Jueyuan (mythology)

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For the Japanese slot machine mechanism, see
Kakuhen
.
An example of a depiction from Japan. "Yamako" from the Wakan Sansai Zue.

Jué yuán (玃猿) (in Chinese "Jué yuán", in Japanese "Kakuen") is a legendary animal in the legends of China. They are also called Jué (玃) (in Japanese "kaku" or "ōzaru"), Jué fù (玃父), Jiā (猳), Jiā guó (猳國) (in Japanese "kakoku" カ国 ),[1][note 1] and mǎ huà (馬化) (in Japanese "baka"). They are similar to monkeys, and thus possess a characteristic of carrying away human females and violating them.[2]

Summary

According to the medical herb book

rhesus monkey[4]) that lives for 800 years becomes a yuán (猨, ape), and if they live for 500 more years, then they become a jué,[2]
it can live 1000 more years.

In the Bencao Gangmu, it is written as 玃 ("jué") and 玃父 ("jué fù").[5] A "jué" is a monkey that has grown old, and has a dark blue color. It walks like a human, and they often kidnap humans or objects. There are only males and no females, and therefore they would abduct human females who then give birth to children.[5]

According to

cryptid called yeren.[2]

From the book

Southern Song era, there is as follows. On the bank of a certain of a mountain stream, when it became night a man appeared, and when people wanted to cross the river, he would carry them on his back and take them across. Even when the person asked him for the reason, he gave an admirable reply that it was for no reason except for his desire to help. The bold and brave man named Huang Dunli (黄敦立) thought him suspicious, three days after being ferried across the river the same way, said that he would ferry that man across the river as gratitude. The man, who refused, was thus forcibly taken by the arms and taken across the river and a large rock was thrown at him. The man who let out a cry was illuminated by a torchlight, and his appearance turned into that of a kakuen. When the kakuen was killed and burned, it is said that the bad smell reached several li away.[2]

Similar tales

According to the book Shenyijing (神異經), something in the west called a chóu (綢)[note 2] was about as large as a donkey but resemble a monkey, but since they were all females and had no males, they would kidnap human males and engage in intercourse to get impregnated with a child[6] (the same actions as a kakuen but with sexes reversed), and this is thought of similar to Jué yuán.[2][7]

In Japan, during the Edo period, it was also believed that there were also kakuen in Japan, and in the encyclopedia Wakan Sansai Zue from the same period, it was explained under the name "yamako" (玃), and in this entry, bringing up the yōkai "kuronbō" (黒ん坊)[note 3] that lived deep in the mountains of Hida and Mino (now Gifu Prefecture), it stated "quite conceivably, this is probably a type of yamako." A kuronbō is a black large monkey-like creature with long hair and walks like a human. They are able to understand human language and able to read human's minds, so even if people attempt to kill a kuronbō, the kuronbō would quickly flee, so it is said that they are definitely unable to be captured.[7]

Also, the word kuronbō also appears in the essay "

Neo, Mino Province (now Motosu, Gifu Prefecture), to a woman who lived at Senjo River, a suspicious phantom-like man would appear at night and visit, and attempted to have intercourse with her. The villages thus kept watch on that house in order to drive him away, but he did not appear at all on the night when they kept watch, and he appeared again when they stopped keeping watch. The woman thus kept a sickle that was hidden, and when that man appeared she cut with the sickle, and the man fled in a panic. When the villagers followed the trail of blood, it went through the house of a woodcutter named Zenbei, and continued to the mountains. A kuronbō previously had helped Zenbei with his work, and since the kuronbō didn't appear after that, it was said that the incident was the deed of a kuronbō.[8]

The author of "Kyōwa Zakki" considered this to be similar to the kakuen from the Bencao Gangmu, and since its characteristics are pretty much the same as in the "Wakan Sansai Zue", it can be seen that "Kyōwa Zakki" could have been written while referring to the "Wakan Sansai Zue".[9] However, as previously stated, since the "Wakan Sansai Zue" didn't write any more than "this is probably a type of yamako,"[8] it has also been pointed out that it cannot conclusively be stated that the kuronbō and the kakuen are the same.[9]

In the

Sekien Toriyama from the Edo period, the appearance of a kakuen was drawn under the name "satori" (覚), and the writings, it stated that "deep in Hida and Mino, there are yamako (玃)."[9][10]

Notes

Remarks
  1. ^ According to a japanese book "Encyclopedia of Chinese Yōkai" (中国妖怪人物事典 by Saneyoshi Tatsuo, 1929), the "カ" is actually "犭叚" as a single character.
  2. ^ According to the "Encyclopedia of Chinese Yōkai" (中国妖怪人物事典), it is actually "豸周" as a single character. This is adopting the 綢 which was used in the "Selection of Stories about Chinese Yōkai" (中国古典小説選).
  3. ISBN 978-4-06-256049-8
    ), it was written about under the name "kokujinbō (黒人坊)
Sources
  1. ^ a b 竹田他編 2006, pp. 291–292
  2. ^ a b c d e f 實吉 1996, pp. 53–55
  3. ^ "goo辞書". goo. Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2011-02-27.
  4. ^ "goo辞書". Retrieved 2011-02-27.[permanent dead link]
  5. ^ a b 李 1578, p. 440
  6. ISBN 978-4-625-66405-2
    .
  7. ^ a b 寺島 1712, pp. 142–143
  8. ^ a b 柳川 1803, pp. 239–241
  9. ^ a b c 村上 2005, pp. 338–339
  10. ISBN 978-4-336-03386-4
    .

References
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