Japan’s ancient ghosts “yokai” contributing to sustainability and social good

While Halloween celebrations have started to catch on in Japan, they are not necessarily for children to gather candies but rather for grownups to go out partying in costumes. Nonetheless, the Japanese kids grow up hearing plenty of indigenous ghost stories.

One of the most common characters is “No Waste Ghost” (Mottainai Obake). Parents/grandparents often warn that “Mottainai Obake will appear,” when children do not finish their meals. The origin of this particular ghost is not so ancient; it was developed for a TV ad in 1982, animated as a folklore tale of a ghost hovering over children who reject vegetables, all to encourage healthy eating habits among children. Other ghost stories date from hundreds of years ago.

Health-enhancing ghosts

In 2020, the ghost named Amabie reclaimed a spotlight, who is said to have predicted six years of an epidemic and offered protection for those carrying its drawings back in May 1846. More than 170 years later, the image of Amabie –a mermaid – recirculated through Twitter in the wake of COVID-19, but it is not the only ghost in town that has promised health benefits.

Amabie was preceded by similar ghosts, including Jinjahime with the head of a woman, a body of a dragon, and a sword-looking tail (recorded in 1819) and Amabiko that looked like a three-legged monkey (recorded in 1843). All of them emerged from the sea in western/southern Japan (e.g., Kumamoto Prefecture), foretold a period of disease, and instructed people to copy their image before disappearing.

Home-protection ghosts

In northern Japan, around Iwate Prefecture, tales of child ghosts called Zashikiwarashi are abundant. The locals have said that houses with a Zashikiwarashi – who can be a boy or a girl between ages of 5 to 12 – are destined to thrive. One of these houses, Ryokufuso, is an inn with a hot spring, where a number of overnight guests have claimed witnessing one of the child ghosts or experiencing supernatural phenomena.

The origin of Zashikiwarashi is unclear, but some scholars have argued that this may derive from the sad history of infanticide in the impoverished mountainous regions with long winter. Others link Zashikiwarashi to another yokai, Kappa, which are river-based creatures with a green body the size of a child, webbed hands and feet and turtle-like carapaces on their backs.

Sustainable ghosts

While Amabie and Zashikiwarashi are associated with water sources, other ghosts/fairies derive from old things. Tsukumogami are tools that have acquired a spirit after being used for 100 years. References to Tsukumogami appeared as early as the 14th century, when people discarded objects that passed the 99-year mark, believing that these items would gain a soul on their own in another year.

The story goes that these tools, resentful of being trashed so close to becoming fairies, decide to riot against humans, only to be defeated by Buddhist guardian angels, and choosing to pursue nirvana in the end. In other words, people passed on pots and pans, lanterns, and other household goods over generations, close to 100 years. The concept of Tsukumogami is still alive in anime and other outlets, although few things are now built to last that long.

Amabie and Zashikiwarashi invoke awe towards nature-driven challenges, be it an epidemic or a harsh environment, that were beyond human control. Perhaps people sought to maintain a calm and weather their losses during these turbulent times by coming up with a human-like being that offered a remedy, however imaginative it was. Similarly, Tsukumogami provide a glimpse of Japanese spirituality – all things can be sacred, whether rocks, rivers, forests and trees, or even man-made items that we use on a daily basis, thus requiring care and respect. In the current era of instant gratification, these Japanese yokai remind us of ancient wisdom.