[恠] Bakeneko・Youkai studies・Hagiology
Bakeneko (the cat spirit) in film and anime
This is purely a guess. If any one film inspired Nakamura Kenji’s anime Bakeneko (2006), it must be the B&W film directed by Shindō Kaneto [新藤兼人] dated 1968 and entitled Yabu no Naka no Kuroneko [藪の中の黒猫].
A scene from "Yabu no Naka no Kuroneko" (1968) directed by Shindō Kaneto.
Shindō Kaneto is best known for the film Onibaba (1964), of which Yabu no Kuroneko is said to be a “sister work”. The story is set in the late Heian era, in which a pair of mother and daughter working on a farm were raped and killed by a group of passing samurai who had just returned from war. Having struck a deal with some dark powers, mother and daughter return to the human world as bakeneko (cat spirits) in order to lure passing samurai to death. The plot thickens when the daughter’s husband, who had been taken to war by force, return with high honours as a samurai, and is charged by his superior to confront and exorcise the two bakeneko. He is surprised that the two bakeneko look so much like his wife and mother-in-law. Meanwhile, part of the deal that mother and daughter struck with the dark powers is that they must never speak to anyone of why they turned into bakeneko…
A screenshot from the OP of the anime "Bakeneko" (2006).
So I wondered, could the ban to tell their tragic story be what inspired the Medicine Seller’s catchphrase in the anime Bakeneko, which is:
モノノ怪の形を成すのは 人の因果と縁
よって、皆々様の 真と理 お聞かせ願いたく候
The katachi (form) of mononoke is caused by the karma and enishi of people. Therefore, would everyone please let me hear your makoto (truth) and kotowari (reason)?
In other words, the Medicine Seller exorcises mononoke by listening.
In additional, I think that there were two places in which the two works seem to share in common. One is the “horror technique” of having the victim enclosed in a locked room while the unseen demon spirit tries to intrude from the outside. The other is the snow scene towards the end of Yabu no Naka no Kuroneko and the confetti scene towards the end of Bakeneko.
The meaning of kai [恠]
Cover image of "Youka no Kotowari Youkai no Ori" by Kyōgoku Natsuhiko published in 2007 by Kadokawa Books
Jumping to a somewhat related topic. Recently I came across a very rare word that throws an interesting light on the katachi part of the Medicine Seller’s catchphrase. The word is kai [恠].
I have touched on the you [妖] part of the word youkai [妖怪] before, and now I would like to touch upon the kai part. Apparently 怪 and 恠 both mean “strange” or “weird” and can be used interchangeably, except that the latter is so rare that you would never see it used except in… the name of the youkai research association of which Kyōgoku Natsuhiko is a key member. (The name of the association is 東アジア恠異学会.)
Right now, I am in the middle of reading a book of essays by Kyōgoku Natsuhiko in which his explains his view on youkai studies (see right). This is illuminating since he is speaking as himself and not through a fictional mouthpiece like Chūzenji Akihiko. Apparently, the word 恠 appeared as early as the year 777 when Shoku Nihongi [續 日本記] was compiled:
大祓。為宮中頻有妖恠也。
A great exorcise. Because of frequent appearance of youkai at the Imperial Palace.
What follows below is just my personal opinion. If you look at the word 怪, it is comprised of:
i) 心 (heart)
ii) 圣 which is a simplified form of 聖 (holiness)
Likewise, if you look at the word 恠, it is comprised of:
i) 心 (heart)
ii) 在 (to be present physically)
As to why (out of all things) “something holy of the heart” forms the word 怪 is beyond my power to explain. But if you think of 恠 as “something of the heart being present physically” – then you begin to see why the Medicine Seller in Bakeneko stresses the katachi part. That is to say, the workings of abstractions like karma and enishi need to take a physically present form (ie. katachi) in order for there to be a mononoke.
Of youkai studies and hagiology
Jumping to yet another somewhat related topic.
