Bai Gu Jing (白骨精)
Alternative Names (異名):
白骨精, 백골정, Bai Gu Jing
Bai Gu Jing (traditional Chinese: 白骨精, means a "white bone demon") is a yaoguai from Journey to the West (西遊記).
Plot
It first uses one of its many transformations to manifest itself as an innocent pretty girl who says she left her father and mother to search for food and that she is willing to share them with Sanzang(三藏) aka Xuanzang. Sun Wukong(孫悟空) uses his magical eyes could see through her disguise and hits her with the golden banded cudgel and smashes her body but she leaves the body before it is hit. This leads to a fallout with Sanzang and Wukong as Sanzang sees that Wukong's method is too harsh and that it defeats their purpose of finding salvation in all living beings.
As Sanzang eventually forgives Wukong for his action, Bai Gu Jing manifest itself into its next transformation which is the mother of the girl that Wukong first killed. Once again, Wukong saw through the demon's trick, but it insisted that Wukong beat it one more time with the cudgel to incite Sanzang to further scold him more. With anger, Wukong falls for the demon's trickery once again, Sanzang scolds Wukong but repents for his doing. Sanzang doesn't realize that the demon's intention is to drive Wukong away knowing he is his only protector. Sanzang would once again forgive Wukong but he gives him an ultimatim that he is not to kill anymore.
In the final transformation, Bai Gu Jing manifest itself into the father to seek pity from Sanzang who believes Wukong had killed both his wife and daughter. In the final act, Wukong once again ignores Sanzang's order and kills the last manifestation of the demon, this act led to Sanzang using the Tight-Fillet spell to punish Wukong. While Wukong refuses to repent for his actions, Sanzang would eventually expel him from the journey leaving him to return to Flower Fruit Mountain. Once Wukong was gone, Sanzang and his other disciples soon realize the demon's trap, as it intends to eat his flesh which is believe to bring longevity. The finale of the story leads to Sanzang's forgivings and the return of Wukong to save the day.
This part of the story brings into debate the argument between Sanzang and Wukong, Wukong acts without thinking and repent as he sees only evil and good, he is the only one that could see through the demon and believes that the only solution is by vanquishing it. On the other hand Sanzang thinks with compassion and believes even if Wukong was right, there are alternatives in dealing with the demon without killing it. The demon also uses the notion of karma to mock Sanzang and his disciples by using karma, its reincarnation from the daughter to the mother and eventually to the father leads Sanzang to fill more pity every time Wukong kills. The eventual outcome of the story allows both Sanzang and Wukong to learn a valuable lesson, as Sanzang must tolerate the means of Wukong in order to be protected while Wukong must learn to understand compassion.
Links
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bai_Gu_Jing
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_mythology
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Chinese_mythology
Chinese Fiction | Chinese mythology | Demons | Journey to the West (西遊記)
Monday, April 7, 2008
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
Baku (貊)
Baku (貊)
Alternative Names (異名):
獏, 貘, Baku, 맥, 貊, Maek
Baku (獏 or 貘) are Japanese supernatural beings that devour dreams and nightmares. They have a long history in Japanese folklore and art, and more recently have appeared in Japanese anime and manga.
The Japanese term baku has two current meanings, referring to both the traditional dream-devouring creature and to the zoological tapir (e.g., the Malaysian tapir). In Korean, the term is maek (맥, 貊). In recent years, there have been changes in how the baku is depicted.
History and Description
The traditional Japanese nightmare-devouring baku originates in Chinese folklore and was familiar in Japan as early as the Muromachi period (14th-15th century). Hori Tadao (2005) has described the dream-eating abilities attributed to the traditional baku and relates them to other preventatives against nightmare like the use of amulets. Kaii-Yōkai Denshō Database, citing a 1957 paper, and Mizuki (2004) also describe the dream-devouring capacities of the traditional baku.
An early 17th century Japanese manuscript, the Sankai Ibutsu (山海異物), describes the baku as a Chinese mythical chimera with an elephant’s trunk, rhinoceros eyes, an ox tail, and tiger paws, which in belief protected against pestilence and evil, although eating nightmares was not included among its abilities. However, in a 1791 Japanese wood-block illustration, a specifically dream-destroying baku is depicted with an elephant’s head, tusks, and trunk, with horns and tiger’s claws.[4] The elephant’s head, trunk, and tusks are characteristic of baku portrayed in classical era (pre-Meiji) Japanese wood-block prints and in shrine, temple, and netsuke carvings. Writing in the Meiji era, Lafcadio Hearn (1902) described a baku with very similar attributes that was also able to devour nightmares.
