Japanese Magic?

Hello again, thread, I'm baaack XD

I have 6 things I want to share/discuss, so I'm going to break it up into 4 posts for ease of reading and because I have no idea what the character limit is for forum posts. 5,000? I apologize in advance for the quadruple posting.

Anyway, these first 2 posts are taken from:

J.E. de Becker's "The Nightless City; or the History of the Yoshiwara Yukwaku" pages 182-197

Yoshiwara was the infamous Edo (now Tokyo) walled-in pleasure quarter. This is not a book about magick, but it does contain 2 chapters on charms used by the courtesans and Japanese superstitions. The book was written in 1899, and since then the Yoshiwara has been put out of business. I'm not sure how true these charms and superstitions hold true today, but they're fun anyway. :) I've excluded some charms that are irrelevant to the major of the "Western" population (seeing as most of this site is Western people) because of items needed, etc. I'm not going to list all 98 superstitions here either, lol, but if you'd like the full list of either of this categories please send me a mail :)

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Magic Charms Practiced by the Yoshiwara Courtesans
Notes in (these brackets) are mine. These are really meant for women but I've added alternatives for men. These are for attracting in customers (as implied) or secret lovers, but they can be used in a more ordinary sense.

1.) Charm for attracting a person for whom one is waiting :
Fold a piece of paper so as to represent a frog, write the name of your guest on its back, stick a pin through it and put the frog where no one can see it: the person desired is sure to turn up. After his arrival, however, the pin should be removed and the paper frog thrown into the river. (In Japan, the word for frog "kaeru" is also the verb "to return (home)." It is a popular good luck charm to put in purses to ensure that your money returns. Here is a link to make an origami frog:
http://www.origami-instructions.com/origami-frog.html )

-- Another method : Cut a sheet of white paper to a size of 2 inches square, fold it in two, place it in a white envelope and address it to the desired guest. (It doesn't say whether to send it or not, so that part is up to you to decide.)

2.) How to ascertain whether an expected guest will come or not :
Draw out a thread from the end of a towel. If this feat be successfully performed the guest is sure to come, but if the thread breaks he will not turn up.

3.) To attract a person :
Write the first letter of the name of the person (I'm not sure if this means last, first, or both initials) together with the date of his birth, on a piece of paper. Paste this under a staircase on the third step from the bottom, but do it secretly so that nobody will detect it. If a person misses his footing and falls from this stairway the charm will certainly be effective.

-- Another method : When there is a particular guest whom a courtesan wishes to call, a letter supposed to be addressed to him should be prepared, and on the cover should be written the words, "Kogaruru kimi ye," ("To my beloved prince." (Instead of 'kimi' men can use 'kanojo' for a female sweetheart/girlfriend or I supposed 'hime' - princess - if they feel so inclined. 'Koibito' is a gender-neutral term for sweetheart and I think the best substitution.)) and "Go-zonji yori," (From you-know-who). This missive must be dropped at a cross-way, and if it be picked up by somebody the charm will work.

-- Another method : The woman must concentrate her mind and think of the abode of her lover (if the street, number, etc. is not clearly known a hypothesis will suffice), the route to be taken in going there, and the distance. She must then imagine herself departing from her own house, and on her way to that of the lover, counting her steps as she goes. Then she will shortly suppose that she has reached her destination, that she has met with the man she was seeking, and that she is urging him to visit her in the evening without fail. After obtaining his consent she must mentally commence her return journey, going through the same process as she did on her outward journey. Of course all this labor of love is mentally performed, so that it may be done even in the presence of another guest without arousing the slightest suspicion in the minds of outsiders. This practice of telepathy is said to be startlingly effective in its results. (I liken this to the idea of etheric projection, and I wonder what other reasons this sort of mental activity is performed for? To me it seems that you could use it for a whole bunch of things, granted that it doesn't take you hours to think out the mental 'journey', lol.)

-- Another method : Take a sheet of hanshi paper and from it cut out 7 human figures all joined together. Then fill in the eyes, noses, and mouths, but do not complete these in each figure: let some be without a nose or mouth, or minus one eye, etc. On the abdomen of the central figure should be written 3 times the first letter of the man's name, and on the remaining six figures it should be written 5 times. The central letter on the central figure should be pierced with a needle in an upward direction, and all the figures should be solemnly promised that if the desired party turns up, their organs shall be completed and that they shall be thrown in a stream and allowed to float away. (I think that this sort of charm would be great for a multitude of tasks, not just bringing people in but banishing them as well, drawing in money, success, etc. So my suggestion for the substitution of the name of the person is the word or symbol for what you want brought in. I'm not sure if the direction of the needle effects bringing in versus sending away, so experiment with that too.) The figures should then be pasted in a place where they will not be detected. In the event of the person whose presence is desired actually appearing, the organs of the figures should be completed, and then the paper men should be thrown either into the moat or the W.C. (Here I'm not sure why you promise to send them in the stream and then throw them in a moat or a toilet. I think it would be more respectful to put them in a stream, but I'm not sure of the significance of the moat or toilet option?)

