A photographic introduction to items from the collection

Myths, Monsters and Yokai -- Epidemic and beast prophet

In the late Early Modern times, especially from the end of the Edo period through the Meiji period, various monsters and Yokai ghosts appeared as subjects of nishiki-e, surimono, etc. Among them, the myths of strange creatures (beast prophets) were widely known. It is said that they foretold of rich harvest and plague epidemic and they explained how to avoid the plague, and then disappeared. Photo 1 shows the beast prophet called hime-uo which allegedly appeared in Hirado, Hizen Province in 1819 (Bunsei 2). This is a kind of mermaid which has a feminine face with two horns and the body of a fish, and the story goes as follows.

Offshore in Hirado, Hizen Province,
Hime-uo appeared as a messenger from the Dragon’s Palace.
The fish said,
“Harvest will be rich for the next seven years,
as a sign of this, a comet will appear near the Great Bear,
but a plague called "korori" will spread and kill many people,
people who draw a picture of me and look at it will be able to avoid the plague.”
Then, the fish disappeared beneath the sea as quickly as it had appeared.

The fish was gold.
It was about four meters tall.
Its hair was about three meters long.
It had three gems on its back.
It appeared on April 15, Bunsei 2.

According to the story, it was a messenger from the Dragon's Palace. It had three gems on its back and carried a twig with a red fruit in its mouth. It foretold of a rich harvest for the next seven years and a korori (plague) epidemic while explaining that to avoid the plague, people should draw a picture of hime-uo and look at it, and then it disappeared beneath the sea. In addition to hime-uo, it seems that in 1819 (Bunsei 2), the surimono of a beast prophet called jinja-hime appeared all over the city of Edo. "Buko-nenpyo" written by Saito Gesshin notes that when a plague (dysentery) called korori spread in the summer of 1819 (Bunsei 2), "Tan’yu copied a picture of nure-onna (wet woman) from a series of pictures by Hyakki Yako and put it into circulation under the name of jinja-hime as a talisman to avoid the plague, and some people actually believed in it." "Wagakoromo" written by Kato Gen'etsu also notes that in the middle of the panic about dysentery which spread that summer, some people peddled pictures of jinja-hime. Perhaps the popularity of the pictures was in line with the plague epidemic.

Photo 1: “Hime-uo appeared in Hirado, Hizen Province as a messenger from the Dragon's Palace.” (Edo period, Museum collection)	Photo 2: “A creature appearing from the sea (Fukushima-gata, Echigo Province)” (Edo period, Museum collection)

Photo 2 shows a beast prophet that appeared in Fukushima-gata in Echigo Province, and the picture comments that a person called Shibata Tan actually saw the real creature. The contents of the prophecy and how to avoid the plague are basically the same as hime-uo. However, the head of the creature has no horns, the body has breasts and hands, and the lower half of the body is like an enormous shell rather than a fish. The creature shown in Photo 3 also appeared in Fukushima-gata in Echigo Province, and the comments are almost the same as Photo 2. It is almost human with hands and feet, far from the image of a mermaid. It seems that this surimono appeared in the Kaei years (1848 to 1854) approximately 30 years later from 1819 (Bunsei 2) because "Fujioka-ya Nikki" which records tales and people's thoughts at the end of the Edo period describes it as follows.

In the middle of April in 1849 (Kaei 2), the leap year of the Rooster,
a mermaid appeared in Fukushima-gata in Echigo Province.

At the side of the Shibata castle town in Kanbara County, Echigo Province, there is a large swamp called Fukushima-gata. Nobody knows from when it was started, but the calling of a female voice was heard nightly. Nobody had actually seen the creature. One night, a samurai called Shibata Chusaburo saw the creature and asked what it was. Then, the creature became luminous and said, "I live at the bottom of this swamp. Every province will have a rich harvest for the next five years, but around November, an epidemic will occur and kill about 60% of the people. People who see me or a picture of me will be able to avoid that fear. This message should be relayed to people as soon as possible." Then, it returned beneath the water.

If you eat a human-shaped fish, you will live long.
If you see it, you will not have to worry about death.
Such a picture was peddled in the city around June.

Judging from the contents, this would be the same kind of creature as Photo 2 and 3. It also says “such a picture was peddled in the city around June.” It indicates that some people peddled this kind of picture in the summer when there was a possibility of plague occurrence. Perhaps, some honed in on people's fear about the plague, stirred up that fear with the appearance of a strange creature and the prophecy, and attempted to earn money, and their intention is seen everywhere in this kind of picture.

Photo 3: “A luminous creature appeared in Echigo Province, calling with a feminine voice ...” (Edo period, Museum collection)	Photo 4: “Luminous creature in the shape of a monkey” (Kumamoto)” (1882 [Meiji 15], Museum collection)

Also in the Meiji period, some records state that the pictures of beast prophets related to plague epidemic became popular. "Yomiuri Shimbun" dated August 31, 1882 (Meiji 15) says, "Recently, illustrated print shops in the city have been selling the figure of a monkey with three legs, a picture of a strange creature with the face of an old man and legs of a bird, etc. as a talisman against cholera, which is to deceive foolish people and hamper the prevention of the plague. Therefore, the prohibition of selling such pictures has been communicated to the metropolitan police." "The figure of a monkey with three legs" would be the nishiki-e shown in Photo 4. Here, the name of the beast prophet is amabiko, but it has the same contents of the prophecy of rich harvest and plague, and an explanation on how to avoid the plague. It says "noticed in July, 1882 (Meiji 15)." It was 1822 (Bunsei 5) when cholera occurred for the first time in Japan, and after that, the disease frequently became an epidemic. "Korera-byo yobo-ho kokoroe (Knowledge on the prevention of cholera)" was published in 1877 (Meiji 10), and after that, laws and ordinances were established to strengthen the prevention of epidemics, causing friction with the magical methods such as curse, prayers, etc. which had been performed traditionally by common people. It was natural that the picture of a monkey with three legs (amabiko), etc. also became the target of the regulation and that crackdown on the people concerned became even more stringent because they "deceive foolish people and hamper the prevention of the plague."

Photo 5 “Human-shaped fish, talisman against plague” (Museum collection)	Photo 6 “Raikiju, June 1796 (Kansei 8), Kumamoto, Higo Province” (Edo period, Museum collection)

In addition to the beast prophets mainly introduced here, there are many yokai ghosts that became popular on the streets such as a human-shaped fish used as a talisman against the plague (Photo 5), raikiju which fell from the sky with a huge thunderstorm (Photo 6), a monster which allegedly rose up from the Osaka Kinjo moat (Photo 7), a monstrous fish that appeared on the banks of the Yodogawa river (Photo 8), etc.

Photo 7 “Monster rising up from the Osaka Kinjo moat, June 9, 1866 (Keio 2)” (Edo period, Museum collection)	Photo 8 “Illustrated explanation of lightning, large fish in the Yodogawa river” (Edo period, Museum collection)

Tsunemitsu Toru (Folklore Studies, Research Department)