THE LEGEND OF THE RED STRING OF JAPAN

According to this myth, everyone's pinky finger is tied to an invisible red string that will lead him or her to another person with whom they will make history.

For the Japanese, who know so much and intuit more, human relations are predestined by a red string that the gods tie to the pinky fingers of those who find each other in life. Legend has it that the two people connected by this thread will have an important story, regardless of the time, place or circumstances. The red string might get tangled, contracted or stretched, as surely often happens, but it can never break.

This legend, so much more aesthetic than that of the twin souls, occurs when it is discovered that the ulnar artery connects the heart with the pinky finger (which is the same reason why in many cultures promises are made by two people crossing their pinkies). The thin vein running from heart to hand extends through the invisible world, to end its course in someone else’s heart. But unlike other amorous superstitions, the Japanese one isn’t limited to couples, or a single person who one is destined to find. It speaks of a type of arterial ramification that emerges from a finger toward all those with whom we will make history and all those whom we will help in one way or another. For the ontological imagination, the myth of the red string is a way to understand our itinerary of encounters as a predetermined plot where couples’ relationships, the intimate brushes against someone, and all the little stories we crisscross with others are neither random triumphs nor accidents, but part of a scarlet tapestry whose threads were given to us when we were born but which we knit ourselves.

One Japanese legend tells of an old man who lives in the moon and comes out every night to search among kin spirits to reunite them on Earth, who have something to learn from each other, and when he finds them he ties a red thread to them so they find their paths. Thus, our red strings end in someone else. Accepting this, or at least considering it, is a secret consolation: it is as if our steps — stubborn as they may sometimes seem — knew the route and geography of our multiple amorous destinations, and therefore there were no “slips” or poor decisions.

There are two memorable moments in cinema that pay tribute to the subtle and mysterious aesthetic of this conductive read string: the first is the film Dolls by Takeshi Kitano, and the second Sayonara, by Joshua Logan. In both we find out at the end that the couples were united by the red string of destiny, and that everything that occurred before was nothing more than a plot through the route of string that would end up reuniting them. “Journeys end in lovers meeting,” William Shakespeare said.

All cultures have pondered what it is that governs the individual path of each person, and among them many have conceived an astronomical thread that predicts their paths. Think of the Moirai of the Greeks, who hold a thread of gold for each person on earth and cut it suddenly when his or her death is due, or in the thread, also red by the way, of the Cabala which connects the believers to the holy land of Jerusalem. It’s logical to think that if life is conceived as a great text (from the Latin textus: knitting, connection), the strings are the main material of men to rasterize their daily lives. To “lose the thread” is now a universal expression to refer to practical or even existential deviation.

Thus, the legend of the red thread tells us that within the labyrinth of encounters and shared stories there is a predesigned and perfect path, a scarlet string which, like that of Ariadne, connects us with our irrevocable destination placed at the edge of another string that will also lead to us.

BY LUCIA ORTIZ MONASTERIO

Lectures: The Japanese demon Datsue

奪衣婆

だつえば

TRANSLATION: clothes-stealing old woman
ALTERNATE NAMES: sōzukaba, ubason
HABITAT: Meido, along the banks of the Sanzu River

APPEARANCE: Datsueba and Keneō are a terrifying pair of elderly oni. They guard the bridge and the banks of the Sanzu River. All souls must pass by them before moving on to Meido to be judged.

INTERACTION: During a Japanese funeral, 6 mon (and old form of currency) are placed in the coffin to be used as a toll to enter the underworld. Upon reaching the Sanzu River, the souls must cross either by bridge (if they were good in life), by wading in the shallows (if they were only somewhat good), or by swimming across the deepest part of the river (if they were wicked).

