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Zenfushō
is the fourth book in Japanese artist Toriyama Sekien's famous ''Gazu Hyakki Yagyō'' tetralogy. A version of the tetralogy translated and annotated in English was published in 2016. The title is a pun; "hyakki", normally written with the characters "hundred" and "''oni''", is instead written with "hundred" and "vessels". This hints that the majority of the ''yōkai'' portrayed in its pages are of the variety known as ''tsukumogami'', man-made objects taken sentient form. ''Hyakki Tsurezure Bukuro'' is preceded in the series by ''Gazu Hyakki Yagyō'', ''Konjaku Gazu Zoku Hyakki'', and ''Konjaku Hyakki Shūi''. Published in 1781, it was inspired in part by ''Tsurezuregusa'' (''Tales in Idleness''), a 14th-century essay collection by the monk Yoshida Kenkō. The book takes the form of a supernatural bestiary of yōkai. Unlike previous books in the series, the majority of ''Hyakki Tsurezure Bukuro''s yōkai appear to be of Sekien's own creation, based on turns of phrase or stories fr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 originally from the ''Onmyōki'' (陰陽記) that Foxes in Japanese folklore, foxes and Japanese raccoon dog, tanuki, among other beings, that have lived for at least a hundred years and changed forms are considered ''tsukumogami''. In modern times, the term can also be written 九十九神 (literally ninety-nine ''kami''), to emphasize the agedness. According to Komatsu Kazuhiko, the idea of a ''tsukumogami'' or a ''yōkai'' of tools spread mostly in the Japanese Middle Ages and declined in more recent generations. Komatsu infers that despite the depictions in Bakumatsu period ukiyo-e art leading to a resurfacing of the idea, these were all produced in an era cut off from any actual belief in the idea of ''tsukumogami''. Because the term ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Japan
Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea in the south. The Japanese archipelago consists of four major islands—Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku, and Kyushu—and List of islands of Japan, thousands of smaller islands, covering . Japan has a population of over 123 million as of 2025, making it the List of countries and dependencies by population, eleventh-most populous country. The capital of Japan and List of cities in Japan, its largest city is Tokyo; the Greater Tokyo Area is the List of largest cities, largest metropolitan area in the world, with more than 37 million inhabitants as of 2024. Japan is divided into 47 Prefectures of Japan, administrative prefectures and List of regions of Japan, eight traditional regions. About three-quarters of Geography of Japan, the countr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
