Ashiarai Yashiki: Giant Ghostly Foot

Arkane Curiosities

Sometimes ghosts are missing body parts. Headless specters abound (looking at you Nearly-Headless Nick). There are even ghosts with several arms or legs. Yet in Japan, we have a ghost who is only a foot. A giant ghostly foot that desires you to clean it — the Ashiarai Yashiki.

Nocturnal Foot Washing

The Ashiarai Yashiki appeared suddenly in front of the door of a house. The occupants heard a booming voice shout out:

“WAAAASH MY FOOOOT!”

The ceiling splintered as a gigantic foot smashed though. This massive foot was covered in bristly thick hair and terribly filthy.

If the people refused to wash the foot, the yokai would stomp around, causing earthquakes and other natural disasters until its demands were met.

A Deceased Merchant

According to some variations of the legend, the Ashiarai Yashiki is actually the spirit of a wealthy merchant who was so obsessed with cleanliness, he would force his servants to wash his feet every night. When he died, his spirit was unable to rest and took on the form of the giant foot, continuing to demand that people wash it.

Maybe You’re Guilty of Something

The Ashiarai Yashiki could also be a play on words. In ancient times, “to wash one’s feet” meant to be cleared of crimes and allegations. This would suggest that a visitation by the Ashiarai Yashiki meant the occupant was guilty of some crime. The yokai came to punish the criminal for their misdeeds. 

Tim Kane

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Mother of the Gods (with a Castration Cult)

Arkane Curiosities

Everyone needs a mother, even the gods. In central Anatolia (now modern Turkey) the Phrygian people held Cybele as their principal goddess. She also happened to be the mother of the gods.

Zeus Has Two Mothers

Cybele was believed to have given birth to a number of gods and goddesses who ruled over various aspects of the natural world, such as: Dionysus, Hecate and Zeus.

Yet in traditional Greek lore, Rhea was the mother of Zeus and helped the young god slay his father to rule over Olympus.  So how can Zeus have two mothers? Well, Rhea and Cybele come from different cultures, so Rhea was his Greek Mommy and Cybele was the Phrygian Mum.

In some versions of the mythology, there are even stories of the two goddesses being merged into a single deity, with Rhea being identified as a Greek version of Cybele.

She Slept with Her Own Son

Cybele also mothered the god Attis. He was sometimes associated with the god Adonis, who was a similar figure in Greek mythology. Both were associated with vegetation and rebirth, and both were believed to have died and been reborn each year as part of the cycle of the seasons.

Cybele took a fancy to her young son. She fell in love with him and made him her consort, but Attis later betrayed her by falling in love with a mortal woman. Cybele was so enraged by Attis’ betrayal that she drove him mad, causing him to castrate himself and die. In other versions, Attis died in battle or through self-mutilation. Either way, Attis cut off his dangly bits. 

Cult of Castration

Followers of Cybele celebrated the mother of the gods through ecstatic rituals and frenzied dancing, often accompanied by the music of drums and cymbals. Her followers. They were known as the Corbants and their origins can be traced back to the ancient city of Phrygia, which is now modern-day Turkey.

The Corybants were often depicted as wearing armor and carrying shields and swords. They performed frenzied dances and drumming as part of the worship of Cybele. The cult of Cybele was centered around the idea of a divine mother figure who was associated with fertility, nature, and wild animals.

The male priests, called Galli, wore long robes, headdresses, and jewelry, and would often dye their hair and wear makeup. Their religious practices were highly ritualistic and often involved self-mutilation.

During certain religious ceremonies, the Galli would castrate themselves as a way of dedicating themselves fully to the worship of Cybele. This act was seen as a way of emulating the mythical figure of Attis, who was said to have castrated himself in a fit of religious ecstasy.

The Roman version of the cult was known as the Magna Mater, or the Great Mother, and it was often associated with the worship of the god Attis. The cult eventually declined as Christianity began to spread throughout the Roman Empire. 

Tim Kane

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Xerxes and the Need for Anger Management

Arkane Curiosities

Xerxes I, ruler of the largest empire in the ancient world, wanted nothing more than to complete his father’s conquests. At the start of his rule, he brought Egypt into the empire, but Greece was always on his mind. His father, Darius, had failed to conquer the Greeks and Xerxes planned to finish the job. Yet the only accounts we have of this mighty ruler come from the Greek historian, Herodotus, who seems to have demonized the Persian king. Xerxes is portrayed as someone who files into a rage at the slightest provocation and is sorely in need of some anger management.

Cutting a Person in Half

Xerxes planned to march over two million soldiers into Greece and that kind of war-making required massive financing. Pythias, a Lydian governor, helped bankroll the endeavor. Enroute to the Hellespont to cross into Europe, Xerxes visited Pythias. The governor hosted the king, lavishing money and supplies on the army. Pythias then made one small request. He wanted  his eldest son to be released from serving in the army, so that he could take care of his father in his old age. 

