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Nurikabe

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For the puzzle with the same name, see Nurikabe (puzzle).

Illustrated beast labeled "Nurikabe" in the Bakemono no e picture scroll (c. 1660)
―Brigham Young University Library, Special Collections, the Harry F. Bruning Collection of Japanese Books and Manuscripts.[1][2]

The nurikabe (塗り壁 or 塗壁,[3] literally "plastered wall",[4] [a]) is a yōkai, or spirit, from Japanese folklore.

It is said to manifest as an invisible wall that impedes or misdirects travelers walking at night.[4][3][5] This yōkai is described as quite tall, to prevent people from climbing over it, and wide enough to dampen any attempts to go around it.[3]

Japanese scholar and folklorist Kunio Yanagita recorded perhaps the most prominent early example of nurikabe and other yōkai in his books.[6] Manga artist Shigeru Mizuki claims to have had a nurikabe-like experience, being stuck in coal tar in New Guinea, inspiring a nurikabe character in his manga Gegege no Kitarō.[6][2]

It was thought no pre-modern pictorial depictions of nurikabe existed until 2007, when it was noticed that a Brigham Young University held yōkai picture scroll from the 17th century included a "white dog-elephant like creature" labeled as "nurikabe" (cf. fig. right), matching a later copy held in Japan.

Mythology

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The nurikabe takes the form of a wall—usually invisible—that blocks the path of travelers as they're walking. With the exception of Mizuki Shigeru's experience in New Guinea, most legends and accounts of nurikabe come from Kyūshū, in the Fukuoka and Ōita prefectures.[6]

Specifically, folklorist Yanagita Kunio gives the following lore:

It is said in the sea coast of Onga County (kōri), Chikuzen Province (now district of the same name in Fukuoka Prefecture) that when one is walking a path at night, suddenly the destination one is going towards [i.e., the spot ahead] suddenly turns into a wall, and one becomes unable to go anywhere, as it happens sometimes. This [yōkai] is called the nurikabe and is held in fear. If one takes a stick and sweep at the bottom, it goes away, but striking its top does nothing.

— Yanagita, Yōkai meii (妖怪名彙, "Yōkai Glossary", 1956 [1938])[11][12][b]

Note the quoted text above does not explicitly refer to the wall's invisibility, so this is an aspect inferred by commentators.[4][3][5]

Yanagita Kunio (1938)'s writing on the nurikabe[9] is thought to represent the earliest attestation of folklore record,[13][14] or at least he is credited for making it widely known throughout Japan.[15]

Some iterations of the legend say that trying to go around the wall is futile as it extends forever.[16][verification needed] It has been suggested that the legend of the nurikabe was created to explain travelers losing their bearings on long journeys.[4][17]

Lore of Ōita

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Some nurikabe-like experiences that have been recorded have been attributed as the doing of a tanuki (enchanted Japanese raccoon dog) in Ōita Prefecture. These happenings, instead of involving a wall, are instances where the traveler suddenly cannot see in front of themselves. This legendary phenomenon is referred to as "tanuki no nurikabe (狸の塗り壁, "racoon dog's plaster wall")[6][18] Locally, the same phenomenon is called itachi no nurikabe (イタチの塗り壁, "weasel's plaster wall") (Kakaji, now incorporated into Bungotakada, Ōita).[18]

Superstition tells that the tanuki erects a "blind wall" by outspreading its scrotum into a wide sheet, blocking the nighttime traveler's field of vision.[c] Either the raccoon dog's or the weasel's nurikabe wall can be defeated by sitting down in place and smoke a puff of tobacco,[d] then the traveler's vision will be restored, and he is able to resume his journey.[18][20]

There is a tradition of nurikabe folklore in Usuki, Ōita as well.[21] Usuki is known for abura shikkui ("oil plaster"), a proprietary plastering technique, and walls administered this kind of coating will repel water, whose strange nature and wondrous nature may have been the origin of the nurikabe, according to one theory.[22]

