故郷の風景

Zhong Kui (Shōki)SHOH-kee

Shōki advances down the mountain path in black court robes, holding a bloodied sword low. Around his heavy beard and hard stare, demonic faces hidden in the clouds break apart as if retreating. Shōki is the warding deity who captured a plague demon in a Tang emperor’s dream. In Japan his fierce image guarded against disease and watched over the Boys’ Festival: the more frightening the face turned outward, the safer the house within.

KappaKAH-pah

In the shallows beneath hanging willow branches, a shell-backed kappa dips one foot into the water and looks up with a cucumber in hand. Its head dish is full, while the torii across the river fades into evening mist. Kappa lose their strength when the water in that dish dries. They love cucumbers and sumo, drag people and horses into rivers, yet also keep promises and are said to have taught the art of setting bones.

Ittan-Momenittan momen

Above a village at dusk, the cloth spirit flies with a long white wake. Its narrow arms and dark eyes pull away from the clouds as it turns toward the torii in the valley. Ittan-momen appears in the night sky of Kimotsuki, Kagoshima, covering faces and winding around throats. From afar it passes for cloud; up close, the end of the cloth begins searching for you.

BakotsuBakotsu

On a mountain road under the rising moon, Bakotsu walks toward a torii in torn robes. Bony hooves meet the stones while a roadside monument and lantern silently watch it pass. This Tosa apparition is said to be the bones of a horse burned to death. Read less as a curse than a plea to honor a spent working animal, the road becomes both cemetery and approach to a shrine.