4.) Charm to send away a guest :
Wrap up a small quantity of lukewarm ashes in a piece of paper and place the packet under the night-clothes (bedding) of the guest near his feet. He will immediately go away.

-- Another method : Stand a broom on end in the room next to your guest's room, and laying out a pair of sandals before, say in a whisper, "There now, do please go away quickly." The guest will leave at once. (Straw sandals are associated with travel (implying going away), and so at many temples you can buy a cheap pair of sandals to hang on a wall (with a collection of other sandals left by other people) and she splash water on them and pray for safety in travel.)

5.) To call in money :
If you have asked a guest for money and failed to obtain it, dress a broom up with clothes like a human figure, and standing it upside down complain to it of the non-fulfillment of promises just as if it were a human being: then knock the figure down, telling it to bring the money without fail on the following day. This will cause the man to dream of your indignation at his breach of promise and he will visit you forthwith, bringing with him the necessary money.

And now, from the same book, some superstitions you may find useful to work into magick, or adhere to in your regular everyday life:


1.) If the ears are ticklish it is a sign of a lucky event about to happen. In the morning the right ear and in the evening the left ear tickles.

6.) To cure a corn on the foot. Previous to mentioning anything about it to another person rub it thrice with the natural oil which exudes from the side of the nose.

11.) When you meet a funeral procession you should conceal your thumbs or else your parents will die.

25.) In order to hasten menstruation, thread a needle with red thread and stick it into the wall of the W.C. (bathroom)

31.) If you cut your nails you will be bewitched by a fox.

44.) If you have 'temizu' (water for washing the hands) thrown over you, you will die within 3 years.

46.) If a child has been bruised, and is in pain, if he repeats the formula, "Chichin pui-pui, go yo no on takara," (this phrase cannot be translated into English) the pain will disappear.

54.) If you throw 'temizu' (water to wash the hands) over a person you will have a child born without hands.

66.) When a white spot forms on the fingernails, one's stock of clothes will increase.

80.) If you stumble and fall down in a graveyard you will die within 3 years, and if you are wounded the scar will not heal up.

Post #3! I wanted to talk about the "Teru-teru Bouzu" good-weather charm and share a link on Japanese color symbolism.

First off, here is the color symbolism link:

http://www.three-musketeers.net/mike/colors.html

I don't really know what else to say about it other than it is relatively interesting (I love colors). The only comment I really have is that purple used to be a color representing love, which you can see in the Kabuki play "Sukeroku". Sukeroku, the main character, wears a funny-looking purple headband to signify his love of Agemaki. Here is a picture of my favorite Kabuki actor in the role of Sukeroku, just for ha-has :)

http://thumbnail.image.rakuten.co.jp/@0_mall/book/cabinet/4730/47303172.jpg

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Teru-teru Bouzu ("Shining, shining Priest")

These are simple little charms that you're supposed to hang in your windows to ensure good weather the next day. I used to make little things like this as Halloween decorations XD as little ghosties to hang in trees an stuff. I think they are adorable! XD

Read the Wiki page to see them and the chant that goes along with them (which I find slightly sinister, to be honest lol):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teru_teru_bozu

And here is a link on how to make them:

http://softypapa.wordpress.com/2009/06/18/emily-teaches-us-how-to-make-teru-teru-bozu/

You could get more intricate with the design and put gems or talismans in their heads. I'd like to find out if there is a rain or thunderstorm equivalent of the Teru-teru Bozu :) You could probably just substitute "sunny day" in the chant with "rainy day". XD

Last post, I promise :) This one is about Kitsune!

Kitsune is the Japanese word for fox though it usually implies a magick sort of fox known for their wisdom, cunning, and ability to shapeshift into anything (though typically beautiful women). I know they're a popular otaku motif, but my interest is more in the mythology rather than the cutesy art. Foxes are associated with the god of rice, Inari, functioning as his messengers. Sometimes Inari is depicted as a fox rather than a man, blurring the lines between messenger and manifestation. There is also a well-known snack called inari, made from rice stuffed inside a fried tofu shell -- they are amazingly delicious XD slightly sweet, chewy, just yum.

