October 4, 2023 • 36 mins
We go back to Japan on this tour and take you to visit a couple of yokai. First, we head to Himeji Castle where we encounter the vengeful spirit of Okiku, as well as the mysterious Osakabehime. Next, we take you into the dark tale of the Amanojaku.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:12):
Down this road is a small city, once thriving and full of life,
but now desolate and abandoned. Wellabandoned save for the horrors rumored to reside
within, which I presume is whileyou're here. Now, there's nothing wrong
with a little morbid curiosity, butplease remember to stay close to your guides.
We wouldn't want anyone to get leftbehind. Now. Hello everyone,
(00:43):
Welcome back to Nopeville, your favoritedarkened city filled with all the horrible things
that make you say nope, nope. We are your tour guides. I'm
Christine, I'm Jen, And inhonor of Jen leaving us in the whole
country for a while, I'm usingthe portals l We're actually headed to Japan.
Yay Oo'm so excited, and weare doing primarily we're covering some yokai
(01:07):
in the area, but Jen isalso covering a haunted location. Yeah.
So, if you remember what yokaiare, they are usually kind of dark
spirits that the Japanese tell stories of. Yeah, so I'm going to be
talking about Himeji Castle and you're visitingthat. I r l too. I
am so excited. See the thingis, I booked our tour to Himeji
(01:27):
Castle before I learned about this,So now I'm even more excited to go
see Himeji Castle. Nice. So. Himeji Castle is located in the city
of Himeji within the Hiogo Prefecture.In Japan. It's also called the Harurujo
or the Shirasagi Joe, meaning thewhite egret Castle or the white heron Castle
(01:48):
due to its pure white facade thatlooks similar to a white bird taking flight.
That's pretty. But before I goto Japan, let's both jump into
the portal with all of our touristsand check out Himeji Castle. It was
originally built as a fort on topof Himeyama Hill in thirteen thirty three by
(02:12):
Akamatsu Norimura. About a decade later, in thirteen forty six, the fort
was remodeled into Himayama Castle by hisson, where it stood until it was
renovated and expanded a couple of centurieslater in fifteen eighty one by Toyotomi Hideyoshi,
who was a feudal lord and achief imperial minister at this time,
we ordered to promote unification across Japan. Hideyoshi ordered castles to be built and
(02:34):
Himeji was one of them. Hebuilt a three storied main building that he
used as a base when attacking thewestern part of Japan. When the castle
was passed to another feudal leader,Ikeda Terumasa, in sixteen hundred, it
was redesigned completely, with him onlyretaining the foundations of the building. He
expanded the castle into a massive complexbuilt for war, adding in three moats
(02:54):
surrounding the complex, gates, ramparts, secret rooms, tunnels and turrets,
and a maze like path to themain tower. Everything a castle could ever
need. Exactly why would you puta castle and not put in a secret
room and literally everything else, allthe things that belong in a castle right.
The reasoning behind this was essentially tocause the enemy invaders to spiral through
(03:15):
the castle and be corralled into deadends that would leave them open to attacks,
thus slowing their path to the maintower. Within the castle itself,
there are about a thousand holes invarious walls where people could hide and shoot
intruders. Jesus this wasn't out ofcharacter for him, however, because he
was gifted to land as a rewardfor his fighting accomplishments during the Battle of
(03:36):
Sekigahara. I guess living in aheavily fortified complex felt like home to him.
But despite all of his HGTV renovations, these defense systems were never used
because Himeji was never under attacked.I'm ready. Oh, they're just kind
of there, ready for no reason. In addition to the maze, like
build the roofs of the buildings withinthe complex or a dorm ony go wadas,
(04:00):
which are roof tiles or statues inJapanese architecture that are designed to look
like ogres that are believed to repelevil spirits and protect the people that reside
within the castle, which I guessworked for him because the castle never went
under attack. So it reminds mea bit of like the convoluted crazy shit
we do with like any building inlike seven days, Yeah, anticipating that
(04:23):
there's going to be all his zombieactivity and then nothing happens, right,
especially during blood moons and at thebeginning. Yeah yeah, but you know,
at least we're not crazy, andpeople have done that in history.
Yeah, so that's a real thingthat people do. So yeah, see,
we have a mind sometimes. Ifanything, we're saying right over time,
the building was owned by different feudallords, where more buildings were added
(04:45):
to the complex, and it spannedfrom nine hundred and fifty to sixteen hundred
meters from east to west and ninehundred to seventeen hundred meters from north to
south, taking up an area ofabout two and a half miles. It's
a massive complex that still stands tothis day. During the Meiji period,
many castles were destroyed, and whileHemeji wasn't destroyed, it was abandoned and
left in disarray. Some of thecastle's corridors and gates were destroyed in order
(05:08):
to make room for Japanese army barracks. It was slated to be demolished,
however Nakamoto Shigeto, an army colonel, spared it. In eighteen seventy one,
it was put up for auction,where it was purchased by a Hemeji
resident for twenty three yen. Initially, the new owner wanted to tear down
the castle to develop the land.However, it was too costly and thus
Hemeji remained don't get lost wire thereby the way. We'll see. We'll
(05:31):
see if I come back and seehow much of the you know, circumventing
stuff is still there. I'm socurious to see what it all looks like
them. Yeah, the castle evenwithstood the heavy toil and bombing of World
War Two. Even though much ofthe surrounding land was burned, the castle
wasn't touched. And it also survivedthe Great Hanshien earthquake in nineteen ninety five,
which a lot of other ancient castlesdid not survive. Those ogres are
(05:53):
doing work right. So, asI mentioned, it still stands today with
a lot of its original features anda total of eighty three building surrounding its
coacious Yep, it's Japan's largest mostvisited castle, and it was registered on
the UNESCO World Heritage Lists in nineteenninety three. Yeah, and as you
know, a building with such longhistory isn't without its paranormal legends. One
(06:15):
such legend is about a woman namedOkiku. Okeiku was said to be the
young, beautiful servant of a samurainamed al Yama tessn. Al Yama was
an ambitious man with lofty goals totake over the province, and he wanted
to do with Okiku by his side. A Yama wasn't blind to Okiku's beauty,
and he'd frequently make romantic passes towardsher, of which she'd politely reject.
(06:35):
Okiku's main charge was at care forthe lord's precious plates in the castle,
so of all of her fancy duties, she had to take care of
these ten plates. Tired of beingrejected over and over again, though,
ala Yama deceived Okiku into thinking oneof these plates was either missing or broken,
depending on which story you hear.Okiku was obviously distraught because the penalty
(06:58):
for this would be death. Right. She frantically counted the plates one,
two, three, until over andover she'd only end at nine. Ayamma
made a deal with her. Hewould cover for her and tell his master
that it wasn't Okiku that was responsiblefor the broken her missing plate, so
that she wouldn't be put to death, under the condition that she'd become his
lover. Okay guessed on right,Okeiku refused again. Ayama was so enraged
(07:25):
that he threw Okiku down a wellwhere she died. Ah, but at
least she kept her morals intact.Yes, her integrity yeah, because this
guy was clearly an asshole. Yes. Another iteration of the story is that
al Yama actually tied up Okeiku andhunk her over the well where he tortured
her over and over again in orderto get her to agree to be his
(07:45):
mistress. But she still refuses him, and in his rage, he kills
her with his sword and then dropsher down the well. Oh my god,
again still keeping her integrity. Yes. Yet another iteration is that she
is so tormented by this and toescape the torture from the samurai, which
she knew was going to happen,she threw herself down the well. See
again, she was like, no, absolutely no, no iteration of the
(08:09):
story. Am I going to getwith you just so that I don't die?
Exactly like in every instance, inevery parallel timeline, it's a no.
It's a no for me. I'llbet he still thinks he's a good
guy. Probably. Another version ofthe story is that Okiku overheard a plot
to assassinate the lord by Aoyama,and she reported it to her lover,
(08:30):
who was a loyal warrior, andthe plot to kill the lord was prevented
m a Yama found out it wasOkeiku who stopped his ambitious plans. Conjured
the story of Okiku breaking or losingthe plate and then tortured her to death
and threw her down the well.Jesus Christ. So, no matter what
the story is, she dies andgets thrown down a well due to these
plates. Right, there's so manyiterations of the story. Mine has different
(08:54):
iterations to Kaya. It's so fascinating. I think it's a region thing in
Pans. Yeah, it is aregion thing, like there's there's specific one
specifically for him Edgy, but Idecided to include her legend in general.
