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Today, Mirinda went to the Ethnographic Museum in Stockholm to see the current yokai exhibition. Yokai are Japanese spirit creatures; good, bad, ugly and downright weird. Like the Nordic spirit creatures, they explain the inexplicable in everyday life. She said it was fascinating.
She sent me a description of one of the yokai. The tanuki is a Japanese raccoon dog with huge testicles. They wear straw hats and are often depicted carrying a bottle of sake. They are mischievous tricksters, a bit like Loki but without the killing. You can read about them here.
It made me realise that my favourite K-Dramas include supernatural beings. Creatures like their version of our grim reaper, deities who determine which way a soul goes, ghosts; there are many inhabitants of the spirit realm.
The Korean grim reaper, for instance, is called Jeoseung Saja. And, though there are more than one, they all have the same name. They are servants of King Yeomna, the ruler of the Korean underworld. It is King Yeomna who decides which way you go when you die. He has scribes who note down what all humans do during their lives, and it is on this evidence that Yeomna bases his verdicts. I bet he (and the scribes) were very busy during the numerous Korean wars over the years.
But, back to the grim reaper.
Here’s a typical example of the traditional Jeoseung Saja:
In all the K-Dramas I’ve seen, which include these spirits, they are represented as bureaucrats; public servants doing their job. You don’t stand and argue with them. They will not listen. They have one job and they are single-minded about it.
In Hotel del Luna, which I’m currently watching, there is also the Magu. She is, traditionally, a protector of women. She guards the elixir of life. In Hotel del Luna she is seen as a sort of ancient apothecary, a giver of charms, and a flower seller. She also controls the destiny of souls, deciding which ones are to be obliterated, never to go to heaven or return via reincarnation.
The thing is, I feel the worst thing to happen to the world was monotheistic religion. Where is the fun? The story telling that humans have subsisted on for so many generations seems to have been subsumed into a more accessible human-led story which is, quite frankly, super boring.
In fact, it’s interesting to note that modern day religion is all about humanity’s devotion to a big, scary father figure while paganistic mythology is about the vagaries of the spirit world and how it affects us. That is not to say that pagans didn’t have big, scary father figures (Odin, for instance, is actually known as the all-father) but there is no requirement to devote your life to him.
And when do you ever see Jesus having a laugh?
Why did humanity ditch fun and take up dull devotion?
