Death god (Japan)

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Death gods in Japanese religion[edit]

Miyazu, Kyoto Prefecture. Statue of a Yama (Enma) at Nariai-ji

In Buddhism, there is the Mara that is concerned with death, the Mrtyu-mara.[1] It is a demon that makes humans want to die, and it is said that upon being possessed by it, in a shock, one would suddenly want to commit suicide, so it is sometimes explained to be a "death god".[2] Also, in the Yogacarabhumi-sastra, a writing on Yogacara, it was a demon that decided the time of people's deaths.[3] The Yama, the king of the Underworld, as well as oni like the Ox-Head and Horse-Face are also considered a type of death god.[4]

"Depiction of Searching in the Blue Sea by Amanonu (天瓊を以て滄海を探るの図)" by Eitaku Kobayashi. Izanami is to the left.

In Shinto and Japanese mythology, Izanami gave humans death, so Izanami is sometimes seen as a death god.[4][5]

However, Izanami and Yama are also thought to be different from the death gods in western mythology,[3][6] and since atheism has been posited in Buddhism, it is sometimes seen that concept of a death god does not exist to begin with.[3] Even though the kijin and onryō of Japanese Buddhist faith have taken humans' lives, there is the opinion that there is no "death god" that merely lead people into the world of the dead.[6]

Death gods in ningyō jōruri[edit]

Generally the word death god (死神, "shinigami") does not appear to be used in Japanese classical literature, and there are not many writings about them,[7] but going into the Edo period, the word "death god" can be seen in Chikamatsu Monzaemon's works of ningyō jōruri and classical literature that had themes on double suicides.

In Hōei 3 (1706), in a performance of the "Shinchuu Nimai Soushi," concerning men and women who were invited towards death, it was written "the road the god of death leads towards,"[8] and in Hōei 6 (1709), in "Shinchuuha ha Koori no Sakujitsu," a woman who was about to commit double suicide with a man said, "the fleetingness of a life lured by a god of death."[9] It never became clear whether the man and woman came to commit double suicide due to the existence of a death god, or if a death god was given as an example for their situation of double suicide,[4] and there are also interpretations that the word "death god" is an expression for the fleetingness of life.[10]

Other than that, in Kyōhō 5 (1720), in a performance of The Love Suicides at Amijima, there was the expression, "of one possessed by a god of death." Since the character was seller of paper, the character who confronted death wrote "paper" (紙, kami) as "god" (神, kami),[11][12] but there are also interpretaions that Chikamatsu himself didn't think about the existence of a death god.[4]

Death gods in classical literature[edit]

"Shinigami" from the Ehon Hyaku Monogatari. By Shunsensai Takehara.

In the classical literature of the Edo period, death gods that would possess humans are mentioned. In the Ehon Hyaku Monogatari from Tenpō 12 (1841), there was a story titled "Shinigami," but in this one, the death god was the spirit of a deceased one and had bad intent, and acting in jointly with the malicious intent already within people who were living, those people were led on bad paths, which caused repeat incidents to occur at places where there was previously a murder incident, for example by causing the same suicide at places where people have hung themselves before,[13] and thus these death gods are somewhat like a possession that would cause people to want to die.[7][14][clarification needed] Close to this, according to the essay of the Bakumatsu period titled "Hanko no Uragaki," there were the itsuki and that made people want to commit suicide through hanging, as well as things told through folk religion such as gaki-tsuki and shichinin misaki.[3]

In the later Edo Period, the essay "Shōzan Chomon Kishū" in Kaei 3 (1850) by the essayist Miyoshi Shōzan, the one titled "upon possession by a death god, it becomes difficult to speak, or easier to tell lies" was a story where a prostitute possessed by a death god invites a man to commit double suicide,[15][16] and in the kabuki Mekuranagaya Umega Kagatobi by Kawatake Mokuami in Meiji 19 (1886), a death god enters into people's thoughts, making them think about bad things they have done and want to die.[17] These are, rather than gods, more like yūki (meaning ghosts and yūrei[18]), or evil spirits.[4]

In the San-yūtei Enchō of classical rakugo, there was a programme titled "Shinigami," but this was something that was not thought of independently in Japan, but rather from adaptions of the Italian opera the Crispino e la comare[19] and the Grimm Fairy Tale "Godfather Death."[20]

Death gods in folk religion[edit]

Death gods are also spoken about in folk religion after the war. According to the mores of Miyajima, Kumamoto Prefecture, those who go out and return to attend to someone through the night must drink tea or eat a bowl of rice before sleeping, and it is said that a death god would visit if this was ignored.[21]

In the Hamamatsu area, Shizuoka Prefecture, a death god would possess people and lead them to mountains, seas, and railroads where people have died. In those places, the dead would have a "death turn" (shiniban), and as long as there is nobody to die there next, they shall never ascend even if they were given a service, and it was said that people who were alive would be invited by the dead to come next.[15] Also, it is ordinary to visit graves for the sake of Higan during noon or when the sun sets, but in the Okayama Prefecture, but visiting the grave for Higan during sunrise would result in being possessed by a death god. Also, once one has visited the grave in sunset, it would be necessary to visit the grave also during sunrise, and doing only one would result in being possessed by a death god.[15] With this background of folk belief, it is also thought that sometimes people would consider the bourei of the deceased, who have nobody to deify them, to be seeking companions and inviting people to join them.[15]

Death gods in modern popular culture[edit]

After the war, the western notion of a death god entered Japan, and death gods started to become mentioned as an existence with a human nature,[3] and is a subject in many works of fiction. As the first, in the Shōwa period, it is known that death gods appears in the manga work GeGeGe no Kitarou by Shigeru Mizuki, and in the 1979 television drama, "Nippon Meisaku Kaidan Gekijou," the kabuki actor Ganjirō Nakamura performed as a death god.[14] In the Heisei period and afterwards, in works of manga, anime, and novels such as Death Note, Full Moon o Sagashite, Bleach, Yami no Matsuei, Black Butler, YuYu Hakusho, Inukami! and Soul Eater, they are also sometimes the theme of the work itself,[22] and they also frequently appear in games such as Shin Megami Tensei, and the Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest series.[22] Komachi Onozuka is a death god appearing in Touhou.


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  2. ^ 大栗道栄 (1997). 図説「理趣経」入門 密教の核心. 鈴木出版. p. 101. ISBN 978-4-7902-1074-0. 
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  4. ^ a b c d e 七会 2009, pp. 168–193
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  9. ^ 鳥越他訳 1998, p. 266.
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  14. ^ a b 村上 2000, p. 69
  15. ^ a b c d 大藤他 1986, p. 100
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  17. ^ 河竹黙阿弥 (1970). 河竹黙阿弥集. 名作歌舞伎全集 第12巻. 戸板康二他監修. 東京創元新社. p. 218. ISBN 978-4-488-02512-0. 
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  21. ^ 八木三二 (1933-7). "熊本県宮地町地方". 旅と伝説 (三元社) (第6年7月号): 178. Template:NCID. 
  22. ^ a b 七会 2009, p. 3