Nuribotoke

The Nuribotoke (塗仏) is a yōkai found in Japanese yōkai emaki such as the Hyakkai Zukan by Sawaki Suushi. They are also depicted in the Gazu Hyakki Yagyō by Toriyama Sekien.[1][2]

Nuribotoke ぬりぼとけ from Bakemono no e (化物之繪, c. 1700), Harry F. Bruning Collection of Japanese Books and Manuscripts, L. Tom Perry Special Collections, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University.
"Nuribotoke" (ぬりぼとけ) from the Hyakkai Zukan by Sawaki Suushi
"Nuribotoke" (塗仏) from the Gazu Hyakki Yagyō by Sekien Toriyama

They are depicted as an animated corpse with darkened skin and dangling eyeballs. Their name literally means "Lacquered Buddha" which references their black lacquered color and their resemblance to Buddha, although the term for Buddha can also be used to mean any deceased spirit.[3] It has also sometimes been referred to as Kurobou (黒坊).[4] They are often portrayed with largely bloated stomachs and appear often as a Buddhist priest.[5]

Concept

They have the appearance of a black bonze and they are depicted with both eyeballs out of their sockets and hanging down. None of the documents have any explanatory text, so it is unknown what kind of yōkai they were intending to depict.

In the emakimono and e-sugoroku of the Edo Period, such as the Jikkai Sugoroku (十界双六) (held by the National Diet Library), they are written as ぬりぼとけ or ぬり仏, and they are depicted with what appears to be long black hair on their backs.[2][6] There are also examples such as in the Hyakkai Zukan where they are depicted with what appears to be a fish's tail on their backs. In the Gyōsai Hyakki Gadan (暁斎百鬼画談) (1889) by Kawanabe Kyōsai, there was a yōkai that was unnamed but had the same appearance as the "nuribotoke" of emakimono, with both eyeballs out the eyesockets.[7]

In the Hyakki Yagyō Emaki (held by the Matsui Library), they are depicted under the name of kurobō (黒坊). They have the same appearance as the "nuribotoke" of the emakimono and e-sugoroku, with both eyes out of their eye sockets. In this emaki, the korobō appears as the very first of the yōkai.[8][9]

According to the Edo Period writing Kiyū Shōran (嬉遊笑覧), it can be seen that one of the yōkai that it notes is depicted in the Bakemono E (化物絵) drawn by Kōhōgen Motonobu is one by the name of "nurihotoke."[10]

In the Gazu Hyakki Yagyō by Sekien Toriyama, it is depicted appearing out from a butsudan (miniature shrine).[1] Among all the pictures of the nuribotoke, only the one in the Gazu Hyakki Yagyō by Sekien Toriyama depicts it with a butsudan.

They are often depicted with a long, black appendage coming from their back, which is generally drawn as a catfish's tail,[5] but is sometimes drawn as long black hair, especially in Edo period portrayals.[4] They are believed to appear from butsudan that have either been left open overnight or have been poorly maintained.[11] Often, they appear as a deceased family member in order to scare the family. However, as evidenced by the catfish tail, it may be that the corpse is controlled by another being or be a yōkai in disguise.[11] Sometimes it will appear as a Buddhist priest and act as a messenger of the Buddha but give out false prophecies to fool worshipers.[11] According to some stories, it may appear simply to maintain a butsudan that is in disrepair.[11] It is also believed to dance often, especially during the demons' night parade (Hyakki Yakō).[12]

Umibōzu

In the yōkai emaki considered to be made by inserting captions on yōkai pictures in preexisting yōkai emaki, the Bakemonozukushi Emaki (化け物尽し絵巻) (from the Edo Period, held by an individual, entrusted to the Fukuoka Prefecture library), there is a picture thought to be referenced from the "nuribotoke" that is introduced under the name of "umibōzu" (海坊主) (for unknown reasons, this emaki changes the names of all the yōkai that appear in it). According to the caption, this umibōzu appears at the inlet of Shido, Sanuki Province (now Kagawa Prefecture), and it would eat fishers and reduce them to mere bones, but many people devised a plan that allowed them to kill it.[13]

