Umibōzu
[Image:SayoshigureUmibozu.jpg|thumb|400px|Umibōzu, from the (pub. 1801)]
is a yōkai from Japanese folklore that has the form of a giant, black, human-like being.
Little is known of the origin of umibōzu but it is a mythical sea-spirit creature and as such has multiple sightings throughout Japan. Normally, umibōzu appears to sailors on calm seas which quickly turn tumultuous. It either breaks the ship on emergence or demands a ladle from the sailors and proceeds to drown them. The only safe way to escape an umibōzu is to give it a bottomless ladle and sail away while it is confused.
The monster is known by other near-synonymous names such or.
Overview
They are often encountered by ships at night. A calm sea would suddenly surge and a giant black bōzu head surfaces, and destroy or damage ships. They are said to range from a few meters to tens of meters in length, but some are about human-size. It typically reveals only its upper body above the waist.The umibōzu is not always solitary, and some lore claim that swarms of them arrive on ships to do mischief, such as clinging to the hull and scull as well as put out the basket fire. Their weakness is said to be smoke which causes them to flee.
The umibōzu is explained by some to be the ghost of the drowned, a belief held locally in Chiba Prefecture, though the lore from Chōshi, Chiba asserts that a certain priest named Shōgaku-bō had drowned and became the umibōzu, according to Edo Period literature.. An English source claims the umibōzu is more generally regarded as the spirit of the drowned priest.
The lore of the umibōzu is widespread and occurs all over Japan. Also the story of the umibōzu that asks for a ladle-type utensil then tries to sink the gift-giver's ship by scooping water in it, is found all over Japan.
In a commonplace story, the umibōzu asks for a ladle-type utensil from the gullible seafarer, only to have the creature try to fill the ship with the implement and try to sink it. In the version of Ukujima island, the creature is called either umibōzu or funayūrei, and demands a hishaku. Since it would try to use it to pour water into the fisherman's vessel, the wise strategy to survive this is to lend a ladle with the bottom punched out. This story is found all over Japan, though the sea creature may be told under various names. which is presumably a ladle or dipper also. In the version of, Aichi, the funayūrei demands an aka-tori 、where aka refers to "bilge water" and tori means "taker, gatherer" for any kind of such tool..
Nomenclature
Other names include or, where and both refer to a monk or priest.The umibōzu has a clean shaven head like a priest's, as aforementioned. Some English sources also generalize the umibōzu to be the spirits of drowned priests.
Sometimes the umibōzu is conflated with the, and it is difficult to make a stark distinction between them. As in the aforementioned example the same yōkai may be known as either funayūrei or umibōzu.
In the western seas the creature known as umibōzu is a human-headed sea turtle, corresponding to the from Chinese literature
In European folklore, there is also said to be sea creatures of like meaning, namely the sea monk and sea bishop.
Legends by area
Kyūshū and Shikoku
In the aforementioned lore around northern Gotō Archipelago, the part about the umibōzu aka funayūrei demanding the ladle is a motif that is widespread throughout Japan as aforementioned, but there are more superstitions about this yōkai according to fishermen of the area, namely, that it never tries to come aboard ship from the aft of the ship because the Funaō-sama faces that way, and always tries to climb from the prow. Also, if it clings onto the scull, then one should keep pushing it until the edge of the oar digs in, and the umibōzu would start screaming " " in pain..In Uwajima, Ehime Prefecture, there are tales where they would shapeshift into a zatō and kill human women. Also, while there are many legends of them attacking humans, in Uwajima there is the legend that those who see an umibōzu would live a long life.
Chūgoku region
In Nagato Province, at a part of village called Kawashiri, there is a tale passed down about a fisherman long ago who had been out night-fishing and witnessed a umibōzu that came to extinguish the basket fire, so he threw the fire-lit torches at the monster.In the Sea in-between Okayama Prefecture and Kagawa Prefecture, tales are told of a type of umibōzu called the nurarihyon with a large round head: they float towards the boat, and slowly away and then unexpectedly float approaching the boat again. They would do this several times over to taunt people. This marine creature is completely different from the old man-like yōkai called nurarihyon that bears the same name.
Aroud the San'in region it is said that one can encounter the umibōzu on the shore as well, while walking on the beach at night, and the slick, black mass-like creature will rub itself onto the passerby and attempt to drag the person into the sea. There are anecdotes of some survivor who got away with all his might.
From Tottori Prefecture, a piece of writing from the Edo period called attests to the umibōzu. A strong man from the village next to who boasted of being undefeated in sumo matches held at ceremonies encountered the one-eyed monster shaped like a stake measuring 2 shaku circumference. The man captured the monster after a struggle. Most villagers who gathered could not identify it, but a 90-year old man suggested this might be the umibōzu, said to lean on to people it finds, with its body slick with goo, causing an itch all over the body if touched, or so the old man had been told by his grandfather long ago.。
Kinki region
There is also the umibōzu of unusual appearance. The creature was said to appear periodically in the bay of . Finally, one was caught in the area at Miidera town, as reported in the 26 December 1888 issue of the Miyako Shinbun of Tokyo. This umibōzu was about tall and weighing about 60–70 kan, and was a large ape-like creature with brown hair, orange eyes, a mouth of a crocodile, belly of a fish, tail of a lobster, and the cry of a bull.On Awaji Island in town of, it has been told that one can be spared from an umbōzus attack by tossing the most precious cargo into the sea. However, the prescribed rule demands one must jettison the objects from the bow end of the boat.
