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| Prunus jamasakura Prunus serrulata Prunus × yedoensis |
| Spirited Away | |
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 Poster filem Spirited Away | |
| Sutradara | Hayao Miyazaki |
| Produser | Toshio Suzuki |
| Penulis | Hayao Miyazaki |
| Pemeran | (Jepang) Rumi Hiiragi Miyu Irino Mari Natsuki Takashi Naitō Yasuko Sawaguchi (Amerika Serikat) Daveigh Chase Jason Marsden Michael Chiklis Lauren Holly Suzanne Pleshette David Ogden Stiers Susan Egan Bob Bergen Tara Strong |
| Musik oleh | Joe Hisaishi |
| Sinematografi | Atsushi Okui |
| Penyunting | Takeshi Seyama |
| Distributor | Toho (Jepang) Studio Ghibli (Jepang) Walt Disney Pictures (Amerika Serikat) United International Pictures (Afrika Selatan) Europa Filmes (Brasil) |
| Tanggal rilis |  27 Juli 2001 20 September 2002 20 September 2002 6 November 2002 12 Desember 2002 12 September 2003 18 Juli 2003 |
| Durasi | 125 menit |
| Bahasa | Jepang Inggris |
Daruma dolls are red, round dolls named after Daruma (Bodhidarma), the founder of Zen Buddhism. They are commonly sold around New Year with both eyes painted over. One eye is unpainted when making a wish. The second eye is unpainted when the wish comes true. Daruma dolls have wide open eyes and fierce scowl that are intended to keep evil spirits and demons away and bring good luck. They have no legs because Daruma sat so long in meditation that his legs fell off. Daruma himself is featured in both 15th century paintings and 21st century television cartoons. Daruma dolls with yak hair beards were popular in 2009 Manekineko ("the beckoning cat") raises its paw to attract customers and money and brings good luck and wealth. They are seen everywhere and commonly set up outside shops and restaurants. It is not clear where manekineko came from. According to one story they originated with a feudal lord who avoided being caught in a torrential downpour and found refuge in a temple after being beckoned by a cat. In another story the cat raised his paw to protect his owner, a courtesan, from a snake. In any case a raised right paw is supposed to bring money and a raised left paw is supposed to attract customers. Links in this Website: KI, FENG SHUI AND SHAMANS IN JAPAN Factsanddetails.com/Japan ; YOKAI, LUCK GODS AND GHOSTS IN JAPAN Factsanddetails.com/Japan ; FORTUNETELLERS, BLOOD TYPES AND SUPERSTITIONS IN JAPAN Factsanddetails.com/Japan Good Websites and Sources: Good Photos of Lucky Cats and Daruma at Japan-Photo Archive japan-photo.de ; Yokai Article in Monstropedia monstropedia.org ; Yokai and Kaiden pdf file k-i-a.or.jp/kokusai ; Obakemono obakemono.com ; Tales of Ghostly Japan seekjapan.jp ; Yokai Attack yokaiattack.com ; Anatomy of Japanese Folk Monsters /pinktentacle.com/2009 ; Japanese Ghosts mangajin.com ; Ghosts, Demons and Spirits asianart.com ; Black Moon Japanese Ghost Stories theblackmoon.com/Ghost ; Japanese Legends About Supernatural Sweethearts pitt.edu/~dash/japanlove ; Good Photos at Japan-Photo Archive japan-photo.de Folk Religion in Japan Book: Folk Religion in Japan amazon.com ; Folk Beliefs in Modern Japan (1994) kokugakuin.ac.jp ; Japan Times article on Fortunetellers in Japan japantimes.co.jp ; Good Photos of Fortunetellers at Japan-Photo Archive japan-photo.de ; Japanese Fortunetelling on Quirky Japan Blog qjphotos.wordpress.com ; Japanese Fortunetelling on Danny Choo. Com dannychoo.com Good Websites and Sources on Religion in Japan: A View on Religion in Japan japansociety.org ; Book: Religion in Japan cambridge.org ; Religion and Secular Japan japanesestudies.org.uk ; U.S. State Department 2009 Report on Religious Freedom in Japan unhcr.org/refworld/ ; Resources for East Asian Language and Thought acmuller.net ; Society for the Study of Japanese Religions ssjr.unc.edu ; Contemporary Papers on Japanese Religion kokugakuin.ac.jp ; Japan Glossary Washington State University ; Shinshuren, Federation of New Religious Organizations of Japan shinshuren.or.jp Tanukis are Japanese mammals that resemble a cross between a badger and a raccoon. They are regarded as mischievous creatures with high sex drives and magical powers that enable them to change their shape at will. Statues of fat, jolly tanukis holding a bottle of sake are the Japanese equivalent of garden gnomes. According to folklore tanukis can change their shape and drum their stomach. They appear more often in Japanese legends and fairy tales than almost any other animal. They are often tricksters who play practical jokes and set traps—especially if it helps them get some food—crash parties and drink up all sake and then pay with dry leaves instead of real money. Many stories revolve around battles of wits between tanukis and farmers or are fantastic tales with tanukis changing into monsters or beautiful women.
