Ancient Japanese Mythology: Catfish Cause Earthquakes - 16 Beautiful Woodblock Prints

In ancient Japanese folklore, it has been said that catfish are the causes of earthquakes. In modern science, scientists study the reaction of catfish prior to earthquakes. It seems that there is a correlation as recent studies done at Japanese universities have shown.

Catfish and prostitutes drinking and partying in Tokyo's red light district in Yoshiwara 

Wikipedia has a good and simple explanation of how catfish (Namazu) fit into Japanese mythology relating to earthquakes and Ukiyo-e (woodblock prints): 

In Japanese mythology, the Namazu (鯰) or Ōnamazu (大鯰) is a giant catfish who causes earthquakes. He lives in the mud under the islands of Japan, and is guarded by the god Kashima who restrains the catfish with a stone. When Kashima lets his guard fall, Namazu thrashes about, causing violent earthquakes. Following an earthquake near Edo (modern day Tokyo) in 1855 (one of the Ansei Great Quakes), the Namazu became worshiped as a yonaoshi daimyojin (god of world rectification).[1]

Namazu-e (catfish prints) are a minor genre of ukiyo-e. They are usually unsigned and encompass a large variety of scenes such as a namazu forcing the wealthy to excrete coins for the poor, and a namazu atoning for the earthquake he caused.

It is believed by some that the origin of the story is the fact that catfish can sense the small tremors which happen before an earthquake, and are shown to be more active at such times. Supposedly, the sudden activity was observed in ancient times and believed the quakes to be the result of a giant catfish.

Like Greek or Norse mythology, ancient Japanese mythology have a bunch of weird ideas (perhaps no more weird than guys walking on water or snakes talking)... And through this mythology, there is a plethora of art on the subject.

Okay, I'll make this brief... "Jesus walked on water" is an example of figurative speech.

It doesn't mean that he literally "walked on water" it means that he achieved the impossible 

through positive thinking and faith... As they say, "Faith moves mountains."

Briefly, there is a god named Kashima who holds down earthquakes with a huge stone named Kaname. When the god Kashima can hold down the catfish, there are no earthquakes, but the catfish is slippery and sometimes gets loose...


Here are a bunch of pictures of woodblock prints from the Japanese National Library depicting the relation of catfish to earthquakes. (If you want to see more, go to this link and click on the blue lettering to the left: http://dl.ndl.go.jp/info:ndljp/pid/1307504?tocOpened=1)  

Catfish as saviors after an earthquake

Catfish of Edo period and Shinzu

Catfish and Kaname rock

Attack on the catfish from the Edo period

More partying with prostitutes and construction workers in Yoshiwara

The god Kashima holds down the catfish with the Kaname rock

Catfish remembering the dead

Earthquakes, thunder and fires evil gods

Kashima and a catfish in a tug or war

A great catfish is in the town (and causes an earthquake)

A million prayers for the dead

Ansei era of few earthquakes

Catfish with construction materials and tools

There are a bunch more photos of artwork at Pink Tentacle with English explanations here: http://pinktentacle.com/2011/04/namazu-e-earthquake-catfish-prints/

You can also try to decipher the results of testing on catfish here written in English: 

http://www.bousaihaku.com/cgi-bin/hp/index.cgi?ac1=R204&ac2=R20407&ac3=1262&Page=hpd_view


Why do I say, "try to decipher?" Well, here's the conclusion of the study for your purview:

Conclusion

Really, as the largest animals make noise What the catfish before the earthquake? For now, the legend is not to deny anything. The fish are bred in the aquarium daily importance, especially catfish who might make noise before the earthquake.

See? I don't know if that's proof that catfish cause earthquakes or can detect them, but deciphering those sentences make my head hurt! Or, should I say,


"The catfishes seem to do like the earthquake causation so much like I do?..."

Free Sunday Matinee! Samurai Film: Zatoichi - the Blind Swordsman

Recently, due to the earthquake, tsunami and the subsequent nuclear accident at Fukushima, this blog (and everyone else) has been completely preoccupied with those events. Several regular readers have asked that I start the free Sunday Japanese cinema again.

You asked for it, you got it. Here is a well known story in Japan. It is called Satoichi - the Blind Swordsman. Wikipedia says:

Zatoichi (座頭市 Zatōichi) is a fictional character featured in one of Japan's longest running series of films and a television series set in the Edo period. The character, a blind masseur and swordmaster, was created by novelist Kan Shimozawa (子母澤 寛 Shimozawa Kan). This originally minor character was developed for the screen by Daiei Studios (now Kadokawa Pictures) and actor Shintaro Katsu, who created the screen version. A total of 26 films were made from 1962 to 1989. From 1972 to 1974, a television series of the same name was made. One hundred and twelve episodes were aired before the "Zatoichi" television series was cancelled.

Film number 17 of the original series was remade in America in 1990 (by TriStar Pictures) as Blind Fury, an action movie starring Rutger Hauer.

Today, we will watch, in full the 2003 remake starring Takeshi Kitano directed by Takashi Miike. Satoichi is a much loved character in Japanese modern day folklore and this samurai film is quite possibly one of the best of the modern samurai movies. It has a quite bizarre ending too! Enjoy!

Zatoichi - the Blind Swordsman 1/13

Zatoichi - the Blind Swordsman 2/13



Zatoichi - the Blind Swordsman 3/13



Zatoichi - the Blind Swordsman 4/13

Zatoichi - the Blind Swordsman 5/13

Zatoichi - the Blind Swordsman 6/13

Zatoichi - the Blind Swordsman 7/13

Zatoichi - the Blind Swordsman 8/13

Zatoichi - the Blind Swordsman 9/13

Zatoichi - the Blind Swordsman 10/13

Zatoichi - the Blind Swordsman 11/13

Zatoichi - the Blind Swordsman 12/13

Zatoichi - the Blind Swordsman 13/13

Roots of Japanese anime? 24 traditional Japanese monsters

One of my favorite blogs on Japan is Pink Tentacle. Pick Tentacle is a blog about Japanese Art, Culture, Science and Technology.


I highly recommend it.


Today, they have an unusual collection of 24 traditional Japanese monsters. Have you ever wondered where the Japanese get their ideas for those silly monsters in the Godzilla movies? I have. Well, the fact of the matter is that Japan has had some very strange (or silly) looking monsters for a long time.


Pick Tentacle has uncovered a collection of 24 of them and made high quality scans for your viewing pleasure! The description reads:     


The Bakemono Zukushi handscroll, painted in the Edo period (18th-19th century) by an unknown artist, depicts 24 traditional monsters that once used to spook the people of Japan.


This is an interesting collection as, usually, the only other places you can see these spooks is at a local festival... And speaking of festivals, it's festival season now in Japan so get your notebooks out and jot down these characters now... They all look the same until you know the names...

Odoroshi (おどろし) is a red-faced monster with big eyes, black teeth, and long hair.

Yume-no-seirei ("dream ghost" - 夢の精霊) appears as a thin old man in a white robe.

Yamamba (山姥) is a mountain hag.

I like this last one. There was a while there, about 5 or 6 years ago, when Shibuya girls wore outrageous makeup on their faces and broad white eyeshadow. That fashion was called, "Yamamba" like the mountain hag above.

If you want to see more scrolls, click here.