Tohoku region
In the Tohoku region, there is a custom of making an offering of the first catch of the season to the Sea God, and if this is disregarded, the umibōzu was said to appear and destroy the boat and kidnap the boat owner.Umibōzu are also said to change their appearance, and a tale is told on the island of in Kesennuma, Miyagi Prefecture, about an umibōzu that shapeshifted into beautiful women and engaging in swimming contests with humans. There is also a similar tale in Iwate Prefecture, but there it is said that those who accept the challenge would be swallowed down instantly.
Chūbu region
In land-locked Nagano Prefecture there is no sea coast, but still claims to have umibōzu dwelling in its rivers. According to legend, it lived in rivers near Kaesa in Nakano city, had giant body and a black head like the head of a giant Buddha statue. Only its upper body was said to show above water.Ship ghosts and ghost ships
In Cape Shiriya, Higashidōri, Shimokita District, Aomori Prefecture, it is said that people eaten by sharks would become. These ghost ships can be repelled by dissolving some miso in water and letting the cold soup flow down the sea.Similar creatures
The "umikozō" told about in the Kamo District, Shizuoka Prefecture is a boy covered with hair all the way to the sides of the eye, and it is said that they would approach fishing lines with a grin.The folklore of the frightening or, presumably the ghosts of the victims of the Mongol invasion is passed on in various ways, but in the area of Tanabe, Wakayama Prefecture it is told that the monster appear when people visit the mountains on the lunar March 3 or if people visit the sea on the lunar May 5. According to one local informant, the ones that appear in the sea are a swarm of jelly-fish like things. Thus this has been characterizable as an umibōzu of a sort. But locals tell it differently for the mokuri kokuri that appears on land, namely, that they are human-like creatures that stretch or shrink to different size, and are encountered in the wheat fields. And according to a variant told at Kamikohama beach in Tanabe, the terrestrial mokuri kokuri is a weasel-like small beast that puncture the butts of humans who enter wheat fields at night. This version is conjectured to be a conflation of the lores of the "earth-rat" and the kappa by Minakata Kumagusu
In the Kitauwa District, Ehime Prefecture, the sea would become white at night and a "shirami", also called "shirami yūren", would come swimming, and fishers would call these idiots. However, it is said that if they hear "idiot", they'd get angry and cling on to the scull and give a bad time.
On Sado Island, the "tate-eboshi" is a monster said to stand at a height of who would aim at ships and try to flip them over.
In classical literature
The includes a narrative claiming an encounter with a 黒入道-type umibōzu, which purportedly took place during the Meiō era. Two sarugaku performers, a drummer and a flautist, needed passage to Suruga Province and boarded a ferry boat from Ise Province bound for Cape Irago. The ferryman had the policy of refusing a "lone woman" aboard, but the drummer Zenya or Zenchin insisted his wife be carried. When the boat encountered a big storm, the ferryman angrily blamed the presence of the lone woman for incurring the anger of the Dragon God, and told the group to cast valuables into the sea to appease the god, to no avail, Then the black bald thing appeared, which had a head five to six times the size of a human's, glittering eyes as large as Tenmoku teacups, and a horse-like mouth that was in length. The wife made her resolve and tossed herself into the ocean, and the black bald thing snatched the woman in its jaws, upon which the waves calmed and the group made it ashore, though bereft of their possessions. According to the ferryman, the black bald thing was a monster called. These umibōzu are said to be fallen dragon deities who would demand sacrifice.According to the narrative found in the, the samurai was crossing the sea to Tsushima he had an encounter with a slick, oily sea monster, and asked about it from a local fisherman, who replied that such monsters exist, additionally informing the warrior that the sea also has creatures called the that an umibōzu rose out of the sea and remained ashore for three days; meanwhile, the local inhabitants told their children not to play outside. According to eyewitnesses, it was human-like in appearance and gigantic, black as lacquerware in its entire body, but stayed half-dipped in water and was facing away, so no one saw its face.
Image:Kuwana - The sailor Tokuso and the sea monster.jpg|right|thumb|The umibōzu from the Fifty-Three Stations for the Tōkaidō, Kuwana Station: Lore of Sailor Tokuzō. Presumably the monster in Usō Kanwa and the sailor Tokuzō, by Utagawa Kuniyoshi
In the essay, possbly by Matsudaira Sadanobu, there appears an anecdote from Kuwana claiming an umibōzu encounter. It was local tradition to avoid sailing at the end of the month for fear of encountering the monstrosity. But a sailor named Kuwanaya Tokuzō broke this ban and went out to sea, whereupon an umibōzu appeared that was 1 jō tall with eyes like mirrors painted with red pigment. The giant asked "Frightened?", to which the sailor answered, "There's nothing as frightening as trying to make it across this mundane world", at which the umibōzu disappeared. Similarly, there is a legend about a "zatō gashira", a blind bōzu that appears above the sea, and it would ask people, "Frightened?", and if one acts afraid and answers "I'm scared", or exclaims "Help", it would say, "You should not be going out to sea at the end of the month", and disappear.
