Magic in Japan Part 4: Shikigami

Shikigami or Shiki-no-kami  (servant spirit) come from Japanese folklore. A type of kami (spirit) that originated from Onmyōdō (the way of yin and yang) Japanese spell casting magic. Conjured by an onmyoji (spell caster) during a complex ceremony to protect and serve their masters,  much like a western witch or wizard’s familiar.  They spy, steal from, or attack their master’s enemies. The spiritual force of their master connects the shikigami to them.

They can appear as paper dolls shaped like a living creature or a low-level yokai (ghost, specter). Abe no Seimei used oni (demons, devils, ogres, trolls) as shikigami.  The spell caster can make his shiki (spirit) possess animals and people who the onmyoji can then manipulate.  On the opposite side, a conjured shikigami can gain control of a careless sorcerer’s will and kill them in revenge.

 

Shikigami in Popular Media:

Kekkaishi (manga, anime, video game where shikigami appear in the form of paper dolls that follow the commands of their creator. Commonly used as clones, messengers, and workers, especially by Kekkaishi, but other ability users have been known to use them as well)

Touhou Project (video game where Ran Yakumo, a vixen (she-fox,) converts into a yokai (ghost, phantom,  supernatural monsters, and spirits in Japanese folklore) that is bound to and serves Yukari. Ran has a shikigami of her own named , Chen.

Shōnen Onmyōji (light novel and anime where the shikigami are known as the Twelve Shinshō, considered as gods of the lower rank. They fall under the command of Abe no Seimei, the greatest onmyōji of all time. Toda/Guren/Mokkun, one of the twelve, also takes the form of an ayakashi (yokai that appear above water). Masahiro, Seimei’s grandson, considers him a mononoke (ghost). Toda assists Masahiro most of the time.

Teito Monogatari (stage, manga, film, video game where shikigami, represented as shape shifters formed from parchments with the pentagram (Seiman) inscribed upon them).

Inuyasha (manga, anime, video game where shikigami are little paper manikins that cause trouble)

Natsume’s Book of Friends (manga, drama CD, anime where shikigami appear as little paper dolls that spy, track and sometimes trap yōkai and occasionally the title character for one of the series’ exorcists)

Nurarihyon no Mago Nura: Rise of the Yokai Clan (manga, anime, video game where shikigami appear as battle spirits used as weapons by the onmyōji against the yōkai)

Spirited Away (anime where shikigami appear as a swarm of little paper dolls, attacking Chihiro’s friend, Haku.)

Mahou Sensei Negima!  (manga, anime, video game where Setsuna’s pactio, Sica Shishikushiro is a wakizashi skilled in anti-demon arts who teaches Negi how to create shikigami from paper)

Tokyo Ravens (light novel, manga, anime has two types: servant shikigami, spirits and living beings that serve a practitioner through a contract. Man made Shikigami, created by putting magical energy into a ‘core’ vessel, such as a paper doll, a sword or a motorcycle.

Kamisama Kiss (manga and anime where aikuchi hatches by Akura-Ou‘s magic, Mamoru, a monkey shikigami, hatched by Nanami Momozono, Monjiro is Akura-ou‘s loyal Shigikami)

Kantai Collection (manga, light novels, anime, film, audio CDs, video game where shikigami appear as aircraft carriers in human-like form)

Descendants of Darkness (manga and anime where shinigami (soul reapers) summon shikigami as guardian spirits. When in battle in the living world, shikigami appear as various types of mythological creatures. There are different kinds of shikigami, roughly divided by the four elements, earth, wind, fire, and water. The majority of shinigami can only summon two or three shikigami. The single exception is Asato Tsuzuki, who commands the power of twelve high-ranked shikigami.)

Inazuma Eleven GO (manga,anime, and video game) where shikigami appear as paper gods that are part of a karate technique used by a goalkeeper)

Red Data Girl (novel series, manga, anime where onmyoji uses paper and origami to call forth the shikigami)

References (besides Wikipedia, see individual link notations in Popular Media):

Mysticism, Religion, and Red Data Girl: http://www.funimation.com/blog/2014/05/21/mysticism-religion-and-red-data-girl/

TVTroupe: Useful Notes?Onmyodo: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/UsefulNotes/Onmyodo

Shikigami: http://japanesemythology.weebly.com/index.html

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百物語怪談会 Hyakumonogatari Kaidankai

Translated from Mizuki Shigeru’s Mujara

In Goto city in Nagasaki, on the morning of the 15th day of the Obon festival of the dead, it was said that an evil wind blew. Anyone who felt the caress of this evil wind would fall sick and collapse. This day also happened to be the traditional day for visiting the graves of ancestors. It was believed that the souls of the unworshiped dead flew on the winds.

Since olden times, the people of Japan believed in and feared the unworshiped dead, called muenbotoke ( 無縁仏). Farmers blamed everything from droughts, to strong winds, to infestations of insects on these unhappy spirits. And so, during the Obon festival of the dead, along with the usual offerings of rice and sake to the ancestor spirits of the family, they would try to calm the spirits of the muenbotoke and the Buddhist hungry ghosts, so…

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An insightful piece from a fellow blogger. I just adore Japanese culture.
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百物語怪談会 Hyakumonogatari Kaidankai

Translated from Mizuki Shigeru’s Mujara

In Tsushima in Nagasaki prefecture, when the rain falls at night, the bakemono known as the Nure Onago appears. The Nure Onago can appear near any body of water, from a small pond to the ocean. Her entire body is drenched, and she is soaked from the top of her head to the tips of her toes.

The Nure Onago can be found in several parts of Japan. In Nuwa in Ehime prefecture, it is said that you can see her hair stretched out and floating on the surface of the ocean, and it is from there that she appears. In the Uwa district, the Nure Onago doesn’t come from the ocean, but it is said that she appears from a soaking wet mop of hair.

The Nure Onago always has a wicked smile, and laughs hideously. If by chance you hear her and, thinking…

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