Minamiamabe District, Ōita (now incorporated into Saiki city) has a folk legend that the nurikabe appears on a sloped path named Shichi-magari ("Seven Bends"), accompanied by another yōkai called azuki-togi ("adzuki bean washer"). When a person is walking along at night, the nurikabe appears suddenly and the view ahead completely darkens. Its true identity is a tanuki, which hops on to the back knot of the obi around the person's kimono, then covers the person's eyes with its forepaws. Hence, the way to avoid this misfortune is to tie the obi in such a way as to prevent the beast from riding it.[23]

Iconography

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Yokai picture scroll

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(Bakemono no e and Bakemono zukushi emaki)

An illustration labeled as "nurikabe" of a three-eyed quadruped pink creature (see top image) was found in Brigham Young University's Bakemono no e (化物之繪, "Illustrations of Supernatural Creatures") picture scroll[24][25] (which some date to c. 1660[7][26]), held by the BYU Harold B. Lee Library under the L. Tom Perry Special Collections Library's[25] Harry F. Bruning collection of [7] Yōkai folklorist Michael Dylan Foster thinks this creature resembles an elephant,[7] though the later copy (described below) is considered to look like a (stylized) lion or dog by Japanese commentators.[24][25]

Thus, a near identical, but unlabeled, later copy of this painting exists (with different coloration) in a picture scroll belonging to Kōichi Yumoto [ja].[e] and this unlabeled beast can now be characterized as another "nurikabe" painting by comparison conducted in January 2007.[25][24][26] Yumoto's scroll was painted by Kanō Yoshinobu (由信) of the Kanō school in the year 1802/Kyōwa 2 dated on the colophon of the scroll.[25][24][26] The "discovery" was made in January 2007 when Associate Professor Lawrence Marceau of the University of Auckland carried photgraphic data of the BYU scroll and visited Yumoto to make comparison.[25][26][2] Subsequently in August 2007, Yumoto announced the exhibition of his picture scroll illustration now identified as "nurikabe".[f][25]

Before this "discovery", pre-modern depiction of the nurikabe was thought not to exist.[24][26] Manga artist Shigeru Mizuki called the find "significant"[7] or "important yōkai national treasure"[25][26][25]。After 2007, the visual depiction of nurikabe circulating around Japan changed completely, from the flat wall creature with eyes, arms and legs depicted by Mizuki, to this "white dog-elephant-like creature".[26] Mizuki's version was solely based on his imagination and written folklore[7] (cf. § Mizuki's manga below)

But some Japanese scholars are not convinced this image actually depicts the same nurikabe known by the oral lore of Kyushu.[26] Writer-researchers Natsuhiko Kyogoku, Katsumi Tada [ja], Kenji Murakami [ja] and journalist Osamu Kato of Asahi Shimbun held a panel discussion published in the periodical Kwai [ja], which rendered opinion that it is unclear whether the scroll picture nurikabe and the oral folklore nurikabe are the one and the same.[27]

One theory is that nurikabe is a homonym for completely different yōkai, and the name match merely coincidence. Another possibility is that the picture labeled "nurikabe" or just nurikabe's name alone circulated to the Kyushu region, and was forcibly matched with local lore that seemed to fit.[27] Folklorist Kazuhiko Komatsu [ja] et al. (2009) also deem as "uncertain" the exact relationship between the scroll picture and the nurikabe of Yanagita's folklore.[28]

Inō Heitarō's adventure

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A monstrosity on a wall depicted in the Inō mononoke roku [ja] (1749).[29]

In the Edo Period illustrated yōkai narrative Inō mononokeroku [ja] ("Record of strange occurrences in the Inō household", 1749)[30]), there is a scene where a face with eyes and a mouth appears on the wall and glares at the person. There had been advanced theories in the past that this "face on the wall"[34] might be the traceable origin of the nurikabe.[31]

On the 30th day of the 7th lunar month (Inō Heitarō is haunted every day this month[31]), the protagonist is met with a mass of ash (in the form of a humanlike head) which spews a herd of earthworms (which Heitarō hated), and the wall nearby has sprouted eyes and a mouth, laughing.[33][32]

This "face in the wall" is related to hitobashira (human sacrifice for buildings)[g] according to literary critic Shirō Kuramoto, as it is quite conceivable for a sacrificed human to be plastered into the wall.[32] Though Kuramoto is not referring to the nurikabe monster itself but rather nurikabe (plaster wall) as a construction technique, a somewhat similar line of thought is already seen in the theory that the nurikabe monster originated from walls finished with so-called the "oil plaster" of Usuki city (see above).[22]

