researcherposts:evartandadam: Inktober Day 7: Warning Run, Run, Run, Run as fast as you can. Mokumok
researcherposts:evartandadam: Inktober Day 7: Warning Run, Run, Run, Run as fast as you can. Mokumokuren are yokai that look like eyeballs, and they like to live in torn shoji screens. They are considered to be a traditional Japanese staple of a haunted house. They usually symbolize that another yokai(spirit) is nearby. Great illustration, @evartandadam !Mokumokuren [目目連] first appeared in “Konjaku-hyakki-shui” [今昔百鬼拾遺] (1781) by Sekien Toriyama [鳥山 石燕] (1712-1788). According to Yokai Researcher Kenji Murakami [村上 健司] (1968-present) via “Youkai-jiten” [妖怪事典] (2000), Mokumokuren is an amalgamation of a master Go player’s (Japanese: Go-uchi-shi [碁打ち師]) feelings being absorbed into a Go checkerboard which subsequently saturated the entire house as a form of numerous eyes. Thus, becoming Mokumokuren. Illustration of Mokumokuren in “Konjaku-hyakki-shui”Etymologically speaking, the name “Mokumokuren” might have derived from the name of a Shinto deity called Ichi-mokuren/Hitotsume-no-muraji [一目連] who was a dragon with an missing eye, enshrined in Ichimokuren Shrine [一目連神社] (Kuwana City [桑名市]/Mie Prefecture) under the divine title of Ameno-mahitotsu-no-kami [天目一箇神] ①; a Shinto deity of metallurgy who always had one eye closed when working to check the temperature of his metal ②. Thus, incorporating the term “Ichi-mokuren” [一目連] (eye singular) and exchanging the letter “Ichi” [一] (one) with “Moku” [目] (eye(s)) to create the name Mokumokuren [目目連]. Source: 1) “Toriyama-sekien Kazu-hyakki-yagyou” [鳥山石燕 画図百鬼夜行] (1992) by Atsunobu Inada [稲田 篤信] (1947-present) & et al 2) “Shincho-nihon-koten-shuusei Kojiki” [新潮日本古典集成 古事記] (2014 published) by Kazutami Nishimiya [西宮 一民] (1924-2007) Ichimokuren Shrine The funny thing about Mokumokuren’s legends is that it tells how people were pretty brave in the past. For example, “Shoji-no-me” [障子の目] via ‘Tohoku-kaidan-no-tabi” [東北怪談の旅] (1974) by Novelist Norio Yamada [山田 野理夫] (1922-2012), it accounts about a legend of Mokumokuren from Northeast Japan. A merchant from Edo city traveled to Tsugaru Region [津軽地方] (i.e.: Western part of Aomori Prefecture) for his business trip. Since he didn’t want to waste his money by renting a room at an inn, once he arrived in Tsugaru, the merchant decided to spend the night inside an abandoned house. Suddenly, Mokumokuren appeared on the walls. However, instead of being frightened by the countless eyes, the merchant quickly began plucking the eyes from the wall out of amusement. Next day, the merchant sold all the Mokumokuren he gathered last night to an ophthalmologist and made a fortune. I personally found this legend to be hilarious and ballsy. Love it. -- source link