Explanatory text beginning in Shōwa

In literature about yōkai starting in the Shōwa and Heisei periods, there have started to appear various interpretations based on their name and appearance about how they'd suddenly appear from butsudan and frighten people by popping out their eyes,[14][15] or how a slothful monk would appear out of the butsudan and attack people, among other interpretations.[16] In the Yōkai Gadan Zenshū Nihonhen (妖怪画談全集 日本篇) (1929), Morihiko Fujisawa gave the caption "a nuribotoke oddity as a spirit of objects" to Sekien's "nuribotoke" picture that was included for illustration.[17] It is also said that the eyes hanging down is meant to convey the idea of "what can the eyes of the people in a house with a dirty butsudan see? Those eyes can't see anything, can they now?" Because of this, they are considered to appear in houses with an untidy butsudan and startle people.

See also

Notes
  1. 稲田篤信・田中直日編 『鳥山石燕 画図百鬼夜行』 高田衛監修、国書刊行会、1992年、82頁。ISBN 978-4-336-03386-4
  2. 村上健司他編著 (2000). 百鬼夜行解体新書. コーエー. p. 92. ISBN 978-4-87719-827-5.
  3. Yoda, Hiroko; Alt, Matt (2016). Japandemonium Illustrated: The Yōkai Encyclopedias of Toriyama Sekien. Mineola, New York: Dover Publications, Inc. p. 62. ISBN 9780486800356.
  4. Zenyōji, Susumu (2015). E de miru Edo no yōkai zukan. Tokyo: Kōsaidō Shuppan. p. 231. ISBN 9784331519578.
  5. Murakami, Kenji (2015). Nihon yōkai daijiten. Tokyo: Kadokawa Bunko. p. 471. ISBN 9784041029329.
  6. 造事務所編著 (2007). 多田克己監修 (ed.). 日本と世界の「幽霊・妖怪」がよくわかる本. PHP文庫. PHP研究所. p. 116. ISBN 978-4-569-66887-1.
  7. 吉田漱 監修 及川茂, 山口静一 編著 『暁斎の戯画』 東京書籍 1992年 ISBN 4-487-79073-5 151頁
  8. 別冊太陽『日本の妖怪』平凡社 1987年 6頁
  9. たばこと塩の博物館 編『武家の精華 八代・松井家の美術工芸』2002年 105頁 ISBN 4924989193
  10. 多田克己 『妖怪図巻』 京極夏彦・多田克己編著、国書刊行会、2000年、132-133頁。ISBN 978-4-336-04187-6。
  11. Mizuki, Shigeru (2014). Ketteiban Nihon yōkai taizen: Yōkai anoyo kamisama. Tokyo: Kodansha. p. 536. ISBN 9784062776028.
  12. "Yokai.com – the online database of Japanese ghosts and monsters". Retrieved 2018-12-05.
  13. 兵庫県立歴史博物館, 京都国際マンガミュージアム, ed. (2009). 図説 妖怪画の系譜. ふくろうの本. 河出書房新社. p. 53. ISBN 978-4-309-76125-1.
  14. 水木しげる 『決定版 日本妖怪大全 妖怪・あの世・神様』 講談社（講談社文庫）、2014年、536頁。ISBN 978-4-062-77602-8。
  15. 少年社他編, ed. (1999). 妖怪の本 異界の闇に蠢く百鬼夜行の伝説. New sight mook. 学習研究社. p. 117. ISBN 978-4-05-602048-9.
  16. 多田克己 (1990). 幻想世界の住人たち. Truth In Fantasy. Vol. IV. 新紀元社. pp. 369–370. ISBN 978-4-915146-44-2.
  17. 藤沢衛彦 編『妖怪画談全集 日本篇』上　中央美術社 1929年　67頁

References
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