Wara Ningyo
Wara ningyo, or "straw dolls", are a type of doll made in Japan. They can be used to represent people, or aspects of people, in much the same way as voodoo dolls in the West. Religious and occult practices using substitutionary dolls made of paper, straw and other materials date back at least to the Heian period.[1]
A well-known method of laying a curse on someone involves nailing a straw doll to a sacred tree late at night. One such tree can be found at Jisshu Shrine in the Kiyomizu Temple in Kyoto.[2] This tradition is called "Ushi no toki mairi", and is believed to have developed in the Edo period.[3]
Fatal Frame Series
Several of the rituals in Fatal Frame III use dolls and substitutes to take on the sins of worshippers.
- Impaling the Sin - villagers would nail a straw doll wearing their clothes to a sacred tree. The people's sin and misfortune were symbolically placed in the doll and offered to the Other World.
- Kushimi Dolls and Igushi Dolls - both were straw dolls representing the dead, skewered on the mountain near the place where the real world connected to the other world.
- Impalement Ritual - taking the folklore to an extreme, this ritual involves the impalement of an actual person who, like the dolls, takes on the pain of Worshippers. She then goes as an offering to the liminal space between the human world and the spirit world, taking the pain with her.
In Fatal Frame V, in the western side of the Unfathomable Forest, there is a tree with many straw dolls nailed to it. The sound of someone hammering the nails can be heard from a distance, but stops when the player approaches the tree, presumably because the Ushi no toki mairi tradition states that if anyone sees the person laying the curse, it will not take effect.[3]
References
- ↑ Katashiro, Encyclopedia of Shinto. Retrieved 14 May 2016.
- ↑ "The occult world of ancient Kyoto", Japan Today, 4 June 2009. Retrieved 10 November 2009.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Ushi no toki mairi, Wikipedia. Retrieved 14 May 2016
Japanese Culture
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| Religion |
| Buddhism - Shinto |
| Japanese Ghosts/Creatures |
| Funayūrei - Goryō - Hitodama - Ikiryō - Onryō - Ubume - Yōkai - Yūrei |
| Specific Japanese Ghosts/Creatures |
| Oiwa - Okiku - Yuki-onna |
| Terms |
| Dosojin - Grave Mound - Hannya Mask - Higanbana - Jizo - Kaidan - Miko - Mukoyōshi - Sanzu River - Shimenawa - Toro-Nagashi - Wara Ningyo |
| Locations |
| Northeastern Japan - Shizuoka - Sugisawa Village - Tono |
| Media and Entertainment |
| Kagome, Kagome - Ringu |