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{{Short description|Yōkai}} |
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[[Image:SekienHoneonna.jpg|thumb|Honeonna from ''[[Konjaku Gazu Zoku Hyakki]]'' |
[[Image:SekienHoneonna.jpg|thumb|upright|"Honeonna" (骨女) from the ''[[Konjaku Gazu Zoku Hyakki]]'' by [[Sekien Toriyama]]]] |
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{{nihongo|'''Hone-onna'''|[[wiktionary:骨女|骨女]]||literally: ''bone woman''}} is a being from [[Japan]]ese [[legend]]s. In some versions, it is thought to be a female [[yōkai]] who kills men by extracting their lifeforce or by grabbing their hands and holding them until the victim becomes a skeleton himself.<ref>Michael Dylan Foster: ''Morphologies of Mystery: Yôkai and Discourses of the Supernatural in Japan, 1666–1999''. Stanford University, Stanford, 2003, S. 222.</ref><!--Can't find this source, but none of the JA materials I've seen that mention this describe the hone-onna as making others into skeletons.--> In others, the ''hone onna'' manifests as a skeletal woman. |
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{{nihongo|'''Hone-onna'''|[[wiktionary:骨女|{{ruby|骨|ほね}}{{ruby|女|おんな}}]]||literally: ''bone woman''}} is a [[yōkai]] depicted in the ''[[Konjaku Gazu Zoku Hyakki]]'' (1779) by [[Toriyama Sekien]]. As its name implies, it depicts this yōkai as a woman in the form of bones. |
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In Sekien's explanatory text in the ''Konjaku Gazu Zoku Hyakki'' states that there is a story called {{nihongo|''Otogi Bōko''|御伽ばうこ}} in which an aged female skeleton would carry a [[chōchin]] (lantern) decorated with [[Paeonia suffruticosa|botan]] flowers on it and visit the house of a man she loved back when she was still alive, and then cavort with that man. In other words, this refers to {{nihongo|"''Botan Dōrō''{{-"}}|牡丹燈籠||"The Peony Lantern"}}, within the collection of writings called {{nihongo|''Otogi Bōko''|伽婢子||1666}} by [[Asai Ryōi]].<ref name="murakami">{{Cite book |editor-last=Murakami |editor-first=Kenji |year=2000 |title=Yōkai Jiten (妖怪事典) |publisher=The Mainichi Newspapers Co. |isbn=978-4-620-31428-0 |page=308}}</ref> (The collection was composed as a sort of [[moral]]-free version of the Chinese work ''[[Jiandeng Xinhua]]'' written in 1378 by [[Qu You]].) In the ''Botan Dōrō'', a man named Ogiwara Shinnojō meets a beautiful woman named Yako and they become entangled almost every night, but one night an old person from next door catches a glimpse of it and sees the strange scene of Shinnojō embracing with a skeleton.<ref>{{Cite book |editor1-last=Inada |editor1-first=Atsunobu |editor2-first=Naohi |editor2-last=Tanaka |year=1992 |others=[[Mamoru Takada]], supervisor |title=Toriyama Sekien Gazu Hyakki Yagyō (鳥山石燕 画図百鬼夜行) |publisher=Kokushokankokai |isbn=978-4-336-03386-4 |page=148}}</ref> |
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==Description== |
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The ''hone-onna'' appears for the first time in a yōkai [[encyclopedia]] called ''Konjaku Gazu Zoku Hyakki'', written in 1779 by [[Toriyama Sekien]]. The story in which the bone woman is mentioned is named ''Botan Dōrō'' (牡丹燈籠; "The Peony Lantern"). It tells about a beautiful, but very skinny lady carrying a red lantern in shape of a [[peony]] flower and visiting men in attempt to sleep with them. ''Botan Dōrō'' itself is derived from a [[Buddhism|Buddhist]] [[China|Chinese]] tale collection named ''Otogibōko'' (御伽ばうこ), written by [[Asai Ryōi]] in 1666. The collection was composed as some kind of [[moral]]-free version of the Chinese work ''Jiandeng Xinhua'' written in 1378 by [[Qu You]].<ref>Murakami Kenji: 妖怪事典. Mainichi Shimbun-sha, Tokyo, 2000, {{ISBN|4-620-31428-5}}, page 308.</ref> |
