Classic Japanese Horror Film, "Jigoku" (1960)

Most of us are probably familiar with (or have been forced to read in high school) the 14th century epic poem The Divine Comedy, and more specifically, that first part, Inferno, by Dante, here I will approach an interpretation of Hell from the other side of the world, from another time, and influenced, not by the Bible, but by Western gore and slasher flicks.  While the central theme of the film deals with Hell, karma and morality from a Buddhist standpoint, the religious aspects are not as sacred as in Dante's poem (in fact, the director had quite a bit of fun with the entire film), so I'll just go into the explanation of it as far as to clarify it for those who may not be as familiar with Buddhism or the Japanese version of things.  What I do want to point out, however, is that, despite the completely differing worlds in which the works were created, many of the themes, imagery and presentation of the depths of Hell do actually have a lot in common.  Like Dante's Medieval Catholic Inferno, Buddhist Hell in Japan is also made up of a series of areas of varying torment designated to specific types of sinners nestled deep below the Earth's crust.

But at the heart of it all, this is a Japanese horror film.  Made in 1960, most horror films at the time played directly to the Japanese psyche:  slow, suspenseful, where you know there's something terrifying juuuust beyond the shoji screen, but not knowing what it is makes it all the more frightening.  These films, precursors to modern international hits like Ringu, Ju-On, Dark Water and the like, are still remembered and often viewed today by fans of the Asian horror genre; films like Onibaba, Kwaidan and Ugetsu Monogatari can still be found on movie channels and DVD racks the world over.

This film, Jigoku, is not so well remembered.  While the director, Nakagawa Nobuo, became very popular at the time of his career, his movies were not the subtly scary yōkai-tinged thrillers of most of his contemporaries.  Even though only a few of his many films were in the horror or ghost story genre, the ones he did make are remembered to this day for their excellent visuals and direction.  Like all good directors, Nakagawa was very eccentric, and his remembered well for his bizarre behaviour and penchant for wearing geta at all times, even on set.  Despite often being referred to as "the Alfred Hitchcock of Japan" (and this film itself drawing inspiration from a murder case also depicted on the screen by Hitchcock), the suspense he masterfully built up in many of his earlier mystery films did not get the recognition that they may have gotten under different circumstances.

The circumstances?  Shintoho, the film studio he worked for.  After World War II, members of the Toho Production Company unveiled Shintoho (New Toho) Studios, and audiences were made aware very quickly of just the sort of films they were interested in making.  You can't deny that Nakagawa's films had a certain cool quality about them...


Nazo no Hissatsu-ken (The Mysterious Blade)


Onna Kyuketsuki (The Vampire Lady)


Kenpei to Yuurei (The Military Policeman and the Ghost)


Tokaido Yotsuya Kaidan (Yotsuya Ghost Story), another of his phenomenal works, based off of the popular tale.

While the movies may appear slightly cheesy, Nakagawa really did an amazing job with the work he was given, which was pretty impressive since the majority of Shintoho's movies looked more like this...


Nikutai Joyu Goroshi - Gonin no Hanzaisha (Nude Actress Murder - Five Criminals)


Ama no Bakemono Yashiki (Girl Divers In A Haunted House)


Kuroi Chibusa (Dark Breasts)


And who could forget the Sexy Line? (Sexy Chitai)

Needless to say, when Jigoku (and even Tokaido Yotsuya Kaidan before it) came out, many people dismissed it as just another one of those low-budget Shintoho films, which all seemed to be soft-core exploitation or really cheap and gory horror films churned out for summer in attempt to cash on on horror film season.

It didn't help matters that Jigoku came out in 1961, touting a film heavily influenced by Western visuals, something nobody had really seen before in a horror film and therefore should be wary of, and that it had almost zero budget, ending up as the very last film eked out of Shintoho before they declared bankruptcy and folded.