Yeah. So another iteration is thatthere's a jealous lover plot where al Yama
is actually already married and his wifeis jealous of his advances towards Okiku,
(09:18):
so she breaks the plate in orderto frame Okeiku, and Okiku is so
distraught that she commits suicide by throwingherself down the wall. I like that
the way that came out is becauseit's the way the way every one of
them ends in and she threw herselfdown and then she goes down. This
(09:39):
poor girl. Yeah, either way, I feel so bad for Okiku.
Everybody around her is just determined tothrow her down the wall exactly after the
night of her a wrongful, gruesomedeath it said that she would come out
of the well every night, scouringthe castle grounds looking for the tenth plate.
Every night she'd hunt out a Yamaand he could hear her counting the
(10:01):
precious plates one, two, three, until she would reach nine and let
out a howling scream. Good,I hope you went fucking mad and one
iteration to your pleasure. Al Yamagoes insane by the constant haunting every night,
and then he throws himself down thewell. Karma, Yeah, there
you go. In the version whereit was al Yama's wife that frames Okiku,
(10:24):
it's the wife that throws herself downthe well. Well less satisfying,
only because she has only featured once. Yes. Now, some urban legends
of this story state that if youhear Okiku counting and you manage to escape
before she counts to the seventh plate, then you can get away with your
life. However, if you can'tflee before she reaches nine, then you
(10:46):
might lose your mind yourself, justlike al Yamam. I wonder why it's
not eight though? Why is itseven? Is it? Like? No?
What giving you a buffer? Yeah, they're like, if you get
to eight, you may as welljust not have gotten away. You're not
Usain Bolts. You can't get awayat eight, Well at seven you can.
Depends how slowly she's counting too,though, right, oh my god,
(11:07):
could you imagine phasmophobia if like youhad something like that where the ghost
starts counting. Yeah, yeah,So it depends on how consistent she is
with her counting. Right, soshe just goes yeah, she's like,
you didn't make it. It's likeeight and a half nine and three quarters,
depending on which version you hear.The castle lord becomes aggravated by the
(11:30):
haunting that he calls a priest tohelp rid the land of her spirit.
The priest waits in the garden allnight for Okiku to appear. When her
spirit crawls out of the well andstarts counting just before she reaches nine,
followed by her shriek, the priestyells ten, no way, no way,
that's all he does. He didsome like prayers and chants before she
(11:56):
came out east exorcism ever, butlike I was like, that's clever.
I guess. The counting to tenappeared to relieve okiku spirit and she was
finally able to pass on. However, other stories say she haunts the well
and him Edgy Castle to this day, where there is a shrine surrounding it,
and has become a popular tourist destination, which you know I'm gonna go
(12:18):
see, of course, are yougonna go? Count to ten? It
feels like taunting the spirit. Thatdoesn't feel nice. I wouldn't do it.
Yeah, I feel bad for Okiku. Yeah, if I could say
something against Alayama, maybe m cursehim. If you were to go to
visit Okiku's well, you will noticethere are bars atop the entrance, leading
(12:39):
some people to question if it's thereto keep tourists out or to keep something
in. Hmm, except that spiritsdon't have physical manifestations, so it's not
going to do a whole lot ofgood. You could try, well,
I mean, iron allegedly does thingsto spirits. The gargoyles on top of
the roofs are doing something that's true. Okiku story has been told in various
(13:01):
media throughout Japan, such as kubukifilm, manga, folk tales, and
puppet theater. By the eighteenth century, Okiku story was so widespread that there
was a larval infestation throughout the wellsin Japan. The chrysalis. Stage of
the caterpillars were said to resemble thebody of a bound woman, so many
believe the infestation to be the vengefulact of the wronged woman, Okiku.
(13:24):
And this event was then called Okiku'srevenge And supposedly the shopkeepers capitalized on the
legend and started to sell the chrysalisas souvenirs to tourists. Right, and
they called the chrysalis the bugs theOkiku mushi. All right, yeah,
So there's also a spirit or yokaicalled the Yokiku mushi, which translates into
(13:48):
Okiku bug, and it's a caterpillarlike entity with the torso of a human
woman. Oh okay And these entitiesare said to exist by being born from
the vengeance of Okiku spirit. Whoare you that? As In art,
she's frequently depicted as having long blackhair and a white gown. Crawling out
(14:11):
of the well doesn't sound familiar?You know? It rings a bell?
Nice If you said that it remindsyou of the Lovely Jay horror movie The
Ring, you'd be correct. Manyhave compared the story of Okeku two Samara
slash Stakos with the story of atortured young woman wrongfully killed by being thrown
(14:33):
into a well, whose spirit crawlsout to seek revenge on anyone they could
get their cold, wet hands on. Gross. So people like to say
that the ring is based off ofOkiku's legend, but the only thing is
the well. Well. Yeah,I was like, that's I don't see
the rest of it. Yeah,I don't. I don't know. I'm
(14:54):
pretty sure she has her own Yeah, she has her own story that I
told. But a lot of people, you'll see a lot of articles like
the true story behind the ring.I'm like, it's the only element is
the well and the woman. Butokay, the well, the woman,
the black hair, and the whitedress Jennifer, Yeah, okay, there's
a lot. I take it back. Yeah, appearances are everything, and
(15:15):
it's in Japan. Oh see,that's the clincher, and so the location
right, speaking of revenge. InJapanese folklore, okiku spirit is classified as
an nrio. So it anrio iseventual spirit who died in a fit of
strong passion such as rage, jealousy, or hatred, and their souls unable
(15:35):
to pass on. They're often depictedwith the wounds of which they died from,
often dying from circumstances such as war, catastrophe, betrayal, murder,
or suicide. While they are powerfulenough to kill anyone, they often prefer
to let the object of their vengeancelive a long, tormented life of suffering
and decide to go after the targetsloved ones instead. I mean that is
the better revenge. It's effective.Yeah. They often are associated with curse,
(16:00):
and the curses can be passed onto others, creating a never ending
cycle of death and destruction. Theyhave an insatiable hunger for vengeance and continue
to haunt people or a place longafter the ghost has been laid to rest,
until someone can successfully exercise it byyelling ten. By yelling ten,
there you go. Try put thatin your book of extacisms. Yes.
(16:21):
Another type of yokai or Japanese spiritor supernatural being that supposedly lives in Himeji
Castle is the Osakabe hime. It'sa spirit of mysterious origins that lives inside
the castle's keep, allegedly responsible forthe death of Ikeda Terramasa, the lord
that revamped the place in the sixteenhundreds so I talked about earlier. She's
often seen as a majestic old womanwearing a twelve layered kimono, or she
(16:45):
can take the form of a kitsuneor a fox or a kami, which
is a Shinto spirit. Some legendssay that she's the goddess of Mount Hime,
who already had a shrine on theland Hemeji Castle was built upon,
but in its expansion, the spiritshrine was disturbed and sought revenge, causing
Ikeda to fall ill. It hassince been re enshrined in its original shrine
(17:07):
allegedly, but the spirit can stillbe seen today on the second floor of
the keep. Interesting. Other storiesstate that she is the illegitimate child of
Princess Inoe, who was the empressconsort of Emperor Konin and was exiled when
she was accused of witchcraft, orshe was said to be the spirit of
the courtesans of Emperor Fushimi, andother origin is that she was an old
katsune. Interesting, which we mighttalk about katsune yeah, it just like
(17:33):
yeah. It's said to have greatpower and can read the heart of people
and manipulate them. She's also veryknowledgeable about many things and can control other
spirits called kenzo kushin animal like spiritsand have them act as her messengers.
Interesting as a warning to others.If anyone witnesses her face, they will
die instantly. Oh well nah,that's cool with that said though, So
(17:56):
she's kind of like a shy spiritm she doesn't like to be perceived.