After crossing the river, each soul encounters Datsueba, who accepts the toll and strips the souls of the clothes on their backs. Datsueba hands the clothing to her partner, Keneō, who hangs it from a tree by the riverside. The amount that the branch bends under the weight of the clothes serves as a measure of the weight of the sin each soul carries, and is used as evidence in the trials to come. Of course, the clothes of those who had to ford the river or swim across are heavy and wet, which only makes the branches of the tree sag lower. If a soul arrives with no clothes, Keneō flays his or her skin and hangs it from the tree instead.

Datsueba and Keneō perform a little bit of torture themselves, breaking the fingers of those guilty of theft, and so on. They also roam the banks of the river, tormenting the souls of children who are too young to cross the river and must wait for salvation to come to them instead.

According to some accounts, Datsueba is the wife of King Enma. In the Edo period, she became a popular object of folk worship, and temples dedicated to her began to spring up around Japan. Prayers and charms dedicated to Datsueba were used as wards against disease and coughs, in particular for children’s coughs.

Lecture: The Japanese Demon Onryo

怨霊

おんりょう

TRANSLATION: grudge spirit, vengeful ghost

HABITAT: found all throughout Japan

DIET: none; survives solely on its wrath

APPEARANCE: The most dreaded type of yūrei is the onryō. They are the ghosts of people who died with such strong passions –jealousy, rage, or hatred – that their soul is unable to pass on, and instead transforms into a powerful wrathful spirit who seeks vengeance on any and everything it encounters. Onryō appear as they did when they died. Often they were victims of war, catastrophe, betrayal, murder, or suicide, and they usually display wounds or marks indicative of the way they died.

INTERACTIONS: Their motive is always the same: vengeance. Onryō are easily powerful enough to swiftly kill any person; however, they prefer letting the object of their hatred live a long life of torment and suffering, watching those he knows suffer and die. They inflict a terrible curse on the people or places that they haunt. This curse can be transmitted to others through contact like a contagious disease, creating a circle of death or destruction that is far more devastating than any ordinary ghost. They make no distinction in whom they target with their grudge; they just wants to destroy. Moreover, this vengeance can never be satisfied as it can for most ghosts. While most yūrei only haunt a person or place until they are exorcised or placated, an onryō’s horrible grudge-curse continues to infect a location long after the ghost itself has been laid to rest.

Occasionally, an onryō’s curse is born not out of hatred and retribution, but out of intense, passionate love which perverts into extreme jealousy. These onryō haunt their former lovers, exacting their wrath onto new romances, second marriages, their children, and eventual end up destroying the lives of the ones they loved so much in life. Whatever the origin, the onryō’s undiscriminating wrath makes it one of the most feared supernatural entities in all of Japan.

LEGENDS: Unquestionably the most well-known onryō, and one whose grudge-curse exists to this very day, is the ghost of Oiwa: a young woman who was brutally disfigured and then murdered by her wicked and greedy husband in an elaborate plot. Her story is told in Yotsuya Kaidan, The Ghost Story of Yotsuya, and has been retold many times, in books, ukiyo-e, kabuki, and film. Like with Shakespeare’s Hamlet, legend has it that a curse accompanies her story, and that those who retell it will suffer injuries and even death. To this day, producers, actors, and their crews continue to visit the grave of Oiwa in Tokyo before productions or adaptations of Yotsuya Kaidan, praying for her soul and asking for her blessing to tell her story once again.

Lecture: The Japanese Demon Yūrei

Yūrei are a type of Japanese ghost, usually female (though males do exist), traditionally shown as wearing all white with long black hair that hangs in front of their face. They are typically bound to specific places or objects, and often have a mission of vengeance.

Yūrei have been featured in such movies as The Grudge, The Ring and Silent Hill in the U.S., which unfortunately led to some confusion among U.S. audiences that the characters were somehow the same in each of the movies. Western audiences were not familiar with the look of the Yūrei, which share very little in common with the “transparent man in a sheet” type of Western ghosts. As J-Horror remakes continue to be made, it’s likely that American audiences will eventually learn to accept the look of this new type of ghost.