Jigoku was really far ahead of its time, and it deserves recognition for the absolutely stunning visuals and message presented in it, not to mention basically founding the ero-guro genre that is so popular today (even at Shintoho, blood on film was generally kept to a minimum, if at all).  It is also gaining further notoriety for being one of, if not the first film to capitalize on Western plot devices, sensibilities, and the manner in which horrific imagery is approached, and to actually depict Buddhist Hell.  It has since been remade several times, but finally Nakagawa Nobuo is getting the recognition that he deserves as one of the iconic directors of Japan (especially in this groundbreaking film that he still managed with no budget and the company against the amount of blood and gore).  This movie is amazing and still must be seen to be believed.  Please check it out if you can, and enjoy the review!

Movie Review - 地獄 - Jigoku

Valentine's Day and White Day in Japan

While I'm on a culture jag, I thought I'd tell you about a holiday we have in Japan called White Day.

Much like the hanakotoba, in Japan around Valentine's Day, we have a special language for chocolate gifts given.  On Valentine's Day, only girls give out chocolates to their friends or generally to men that they know/work with/like.  Dark chocolate is the most popular.  There are specific instructions for the type/amount and whom you should give chocolates to among adults, but for people my age, the general rule is to give chocolates to all of your male friends and acquaintances.  If a really expensive or hand-made chocolate gift is given, this is the signal that a girl likes you and is asking you to be her boyfriend.  Valentine's Day is seen as an excuse to be a bit bolder than normal and hint to a boy that he should ask you out, if you usually wouldn't do this sort of thing.  Then she has to wait the long month for White Day.

White Day takes place on March 14, exactly one month after Valentine's Day.  The thinking is that all gifts given out must be returned at least three times better/more valuable by the boys who received chocolate, so usually girls give out chocolates to everybody to make sure they get a big haul.  White Day is called as such originally since white is a symbol of purity and a "blank slate", signifying new beginnings, for example, staring a new relationship.  Generally, chocolate or gifts are white too, but not everybody does this.  If no gift is returned, this means that the man considers himself to be in too high a position to take note of the girl, and is generally quite rude.  A gift of equal value signifies that the guy is doing the bare-bones requirement out of politeness only, and means that he's not interested or no longer wants to go out with you.  The general three-fold rule gift is the most common, and depending on the value of the original gift, signifies that everything is A-OK and/or you wish to accept the offer and begin a relationship.  Obviously, it's all very romantic and girls love it.  What girls do not love, however, is when the white gift is not something like white chocolate or white flowers.  A popular prank among guys my age is to give white panties to the girl, something "romantic" among adults, but hilarious among high-schoolers, who get to watch her open up the gift and unwrap panties in front of everybody when there is no actual relationship to warrant that.  It's funny, I don't care what anybody says.  It's better than receiving nothing at all right?

Anyway, among my close friends and people from Japan I know, we observe this tradition here, and maybe you'd find it interesting and want to start it among your own group of friends!

Popular Yōkai Throughout History and In Modern Media

As you'll recall in the last entry, I started to talk about yōkai and explain a bit about them to you. This entry will go a bit more in depth into that, as well as the next one, which will explain more about certain types of yōkai. There will be quite a few entries in this series, but I won't do them all at once, because obviously there are a lot to talk about.  Of course, that's not even a full list, but my point basically is that I have a lot I can go into if I get bored or you want to hear about a specific one I haven't covered yet.  But I'll try not to be completely overpowering with massive amounts of yōkai information.  The main thing I want to do in the "Yōkai Info" series is

- To better explain exactly what and why these creatures are,
- Provide lots of pictures of the different types depicted from the Heian Period to modern-day anime, and everything in between,
- Share the stories and images behind many yōkai and cultural instances that are hard or impossible to find online in English, and
- To answer questions about yōkai as best I can.

First off I'll give you a basic dictionary paragraph about yōkai.