The mythical Kitsune grows a number of tails depending on its age and wisdom; the 9-tailed Kitsune, more specifically called Kyuubi (9 tails), holds the ultimate number of tails and is said to be silver in color. The show Naruto has swamped the Google results for "Kyuubi" so tread lightly, perhaps sticking to "kitsune" as your search word, or try the Chinese version of the tale: "Huli Jing".

In Kabuki, the role of a Kitsune is signified by the actor wearing a specific type of crest on his costume called the "Houshu", a flaming gem, which represents the gem that you see Kitsune statues guarding (which usually just looks like a ball under its paw). You can see the houshu here, the gold symbol on the red kimono worn by the character Genkuro in the play "Yoshitsune Senbon Zakura" (which, as you can guess, features a Kitsune):

http://www.printsofjapan.com/Image2/Kuniyoshi_chuunori.jpg

Here is a clip from that play where you can see Genkuro in action, just for the novelty of having seen it lol:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BU66syDUuJ8&feature=related

You can use this symbol to effectively call on a Kitsune for advice or aid in your magick by using the houshu as a sort of sigil-like focus point. What I like to do is draw out a houshu, offer rice atop it and send a prayer/request to Inari that he send me a Kitsune (either for divination in meditation or to lend energy to a spell). I haven't gone much further than that and I can attest to them being tricky: sometimes they will show up just to disappear lol, and then you're left with a creepy-crawly feeling of being watched for a while. I think they like to check you out before whole-heartedly jumping in to help out, and they're fond of gifts. I'd like to set up a little torii gate on my altar in honor of/for the Kitsune to pass through, because I'm interested in working with them more.

To read more about Kitsune see here:

http://www.onmarkproductions.com/html/oinari.shtml

Anyone have any experience with Kitsune?

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Also! Just a heads up for you people into famous, cryptic magick books. Learn Japanese so you can read Abe no Seimei's famous Onmyoudou book, the "Senji Ryakketsu" which to the best of my knowledge has not been translated into English. :3

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abe_no_Seimei

Hey, thank you for going the extra effort to find all this information. Most people never start, and others make promises but never choose to do the work. You barely know me, yet you gathered a decent read with what I've been looking for.

And just a quick question, (More Review and questions),

To Summon A Kitsune

1. Draw out the Houshu symbol.

-----A. (I'm not sure if you would recommend line art or a bubble look to it.

-----B. (Do kitsunes respect the effort if it were off a bit, or missing a few parts, due to a drawing error. More or less, do they still come if it get's the jest of the design, but not every detail.)

2. Rice is optional. (If they do come, I assume fresh rice, uncooked, not chinese leftovers.)

3. Since I assumed they are called rarely called anymore, do they have a high success rate, since well, they aren't called often anymore.

4. Kitsune's are called tricksters, but if summoned, they will have the respect to either listen, or play a Few tricks and leave if they have no intention to listen.

5. How far will they go for requests. If they like gifts, and one's request impacts the future of let's say, Jolly Ol' England, in a very beneficial way, if one gave them treasure sentimental items in return for this request, with one sentimental item as freebie for listening, will they be willing to do it.

just stumbled onto this thread wile looking up fox stuff, I don't think I can really say anything that has not been said, but there is a myth, when a kitsune transforms into a human they store some of there power inside a ball (called the "star ball" ) if one was to seize the ball the kitsune would do anything to get it back, such as granting wishes and that kinda stuff. I also heard if your possessed by a fox spirit and once the spirit leaves you can't eat tofu? I might have to summon one and try that theory out. But I would recommend never pissing one off

Wohoo!! Thanks so much for a lot of info Kikuyo (based on what I saw on Ragnorok's post, I think that was you).

I'm so very interested in Japanese Magick as well, besides, who wouldn't when Japan is just our neighbor country haha (Philippines).

Eitherway, thanks for all of the links, I will study them and look forward into working with these Kitsunes in the near future.

I wanted to say i really did enjoy looking over this post,

well if you go into a forest while feeling evil from trees, or feeling you don't ever want to leave, go walk up to a tree and say "Leshii demon do (whatever you want him to do)" and then walk or run backwards and say " Go back to your crossroads" then the demon should do his work inside the forest or in the spiritual relm, I believe a leshii demon is a japanese tree demon.

I heard that if you steal a Kitsune's star ball and give it back in turn for a favor you will end up dead in a ditch after a few days. Though this contradicts with what people have told me about them never breaking promises.