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Hakusan – Collective name given to three mountains worshiped as kami and sacred to the Shugendō. [5] Hakusan shrines are common all over Japan. Hamaya (破魔矢, lit. ' evil-banishing arrow ') – Decorative arrows bought for good luck at Shinto shrines at New Year's and kept at home all year. [1] Hama Yumi (破魔弓, lit.
The Japanese people's reverence for onryō has been passed down to the present day. The head mound of Taira no Masakado ( 将門塚 , Masakado-zuka or Shōmon-zuka ) , located between skyscrapers near Tokyo Station , was to be moved several times as part of urban redevelopment projects, but each move resulted in the death of a construction ...
The explanation is that in Japanese, まめ, マメ (mame) can also be written as 魔目 (mame), meaning the devil's eye, or 魔滅 (mametsu), meaning to destroy the devil. During the Edo period (1603–1867), the custom spread to Shinto shrines , Buddhist temples and the general public.
The name ma (魔 – devil) suggests that they are meant to threaten human existence or defy the gods, while -zoku (族 – tribe, clan, family) indicates that they are a family. [ 3 ] Maō ( 魔王 ) is a term derived from mazoku, suggesting a king ( 王 Ō – king, ruler) that rules the mazoku.
The name also appeared in the "Shinotogibōko", a collection of ghost stories from the Edo period. [12] Hidama (火魂, "fire spirit") An onibi from the Okinawa Prefecture. It ordinarily lives in the kitchen behind the charcoal extinguisher, but it is said to become a bird-like shape and fly around, and make things catch on fire. [13]
In addition to native words and placenames, kanji are used to write Japanese family names and most Japanese given names. Centuries ago, hiragana and katakana, the two kana syllabaries, derived their shapes from particular kanji pronounced in the same way. However, unlike kanji, kana have no meaning, and are used only to represent sounds.
Like many monsters of Japanese folklore, malicious yūrei are repelled by ofuda (御札), holy Shinto writings containing the name of a kami. The ofuda must generally be placed on the yūrei ' s forehead to banish the spirit, although they can be attached to a house's entry ways to prevent the yūrei from entering.
Inari's kitsune are white, a color of a good omen. [41] They possess the power to ward off evil, and they sometimes serve as guardian spirits. In addition to protecting Inari shrines, they are petitioned to intervene on behalf of the locals and particularly to aid against troublesome nogitsune, those spirit foxes who do not serve Inari. Black ...