In this era of finding political monsters everywhere, how about a break to enjoy Japanese folklore monsters:
The First Museum Dedicated to Japanese Folklore Monsters Is Now Open
The cultural tradition of giant creatures laying waste to cities is known as kaijū, a combination of kai (怪), "strange," and jū (獣), "beast." The well of kaijū goes deep, but the well of Japanese monsterhood itself goes much deeper. Take yōkai, the category of monsters, spirits, and demons whose history goes all the way back to the first century. But it wasn't until the medieval era that depictions of yōkai —whose name combines the characters yō (妖), with its connotations of attraction, bewitchment, and calamity, and kai (怪), which can indicate something suspicious, a mystery, or an apparition — turned into popular entertainment.
which led me to: Yokai.com – the online database of Japanese ghosts and monsters which by selecting a random monster led me to Jatai – Yokai.com
TRANSLATION: snake obi (a kimono sash)
APPEARANCE: The jatai is a kimono sash which becomes animated and slithers around like a giant snake during the night.
ORIGIN: An old folk belief from Ehime and other parts of Japan says that if you lay your obi out near your pillow while you sleep, you will have dreams about snakes. Because the word for a snake’s body (jashin) is the same as the word for a wicked heart, it is said that the obi itself can manifest a tsukumogami and turn into a murderous agent of jealousy. This snake obi hunts after men, strangling them in their sleep.
The First Museum Dedicated to Japanese Folklore Monsters Is Now Open
The cultural tradition of giant creatures laying waste to cities is known as kaijū, a combination of kai (怪), "strange," and jū (獣), "beast." The well of kaijū goes deep, but the well of Japanese monsterhood itself goes much deeper. Take yōkai, the category of monsters, spirits, and demons whose history goes all the way back to the first century. But it wasn't until the medieval era that depictions of yōkai —whose name combines the characters yō (妖), with its connotations of attraction, bewitchment, and calamity, and kai (怪), which can indicate something suspicious, a mystery, or an apparition — turned into popular entertainment.
which led me to: Yokai.com – the online database of Japanese ghosts and monsters which by selecting a random monster led me to Jatai – Yokai.com
TRANSLATION: snake obi (a kimono sash)
APPEARANCE: The jatai is a kimono sash which becomes animated and slithers around like a giant snake during the night.
ORIGIN: An old folk belief from Ehime and other parts of Japan says that if you lay your obi out near your pillow while you sleep, you will have dreams about snakes. Because the word for a snake’s body (jashin) is the same as the word for a wicked heart, it is said that the obi itself can manifest a tsukumogami and turn into a murderous agent of jealousy. This snake obi hunts after men, strangling them in their sleep.