Kamaitachi

[Dept of PMM Artists & things]

Kamaitachi (source: www.sayonara.jp)

Kamaitachi (鎌鼬, sometimes also 窮奇) is a Japanese monster (youkai), most commonly told in the Kōshinetsu region of Japan.

Contents [hide] 1 What is Kamaitachi 2 Origin 2.1 Scientific Interpretation 2.2 Gazuhyakkiyakou 2.3 Dialect 3 See Also 4 Filed Under 5 Notes

What is Kamaitachi

Kamaitachi is a Japanese monster that rides on a whirlwind, with a sickle-like hand and cuts humans with them. The wounds resulted from the Kamaitachi are big, but blood does not come out. There are several conceptions of how it looked or operated, but the most common is one of a trio of weasels with sharp claws, riding on a gust of wind and cutting people's skin on the legs. According to this interpretation, the first weasel knocked the unsuspecting victim down, the second cut the victim's flesh and the third applied medication to the wounds, so that at the time the victim realized what was happening they were left only with painful wounds that weren't bleeding. ^[1][2]

In different regions on Japan, it is said that person who was cut does not bleed out because the third Kamaitachi sucks the blood out of the wound after it has been cut. In some case, it is said that when the balance of trio of Kamaitachi has been disturbed, the other two Kamaitachi becomes violent and starts to kill humans and suck their blood. The example of disturbance in balance would be the third Kamaitachi accidentally gets trapped by spell or killed by Buddhist priest.

Origin

Kamaitachi in Gazehyakkiyakou

The phenomenon of wind cutting peoples' leg is real and happens some regions of Japan. In some writings, such as Sōzan Chomon Kishū (1851) for example, covered many stories of this phenomenon stating that the phenomenon itself is real even if Kamaitachi does not exist.

Scientific Interpretation

Many scientist in Japan tried to explain this phenomenon. At first, the scientists stated that the hollow space within the very center of the whirlwind caused the air pressure to go down to low that when human skin touch it, the skin splits. However, human skin are made much tougher that to be cut that easily by a air pressure that exists within nature, and any other case where any other thing was cut has not been report (clothes, belongings, etc). The most recent explanation says that vaporization heat is the cause of this. Vaporization heat is a needed energy to transform a solid thing into gas, and it is said that when temperature goes low for this happen, the skin surface . This idea can be supported with the fact that places Kamaitachi are said to appear are mostly snow countries.

Gazuhyakkiyakou

Gazuhyakkiyakou (画図百鬼夜行; The Illustrated Night Parade of A Hundred Demons) is a book of paintings in print, drawn by Toriyama Sekien in year 1776. The book consists of paintings of well-known monsters in Japan. He, Toriyama Sekien, presumably was the first to imagine the apparition to have the form of a weasel. ^[3] There are total of 4 books. "These books are about supernatural bestiaries, collections of ghosts, spirits, spooks and monsters, many of which Toriyama based on literature, folklore, other artwork. These works have had a profound influence on subsequent yōkai imagery in Japan." ^[4]

Dialect

There is a weapon called Kama in Japan that resembles a sickle. It can be used as a weapon or to cut grasses. The apparition was kamaetachi (構え太刀), meaning "attacking tachi" tachi being a sickle, which was changed slightly to mean "sickle weasel". Soon enough, because of the dialect, the word kamaetachi became Kamaitachi.

Notes

1. ↑ Kamaitachi. Wikipedia, retrieved on April 15, 2009.
2. ↑ Kamaitachi. Monstropedia, retrieved on April 15, 2009.
3. ↑ Kamaitachi. AbsoluteAstronomy, retrieved on April 15, 2009.
4. ↑ Gazu Hyakki Yakō. Wikipedia, retrieved on April 15, 2009.