Right. She's supposedly very reclusive andhates meeting people. Hey, I can
relate, and spends her time hiddenaway in the secret areas of him Edgi
Castle because there are so many secretsin Heimgi Castle. See, when you
(18:18):
started to say that she doesn't liketo be perceived, I started picturing like
there's there's an sep that lingers atthe edges of your eyes, like like
not in your eyeballs, but likeyou never see it out the corner of
your eye. Yeah right, Yeah, that's creepy. Maybe she's like that.
You're just walking around him Edgie andyou're like, what does that?
But it's also kind of nice thatyou know she doesn't like to be seen,
(18:41):
but if you see here, youwill die instantly. Maybe that's why
she does want to be seen,because she doesn't actually like killing people.
Right. But it's like Medusa,right, Like she can never make eye
contact with anybody. She's like,no, leave me alone. I don't
want to kill you. Maybe stopcoming after me, stop trying to look
at me. Yeah. Maybe shedoesn't want to cause harm and that's why
she's reclusive. But who knows.That's a nice way to think of it.
(19:03):
But she does manifest annually to meetwith the current castle lord and tell
him of the future of the castlein the upcoming year, like behind his
back or I don't know, I'mwonder because they just kill over. Yeah,
I don't know. She puts aveil over her face maybe or maybe
yeah, maybe she like turns awayor it's like back to back, stand
(19:23):
back to back. I will tellyou the future. Yes. One legend
states that during the Edo period,there was a young page named Marita zu
Show who cashed in on a dareto see if the Osaka bay he may
existed on the second floor of thekeep. At nightfall, he went up
to the top of the keep,where he saw a faint light spilling from
a door in the attic. Hetried to sneak into the room. However,
(19:44):
the entity within heard him and askedwho was there. He was scared
when he heard the sound of akimono rustling and coming towards a door.
When the door opened, a youngelegant woman wearing a twelve lared kimono appeared.
Zusho built up the courage to introducehimself and explain why he was in
the attic due to a dare.The entity was amused by his bravery and
gave him proof to show those thatdared him to explore the upper floors of
(20:07):
the castle, in the form ofa neck guard of a helmet. Interesting.
The next day, no one believedhim because the Osakaba hee May was
said to be an old woman,and he was claiming that this person was
a young woman. Right, Sonobody believed him, and he then produced
the proof that the Osaka bay heMay gave him, and because of that,
the lord then believed him that thisthing was up in the keep.
(20:30):
Interesting. Yeah. These entities havebeen depicted in many kabuki theater productions as
well as the video game Fate GrandOrder. One last legend that plagues him
magic Castle is that of a mastercarpenter named Sakurai genbay. He was said
to be a very skilled carpenter putin charge of the construction during the renovations
of Ikea Terumasa, he worked dayand night to make sure everything was pristine
(20:52):
in design and build. When hefinally down his chisel, however, he
noticed the keep laned a little tothe southeast. This idea plagued him night
after night, until one day hiswife casually mentioned how beautiful the construction was.
However, it was a shame thatthe keep leaned slightly to the left.
Too bad, it's crooked. Yeah. Unable to grapple with his failure,
considering a common lay person was ableto recognize his botched work, Soccer
(21:17):
Eye climbed to the top of thekeep with his chisel in his mouth and
jumped to No, wait, it'snot that deep, brom. Oh,
that's a bummer. So he alsomight be haunting him magic Castle grounds.
That's sad though. Yeah, Sowith that sadness, I leave you.
We will leave him Magie Castle andhop in the portal all right then?
(21:47):
Fun, that was a great trip. Thanks. I hope you don't meet
any of those fates. Yeah.Well if I never, If I don't
come back, then you know whyI came face to face with the Osaka
bay. He may but at anythingin that castle, because I mean,
who could have potentially gotten I dohave to yell ten. Just make sure
you yell ten or run away byseven. I don't do any running.
(22:07):
I'd probably go with the ten.Just make sure other people are slower than
you. Right, you'll never bealone there. So M sorry to my
husband. Wow, By guys,you don't think with his long legs he
could be faster than you show.He's also more athletic than I am.
He'd be faster, but then hemight protect me because he loves. It's
true, I feel like I haveto save puppy. I'm sorry. One
(22:33):
of us has to make it homefor puppy, all right, Annie whosin?
So? I may have mentioned beforethat there's a web tune I've enjoyed
reading about fairy tales and a girlgetting sucked into them as a prince who
helps close the stories with they're happyand sometimes not so happy endings. Even
if I haven't mentioned that there,it is sounds fun. It is a
(22:56):
lot of fun, especially since youcan't curse. Every time she tries to
say a curse word, it comesout of something else, so she can't
say fox. She says folk.That's hilarious. One of the stories she
was tasked with completing, Momo Taro, ended up featuring a protagonist from another
story that was certainly not supposed tobe there, Urrico he May, in
order to change her horrific fate.The Trio of Princes, because this particular
(23:21):
prince ended up showing up with acouple of others for this story, came
together to close this tale, andthey made the decision to allow the two
protagonists to live happily ever after,once they managed to kill all of the
one that we're standing in the way, So instead of forcing this princess back
to her story, they were like, no, you guys can get married.
That's cute. Now. I didn'tknow this at the time, as
(23:41):
I'm not familiar with Japanese fairy talessurprise surprise, but people in the comments
on the chapters pertaining to this storymade mention that the true tale of Rico
he May is a horror showpe soof course I made note to look into
it later on. For all ofyou, you're welcome. Yay. For
the rest of you that may notknow, Rico Hime and the Amano Jacku
(24:03):
starts out with a childless elderly couplefinding a baby in an unusual way.
Here, she is found inside ofa melon, hence her name, which
translates to melon seed princess. That'scute. It is cute. The couple,
of course, decide to raise thechild as their own, and she
grows up to be known far andwide for her beauty, weaving skills,
and singing voice. One day,the couple leave her alone in their home,
(24:26):
urging her not to open the doorfor anyone, no matter what.
The reason for leaving varies, butin every story she is warned not to
open the door for anyone, andthen she's left alone stranger danger. Of
course, I don't open the door, even if I'm expecting something like of
his door dash And they ring thedoorbell and we're like, I'll wait till
you drive away. Instructions say leaveit at the door, thank you.
(24:47):
Yes, it doesn't say ring thedoorbell. Mine explicitly say don't ring the
doorbell. But anyway, while thecouple are gone, she busies herself with
her weaving, singing a lovely songas she works, like she always when
she hears a knock at the doorand a voice says urico, he may
let me in. She refuses todo so, just as she was told,
good girl. So the voice comesback and says, if you won't
(25:10):
open the door, then at leastopen the window a crack. No,
seeing no apparent harm in this compromise, there's a lot of harms. She
reluctantly cracks the window. However,just as she does so, a long
clawed finger slips through the crack,and the Amano Jacku forces its way through
the window and leaps at the frightenedwoman, tearing at her clothes. Oh
my god. She fights for herlife, but she isn't strong enough,
(25:33):
and the amano Jacku snaps her neckand she dies. But the horror doesn't
end here. Okay, I meanthis wouldn't quite be enough to land this
tale or a yogi a spot inNoteville if it ended like that. Let's
be real, that's true, I'munderestimating our own city. The Amano Jacku
flays the young woman's skin from thebody and wears it along with her clothes
(25:55):
to disguise itself, and eats whateveris left to conceal the evidence of what
it had done. Oh my god. When the elderly couple arrived home,
they were none the wiser that theirbeloved daughter was dead. The couple then
bring the yoki in disguise to eithera festival or her husband to be,
depending on where you read the tail. However, a crow in a nearby
tree calls out a warning that theyoung woman is not who she appears to
(26:17):
be, and the couple restrain.The impostor now strong elderly couple, They
wash her body until the flade skinsloughs off and the Amanto jacku is revealed,
causing it to flee for its life, and the couple pursue it,
joined by others from the village alongthe way, until the yoki is caught
and killed. How would you killone of those things? They're just going
to beat it to death. It'sapparently very small. A couple other variations
(26:40):
in the story are that Ricohime isnot killed, but stripped and bound and
stowed away inside a persimmon tree.The Amounto Jacku then dons her clothes and
shape shifts into her. Interesting Whyit doesn't always do that, I don't
know. Yeah. The deceit inthese variations is revealed either by the couple
hearing the distant sound of their realdaughter's voice carrying far enough for them to
(27:02):
hear it, or the cries ofbirds taking pity on her. It said
that the crow and the tails whereshe dies warns the couple because her soul
had reincarnated in the bird. Seemsquick, but maybe that's just how that
works. Bird's lifespans were really short, so yeah, that's true. There
are also versions where the Yamano Jackutricks the couple into consuming the rest of
(27:22):
their daughter rather than doing so.Yeah, it just gets darker. Ever
as we go, I don't know. It's like how this city is.
