foxes with celestial powers, most well known as the divine messengers of the God Inari, protector of rice fields, prosperity, and fertility. Japanese mythology recognizes two types of kitsune. The most powerful kitsune were the nine-tailed foxes, said to have acquired infinite knowledge and the power to see everything that is, was, or will be. In Japanese folklore, kitsune can be a symbol of both good and evil and were thought to grow a new tail for every 100 years they lived on this earth. They are known to be magical, highly intelligent Japanese mythical creatures that possess many powerful magical and spiritual abilities, including shapeshifting, far-seeing, high intelligence, and longer lifespans. Kitsune, or mythical foxes, are yet another famous youkai in Japanese mythology. Kitsune – The Divine Mythical Creatures of Japanese Folklore Nine-tailed Fox, by Ogata Gekko, 1887, via British Museum Studio Ghibli’s (one of the most popular animation studios in Japan) movie, Pom Poko, revolves around the lives of these Japanese mythical creatures and paints them in a positive, humorous light.Ģ. Most often they are represented as carrying a sake bottle, symbolizing virtue, and having a big belly and big eyes, as well as a hat to protect them from bad luck and bad weather. You can find many Tanuki statues around temples in Japan. This has sparked another phenomenon in Japanese folklore, named Tanuki-Bayashi - people hearing drum or flute sounds coming out of nowhere in the middle of the night, possibly explained by the mischievous nature of these Japanese mythical creatures. The Japanese folktales definitely didn’t try to keep things child-friendly: most of the time, tanuki are depicted in art as using their overly grown testicles as a traveler’s pack, or sometimes even as drums. They can take any passing travelers by surprise and play pranks on them. They can shapeshift into other humans, other animals, inanimate household objects, or even parts of nature such as trees, rocks, and roots. Kappa is not all bad though, as if you feed him cucumbers and befriend them, they are likely to be nice to you and help you out with, for example, irrigation of your farmlands.Although previously thought in Japanese mythology to be guardians of the natural world, nowadays, Tanuki are better associated with their trickster nature. Because of this, there is a very handy way to deal with a dangerous Kappa make a bow to them, as then they have to bow back and they will lose their water as a result. ![]() Kappa have a dish on their head that is filled with water, and it is said that if the water falls off the dish they will become incapacitated. Warning kids to stay away from Kappa by not coming too close to the water has actually been a popular way to prevent them from drowning. Animals such as horses are also popular victims of Kappa. Looking like a cross-over between a turtle and a human, they live in the water and are mainly known for drowning people who come too close to the water. Kappa is a water monster, and while his depiction often looks cute today, he has a dark history. There are many theories and stories related to Tengu from different angles, and perhaps that is the reason that makes this legendary creature more interesting. ![]() It is believed that if something bad happens to worshipers, Tengu will fly out to help them and ward off the evil spirits. On the other hand, you might be confused when you find some shrines enshrine Tengu as a messenger of the deity. Of course, taking these kinds of shortcuts in life will not lead to enlightenment and will therefore be regretted later. Who does not want to learn his magic powers and fighting tricks?Įven though Tengu sometimes abduct and torture humans, a more common story is that they promise them to teach their victims Tengu tricks. It is therefore no wonder that even devout Buddhists can be lured by Tengu to wander from the righteous path. These devious yokai are in a way attractive at first sight they can fly, are very strong with great fighting skills, and to top it all off they have magical abilities. Tengu is a long-nosed legendary creature whose sole purpose it is to distract people from the path to enlightenment, the ultimate goal in Buddhism.
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