Misplaced Pages

#257742

98-586: Yōkai ( 妖怪 , "strange apparition") are a class of supernatural entities and spirits in Japanese folklore . The kanji representation of the word yōkai comprises two characters that both mean "suspicious, doubtful", and while the Japanese name is simply the Japanese transliteration or pronunciation of the Chinese term yaoguai (which designates similarly strange creatures), some Japanese commentators argue that

196-574: A deity or other supernatural entity or entities. Some religions have religious texts which they view as divinely or supernaturally revealed or inspired. For instance, Orthodox Jews , Christians and Muslims believe that the Torah was received from Yahweh on biblical Mount Sinai . Most Christians believe that both the Old Testament and the New Testament were inspired by God. Muslims believe

294-486: A non-physical entity ; such as a ghost , fairy , jinn or angel . The concepts of a person's spirit and soul , often also overlap, as both are either contrasted with or given ontological priority over the body and both are believed to survive bodily death in some religions, and "spirit" can also have the sense of " ghost ", i.e. a manifestation of the spirit of a deceased person. In English Bibles , "the Spirit" (with

392-720: A polytheistic religion)", or anything revered as divine. C. Scott Littleton defines a deity as "a being with powers greater than those of ordinary humans, but who interacts with humans, positively or negatively, in ways that carry humans to new levels of consciousness , beyond the grounded preoccupations of ordinary life." A male deity is a god , while a female deity is a goddess . Religions can be categorized by how many deities they worship. Monotheistic religions accept only one deity (predominantly referred to as God), polytheistic religions accept multiple deities. Henotheistic religions accept one supreme deity without denying other deities, considering them as equivalent aspects of

490-455: A semi-deity or other strange kind of being, such as this discourse examines the notion of. And besides these more absolute acceptions, if I may so call them, of the word nature , it has divers others (more relative), as nature is wont to be set or in opposition or contradistinction to other things, as when we say of a stone when it falls downwards that it does it by a natural motion , but that if it be thrown upwards its motion that way

588-449: A body, especially a living one, as when physicians say that nature is strong or weak or spent, or that in such or such diseases nature left to herself will do the cure . Sometimes we take nature for the universe , or system of the corporeal works of God , as when it is said of a phoenix , or a chimera , that there is no such thing in nature , i.e. in the world. And sometimes too, and that most commonly, we would express by nature

686-421: A by-product of the doctrine of creation ex nihilo . In process thought, there is no such thing as a realm of the natural in contrast to that which is supernatural. On the other hand, if "the natural" is defined more neutrally as "what is in the nature of things," then process metaphysics characterizes the natural as the creative activity of actual entities. In Whitehead's words, "It lies in the nature of things that

784-626: A capital "S"), specifically denotes the Holy Spirit . Spirit is often used metaphysically to refer to the consciousness or personality . Historically, it was also used to refer to a "subtle" as opposed to "gross" material substance, as in the famous last paragraph of Sir Isaac Newton 's Principia Mathematica . A demon (from Koine Greek δαιμόνιον daimónion ) is a supernatural and often malevolent being prevalent in religion , occultism , literature , fiction , mythology and folklore . In Ancient Near Eastern religions as well as in

882-533: A local god but turned into a yōkai who was slain by Susanoo . Yasaburo was originally a bandit whose vengeful spirit ( onryō ) turned into a poisonous snake upon death and plagued the water in a paddy, but eventually became deified as the "wisdom god of the well". Kappa and inugami are sometimes treated as gods in one area and yōkai in other areas. From these examples, it can be seen that among Japanese gods, there are some beings that can go from god to yōkai and vice versa. Medieval Japan

980-412: A manga artist of yōkai , in writings concerning research about yōkai , pointed out that newly created yōkai do exist, and Mizuki himself, through GeGeGe no Kitaro , created about 30 new yōkai . There has been much criticism that this mixing of classical yōkai with newly created yōkai is making light of tradition and legends. However, since there have already been those from

1078-446: A medieval scholastic of the 12th century, explored causes beyond nature, questioning how certain phenomena could be attributed solely to God. In his writings, he used the term praeter naturam to describe these occurrences. In the scholastic period, Thomas Aquinas classified miracles into three categories: "above nature", "beyond nature" and "against nature". In doing so, he sharpened the distinction between nature and miracles more than

SECTION 10

#1732858956258

1176-400: A more social character, usually in a religious context, as seen in traditional African medicine . Fortune-telling, on the other hand, is a more everyday practice for personal purposes. Particular divination methods vary by culture and religion. Divination is dismissed by the scientific community and skeptics as being superstition . In the 2nd century, Lucian devoted a witty essay to