The further you go in the city, the darker gets. This tail even
spawned a Bloody Mary like urban legendtoward the end of the nineteen seventies where
if you speak the name Ricohime infront of a mirror at twelve o'clock.
(27:45):
Didn't say if it had to bemidnight or if it could be noon.
Probably midnight, that's my guess,but it said twelve o'clock. Quote.
Her resentfulness will manifest and kill theone who summoned her end quote. This
trend seemed to be most popular inthe first time half of the nineteen eighties,
though I'm not sure if it continuesnow. The amano jacku translates to
heavenly evil spirit. That's an oxymoron, yeah, okay, and they're often
(28:11):
described as minor one, so theEnglish word demon is often used in reference
when I'm looking through the information forthese guys. Yeah. These yokai are
most known for quote provoking humans intoacting upon the wicked, impious desires buried
deep within their hearts. Day.They are also notoriously contrary and will often
(28:32):
do the exact opposite of whatever theyare ordered to do. As a result,
the word amano jacko also refers toa person who is deliberately contradictory,
or a person who argues for thesake of arguing. That's why its name
is contradictory. Yeah, that makessense now, the evil spirit, Yeah,
contradictory from the beginning, that's writein the name. The amano jacku
(28:55):
has been around since before written historyin Japan, and although they seem to
be well known in Japanese culture andhave shown up in many stories, the
one that is best known is theone that I just described, so I
couldn't actually find any other stories totalk about it, So I think they
just kind of show up in things. The amano jacku is also featured frequently
in Buddhist imagery, either as thedemons being crushed beneath the boots of the
(29:17):
four heavenly Kings or the demonic facesadorning the armor of the god Bisha Montan.
This god has also often featured crushingamano jacku beneath his feet. So
they're just like these little, tinyimp looking things in a lot of the
like statues and stuff, which wouldmake sense that it could disguise itself as
a little girl right while she wasa young woman at the time. But
(29:38):
we don't need to worry about thephysicality of it. Despite being in many
stories throughout Japanese culture beginning in theseventh century with the spread of Buddhism,
the amano Jacku's origin is unknown,though they seem to have developed through ancient
mythology of different wicked Shinto deities.Two deities in particular seem to share aspects
of the undermining nature of this YokaiAmano Zako, a goddess known for her
(30:02):
contrary nature, and Ameno Sagume,known for the ability to see into people's
hearts. Oh which I thought wasinteresting from Yeah, that's interesting. Yeah,
apparently a lot of these guys cansee into your soul and know what
you want. With the different yokithat can look into someone's soul. I
wonder if it has to do alot with just natural Japanese natures to be
(30:25):
conservative and to keep in their realfeelings, like we have to keep the
status quo. You have to everybodyhas to polite to each other, everybody
has to like succeeds and fails togetherkind of a thing. But you also
have to you have to keep yourtrue self in So I wonder if a
lot of people are scared if somethingsees their true nature, Which makes sense
for why the stories, the terrifyingtales of creatures look into your heart to
(30:48):
see these things that you repressed thatyou don't want people to know that you
want. Right, So, ifyou have these desires, whether they're inherently
bad or not, the fact thatyou can't show it to the world is
terrifying enough for something else to discoverit. That's interesting. Yeah, it's
a very interesting thought. Yeah,I read in a few places, and
(31:08):
the web tune I read made mentionof it as well, that if the
Amano Jacku is unable to turn aperson's heart to evil. It will kill
them out of frustration and inhabit theirskin. Fun It's like a loose,
loose situation. In fairness, mostof these Japanese stories seem to be that
way. Yeah, I was gonnasay, it's like Okiku, where it's
like she can either be his lover, which sucks, or she could die,
(31:30):
which also sucks. Yeah, bothsides of the coin are pretty much
the same in these stories. Itseems like within the web Tune, the
Amano Jacku does show up in laterchapters since Riko Hime's story was never closed
because they chose to allow her tolive that happily ever after with Momotaro.
So the Amano Jacku shows up ina totally unrelated story that actually takes place
(31:52):
in China, and the yokai takesthe skin of a priest to torment The
protagonists and the imagery of these chaptersfor the story are properly dark and twisted,
like everything about them is disgusting.The web Tune is forever after,
by the way, for anyone interestedin checking that out, but it is
(32:13):
not the only form of popular mediathis Yokai is featured in and Amano Jaku
exists in the manga NeuRA Rise ofthe Yokai Clan, and in Rotski Doji,
the main character is named amano Jiyaku. And interestingly, this manga is
an erotic horror manga and it's eyeah. It's also credited with popularizing tentacle
(32:37):
rape pentie. So there's that littlebit of knowledge for you all. You're
welcome again. Now we know whereit comes from. I guess I don't
knowesting I don't know. I don'tkind of feel about that. I don't
either. Yokai also features in theanime's Dororo and Ghost Stories, where the
(32:58):
spirit actually gets sealed in the protagonistscat kaya ah Now it's a little cute,
little dichromatic cat. And Amano Jackuappears as a Stage five boss named
say Jaki Jean in the video gameDouble Dealing Character and again as the protagonist
in the spin off sequel Impossible SpellCard for anybody who's ever heard of her.
(33:19):
Played those games, the protagonist's mothergets killed and eaten by an Amano
Jacku, who then impersonates her.In the game sen Megami Tense, the
movie Ten Nights of Dreams features anAmano Jaku who provokes the woman on the
fifth night. Sounds like an interestingmovie just based on that little bit,
but I don't know. The antagonistof the musical series the Story of the
Kitsune and the Demon, or theOnebi series as it's also known, is
(33:44):
a character named Shikio who happens tobe you guessed it and Amanu Jacku.
There's also a book series by JulieKagawa called A Shadow of the Fox in
which the Amano Jacku appear as tinydemons that fight against the protagonist, which
just sounds adorable, like you stampup on them like mice. It reminds
me of an arc the Compies.Yeah, I love those. They're so
(34:05):
cute, like when they're alone andthey just come and stare at you.
Yeah. It. In Final Fantasyeleven, the Amanto Jacku is the name
of a katana that gets stronger asyou get closer to death. So that's
fitting. Oh wow. And finally, there is a Japanese musical group that
goes by the name Amano Jacku thatis a fusion of Western style music with
(34:27):
tycho That sounds interesting. Yeah,I might check that out. Is the
contradictory the Western music and with traditionaltycho Yeah maybe interesting. So despite the
horrific behavior, if this particular Yokithe amounto JACKU is quite the popular demon,
it would seem, and that isall I had. Yeah for the
Amanto jack. If you enjoyed yourtour today, please leave us a review
(34:51):
on wherever you booked your tour.Reviews help us grow and reach more listeners
so we can provide you with moretours. Remember to visit our website I
knowefall podcast dot com, where you'llhave access to our show notes and anything
we reference in today's tour, andyou'll be able to find and follow us
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(35:12):
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are stories you submit for us toread, either fiction or nonfiction, and
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(35:34):
and just be sure to write campfirestories in your subject line so we know
what you're emailing us about. Notours complete without first stopping buy the gift
shop before you leave. Go aheadand click on the gift shop on our
website and be sure to pick upa souvenir for yourself and a loved one.
And last, but not least,gratuity isn't required, but sure is
appreciated, and we have a fewways to do that. You can visit
our Patreon to see how you cansupport us and get some awesome rewards in
return. Or you can go onbuy me a coffee and buy us a
(35:58):
couple of coffees so we can dayup late at night and finding all these
yokai for you. Yeah, nocommitment needed nah, and we will see
you on our next tour. Bye. Excellent, I see most of you
returned and relatively unscathed. Bravo.I hope you enjoyed your visit to Nopeville
(36:19):
and look forward to seeing you againnext time.
