Japanese+Folklore

= Japanese Folklore = The folklore of Japan is heavily influenced by both Shinto and Buddhism, the two primary religions in the country. It often involves humorous or bizarre characters and situations and also includes an assortment of supernatural beings, such as Boddhisattva (enlightened existence/being), kami (gods and revered spirits), yōkai (monster-spirits) (such as oni, kappa, and tengu), yūrei (ghosts), dragons, and animals with supernatural powers such as the kitsune (fox), tanuki (raccoon dog), mujina (badger) bakeneko (transforming cat), and baku (tapir), as well as sacred and possessed objects. Japanese folklore is often divided into several categories: //mukashibanashi//, (tales of long ago); //namidabanashi// , (sad stories); //obakebanashi// , (ghost stories); //ongaeshibanashi// , (stories of repaying kindness); //tonchibanashi// , (witty stories); //waraibanashi// , (funny stories); and //yokubaribanashi// , (stories of greed). It also encompasses Yukar, or Ainu folktales. Some well-known Japanese folktales and legends include: The story of [|Kintarō], the superhuman Golden Boy. The story of [|Momotarō], the //oni// -slaying Peach Boy. The story of [|Urashima Tarō], who rescued a turtle and visited the bottom of the sea. The story of the wicked fox-woman [|Tamamo-no-Mae]. The story of the vengeful [|Kiyohime], who became a dragon. [|The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter], about a mysterious girl called Kaguya-hime who is said to be from the capital of the moon. The folklore of Japan has been influenced by foreign literature as well as the kind of spirit worship prevalent all throughout prehistoric Asia. Some stories of ancient India were influential in shaping Japanese stories by providing them with materials. Iindian materials were greatly modified and adapted in such a way as would appeal to the sensibilities of common people of Japan in general, transmitted through China and Korea. The monkey stories of Japanese folklore have been influenced both by the sanskrit epic [|Ramayana] and the Chinese classic [|The Journey to the West]. The stories mentioned in the Buddhist jataka tales appear in a modified form throughout the Japanese collection of popular stories. In the middle years of the twentieth century storytellers would often travel from town to town telling these stories with special paper illustrations called [|kamishibai].

Also, as Nat kept bothering us about it: YUKI ONNA!!! **Yuki Onna** (雪女, snow woman) is a spirit or [|yōkai] in Japanese Folklore. She is a popular figure in japanese literature, manga, and animation. Yuki-onna is sometimes confused with [|Yama-uba] ("mountain crone"), but they are not the same. Yuki-onna appears on snowy nights as a tall, beautiful woman with long black hair and red lips. Her inhumanly pale or even transparent skin makes her blend into the snowy landscape. She sometimes wears a white kimono, but other legends describe her as nude, with only her face and hair standing out against the snow. Despite her inhuman beauty, her eyes can strike terror into mortals. She floats across the snow, leaving no footprints (in fact, some tales say she has no feet, a feature of many japanese ghosts), and she can transform into a cloud of mist or snow if threatened.