Xerxes flew into a rage. He thought that Pythias doubted the outcome of the war and thought Xerxes would fail like Darius did. The king had the eldest son cut in half. Then he marched the entire Persian army between the two halves to serve as a warning to anyone who would doubt the king. 

Flogging the Sea as Punishment

By 480 BCE, Xerxes had reached the Hellespont, the shortest strip of sea to cross into Europe. He ordered the construction of a pontoon bridge, nearly a mile long. Just after the bridge was completed, a storm struck and demolished the structure. The king was so infuriated, he ordered that the sea be flogged 300 times for its insolence. In addition, he also pierced the waters with red-hot iron in order that the waters obey Xerxes.

The king also took his wrath out on the engineers, beheading every single one. A new bridge was built using 600 boats tied together with ropes. Alas, when he returned to the Hellespont in defeat, this bridge was also destroyed. 

Sore Loser

Now in Greece, Xerxes led 300,000 of his men to the pass of Thermopylae, only to meet a token resistance: 7000 Greeks. However, these Greeks were no typical warriors. King Leonides of Sparta and 300 of his personal soldiers guarded the pass. They held off the vastly superior Persian army for three days, inflicting massive casualties, before a traitor allowed the Persians to attack from behind. 

Xerxes was furious over his Pyrrhic victory. He ordered his troops to scour the battlefield until they found the body of Leonides. Then he ordered the head to be removed and the remaining body fastened to a cross.

A No-Win Situation

Ultimately Xerxes lost and was forced to retreat to Asia Minor. On the journey back by sea, the king’s ship encountered a storm. The helmsman informed Xerxes that the ship is too heavy to survive the storm. The king asks his soldiers to lighten the load, and they leap to their deaths. As a reward, Xerxes gives a crown to the helmsman for saving the life of the king. However, since he was also responsible for the deaths of many Persian soldiers, Xerxes has the helmsman beheaded.

The Greeks viewed anger as a kind of poison that infected the body. Reasonable people controlled their anger, while tyrants and savages gave way to their wrath. Herodotus never documents the lead up to Xerxes outbursts, only the finally, wrathful act. Perhaps a bit of anger management would have helped the Persian ruler.

Tim Kane

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Hungry Ghosts: Mischievous Spirits

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In Japan, ghosts can be much more than simply chain-rattling spirits. They hunger, and not only for the things you expect. Some of the hungry spirits (or Gaki) yearn for vomit or baby poop (yes, you heard me right). Many of the Gaki originate from sins people did while alive, a group of hungry ghosts are nothing more than mischievous spirits, called yasha.

Nature Spirits into Demons and Back

The yasha are supernatural beings that can range from caring to murderous. They began in India as benevolent nature spirits who watched over the earth and the forests. Yet as they migrated into China, they shifted into ghost-like spirits who preyed on travelers. 

Finally, as these spirits entered Japan, they were seen as a demon-god (kijin) to be worshiped and feared. They mixed with the legends of the amanojaku and oni.

The Last Twenty Gaki

In the last post, we explored the first sixteen hungry ghosts. Here are the other twenty to make the full consort of 36.

17 Underworld Ghosts

These spirits live in caves or with snakes in their burrows. They suffer from hunger and chills, a result of extreme thirst. These Gaki can also create epidemics. In life, they put someone in jail for personal gain. 

18 Supernatural-Power Ghosts

The most powerful of the Hungry Ghosts, these spirits may experience some joy. They inhabit the deep mountains, the middle of the sea, or other remote locations. Demons surround them, constantly staring at them. In life, they abused power by stealing other people’s property. 

19 Blazing Ghosts

The bodies of these spirits continually burn with a blazing fire, making them cry out in pain. They wander the countryside, desiring to loot villages or robbing people. In life, they looted and robbed. 

20 Infant-Excrement-Eating Ghosts

Only the excrement of babies will do for these spirits, who linger around cribs. They target mothers who let their babies sit in their own poop too long. When a child cries, people believe that the ghost has appeared to the child. These spirits are yakṣa rather than the  deceased.

21 Desirable Appearance Ghosts

These ghosts will shift appearance, becoming attractive or repulsive to gain access to food. They can prey on people’s lust. Additionally, they can transform into animals to swoop in to steal food. These spirits are considered yakṣa, a class of nature-spirits. 

22 Island Ghosts

These spirits are always thirsty and live on uninhabited islands. They slurp up the morning dew, but it offers them little respite. The heat of even a single winter day would feel hotter than ten-times a summer’s day. In life, these people abused those in difficult situations, like refugees or lost travelers. 

