Where Yōkai Enter and Exit the Human Body: From Medieval Picture Scrolls to Modern Folktales in Japan

Abstract

Let us begin by taking a look at Figure 1, an image from a thirteenth-century illustrated scroll entitled Kitano tenjin engi 北野天神縁起. Here we see an illnessstricken Fujiwara no Tokihira 藤原時平 (871–909) with two snakes crawling out of his ears. A priest was summoned to pray for the recovery of Tokihira, and during his prayers, two snakes crawled out of his ears. The two snakes were the vengeful spirit of Sugawara no Michizane 菅原道真 (845–903), Tokihira’s former rival, who had died six years prior, after being publicly shamed and exiled. The snakes commanded a certain courtesan to stop the priest from praying. No sooner had the priest halted his prayers and left the room than Tokihira passed away. It was believed that sicknesses and maladies of all sorts were caused by the intrusion into the body of evil spirits and yōkai. According to the historian Kuroda Hideo 黒田日出男 (1943–), a popular belief held throughout the early formative Where Yōkai Enter and Exit the Human Body: