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''Mononoke'' (物の怪) are vengeful spirits ( onryō), dead spirits ( shiryō), live spirits (
ikiryō , also known as , , or , is a disembodied spirit or ghost in Japanese popular belief and fiction that leaves the body of a living person and subsequently haunts other people or places, sometimes across great distances. The term(s) are used in ...
), or spirits in Japanese classical literature and folk religion that were said to do things like possess individuals and make them suffer, cause disease, or even cause death. It is also a word sometimes used to refer to '' yōkai'' or ''henge'' ("changed beings").


Summary

''Mononoke'' can be often seen in literature of the Heian period. As a famous example, in the 9th volume of the '' Genji Monogatari'', "Aoi" is the ikiryō of
Lady Rokujo The word ''lady'' is a term for a girl or woman, with various connotations. Once used to describe only women of a high social class or status, the equivalent of lord, now it may refer to any adult woman, as gentleman can be used for men. Inform ...
, who possessed
Aoi no Ue is a fictional character in '' The Tale of Genji'' (''Genji Monogatari''). Daughter of the Minister of the Left (Tō no Chūjō's sister) and Genji's first principal wife, she marries Genji when she is sixteen and he is only twelve. Proud and dist ...
. Other than that, there are also statements about ''mononoke'' in publications like '' Ōkagami'' and '' Masukagami''. In those times, when medical knowledge has not been fully developed, people like monks and shugensha would perform incantations and prayers against diseases caused by ''mononoke'', and by temporarily moving the ''mononoke'' into a different person called the " yorimashi" (usually servants, apprentices, etc.) they would perform exorcism on the ''mononoke'' to heal the illness. Statements on this practice can be found in detail in works like '' The Pillow Book'' and ''
The Diary of Lady Murasaki is the title given to a collection of diary fragments written by the 11th-century Japanese Heian era lady-in-waiting and writer Murasaki Shikibu. It is written in kana, then a newly-developed writing system for vernacular Japanese, more common a ...
''. Also, according to the '' Shoku Nihon Kōki'', it told of once when a monk chanted a sutra to 60 people within the imperial residence.


History

Japanese ''mononoke'' come from China's 物怪, and there are statements on them in ancient Chinese literature like Records of the Grand Historian and 原鬼, there are statements on this 物怪. In the latter one, there is the statement, "those with neither voice nor shape are 鬼神 (wrathful gods). Those who cannot have shape or voice, and also cannot be without shape or voice, are 物怪," and thus the 物怪 of China at that time were considered a type of yōkai that cannot be seen or heard, and were thought to be natural phenomena that people did not understand with the knowledge of those times. The first appearance of the term in Japanese literature is seen to be in the Nihon Kōki, and according to a quotation of this book from the
Nihon Kiryaku is a historical text that categorizes and chronologizes the events listed in the ''Six National Histories is a general term for Japan's Six National Histories chronicling the mythology and history of Japan from the earliest times to 887. The six ...
of the same time period, in the article of Uruu 12th month of the year
Tenchō was a after '' Kōnin'' and before '' Jōwa.'' This period spanned the years from January 824 through January 834. The reigning emperors were and . Change of era * February 6, 824 : The new era name was created to mark an event or series o ...
7 (830), there is the statement: "Five monks were invited to recite the Diamond Sutra. With some difficulty, the
Jingi-kan The , also known as the Department of Shinto Affairs, Department of Rites, Department of Worship, as well as Council of Divinities, was a Japanese Imperial bureaucracy established in the 8th century, as part of the ''ritsuryō'' reforms. It was fi ...
relieved it. It was the work of a 物恠," and there are also statements about ''mononoke'' in the articles in the 8th month Jinshin of the same year, and of year 10 in the 5th month. In the old language of those times, the word "mono" was used to refer to oni, spirits, or Ara-mitama among other things, or things that were not felt to be clearly real, and in the Taihō Code, epidemic diseases were written about as "toki no ke" (時気), using the word "ke" to refer to "diseases", and so it is seen that a "mono no ke" (a "ke" of a "mono") was used to refer to diseases caused by these "mono". "The Pillow Book" as well, there are names for diseases such as "mune no ke" ("ke" of the chest), "ashi no ke" ("ke" of the feet), and "mono no ke" ("ke" of "mono"). As groundwork for how ''mononoke'' were thought of as, in Japan from the beginning of the Heian Period, various societal malaises and illnesses were thought to be due to curses ("tatari") of vengeful spirits (onryō). Starting with how the succession of emperors dying to diseases and the spread of epidemics in the Enryaku years was said to be the curse of
Prince Sawara (750? – November 8, 785) was the fifth son of Prince Shirakabe (later Emperor Kōnin), by Takano no Niigasa. Biography In 781 he was named heir-presumptive after his elder brother succeeded the abdicated Emperor Kōnin as the Emperor Kanmu. In ...
, there is a tale in the Nihonkoku Genpō Zen'aku Ryōiki in which the grudge of Prince Nagaya is said to have led many people to their deaths. In the
Shoku Nihongi The is an imperially-commissioned Japanese history text. Completed in 797, it is the second of the ''Six National Histories'', coming directly after the '' Nihon Shoki'' and followed by ''Nihon Kōki''. Fujiwara no Tsugutada and Sugano no Mamichi ...
, there is a statement about
Fujiwara no Hirotsugu Fujiwara (, written: 藤原 lit. "''Wisteria'' field") is a Japanese surname. (In English conversation it is likely to be rendered as .) Notable people with the surname include: ; Families * The Fujiwara clan and its members ** Fujiwara no Kamatari ...
's vengeful spirit (onryō). However, this kind of thought still wasn't very influential at that time, and even Emperor Saga stated in a caution, "in this society, some would attribute any and all ''mononoke'' to a spirit's curse. These are very baseless assertions," thus strongly denying the relation between ''mononoke'' and vengeful spirits. Afterwards, in the Shoku Nihon Kōki, the author, Harusumi no Yoshitada, reflecting knowledge of
onmyōdō is a system of natural science, astronomy, almanac, divination and Magic (supernatural), magic that developed independently in Japan based on the Chinese philosophies of yin and yang and Wuxing (Chinese philosophy), wuxing (five elements). The p ...
, strongly adopted the concept of ''mononoke''. In the Jōwa years, the aristocratic society received strong influence from onmyōdō, and the spread of onmyōdō planted in many people the general concept of vengeful spirits. Just at that time, after Sugawara no Michizane died in
Engi , also known as Entertainment Graphic Innovation, or Studio ENGI, is a Japanese animation studio founded by Kadokawa, Sammy Corporation, and Ultra Super Pictures, and is a subsidiary of Kadokawa Corporation. History On April 4, 2018, Kadokawa e ...
3 (903), the deaths one after another that followed of members of the imperial and noble families, as well as the spread of epidemic diseases, were feared as the work of a curse of Michizane, and thus the belief that ''mononoke'' were caused by vengeful spirits' curses grew even stronger. Afterwards, in the era of the Fujiwara sekke, as opposed to how noble families at that time boasted of glory, they had delicate personalities, and so due to fear of the grudges and revenges of the era's defeated ones, and due to misgivings about the future, fear of ''mononoke'' became more aroused. The locked-in lifestyle of the imperial society at that time also fostered in the nobles' minds fear of ''mononoke''. In this way, ''mononoke'' themselves were thought to be vengeful spirits, and eventually in addition to epidemic diseases, individual deaths, illnesses, and pain were all seen to be due to ''mononoke'', and the illnesses itself also became called ''mononoke''. Furthermore, due to the concept of the fear of "mono", the things that were said to be the origin of the illnesses, the ikiryō and shiryō themselves, were also thought to have been called ''mononoke''.


Notes


References

* * * * * * {{Japanese folklore long Japanese folklore Japanese ghosts Yōkai