A yōkai can refer to a number of things, from a supernatural creature, being, ghost, demon, spirit, happening, monster, or even a human, animal, object or any worldly thing that exhibits or acquires supernatural power or appearance.  For the sake of clarity, I generally view supernatural Japanese things in three major categories: ghosts, gods/demons, and yōkai.  The 'ghost' category (yūrei) covers spirits, spectres, visions, dreams, or any sort of supernatural apparition involving a human.  Gods and demons refer to legends in Shinto, Buddhism, or any other religious belief or figure adapted into a moderately well-known cultural phenomenon.  These two categories I will go into with greater detail in the next Kagrra, installment.

The yōkai I am referring to are 'supernatural creatures'.  They will be vengeful, monstrous in appearance, or even just harmless animal-type-things playing tricks.  They also can include certain forms of ghosts or demonic presences, but this would involve the ghost or demon being formed by a human who had undergone such a legendary tale that it caused them to mutate into a very specific form of monster, instead of simply becoming a ghost or demon.

Yōkai are hard to explain in Western terms, if there is an equivalent, I'm afraid I don't know about it.  We view ghosts, demons and monsters differently in Japan, and I don't know any cultural significance in the West or America that would be a direct descendant or cousin of yōkai.  I could compare them to some sort of cryptozoology, like Bigfoot, Nessie, vampires, werewolves, or Robert Pattinson: something you know about, but never really see, despite having a vague idea of what it looks like, but you'd know basically where and how to find it if pressed.  Or you might compare it to supernatural or fairy tale creatures, like elves, fairies, goblins, talking animals, or any sort of distinctive imaginary creature found in local legend or lore, with their own distinct species and mannerisms between them.  I don't claim to know everything about this sort of comparison, but to me, yōkai seem to have their own little category, because I can't think of a real Western equivalent to the specific significance of yōkai in Japan.  If you can think of one after reading this, I'd be very appreciative to hear it.

Yōkai mainly revolve around cultural learnings and tales instilled in us, superstitions and rituals and fears about specific creatures that will come up in daily life, in a great number of movies, books, video games or popular media, even going so far as to be a mascot of a company selling anything you can think of, having food items named after it, or just to represent something about a specific person's store, personality, house, or interests.

You probably know about several yōkai without even having heard the term before.  These popular examples that are a bit more familiar to Western eyes include, but are not limited to: the kappa, the tanuki or kitsune, tengu, the chochinōbake or karakasa, and and the kodama, just to name a few.

I won't go into these specific yōkai because they are so well-known and there is much English-language information about them to be found online.  My next entry will focus on some of my favourite or hard-to-find yōkai, but this one will take the in-between road.  It's all about semi-popular yōkai you may have seen before but not known about, or will learn about and soon see often, as well as lots of photos of their most popular instances in the past and modern-day popular media.

If you're just starting to learn about yōkai, and would like to learn more, the best places I can recommend are as follows:

Search for "hyakkiyakou" or 百鬼夜行.  This being a Kagrra, song, I'll explain all the meanings of it in that next entry, but basically it refers to the Demon's Night Parade, a march of all types of demons throughout the streets of the Capital, or the entire country, depending on who you're listening to, which I mentioned in my last yōkai entry.  The origin of many yōkai are in these famous ukiyo-e, a vast amount of which was drawn by many different artists of varying popularity.  It was basically the "Madonna and Child" of the Edo Period; everybody was drawing it to get some sort of recognition or put their own imprint on the artwork.

Watch anime.  Kids love spooky or clever little creatures, and films by Studio Ghibli and Miyazaki Hayao are as good a place to start as any.  Spirited Away and Pon Poko are my favourites for this.

Read manga.  It's the same as above, but if you remember from my entry on Yoshitoshi, manga goes way, way back, even back before Urusei Yatsura, if you can believe that.  Lots of prints and drawings and stories about yōkai were extremely popular in the Edo period, which you'll see below.  Another great manga (and anime) is GeGeGe no Kitaro, by Mizuki Shigeru.  If Toriyama Sekien is the best-known artist, writer and creator of the past, Mizuki Shigeru is certainly his modern-day equivalent.  In addition to Kitaro, Mizuki writes many in-depth books on yōkai, and his home-town has a museum and road dedicated to him, with many statues of all of his yōkai lining the street.