1274-436: A part of children's horror books, but along with the yōkai that come from classics like folklore, Kaidan , and essays, it has been pointed out by modern research that there are some mixed in that do not come from classics, but were newly created. Some well-known examples of these are the gashadokuro and the jubokko . For example, Arifumi Sato is known to be a creator of modern yōkai , and Shigeru Mizuki ,

1372-404: A physical system by a subject without any known intermediate energy or instrumentation" (1945:305). Views on the "supernatural" vary, for example it may be seen as: Anthropological studies across cultures indicate that people do not hold or use natural and supernatural explanations in a mutually exclusive or dichotomous fashion. Instead, the reconciliation of natural and supernatural explanations

1470-445: A querent should proceed by reading signs, events, or omens , or through alleged contact with a supernatural agency. Divination can be seen as a systematic method with which to organize what appear to be disjointed, random facets of existence such that they provide insight into a problem at hand. If a distinction is to be made between divination and fortune-telling , divination has a more formal or ritualistic element and often contains

1568-562: A result of emphasizing the superior status of human society over yōkai . Publications included: In this way, yōkai that were mentioned only in writing were given a visual appearance in the Middle Ages. In the Otogizōshi , familiar tales such as Urashima Tarō and Issun-bōshi also appeared. The next major change in yōkai came after the period of warring states, in the Edo period. It

1666-602: A role in attracting tourism revitalizing local mecca regions such as Tōno in Iwate Prefecture (where stories in Kunio Yanagita 's Tono Monogatari were collected) or Tottori Prefecture ( Shigeru Mizuki 's birthplace). In this way, yōkai are spoken about in legends in various forms, but traditional oral storytelling by the elders and the older people is rare, and regionally unique situations and background in oral storytelling are not easily conveyed. For example,

1764-407: A spiritual entity that may be conjured and controlled. Magic or sorcery is the use of rituals , symbols , actions, gestures , or language with the aim of utilizing supernatural forces. Belief in and practice of magic has been present since the earliest human cultures and continues to have an important spiritual, religious and medicinal role in many cultures today. The term magic has

1862-450: A stone let fall in the air is by nature carried towards the centre of the earth , and, on the contrary, that fire or flame does naturally move upwards toward firmament . Sometimes we understand by nature the established course of things, as when we say that nature makes the night succeed the day , nature hath made respiration necessary to the life of men. Sometimes we take nature for an aggregate of powers belonging to

1960-404: A supernatural entity reported as being present during the event is called a vision . Direct conversations between the recipient and the supernatural entity, or physical marks such as stigmata , have been reported. In rare cases, such as that of Saint Juan Diego , physical artifacts accompany the revelation. The Roman Catholic concept of interior locution includes just an inner voice heard by

2058-656: A turtle, and the tengu , commonly depicted with wings), but may also appear humanoid in appearance, such as the kuchisake-onna (口裂け女). Some yōkai resemble inanimate objects (such as the tsukumogami ), while others have no discernible shape. Yōkai are typically described as having spiritual or supernatural abilities, with shapeshifting being the most common trait associated with them. Yōkai that shapeshift are known as bakemono ( 化け物 ) or obake ( お化け ) . Japanese folklorists and historians explain yōkai as personifications of "supernatural or unaccountable phenomena to their informants". In

SECTION 20

#1732858956258

2156-438: A variety of meanings, and there is no widely agreed upon definition of what it is. Scholars of religion have defined magic in different ways. One approach, associated with the anthropologists Edward Tylor and James G. Frazer , suggests that magic and science are opposites. An alternative approach, associated with the sociologists Marcel Mauss and Emile Durkheim , argues that magic takes place in private, while religion

2254-503: A variety of ways – masculine, feminine, androgynous and gender neutral. Historically, many ancient cultures – such as Ancient India , Ancient Iraq , Ancient Egyptian , Ancient Greek , Ancient Roman , Nordic and Asian culture – personified natural phenomena , variously as either their conscious causes or simply their effects, respectively. Some Avestan and Vedic deities were viewed as ethical concepts. In Indian religions , deities have been envisioned as manifesting within

2352-469: Is hypernymic to religion . Religions are standardized supernaturalist worldviews, or at least more complete than single supernaturalist views. Supernaturalism is the adherence to the supernatural (beliefs, and not violations of causality and the physical laws). Occurring as both an adjective and a noun , antecedents of the modern English compound supernatural enter the language from two sources: via Middle French ( supernaturel ) and directly from

2450-453: Is violent . So chemists distinguish vitriol into natural and fictitious , or made by art, i.e. by the intervention of human power or skill; so it is said that water , kept suspended in a sucking pump, is not in its natural place, as that is which is stagnant in the well. We say also that wicked men are still in the state of nature , but the regenerate in a state of grace ; that cures wrought by medicines are natural operations; but

