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Japanese Myths, Folktales, Folklore and Language

Episodes

Gaki: Hungry Ghosts (Ep. 10)

Living a life of luxury while being selfish and coveting your neighbors goodies just might lead you to another spin on this Wheel of Life. This means after you die you'll be reborn not as a human again, not even as a squirrel in someone's backyard. You might just come back as a hungry ghost, and let me tell you why that's not a very good thing.
gaki

Okuribi: Sending Away Fires (Obon Part Two) (Ep. 9)

Obon: the time when you have to send ol' grandma and grandpa back to the World of the Dead. There are various ways of doing this. I talk about two, the chill, mellow way and the flinging-balls-of-fire-into-the-air way.
Yaizu okuribi

On Cucumber Horses They Ride: Obon Part One (Ep. 8)

Obon is the time of year when all the ancestors' spirits make the long haul back to the world of the living to pay a visit. Butsudan altars are decorated to the hilt and families wait expectantly for grandma and grandpa, great grandma and great grandpa (not to mention great, great, great grandma and grandpa) to arrive and hang out.
eggplant and cucumber horses

Senninbari: The Thousand-Stitch Belt (Ep. 7)

The senninbari or one thousand-stitch belt is a magical sash worn by soldiers in World War 2 to ward off enemies bullets and impart super human strength.
senninbari

Japanese Superstitions Part One (Ep. 6)

Three Japanese superstitions and why: 1) Don't cut your nails at night. 2) Don't whistle at night. 3) Do kill spiders at night...or don't, actually you might not want to. There's a good argument why you should let those night spiders live.
Ukioe cutting toenails

Kishibojin: The Mother of All Devils (Ep. 5)

Kishibojin: an ogress with a penchant for feeding human babies to her own children, but who was able to see the error of her ways and not only repent but reinvent herself as a goddess. That's what I call chutzpah!
kishibojin

Koshin Shinko: The Three Worms in Your Body (Ep. 3)

Koshin Shinko is the belief that you are born with three worms (called sanshi) inside your body, and that these creatures' only purpose is to shorten your life so they can be free again.
koushin shinkou
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About The Uncanny Japan Podcast

Speculative fiction writer, long-term resident of Japan and Bram Stoker Award finalist Thersa Matsuura explores all that is weird from old Japan—strange superstitions, folktales, cultural oddities, and interesting language quirks. These are little treasures she digs up while doing research for her writing.

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