In Japanese folklore foxes are regarded as clever and magical animal who act messengers for the gods, particularly the God of the Harvest, and are symbols of fertility. Killing one sometimes results in punishment by the gods. Small shrines for rice and harvest gods are found at Shinto shrines and some Buddhist temples. They are invariably guarded by foxes. Foxes are believed to have the power to change their forms, possess humans and cause people to have hallucinations so they can trick them. Their favorite entry point is under the fingernails. Their favorite food is said to be deep-fried tofu, which is often found in shrines next to fox statues. Inari shrines for foxes are very common. Some have thousands of images of foxes. These places are thought be haunted and best avoided after dark. Dragons and cats are regarded as auspicious. The logo for the Japanese version of the United Parcel Service is a black cat, regarded as protection from evil spirits. White cats are supposed to bearers of good luck. Red cats ward off evil. Frogs represent a “safe return.” Carps are a popular Japanese symbol. They are admired for their strength and determination to swim upstream, traits that parents want their children to have. On the holiday of Children's Day, paper carp wind banners are hung from poles at Shinto shrines, homes and other places and hung in lines across rivers near bridges. Cranes are symbol of peace and hope. A folded paper origami crane, a symbol of healing, is often given to someone or placed somewhere as a goodwill gesture. It is said that if you fold 1,000 cranes your dream will come true. Turtles are symbols of longevity. In some places if you see a spider in the morning it brings good luck. In other places a spider seen at night brings good luck. Hatsuyume, the first dream of the year, is important. Dreaming about hawks, Mt. Fuji or eggplants is supposed to bring good luck. Bad luck symbols include monkeys (saru, which can also mean “customers leaving”) and sunsets and anything red (akaji, meaning “in the red” and things falling). Rice has religious significance . Mochi (a soft rice cake) is considered a symbol of happiness. It is eaten at festivals, weddings, ceremonies for new houses and other occasions. See China, Religion, Superstitions
Shickifuku-jin are the seven gods of good luck. First used by merchants in Kyoto and Osaka in the 15th and 16th centuries, they are often pictured on a treasure ship and are popular New Year's images. Praying to them, having their images around or making pilgrimages to places associated with them is supposed to bring happiness and good fortune. The power of two or more of the gods working together far exceeds the of the power of each one acting on their own, with the power of all seven working together having the greatest power of all. The seven gods of good luck are: Ebisu, Daikokuten, Bishamonten, Benzaiten, Hoeti, Furkokokuju and Jurojin. Of the seven Ebisu is the only one that originated in Japan. Daikokuten, Bishamonten and Benzaiten come from India and Hoeto, Furkokokuju and Jurojin come from China. Outside a famous temple in Kyoto there is a machine from which people can buy charms related to the seven deities of good fortune. The charms bear codes that charm-owners can access online or with their cell phones to get to a fortune-telling website. The concept was developed by Fujitsu and a Kyoto-based wedding kimono manufacturer. 