Watch the movies that started "it all".  Back in the late 1960s, the film company Daiei made a trilogy of movies about yōkai for children, but it really started the interest in yōkai back up again, and they are in the process of being remade by Miike Takashi.  I haven't seen the new movies, but obviously the originals are a favourite of my yōkai-obsessed mother, whose constant screening of them for me as well as lectures have probably made these yōkai entries of mine make me sound like a little yōkai encyclopedia.  I place the blame on my mother entirely.  Regardless, the movies are classics in a classically bad way, and are a must-see for anybody who wants to learn about yōkai, watch a Neverending Story-style children's fantasy movie, or just watch really corny badly-costumed Japanese cinema.  They're available on Amazon for American/Canadian audiences with English subtitles as a three-film set or separately (the three films are titled Yokai Monsters and individually are Spook Warfare, One Hundred Monsters, and Along With Ghosts).

There are many different artists, media, films and products that feature yōkai, but my favourites are these, in addition to the ones I'll describe below, so let's get to it!

Yōkai In Legend, Ukiyo-e, and Modern Art

The Japanese New Year: Tradition, Celebration, and Yōkai

Today I think I'll jump-start the entries I have planned with a preview installment of a new series I'd like to share with you all.  I've realized that I mention yōkai a lot, and not everybody may know what that means, or perhaps there are those that are interested, but are having trouble finding information online.  So I've decided that I'll do a continuing series of information about yōkai, what they are about, the differences between many of them, and some modern-day examples of where you'll still find them, most notably in anime, manga, video games and Jrock.  Of course I'll still explain some of the traditional artwork they can be found in, too, but it's also tied into modern media as well, because a lot of Visual Kei especially rely on the knowledge of the viewer or listener to understand the symbolism of the yōkai, and it may be missed by someone who is foreign to that information.

So I'd like to have a fresh start going into the New Year, beginning to be more focused on doing my journal when I want to, and trying to put an end to the constant procrastination.  New Year is a special time in Japan, so I'll tell you a little about that first.

Oda Nobunaga, Unifier of Japan, and Oda Nobunari, His Ice-Dancing Descendant

Hello, everybody! Since my last entry, all the leaves have changed colour and fall has settled in. Halloween is coming up, too.

Another thing that happens as the seasons change is that my mother inadvertently saw a commercial announcing a "Countdown to Vancouver Winter Olympics 2010!!!", and has pretty much glued herself and, on occasion, me, to the television to witness the events of non-contact sports and root for the home team, as it were.

Let's see, what interesting things have I seen recently? They had a bunch of rhythmic gymnasts (read: hot ballet dancers with little spinny things that somehow qualify it as an Olympic sport) come to my birth prefecture to compete in the Ultimate World Championship Final... thing...  So that was neat.  And also congratulation to my countryman, Uchimura Kohei, for placing first by a landslide and being the All-Around Mens' Gymnastic Champion.

Needless to say, I don't really know all that much about sports programs that don't involve Lane Kiffin and/or men bashing each other in the head with steel chairs or something else equally cool, but I took in what I could.  However, when it came time for the Figure Skating portion of the pre-Olympic coverage, I was present to catch my beloved Ando Miki and Queen Yu-Na, and was reminded once again of the existence of one Mister Nobunari Oda.

That's right, he's a male figure skater from Japan, lauded on occasion as the best male figure skater ever, so I figured it would be fun if I expounded on him a bit more with interesting trivia and cute pics!

Samurai Kamon: Clan Crests and History in Japan

I will now turn to my favourite reviewing subject:  Samurai things!