23 Assistant-to-the-Underworld Ghosts

Also known as Assistants of Yama Armed with Sticks, these hungry ghosts managed other ghosts and spirits. Yama, the Indian god of the Dead, record sinful acts committed by humans and bring these sinners back to Yama. Physically, they have scrunched-up hair draped over their faces and long ears with protruding stomachs. People pray to these ghosts on their deathbed, which means these Assistants linger between the human world and the underworld. 

24 Child-Eating Ghosts

These Gaki are malicious, feeding off the energy of infants. They wander in search of children to kidnap, but are often unsuccessful (thus their hunger). In life, they were healers who promised to cure a sick person with prayers, but abused their position. 

25 Energy-Eating Ghosts

These Gaki lurk around critically ill people and siphon off their energy. They might also target depressed people, gradually creeping into that person’s life to absorb their “vital energy.”

26 Brahmanic Rākṣasa Ghosts

These ghosts haunt crossroads and back all eyes. They linger and await the right opportunity to latch onto a victim and possess the body. While controlling the person, they will act recklessly in an attempt to kill the person. In life, these people were religious leaders who lost their faith. 

27 Hearth Ghosts

These Gaki loiter in kitchens or religious establishments to steal food. They also gorge on temple leftovers, mixed with coal. In life, these were people who stole food from religious sites. 

28 Dirty Street Ghosts

These Gaki live on dirty city streets, skulking in places where vomit and urine stains the streets. They dine off this refuse as their nourishment. 

29 Wind-Eating Ghosts

Each time this ghost reached for food or drink, it proves to be an optical illusion and vanishes with the wind. They are tormented by illusions of sustenance, only to have nothing in the end. In life, these people made empty promises and donations to charity. 

30 Coal-Eating Ghosts

These hungry ghosts wander through cemeteries, searching for the remains of a cremated body. They then scarf down the ashes generated from cremation fires. In life, they were in charge of prisons and let the inmates suffer from hunger. 

31 Poison-Eating Ghost

These ghosts nosh on poisonous fumes and toxic grass. Their food ends up killing them and then they regain their life only to hunger for these poisons again. They live in caves on mountains with extreme hot or cold weather. The mountains are home to wild beasts (lions, hawks or tigers) who pluck out the eyes of these unfortunate Gaki. Additionally, it can sometimes rain knives from the sky. In life, they poisoned someone to steal that person’s property. 

32 Jungle Ghosts

These Gaki roam the jungle, driven by intense hunger. As they traverse the wilds, branches and thorns cut their skin, jungle animals attack them, and fierce birds swoop down. When they finally arrive where they think there’s food, they discover it’s the wrong place. These ghosts are punished for a very specific punishment. Often, virtuous men would plant trees and provide people with water while traveling. These thieves steal the water, making the travelers thirsty and weak, and thus easier to rob. 

33 Living-in-Cremation-Grounds and Eating-Hot-Ashes Ghosts

Similar to the Coal-Eating ghosts, these long titled ghosts lug instruments of torture on their back to mimic the acts they committed in their former lives. In addition, they also carry red-hot irons on their head. In life, they stole offerings and flowers from temples.

34 Living-in-Trees Ghosts

These ghosts are reborn inside trees, where insects and animals chew away their bodies. Also, the weather that batters the tree also affects these ghosts. It’s believed that hermit monks, who live away from civilization, will be tormented by entire forests of these Gaki. In life, they stole wood from Buddhist temples.

35 Crossroads Ghosts

These ghosts reside in the classic haunted area of crossroads. People will make offerings to these spirits to ward off illness or difficulties at work. In life, they stole food from travelers who were crossing through remote parts of the world. 

36 Mara-Body Ghosts

These Gaki superficially feed off the confusion generated by the daily lives of Buddhist temples. They frighten monks with sinister sounds or nightmares. Their goal is to disrupt and undermine the entire community. In life, these people spouted false doctrines. 

Tim Kane

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Hungry Ghosts: The Symbol of Eternal Wanting

Arkane Curiosities

In the West, we think of ghosts as spirits to haunt old and dilapidated places. The kinds of specters that make our blood run cold and serve to scare the wits out of us. Yet across Easter Asia, the concept of a hungry ghosts emerged — these hungry ghost are forced to wander to earth, eternally wanting.

Suffering Spirits

The Japanese call these ghosts Gaki (literally meaning “hungry ghost”) but they also go under the name Preta from Buddhist cosmology. These are the spirits of people who were exceptionally greedy in life. Most of the tales about how Gaki are created originate with a person refusing to give a Buddhist monk food or water. 

A commonality with all hungry ghosts is their insatiable need to eat. Yet most of the time they are unable to consume food. For some it’s impossible to find nourishment. With others, their mouths or necks are too small to eat the food. And for some, the food bursts into flames even as they consume it. 