Down this road is a small city, once thriving and full of life,
but now desolate and abandoned. Wellabandoned save for the horrors rumored to reside
within, which I presume is whileyou're here. Now, there's nothing wrong
with a little morbid curiosity, butplease remember to stay close to your guides.
We wouldn't want anyone to get leftbehind. Now. Hello everyone,
(00:43):
Welcome back to Nopeville, your favoritedarkened city filled with all the horrible things
that make you say nope, nope. We are your tour guides. I'm
Christine, I'm Jen, And inhonor of Jen leaving us in the whole
country for a while, I'm usingthe portals l We're actually headed to Japan.
Yay Oo'm so excited, and weare doing primarily we're covering some yokai
(01:07):
in the area, but Jen isalso covering a haunted location. Yeah.
So, if you remember what yokaiare, they are usually kind of dark
spirits that the Japanese tell stories of. Yeah, so I'm going to be
talking about Himeji Castle and you're visitingthat. I r l too. I
am so excited. See the thingis, I booked our tour to Himeji
(01:27):
Castle before I learned about this,So now I'm even more excited to go
see Himeji Castle. Nice. So. Himeji Castle is located in the city
of Himeji within the Hiogo Prefecture.In Japan. It's also called the Harurujo
or the Shirasagi Joe, meaning thewhite egret Castle or the white heron Castle
(01:48):
due to its pure white facade thatlooks similar to a white bird taking flight.
That's pretty. But before I goto Japan, let's both jump into
the portal with all of our touristsand check out Himeji Castle. It was
originally built as a fort on topof Himeyama Hill in thirteen thirty three by
(02:12):
Akamatsu Norimura. About a decade later, in thirteen forty six, the fort
was remodeled into Himayama Castle by hisson, where it stood until it was
renovated and expanded a couple of centurieslater in fifteen eighty one by Toyotomi Hideyoshi,
who was a feudal lord and achief imperial minister at this time,
we ordered to promote unification across Japan. Hideyoshi ordered castles to be built and
(02:34):
Himeji was one of them. Hebuilt a three storied main building that he
used as a base when attacking thewestern part of Japan. When the castle
was passed to another feudal leader,Ikeda Terumasa, in sixteen hundred, it
was redesigned completely, with him onlyretaining the foundations of the building. He
expanded the castle into a massive complexbuilt for war, adding in three moats
(02:54):
surrounding the complex, gates, ramparts, secret rooms, tunnels and turrets,
and a maze like path to themain tower. Everything a castle could ever
need. Exactly why would you puta castle and not put in a secret
room and literally everything else, allthe things that belong in a castle right.
The reasoning behind this was essentially tocause the enemy invaders to spiral through
(03:15):
the castle and be corralled into deadends that would leave them open to attacks,
thus slowing their path to the maintower. Within the castle itself,
there are about a thousand holes invarious walls where people could hide and shoot
intruders. Jesus this wasn't out ofcharacter for him, however, because he
was gifted to land as a rewardfor his fighting accomplishments during the Battle of
(03:36):
Sekigahara. I guess living in aheavily fortified complex felt like home to him.
But despite all of his HGTV renovations, these defense systems were never used
because Himeji was never under attacked.I'm ready. Oh, they're just kind
of there, ready for no reason. In addition to the maze, like
build the roofs of the buildings withinthe complex or a dorm ony go wadas,
(04:00):
which are roof tiles or statues inJapanese architecture that are designed to look
like ogres that are believed to repelevil spirits and protect the people that reside
within the castle, which I guessworked for him because the castle never went
under attack. So it reminds mea bit of like the convoluted crazy shit
we do with like any building inlike seven days, Yeah, anticipating that
(04:23):
there's going to be all his zombieactivity and then nothing happens, right,
especially during blood moons and at thebeginning. Yeah yeah, but you know,
at least we're not crazy, andpeople have done that in history.
Yeah, so that's a real thingthat people do. So yeah, see,
we have a mind sometimes. Ifanything, we're saying right over time,
the building was owned by different feudallords, where more buildings were added
(04:45):
to the complex, and it spannedfrom nine hundred and fifty to sixteen hundred
meters from east to west and ninehundred to seventeen hundred meters from north to
south, taking up an area ofabout two and a half miles. It's
a massive complex that still stands tothis day. During the Meiji period,
many castles were destroyed, and whileHemeji wasn't destroyed, it was abandoned and
left in disarray. Some of thecastle's corridors and gates were destroyed in order
(05:08):
to make room for Japanese army barracks. It was slated to be demolished,
however Nakamoto Shigeto, an army colonel, spared it. In eighteen seventy one,
it was put up for auction,where it was purchased by a Hemeji
resident for twenty three yen. Initially, the new owner wanted to tear down
the castle to develop the land.However, it was too costly and thus
Hemeji remained don't get lost wire thereby the way. We'll see. We'll
(05:31):
see if I come back and seehow much of the you know, circumventing
stuff is still there. I'm socurious to see what it all looks like
them. Yeah, the castle evenwithstood the heavy toil and bombing of World
War Two. Even though much ofthe surrounding land was burned, the castle
wasn't touched. And it also survivedthe Great Hanshien earthquake in nineteen ninety five,
which a lot of other ancient castlesdid not survive. Those ogres are
(05:53):
doing work right. So, asI mentioned, it still stands today with
a lot of its original features anda total of eighty three building surrounding its
coacious Yep, it's Japan's largest mostvisited castle, and it was registered on
the UNESCO World Heritage Lists in nineteenninety three. Yeah, and as you
know, a building with such longhistory isn't without its paranormal legends. One
(06:15):
such legend is about a woman namedOkiku. Okeiku was said to be the
young, beautiful servant of a samurainamed al Yama tessn. Al Yama was
an ambitious man with lofty goals totake over the province, and he wanted
to do with Okiku by his side. A Yama wasn't blind to Okiku's beauty,
and he'd frequently make romantic passes towardsher, of which she'd politely reject.
(06:35):
Okiku's main charge was at care forthe lord's precious plates in the castle,
so of all of her fancy duties, she had to take care of
these ten plates. Tired of beingrejected over and over again, though,
ala Yama deceived Okiku into thinking oneof these plates was either missing or broken,
depending on which story you hear.Okiku was obviously distraught because the penalty
(06:58):
for this would be death. Right. She frantically counted the plates one,
two, three, until over andover she'd only end at nine. Ayamma
made a deal with her. Hewould cover for her and tell his master
that it wasn't Okiku that was responsiblefor the broken her missing plate, so
that she wouldn't be put to death, under the condition that she'd become his
lover. Okay guessed on right,Okeiku refused again. Ayama was so enraged
(07:25):
that he threw Okiku down a wellwhere she died. Ah, but at
least she kept her morals intact.Yes, her integrity yeah, because this
guy was clearly an asshole. Yes. Another iteration of the story is that
al Yama actually tied up Okeiku andhunk her over the well where he tortured
her over and over again in orderto get her to agree to be his
(07:45):
mistress. But she still refuses him, and in his rage, he kills
her with his sword and then dropsher down the well. Oh my god,
again still keeping her integrity. Yes. Yet another iteration is that she
is so tormented by this and toescape the torture from the samurai, which
she knew was going to happen,she threw herself down the well. See
again, she was like, no, absolutely no, no iteration of the
(08:09):
story. Am I going to getwith you just so that I don't die?
Exactly like in every instance, inevery parallel timeline, it's a no.
It's a no for me. I'llbet he still thinks he's a good
guy. Probably. Another version ofthe story is that Okiku overheard a plot
to assassinate the lord by Aoyama,and she reported it to her lover,
(08:30):
who was a loyal warrior, andthe plot to kill the lord was prevented
m a Yama found out it wasOkeiku who stopped his ambitious plans. Conjured
the story of Okiku breaking or losingthe plate and then tortured her to death
and threw her down the well.Jesus Christ. So, no matter what
the story is, she dies andgets thrown down a well due to these
plates. Right, there's so manyiterations of the story. Mine has different
(08:54):
iterations to Kaya. It's so fascinating. I think it's a region thing in
Pans. Yeah, it is aregion thing, like there's there's specific one
specifically for him Edgy, but Idecided to include her legend in general.
