are Japanese

supernatural beings Supernatural refers to phenomena or entities that are beyond the laws of nature. The term is derived from Medieval Latin , from Latin (above, beyond, or outside of) + (nature) Though the corollary term "nature", has had multiple meanings si ...

that are said to devour nightmares. According to legend, they were created by the spare pieces that were left over when the gods finished creating all other animals. They have a long history in Japanese folklore and

art Art is a diverse range of human activity, and resulting product, that involves creative or imaginative talent expressive of technical proficiency, beauty, emotional power, or conceptual ideas. There is no generally agreed definition of wha ...

, and more recently have appeared in

manga Manga (Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is u ...

and

anime is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japane ...

. The Japanese term ''baku'' has two current meanings, referring to both the traditional dream-devouring creature and to the

Malayan tapir The Malayan tapir (''Tapirus indicus''), also called Asian tapir, Asiatic tapir and Indian tapir, is the only tapir species native to Southeast Asia from the Malay Peninsula to Sumatra. It has been listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List since ...

. In recent years, there have been changes in how the ''baku'' is depicted.

History and description

The traditional Japanese nightmare-devouring ''baku'' originates in Chinese folklore about the '' mo'' 貘 (

giant panda The giant panda (''Ailuropoda melanoleuca''), also known as the panda bear (or simply the panda), is a bear species endemic to China. It is characterised by its bold black-and-white coat and rotund body. The name "giant panda" is sometimes us ...

) and was familiar in Japan as early as the

Muromachi period The is a division of Japanese history running from approximately 1336 to 1573. The period marks the governance of the Muromachi or Ashikaga shogunate (''Muromachi bakufu'' or ''Ashikaga bakufu''), which was officially established in 1338 by t ...

(14th–15th century). Hori Tadao has described the dream-eating abilities attributed to the traditional ''baku'' and relates them to other preventatives against nightmare such as

amulet An amulet, also known as a good luck charm or phylactery, is an object believed to confer protection upon its possessor. The word "amulet" comes from the Latin word amuletum, which Pliny's ''Natural History'' describes as "an object that protects ...

Kaii-Yōkai Denshō Database The is a database of ''yōkai'' and mystery stories which have been collected from Japanese folklore. The database is published by International Research Center for Japanese Studies. The prototype was created on March 19, 2002, and the first live v ...

, citing a 1957 paper, and Mizuki also describe the dream-devouring capacities of the traditional ''baku''. An early 17th-century Japanese manuscript, the ''Sankai Ibutsu'' (), describes the ''baku'' as a shy, Chinese mythical chimera with the trunk and tusks of an

elephant Elephants are the largest existing land animals. Three living species are currently recognised: the African bush elephant, the African forest elephant, and the Asian elephant. They are the only surviving members of the family Elephantidae an ...

, the ears of a

rhinoceros A rhinoceros (; ; ), commonly abbreviated to rhino, is a member of any of the five extant species (or numerous extinct species) of odd-toed ungulates in the family Rhinocerotidae. (It can also refer to a member of any of the extinct species o ...

, the tail of a

cow Cattle (''Bos taurus'') are large, domesticated, cloven-hooved, herbivores. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus ''Bos''. Adult females are referred to as cows and adult ma ...

, the body of a

bear Bears are carnivoran mammals of the family Ursidae. They are classified as caniforms, or doglike carnivorans. Although only eight species of bears are extant, they are widespread, appearing in a wide variety of habitats throughout the Nor ...

and the paws of a

tiger The tiger (''Panthera tigris'') is the largest living cat species and a member of the genus '' Panthera''. It is most recognisable for its dark vertical stripes on orange fur with a white underside. An apex predator, it primarily preys on u ...

, which protected against pestilence and evil, although eating nightmares was not included among its abilities. However, in a 1791 Japanese wood-block illustration, a specifically dream-destroying ''baku'' is depicted with an elephant’s head, tusks, and trunk, with horns and tiger’s claws. The elephant’s head, trunk, and tusks are characteristic of ''baku'' portrayed in classical era (pre- Meiji) Japanese wood-block prints (see illustration) and in shrine, temple, and netsuke carvings. Writing in the

Meiji period The is an era of Japanese history that extended from October 23, 1868 to July 30, 1912. The Meiji era was the first half of the Empire of Japan, when the Japanese people moved from being an isolated feudal society at risk of colonization ...

Lafcadio Hearn , born Patrick Lafcadio Hearn (; el, Πατρίκιος Λευκάδιος Χέρν, Patríkios Lefkádios Chérn, Irish language, Irish: Pádraig Lafcadio O'hEarain), was an Irish people, Irish-Greeks, Greek-Japanese people, Japanese writer, t ...

(1902) described a ''baku'' with very similar attributes that was also able to devour nightmares. Legend has it that a person who wakes up from a bad dream can call out to ''baku''. A child having a nightmare in Japan will wake up and repeat three times, "Baku-san, come eat my dream." Legends say that the ''baku'' will come into the child's room and devour the bad dream, allowing the child to go back to sleep peacefully. However, calling to the ''baku'' must be done sparingly, because if he remains hungry after eating one's nightmare, he may also devour their hopes and desires as well, leaving them to live an empty life. The ''baku'' can also be summoned for protection from bad dreams prior to falling asleep at night. In the 1910s, it was common for Japanese children to keep a ''baku'' talisman at their bedside.Hadland Davis F., "Myths and Legends of Japan" (London:

G. G. Harrap George G. Harrap, Ltd (officially: George G. Harrap and Company Limited, London, Bombay) is a now defunct publisher of high quality speciality books, many of them educational, such as the memoirs of Winston Churchill, or highly illustrated with ...

, 1913)

Gallery

KonnoHachiman-Sculpture-1.jpg, ''Baku'' sculpture at the Konnoh Hachimangu Shrine,

Shibuya Shibuya ( 渋谷区 ''Shibuya-ku'') is a special ward in Tokyo, Japan. As a major commercial and finance center, it houses two of the busiest railway stations in the world, Shinjuku Station (southern half) and Shibuya Station. As of April 1 ...

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

KonnoHachiman-Sculpture-3.jpg, ''Baku and Lion'' sculpture at the Konnoh Hachimangu Shrine, Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan

References

Bibliography

. International Research Center for Japanese Studies. Retrieved on 2007-05-12. (Summary of excerpt from ''Warui Yume o Mita Toki'' (, When You've Had a Bad Dream?) by Keidō Matsushita, published in volume 5 of the journal ''Shōnai Minzoku'' (, Shōnai Folk Customs) on June 15, 1957).

External links

Baku – The Dream Eater
at hyakumonogatari.com (English).
Netsuke: masterpieces from the Metropolitan Museum of Art
an exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art (fully available online as PDF), which contains many representations of Baku {{DEFAULTSORT:Baku Chinese legendary creatures Japanese legendary creatures Legendary mammals Mythological hybrids Fictional tapirs Sleep in mythology and folklore

History and description

Gallery

See also

References

Bibliography

External links