Mizuki's manga

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The yōkai manga author Shigeru Mizuki created the character Nurikabe [ja], a large wall with eyes, hands and feet (see fig. under § In popular culture below). The visualization was strictly the invention of Mizuki's mind, except that he relied on Yanagita's folklore[10] that the "wall appears" ahead (tr. Foster).[7] So this Nurikabe is essentially a folk legend based fictional character.[28]

Parallels

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The nuribō of Iki Island (administered by Nagasaki Prefecture) is considered a similar creature. It is said to jut out from the side of the mountain next to the road at night.[10]

Nobusuma

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The nobusuma (野襖, "field fusuma")[h] is a yōkai which in some versions has been likened to the nurikabe.[36][5] The nobusuma down south from Tokyo in the Shikoku region, in Tanokuchi [ja] village, Hata District, Kōchi, purportedly blocks the way and it is so expansive, there is apparently no end to it whether you seek up and down or sideways. When blocked, the traveler needs to calm down and smoke[d] his tobacco.[37][36][i]

Hiroshi Aramata comments that the above creature should be distinguished from another nobusuma of the same name, which he localizes to the Tokyo area, which flies up to humans and covers their eyes.[5] But that tactic does resemble the eye-hiding by the tanuki that rides the obi sash behind a person's back,[23] described above. In fact, another yōkai reference considers the nobusuma a kin or subtype of the fūri (風狸) which would generally be construed in Japan to mean "wind tanuki".[38][j] More specifically, the nobusuma is said to glide through the air by night, latch onto the back of a mountain hiker, cover his eyes and mouth, and suck the blood.[38] The nobusuma is illustrated and annotated by Toriyama Sekien (in his Konjaku Gazu Zoku Hyakki, 1779), where he describes it as "essentially a flying squirrel (musasabi)", which eats nuts and fire.[35]

Tsuitate-danuki and Kayatsuri-tanuki

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In the neighboring prefecture within the same Shikoku region, similar lore exists concerning the tanuki that blocks the way using other pieces of furniture as impediments, namely the tsuitate-danuki [ja] using a tsuitate (portable partition) as screen,[3][39] and the kayatsuri-tanuki [ja] which hangs a mosquito net.[39] Both are legends of Mima, Tokushima.[39][40]

Echizen Province tanuki

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The tanuki of Itoshiro [ja] village, Echizen Province (now mostly incorporated into Gujō, Gifu with the remainder in Ōno, Fukui), was credited with using a similar tactic of propping up a fusuma (screen panel) to hinder the wayfarer's path.[41] (Cf. § Nobusuma, § Tsuitate-danuki, § Kayatsuri-tanuki above).

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External image
image icon ja:File:Nurikabe.JPG
Bronze statue of nurikabe. Mizuki Shigeru Road [ja].

The nurikabe has been explicitly referenced in several forms of pop culture.

There is a nurikabe character named Nurikabe in Shigeru Mizuki's manga series Gegege no Kitarō. This manga-version of nurikabe (second half of the 20th century) is depicted as a visible, solid wall with hands, feet and eyes, somewhat anthropomorphically.[4][42] The character's main function is to be a shield in order to protect other members of the Kitarō family. Mizuki attributes much of his inspiration for the series to an experience he had with a nurikabe in New Guinea[43] during World War II, as well as to the writings of Kunio Yanagita.[42][6]

In the Azumanga Daioh manga, Chiyo dresses up as a nurikabe for the "Haunted Coffeehouse" themed cultural festival event.

The Mario franchise features nurikabe enemies called Whomps, which first appeared in Super Mario 64.

In Ōkami, enemies named "Blockheads" appear that, like nurikabe, block the way to various locations, and can only be defeated by "knocking" on specific points in a given pattern.

