Mountain Witches: Yamauba
Mountain Witches is a comprehensive guide to the complex figure of yamauba-female yōkai often translated as mountain witches, who are commonly described as tall, enigmatic women with long hair, piercing eyes, and large mouths that open from ear to ear and who live in the mountains-and the evolution of their roles and significance in Japanese culture and society from the premodern era to the present. In recent years yamauba have attracted much attention among scholars of women's literature as women unconstrained by conformative norms or social expectations, but this is the first book to demonstrate how these figures contribute to folklore, Japanese studies, cultural studies, and gender studies.

Situating the yamauba within the construct of yōkai and archetypes, Noriko T. Reider investigates the yamauba attributes through the examination of narratives including folktales, literary works, legends, modern fiction, manga, and anime. She traces the lineage of a yamauba image from the seventh-century text Kojiki to the streets of Shibuya, Tokyo, and explores its emergence as well as its various, often conflicting, characteristics. Reider also examines the adaptation and re-creation of the prototype in diverse media such as modern fiction, film, manga, anime, and fashion in relation to the changing status of women in Japanese society.

Offering a comprehensive overview of the development of the yamauba as a literary and mythic trope, Mountain Witches is a study of an archetype that endures in Japanese media and folklore. It will be valuable to students, scholars, and the general reader interested in folklore, Japanese literature, demonology, history, anthropology, cultural studies, gender studies, and the visual and performing arts.
1138984142
Mountain Witches: Yamauba
Mountain Witches is a comprehensive guide to the complex figure of yamauba-female yōkai often translated as mountain witches, who are commonly described as tall, enigmatic women with long hair, piercing eyes, and large mouths that open from ear to ear and who live in the mountains-and the evolution of their roles and significance in Japanese culture and society from the premodern era to the present. In recent years yamauba have attracted much attention among scholars of women's literature as women unconstrained by conformative norms or social expectations, but this is the first book to demonstrate how these figures contribute to folklore, Japanese studies, cultural studies, and gender studies.

Situating the yamauba within the construct of yōkai and archetypes, Noriko T. Reider investigates the yamauba attributes through the examination of narratives including folktales, literary works, legends, modern fiction, manga, and anime. She traces the lineage of a yamauba image from the seventh-century text Kojiki to the streets of Shibuya, Tokyo, and explores its emergence as well as its various, often conflicting, characteristics. Reider also examines the adaptation and re-creation of the prototype in diverse media such as modern fiction, film, manga, anime, and fashion in relation to the changing status of women in Japanese society.

Offering a comprehensive overview of the development of the yamauba as a literary and mythic trope, Mountain Witches is a study of an archetype that endures in Japanese media and folklore. It will be valuable to students, scholars, and the general reader interested in folklore, Japanese literature, demonology, history, anthropology, cultural studies, gender studies, and the visual and performing arts.
26.95 In Stock
Mountain Witches: Yamauba

Mountain Witches: Yamauba

by Noriko T. Reider
Mountain Witches: Yamauba

Mountain Witches: Yamauba

by Noriko T. Reider

Paperback

$26.95 
  • SHIP THIS ITEM
    In stock. Ships in 1-2 days.
  • PICK UP IN STORE

    Your local store may have stock of this item.

Related collections and offers


Overview

Mountain Witches is a comprehensive guide to the complex figure of yamauba-female yōkai often translated as mountain witches, who are commonly described as tall, enigmatic women with long hair, piercing eyes, and large mouths that open from ear to ear and who live in the mountains-and the evolution of their roles and significance in Japanese culture and society from the premodern era to the present. In recent years yamauba have attracted much attention among scholars of women's literature as women unconstrained by conformative norms or social expectations, but this is the first book to demonstrate how these figures contribute to folklore, Japanese studies, cultural studies, and gender studies.

Situating the yamauba within the construct of yōkai and archetypes, Noriko T. Reider investigates the yamauba attributes through the examination of narratives including folktales, literary works, legends, modern fiction, manga, and anime. She traces the lineage of a yamauba image from the seventh-century text Kojiki to the streets of Shibuya, Tokyo, and explores its emergence as well as its various, often conflicting, characteristics. Reider also examines the adaptation and re-creation of the prototype in diverse media such as modern fiction, film, manga, anime, and fashion in relation to the changing status of women in Japanese society.

Offering a comprehensive overview of the development of the yamauba as a literary and mythic trope, Mountain Witches is a study of an archetype that endures in Japanese media and folklore. It will be valuable to students, scholars, and the general reader interested in folklore, Japanese literature, demonology, history, anthropology, cultural studies, gender studies, and the visual and performing arts.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781646420544
Publisher: Utah State University Press
Publication date: 07/01/2021
Pages: 238
Product dimensions: 6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.70(d)
Age Range: 18 Years

About the Author

Noriko T. Reider is professor of Japanese at Miami University, where her research focuses on the supernatural in Japanese literature, folklore, and art. She is the author of Seven Demon Stories from Medieval Japan, Japanese Demon Lore, Mountain Witches and Tales of the Supernatural in Early Modern Japan. Her articles and reviews have appeared in Asian Ethnology, Japan Forum, and Film Criticism, among other journals.

