or is a Japanese game popular during the

Meiji era 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 b ...

that is also a form of

divination Divination (from Latin ''divinare'', 'to foresee, to foretell, to predict, to prophesy') is the attempt to gain insight into a question or situation by way of an occultic, standardized process or ritual. Used in various forms throughout histor ...

, partially based on Western

table-turning Table-turning (also known as table-tapping, table-tipping or table-tilting) is a type of séance in which participants sit around a table, place their hands on it, and wait for rotations. The table was purportedly made to serve as a means of comm ...

. The name ''kokkuri'' is an

onomatopoeia Onomatopoeia is the process of creating a word that phonetically imitates, resembles, or suggests the sound that it describes. Such a word itself is also called an onomatopoeia. Common onomatopoeias include animal noises such as ''oink'', ''m ...

meaning "to nod up and down", and refers to the movement of the actual ''kokkuri'' mechanism. The ''kanji'' used to write the word is an ''

ateji In modern Japanese, principally refers to kanji used to phonetically represent native or borrowed words with less regard to the underlying meaning of the characters. This is similar to in Old Japanese. Conversely, also refers to kanji used s ...

'', although its characters reflect the popular belief that the movement of the mechanism is caused by supernatural agents (''ko'' 狐, ''

kitsune In Japanese folklore, , are foxes that possess paranormal abilities that increase as they get older and wiser. According to ''yōkai'' folklore, all foxes have the ability to shapeshift into human form. While some folktales speak of employing t ...

''; ''ku'' 狗,

dog The dog (''Canis familiaris'' or ''Canis lupus familiaris'') is a domesticated descendant of the wolf. Also called the domestic dog, it is derived from the extinct Pleistocene wolf, and the modern wolf is the dog's nearest living relative. Do ...

/''

tengu are a type of legendary creature found in Japanese folk religion (Shinto). They are considered a type of ''yōkai'' (supernatural beings) or Shinto ''kami'' (gods). The ''Tengu'' were originally thought to take the forms of birds of prey and a ...

''; ''ri'' 狸, ''tanuki''). The modern version is similar to a Oujia board.

Ancient ''kokkuri''

The word ''kokkuri'' refers to the game and physical apparatus, while ''kokkuri-san'' refers to the being that is summoned: it is considered by the Japanese to be some sort of animal spirit that is a mix between a fox, dog, and raccoon. These three animals are meant to reflect the dual nature of the being, justifying its different personality traits: the fox being a trickster or teacher, and the raccoon being both a bearer of mischief or good fortune. ''Kokkuri-san'' is believed to possess the apparatus in order to communicate with humans. The physical mechanism is composed of three bamboo rods arranged to make a tripod, upon which is placed a small pot lid or platter, which is covered by a cloth. In some versions, tags are inserted into each of the three rods, with the words ''kitsune'', ''tengu'', and ''tanuki'', respectively; in others, the words are merely traced with a finger on the bottom of the plate. Three or more people will place both their hands upon the ''kokkuri'' (lined-up, as in table-turning) and ask the spirit a question, which that spirit will in theory answer by moving (or not moving) the legs underneath the plate. Japanese folklorist

Inoue Enryō was a Japanese philosopher, Shin Buddhism, Shin Buddhist priest and reformer, educator, and royalist. A key figure in the reception of Western philosophy, the emergence of modern Buddhism, and the permeation of the imperial ideology during the s ...

wrote about the ''kokkuri'' phenomenon, denouncing it as mere superstition, yet his efforts did not succeed in de-popularizing the game. Some scientific figures of the age attempted to explain the phenomena with the more scientific sounding yet ultimately equally mysterious term "human-electricity;" these same figures claimed the cloth used should always be of a white or gold color. Blue cloth was (incorrectly) said to hamper the human-electricity's passage. The human-electricity needing a passage, it was stated the game required participants to place both hands on the apparatus, with finger tips touching - as in Western table-turning. The game is sometimes referred to as ''Okatabuki,'' ''Angel-san'' or ''Cupid-san.''

Modern ''kokkuri''

Modern ''kokkuri'' has changed heavily from its original form, now resembling the much more common Oujia board, but played with a sheet of paper. A ''

torii A is a traditional Japanese gate most commonly found at the entrance of or within a Shinto shrine, where it symbolically marks the transition from the mundane to the sacred. The presence of a ''torii'' at the entrance is usually the simplest ...

'' is drawn in the top-center of the paper, with the words 'Yes' and 'No' written on either side; a letter grid (most often ''hirigana'') is placed underneath the ''torii'', along with the numbers 0-9. A small coin (most commonly the ten yen) is used as a

planchette A planchette ( or ), from the French for "little plank", is a small, usually heart-shaped flat piece of wood equipped with two wheeled casters and a pencil-holding aperture pointing downwards, used to facilitate automatic writing. The use of ...

. Unlike the Western Ouija board, ''kokkuri'' has slight differences in playthrough. Before playing, a door or window must be propped open to allow the spirit to enter the room, and must be closed when the spirit leaves. In addition, sometime in the next 24 hours after the game is played, the paper must be burned and the coin spent in a financial transaction. This modern version is sometimes referred to as ''Spirit of the Coin.''

In popular culture

* In ''

Gugure! Kokkuri-san is a Japanese manga series by Midori Endō, serialized in Square Enix's ''Gangan Joker'' since 2011. It has been collected in 12 (plus 1) ''tankōbon'' volumes until 2016 when it ended. An anime television series adaptation by TMS Entertainme ...

'', the three main ''

yōkai are a class of supernatural entities and spirits in Japanese folklore. The word is composed of the kanji for "attractive; calamity" and "apparition; mystery; suspicious." are also referred to as , or . Despite often being translated as suc ...

'' characters are a fox spirit (''

''), dog spirit (''

inugami , like kitsunetsuki, is a spiritual possession by the spirit of a dog, widely known about in western Japan. They have seemed firmly rooted until recent years in the eastern Ōita Prefecture, Shimane Prefecture, and a part of Kōchi Prefecture ...

''), and tanuki spirit (''

bake-danuki ''Bake-danuki'' () are a kind of '' yōkai'' (supernatural beings) found in the classics and in the folklore and legends of various places in Japan, commonly associated with the Japanese raccoon dog or ''tanuki''. Although the ''tanuki'' is a r ...

''). *In episode 5 of ''

Nichijou is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Keiichi Arawi. The manga began serialization in the December 2006 issue of Kadokawa Shoten's manga magazine '' Shōnen Ace'', and was also serialized in ''Comptiq'' between the March 2007 ...

'', the character Yuuko Aioi goes to great lengths to explain the game to her classmate, Mio Naganohara, who then declines to play the game. *In Junji Ito's ''Souichi's Home Tutor,'' Souchi lists ''kokkuri'' as a personal hobby, but explains he doesn't need paper and simply asks a ''

geisha {{Culture of Japan, Traditions, Geisha {{nihongo, Geisha, 芸者 ({{IPAc-en, ˈ, ɡ, eɪ, ʃ, ə; {{IPA-ja, ɡeːɕa, lang), also known as {{nihongo, , 芸子, geiko (in Kyoto and Kanazawa) or {{nihongo, , 芸妓, geigi, are a class of female ...

'' doll questions instead. *The 1997 horror movie ''Kokkuri-san'' revolves around the playing of the game.

References

* * {{Urban legends Japanese folklore Japanese games Urban legends Supernatural legends

Ancient ''kokkuri''

Modern ''kokkuri''

In popular culture

See also

References