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wait, has izaya ever sworn in cannon? i suddenly cannot remember if he had or not,,,,

Yes.

Izaya made a swore.

Why are most of the Japanese ghosts 'victimized women'? - the feminist answer to Japan's sexist society

Let's talk a little about Japan and its horror culture. The "pale-dressed woman with black hair" ghost steriotype isn't an American invention, it came from the Japanese culture. This ghost is called Onryō (怨霊), a vengeful spirit that comes back from the dead to sick revenge against his/her killer or humanity itself. Onryō spirits mostly had violence deaths (murder, accident or suicide) and/or unfair lives. They are characterized as a pale person, with white clothes and a long, black hair. Some of the Onryō ghosts are marked with the violence they suffered before death. Male Onryōs can be found in the Japanese culture (cinema, mangas, animes, games and theatre), however, they are very rare and unusual, most of the Japanese ghosts are female. Female victims abused by men. After the iconic 2002 "The Ring", an American Remake of the Japanese best-seller Ringu, the Onryō image was introduced to the whole world.

Some of the most classic Japanese ghosts are: Oiwa, Okiku, Sadako Yamamura, Kayako Saeki, the Black Cat ghosts and Kuchisake-onna. All women. I will talk about them little by little and explain about their feminist essence. The Japanese culture was always male chauvinist and patriarchal, specially in the past. Women were treated as objects of male pleasure, they couldn't have any profission unless prostitution or cleaning/cooking. Men were the masters, women were the slaves. Many Japanese temples tought men that sexual activities with women was disgusting and exhausting, something that sucked vital energy. Sex with women should be ONLY for reproduction. It was a mysoginistic society, where the female body was faced as something vulgar and immoral. Women should mary as soon as possible (15-16 years old or less) or else they'll be called 'old whores'. Women couldn't even play in Kabuki shows (japanese traditional theatre) because it was considered immoral, the female roles were played by men. Rape, abuse (emotional and physical) and murder caused by men could be justified if their female victims were considered immoral women. Until today, women are oversexualized in Japanese culture specially if they are very young, hentais are a big example. There are Japanese companies that hire only men, there are victimized women that are still unheard and judged.

This male chauvinist opression has been answered for centuries with the legends of onryōs, curses and female revenge. The Japanese folklore and pop culture is full of feminists manifestations against the patriarchal society of Japan.

Oiwa (大岩)

This character appeared for the first time in the Kabuki best-seller show "Yotsuya Kaidan" (四谷怪談). She was a poor woman married to a greedy selfish man, Iemon. He was planning to marry a rich woman, but for this, he needed his wife to be all alone and defenseless, so he killed Oiwa's father. After that, he poisoned Oiwa with the intention of killing her, but she didn't die: her face melted and her hair felt. Iemon hired a man to rape his wife, then he could kill her with the excuse that she "cheated on him". However, the man was so disgusted with Oiwa's face that he couldn't rape her. Iemon, without any other choice, killed both Oiwa and the man he hired, throwing their bodies into the river. Iemon married a rich woman, but in his honeymoon, Oiwa's spirit came back from the dead and murdered both of them. The legend says she is still hauting her old village, and you get cursed by her spirit if you listen to her story (yes, I curses all of you😈😈).

Okiku (お菊元気)

The original story that inspired Koji Suzuki's Ringu series. Okiku was a poor employee that worked for a creepy rapey samurai named Aoyama Tessan. He wanted Okiku to be his lover, but she always denied it. One day, Aoyama planned to trap her: he gave her a closed bag with 9 coins, but he told her that there were 10 coins and that she should take care of them. Naïvely, Okiku took care of the bag for some days, until Aoyama came back and checked the coins. Again, there were always 9 coins, but he lied to her saying that there were 10, an employee couldn't doubt of her master's word so she never checked it before. Aoyama accused Okiku of stealing one of his coins. Desperate, she counted the coins: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9... over! No 10! Aoyama threatened Okiku, saying she could be spared if she agreed to be his lover. She denied for the last time. The samurai tortured the poor girl and throw her alive inside of a well. Okiku's ghost came back every single night to torment the samurai, forcing him to committ suicide. After Aoyama's death, a buddhist monk bought the land and freed Okiku's ghost after counting 'til 10, bringing her peace.