2548-433: Is a combination of extensive evidence of something not occurring , combined with an underlying scientific theory , very successful in making predictions, whose assumptions lead logically to the conclusion that something is impossible. While an impossibility assertion in natural science can never be absolutely proved, it could be refuted by the observation of a single counterexample . Such a counterexample would require that

2646-485: Is a communal and organised activity. Many scholars of religion have rejected the utility of the term magic and it has become increasingly unpopular within scholarship since the 1990s. The term magic comes from the Old Persian magu , a word that applied to a form of religious functionary about which little is known. During the late sixth and early fifth centuries BC, this term was adopted into Ancient Greek , where it

2744-407: Is a school of thought influenced by the metaphysical process philosophy of Alfred North Whitehead (1861–1947) and further developed by Charles Hartshorne (1897–2000). It is not possible, in process metaphysics, to conceive divine activity as a "supernatural" intervention into the "natural" order of events. Process theists usually regard the distinction between the supernatural and the natural as

2842-495: Is defined in the Journal of Parapsychology as "personal factors or processes in nature which transcend accepted laws" (1948: 311) and "which are non-physical in nature" (1962:310), and it is used to cover both extrasensory perception (ESP), an "awareness of or response to an external event or influence not apprehended by sensory means" (1962:309) or inferred from sensory knowledge, and psychokinesis (PK), "the direct influence exerted on

2940-473: Is featured in folklore and religious contexts, but can also feature as an explanation in more secular contexts, as in the cases of superstitions or belief in the paranormal . The term is attributed to non-physical entities , such as angels , demons , gods and spirits . It also includes claimed abilities embodied in or provided by such beings, including magic , telekinesis , levitation , precognition and extrasensory perception . The supernatural

3038-489: Is found in many ancient cultures, and a belief in rebirth/ metempsychosis was held by Greek historic figures, such as Pythagoras , Socrates and Plato . It is also a common belief of various ancient and modern religions such as Spiritism , Theosophy and Eckankar and as an esoteric belief in many streams of Orthodox Judaism . It is found as well in many tribal societies around the world, in places such as Australia , East Asia , Siberia and South America . Although

Yōkai - Misplaced Pages Continue

3136-414: Is known as " angelology ". In fine art , angels are usually depicted as having the shape of human beings of extraordinary beauty; they are often identified using the symbols of bird wings , halos and light . Prophecy involves a process in which messages are communicated by a god to a prophet . Such messages typically involve inspiration, interpretation, or revelation of divine will concerning

3234-510: Is natural or ordinary; unnaturally or extraordinarily great; abnormal, extraordinary". Obsolete uses include "of, relating to, or dealing with metaphysics ". As a noun, the term can mean "a supernatural being", with a particularly strong history of employment in relation to entities from the mythologies of the indigenous peoples of the Americas . The ancient world had no word that resembled "supernatural". Dialogues from Neoplatonic philosophy in

3332-471: Is normal and pervasive across cultures. Cross cultural studies indicate that there is coexistence of natural and supernatural explanations in both adults and children for explaining numerous things about the world, such as illness, death, and origins. Context and cultural input play a large role in determining when and how individuals incorporate natural and supernatural explanations. The coexistence of natural and supernatural explanations in individuals may be

3430-496: Is one of the first Western publications of its kind. Yōkai remain prevalent in modern works of fiction. Shigeru Mizuki , the manga creator of such series as GeGeGe no Kitaro and Kappa no Sanpei , keeps yōkai in the popular imagination. Other popular works focusing on yōkai include the Nurarihyon no Mago series, Yu Yu Hakusho , Inuyasha: A Feudal Fairy Tale , Yo-kai Watch and the 1960s Yokai Monsters film series, which

3528-402: Is possible within the boundaries of the laws of physics. Epistemologically , the relationship between the supernatural and the natural is indistinct in terms of natural phenomena that, ex hypothesi, violate the laws of nature, in so far as such laws are realistically accountable . Parapsychologists use the term psi to refer to an assumed unitary force underlying the phenomena they study. Psi

3626-473: Is that there is disagreement about the definition of "natural" and the limits of naturalism . Concepts in the supernatural domain are closely related to concepts in religious spirituality and occultism or spiritualism . For sometimes we use the word nature for that Author of nature whom the schoolmen , harshly enough, call natura naturans , as when it is said that nature hath made man partly corporeal and partly immaterial . Sometimes we mean by