See also

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Explanatory notes

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  1. ^ Hence perhaps "The Wall" or "Mr. Wall"[3]
  2. ^ The quote actually continues with the description of the nuribō under § Parallels below.
  3. ^ The tanuki having is a common trope. The creature's outstretched scrotum is said to measure hachijōjiki (八畳敷, "eight tatami mats"), as explained in an old Urokogata-ya version of Bunbuku Chagama.[19]
  4. ^ a b Traditionally the Japanese would use a pipe called the kiseru.
  5. ^ Yumoto is a renowned yōkai folklorist and collector/museum operator.
  6. ^ Yumoto at the time was the head of the curator department at the Kawasaki City Museum [ja].
  7. ^ hitobashira is literally "human pillar", human sacrifice buried in the foundation, etc., of built structures.
  8. ^ The fusuma is a sliding panel, but for some reason, the translators of Toriyama Sekien construe "襖" as "bedding",[35] probably due to confusion with "褥" meaning 'mattress'.
  9. ^ Aramata & Ōya (2021) is likely confused in localizing the same legend as occurring in the Kantō region, around Tokyo.
  10. ^ In the original Chinese however, fengli (風貍) correctly means "wind leopard-cat" i.e., a spotted type of Asian wildcat.

References

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  1. ^ Stoneman, Jack; Skabelund, Aaron Herald (2022). Discovery & Wonder: The Harry F. Bruning Collection at Brigham Young University. Provo, UT: BYU Academic Publishing. pp. 250–251. ISBN 9781611650518; ([https://books.google.com/books?id=4ulTzwEACAAJ Cover art depicts nurikabe)
  2. ^ a b c Papp, Zilia (2010). Anime and Its Roots in Early Japanese Monster Art. Global Oriental. p. 53. ISBN 9789004202870.
  3. ^ a b c d e f Hiroko, Yoda; Alt, Matt (2012) [2008]. "31. Nurikabe". Yokai Attack!: The Japanese Monster Survival Guide. Illustrated by Tatsuya Morino (Rev. ed.). Rutland, VT: Tuttle Pub. pp. 138–140. ISBN 978-1462908837. OCLC 856525665.
  4. ^ a b c d e Foster (2015), p. 26.
  5. ^ a b c d Aramata, Hiroshi; Ōya, Yasunori (2021). "ぬり壁". アラマタヒロシの日本全国妖怪マップ (in Japanese). 秀和システム. p. 118. ISBN 9784798065076.
  6. ^ a b c d e f Foster, Michael Dylan (2015-01-14). The book of yōkai : mysterious creatures of Japanese folklore. Berkeley: University of California Press. pp. 103–104. ISBN 978-0520959125. OCLC 893735854.
  7. ^ a b c d e f g Foster, Michael Dylan (2024) [2015]. The Book of Yokai, Expanded Second Edition: Mysterious Creatures of Japanese Folklore. University of California Press. pp. 162, 163, p. 375 n53. ISBN 9780520389564.
  8. ^ Papp (2010), p. 71.
  9. ^ a b Yanagita, Kunio (20 September 1938). "Yōkai meii (4)" 妖怪名彙（四）. Minkan denshō 民間伝承. 4 (1/cumulative 37). Minkan denshō no kai: 12. ndljp:2264271; citing Zoku hōgen shū (続方言集) ("Nurikabe 塗り壁" via Kaii-Yōkai Denshō Database).
  10. ^ a b c Yanagita, Kunio (2013) [1957]. "Nurikabe" ヌリカベ. Yōkai dangi 妖怪談義 (3 ed.). Gutenberg 21. p. unpaginated; citing Zoku hōgen shū (続方言集)