Yeah. So another iteration is thatthere's a jealous lover plot where al Yama
is actually already married and his wifeis jealous of his advances towards Okiku,
(09:18):
so she breaks the plate in orderto frame Okeiku, and Okiku is so
distraught that she commits suicide by throwingherself down the wall. I like that
the way that came out is becauseit's the way the way every one of
them ends in and she threw herselfdown and then she goes down. This
(09:39):
poor girl. Yeah, either way, I feel so bad for Okiku.
Everybody around her is just determined tothrow her down the wall exactly after the
night of her a wrongful, gruesomedeath it said that she would come out
of the well every night, scouringthe castle grounds looking for the tenth plate.
Every night she'd hunt out a Yamaand he could hear her counting the
(10:01):
precious plates one, two, three, until she would reach nine and let
out a howling scream. Good,I hope you went fucking mad and one
iteration to your pleasure. Al Yamagoes insane by the constant haunting every night,
and then he throws himself down thewell. Karma, Yeah, there
you go. In the version whereit was al Yama's wife that frames Okiku,
(10:24):
it's the wife that throws herself downthe well. Well less satisfying,
only because she has only featured once. Yes. Now, some urban legends
of this story state that if youhear Okiku counting and you manage to escape
before she counts to the seventh plate, then you can get away with your
life. However, if you can'tflee before she reaches nine, then you
(10:46):
might lose your mind yourself, justlike al Yamam. I wonder why it's
not eight though? Why is itseven? Is it? Like? No?
What giving you a buffer? Yeah, they're like, if you get
to eight, you may as welljust not have gotten away. You're not
Usain Bolts. You can't get awayat eight, Well at seven you can.
Depends how slowly she's counting too,though, right, oh my god,
(11:07):
could you imagine phasmophobia if like youhad something like that where the ghost
starts counting. Yeah, yeah,So it depends on how consistent she is
with her counting. Right, soshe just goes yeah, she's like,
you didn't make it. It's likeeight and a half nine and three quarters,
depending on which version you hear.The castle lord becomes aggravated by the
(11:30):
haunting that he calls a priest tohelp rid the land of her spirit.
The priest waits in the garden allnight for Okiku to appear. When her
spirit crawls out of the well andstarts counting just before she reaches nine,
followed by her shriek, the priestyells ten, no way, no way,
that's all he does. He didsome like prayers and chants before she
(11:56):
came out east exorcism ever, butlike I was like, that's clever.
I guess. The counting to tenappeared to relieve okiku spirit and she was
finally able to pass on. However, other stories say she haunts the well
and him Edgy Castle to this day, where there is a shrine surrounding it,
and has become a popular tourist destination, which you know I'm gonna go
(12:18):
see, of course, are yougonna go? Count to ten? It
feels like taunting the spirit. Thatdoesn't feel nice. I wouldn't do it.
Yeah, I feel bad for Okiku. Yeah, if I could say
something against Alayama, maybe m cursehim. If you were to go to
visit Okiku's well, you will noticethere are bars atop the entrance, leading
(12:39):
some people to question if it's thereto keep tourists out or to keep something
in. Hmm, except that spiritsdon't have physical manifestations, so it's not
going to do a whole lot ofgood. You could try, well,
I mean, iron allegedly does thingsto spirits. The gargoyles on top of
the roofs are doing something that's true. Okiku story has been told in various
(13:01):
media throughout Japan, such as kubukifilm, manga, folk tales, and
puppet theater. By the eighteenth century, Okiku story was so widespread that there
was a larval infestation throughout the wellsin Japan. The chrysalis. Stage of
the caterpillars were said to resemble thebody of a bound woman, so many
believe the infestation to be the vengefulact of the wronged woman, Okiku.
(13:24):
And this event was then called Okiku'srevenge And supposedly the shopkeepers capitalized on the
legend and started to sell the chrysalisas souvenirs to tourists. Right, and
they called the chrysalis the bugs theOkiku mushi. All right, yeah,
So there's also a spirit or yokaicalled the Yokiku mushi, which translates into
(13:48):
Okiku bug, and it's a caterpillarlike entity with the torso of a human
woman. Oh okay And these entitiesare said to exist by being born from
the vengeance of Okiku spirit. Whoare you that? As In art,
she's frequently depicted as having long blackhair and a white gown. Crawling out
(14:11):
of the well doesn't sound familiar?You know? It rings a bell?
Nice If you said that it remindsyou of the Lovely Jay horror movie The
Ring, you'd be correct. Manyhave compared the story of Okeku two Samara
slash Stakos with the story of atortured young woman wrongfully killed by being thrown
(14:33):
into a well, whose spirit crawlsout to seek revenge on anyone they could
get their cold, wet hands on. Gross. So people like to say
that the ring is based off ofOkiku's legend, but the only thing is
the well. Well. Yeah,I was like, that's I don't see
the rest of it. Yeah,I don't. I don't know. I'm
(14:54):
pretty sure she has her own Yeah, she has her own story that I
told. But a lot of people, you'll see a lot of articles like
the true story behind the ring.I'm like, it's the only element is
the well and the woman. Butokay, the well, the woman,
the black hair, and the whitedress Jennifer, Yeah, okay, there's
a lot. I take it back. Yeah, appearances are everything, and
(15:15):
it's in Japan. Oh see,that's the clincher, and so the location
right, speaking of revenge. InJapanese folklore, okiku spirit is classified as
an nrio. So it anrio iseventual spirit who died in a fit of
strong passion such as rage, jealousy, or hatred, and their souls unable
(15:35):
to pass on. They're often depictedwith the wounds of which they died from,
often dying from circumstances such as war, catastrophe, betrayal, murder,
or suicide. While they are powerfulenough to kill anyone, they often prefer
to let the object of their vengeancelive a long, tormented life of suffering
and decide to go after the targetsloved ones instead. I mean that is
the better revenge. It's effective.Yeah. They often are associated with curse,
(16:00):
and the curses can be passed onto others, creating a never ending
cycle of death and destruction. Theyhave an insatiable hunger for vengeance and continue
to haunt people or a place longafter the ghost has been laid to rest,
until someone can successfully exercise it byyelling ten. By yelling ten,
there you go. Try put thatin your book of extacisms. Yes.
(16:21):
Another type of yokai or Japanese spiritor supernatural being that supposedly lives in Himeji
Castle is the Osakabe hime. It'sa spirit of mysterious origins that lives inside
the castle's keep, allegedly responsible forthe death of Ikeda Terramasa, the lord
that revamped the place in the sixteenhundreds so I talked about earlier. She's
often seen as a majestic old womanwearing a twelve layered kimono, or she
(16:45):
can take the form of a kitsuneor a fox or a kami, which
is a Shinto spirit. Some legendssay that she's the goddess of Mount Hime,
who already had a shrine on theland Hemeji Castle was built upon,
but in its expansion, the spiritshrine was disturbed and sought revenge, causing
Ikeda to fall ill. It hassince been re enshrined in its original shrine
(17:07):
allegedly, but the spirit can stillbe seen today on the second floor of
the keep. Interesting. Other storiesstate that she is the illegitimate child of
Princess Inoe, who was the empressconsort of Emperor Konin and was exiled when
she was accused of witchcraft, orshe was said to be the spirit of
the courtesans of Emperor Fushimi, andother origin is that she was an old
katsune. Interesting, which we mighttalk about katsune yeah, it just like
(17:33):
yeah. It's said to have greatpower and can read the heart of people
and manipulate them. She's also veryknowledgeable about many things and can control other
spirits called kenzo kushin animal like spiritsand have them act as her messengers.
Interesting as a warning to others.If anyone witnesses her face, they will
die instantly. Oh well nah,that's cool with that said though, So
(17:56):
she's kind of like a shy spiritm she doesn't like to be perceived.
Right. She's supposedly very reclusive andhates meeting people. Hey, I can
relate, and spends her time hiddenaway in the secret areas of him Edgi
Castle because there are so many secretsin Heimgi Castle. See, when you
(18:18):
started to say that she doesn't liketo be perceived, I started picturing like
there's there's an sep that lingers atthe edges of your eyes, like like
not in your eyeballs, but likeyou never see it out the corner of
your eye. Yeah right, Yeah, that's creepy. Maybe she's like that.
You're just walking around him Edgie andyou're like, what does that?