Hotei is the god of happiness. A common symbol throughout Asia, he is jolly fellow with a big grin, pot belly and a bag sack. His ancestors can be traced back to a real human being, a Chinese monk associated with the Chinese sect that gave birth to Zen Buddhism. Hotei is a bit like a year-round Santa Claus, traveling around the countryside with his sack, giving food and necessities to the poor and needy and giving out presents to those who deserve them. Ebisu is the patron of seafarers and a symbol of prosperity. Another jovial fellow with a smiling bearded face, he is often depicted carrying a fishing rod with a big fish. According to a Japanese myth, he is the son the goddess Izanami and god Izanagi, the creators of the Japanese islands. Because Izanami spoke first before they had sex, Ebisu was born deformed and put in a boat and set adrift in the sea, occasionally washing up on the shore and bringing good luck to fishermen. Many coastal villages have shrines and festivals that honor him. Benzaiten is the goddess of art. Wise and skilled in painting and writing, she carries a biwa (mandolin) and is often escorted by a sea snake. Originally a spirit of flowing water, she is the patron saint of musicians and performers. Shrines for her with images of snakes are often set up near ponds. Bishamon is the god of war and the protector of Buddhism, scared mountains, temples and cities. Usually depicted with a helmet, suit of armor and spear, he was originally a folk god in India and was adopted by Buddhism. He is often found at the north gate or entrance of a building and is skilled at turning away evil spirits that cause poverty and bring bad luck. Daikoku is the god of wealth. Often pictured with a bag of treasures and mallet in his right hand, he was originally a guardian spirit and warrior folk god in ancient India in charge of keeping away demons. In China he became and patron of kitchens. In Japan he was merged with the Shinto kami Okuni and became a guardian of kitchens and farms and provider of good harvest and bountiful crops. He is often depicted with Ebisu. Fokurokuju, a dumpy bald-headed god with long, flowing robes, is associated with wealth and longevity. Jurojin is an old man with a white beard and cane, Often accompanied by a deer, he carries a scroll with the names of the living and is also associated with longevity. Both gods are derived from a Taoist mountain sages and are regarded as incarnations of stars and masters of the secrets of the universe. 
Yokai is a Japanese word for Japanese supernatural beings. Sawa Kurotani, a professor of Anthropology at Redlands University, wrote in the Daily Yomiuri. “Yokai are unique products of Japanese supernatural beliefs, with no exact equivalence in Western culture. They stem from the animistic world view of Shinto, in which everything animate and inanimate has a spirit, and therefore has potential to turn into supernatural beings with mystical powers. Their shapes and characters vary widely; so do their powers and capabilities.” “While origins and shapes vary greatly," Kurotani wrote, "all yokai have one thing in common: they are the products of blockage—pent-up emotions that can not be expressed, desires unfulfilled, lives terminated prematurely, inanimate objects that cannot fully turn into divine beings. They are condemned in perpetual limbo, between being and becoming, in neither this world nor the nether world. This perpetual in-between-ness is the source of their strangeness and grotesqueness.” The Japanese have traditionally been fascinated with yokai, and other spirits such as mononoke and ayakashi, and many believe they truly exist. Rather than view them as something scary or horrible they are seen as things that exist in everyday life and have to be dealt with. In the Heian period (794-1185) the Emperor employed an onmyoji, a bureaucrat who handled all supernatural matters connected with Imperial Court. Records of yokai exist in Japan’s earliest historical documents. Gazu Hyakki Yako (“Illustrated Fairy Night Parade”) was landmark publication released in 1776 with detailed research and illustrations of more than 100 yokai species. In other publications descriptions of yokai often appeared side by side with descriptions of real plants and animals, with some like tanukis and foxes, having both yokai and biological descriptions. Book: Yokai Attack! The Japanese Monster Survival Guide by Hiroko Yoda and Matt Alt (Kodansha International, 2008) is a field guide to 122 Japanese monsters. Pandemonium and Parade: Japanese Monsters and the Culture of Yokai (University of California Press, 2009) by Michael Dylan Foster, a professor at Indiana University; Anime and Its Roots in Early Japanese Monster Art by Zilia Papp, professor at Hosei University (Global Oriental, 2009) Papp traces the visual genealogies of many of yokai with an 18th-century yokai catalog by Toriyama Sekien. 
