Ayakashi - Japanese Classic Horrror
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Noppera-b�
Mixing noh, flashbacks, and inverted storytelling, this story tells of Ochou (a beautiful, but despairing woman) that has confessed to killing all her husband's family. The Medicine Seller and his attached Mononoke figure heavily-while the story is confusing the first time you watch, a re-watch of the story lets you clearly piece together the true tale of what happened.
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The Noppera-b� (���ら� Noppera-b�?), or faceless ghost, is a Japanese legendary creature. They are sometimes mistakenly referred to as a mujina, an old Japanese word for a badger or raccoon dog. Although the mujina can assume the form of the other, Noppera-b� are usually humans. Such creatures were thought to sometimes transform themselves into noppera-b� in order to frighten humans. Lafcadio Hearn used the animals' name as the title of his story about faceless monsters, probably resulting in the misused terminology.
Noppera-b� are known primarily for frightening humans, but are usually otherwise harmless. They appear at first as ordinary human beings, sometimes impersonating someone familiar to the victim, before causing their features to disappear, leaving a blank, smooth sheet of skin where their face should be.
Noppera-b�
Episode 6
Episode 7
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Nue
Attending an incense ceremony that will determine the inheritor to the "School of Seeing Scents", the Medicine Seller arrives to find three other men competing to take the hand of the Lady Ruri (the keeper of the School, and the last of the line). Strangely, when Ruri-hime and other residents within the mansion are murdered, the three men continue to fight over the "Todaiji" (a fragranced block of wood, that is rumored to give whoever possesses it great power). With the death of Lady Ruri, the Medicine Seller takes over the preparation and judging of the contest, taking great pleasure in tormenting and mocking the men involved. Indeed, his sadism towards the other characters is very surprising, until we reach the end of the story: thereupon, we learn that everything that we have watched (the 3 suitors, the murders, the contest) all happened a very long time ago, and are merely memories of past actions, brought to life by the Todaiji (the mononoke), in order to make it feel fulfilled and "something other than a block of wood".
Not relating to the story, but all 3 courtiers are shown as being from the three orders of Classical Japanese Theatre: Oosawa Roubo, from the Noh theatre; Muromachi Tomoyoshi, from the Kabuki style theatre; Nakarai Tansui, from the Kyogen theatre
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A nue (鵺) is a legendary creature found in Japanese folklore. It is described as having the head of a monkey, the body of a raccoon dog, the legs of a tiger, and a snake as a tail. According to the legend, a nue can transform into a black cloud and fly. Due to its appearance, it is sometimes referred to as a Japanese chimera[citation needed]. Nue are supposed to be bringers of misfortune and illness.[citation needed]
According to The Tale of the Heike, Emperor Konoe, the Emperor of Japan, became sick after having terrible nightmares every night, and a dark cloud appeared at two o'clock in the morning on roof of the palace in Kyoto during the summer of 1153. The story says that the samurai Minamoto no Yorimasa staked-out the roof one night and fired an arrow into the cloud, out of which fell a dead nue. Yorimasu then supposedly sank the body in the Sea of Japan.
In a local expansion of the story, the nue's corpse floated into a certain bay, and the locals, fearing a curse, buried it. A mound which exists today is supposed to be this grave.[1]
Nue
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Bakeneko
Set in a time period decidedly later than the previous arcs -implied to be in the 1920s - the Medicine Seller boards a train with several characters similar to the first Bakeneko story (who might be possible reincarnations of their former counterparts). When the train crashes into a girl on the tracks, they are all gathered together in one cart which mysteriously moves by itself. Paralleling the Bakeneko arc of Ayakashi, this is the arc where the Medicine Seller is actually seen to get wounded during the battle with the bakeneko, because the bakeneko struck before he could release his weapon.
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I love this anime...too bad there's no more stories to it =(
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A bakeneko (化�猫? "monster cat") is, in Japanese folklore, a cat with supernatural abilities akin to those of the fox or raccoon dog. A cat may become a bakeneko in a number of ways: it may reach a certain age, be kept for a certain number of years, grow to a certain size, or be allowed to keep a long tail. In the last case, the tail forks in two and the bakeneko is then called a nekomata (猫�? ,猫�, or 猫股 "forked cat"). This superstition may have some connection to the breeding of the Japanese Bobtail.
A bakeneko will haunt any household it is kept in, creating ghostly fireballs, menacing sleepers, walking on its hind legs, changing its shape into that of a human, and even devouring its own mistress in order to shapeshift and take her place. When it is finally killed, its body may be as much as five feet in length. It also poses a danger if allowed into a room with a fresh corpse; a cat is believed to be capable of reanimating a body by jumping over it.
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is showing later on animax at 11.30pm..lookin forward to it