Bakemono no e
In the early Edo period scroll Bakemono no e, the depiction of the umibōzu is rather unique, resembling a catfish.Sea turtle
's Wakan Sansai Zue has an entry for a human-faced sea-turtle, known in Chinese as the "monk-fish", which Ryōan claims is known as umibōzu by the Japanese who find it in the western seas..Another work entitled, as well as the later, Meiji period compilation adds that according to the lore of Chōshi Bay in Shimōsa Province, a priest named Shōgaku-bō having drowned to death became the umibōzu. Its appearance is close to what the Japanese call "mud turtles", but the face resembles a cat, and the fore- and hind-paws do not have well-defined toes. When fishermen capture one of these, they would customarily take pity and release it.
The Wakan Sansai Zue also describes the umobōzu being released by Japanese fishermen. But encountering an umobōzu turtle was considered unlucky, i.e., an omen of a bad catch. Therefore, when the turtle pressed its forearms together in front of its breast in a praying gesture, and shed tears to beg for its life, the fisherman made sure to warn the creature not to take vengeance on my fishing before releasing it.
In Sanuki such creature is called a Kamenyūdō.
Chinese tradition
As already touched upon above Terashima Ryōan's Wakan Sansai Zue equates the monster known in Japan as umibōzu with the Chinese heshang yu, described as a red creature with a humanlike face and softshell turtle-like body of reddish color.Sea monk
In the by Wang Dahai, under the name of "umi oshō" or "kai oshō", it was written to be a yōkai resembling a human but has a tear from mouth to ear, and would make a big laughter upon finding a human. Umi oshō are said to be feared because when they appear, a storm surge always follows. It is also theorized that this was actually the sea turtle hyperbolically remade into a yōkai. Note that or "monk/priest-fish" of Chinese tradition which is human-headed and turtle -bodied, is equated with the umibōzu in the encyclopedia Wakan Sansai Zue.According to the Taiwan xuzhi i.e.,, the hai heshang sea-monk "had a red color, with head and body similar to human form, with four wings/fins, and no scales so it was essentially a ningyo, and was merely a newly coined term used around the Canton area to refer to such creatures. Whereas the hai heshang described in the is an entirely different creature.
Ghost-wailing sea
In China, there is the legend of the bald-headed sea horde called Kikokutan, or Kikoku-nada. The horde of about 100 "headless, one-handed and one-legged, short and bald beings arrive and try to overturn the ship. They are said to dissipate once some sort of foodstuff is scattered at it. Inoue Enryō considered this the counterpart of Japan's funayūrei, while Ōta Nanpo wrote it was a type of umibōzu.The Kikoku-nada legend is also known in the Chita District, Aichi, where it has been told that if one sailed out on the lunar New Year's Eve, one was sure to encounter the eerie creature, but the disturbance will cease if a lot of ladles are cast into the sea.
Recent sightings
In April 1971, the fishing vessels 28th Konpira Maru which sailed off from Miyagi Prefecture allegedly had its tuna-fishing long line snapped off by a giant marine beast off of New Zealand, approximately southeast of Cape Lyttelton, and this has been tied to the umibōzu. The creature has also been dubbed as a sort of UMA. It had greyish wrinkled skin, with glaring eyes about in diameter, a flattened nose, and no mouth to be seen. Though the rest of its body was in murky waters to see clearly, there was some billowing movement under the surface suggesting a trailing tail. As they got ready to harpoon it, the monster disappeared into the sea.When an officer at the Yaizu, Shizuoka branch of the heard of this account, he supposed that it was likely that the fishermen were mistaking an organism, such as a fish or whale, for a monster. In another eyewitness account, the half of its body that appeared from the water surface was about in length, so by inferring that its whole body was several times that length, they said that they never heard of an organism like that.
These accounts were published in Mainichi Shimbun on July 17 of the same year.
Rational explanations
The umibōzu sometimes appear at seas with no abnormalities, so it's pointed out that these could be things that do exist but were misinterpreted. Some examples of things that could have been misinterpreted include sea organisms, cumulonimbus clouds, big waves, and other natural phenomena.Umibōzu always appear only in the ocean, usually during peaceful waters and fair weather. These fair conditions would normally put the sailors at ease as they are literally "sailing on smooth waters" but the possible presence of a malicious spirit put many sailors on edge in these times of peaceful sailing. Upon its sudden rising from the ocean, causing waves and sometimes flipping ships or breaking them with its emergence, umibōzu is accompanied by the winds begin to blow and waves toss the ship about. The appearance of an umibōzu alone causes this dramatic shift in weather which puts any ship in immediate peril, not only from being capsized by the waves but also from being crushed by the yōkai. This could be a mixing of the funayūrei legends which suggests these yōkai appear during storms at sea.