Yokai were dealt a serious blow by modernization, Westernization and industrialization but they seem to have made a comeback in recent years thanks to books, mangas anime and films that feature them. Many non-Japanese have been exposed to them in Miyakazai films such as Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away. Manga expert Ryota Fujitsu said Japanese secretly believe in yokai despite being surrounded by a modern technological society, “When something strange happened in your room—your brand-new computer suddenly stops working and then starts up again just as suddenly—it’ll make your life more interesting if you believe it’s the doing of a yokai.” A test of people’s knowledge of yokai is offered in Tokyo. According to old folk tales you are most likely to encounter yokai in the twlight hours around sunset. Some explain the recent fascination with yokai to a pursuit for explanations that defy the logic of the modern world brought about the hard times that people are experiencing in their on lives a result of economic hardships. Others link it with Shinto are traditional animist beliefs that local spirits are everywhere: in forests, in mountains, in ponds, rivers, trees and rocks. “The long-nosed tengu glares at a solitary traveler from the branches of a tree. Below the mountain, a web-fingered kappa lurks in the dark water beneath a bridge. Downstream, there's a rustling sound in a garbage dump as discarded items eerily come to life as tsukumogami. And on city streets, a seemingly ordinary woman known as Kuchisake Onna uses a cold-sufferer's sanitary mask to hide a gaping mouth full of sharp teeth... Each of these entities is a yokai.[Source: Tom Baker, Daily Yomiuri, December 2010] Tools and household items such as umbrellas, inkstones and pots are said to turn into yokai after 100 years of age. Many yokai have regional associations. The nureonna (“wet woman”), a grotesque creature with the head and arms of a woman and the body of a giant snake, inhabits dense willow forests along the banks of swift-flowing rivers in the deep mountains along the borders of Fukushima and Niigata Prefectures in northern Honshu. Among the yokai associated with Yokkaichi, a town on Ise Bay, are the Nure Onna, who has the upper body of a hag and the lower body of a colossal snake, and Kara Kasa, a one-eyed umbrella that hops about on a single leg. The mountains of northwestern Shikoku are said to be the home of a huge fire-breathing bird called the Basan. It has been described as a nocturnal creature with beak, fleshy wattle and spurs on the back of its legs sort of like those on a rooster. There are also yokai that seem to have a relatively recent origin. Foster writes that "some Japanese scholars have suggested the Kuchisake Onna, for example, “may represent a sort of education mama turned monster: the image of her confronting children...on the twilit streets between school and supplementary lessons at juku, was born of anxiety felt by children about pressures exerted by their own mothers." Award-winning Canadian comic book artist Nina Matsumoto told the Daily Yomiuri Shimbun she thinks the Kuchisake Onna is "something adults can use to scare children. It's a very useful urban myth. 'Children, don't stray too far, or go with strangers.'" [Source: Tom Baker, Daily Yomiuri, December 2010] On the psychological origin of another yokai, the Konaki Jiji—a baby who changes into an old man who drags you down, who crushes you to death— fiction writer John Paul Catton, told the Daily Yomiuri; "To me it represents the fear of responsibility and the fear of parental obligations which you can't keep, which turn into a millstone around your neck. And this is a literal example of that." [Ibid] 
Japanese have believed for a long time that certain animals and monsters, known collectively as bakemono, possess supernatural powers to resist diseases and illnesses and ward off curses. These include the kudan, a creature with a cow's body and a human face; and the tsuchinoko, a snakelike monster first described in the 8th century that has a thick body, stubby tail and squeaks like a mouse. The Japanese version of the boogie man is called the namahage. On certain holidays men is namahage costumes (a demonic mask and a haystack-like cloak) go door to door to discipline children who have been naughty. Children usually hide when the demon comes and parents appease