3724-470: Is the philosophical or religious concept that an aspect of a living being starts a new life in a different physical body or form after each biological death . It is also called rebirth or transmigration , and is a part of the Saṃsāra doctrine of cyclic existence. It is a central tenet of all major Indian religions , namely Jainism , Hinduism , Buddhism and Sikhism . The idea of reincarnation

3822-540: The Gazu Hyakki Yagyō by Toriyama Sekien is one example. When the Hyakumonogatari Kaidankai became popular in the Edo period, it is thought that one reason for the appearance of new yōkai was a demand for entertaining ghost stories about yōkai no one has ever heard of before, resulting in some that were simply made up for the purpose of telling an entertaining story. The kasa-obake and

3920-484: The tōfu-kozō are known examples of these. They are also frequently depicted in ukiyo-e , and there are artists that have drawn famous yōkai like Utagawa Kuniyoshi , Yoshitoshi , Kawanabe Kyōsai , and Hokusai , and there are also Hyakki Yagyō books made by artists of the Kanō school . In this period, toys and games like karuta and sugoroku , frequently used yōkai as characters. Thus, with

4018-740: The shinigami were misunderstood as a kind of Japanese yōkai or kami , they actually became well known among the populace through a rakugo called Shinigami by San'yūtei Enchō , which were adoptions of European tales such as the Grimm fairy tale "Godfather Death" and the Italian opera Crispino e la comare (1850). Also, in 1908, Kyōka Izumi and Chikufū Tobari  [ ja ] jointedly translated Gerhart Hauptmann 's play The Sunken Bell . Later works of Kyōka such as Yasha ga Ike  [ ja ] were influenced by The Sunken Bell , and so it can be seen that folktales that come from

Yōkai - Misplaced Pages Continue

4116-570: The tsurube (a bucket used for getting water from a well), and there exist yōkai that are reminiscent of old lifestyles such as the azukiarai and the dorotabō  [ ja ] . As a result, even for those born in the first decade of the Shōwa period (1925–1935), except for some who were evacuated to the countryside, they would feel that those things that become yōkai are "not familiar" and "not very understandable". For example, in classical rakugo , even though people understand

4214-453: The Abrahamic traditions , including ancient and medieval Christian demonology , a demon is considered a harmful spiritual entity, below the heavenly planes which may cause demonic possession , calling for an exorcism . In Western occultism and Renaissance magic , which grew out of an amalgamation of Greco-Roman magic , Jewish Aggadah and Christian demonology , a demon is believed to be

4312-506: The Edo period (1603 to 1868), many artists, such as Toriyama Sekien (1712-1788), invented new yōkai by taking inspiration from folk-tales or purely from their own imagination. Today, several such yōkai (such as the amikiri ) are mistakenly thought to originate in more traditional folklore. The concept of yōkai , their causes and phenomena related to them varies greatly throughout Japanese culture and historical periods; typically,

4410-545: The Quran was revealed by God to Muhammad word by word through the angel Gabriel ( Jibril ). In Hinduism , some Vedas are considered apauruṣeya , "not human compositions", and are supposed to have been directly revealed, and thus are called śruti , "what is heard". Aleister Crowley stated that The Book of the Law had been revealed to him through a higher being that called itself Aiwass . A revelation communicated by

4508-613: The Roman era as well as the Indian religions, have been the subject of recent scholarly research. Unity Church and its founder Charles Fillmore teaches reincarnation. In recent decades, many Europeans and North Americans have developed an interest in reincarnation, and many contemporary works mention it. Karma ( / ˈ k ɑːr m ə / ; Sanskrit : कर्म , romanized :  karma , IPA: [ˈkɐɽmɐ] ; Pali : kamma ) means action, work or deed; it also refers to

4606-483: The afterlife , or in exceptional cases enter heaven alive . Heaven is often described as a "higher place", the holiest place, a Paradise , in contrast to hell or the Underworld or the "low places" and universally or conditionally accessible by earthly beings according to various standards of divinity , goodness , piety , faith , or other virtues or right beliefs or simply the will of God . Some believe in

4704-503: The miraculous ones wrought by Christ and his apostles were supernatural . Nomological possibility is possibility under the actual laws of nature . Most philosophers since David Hume have held that the laws of nature are metaphysically contingent—that there could have been different natural laws than the ones that actually obtain. If so, then it would not be logically or metaphysically impossible, for example, for you to travel to Alpha Centauri in one day; it would just have to be

4802-433: The nature of a thing the essence , or that which the schoolmen scruple not to call the quiddity of a thing, namely, the attribute or attributes on whose score it is what it is, whether the thing be corporeal or not, as when we attempt to define the nature of an angle , or of a triangle , or of a fluid body, as such. Sometimes we take nature for an internal principle of motion , as when we say that