Since the 1980s in manga, anime, and other forms of popular culture, the baku appears not as a chimera of an elephant and tiger but as a zoologically recognizable tapir. Examples include Takahashi Rumiko's manga Urusei Yatsura (1995) and Mikimoto Haruhiko's manga Marionatte Generation (2001, original 1990), and in anime, Oshii Mamoru’s 1984 film about Lum, Beautiful Dreamer. Such baku also appear in Pokémon and Digimon (the Drowzee is a baku-like Pokémon, and Digimon features a character called Bakumon). "Baku" is a main character in the Playstation 2 game Dual Hearts, characterized as a "pig" that eats dreams. However, not all modern baku/yumekui are tapirs ("yumekui" means "dreamcatcher"). In Satoshi Kon’s 2007 animated film “Paprika,” Paprika, a young woman who is kami of the Dreamtime, is a baku/yumekui who devours a dream-villain at the film’s climax. Hakase Mizuki's 2007 manga Ba_ku (sic) is also in part about a baku/yumekui who is not a tapir.
Dream-eating, tapir-shaped baku have also entered non-Japanese popular culture. The picture book "The Dream Eater" by Christian Garrison tells the story of a young boy, Yukio, who meets a baku and brings it to his village. Neil Gaiman’s "The Dream Hunters,” which is based on Japanese mythology, features baku.
Chinese mythology | Japanese legendary creatures | Japanese mythology | Legendary mammals
Alternative Names (異名):
獏, 貘, Baku, 맥, 貊, Maek
Baku (獏 or 貘) are Japanese supernatural beings that devour dreams and nightmares. They have a long history in Japanese folklore and art, and more recently have appeared in Japanese anime and manga.
The Japanese term baku has two current meanings, referring to both the traditional dream-devouring creature and to the zoological tapir (e.g., the Malaysian tapir). In Korean, the term is maek (맥, 貊). In recent years, there have been changes in how the baku is depicted.
History and Description
The traditional Japanese nightmare-devouring baku originates in Chinese folklore and was familiar in Japan as early as the Muromachi period (14th-15th century). Hori Tadao (2005) has described the dream-eating abilities attributed to the traditional baku and relates them to other preventatives against nightmare like the use of amulets. Kaii-Yōkai Denshō Database, citing a 1957 paper, and Mizuki (2004) also describe the dream-devouring capacities of the traditional baku.
An early 17th century Japanese manuscript, the Sankai Ibutsu (山海異物), describes the baku as a Chinese mythical chimera with an elephant’s trunk, rhinoceros eyes, an ox tail, and tiger paws, which in belief protected against pestilence and evil, although eating nightmares was not included among its abilities. However, in a 1791 Japanese wood-block illustration, a specifically dream-destroying baku is depicted with an elephant’s head, tusks, and trunk, with horns and tiger’s claws.[4] The elephant’s head, trunk, and tusks are characteristic of baku portrayed in classical era (pre-Meiji) Japanese wood-block prints and in shrine, temple, and netsuke carvings. Writing in the Meiji era, Lafcadio Hearn (1902) described a baku with very similar attributes that was also able to devour nightmares.
Since the 1980s in manga, anime, and other forms of popular culture, the baku appears not as a chimera of an elephant and tiger but as a zoologically recognizable tapir. Examples include Takahashi Rumiko's manga Urusei Yatsura (1995) and Mikimoto Haruhiko's manga Marionatte Generation (2001, original 1990), and in anime, Oshii Mamoru’s 1984 film about Lum, Beautiful Dreamer. Such baku also appear in Pokémon and Digimon (the Drowzee is a baku-like Pokémon, and Digimon features a character called Bakumon). "Baku" is a main character in the Playstation 2 game Dual Hearts, characterized as a "pig" that eats dreams. However, not all modern baku/yumekui are tapirs ("yumekui" means "dreamcatcher"). In Satoshi Kon’s 2007 animated film “Paprika,” Paprika, a young woman who is kami of the Dreamtime, is a baku/yumekui who devours a dream-villain at the film’s climax. Hakase Mizuki's 2007 manga Ba_ku (sic) is also in part about a baku/yumekui who is not a tapir.
Dream-eating, tapir-shaped baku have also entered non-Japanese popular culture. The picture book "The Dream Eater" by Christian Garrison tells the story of a young boy, Yukio, who meets a baku and brings it to his village. Neil Gaiman’s "The Dream Hunters,” which is based on Japanese mythology, features baku.
Chinese mythology | Japanese legendary creatures | Japanese mythology | Legendary mammals
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