him and get him to leave with an offering of rice cakes. "When I was a young boy," one man told National Geographic, "I was very scared of the namahage. I wouldn't even tell my parents where I was going to hide." The Japanese have also traditionally believed to be in a wide range of ogres, demons, goblins, dragons, raiju (beasts that fall from the sky during thunder storms), nekomata (old cats that have turned into monsters), mermaids and mermen. Not all supernatural creatures are bad. Akihara is a protector spirit created by the merging of pious monk and the place where the monk meditated for 1,000 days. Tengu are troll-like creatures infamous for their unpredictable nature and habit of both kidnaping unsuspecting children and returning missing ones. Associated with mountainous areas, they have long phallic noses, wings and are typically found riding on the back of white foxes. Tengu are part bird and part human. They reside deep in the mountains and come in two types: large ones with a long nose and smaller ones with a bird’s beak nose. The larger type is often depicted carrying a magic fan of bird feathers. Kevin Short, a cultural anthropologist at the Tokyo University of Information Science, wrote in the Daily Yomiuri, “ Tengu originated in China, and were conceived of as spirits of shooting stars. Their appearance was considered unlucky, a portent of disasters and misfortunes to come. The first one recorded here in Japan was in the early eight century. Once here, however, the tengu began evolving in their own directions. They quickly became associated with mountain ascetics, called yamabushi or shugengja.” “Tengu are adept at shape-shifting , able to turn into a bird of prey such as a kestrel or black kite, and also to take on the form of a human being at will. They are absolute experts at conjuring up visions, which they can use to trick Buddhist monks and other susceptible people . Although basically devious and mischievous in nature, when tengu take a liking to someone they will reveal secrets of invisibility or invincible swordplay.” “The big tengu’s magic fan can be used for various purposes. When angered they can fan up a great storm or whirlwind. Many charming folk stories also attribute to them the ability to make a person’s nose grow or shrink. Often a thief or mischievous boy steals the fan, after which his nose grows way up into the clouds, where it gets stuck, When the miscreant tries to retrieve his nose by shrinking back to normal size, he is pulled up into clouds instead, never to be seen again.” “By the 17th and 18th centuries, Japan’s tengu population was recorded to have risen to 125,000. Of these, however, only 48 were of the large long-nosed variety, the vast majority being the smaller beak-nose type. The large tengu all have proper names, and most are associated with a single mountain although they are known to sometimes move around or exchange abodes.” Mountains around the Kyoto plain such as Mt, Hiei and Mt. Atago and those around Tokyo and the Kanto Plain such Hakone and Mt. Takeo are said to be home to many tengu. The tengu on Mt. Akiha in Shizuoka Prefecture is said to have been a former yamabushi who spent 1,000 days training in the high mountains and discovered a variety of secrets and now rides aorund on a pure white fox and is revered for his ability to prevent fires. 
The kappa is an amphibious, web-footed aquatic creature, about the size of an 11-year-old boy, with a sharp beak for a mouth and bald patches on the tops of it head. Kappas are known for tripping up horses and stealing vegetables from fields, and using their anus to cause various forms of mischief. Children are told not to swim too far out in rivers or the kappa will pull them under and suck the life energy out of them. Kappas receive their power from a depression in their head that holds water. The easiest way to trip one up is to bow. When the kappa returns the bow, water spills from its head and it loses its powers. Kappa is the name of a popular sportswear company in Japan. Ceramic versions of kappa are fixtures of gardens and the equivalent of garden gnomes. Even though kappas stories vary a lot from region to region they usually describe how the kappa cleaned up his act after performing some act of mischief. Popular ones include The Kappa Who Became Angry While the Pond was Filling Up, Kappa’s Bond and Kappa’s Pledge in a Letter. 