Yūrei are often Onryō, a ghost seeking vengeance and tied to the physical plane by strong emotions, usually anger. Kayako from The Grudge (seen above) is a perfect example of Onryō. Samara Morgan (or Sedako) of The Ring would also be an Onryō, but while she does thirst for vengeance, she seems to have transcended the traditional role of the vengeful spirit to become more of a plague-like being bent on the destruction of all who watch her tape. This is not quite in keeping with the Onryō.

Yūrei typically arise from murders or suicides, especially when the victim is either killed due to jealousy or committed suicide because of family pressures. If a reikon (Japanese for soul or spirit) becomes obsessed with anger, sorrow or jealousy, they may cross back into the physical world and become Yūrei. Women are most frequently depicted as Yūrei because most Japanese consider them far more emotional than men and thus more likely to experience the deep emotion needed to become such a vengeful spirit.

Unlike Western ghosts which may have limited ability to interact with the physical world, Yūrei seem to have no problem passing through the boundary between the land of the dead and the living. Western ghosts are also often susceptible to exorcism, while Yūrei often can never be truly defeated or banished. Yūrei rarely desire to communicate with the living, and they are often less concerned with frightening someone as they are outright killing them. Yūrei curses are often so potent that even those who had nothing to do with their vengeance are pulled into the curse and punished – they are indiscriminate killers.

A common theme with Yūrei is prehensile hair. The ghosts are often heralded by hair appearing in drains or from victims’ mouthes. Many Yūrei also seem to have a connection to their hair, as items belonging to them will often be found with tufts of hair still attached. A lock of hair from the Yūrei’s physical body may even be enough to hold it at bay for a time. The Yūrei’s hair will also often be able to change length at will, growing or shrinking as needed. This distinctive feature is actually a reference to the way ghosts were portrayed in traditional Japanese theater – the actor would wear a long wig to hide their face.

As ghosts, Yūrei can often bend or completely ignore the traditional physical laws. They are often shown crawling along ceilings or walls in defiance of gravity, and can move with extreme speed, crossing distances in the blink of an eye. They often move in a strange, disjointed manner, holding their arms at odd angles or even running on all fours. As a Yūrei is not bound to the physical plane, they can be solid or completely immaterial as they wish, and can vanish instantly. They do often have a precursor, a smell or sound that can alert a potential victim of their approach, but this can be different for each Yūrei.

The features of a Yūrei can also change, and they can assume the form of a victim’s loved ones or can become a horrific corpse. Black veins are a common appearance on the pallid faces of the ghosts, and they can often stretch their features in inhuman ways, usually creating giant maws or melting, disgusting faces. The Yūrei can also often create illusions, making a victim believe they are somewhere else or that something impossible is happening (such as a room crashing around them only to be back to normal a second later). While they don’t precisely have control of time, they can hypnotize a victim into thinking more or less time has passed than really has, making day turn to night seemingly instantly.

Of all the ghosts of the world, Yūrei are some of the most dangerous. They cannot be reasoned with, contained or destroyed, and often they cannot be banished by any means. They have near unlimited power in meting out their curse and often will punish anyone and everyone who gets in their way. They act more as a force of nature than a simple vengeful spirit, like a tsunami of evil compared to the simple thunder storm of Western ghosts.

One method of dealing with Yūrei is through the use of ofuda, a Shinto talisman (sometimes called “prayer sheets” or “prayer tags”). An ofuda dedicated to a specific kami (a spirit, often a deity) can be placed on a door to keep a Yūrei out, or if placed on the Yūrei’s forehead, can banish the ghost. However, this is only practical if the kami indicated in the ofuda intervenes, which may not be the case if the Yūrei’s vengeance is righteous. Some Yūrei can also be exorcised by fulfilling their curse, such as revealing the truth of a spouse’s affair or laying their body to rest in consecrated ground. However, Yūrei can be quite clever and can often mislead a victim into thinking they are helping to banish the Yūrei when in fact they are simply making it easier for the Yūrei to seek its vengeance.