But it's also kind of nice thatyou know she doesn't like to be seen,
(18:41):
but if you see here, youwill die instantly. Maybe that's why
she does want to be seen,because she doesn't actually like killing people.
Right. But it's like Medusa,right, Like she can never make eye
contact with anybody. She's like,no, leave me alone. I don't
want to kill you. Maybe stopcoming after me, stop trying to look
at me. Yeah. Maybe shedoesn't want to cause harm and that's why
she's reclusive. But who knows.That's a nice way to think of it.
(19:03):
But she does manifest annually to meetwith the current castle lord and tell
him of the future of the castlein the upcoming year, like behind his
back or I don't know, I'mwonder because they just kill over. Yeah,
I don't know. She puts aveil over her face maybe or maybe
yeah, maybe she like turns awayor it's like back to back, stand
(19:23):
back to back. I will tellyou the future. Yes. One legend
states that during the Edo period,there was a young page named Marita zu
Show who cashed in on a dareto see if the Osaka bay he may
existed on the second floor of thekeep. At nightfall, he went up
to the top of the keep,where he saw a faint light spilling from
a door in the attic. Hetried to sneak into the room. However,
(19:44):
the entity within heard him and askedwho was there. He was scared
when he heard the sound of akimono rustling and coming towards a door.
When the door opened, a youngelegant woman wearing a twelve lared kimono appeared.
Zusho built up the courage to introducehimself and explain why he was in
the attic due to a dare.The entity was amused by his bravery and
gave him proof to show those thatdared him to explore the upper floors of
(20:07):
the castle, in the form ofa neck guard of a helmet. Interesting.
The next day, no one believedhim because the Osakaba hee May was
said to be an old woman,and he was claiming that this person was
a young woman. Right, Sonobody believed him, and he then produced
the proof that the Osaka bay heMay gave him, and because of that,
the lord then believed him that thisthing was up in the keep.
(20:30):
Interesting. Yeah. These entities havebeen depicted in many kabuki theater productions as
well as the video game Fate GrandOrder. One last legend that plagues him
magic Castle is that of a mastercarpenter named Sakurai genbay. He was said
to be a very skilled carpenter putin charge of the construction during the renovations
of Ikea Terumasa, he worked dayand night to make sure everything was pristine
(20:52):
in design and build. When hefinally down his chisel, however, he
noticed the keep laned a little tothe southeast. This idea plagued him night
after night, until one day hiswife casually mentioned how beautiful the construction was.
However, it was a shame thatthe keep leaned slightly to the left.
Too bad, it's crooked. Yeah. Unable to grapple with his failure,
considering a common lay person was ableto recognize his botched work, Soccer
(21:17):
Eye climbed to the top of thekeep with his chisel in his mouth and
jumped to No, wait, it'snot that deep, brom. Oh,
that's a bummer. So he alsomight be haunting him magic Castle grounds.
That's sad though. Yeah, Sowith that sadness, I leave you.
We will leave him Magie Castle andhop in the portal all right then?
(21:47):
Fun, that was a great trip. Thanks. I hope you don't meet
any of those fates. Yeah.Well if I never, If I don't
come back, then you know whyI came face to face with the Osaka
bay. He may but at anythingin that castle, because I mean,
who could have potentially gotten I dohave to yell ten. Just make sure
you yell ten or run away byseven. I don't do any running.
(22:07):
I'd probably go with the ten.Just make sure other people are slower than
you. Right, you'll never bealone there. So M sorry to my
husband. Wow, By guys,you don't think with his long legs he
could be faster than you show.He's also more athletic than I am.
He'd be faster, but then hemight protect me because he loves. It's
true, I feel like I haveto save puppy. I'm sorry. One
(22:33):
of us has to make it homefor puppy, all right, Annie whosin?
So? I may have mentioned beforethat there's a web tune I've enjoyed
reading about fairy tales and a girlgetting sucked into them as a prince who
helps close the stories with they're happyand sometimes not so happy endings. Even
if I haven't mentioned that there,it is sounds fun. It is a
(22:56):
lot of fun, especially since youcan't curse. Every time she tries to
say a curse word, it comesout of something else, so she can't
say fox. She says folk.That's hilarious. One of the stories she
was tasked with completing, Momo Taro, ended up featuring a protagonist from another
story that was certainly not supposed tobe there, Urrico he May, in
order to change her horrific fate.The Trio of Princes, because this particular
(23:21):
prince ended up showing up with acouple of others for this story, came
together to close this tale, andthey made the decision to allow the two
protagonists to live happily ever after,once they managed to kill all of the
one that we're standing in the way, So instead of forcing this princess back
to her story, they were like, no, you guys can get married.
That's cute. Now. I didn'tknow this at the time, as
(23:41):
I'm not familiar with Japanese fairy talessurprise surprise, but people in the comments
on the chapters pertaining to this storymade mention that the true tale of Rico
he May is a horror showpe soof course I made note to look into
it later on. For all ofyou, you're welcome. Yay. For
the rest of you that may notknow, Rico Hime and the Amano Jacku
(24:03):
starts out with a childless elderly couplefinding a baby in an unusual way.
Here, she is found inside ofa melon, hence her name, which
translates to melon seed princess. That'scute. It is cute. The couple,
of course, decide to raise thechild as their own, and she
grows up to be known far andwide for her beauty, weaving skills,
and singing voice. One day,the couple leave her alone in their home,
(24:26):
urging her not to open the doorfor anyone, no matter what.
The reason for leaving varies, butin every story she is warned not to
open the door for anyone, andthen she's left alone stranger danger. Of
course, I don't open the door, even if I'm expecting something like of
his door dash And they ring thedoorbell and we're like, I'll wait till
you drive away. Instructions say leaveit at the door, thank you.
(24:47):
Yes, it doesn't say ring thedoorbell. Mine explicitly say don't ring the
doorbell. But anyway, while thecouple are gone, she busies herself with
her weaving, singing a lovely songas she works, like she always when
she hears a knock at the doorand a voice says urico, he may
let me in. She refuses todo so, just as she was told,
good girl. So the voice comesback and says, if you won't
(25:10):
open the door, then at leastopen the window a crack. No,
seeing no apparent harm in this compromise, there's a lot of harms. She
reluctantly cracks the window. However,just as she does so, a long
clawed finger slips through the crack,and the Amano Jacku forces its way through
the window and leaps at the frightenedwoman, tearing at her clothes. Oh
my god. She fights for herlife, but she isn't strong enough,
(25:33):
and the amano Jacku snaps her neckand she dies. But the horror doesn't
end here. Okay, I meanthis wouldn't quite be enough to land this
tale or a yogi a spot inNoteville if it ended like that. Let's
be real, that's true, I'munderestimating our own city. The Amano Jacku
flays the young woman's skin from thebody and wears it along with her clothes
(25:55):
to disguise itself, and eats whateveris left to conceal the evidence of what
it had done. Oh my god. When the elderly couple arrived home,
they were none the wiser that theirbeloved daughter was dead. The couple then
bring the yoki in disguise to eithera festival or her husband to be,
depending on where you read the tail. However, a crow in a nearby
tree calls out a warning that theyoung woman is not who she appears to
(26:17):
be, and the couple restrain.The impostor now strong elderly couple, They
wash her body until the flade skinsloughs off and the Amanto jacku is revealed,
causing it to flee for its life, and the couple pursue it,
joined by others from the village alongthe way, until the yoki is caught
and killed. How would you killone of those things? They're just going
to beat it to death. It'sapparently very small. A couple other variations
(26:40):
in the story are that Ricohime isnot killed, but stripped and bound and
stowed away inside a persimmon tree.The Amounto Jacku then dons her clothes and
shape shifts into her. Interesting Whyit doesn't always do that, I don't
know. Yeah. The deceit inthese variations is revealed either by the couple
hearing the distant sound of their realdaughter's voice carrying far enough for them to
(27:02):
hear it, or the cries ofbirds taking pity on her. It said
that the crow and the tails whereshe dies warns the couple because her soul
had reincarnated in the bird. Seemsquick, but maybe that's just how that
works. Bird's lifespans were really short, so yeah, that's true. There
are also versions where the Yamano Jackutricks the couple into consuming the rest of
(27:22):
their daughter rather than doing so.Yeah, it just gets darker. Ever
as we go, I don't know. It's like how this city is.