Kuchisake-onna (口裂け女)

The legend of Kuchisake-onna tells about this woman with a cutted mouth. There are a lot of versions about the legend, but the most famous one is where she was murdered by her husband, who, droven by jeaously because of her beauty, cutted her mouth and skin with scissors. Kuchisake-onna appears in dark lone streets at night, asking you if she is beautiful. If you say she is, she will cut your mouth to be just like her. If you say she isn't, she will just kill you.

Black Cat - 1968 movie (黒猫)

A classic Japanese horror movie. A mother and a daughter were raped and killed by a group of samurais, and now they are vengeful blood-lustful ghosts. They hallucinate the samurais and everyone near their home with a black cat, that guide them to their house. They seduce them and kill them.

Sadako Yamamura (山村 貞子)

The most iconic Onryō and Japanese horror symbol of all. Sadako's story suffered retcoms during the Ring franchise. In the 1991s novel, she is a young intersex person (she identifies herself as female) who grew up in a toxic family, being explored because of her psychic powers. At 19s, she is raped by a doctor named Jotaro and throw alive inside of the well. In 1998s Ringu, she was a cruel sadistic child who murdered a journalist and ruined her mother's life. She was murdered by her step-father that wanted to save the world from her evil, but she became a vengeful ghost. In the 2000s Ringu 0, Sadako is portrayed as a victim, since she can't control her powers and is afraid of her biological dad, a sea demon. She was drugged and isolated by her step-father during her life, emotionally abused and explored in her adult life, collectively beaten after being exposed to an old scandal and lated 30 years to die inside of the well. In every version of the story, she uses her nensha and telepathic powers to record a videotape that murders their victims in seven days. As technology is her weapon, she crawls out of people's TV (except in the novel).

Kayako Saeki (佐伯 伽椰子)

Based in Oiwa's legend, Kayako Saeki was a lonely neglected girl that married a jeaously abusive husband, Takeo Saeki. She had a kid with him, Toshio. We have more details about their relantionship in the first 2000s movie Ju-On: The Curse, where Takeo abuses his wife and kid more than one month before the curse started. When Takeo discovered Kayako had feelings for her childhood friend, Kobayashi – who ironically was Toshio's teacher –, he broke her neck, murdered their black-cat, their young child and even killed Kobayashi's pregnant wife. Their suffering was so cruel that it started a deadly curse inside of the house, which killed Takeo, the teacher and curses everyone and anyone that enters it.

With all of these stories, and many other legends about monstrous female creatures and ghosts, we can notice that Japanese women always had a grudge against their opressive misogynistic society. Most of the horror Japanese movies portray women that were victimized by men and now are searching for revenge. If their society thinks their suffering and death is OK or justificable, then, they have no other choice than searching for their own justice.

Japanese society improved significantly during the years. Women now have voice, power, intelligence and place in the Japanese society. Divorces are permitted, they have laws against misogynistic violence, women can work and be solo mothers, majority of cultural and intelectual institutions are occuped by women. Japanese society was always impressive, intelligent and productive, but they still needed to be socially envolved. And it is working.

Social evolution surelly doesn't depend on movies or legends, but fictional works and culture does influence people for the good. It is because of humanity's fights, discussions and progress that our world, including Japan that once was one of the most sexists couples ever, that we are progressing and giving voice/space/respect to minories. We don't need female ghosts to avenge women or to "teach men", we need to look at our interior and our own mistakes, and learn how to fix them.

Quaso ✨

love him

i was watching a video about how regional cheeses are made around the world, and was shown a type of mozzarella called zizzona (the z/zz pronounced like the 'zz' in 'pizza', with a 'tz' sound), which, yes, means "mother's breast".

so rest easy tonight knowing they have titty cheese in italy.

Yokai (monsters) sculptures by Tsutomu Funabashi, part of the artist shop at Maison de Neko. Their current themed is “hyakki yagyo” (”night parade of one hundred demons”), and you can see here:

Nekomata (two tailed cat), here the beast carries the head of Taira no Masakado (a famous real person who saw his cut head somehow deified after his death).

Kudan (a kind of prophetic cow, looking kinda badass here, I think I prefer how Matthew Meyer’s one looks so confused)

Hakutaku (lit. ”white marsh”, known as auspicious Bai-ze in China)