Delving into the world of folklore as much as I have, I’ve come across a lot of very strange beliefs. While weird beliefs aren’t limited to Japan, not by a long shot, the Japanese certainly don’t disappoint when it comes to bizarre critters. I’ve often found myself wondering why and how so much weirdness came…
Category: Folklore and Urban Legends
Jorogumo–‘The Whore Spider’
One day a logger was going about his work. Since logging is an exhausting business, seeing as how this was Edo period Japan and the chainsaw hadn’t been invented yet, the man decides to take a short break. He hears the crash of a waterfall nearby, and decides that sitting on the stream bank and…
The Curse of the Kleenex Commercial
America has a whole host of urban legends surrounding television shows and movies. Probably the most famous is the legend of the cursed movie set, which claims that for years after the movie Poltergeist was filmed, actors and producers all met terrible fates. Similar claims were made for the cast of The Exorcist, and probably…
Nuppeppo–The Blobby…Monster…Thing…
Japanese folklore is populated by many a weird critter. I am constantly amazed by the bizarre menagerie of monsters that Japanese believed populated their home country. Possibly the strangest I’ve come across so far is the Nuppeppo. The Nuppeppo is actually kind of cute, in a morbid, Tim Burton-esque way. It is a blob of…
Shinigami–Angels of Death
The Grim Reaper is probably the most widely known persona of death in Western cultures. Most typically depicted as a scythe wielding skeleton garbed in black robes, this fearsome figure harvests the souls of the dead, escorting them to the other side to await judgment and their eternal fate. While this symbol of death has…
The Hibagon–Japanese Bigfoot
If locals are to be believed, something strange stalks the hills and mountains of Hiroshima Prefecture. Reports have come in sporadically since the 1970’s of a five foot tall, hairy, gorilla like creature out in the forest. Japanese Boy Scouts have taken casts of ten inch footprints, and multiple witnesses have reported a creature with…