Narigama

Narigama (鳴釜; or Narikama, Narukama)[1] or Kamanari (釜鳴)[1][2][3] is a Japanese yōkai depicted in Toriyama Sekien's yōkai art collection Gazu Hyakki Tsurezure Bukuro.

Depiction

It is depicted as a hairy figure wearing a kama (iron pot) on its head and holding an ema (votive tablet) in its hand.[1] In Sekien's commentary, he quotes a passage about liàn nǚ (斂女, Japanese: "renjo")—a yaoguai from China said to be found in the Baize Tu that makes sounds by ringing pots and the like—but he does not explicitly write about the Narigama itself. A yōkai of a pot is also depicted in the Muromachi period Hyakki Yagyō Emaki, and it is thought that this served as the model for the depiction of this yōkai.[4][5]

Folklore regarding Pot Sounds

The terms Narigama and Kamanari themselves refer to Shinto rituals in which fortune (good or bad luck) is judged based on the sound produced when a pot is heated with fire, or to folk beliefs that view a pot making unexpected sounds as an omen of good or bad luck. These practices are considered to be one of the origins for Sekien's naming of this yōkai. In such divination, it appears there was often an association with the Chinese zodiac.[1]

A famous actual example is the Narukama Shinji (Ritual of the Sounding Pot) passed down at Kibitsu Shrine in Okayama Prefecture.[1] This ritual is said to have begun when Ura, who was defeated by Kibitsuhiko-no-mikoto in the past, became a deity who delivered oracles to people, with good and bad fortune being announced through the sound of a pot.[5] Additionally, a pot at a certain temple in Kyoto was said to predict the weather; it would sometimes make a sound like crying when boiling water, and it is said that it would always rain the following day.[6]

Footnotes and References

  1. ^ a b c d e Nihon Kaii Yōkai Daijiten (Encyclopedia of Japanese Strange Phenomena and Yōkai). Tokyodo Shuppan. 2013-07-12. p. 153. ISBN 978-4490108378.
  2. ^ Iwao Hino, Suehiko Hino (2006). "Nihon Yōkai Henge Goi (Vocabulary of Japanese Yōkai and Shapeshifters)". In Kenji Murakami (revision) (ed.). Dōbutsu Yōkaitan (Tales of Animal Yōkai). Chuko Bunko. Vol. 2. Chūō Kōron Shinsha. pp. 249–250. ISBN 978-4-12-204792-1.
  3. ^ "Kaii/Yōkai Denshō Database". International Research Center for Japanese Studies. Retrieved 2025-07-18.
  4. ^ Mamoru Takada (Supervisor) (1992). Atsunobu Inada; Naohi Tanaka (eds.). Toriyama Sekien Gazu Hyakki Yagyō. Kokusho Kankōkai. p. 319. ISBN 978-4-336-03386-4.
  5. ^ a b Kenji Murakami (2000). Kenji Murakami (ed.). Yōkai Jiten (Yōkai Encyclopedia). Mainichi Shimbun. p. 250. ISBN 978-4-620-31428-0.
  6. ^ Shigeru Mizuki (2014). Ketteiban Nihon Yōkai Taizen: Yōkai, Anoyo, Kamisama (Definitive Edition: Complete Collection of Japanese Yōkai - Yōkai, The Afterlife, and Gods). Kodansha Bunko. Kodansha. p. 512. ISBN 978-4-06-277602-8.

See also

  • Narigama - From Mizuki Shigeru Yōkai Gashū: Mujara, Vol. 3 Kinki.
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