  11. ^ Yanagita (1938) serialized "Yōkai meii part 4" ("Yōkai Glossary"[7] or "Compilation of Yokai Names"[8])[9] Later reprinted as appendix to Yangita (2013) [3rd ed. 1957] [1st ed. 1956] Yōkai dangi.[10]
  12. ^ Yanagita's text is quoted in a differing English translation by Foster.[6]
  13. ^ "Nurikabe ga egakareta nazo no yōkai emaki" ぬりかべが描かれた謎の妖怪絵巻 [Mysterious yōkai picture scroll depicting the nurikabe]. Kwai 怪. Kadokawa Mook. Vol. 0024. Kadokawa shoten. February 2008. pp. 12–. ISBN 978-4-04-883992-1.
  14. ^ Kyogoku, Natsuhiko (September 2007). Yōkai no kotowari Yōkai no ori 妖怪の理 妖怪の檻. KWAI BOOKS. Kadokawa Shoten. pp. 472–475. ISBN 978-4-04-883984-6.
  15. ^ Kyogoku, Natsuhiko (2006). "Ayashimu koto to ayashī mono" 怪しむコトと妖しいモノ. In Bukkyo University Literature Department (ed.). Mienai sekai no nozokikata: bunka to shite no kaii 見えない世界の覗き方: 文化としての怪異. Kyoto: Hozokan. pp. 13, 18, 26. ISBN 978-4-04-883984-6.
  16. ^ The Nippon: Visual Human Life. Kodansha, 1986. p. 759. ISBN 4-06-202038-6
  17. ^ "Nurikabe". The Element Encyclopedia of the Psychic World. Vol. 1. Harper Element. 2006. p. 491.
  18. ^ a b c Kodama, Hiromi (1986), "Dai 3 shō Dai 4 setsu 3 Yōkai ・ Ryōi:" 第四章第四節の三 妖怪・霊異: (三) 路傍の怪 [Ch. 4 Sect. 4.3 Yōkai and spectral wonders: (3) strangeness by the wayside], Ōita ken shi: Minzoku-hen 大分県史 民俗篇, Ōita Prefecture, pp. 360–361
  19. ^ National Diet Library (2018). "Bunbuku's Teakettle". Edo Picture Books and Japonisme. Retrieved 2019-06-28.
  20. ^ a b Kwai 怪. Kadokawa Mook. Vol. 0033. Kadokawa shoten. July 2011. p. 262. ISBN 978-4-04-885100-8.
  21. ^ Besides the Ōita ken shi: Minzoku-hen (prefectural history) already cited, Usuki shidan (臼杵史談, "Discourse on Usuki's history", 1968) is cited as a source of nurikabe material.[20]
  22. ^ a b Yamaguchi, Bintarō [in Japanese] (2014). "Yōkai hakase no repōto: Nurikabe" 妖怪博士のレポート：ぬりかべ. Daihakuryoku! Nihon no yōkai daihyakka 大迫力！日本の妖怪大百科. SeitoshSeitosha. p. 156. ISBN 9784791687152.
  23. ^ a b Kaku, Nobuyuki; Tsuchiya, Kitahiko, eds. (1980-07-01). Kai Nihon no Minwa 日本の民話. Vol. 36. Mirai Sha. pp. 413–414.
  24. ^ a b c d e Yumoto, Kōichi [in Japanese] (2013). Konjaku yōkai taikan 今昔妖怪大鑑 [Yokai Museum: The Art of Japanese Supernatural Beings from YUMOTO Koichi Collection]. PIE International. p. 38. ISBN 978-4-756-24337-9. (in Japanese and English)
  25. ^ a b c d e f g h i Kato, Osamu (2007-08-04). "Nurikabe: jitsu wa konna sugata. Edoki no emaki ni tōjō. Mizuki san 'Kichō na yōkai kokhō'" 「ぬりかべ」実はこんな姿 江戸期の絵巻に登場 水木さん「貴重な“妖怪国宝”」. Asahi shimbun (in Japanese) (Tokyo Evening ed.). p. 12. Archived from the original on 2017-06-01. Retrieved 2008-04-15.
  26. ^ a b c d e f g h Harold B. Lee Library (2025). "Bakemono no e scroll" 化物之繪. Brigham Young University. Retrieved 2025-05-22.