Strange to say, I have always had a gut feeling the western counterpart of youkai studies is not demonology but hagiology (ie. the study of saints). This I have always kept as a gut feeling without being able to quite explain why. I know this is a great generalization, but it seems to me that the making of saints often have something to do with an abstraction (like piety, chastity, faith etc) manifesting in a physical form that is “weird” and “strange”. Think of stories of female saints like Uncumber, St. Galla and St. Paula who grew a beard in order to flee from marriage and enter the service of God. Think of St. Christopher who is said to have been granted the face of a dog in order to ward off unwanted female attentions. Or St. Denis, who is said to have walked around carrying his chopped-off head in his arm after he died a martyr’s death, and he walked around preaching with his chopped-off head at that. There are such a lot of strange and bizarre legends to do with saints that seem to have fallen out of popular knowledge in the western world, except certain populations in certain Catholic-dominated countries. It is a pity, really.
(Please don’t take the above paragraph too seriously. It is only a gut feeling that I am talking about.)
If you look at the practices of researchers like Yanagita Kunio, though, I think folklore studies (or critique of modernity if you take Figal’s argument in Civilization and Monsters [1999]) is much closer to youkai studies than hagiography. There are distinctly Protestant strains of hagiography too, like in Foxe’s Book of Martyrs, so hagiography strikes me as not the most apt fit. If this topic interests you, you might find the Figal book interesting.
Tan:
Yes, of course I am aware that there is a thing called “folklore studies” and 99% of people, looking at the surface of things, would group “youkai studies” under “folklore studies”.
But I was not talking about categorization, but a gut feeling about the essence/nature of A and B. Do you not wonder why 怪 is written as “something holy of the heart”? There is something about the essence/nature of saints that strikes me as similar as youkai. I cannot totally explain this gut feeling yet. There is really nothing much one can do with a gut feeling like that except to read, speculate, read some more and speculate some more – even if it means you are going outside your comfort zone and saying things outside people’s comfort zone.
I must say there are some interesting revelations from Kyōgoku Natsuhiko’s book in that area though. Perhaps I will write more on that once I finish it.
Wasn’t 圣 or 聖 also used in the sense of wise/talented, not only ‘holy,’ too? And doesn’t 怪 not always mean strange or bizarre, but have the nuance of something not seldom seen, but not necessarily supernatural? I just don’t find these types of breakdowns very convincing. I’m not philologically inclined, I guess. But anyway. We must have very different takes on what a saint is, going by your comment ^^;
Does the author discuss Inoue Enryō btw? I’d be interested to hear if Kyōgoku Natsuhiko talks about him or his work at all….
“Meanwhile, part of the deal that mother and daughter struck with the dark powers is that they must never speak to anyone of why they turned into bakeneko…”- That reminded me of Howl’s moving castle and Sophie’s curse, which not only transformed her but also didn’t allow her to speak of her curse…
I think that speech in any mythology or religion is assuming a holy role. God created the world through his speech, Thoth in ancient Egypt made literacy (letters and speech)holy…so, perhaps by producing speech, which is holy, works against spells and demons?
I missed Kusuri Uri, by the way…
Very interesting assumption on the connection of youkai studies and hagiography. Well, both of them are under the big umbrella of folk studies, so it’s only natural that some common characteristics might exist. After all saints like demons and youkai have a supernatural or better unearthy dimension. With Christdom demons were hardly ever mentioned in the form and variety of non-christianic demons, and that because, I assume, the Church didn’t want to relate to paganism that much (although in the end they kept lots of paganistic elements). So, basically in their effort to show the God’s power the gave emphasis on the saints’ supernatural manifestations (that came from God).
As to why ‘sth holy of the heart’, the explanation might be found on what was considered holy and unholy in that era and civilisation.
That takes me to samans and Abraxas were holy and unholy were manifested in one essense, in one being. If holy is connected to spirits whether they are bene- or malevolent, then it means ‘spirit in the heart’ (?)
Tan:
Yes, I am aware of many nuances of 圣/聖. I think I can understand your point.
And no worries, it’s not like I have an agenda to convince anyone of anything. This blog is to me like a playground when I am not working. It has no purpose other than delighting in free play for the sake of free play. It’s not like I am writing this up for school work. It’s only play, so relax. ^-^
Yes, he does mention Inoue, among many others.
ayame:
> That reminded me of Howl’s moving castle and Sophie’s curse, which not only transformed her but also didn’t allow her to speak of her curse…
Oh yeah. That. Thanks for mentioning.