Hone-onna
Hone-onna(CốtNữ,literally:bone woman)is ayōkaidepicted in theKonjaku Gazu Zoku Hyakki(1779) byToriyama Sekien.As its name implies, it depicts this yōkai as a woman in the form of bones.
In Sekien's explanatory text in theKonjaku Gazu Zoku Hyakkistates that there is a story calledOtogi Bōko(Ngự già ばうこ)in which an aged female skeleton would carry achōchin(lantern) decorated withbotanflowers on it and visit the house of a man she loved back when she was still alive, and then cavort with that man. In other words, this refers to "Botan Dōrō"(Mẫu đơn đèn lồng,"The Peony Lantern" ),within the collection of writings calledOtogi Bōko(Già nô tỳ,1666)byAsai Ryōi.[1](The collection was composed as a sort ofmoral-free version of the Chinese workJiandeng Xinhuawritten in 1378 byQu You.) In theBotan Dōrō,a man named Ogiwara Shinnojō meets a beautiful woman named Yako and they become entangled almost every night, but one night an old person from next door catches a glimpse of it and sees the strange scene of Shinnojō embracing with a skeleton.[2]
According toTōhoku Kaidan no TabibyNorio Yamada,there is an odd tale in theAomori Prefectureabout a yōkai under the title of "hone-onna". It says that in theAnseiperiod, a woman who was said to be ugly by those around her became a good-looking skeleton after death, and walked around town as a skeleton to let everyone see. It is said that she likes fish bones and would collapse upon encountering a high priest.[3]
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^Murakami, Kenji, ed. (2000).Yōkai Jiten ( yêu quái sự điển ).The Mainichi Newspapers Co. p. 308.ISBN978-4-620-31428-0.
- ^Inada, Atsunobu; Tanaka, Naohi, eds. (1992).Toriyama Sekien Gazu Hyakki Yagyō ( điểu núi đá yến họa đồ bách quỷ dạ hành ).Mamoru Takada,supervisor. Kokushokankokai. p. 148.ISBN978-4-336-03386-4.
- ^Yamada, Norio(1974).Tōhoku Kaidan no Tabi.Jiyū Kokumin. pp. 138–139.NCIDBA42139725.