The further you go in the city, the darker gets. This tail even
spawned a Bloody Mary like urban legendtoward the end of the nineteen seventies where
if you speak the name Ricohime infront of a mirror at twelve o'clock.
(27:45):
Didn't say if it had to bemidnight or if it could be noon.
Probably midnight, that's my guess,but it said twelve o'clock. Quote.
Her resentfulness will manifest and kill theone who summoned her end quote. This
trend seemed to be most popular inthe first time half of the nineteen eighties,
though I'm not sure if it continuesnow. The amano jacku translates to
heavenly evil spirit. That's an oxymoron, yeah, okay, and they're often
(28:11):
described as minor one, so theEnglish word demon is often used in reference
when I'm looking through the information forthese guys. Yeah. These yokai are
most known for quote provoking humans intoacting upon the wicked, impious desires buried
deep within their hearts. Day.They are also notoriously contrary and will often
(28:32):
do the exact opposite of whatever theyare ordered to do. As a result,
the word amano jacko also refers toa person who is deliberately contradictory,
or a person who argues for thesake of arguing. That's why its name
is contradictory. Yeah, that makessense now, the evil spirit, Yeah,
contradictory from the beginning, that's writein the name. The amano jacku
(28:55):
has been around since before written historyin Japan, and although they seem to
be well known in Japanese culture andhave shown up in many stories, the
one that is best known is theone that I just described, so I
couldn't actually find any other stories totalk about it, So I think they
just kind of show up in things. The amano jacku is also featured frequently
in Buddhist imagery, either as thedemons being crushed beneath the boots of the
(29:17):
four heavenly Kings or the demonic facesadorning the armor of the god Bisha Montan.
This god has also often featured crushingamano jacku beneath his feet. So
they're just like these little, tinyimp looking things in a lot of the
like statues and stuff, which wouldmake sense that it could disguise itself as
a little girl right while she wasa young woman at the time. But
(29:38):
we don't need to worry about thephysicality of it. Despite being in many
stories throughout Japanese culture beginning in theseventh century with the spread of Buddhism,
the amano Jacku's origin is unknown,though they seem to have developed through ancient
mythology of different wicked Shinto deities.Two deities in particular seem to share aspects
of the undermining nature of this YokaiAmano Zako, a goddess known for her
(30:02):
contrary nature, and Ameno Sagume,known for the ability to see into people's
hearts. Oh which I thought wasinteresting from Yeah, that's interesting. Yeah,
apparently a lot of these guys cansee into your soul and know what
you want. With the different yokithat can look into someone's soul. I
wonder if it has to do alot with just natural Japanese natures to be
(30:25):
conservative and to keep in their realfeelings, like we have to keep the
status quo. You have to everybodyhas to polite to each other, everybody
has to like succeeds and fails togetherkind of a thing. But you also
have to you have to keep yourtrue self in So I wonder if a
lot of people are scared if somethingsees their true nature, Which makes sense
for why the stories, the terrifyingtales of creatures look into your heart to
(30:48):
see these things that you repressed thatyou don't want people to know that you
want. Right, So, ifyou have these desires, whether they're inherently
bad or not, the fact thatyou can't show it to the world is
terrifying enough for something else to discoverit. That's interesting. Yeah, it's
a very interesting thought. Yeah,I read in a few places, and
(31:08):
the web tune I read made mentionof it as well, that if the
Amano Jacku is unable to turn aperson's heart to evil. It will kill
them out of frustration and inhabit theirskin. Fun It's like a loose,
loose situation. In fairness, mostof these Japanese stories seem to be that
way. Yeah, I was gonnasay, it's like Okiku, where it's
like she can either be his lover, which sucks, or she could die,
(31:30):
which also sucks. Yeah, bothsides of the coin are pretty much
the same in these stories. Itseems like within the web Tune, the
Amano Jacku does show up in laterchapters since Riko Hime's story was never closed
because they chose to allow her tolive that happily ever after with Momotaro.
So the Amano Jacku shows up ina totally unrelated story that actually takes place
(31:52):
in China, and the yokai takesthe skin of a priest to torment The
protagonists and the imagery of these chaptersfor the story are properly dark and twisted,
like everything about them is disgusting.The web Tune is forever after,
by the way, for anyone interestedin checking that out, but it is
(32:13):
not the only form of popular mediathis Yokai is featured in and Amano Jaku
exists in the manga NeuRA Rise ofthe Yokai Clan, and in Rotski Doji,
the main character is named amano Jiyaku. And interestingly, this manga is
an erotic horror manga and it's eyeah. It's also credited with popularizing tentacle
(32:37):
rape pentie. So there's that littlebit of knowledge for you all. You're
welcome again. Now we know whereit comes from. I guess I don't
knowesting I don't know. I don'tkind of feel about that. I don't
either. Yokai also features in theanime's Dororo and Ghost Stories, where the
(32:58):
spirit actually gets sealed in the protagonistscat kaya ah Now it's a little cute,
little dichromatic cat. And Amano Jackuappears as a Stage five boss named
say Jaki Jean in the video gameDouble Dealing Character and again as the protagonist
in the spin off sequel Impossible SpellCard for anybody who's ever heard of her.
(33:19):
Played those games, the protagonist's mothergets killed and eaten by an Amano
Jacku, who then impersonates her.In the game sen Megami Tense, the
movie Ten Nights of Dreams features anAmano Jaku who provokes the woman on the
fifth night. Sounds like an interestingmovie just based on that little bit,
but I don't know. The antagonistof the musical series the Story of the
Kitsune and the Demon, or theOnebi series as it's also known, is
(33:44):
a character named Shikio who happens tobe you guessed it and Amanu Jacku.
There's also a book series by JulieKagawa called A Shadow of the Fox in
which the Amano Jacku appear as tinydemons that fight against the protagonist, which
just sounds adorable, like you stampup on them like mice. It reminds
me of an arc the Compies.Yeah, I love those. They're so
(34:05):
cute, like when they're alone andthey just come and stare at you.
Yeah. It. In Final Fantasyeleven, the Amanto Jacku is the name
of a katana that gets stronger asyou get closer to death. So that's
fitting. Oh wow. And finally, there is a Japanese musical group that
goes by the name Amano Jacku thatis a fusion of Western style music with
(34:27):
tycho That sounds interesting. Yeah,I might check that out. Is the
contradictory the Western music and with traditionaltycho Yeah maybe interesting. So despite the
horrific behavior, if this particular Yokithe amounto JACKU is quite the popular demon,
it would seem, and that isall I had. Yeah for the
Amanto jack. If you enjoyed yourtour today, please leave us a review
(34:51):
on wherever you booked your tour.Reviews help us grow and reach more listeners
so we can provide you with moretours. Remember to visit our website I
knowefall podcast dot com, where you'llhave access to our show notes and anything
we reference in today's tour, andyou'll be able to find and follow us
on all of our social media forupdates, polls, events, or just
interacting with us, which is nofulcast on Twitter, slash x and noe
(35:12):
Fille podcasts on Instagram and Facebook.If you want to be part of our
Campfire Stories, which we would loveto do again, we currently only have
two stories. We need a littlemore to get that out. So these
are stories you submit for us toread, either fiction or nonfiction, and
you can submit them through the contactus form on our website and select Campfire
Stories, or send us an emailat Noefille podcast at gmail dot com,
(35:34):
and just be sure to write campfirestories in your subject line so we know
what you're emailing us about. Notours complete without first stopping buy the gift
shop before you leave. Go aheadand click on the gift shop on our
website and be sure to pick upa souvenir for yourself and a loved one.
And last, but not least,gratuity isn't required, but sure is
appreciated, and we have a fewways to do that. You can visit
our Patreon to see how you cansupport us and get some awesome rewards in
return. Or you can go onbuy me a coffee and buy us a
(35:58):
couple of coffees so we can dayup late at night and finding all these
yokai for you. Yeah, nocommitment needed nah, and we will see
you on our next tour. Bye. Excellent, I see most of you
returned and relatively unscathed. Bravo.I hope you enjoyed your visit to Nopeville
(36:19):
and look forward to seeing you againnext time.
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