Nue
TheNue( dạ, 鵼, quái điểu, or nô duyên điểu ) is alegendaryyōkaiormononokefromJapanese mythology.
Appearance[edit]
In theTale of Heike,it is described as a Japanesechimerahaving the head of amonkey,the limbs of atiger,the body of aJapanese raccoon dog,and the front half of asnakefor a tail. In other writings nothing is stated about its torso, so it is sometimes depicted to have the torso of a tiger. TheGenpei Jōsuikidescribes it as having the back of a tiger, the limbs of a tanuki, the tail of a fox, the head of a cat, and the torso of a chicken.[1]
It is said to make terribly eerie bird cry "hyoo hyoo" noises that resemble that of thescaly thrush.In the movieAkuryōtō(originally bySeishi Yokomizo), the catchphrase "nights where the nue cry are dreadful" refers to this fact. The nue is also said to have the ability of shape-shifting, often into the form of a black cloud that can fly. The yokai is also thought to be nocturnal as most of its sightings happen at night. Its name written inkanjitranslates tonightandbird.[2]
History[edit]
The nue is thought to have started appearing in the lateHeian period.For a more precise dating, different sources claim different periods, like theEmperor Nijōperiod, theEmperor Konoeperiod, theEmperor Go-Shirakawaperiod, or theEmperor Tobaperiod.[3]
The visual appearance may be a combination of the animals in theSexagenary cycle,with a northeastTiger,a southeastSnake,a southwestMonkey,and a northwestQian(DogandWild Boar).
Originally, the nue were stated to be a bird that resembles thegreen pheasant,[4]but their precise identity is unknown. The đêm within the dạ character isphonetic componentand thus does not carry a meaning with it. The character 鵼 (kou or kuu) is determined to be a kind of strange bird.[4]Due to the use ofMan'yōgana,thehistorical spellingis known to have beennuye.At this early time, although, it had a different semantic meaning. It referred to a bird known asWhite's thrush.
In Japan, they are considered a bird that makes cries at night, and the word can be seen in theKojikiand theMan'yōshū.[3]The owner of this crying voice was traditionally described as a yellow-red bird as big as aColumbidae,[4]but nowadays there is the accepted theory that it is thescaly thrush.[3]Since the people of the Heian Period regarded the sorrowful sounding voices of this bird as an illomen,they were considered to be a wicked bird,[5] and it is said that when the emperor or nobles heard its crying voice, they would make prayers that nothing disastrous would happen.[3]
The monster in theHeike Monogatari,in the end, was merely "something that cries with the voice of a nue, its true nature unknown", and was not given a name. But nowadays, this particularly famous monster is usually identified as a "nue".
In a derived sense the word "nue" is also used to refer to entities of unknown true form.
ThenohplayNue,byZeami Motokiyo,based on thesetsuwa,the Heike Monogatari. They are a regular feature of theKiri-noh(fifth performance of a noh).
Nue-harai Matsuri ( "Nue-warding festival" ) – a festival performed every year on January 28 at theIzunagaoka OnseninIzunokuni,Shizuoka Prefecture.Among other things thenue-odori(nue-dance) and themochi-maki(mochi-scattering) are performed.[6]
AtOsaka Harbor,the Nue is used as a motif in its emblem design. From the legend of Nuezuka, it was selected for its relation to Osaka bay.[7][8]
The slaying of the Nue[edit]
TheHeike Monogatariand theSettsu Meisho Zuefrom theSettsu Province,tell the following tale of the killing of the Nue:
In the closing years of theHeian period,at the place where theemperor(Emperor Konoe) lived, theSeiryō-den,there appeared a cloud of black smoke along with an eerie resounding crying voice, making Emperor Nijō quite afraid. Subsequently, the emperor fell into illness, and neither medicine nor prayers had any effect.
A close associate rememberedMinamoto no Yoshiieusing an arrow to put a stop to the mystery case of some bird's cry, and he gave the order to a master of arrows,Minamoto no Yorimasa,to slay the monster.
One night, Yorimasa went out to slay the monster with his servantIno Hayata(written as heo sớm quá or giếng sớm quá[9]), and an arrow made from an arrowhead he had inherited from his ancestorMinamoto no Yorimitsuand the tailfeathers of a mountain bird. An uncanny black smoke started to cover the Seiryō-den. Yorimasa shot his arrow into it, there was a shriek, and a nue fell down around the northern parts ofNijō Castle.Instantly Ino Hayata seized it and finished it off.[10][11]
In the skies above the imperial court, two or three cries of thecommon cuckoocould be heard, and it is thus said that peace had returned.[10]After this, the emperor's health instantly recovered,[12]and Yorimasa was given the swordShishiōas a reward.
