The night falls silent. Gaichi Gaichi.
Silence. Gaichi Gaichi.
Silence. Gaichi Gaichi.
Your guts churn in terror at the unnatural sound. You will your legs to move, but they are jelly. You wait for it again even as you continue down the road. Nothing. You take a deep breath when the sound doesn't repeat again.
SNAP! You cannot scream as your chest is crushed. A flying sensation as you are lifted from the ground. Your last image is the giant creature's skeletal mouth.
In Japanese legend, a Gashadokuro (or ōdokuro (giant skeleton)) is created from soldiers that have rotted on the battlefield or from those who die of famine and do not receive funerary rites. They are reborn as hungry ghosts and resenting humans. They grow stronger as their hate grows until it becomes a supernatural force.
Their bones will mass together to form this monstrous creature full of malice and hate.
It will wander the countryside and will crush their victim or rip off his head. Some stories suggest that the monster will drink the victim's blood and may even add it's victim to their body.
There is no way to kill such a monster. Its rage must abate, but with hundreds of dead amongst the the Gashadokuro's body, that is not very likely to happen.
Hey! Neat theme.
ReplyDeleteI love reading about youkai in particular. There are some pretty great Japanese myths out there. :)
I'll definitely stop by again to see what other creepies you touch on later.
Thank you. I started with inuyasha and then my yokai fascination grew.
DeleteUh! Creepy. When I was little, I was dead afraid of skeletons. And then I became an archaeologist. Go figure. :D
ReplyDelete@TarkabarkaHolgy from
The Multicolored Diary
MopDog
That seems logical. Have you watched the anime beautiful bones? I watched the first episode. It was interesting. Bone-crazy scientist, murder, skeletons. Haven't watched the rest though.
DeleteThat's a fascinating myth.
ReplyDeleteThanks for visiting my blog.
You're welcome.
DeleteIt is a fascinating yokai.
Now that beats a zombie like big time! And I can't even pronounce the name.
ReplyDeleteGreat to find your blog. Thanks for stopping in at The Write Game and saying hi.
Yeah. Giant skeleton bent on eating you. Stalking you. Yep, zombies are mundane after that.
DeleteCreepy stuff... didn't heard about Gashadorkuro until now :) thetrucktraveller.com
ReplyDeleteUnless Japanese folklore is a hobby, then you wouldn't have heard of it.
DeleteYikes! Now that's creepy.
ReplyDeleteI wonder how long until they make a movie of it?
They probably already have some sort of anime or movie with it in it.
DeleteOh, not that is a nasty beastie. I always find it interesting how in Japanese legend it's often a matter of you made your bed now lie in it - there is no way out. If people had done what they were supposed to and given the funerary rites everything would be okay, but they didn't, so now there's a monster and nothing can be done about it.
ReplyDeleteTasha
Tasha's Thinkings | Wittegen Press | FB3X (AC)
A fabulous piece of writing and thanks for sharing that info with us!
ReplyDeleteFran
@FranClarkAuthor
Writing Women’s Fiction
Thank you!
DeleteThanks for stopping by. Had a funeral. then I stopped to check your blog out. Whoa.
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome. That is an odd coincidence.
DeleteAnother brilliant instalment. I'm loving this series
ReplyDeleteDebbie
Yikes! Both scary and fascinating.
ReplyDelete