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A Japanese chimera with the features of the beasts from the Chinese Zodiac: a rat's head, rabbit ears, ox horns, a horse's mane, a rooster's comb, a sheep's beard, a dragon's neck, a back like that of a boar, a tiger's shoulders and belly, monkey arms, a dog's hindquarters, and a snake's tail.
Gashadokuro wanders around at 2:00 a.m. and attacks and eats humans when it sees them. When a Gashadokuro approaches, it is said to make a clattering sound with its teeth "Gachi Gachi." However they are also known to be stealthy when approaching humans they wish to eat. [1] The following characteristics are not confirmed by Japanese data.
Testicles are sometimes called kin-tama or "golden balls" in Japanese, so the punchline goes that gold was bought with gold. [ 2 ] [ 3 ] Other legends of these creatures depict them wandering into coastal or seaside inns whilst in human guise, whereupon they devour the innkeeper in the night and then escape before morning.
In Japanese folklore, heroes like Momotaro rescue women from violent kami and oni. Although the exploits of heroes are well known, Japanese mythology also featured heroines. [1] Ototachibana, the wife of Yamato Takeru, threw herself into the sea to save her husband's ship and quell the wrath of the storm that threatened them. [1]
Two other Japanese examples derive from Buddhist importations of Indian dragon myths. Benzaiten, the Japanese form of Saraswati, supposedly killed a five-headed dragon at Enoshima in 552. Kuzuryū (九頭龍, "nine-headed dragon"), deriving from the nagarajas (snake-kings) Vasuki and Shesha, is worshipped at Togakushi Shrine in Nagano Prefecture.
Jorōgumo (Japanese: 絡新婦 , じょろうぐも ) is a type of yōkai, a creature of Japanese folklore. It can shapeshift into a beautiful woman, so the kanji that represent its actual meaning are 女郎蜘蛛 (lit. ' woman-spider '); the kanji which are used to write it instead, 絡新婦 (lit.
Kotodama is a central concept in Japanese mythology, Shinto, and Kokugaku. For example, the Kojiki describes an ukei (or seiyaku ) 誓約 "covenant; trial by pledge" between the sibling gods Susanoo and Amaterasu , "Let each of us swear, and produce children".
The Japanese word kaijū originally referred to monsters and creatures from ancient Japanese legends; [3] it earlier appeared in the Chinese Classic of Mountains and Seas. [4] There are no traditional depictions of kaijū or kaijū -like creatures among the yōkai of Japanese folklore , [ 5 ] although it is possible to find megafauna in their ...