4900-417: The Chinese yaoguai and Japanese yokai include strange, supernatural beings with shapeshifting tendencies. In the Chinese version of the yaoguai , the emphasis is often on the first character 妖 yao, which connotes bewilderment and enchantment and supernatural affliction - for example, their ability to take on human form in order to seduce and to enthrall human beings. In the yokai, the emphasis appears to be on

4998-399: The Edo period like Sekien Toriyama who created many new yōkai , there is also the opinion that it is unreasonable to criticize modern creations without doing the same for classical creations too. Furthermore, there is a favorable view that says that introducing various yōkai characters through these books nurtured creativity and emotional development of young readers of the time. Both

SECTION 50

#1732858956258

5096-424: The Edo period, there were plenty of interpretations about what the yōkai were that were classified as kappa , but because of books and publishing, the notion of kappa became anchored to what is now the modern notion of kappa . Also, including other kinds of publications, other than yōkai born from folk legend, there were also many invented yōkai that were created through puns or word plays;

5194-549: The Middle Ages, although in the early modern period Italian humanists reinterpreted the term in a positive sense to establish the idea of natural magic . Both negative and positive understandings of the term were retained in Western culture over the following centuries, with the former largely influencing early academic usages of the word. Throughout history, there have been examples of individuals who practiced magic and referred to themselves as magicians. This trend has proliferated in

5292-693: The Middle French's term's ancestor, post- Classical Latin ( supernaturalis ). Post-classical Latin supernaturalis first occurs in the 6th century, composed of the Latin prefix super- and nātūrālis (see nature ). The earliest known appearance of the word in the English language occurs in a Middle English translation of Catherine of Siena 's Dialogue ( orcherd of Syon , around 1425; Þei haue not þanne þe supernaturel lyȝt ne þe liȝt of kunnynge, bycause þei vndirstoden it not ). The semantic value of

5390-477: The West became adapted into Japanese tales of yōkai . Since yōkai have been introduced in various kinds of media, they have become well known among people from all walks of life. The kamishibai from before the war, the manga industry, kashi-hon shops that continued to exist until around the 1970s, and television all contributed to the public knowledge and familiarity with yōkai . Yōkai play

5488-699: The ancient past, and mentions of oni , orochi , among other kinds of mysterious phenomena can already be seen in them. In the Heian period, collections of stories about yōkai and other supernatural phenomena were published in multiple volumes, starting with publications such as the Nihon Ryōiki and the Konjaku Monogatarishū , and in these publications, mentions of phenomena such as Hyakki Yagyō can be seen. The yōkai that appear in this literature were passed on to later generations. Despite

5586-479: The assumptions underlying the theory that implied the impossibility be re-examined. Some philosophers, such as Sydney Shoemaker , have argued that the laws of nature are in fact necessary, not contingent; if so, then nomological possibility is equivalent to metaphysical possibility. The term supernatural is often used interchangeably with paranormal or preternatural —the latter typically limited to an adjective for describing abilities which appear to exceed what

5684-501: The book [綜合日本民俗語彙] Error: {{Transliteration}}: transliteration text not Latin script ( help ) ("A Complete Dictionary of Japanese Folklore", Sogo Nihon Minzoku Goi) as follows: The ancient times were a period abundant in literature and folktales mentioning and explaining yōkai . Literature such as the Kojiki , the Nihon Shoki , and various Fudoki expositioned on legends from

5782-425: The case that you could travel faster than the speed of light. But of course there is an important sense in which this is not nomologically possible; given that the laws of nature are what they are. In the philosophy of natural science , impossibility assertions come to be widely accepted as overwhelmingly probable rather than considered proved to the point of being unchallengeable. The basis for this strong acceptance

5880-401: The classical yōkai represented by tsukumogami can only be felt as something realistic by living close to nature, such as with tanuki ( Japanese raccoon dogs ), foxes and weasels . Furthermore, in the suburbs, and other regions, even when living in a primary-sector environment, there are tools that are no longer seen, such as the inkstone , the kama (a large cooking pot), or

5978-439: The concept of the soul of the deceased making its own journey to the underworld, with the dead needing to be taken across a defining obstacle such as a lake or a river to reach this destination. Imagery of such journeys can be found in both ancient and modern art. The descent to the underworld has been described as "the single most important myth for Modernist authors". A spirit is a supernatural being, often but not exclusively

SECTION 60

#1732858956258

6076-522: The creatures cannot do, in traditional theism, in comparison to what they can do in process metaphysics (that is, to be part creators of the world with God). Heaven , or the heavens , is a common religious, cosmological , or transcendent place where beings such as gods , angels , spirits, saints , or venerated ancestors are said to originate, be enthroned , or live. According to the beliefs of some religions, heavenly beings can descend to Earth or incarnate , and earthly beings can ascend to heaven in

