Weird, Unsolicited Facts: Sugar Coma Halloween Aftermath Edition (12 of 13): Gashadokuro I could probably do a whole week on the Yokai of Japan, supernatural beings & spirits ranging from the malevolent & mischievous to the good-natured & fortuitous. Being a very animistic culture, the Yokai are often bizarrely specific. Everything from ghost dogs to haunted Biwas to spirits drawn to filthy bathrooms. A lot of the stories are cautionary tales like demon ailments brought on by extreme emotional states, or creatures that roam areas that are often best left avoided. And then there are some that simply wash beans. But I think the raddest would have to be the Gashadokuro, or literally Starving Skeleton. Said to be fifteen times larger than a man, it allegedly rises from the mass burial sites of those struck with famine, whether it be a town with poor crops or a marching army stranded without supplies. They roam the countryside after midnight, so you know, stay off the moors or whatever. While they have the ability to turn invisible, their presence can often be detected by a ringing in ones ears. But typically, by that point, its already too late. The Gashdokuro has a preferred method when it comes to eating people. Same way I eat Keebler E.L. Fudges. By biting the head off first & feasting upon the creamy center. Often too big & powerful to stop by force, the best way to dispatch them is to be faster than the other guy, stay out its way, & let whatever collective amount of malice & ill-will that gathered the creature together in the first place to simply burn out. Then it will simply disappear. The most famous account comes from the middle ages, during a bloody rebellion lead by a samurai named Taira no Masakado. His daughter, Takiyasha, was said to be a sorceress. When the samurai was killed, his daughter carried on the revolt by conjuring up one of these calcified giants to lay waste to Kyoto. Utagawa Kuniyoshi, one of the last Ukiyo-e, went on to capture this on one of the coolest triptychs youll ever find.
Posted on: Sun, 02 Nov 2014 19:12:01 +0000