The Nue's remains[edit]
There are several accounts of what was done to the nue's corpse. According to some legends, like theHeike Monogatari,as the people in Kyoto were fearful of the curse of the nue, they put its corpse in a boat and floated it down theKamo River.After the boat floated down theYodo Riverand temporarily drifted upon the shore ofHigashinari County,Osaka,it then floated into the sea and washed up on the shore betweenAshiya RiverandSumiyoshi River.It is said that the people in Ashiya courteously gave the corpse a burial service, and built a commemorating mound over its tomb, theNuezuka.[10]TheSettsu Meisho Zuestates that "the Nuezuka is between Ashiya River and Sumiyoshi River."[10]
According to theAshiwake bune,a geography book from theEdo period,a nue drifted down and washed ashore on the Yodo River, and when the villagers, fearful of a curse, notified the head priest of Boon-ji about it, it was courteously mourned over, buried, and had a mound built for it.[3][7]It is further said that as the mound was torn down at the beginning of theMeiji period,the vengeful spirit of the nue started tormenting the people who lived nearby, and so the mound was hastily rebuilt.[11]
According to theGenpei Seisuikiand theKandenjihitsuthe nue was said to be buried at theKiyomizu-derain Kyoto Prefecture, and it is said that a curse resulted from digging it up in the Edo period.[3]
Another legend relates the spirit of the dead nue turning into a horse, which was raised by Yorimasa and named Kinoshita. As this horse was a good horse, it was stolen byTaira no Munemori,so Yorimasa raised an army against the Taira family. As this resulted in Yorimasa's ruin, it is said that the nue had taken its revenge in this way.[3]
Another legend says that the nue's corpse fell in the western part ofLake HamanainShizuoka Prefecture,and the legend of the names of places inMikkabiofKita-ku,Hamamatsu,such as Nueshiro, Dozaki ( "torso" -zaki), Hanehira ( "wing" -hira), and Ona ( "tail" -na) come from the legend that the nue's head, torso, wings, and tail respectively fell in those locations.[13]
InKumakōgen,Kamiukena District,Ehime Prefecture,there is the legend that the true identity of the nue is Yorimasa's mother. In the past, in the era when the Taira clan was at its peak, Yorimasa's mother lived in hiding in this place that was her home land, and at a pond called Azoga-ike within a mountains region, she prayed to the guardian dragon of the pond for her son's good fortune in battle and the revival of the Genji (Minamoto clan), and thus the mother's body turned into that of a nue due to this prayer and hatred against the Taira family, and then she flew towards Kyoto. The nue, who represented the mother, upon making the emperor ill, thus had her own son, Yorimasa, accomplish something triumphant by being slayed by him. The nue that was pierced by Yorimasa's arrow then came back toAzoga-ikeand became the guardian of the pond, but lost her life due to wounds from the arrow.[14]: 337
Landmarks[edit]
- Nuezuka (NearHashin Ashiya Station,at Matsuhama Park,Hyōgo Prefecture)
- The mound where the nue that floated down the river in theHeike Monogatariwas buried.[10]The name of a nearby bridge, the Nuezuka-bashi originated from this Nuezuka.[12]
- Nuezuka (Miyakojima-ku,Osaka)
- The mound where the nue that floated down Yado river in theAshiwakebunewas buried. The present mound was, as previously described, repaired in 1870 by Osaka Prefecture, and the small shrine was repaired in 1957 by the locals.[15]
- Nuezuka (Kyoto Prefecture)
- Near the athletic field at Okazaki park. It is unknown how this is related to the legend of how the nue was buried at the Kiyomizu-deru in Kyoto.[3][16]
- Nue pond (Kyoto Prefecture)
- A pond at Nijō park, Chikara Town,Kamigyō-kuto the northwest of Nijō Castle. It is said that in this pond Yorimasa washed the blood-smeared arrow that went through the nue and killed it.[17]Presently, the remains of this pond has been remodeled into a water garden.[14]: 229–230 [18]
- Shinmei-jinja
- Shimogyō-ku,Kyoto. It is said that Yorimasa made a prayer here before killing the nue and subsequently donated the head of the lethal arrow as thanks. The arrowhead is kept as the treasure of the shrine. A photo is permanently exhibited, with the actual arrowhead shown to the public during an annual festival in September.[14]
- Yane-jizō
- Kameoka,Kyoto Prefecture.When Yorimasa prepared to kill the nue, he offered a prayer to his proctive god, Jizō Bodhisattva. Jizō promptly appeared in his dream and instructed him to make an arrow with the feathers of swans at Mt. Tori in Yada. Related to this legend, Jizō has the appearance of holding an arrowhead, but it is usually not exhibited to the public.[3][12]
- Chōmyō-ji
- Nishiwaki,Hyōgo Prefecture.This land was originally the territory of Yorimasa. The temple features a statue of Yorimasa killing the nue. The nearby bamboo groveYa-takeyabu(lit. "arrow bamboo grove" ) is said to be the place where Yorimasa picked the bamboo used for the lethal arrow.[14]
Other than these, inBeppu,Ōita Prefecture,it is said that there was a mummy of the nue in a theme park, the "Monster House (Kaibutsu-kan)" at theHachiman Jigoku(one of the no-longer presently existing hot springs at the Hells of Beppu), and it was also said to be a precious treasure without parallel, but this theme park no longer presently exists, and the mummy's present whereabouts are unclear.[19]
References[edit]
- ^Thủy mộc, しげる (1991).Nhật Bản yêu quái bách khoa toàn thư.Giảng nói xã. pp. 324 trang.ISBN978-4-06-313210-6.