6174-504: The depictions of yōkai in picture scrolls and paintings beginning to standardize, evolving more into caricatures than fearsome spiritual entities. Elements of the tales and legends surrounding yōkai began to be depicted in public entertainment, beginning as early as the Middle Ages in Japan. During and following the Edo period , the mythology and lore of yōkai became more defined and formalized. The folklorist Tsutomu Ema studied

6272-726: The development of a publishing culture, yōkai depictions that were treasured in temples and shrines were able to become something more familiar to people, and it is thought that this is the reason that even though yōkai were originally things to be feared, they have then become characters that people feel close to. With the Meiji Restoration , Western ideas and translated western publications began to make an impact, and western tales were particularly sought after. Things like binbōgami , yakubyōgami  [ ja ] , and shinigami were talked about, and shinigami were even depicted in classical rakugo . Although

6370-409: The early Church Fathers had done. As a result, he had created a dichotomy of sorts of the natural and supernatural. Though the phrase "supra naturam" was used since the 4th century AD, it was in the 1200s that Thomas Aquinas used the term "supernaturalis". Despite this, the term had to wait until the end of the medieval period before it became more popularly used. The discussions on "nature" from

6468-562: The fear arising from phenomena and events that otherwise had no explanation. The ritual for converting ara-mitama into nigi-mitama was known as the chinkon ( 鎮魂 , lit.   ' the calming of the spirits ' or 'requiem') . Chinkon rituals for ara-mitama that failed to achieve deification as benevolent spirits, whether through a lack of sufficient veneration or through losing worshippers and thus their divinity, became yōkai . Over time, phenomena and events thought to be supernatural became fewer and fewer, with

6566-425: The idea of rebirth in many schools of Indian religions (particularly Hinduism , Buddhism , Jainism and Sikhism ) as well as Taoism . In these schools, karma in the present affects one's future in the current life, as well as the nature and quality of future lives – one's saṃsāra . In Catholic theology , the supernatural order is, according to New Advent , defined as "the ensemble of effects exceeding

6664-551: The literature and paintings depicting yōkai and henge ( 変化 , lit.   ' changed things/ mutants ' ) , dividing them into categories as presented in the Nihon Yōkai Henge Shi and the Obake no Rekishi : In other folklorist categorizations, yōkai are classified, similarly to the nymphs of Greek mythology, by their location or the phenomena associated with their manifestation. Yōkai are indexed in

6762-517: The literature mentioning and explaining these yōkai , they were never given any visual depictions. In Buddhist paintings such as the Hell Scroll (Nara National Museum) , which came from the later Heian period, there are visual expressions of the idea of oni , but actual visual depictions would only come later in the Middle Ages, from the Kamakura period and beyond. Yamata no Orochi was originally

6860-655: The majority of denominations within Christianity and Islam do not believe that individuals reincarnate, particular groups within these religions do refer to reincarnation; these groups include the mainstream historical and contemporary followers of Cathars , Alawites , the Druze and the Rosicrucians . The historical relations between these sects and the beliefs about reincarnation that were characteristic of Neoplatonism , Orphism , Hermeticism , Manicheanism and Gnosticism of

6958-429: The many enter into complex unity" (Whitehead 1978, 21). It is tempting to emphasize process theism's denial of the supernatural and thereby highlight that the processed God cannot do in comparison what the traditional God could do (that is, to bring something from nothing). In fairness, however, equal stress should be placed on process theism's denial of the natural (as traditionally conceived) so that one may highlight what

7056-521: The modern period, with a growing number of magicians appearing within the esoteric milieu. British esotericist Aleister Crowley described magic as the art of effecting change in accordance with will. Divination (from Latin divinare "to foresee, to be inspired by a god", related to divinus , divine ) is the attempt to gain insight into a question or situation by way of an occultic , standardized process or ritual. Used in various forms throughout history, diviners ascertain their interpretations of how

7154-586: The mumashika, which are comical-looking yokai with horse heads and deer bodies. Yōkai are often referred to as Japanese spirits or East Asian ghosts, like the Hanako-san legend or the story of the " Slit-mouthed girl ", both of which hail from Japanese legend. The term yōkai can also be interpreted as something strange or unusual. Lafcadio Hearn 's collection of Japanese ghost stories entitled Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things includes stories of yūrei and yōkai such as Yuki-onna , and

7252-442: The nekomata (cat yokai) and tanuki (raccoon yokai), resemble Chinese yaoguai, which encompasses any number of shapeshifting animals and plants who have learnt to cultivate human form and other supernatural arts. The cat yokai, for example resembles the Chinese 仙狸 or "leopard cat immortal". Yet others are uniquely Japanese, such as the ambivalent and occasionally cute kappa, the haradashi - a goofy yokai with its belly on its face, and