Until about 100 years ago Japanese believed that kappa and tengu inhabited the forest and rivers of Japan. A tengu mummy is kept in Hachonoche, Aomori Prefecture. One temple has an entire hand of a kappa. A bakemono claw is displayed at another temple. Analysis of the tengu mummy reveals it has the head of a cat and the legs, wings and feathers of a woodcock. In his 2009 book Pandemonium and Parade: Japanese Monsters and the Culture of Yokai Indiana University Prof. Michael Dylan Foster writes that questions about what yokai are"often elicits not a definition, but a list of examples." The earliest references to yokai, he said, are records nearly a thousand years old that describe to a "night procession of 100 demons” said to be so terrifying viewing it could fatal. [Source: Tom Baker, Daily Yomiuri, December 2010] Mummified ogres, and mermen have been displayed at Japanese museums and temples. A temple in Shizuoka claims to possess a letter of apology written by a tengu captured by the temple’s head monk in the mid-17th century. In 2001, a tsuchinoko was found and displayed in the small ski resort of Mikata. Historians have found papers with special medicines and prescriptions "administered by kappa." A number of encounters with supernatural creatures have been reported. A document dated to 1853 described the death of 13 samurai officials by a five-meter-long monster, with a body like a seal and the face of a monkey, disturbed in a canal near Inba Marsh in Chiba Prefecture. Many creatures were displayed at a exhibit at the Kawasaki Museum called Japan’s Mythical Creatures: Accounts of Unidentified Living Organisms. DNA analysis of some of the creatures revealed that many were made by combing monkey remains with body parts from other animals. A temple in Kamuro in Hashimoto in Wakayama Prefecture contains a mummified mermaid that looks like the head from Munch’s The Scream attached to the body of a fish, and most likely is the body of fish sewn onto the head of a snow monkey whose face has been reconstructed. The mermaid is thought to date to the early- or mid-19th and perhaps was used in a traveling freak show. Lake Kussharo in Hokkaido is said to be the home of Lochness-like monster named "Kussie." Since 1973, more than 100 local people in the town of Teshikga have reported seeing the long black eel-like creature. In a 1999 survey, 20 percent of Japanese said they believed in doomsday predictions of Nostradamas, including the prophecy that a "King of Terror" would occur in July 1999. As the year 1999, approached the sales of Nostradamas books skyrocketed and Nostradamas experts appeared on television (one claimed he could speak Venusian). Some people built $80,000 bomb shelters or packed away a tent, water purifier and survival guide in anticipation of impending doom. One of the motivations behind the March 1995 sarin gas attack at the Tokyo subway was to provide a confirmation for the Aum cult's belief in Nostradamas prediction that the world was going to end. The Japanese Nostradamas phenomena dates back to the 1960s, when a journalist named Ben Goto wrote a series of bestselling books that interpreted Nostradamas's predictions in a Japanese light. Afterward when big things happened—like the Kobe earthquake, the launch of missiles by North Korea— they were given a Nostradamas spin and offered as proof of his predictions. 
About one forth of the UFO sightings in the developed world occur in Japan. Arakawa, a famous Japanese doomsday survivalist, claims she was given important information from aliens she met. In December 2007, a high-level government panel took up the topic of UFOs and issued a report, stating that it had no officials plans in the case a UFO landed in Japan and said it had not confirmed whether UFOs were piloted by space aliens, It was the first time the government had taken an official position on UFOs. The discussions began when a lawmaker submitted a written question to the cabinet, asking whether the government could conform that UFOs were alien spacecraft. Discussions on the UFO topic went on for so long that a lawmaker nicknamed “Alien”—Secretary General Yukio Hatoyama—called for UFO discussions to stop, saying “If aliens existed and came to Earth, they would have to be creatures of far greater intelligence than human beings, which is just impossible. Since it’s all completely fantasy, it makes mo sense to discuss how the Defense Ministry will respond.” A series of lectures — called “renewed Spectrology” — on ghosts, demons and UFOs using philosophical, psychological and religious approaches to analyze them is among the most popular courses at Toyo University. 