Feeding the Hungry Ghosts

The Buddhist cosmology has six realms of existence and rebirth. The realm of Gakidō is the land of hungry spirits. It’s a barren land filled with deserts. A person who is cursed to become a Gaki is trapped there for 500 years (A single day for a hungry ghost is equivalent to 10 of our years). Yet the living can perform a ritual to ease the cravings of these restless spirits. 

A special Buddhist ceremony, called the Segaki (feeding the hungry ghosts) is performed as part of the O-Bon festival in July or August (and feels a bit like the Western All Hallows’ Eve). Offerings of rice and water are presented on altars positioned out of sight of any Buddha statues. 

The 36 Types of Hungry Ghosts

Gaki come in all shapes and sizes. Many of the sites simply give a brief example of a few, but we’ll list the whole shebang here. If you want a more detailed explanation, you can read Sūtra of the Foundations of Mindfulness of the True Law. Presented here are the first 16 of these ghosts. The remainder will come in the next post.

1 Cauldron-Body Ghosts

These Gaki are twice the size of a human and they can never find food. These ghosts are plagued by fire. In life, they were greedy and refused to return items to their rightful owners. 

2 Needle-Mouth Ghosts

These spirits have throats only as wide as a needle. Even when they find food, they cannot consume it. In life, these people were rich but pretended to be poor to avoid giving to charity. 

3 Vomit-Eating Ghosts

Ghosts of this sort prefer to scarf up vomit. Although harmless, they may follow around an alcoholic and seek to influence that person to drink more, in order to produce more vomit. In life, these people only shared “inferior” or lower-quality food with others while keeping the most delicious eats for themselves. 

4 Excrement-Eating Ghosts

These Gaki prefer to dine on excrement and frequent dirty toilets. If you enter a bathroom and feel like someone is watching you, it might be this spirit. In life, they offered spoiled food to charity or to holy people.

5 Foodless Ghosts

These should really be called thirst-ghosts. They roam the countryside in search of water to quench the raging flames in their stomachs. In life, these people starved others to death. They can also be people who abused their power over others (as in jailers abusing prisoners).

6 Odor-Eating Ghosts

Ghosts in this category feed off the smell of food offered to deities. In life, these people didn’t share the best foods with their spouse or family members. 

7 Dharma-Eating Ghosts

These repulsive ghosts are bony and emancipated, with protruding veins along their body. Insects swarm around them, slowly nibbling away. Their only sustenance is to hear monks at the temple teaching Dharma. They tend to cluster around temples anytime there is a Dharma talk. In life, they spread false teaching of Dharma. 

8 Water-Eating Ghosts

These Gaki have desiccated and brittle bodies. They live near drains or rivers and slurp up water, but with their dry, withered bodies make it hard to hydrate. They can only swallow small droplets of water at a time because they try to grab it with their hands and it slips through their fingers. In life, these people were brewers of alcohol, but they tampered with their product by adding worms or insects.

9 Living-On-Hope Ghosts

These spirits are extremely hairy with deep wrinkles on their faces. The can only consume offerings made by mourners to honor deceased parents. THey frequent funerals. In life, these people profited off the misfortune of others by selling goods at inflated prices. 

10 Spittle-Eating Ghosts

These Gaki hunger for human spit and they follow those who spit often. In life, they offered impure food to monks. 

11 Garland-Eating Ghosts

These ghosts can appear in dreams to scare people. They crave offerings intended for Buddha or monks. However, once they have these offerings in hand, the garland attached itself to the ghost to torment it. In life, these people were caught stealing from religious places.

12 Blood-Eating Ghosts

These Gaki are attracted to blood. They will influence the mind of a victim to self-inflict wounds in order to draw blood. 

Another type of ghost with supernatural power. They are attracted by blood and blood sacrifice. Some people mistaken them as gods and make blood offerings to them and pray to them for material gains.

13 Flesh-Eating Ghosts

These ghosts feed on various meat offerings, preferring raw meat to blood. In life, these people were butchers who took advantage of customers by short selling meat. 

14 Fragrance-Eating Ghosts

Gaki of this sort yearn for incense and sweet smells. They have the ability to fool people into worshiping them in order that someone will burn incense. In life, they sold low-quality incense at high prices. 

15 Harmful-Conduct Ghosts

These ghosts feed off the wicked deeds of unsavory people. They delight in epidemics and death, often traveling thousands of miles in seconds to find a meal. In life, they encouraged people to donate to the poor, but kept the donations for themselves. 

16 Looking-For-The-Right-Opportunity Ghosts

These ghosts have hairy bodies and are always surrounded by flames. They feed off the negative energy generated from weak-willed people — a sort of energy vampire. Meditation and chanting can strengthen the mind and thus fend off these ghosts. Instead of a former human life, these spirits are yakṣa, a nature-spirits.

The next post will show the rest of the hungry ghosts. Until then, be virtuous, lest you end up as a Gaki in the afterlife.

Tim Kane

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