7350-514: The older the time period, the higher the number of phenomena deemed to be supernatural and the result of yōkai . According to Japanese ideas of animism , spirit-like entities were believed to reside in all things, including natural phenomena and objects. Such spirits possessed emotions and personalities: peaceful spirits were known as nigi-mitama , who brought good fortune; violent spirits, known as ara-mitama , brought ill fortune, such as illness and natural disasters. Neither type of spirit

7448-478: The outcomes two distinct cognitive domains: one concerned with the physical-mechanical relations and another with social relations. Studies on indigenous groups have allowed for insights on how such coexistence of explanations may function. A deity ( / ˈ d iː ə t i / or / ˈ d eɪ . ə t i / ) is a supernatural being considered divine or sacred . The Oxford Dictionary of English defines deity as "a god or goddess (in

7546-457: The popularity of kuchisake-onna , these urban legends began to be referred to in mass media as "modern yōkai ". This terminology was also used in recent publications dealing with urban legends, and the researcher on yōkai , Bintarō Yamaguchi  [ ja ] , used this especially frequently. During the 1970s, many books were published that introduced yōkai through encyclopedias, illustrated reference books, and dictionaries as

7644-493: The possibility of a heaven on Earth in a world to come . Another belief is in an axis mundi or world tree which connects the heavens, the terrestrial world and the underworld . In Indian religions , heaven is considered as Svarga loka , and the soul is again subjected to rebirth in different living forms according to its karma . This cycle can be broken after a soul achieves Moksha or Nirvana . Any place of existence, either of humans, souls or deities, outside

7742-404: The powers of the created universe and gratuitously produced by God for the purpose of raising the rational creature above its native sphere to a God-like life and destiny." The Modern Catholic Dictionary defines it as "the sum total of heavenly destiny and all the divinely established means of reaching that destiny, which surpass the mere powers and capacities of human nature." Process theology

7840-436: The prophet's social world and events to come (compare divine knowledge ). Prophecy is not limited to any one culture. It is a common property to all known ancient societies around the world, some more than others. Many systems and rules about prophecy have been proposed over several millennia. In religion and theology , revelation is the revealing or disclosing of some form of truth or knowledge through communication with

7938-488: The recipient. In the Abrahamic religions , the term is used to refer to the process by which God reveals knowledge of himself, his will and his divine providence to the world of human beings. In secondary usage, revelation refers to the resulting human knowledge about God, prophecy and other divine things. Revelation from a supernatural source plays a less important role in some other religious traditions such as Buddhism , Confucianism and Taoism . Reincarnation

8036-560: The same divine principle; and nontheistic religions deny any supreme eternal creator deity but accept a pantheon of deities which live, die and are reborn just like any other being. Various cultures have conceptualized a deity differently than a monotheistic God . A deity need not be omnipotent , omnipresent , omniscient , omnibenevolent or eternal , The monotheistic God, however, does have these attributes . Monotheistic religions typically refer to God in masculine terms, while other religions refer to their deities in

8134-435: The scholastic period were diverse and unsettled with some postulating that even miracles are natural and that natural magic was a natural part of the world. The metaphysical considerations of the existence of the supernatural can be difficult to approach as an exercise in philosophy or theology because any dependencies on its antithesis, the natural , will ultimately have to be inverted or rejected. One complicating factor

8232-418: The seeming dichotomy between the natures of them and most kami , which are generally regarded as relatively beneficent in comparison, and class the two as ultimately the same type of spirits of nature or of a mythological realm. Their behavior can range from malevolent or mischievous to benevolent to humans. Yōkai often have animal-like features (such as the kappa , depicted as appearing similar to

8330-406: The spiritual principle of cause and effect where intent and actions of an individual (cause) influence the future of that individual (effect). Good intent and good deeds contribute to good karma and future happiness, while bad intent and bad deeds contribute to bad karma and future suffering. With origins in ancient India 's Vedic civilization , the philosophy of karma is closely associated with

8428-475: The tangible world (Heaven, Hell, or other) is referred to as otherworld . The underworld is the supernatural world of the dead in various religious traditions, located below the world of the living. Chthonic is the technical adjective for things of the underworld. The concept of an underworld is found in almost every civilization and "may be as old as humanity itself". Common features of underworld myths are accounts of living people making journeys to

