Kinosaki Onsen: A Bird and a Monk, Two Origin Legends
Kinosaki Onsen has two origin legends: a stork healed by the spring, and the monk Dochi's thousand days of prayer. Why neither was ever dropped.
Why Does King Enma Pull Out Liars’ Tongues? How Yama, the First Dead Man, Became the King of Judgment
Why the tongue, and why Enma? Tracing Yama, ancient India's first dead man, to the underworld judge, we read the fears behind the warning.
What Is Yakudoshi? Kazoedoshi, Mae-yaku, Hon-yaku and Ato-yaku, and the Theories Behind “Yaku” Once Meaning “Duty”
A calm guide to yakudoshi: how to count age, the risky ages, the three-year cycle, origin theories, and why science finds no basis.
The Demon Abe no Nakamaro: Why Did a Poet Who Died in Tang China Become a Demon and Help Kibi no Makibi?
Known for a poem of homesickness, Abe no Nakamaro appears in a late Heian tale as a demon who helped Kibi no Makibi go home. We read it our way.
Rajomon: When a Nation’s Gate Became a Graveyard
Built as the grand gateway to Kyoto, Rajomon fell into ruin and, by the mid-Heian period, was said to be stacked with unclaimed corpses.
Why Did the Baku Come to Eat the “Nightmares” It Never Ate in Its Homeland of China, Once It Reached Japan?
Japan's baku eats nightmares, but China's mo only warded off evil. We trace how it changed and why people wanted others to eat bad dreams.
The Curse of the Colonel: An Urban Legend Solved 24 Years Later
A KFC statue thrown into Osaka's Dotonbori canal in 1985 was blamed for two decades of a baseball team's losses — until it resurfaced in 2009.
What Is Dream Interpretation? What Have People Tried to Read in Their Dreams for Thousands of Years?
A gentle guide to dream interpretation: its history from Mesopotamia to Freud, how to use our dream dictionary, and our reflections.
What Is Tarot? How Game Cards Became “Picture Cards of Fate”
A beginner’s guide to tarot: from 15th-century Italian game cards to French fortune-telling and the 1909 Waite deck.
Sawayama Castle: The Tragedy of “Joro-otoshi”
Two days after Sekigahara, Ishida Mitsunari's castle fell. A cliffside place name still recalls the women said to have leapt rather than face capture.