Narikama, Nabebozu, & Kamagami
There are three nearly-identical Tsukumogami Yokai – Nabebozu, Kamagami, AND Narikama! The corrected material will be in bold. Narikama, pictured in the figure above, is a living kettle. He is similar to Nabebozu, who is a living pot, and Kamagami, who is a living rice pot, but entirely distinct. Narikama is “The Ringing Kettle,” a Tsukumogami whose ringing sound signals good fortune.
Nabebozu translates to “The Pot-Head Monk.” This does not mean what you think it means. No, really. Not at all. Stop it. Stop it right now. Stopped? Good. Nabebozu is one of the Tsukumogami – century-old heirlooms that gain a life of their own. This one is unique, though. Most Tsukumogami are simply the object with a face – the umbrella Yokai is just a one-eyed umbrella. The sandal is a sandal. And so on. But Nabebozu has an entire body! He looks like kind of a wild monk, albeit with a flaming cooking pot for a head. There isn’t much info on what he does – most Tsukumogami just sort of mess around in general rather than engage in specific activities. This also looks extremely similar to Kamagami, who has a nearly-identical rice pot on its head. Kamagami wears a fur or rice husk cape (brown) and carries bamboo shoots, whereas Nabebozu carries a staff with kitchen implements tied on it (see below). This above figure carries neither, and his garb is a little shaggy, and the pot could be either dish, but I think it is close enough to the Nabebozu below to count. Kamagami is a helpful little kitchen spirit who summons the gods to provide food ingredients.
So, why a monk? AoBozu is a monk, Umi-Bozu is a monk (A giant sea monster that sinks ships), and there are a whole lot more monks than just those. Why this particular imagery? Well, you have to get out of your western mindset. Yes, Buddhist and Shinto monks and priests are holy men, but they are not treated or thought of in the same way as, say, Catholic priests and monks. For something in pop culture, take the sorta-villainous monk from Princess Mononoke. He was just a guy, monk oaths or not. And there are many examples of holy men who abuse their position, or turn out just as greedy as everybody else. And yet, despite this, they are holy men, so they need to be revered. So seeing the evil monk as a spirit is almost giving form to a complaint or fear. In western terms, think of it as an evil mayor or nobleman. Or an evil priest, since we’ve got those, too.
Featured on Life In Plastic: nerditis.com/2014/06/20/life-in-plastic-special-the-night...
Narikama, Nabebozu, & Kamagami
There are three nearly-identical Tsukumogami Yokai – Nabebozu, Kamagami, AND Narikama! The corrected material will be in bold. Narikama, pictured in the figure above, is a living kettle. He is similar to Nabebozu, who is a living pot, and Kamagami, who is a living rice pot, but entirely distinct. Narikama is “The Ringing Kettle,” a Tsukumogami whose ringing sound signals good fortune.
Nabebozu translates to “The Pot-Head Monk.” This does not mean what you think it means. No, really. Not at all. Stop it. Stop it right now. Stopped? Good. Nabebozu is one of the Tsukumogami – century-old heirlooms that gain a life of their own. This one is unique, though. Most Tsukumogami are simply the object with a face – the umbrella Yokai is just a one-eyed umbrella. The sandal is a sandal. And so on. But Nabebozu has an entire body! He looks like kind of a wild monk, albeit with a flaming cooking pot for a head. There isn’t much info on what he does – most Tsukumogami just sort of mess around in general rather than engage in specific activities. This also looks extremely similar to Kamagami, who has a nearly-identical rice pot on its head. Kamagami wears a fur or rice husk cape (brown) and carries bamboo shoots, whereas Nabebozu carries a staff with kitchen implements tied on it (see below). This above figure carries neither, and his garb is a little shaggy, and the pot could be either dish, but I think it is close enough to the Nabebozu below to count. Kamagami is a helpful little kitchen spirit who summons the gods to provide food ingredients.
So, why a monk? AoBozu is a monk, Umi-Bozu is a monk (A giant sea monster that sinks ships), and there are a whole lot more monks than just those. Why this particular imagery? Well, you have to get out of your western mindset. Yes, Buddhist and Shinto monks and priests are holy men, but they are not treated or thought of in the same way as, say, Catholic priests and monks. For something in pop culture, take the sorta-villainous monk from Princess Mononoke. He was just a guy, monk oaths or not. And there are many examples of holy men who abuse their position, or turn out just as greedy as everybody else. And yet, despite this, they are holy men, so they need to be revered. So seeing the evil monk as a spirit is almost giving form to a complaint or fear. In western terms, think of it as an evil mayor or nobleman. Or an evil priest, since we’ve got those, too.
Featured on Life In Plastic: nerditis.com/2014/06/20/life-in-plastic-special-the-night...