8526-1130: The temple of every living being's body, as sensory organs and mind. Deities have also been envisioned as a form of existence ( Saṃsāra ) after rebirth , for human beings who gain merit through an ethical life, where they become guardian deities and live blissfully in heaven , but are also subject to death when their merit runs out. An angel is generally a supernatural being found in various religions and mythologies . In Abrahamic religions and Zoroastrianism , angels are often depicted as benevolent celestial beings who act as intermediaries between God or Heaven and Earth . Other roles of angels include protecting and guiding human beings and carrying out God's tasks. Within Abrahamic religions, angels are often organized into hierarchies , although such rankings may vary between sects in each religion, and are given specific names or titles, such as Gabriel or " Destroying angel ." The term "angel" has also been expanded to various notions of spirits or figures found in other religious traditions. The theological study of angels

8624-423: The term has shifted over the history of its use. Originally the term referred exclusively to Christian understandings of the world. For example, as an adjective, the term can mean "belonging to a realm or system that transcends nature, as that of divine, magical, or ghostly beings; attributed to or thought to reveal some force beyond scientific understanding or the laws of nature; occult, paranormal" or "more than what

8722-456: The third century AD influenced the development of the concept of the supernatural, which later evolved through Christian theology . The term nature had existed since antiquity, with Latin authors like Augustine using the word and its cognates at least 600 times in City of God . In the medieval period, "nature" had ten different meanings and "natural" had eleven different meanings. Peter Lombard ,

8820-448: The underworld , often for some heroic purpose. Other myths reinforce traditions that entrance of souls to the underworld requires a proper observation of ceremony, such as the ancient Greek story of the recently dead Patroclus haunting Achilles until his body could be properly buried for this purpose. Persons having social status were dressed and equipped in order to better navigate the underworld. A number of mythologies incorporate

8918-463: The word yōkai has taken on multiple different meanings particular to a Japanese context, including referring to a large number of uniquely Japanese creatures. Yōkai are also referred to as ayakashi ( あやかし ) , mononoke ( 物の怪 ) or mamono ( 魔物 ) . However, most Japanese generally think of the two loose classes of spirits as highly different, although some academics and Shinto practitioners acknowledge similarities within

9016-617: The words and what they refer to, they are not able to imagine it as something that could be realistic. Thus, the modernization of society has had a negative effect on the place of yōkai in classical Japanese culture. On the other hand, the yōkai introduced through mass media are not limited to only those that come from classical sources like folklore, and just as in the Edo period, new fictional yōkai continue to be invented, such as scary school stories and other urban legends like kuchisake-onna and Hanako-san , giving birth to new yōkai . From 1975 onwards, starting with

9114-405: The 怪 guai, or on their monstrous and aberrant nature and anatomy. Japanese yokai in popular culture often includes elements of the cute, comical, the goofy, and the bizarre. Some creatures appear in both Chinese and Japanese folklore as yaoguai and yokai, such as the scaly water shuihu (水虎), wilderness demons denoted as chimeiwangliang (魑魅魍魉), and nine-tailed fox demons (九尾狐). Some, such as

9212-508: Was a time period where publications such as emakimono , Otogi-zōshi , and other visual depictions of yōkai started to appear. While there were religious publications such as the Jisha Engi ( 寺社縁起 ) , others, such as the Otogizōshi , were intended more for entertainment, starting the trend where yōkai became more and more seen as subjects of entertainment. For examples, tales of yōkai extermination could be said to be

9310-564: Was considered to be yōkai . One's ancestors and particularly respected departed elders could also be deemed to be nigi-mitama , accruing status as protective spirits who brought fortune to those who worshipped them. Animals, objects and natural features or phenomena were also venerated as nigi-mitama or propitiated as ara-mitama depending on the area. Despite the existence of harmful spirits, rituals for converting ara-mitama into nigi-mitama were performed, aiming to quell maleficent spirits, prevent misfortune and alleviate

9408-424: Was in this era that the technology of the printing press and publication was first started to be widely used, that a publishing culture developed, and was frequently a subject of kibyoshi and other publications. As a result, kashi-hon shops that handled such books spread and became widely used, making the general public's impression of each yōkai fixed, spreading throughout Japan. For example, before

9506-407: Was loosely remade in 2005 as Takashi Miike 's The Great Yokai War and more recently Yukinobu Tatsu 's Dandadan . They often play major roles in Japanese fiction. Japanese supernatural beings Japanese museums on the supernatural Other supernatural beings from East Asian folklore Lists of supernatural creatures from East Asian folklore Supernatural The supernatural

9604-409: Was used with negative connotations, to apply to religious rites that were regarded as fraudulent, unconventional and dangerous. This meaning of the term was then adopted by Latin in the first century BC. The concept was then incorporated into Christian theology during the first century AD, where magic was associated with demons and thus defined against religion. This concept was pervasive throughout

#257742