Will 2021 be the year of the Yokai?
Although it's late, Happy New Year everyone.
The year 2021 has started off with some turmoil, with another state of emergency being declared in one prefecture and three prefectures in the Tokyo metropolitan area due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and a state of emergency being scheduled to be issued in three prefectures in the Kansai region. In the United States, Trump supporters rioted and attacked the US Capitol in Washington, and the current president is on the verge of being impeached, with calls for his removal from office.
What kind of year will this be for youkai?
Monsters associated with the Year of the Ox
2021 is the Year of the Ox.
As for monsters with a cow motif,Ushioni"or"The matter" and others.
In 2020, it is said that he will be able to predict and calm the epidemic.Amabie" was popular this year, and similar things like Ushi-oni, who have the power to calm epidemics, and beasts with prophetic abilities, coupled with the zodiac sign, may become popular this year.
For more information on Ushi-oni, please also refer to the following article.
Monster movies in 2021
Speaking of monster-related news this year, the movie "Great Yokai War Guardians" is scheduled for release in summer 2021.
In conjunction with this, various yokai events will also be held.
Details of the film have yet to be revealed, but it will be directed by Takashi Miike and star Kokoro Terada.Tokorozawa City, Saitama PrefectureIt seems that this will be the setting.
The Kadokawa Musashino Museum in Higashi-Tokorozawa seems to be buzzing with excitement as it hosts the "Aramata Hiroshi's Yokai Fumadane 2020" exhibition.
Tokorozawa's Mysterious Cat Legend
Tokorozawa is the home of Totoro Forest, the setting for the Totoro story, and the library at the nearby Tokorozawa campus of Waseda University has a large collection of books on folklore and cultural anthropology, making it the perfect place for yokai research.
There used to be a "Lucky cat mound" is a place where legends of a mysterious cat remain.
Long ago, there was a barrel maker in Tokorozawa named Kihei who had a cat.
One night, the man saw the cat wearing a towel on its head and doing a cat dance in the shadow of a lantern, so he chased it away.
The cat then wandered into a restaurant called Izumiya, a few blocks away from Kihei's house.
As people loved it, it began to stay there, and eventually it came out to the front of the store, sat down and beckoned, "Come on in." People were so charmed that they couldn't help but stop by the store, and Izumiya quickly became very popular. "That's a lucky cat," it became known.
This cat was known as the "lucky cat," and after its death it was enshrined in a mound on the outskirts of the Kamakura Kaido road. It is said that there was no end to the people who came to worship it as the guardian deity of prosperous business.
Hokkaido Topics for 2021
This year's topics include:"Jomon ruins in Hokkaido and northern Tohoku" may become a World Heritage SiteThis is what happens.
The "Jomon Sites of Hokkaido and Northern Tohoku," consisting of 17 sites in Hokkaido, Aomori, Akita, and Iwate, is aiming to have its status registered as a World Heritage Site at a UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) committee meeting to be held from June to July this year.
There is a rumor that the clay figurines from the Jomon period are aliens, but even if that is not the case, their shapes are adorable and attractive.
Seeing divinity in natureanimismThis idea of " is something that is common in yokai culture.
Sustainable Development GoalsSDGsNow that "Jomon culture," which lasted for about 15,000 years, is becoming popular, attention is being paid to the culture of the Jomon period, which may hold clues for modern humanity.
The SDGs are a good match for yokai, and I think it may be necessary to enlist the power of yokai to solve social issues.
For more information on environmental issues and yokai, please see the following article.
<Environmental issues and monsters (Minakata Kumagusu, Oshirasama, Kappa)>
By the way, just to promote ourselves, we are planning to hold a seminar on SDGs and digital transformation in local governments.
I'll also be talking about monsters.
https://www.itc.or.jp/foritc/seminar/b_210127.html
In Hokkaido, Ainu festivals such as Chipsanke have been canceled for 2020.
I hope that this year there will be festivals and various events held.
We also pray that the COVID-19 pandemic will subside and that the epidemic will be eradicated.
Images: "Ushi-oni" from Sawaki Takayuki's "Hyakukai Zukan", "Tenpo 7th year woodblock print depicting the Kurahashiyama incident", Toho and KADOKAWA's "The Great Yokai War Guardians", the Watanabe family cats (Mii and Yue), and the "Sunshade Clay Figurine (replica)" from the Kamegaoka Stone Age Ruins
References: "The Definitive Japanese Yokai Encyclopedia: Yokai, the Other World, and Gods" (Mizuki Shigeru, Kodansha Bunko), "Japanese Yokai Encyclopedia" (Mizuki Shigeru, Murakami Kenji, Kadokawa Bunko)
Text by Keishiro Watanabe
■ Keichan Watanabe
He currently lives in Sapporo, Hokkaido. He was born in Asahikawa. He graduated from the School of Human Sciences at Waseda University. He is an independent researcher of yokai. He is an IT coordinator, a Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA), and a Project Management Professional (PMP).
He currently works as a management and IT consultant, residing in Sapporo, Hokkaido, and traveling throughout the prefecture and Tokyo. However, he studied folklore and cultural anthropology at university, and continues to research yokai as his life's work.
I am currently writing articles about monsters associated with Hokkaido, where I currently live, as well as current news about business and economics.
Twitter:https://twitter.com/keishiro_w
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