- ^"Nue | Yokai".Retrieved18 December2022.
- ^abcdefghiThôn thượng kiện tư (2007).Kinh đô yêu quái nhật ký hành trình - mà đồ でめぐる không tư nghị ・ vân nói mà án nội.Giác xuyên oneテーマ21. Giác xuyên hiệu sách. pp. 12–17 trang.ISBN978-4-04-710108-1.
- ^abcGiác xuyên hiệu sách 『 giác xuyên hán cùng trung từ điển 』 “Dạ” “鵼”
- ^Rosen, Brenda. (2009).The Mythical Creatures Bible: The Definitive Guide to Legendary Beings.Sterling Pub. p. 107.ISBN1-4027-6536-3.Google Books.
- ^"Dạ 払い tế".Y đậu の quốc thị dịch sở. 2005. Archived fromthe originalon 2012-04-15.Retrieved2009-11-11.
- ^ab"Osaka thị thị chính Osaka cảng văn chương について".Osaka thị dịch sở. 2009-03-16.Retrieved2009-11-11.
- ^The Port of Osaka's Coat of Arms
- ^Vĩ nguyên chính chiêu ・ dưới chân núi hoành minh chú thích (1991).Bình gia vật ngữ thượng.Tân Nhật Bản văn học cổ đại hệ. Nham sóng hiệu sách. pp. 256 trang.ISBN978-4-00-240044-0.
- ^abcdeĐiền biên chân người (1998).Thần hộ の vân nói.Thần hộ tin tức tổng hợp xuất bản センター. pp. 88–89 trang.ISBN978-4-87521-076-4.
- ^abNhiều điền, khắc kỷ (1990).Ảo tưởng thế giới の trụ người たち IV Nhật Bản biên.Truth in fantasy. Kỷ nguyên mới xã. pp. 319–323 trang.ISBN978-4-915146-44-2.
- ^abcThôn thượng kiện tư (2002).Yêu quái ウォーカー.Kwai books. Giác xuyên hiệu sách. pp. 64–76 trang.ISBN978-4-04-883760-6.
- ^Thôn thượng kiện tư (2008).Nhật Bản yêu quái tán bộ.Giác xuyên kho sách. Giác xuyên hiệu sách. pp. 182–183 trang.ISBN978-4-04-391001-4.
- ^abcdNhật Bản yêu quái tán bộ.
- ^"Dạ trủng".miyakojimaku.2002.Retrieved2008-06-24.
- ^"Dạ trủng ( kinh đô )".kwai.org.Giác xuyên hiệu sách. Archived fromthe originalon 2010-05-02.Retrieved2008-06-24.
- ^"KA068 dạ trì bia".www2.city.kyoto.lg.jp.Retrieved18 December2022.
- ^"Thượng kinh khu の sử tích trăm tuyển / dạ trì".Thượng kinh khu dịch sở tổng vụ khóa. 2008-10-21.Retrieved2009-11-11.
- ^Sơn khẩu mẫn quá lang ・ thiên dã ミチヒロ (2007).Quyết định bản! Bổn đương にいる Nhật Bản ・ thế giới の “Không biết sinh vật” án nội.Nón thương nhà xuất bản. pp. 138–139 trang.ISBN978-4-7730-0364-2.
External links[edit]