The concept of the Yūrei is not isolated to Japan. In addition to the recent American movie remakes, the Yūrei is also prevalent in Korean horror stories. This may be because in Korea, ghosts are often not considered evil or frightening, and instead are looked upon as just another sort of spirit. The idea of a truly evil, and yet potentially righteous, ghost is something of a fascination in such a culture. Korean Yūrei often deviate from Japanese Yūrei in their depiction, as the Koreans are not as bound by the theatrical tradition that gave birth to this type of ghost. Korean Yūrei might have short hair or all black skin, or may appear to be completely normal until they strike.


Here is a short list of films that include Yūrei or Yūrei-like ghosts:

• The Ring (Japanese series – remade in America)
• Ju-on (Japanese series, known as The Grudge in America)
• Shutter (originally from Thailand, but remade in America – the original is better)
• The Ghost (Korean)
• Apartment 1303 (Japanese)
• Dark Water (Japanese, remade in America)
• One Missed Call (Japanese, remade in America)
• Silent Hill (American)
• The Ghost of Mae Nak (Thailand – while Mae Nak is not a Yūrei per se, she is depicted in a similar manner in this film)

Yūrei also appear in several video games:

• Silent Hill (especially Silent Hill 4)
• F.E.A.R. and F.E.A.R. 2 (primary antagonist is a Yūrei)
• Fatal Frame (series)
• Bayonetta (while not strictly Yūrei, the protagonist shares several similar abilities, especially prehensile hair)

Lecture: The Japanese spirit Ubume

姑獲鳥

うぶめ

TRANSLATION: woman in late pregnancy; often written with different characters

ALTERNATE NAMES: obo, unme, ugume, ubametori, and many others

HABITAT: haunts the area where she gave birth

DIET: none; only exists to deliver her baby into safe hands

APPEARANCE: When a woman dies just before, during, or shortly after childbirth, her spirit is often unable to pass on out of anxiety for her child. This troubled attachment manifests into a ghost known as an ubume. They appear on dark, rainy nights, and are often indistinguishable from a living woman carrying a child, crying for help. Ubume can appear in many forms: a woman carrying a baby, a pregnant woman, or a blood-soaked walking corpse carrying an underdeveloped fetus. Other times they just appear as horrific, bloody, naked pregnant women crying out desperately into the night for help.

These variations in appearance are due to the burial traditions of different regions, as well as the circumstances of death; in some areas, when a pregnant woman died she would be buried with the unborn fetus still inside of her; in other areas, the fetus would be cut out of her and placed in her arms during burial. Women who died after delivering stillborn babies were also buried in this way.

BEHAVIOR: These tragic spirits wander the areas near where they died, seeking aid from the living which they cannot provide themselves. If the mother died after childbirth but her baby survives, an ubume will try to provide for the child in whatever way it can. She enters shops or homes to try to purchase food, clothes, or sweets for her still-living child. In place of money she pays with handfuls of dead leaves. These ghosts also often try to lead humans to the place where the baby is hidden so that it can be taken to its living relatives, or adopted by another person.

In cases where both mother and child died, an ubume can appear carrying the bundled corpse of her infant. When a human approaches, the ghost tries to deliver the bundle into the arms of the living. If the stranger accepts the bundle, the ghost vanishes, and the bundle grows heavier and heavier until the helpful stranger is crushed under its weight.

OTHER FORMS: The name ubume is written with characters that imply a bird’s name. The literal translation of these characters is “child-snatching bird” and some theories connect this spirit with another yokai called the ubumetori. This yokai is an evil bird which flies through the sky searching for clothing that has been left on the clothesline overnight. When it finds some, it smears its poisonous blood on the clothing, and shortly afterward the owner of those clothes begins to develop shakes convulsions, possibly leading to death. They are also blamed for snatching babies and taking them away into the night sky. Whether this bird is another form of the ubume or a separate spirit with the same name is not known.