I realise that this entry will probably seem tedious to many, but it's really something I'm very passionate about, and one of the most interesting things I could think of that I wished to write about that would still be somewhat easy to follow when my joy of sharing information took over.  So if you do decide to read it, I hope you will find it as fascinating as I do, or perhaps it's my fascination that is fascinating, but regardless, enjoy the awesome photos.

Yoshitoshi's Art in Kagrra,'s PV, "Kotodama"

I'd like to take a moment to write about the most cultural thing I can think of:

Kagrra,.

Well, sort of.

I guess it's no secret that Kagrra, is my favourite band.  (Their new album, Shu, comes out April 1!  =D)  But it is often a very hard decision for me to select just what must be my favourite band and my favourite song and my favourite PV.  I see/listen/watch the music I like during most of my day, and new artists and singles and things are being added to the mix by the second.  So for me, it is a difficult decision, which I base on the culmination of absolutely everything I am exposed to within the band and their work.  I'm rambling... what I mean to say is that, with the style of music, clothing, the message, the imagery, and the dedication of the band, Kagrra, is the band I would have to choose for pretty much every "What is your favourite" question. 

You should know that I enjoy learning and studying all types of cultural things from all over the world, running the gamut from history, religion, customs, culture, people, tribes, art, etc.  It goes on and on.  Naturally, a lot of my interest comes from what I myself have been exposed to by way of my own childhood, education, and thoughts impressed upon me by my mother.  I like to research, write, and share with anyone who will listen my thoughts and views and (limited) knowledge on the things around me and the things I am interested in.  But if we're being honest here, yeah, I guess a lot of it comes from video games.  If you asked me to explain as much as I could about the Three Kingdoms Era of China, about 99.9% of it would be from Dynasty Warriors, probably including quotes from the characters and my own halting descriptions of the awesome awesome (inaccurate) costumes that they wear.

So, when she requested that I make a review of some Kagrra, videos and the subtle cultural and at times religious imagery that they use, I guess I jumped at the chance.  Reading back on this post so far, I guess I jumped and fell pretty hard, but the sentiment remains the same that I am now going to start a series (spread out over the course of when I feel like it, so as not to become monotonous and boring, or at least to give me an extra entry when my brain stops working and I go months without updating) of reviewing various aspects of Kagrra, and some information that the casual fan (or even someone who is not yet a fan) may not know.  Or at least, to be interesting and expand my repertoire of rock music reviews beyond "xxx can't sing, and the songs are overused pieces of shit, so why is this band so popular?",  "xxx sucks now that Bou is gone", or "xxx is wearing a big ugly hat".

So, now that I've been given my mission, obviously I set out right away to procrastinate and not do it. 

I decided to start my series of reiews with the ultimate Kagrra, song:  Kotodama.  Not only was it essentially Kagrra,'s very first song, but it was also the very first PV of theirs I ever saw.  It made me a fan, which I will get into later, but first and foremost, it is, to me, the epitome of what Kagrra, represents, and remnants of the message the song gives can be found in every subsequent song or PV if you think about it.  So I began to watch it with hopes of reviewing it, and realised that I had my work cut out for me:  so much was happening in the PV, so many subtleties and interesting little tidbits I wanted to mention, so many things going on at once, it was as if the very story of the kagura itself was being relayed, and then the arc of Yamato crashed down upon its head, and the whole thing wrought forth some kind of impromptu festival.  I'm not kidding, if you try to watch it with a mind to take notes and absorb the happenings, the whole thing becomes a blurred mess of tradition and horror.

Which I guess is a good way to describe Kagrra,, huh?

So anyway, please stay tuned to the next post, in which I will explain the history of Kagrra,/kagura and the meaning of the song/PV, as well as interesting facts about rock music, Shinto, and Japanese folktales/horror, for in this post, we need to get all of our peripherals clear so that we may view the PV with a focused eye.

So now, I shall relay the tale of how I was first exposed to Kagrra,, the intricacies of art, and just why Kagrra, is allowed to have their very own genre of music.