Han'yō
Han'yō ( Japanese 半 妖 , dt. "Half- Yōkai ") are Japanese half-demons . The term "Han'yō" was introduced and popularized by the manga and novelist Shigeru Mizuki , although he strictly adhered to the requirements of popular religious belief.
description
Han'yō are represented in both Japanese Shinto beliefs and Buddhism and are regarded as existing by the followers, although they are listed under different and different names in religious scriptures.
Their appearance should always come as close as possible to both parents, which is why they are often portrayed as people with animal or demon-like attributes (e.g. with goat horns and legs). However, their supernatural powers are said to be more or less narrowly limited due to their semi-human descent.
Belief in origin
According to Shinto and Buddhist folk beliefs, the Han'yō are a product of the love between a person and a Yōkai , which usually does not last long due to various circumstances. Since it is considered rare that people and yōkai fall in love with each other, the term "Han'yō" is correspondingly little used. However, Abe no Seimei , an Onmyōji of the Heian period, was said to have been the child of a person and the Kitsune Kuzunoha and thus a Han'yō.
Culture and modernity
In religious culture, Han'yō represent a gestural blurring of the boundaries between human and demonic / divine world. Shintoism and Buddhism do not know any sharply demarcated separation of belief and existence anyway, which is what in the representations of the Han'yō, which are half human, half are divine, is thematized.
In the modern age, Han'yō are a popular motif in youth literature, and no longer only in Japan. They appear in novels , light novels , mangas and animes , where they are often portrayed as over-the-top, moody or unpredictable and, according to religious models, also attract attention through non-human body attributes such as three eyes or dog ears. The manga and anime character Inu Yasha is one of the most famous modern Han'yō .
literature
- Shigeru Mizuki : Nezumi otoko no Bōken . Chikuma Shobō , 2007, ISBN 4-480-03061-1 , p. 339 (Japanese: ね ず み 男 の 冒 険 .).
- Shigeru Mizuki : Yōkai Paradaisu 4 kokekakiikii . Shimauchi Shoten, 2002, ISBN 4-901819-08-9 , pp. 161–161 (Japanese: 妖怪 パ ラ ダ イ ス 4 コ ケ カ キ イ キ イ .).
- Shigeru Mizuki : Ge Ge Ge no Kitarō . 1959 (Japanese: ゲ ゲ ゲ の 鬼 太郎 .).
- Rumiko Takahashi : Inu Yasha 01. The fountain between times . Egmont Vgs, 2005 (First edition in a series of Tankōbon editions).
- Kōhaku Kuroboshi: Hōkago tai maroku . Kadokawa Sneaker Bunko, 2001, ISBN 4-04-425901-1 (Japanese: 放 課後 退魔録 ロ ス ト ガ ー ル . First edition of a series of manga).