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According to ''[[Tōhoku Kaidan no Tabi]]'' by [[Norio Yamada]], there is an odd tale in the [[Aomori Prefecture]] about a yōkai under the title of "hone-onna". It says that in the [[Ansei]] period, a woman who was said to be ugly by those around her became a good-looking skeleton after death, and walked around town as a skeleton to let everyone see. It is said that she likes fish bones and would collapse upon encountering a high priest.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Yamada |first=Norio |author-link=Norio Yamada |title=[[Tōhoku Kaidan no Tabi]] |year=1974 |publisher=Jiyū Kokumin |id={{NCID|BA42139725}} |pages=138–139}}</ref> |
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== Legends == |
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''Botan Dōrō'' tells about a young man named ''Ogiwara Shinnojō'', who is wandering around at night and who meets a young woman named O-Tsuyu. She carries a red peony lantern and Shinnojō immediately falls in love with her. Every evening now they meet each other for love and to sleep together. The overly curious neighbour sneaks secretly to the bedroom of the couple to observe them. When the light of the bedroom falls onto the couple the neighbour nearly dies in shock, when he recognizes that the sleeping Shinnojō shares his bed with a moving skeleton.<ref>Takada Mamoru: 鳥山石燕 画図百鬼夜行. Kadokawa Shoten, Tokyo, 2005, {{ISBN|978-4-336-03386-4}}, page 148.</ref> |
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An orally traditioned legend from [[Akita prefecture]] tells the story of a young man who became lost during a heavy snow storm. Suddenly he saw a young woman, carrying a red peony lantern. The woman waved at him and guided the man to her house. When the man wanted to thank her for help, the light of the house and the lantern fell onto her face and the shocked man recognized her face as a blank skeleton skull.<ref>Yamaguchi Bintarō: とうほく妖怪図鑑. Mumyōsha, 2003, {{ISBN|978-4-89544-344-9}}, page 78.</ref> |
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==See also== |
==See also== |
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Latest revision as of 14:14, 8 March 2023
Hone-onna (骨女, literally: bone woman) is a yōkai depicted in the Konjaku Gazu Zoku Hyakki (1779) by Toriyama Sekien. As its name implies, it depicts this yōkai as a woman in the form of bones.
In Sekien's explanatory text in the Konjaku Gazu Zoku Hyakki states that there is a story called Otogi Bōko (御伽ばうこ) in which an aged female skeleton would carry a chōchin (lantern) decorated with botan flowers on it and visit the house of a man she loved back when she was still alive, and then cavort with that man. In other words, this refers to "Botan Dōrō" (牡丹燈籠, "The Peony Lantern"), within the collection of writings called Otogi Bōko (伽婢子, 1666) by Asai Ryōi.[1] (The collection was composed as a sort of moral-free version of the Chinese work Jiandeng Xinhua written in 1378 by Qu You.) In the Botan Dōrō, a man named Ogiwara Shinnojō meets a beautiful woman named Yako and they become entangled almost every night, but one night an old person from next door catches a glimpse of it and sees the strange scene of Shinnojō embracing with a skeleton.[2]
According to Tōhoku Kaidan no Tabi by Norio Yamada, there is an odd tale in the Aomori Prefecture about a yōkai under the title of "hone-onna". It says that in the Ansei period, a woman who was said to be ugly by those around her became a good-looking skeleton after death, and walked around town as a skeleton to let everyone see. It is said that she likes fish bones and would collapse upon encountering a high priest.[3]
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^ Murakami, Kenji, ed. (2000). Yōkai Jiten (妖怪事典). The Mainichi Newspapers Co. p. 308. ISBN 978-4-620-31428-0.
- ^ Inada, Atsunobu; Tanaka, Naohi, eds. (1992). Toriyama Sekien Gazu Hyakki Yagyō (鳥山石燕 画図百鬼夜行). Mamoru Takada, supervisor. Kokushokankokai. p. 148. ISBN 978-4-336-03386-4.
- ^ Yamada, Norio (1974). Tōhoku Kaidan no Tabi. Jiyū Kokumin. pp. 138–139. NCID BA42139725.