Kashima Reiko

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Kashima Reiko ( Japanese カ シ マ レ イ コ ) is the name of a fictional being from Japanese metropolitan legends . It is usually described as a spirit of vengeance ( onryō ), less often as a vengeful yōkai and depicted as a young woman without a abdomen. Its name is a contraction of ka- for kamen (“mask”), shi- for shinin (“dead person”), ma (“demon”), rei (“spirit”) and ko (“child”). The latter, however, is a common part of women's names, so that her name, with the corresponding characters, is also written 仮 死 魔 霊 子 ( reiko ) and translated as “ghost woman ”.

Legend

origin

As is usual with big city legends, there are also a number of variations in content. Sometimes the figure is also male and is said to appear as a soldier from the Second World War , for example . Then it is called Kashima-san ( カ シ マ さ ん ) or Kashima-sama ( カ シ マ さ ま ).

The legend of Kashima Reiko was a young woman who died violently while lost her legs. According to the most cited variant, she was a young student from Hokkaido who was attacked, brutally beaten and robbed by several men late one evening near a railroad overpass. She is said to have dragged herself, critically injured, to the tracks, where she lost consciousness and was run over by a passing train. The train is said to have severed her legs from the hips.

Location and behavior

The toilet cubicles in universities and schools are named as the preferred location for their appearance , where they wait for unsuspecting visitors, and less often they should also visit public toilets (especially train latrines).

Allegedly, Kashima Reiko always involves her victims in a perfidious question-answer game that has to be answered correctly so that she does not tear off the respondent's limbs. In one variant, they demand: “Give me your arms.” ( 手 を よ こ せ Te o yokose ), to which you have to answer with “I still use them” ( 今 使 っ て ま す Ima tsukattemase ). Then they demand: “Give me your legs.” ( 脚 を よ こ せ Ashi o yokose ), whereupon you should answer with “I still need them.” ( 今 必要 で す Ima hitsuyō desu ).

In another variant, she simply asks her victim: "Where are my legs?" If the respondent remains ignorant or even completely owes an answer, tear off the person's legs in order to keep them to yourself. If the victim answers the question correctly (“You can find her on the Meishin Express train tracks”), ask him how the person knew so well. The correct answer should be: "This is what Kashima Reiko told me". In further variants, Kashima finally asked Reiko whether the interviewee also knew her own, real name. If the respondent can answer correctly this time too ("You are Kamen-shinin-ma ."), Kashima Reiko should allow her victim three days, within this period the victim must tell at least five people about the encounter, otherwise she will get his legs.

backgrounds

Kashima-sama in Akita Prefecture

Kashima Reiko can be assigned to the legend type of the “vengeful ghost woman”. The legends surrounding them show amazing similarities to the legendary characters Teketeke and, depending on the variant, also Hanako, the toilet spirit . Their stories are also about a young person or schoolgirl who dies violently or mysteriously and turns into a vengeful ghost or yōkai. Like Kashima Reiko, the Teketeke lost her legs from a passing train and died on the tracks. The circumstances of Hanako's death are not precisely defined, but she, like Kashima Reiko, also visits toilet cubicles after her death. In the case of Kashima Reiko, it is noteworthy that “Kashima Reiko” and “Kamen-shinin-ma” (a kind of demon who takes the form of the deceased) are apparently one and the same woman, Kashima Reiko is said to have been her name during her lifetime. To Kamen-shinin-ma , it was only after her death.

At least in those variants where the name of the figure is only "Kashima-san" or "Kashima-sama", it shares the name with a figure from a tradition in the northern Japanese prefecture of Akita , where large figures are made of rice straw to ward off evil spirits.

literature

  • Robert B. Durham: Modern Folklore. Lulu Press Inc., Raleigh (North Carolina) 2015, ISBN 9781312909694 , page 406.
  • S. Pelleriti: Legendary Metropolitan . Giuseppe Pelleriti, 2016, ISBN 605044868X , page 126.
  • Bintarō Yamaguchi: 世界 の 妖怪 大 百科 (Sekai no yōkai daihyakka, German World Encyclopedia of Yōkai) . Gakken Kyōiku Verlag, Tokyo 2014, ISBN 4052040538 , page 61.
  • Marie-Agnès Moller: Qui a peur des chats noirs ?: La vérité sur les superstitions . Le texts Vivant, Paris 2016, ISBN 2367230862 , pp. 116–117.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b カ シ マ レ イ コ . In: ピ ク シ ブ 百科 事 典 . Pixiv , accessed April 29, 2018 (Japanese).