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Japanese Myths, Folktales, Folklore and Language

Episodes

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

Monkeys and Monkey Lore! (Ep. 4)

I wanted to do a podcast on one of my favorite animals, the monkey. Monkey lore and superstition is quite vast and complicated or just confusing, because history is so long, and monkeys can be good, and monkeys can be bad. So I'm going to stick to three things that I think are interesting: the monkey wordplay with "saru" (to drive away), monkeys protecting horses, and those creepy faceless monkey good luck charms you see all over Japan.
ukioe monkey

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

Hatsuyume: Your First Dream of the New Year (Ep. 2)

It's New Year's Eve. And I wanted to do something special for you. So I thought I'd tell you about a Japanese New Year's tradition called hatsu-yume. That's your first dream of the new year.
hatsuyume

Musha-burui: Trembling Before a Formidable Task (Ep. 1)

I want to share something I learned from my mother-in-law many years ago here in Japan. It's this word that stuck with me, and honestly, I use it all the time. This is called *musha-burui* - literally "trembling like a warrior."
musha-burui
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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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