and are a class of ''
yōkai'',
preternatural creatures in
Japanese folklore
Japanese folklore encompasses the informally learned folk traditions of Japan and the Japanese people as expressed in its oral traditions, customs, and material culture.
In Japanese, the term is used to describe folklore. The academic study o ...
. Literally, the terms mean ''a thing that changes'', referring to a state of transformation or
shapeshifting
In mythology, folklore and speculative fiction, shape-shifting is the ability to physically transform oneself through an inherently superhuman ability, divine intervention, demonic manipulation, sorcery, spells or having inherited the ...
.
These words are often translated as "
ghost
A ghost is the soul or spirit of a dead person or animal that is believed to be able to appear to the living. In ghostlore, descriptions of ghosts vary widely from an invisible presence to translucent or barely visible wispy shapes, to re ...
", but primarily they refer to living things or supernatural beings who have taken on a temporary transformation, and these ''bakemono'' are distinct from the spirits of the dead. However, as a secondary usage, the term ''obake'' can be a synonym for ''
yūrei'', the ghost of a deceased human being.
A ''bakemono's'' true form may be an animal such as a
fox (''
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 ...
''), a
raccoon dog
The common raccoon dog (''Nyctereutes procyonoides''), also called the Chinese or Asian raccoon dog, is a small, heavy-set, fox-like canid native to East Asia. Named for its raccoon-like face markings, it is most closely related to foxes. Common ...
(''
bake-danuki''), a
badger
Badgers are short-legged omnivores in the family Mustelidae (which also includes the otters, wolverines, martens, minks, polecats, weasels, and ferrets). Badgers are a polyphyletic rather than a natural taxonomic grouping, being united by ...
(''
mujina''), a transforming
cat (''
bakeneko''), the spirit of a plant—such as a ''
kodama'', or an inanimate object which may possess a soul in
Shinto
Shinto () is a religion from Japan. Classified as an East Asian religion by scholars of religion, its practitioners often regard it as Japan's indigenous religion and as a nature religion. Scholars sometimes call its practitioners ''Shint ...
and other
animistic
Animism (from Latin: ' meaning 'breath, spirit, life') is the belief that objects, places, and creatures all possess a distinct spiritual essence. Potentially, animism perceives all things—animals, plants, rocks, rivers, weather systems, h ...
traditions. ''Obake'' derived from household objects are often called ''
tsukumogami
In Japanese folklore, ''tsukumogami'' (付喪神 or つくも神, lit. "tool ''kami''") are tools that have acquired a kami or spirit. According to an annotated version of '' The Tales of Ise'' titled ''Ise Monogatari Shō'', there is a theory ...
''.
A ''bakemono'' usually either disguises itself as a human or appears in a strange or terrifying form such as a ''
hitotsume-kozō,'' an ''
ōnyūdō'', or a ''
noppera-bō''. In common usage, any bizarre apparition can be referred to as a ''bakemono'' or an ''obake'' whether or not it is believed to have some other form, making the terms roughly synonymous with ''
yōkai''.
In Hawaii
Due to the influence of a large number of
Hawaiian population with Japanese ancestry, on the islands of
Hawaii
Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...
the term ''obake'' has found its way into the dialect of the local people. Some Japanese stories concerning these creatures have found their way into local culture in Hawaii: numerous sightings of ''
kappa
Kappa (uppercase Κ, lowercase κ or cursive ; el, κάππα, ''káppa'') is the 10th letter of the Greek alphabet, representing the voiceless velar plosive sound in Ancient and Modern Greek. In the system of Greek numerals, has a value ...
'' have been reported on the islands, and the Japanese faceless ghosts called ''noppera-bō'' have also become well known in Hawaii under the name ''
mujina''. This name confusion seems to have stemmed from a story by
Lafcadio Hearn
, born Patrick Lafcadio Hearn (; el, Πατρίκιος Λευκάδιος Χέρν, Patríkios Lefkádios Chérn, Irish: Pádraig Lafcadio O'hEarain), was an Irish- Greek- Japanese writer, translator, and teacher who introduced the culture a ...
titled "Mujina", a story about a badger (''mujina'') which takes the form of a ''noppera-bō'', rather than being one itself, which first introduced the faceless ghost to the Western world.
Hawaiian folklorist
Glen Grant was known for his ''Obake Files'', a series of reports he developed about supernatural incidents in Hawaii. The grand bulk of these incidents and reports were of Japanese origin or concerned ''obake''.
[Grant]
In popular culture
Bakemono is featured in ''
The Terror: Infamy'', the second season of
AMC's television series, ''
The Terror
The Reign of Terror (french: link=no, la Terreur) was a period of the French Revolution when, following the creation of the First Republic, a series of massacres and numerous public executions took place in response to revolutionary fervour, ...
''.
See also
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Notes
References
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Definitions from two major Japanese dictionaries:
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Obake
Japanese folklore
Japanese ghosts
Shapeshifting
Yōkai