Ishinagenjo

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Ishinagenjo by Mizuki Shigeru[1]

Ishinagenjo (Japanese: 石投げんじょ, "stone throwing genjo") is a folkloric phenomenon which is documented to occur in the Nishisonogi district of the Nagasaki Prefecture, the waters of Enoshima, and the city of Tosu in the Saga Prefecture.[2][3]

"In the month of May, the rainy season, a group of fishermen are working at night in the midst of a thick fog. Suddenly comes the sound of a huge rock crashing into the ocean, a tremendous splash and crack that sends the boat rocking and the sailors panicking. However, there is no rock to be seen, even by the break of day."[2]

In the Japanese Folklore Institute's book Comprehensive Lexicon of Japanese Folklore, the phenomenon is explained as being the doing of a sea monster - or

Kojien, on the other hand, renders "じょ" as "尉", meaning "captain" or "old man". The "stone-throwing old man" (石投尉) is likened in the text of the Kojien to an old man idly throwing stones into the sea.[7] However, yōkai expert Kenji Murakami has expressed doubts regarding the existence of any documentary evidence to visually identify the creature responsible for the phenomenon described.[6] Indeed, the Kojien notes that it is assumed that fishermen only imagine seeing a monster, but that ultimately the experience as a whole is merely an illusion.[7]

Notes

  1. ^ Mizuki 1994.
  2. ^ a b Yanagita 1955, p. 79.
  3. ^ a b Sakurada 1933, p. 6.
  4. ^ Yanagita 1977, p. 201.
  5. ^ Mizuki 1994, p. 58.
  6. ^ a b Murakami 2000, p. 34.
  7. ^ a b Shinmura 2008, p. 147.

References

  • Mizuki, Shigeru (1994). Illustrated Encyclopedia of Japanese Yōkai. Tokyo: Kōdansha. .
  • Murakami, Kenji (2000). Yōkai Encyclopedia. Tokyo: Mainichi Shinbunsha. .
  • Sakurada, Katsunori (20 May 1933). "Ghost Ships and Drowning People". Vulgarity and Folklore. 12: 3–6.
  • Shinmura, Izuru (2008). Kōjien. Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten. .
  • Yanagita, Kunio (1955). Comprehensive Lexicon of Japanese Folklore. Tokyo: Heibonsha. .
  • Yanagita, Kunio (1977). Yōkai Lectures. Tokyo: Kōdansha. .