Table of Contents

List of Figures xi

Acknowledgments xiii

Introduction: Yamauba's Topos, Archetype, and Gender 3

Yamauba as Yokai 4

The Term Yamauba (Yamanba or Yamambd) 5

Yamauba's Topos: Mountains Where Eerie Things Happen 7

Appearance of Yamauba in the Muromachi Period 10

Appearance of Yamauba and the Role of Yamabushi 11

Yamabushi Subjugating Yamauba 12

Yamauba as Archetype 14

Yamauba's Gender 17

Yamauba's Features 19

Organization of the Book 20

1 Man-Eating, Helping, Shape-Shifting Yamauba: Yamauba's Duality 23

Yamauba versus Oni/Oni-Women 24

Cannibalism, the Destructive Side of Yamauba's Duality, and the Power of Transformation 25

"Kuwazu nyobo" ("The Wife Who Does Not Eat") 26

"Ushikata to yamauba" ("The Ox-Leader and the Yamauba") 29

"Sanmai no ofuda" ("Three Charms") 30

Helper and Fortune Giver: The Positive Side of Yamauba's Duality 31

"Komebuku Awabuku" ("Komebuku and Awabuku") 32

"Ubakawa" ("The Old Woman Skin") 33

Female Cohabitant in Oni's House 33

Devouring and Helping Yamauba: Two Sides of the Same Coin 34

Hanayo no hime (Blossom Princess) of Otogizoshi 35

The Noh Play Yamanba, a Starting Point 37

Yamanba's Oni Image 38

Yamanba Helping Humans 41

The Noh Play Kurozuka (Adachigahara): The Crossroads of Yamauba and Oni-Women 41

Legend of the Oni-Woman of Adachigahara 43

Kurozuka (Adachigahara), Oni, and Women 43

Two Sides of the Oni-Woman 45

Yamanba in Kurozuka 46

Concluding Remarks 51

2 Mother Yamauba and Wearing: Childbirth and Bloodsucking, Spinning and Spiders 53

Yamauba Worship 54

Mother of Divine Children and Anthropophagy 55

Legends of Yamauba on Mt. Akiha 57

Yamauba manogatari: Yamauba Legends on Mt. Hongu 60

Yamauba as Mother of Kintaro 63

Childbirth, Bloodsucking, and Oni 73

Strings, Spinning, and Spiders 74

Similarities between Yamauba and Spiders 75

Oni versus Tsuchigumo, Yamagumo, and Yamauba 77

Feared and Worshipped Yamauba 79

3 Reading Minds and Telling Futures: "Yamauba and the Cooper," "The Smile of a Mountain Witch," and Throne of Blood 81

Mind-Reading Yamauba: "Yamauba to okeya" and Satori 82

Premodern Setsuwa of Mind Reading 84

"The Smile of a Mountain Witch" 87

Retelling and Re-creating Yamauba Stories 87

Possible Sources of Oba's Mind-Reading Yamauba 89

Selfless Yamauba of "The Smile of a Mountain Witch" 92

Fortune-Telling Yamauba: The Old Woman in "Naranashi tori" ("Picking Wild Pears") 93

Shamanistic Yamauba in Hanayo no hime 94

The Witch in Throne of Blood 95

The Castle of the Spider's Web and the Spider's Web Forest 96

From the Woman in Kurozuka to the Witch of Throne of Blood 96

Desires, Impermanence, and the Wheel 98

From Yamauba in the Noh Play Yamanba to the Witch of Throne of Blood 100

Mind Reading, Future Telling, and Re-creation 101

4 Yamauba, Yasaburo Basa, Datsueba: Images of Premodern Crones, Yamauba's Flying Ability, and Re-creation of a Prototype 103

Yamauba and Oni-Women, Revisited 103

Legends of Yasaburo Basa 105

Yasaburo Basa as Oni-Woman 106

Datsueba and Images of Premodern Crones 107

Datsueba's Association with Yasaburo Basa and Yamauba 107

Medieval Prototypical Female Features 110

Processes of Adaptation and Re-creation of a Prototype 112

Commonalities between the Yasaburo Basa Story and Premodern Setsuwa 112

Ibaraki Doji, Shuten Doji, and Yasaburo Basa 114

Yasaburo Basa's Influence on the Noh Play Yamanba 116

"Yamauba no nakodo"' ("Yamauba Go-Between"), a Variant of Yasaburo Basa 117

Concluding Remarks 119

5 Aging, Dementia, and Abandoned Women: An Interpretation of Yamauba 121

Yamauba's Antisocial Behavior and Dementia 121

Gluttonous Yamauba and Dementia 124

Yamauba and "Obasute-yama" ("Abandoned Women in the Mountains") 125

Mukashibanashi "Obasute-yama" 125

"Obasute-yama" in Other Literary Traditions 128

Did the Custom of "Obasute-yama" Really Exist? 131

"Obasute-yama" from a Poem to Narratives: Creation, Dissemination, and Transformation 133

Aging, Yamauba, and Healthy Life Expectancy 134

6 Yamamba Mumbo Jumbo: Yamauba in Contemporary Society 137

Yamauba and Village Markets 137

Market, Shibuya, and Yamanba-gyaru 139

Yamanba-gyaru Fashion and Ganguro 141

Yamanba-gyaru Disappear from Shibuya 144

Yamauba and Yamaubaesque 145

Yubaba in the Film Spirited Away 146

Yamauba in the Manga Hyakkiyako sho 149

Yamauba in Fiction 152

"Holy Man of Mt. Koya" 152

"Yamauba" 155

Yamauba in Poetry: Watashi wa Anjuhimeko de aru (I Am Anjuhimeko) 156

Conclusion 162

Japanese and Chinese Names and Terms 167

Notes 179

References 197

About the Author 211

Index 213

From the B&N Reads Blog

Customer Reviews