  27. ^ a b "Tokubetsu zandankai. Nurikabe no nazo wo saguru" 特別座談会　ぬりかべの謎を探る [Special roundtable discussion. In search of the nurikabe mystery]. Kwai 怪. Kadokawa Mook. Vol. 0024. Kadokawa shoten. February 2008. pp. 122–. ISBN 978-4-04-883992-1.
  28. ^ a b Komatsu, Kazuhiko [in Japanese], ed. (2009-08-06). Zukai zatsugaku Nihon no yōkai 図解雑学 日本の妖怪. Natsume Sha. p. 29. ISBN 978-4-8163-4747-4. 現代、柳田國男「妖怪名彙」の記述をもとに、もとに、水木しげるが姿を与えたぬりかべ近年、江戸時代の絵巻に描かれた「ぬりかべ」が発見された。ただし、柳田國男「妖怪名彙」に収録された「ぬりかべ」との影響関係は不明である。
  29. ^ Sugimoto, Yoshinobu, ed. (2004). Inō mononokeroku shūsei 稲生物怪録絵巻集成. Kokusho Kankōkai. p. 266. ISBN 978-4-336-04635-2.
  30. ^ Foster (2015), p. 90.
  31. ^ a b c Nakamura, Yukio, ed. (1999). Yōkai no hon. Ikai no yami ni ugomeku hyakki yagyō no densetsu 妖怪の本 異界の闇に蠢く百鬼夜行の伝説. New sight mook. Gakushu Kenkyusha. p. 105. ISBN 978-4-05-602048-9.
  32. ^ a b c Kuramoto, Shirō (September 1995). "『稲生物怪録絵巻」を読む". (Monthly) Taiyō (412　). Heibonsha: 121.
  33. ^ a b Fujihara, Ayaka (2016). 『稲生物怪録』と三次　 Inō mononokeroku to Miyoshi (PDF) (BS). Kyoto University of Advanced Science. p. 163 #41 （7月30日）. 灰が噴出し.. 塊となり.. ミミズが這い出し.. 平太郎はうろたえ.. 壁の顔は.. 睨みつけて
  34. ^ Nakamura claims this wall yokai is not captioned with any name.[31] But Kuramoto claims this being is called Kabe no katachi (壁の形地, en, "wall shape"?) in the text,[32] though it perhaps states sono katachi (其形地, en, "that shape"). Fujihara's thesis calls it kabe no kao (壁の顔, "face of/on the wall"[33]).
  35. ^ a b Toriyama, Sekien (2017), "Nobusuma", Japandemonium Illustrated: The Yokai Encyclopedias of Toriyama Sekien, translated by Hiroko Yoda; Matt Alt, Courier Dover Publications, p. 91, ISBN 9780486818757
  36. ^ a b Konno, Ensuke [in Japanese] (1981). Nihon kaidanshū: Yōkai-hen 日本怪談集: 妖怪篇. Shakai Shisosha. p. 15. ISBN 9784390110556.
  37. ^ Nakahira, Etsumaro (May 1931). "Kōchi-ken Hata-gun Tanoguichi no zokushin" 高知縣幡多郡田ノ口村下田ノ口の俗信. Minkzokugaku 民俗学. 3 (5). Minkan denshō no kai: 302–308. ndljp:1583617; ("Nobusuma 野襖"via Kaii-Yōkai Denshō Database cites pp. 56–62).
  38. ^ a b Miyamoto, Yukie (2013). "Fūri" 風狸. Nihon no yōkai FILE 日本の妖怪FILE. Gakken. p. 116–117-->. ISBN 978-4-054056-63-3.
  39. ^ a b c Tada, Katsumi [in Japanese] (2012-03-08) [1990-12-03]. Gensō sekai no jūnin tachi 幻想世界の住人たち. Vol. 4. Shinkigensha. pp. 154–155. ISBN 978-4-7753-0996-4.
  40. ^ Konno (1981), pp. 1431–44.
  41. ^ Miyamoto, Tsuneichi [in Japanese] (October 1992). "Echizen Itoshiro minzokushi" 越前石徹白民俗誌. Miyamoto Tsuneichi chosakushū 宮本常一著作集. Vol. 36. Miraisha. p. 111. ISBN 978-4-624-92436-2.
  42. ^ a b Foster, Michael Dylan (2009). Pandemonium and parade: Japanese monsters and the culture of yōkai. Berkeley: University of California Press. pp. 151–152, 169. ISBN 978-0520253629. OCLC 808601074.
  43. ^ Shamoon, Deborah (October 2013). "The yokai in the database: supernatural creatures and folklore in manga and anime". Marvels & Tales. 27 (2): 276ff. doi:10.13110/marvelstales.27.2.0276. S2CID 161932208.


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