Ayakashi
Encyclopedia
is a Japanese animated
horror anthology television series
produced by Toei Animation
.
The series is made up of three stories: "Yotsuya Ghost Story
", an adaptation of the classic Japanese ghost story; "Goddess of the Dark Tower", based on the play by Kyōka Izumi
; and Goblin Cat
, an original story by Kenji Nakamura and Michiko Yokote
.
"Yotsuya Ghost Story" is a retelling of the classic Japanese ghost story
, written by the 18th century kabuki
playwright Tsuruya Nanboku.
In the anime, Nanboku himself becomes the narrator. Tamiya Iemon is a ronin
samurai
who marries a beautiful woman named Oiwa. Oiwa is happy with her married life and the birth of their child, but Iemon feels the burden of their poverty.
In return for the promise of a job by a rich man, Iemon promises to marry the man's daughter and conspires to murder his own wife. A servant is ordered by the rich man's daughter to poison Oiwa's food; the toxin permanently disfigures Oiwa's face.
Iemon then orders his servant to kill her after having his way with her. Oiwa commits suicide after coming to know of Iemon's treachery. Another of Iemon's servants is also killed and, along with the dead Oiwa, is nailed to a piece of wooden board and tossed into the river.
After Oiwa's death, Iemon marries the rich man's daughter, as promised. But Oiwa's vengeful spirit could not rest in peace, and she lays a curse on everyone involved with her demise. One by one, Oiwa's enemies die a horrible death, including the rich man and his daughter, and Iemon is plagued by visions of Oiwa's ghost.
Cast
"Goddess of the Dark Tower" is based on Tenshu Monogatari, a play by Kyōka Izumi
. It tells the story of a forbidden love between a god and a human. In medieval Japan, Himekawa Zushonosuke is a falconer who is sent by his master Lord Harima to retrieve a precious falcon named Kojiro.
Zushonosuke's search is initially fruitless, though it leads him to a chance encounter with a beautiful woman bathing in a lake. Zushonosuke more or less falls in love with her at first sight.
When news reach Lord Harima that the falcon has in fact fled to the castle keep of Shirasagi-jo, Zushonosuke is ordered to go there to bring the falcon back.
Accompanied by two friendly demons, Zushonosuke makes his way to Shirasagi-jo, which is rumored to be inhabited by beings called Wasuregami (Forgotten Gods). At the castle, Zushonosuke is surprised to find the same beautiful woman he encountered before, who introduces herself as Tomihime (Princess Tomi), beginning their forbidden romance.
Cast
In the Edo period
, the young daughter of a samurai family is planning to marry, but not for love. Her father, while being a good man, is financially incompetent and too madly in love with her mother to refuse her anything, drowning the family in debt. To save themselves from disgrace and the poor-house, her parents and the head of family decide to sell her marriage to clear these debts. While waiting for the agreed upon time to leave for her new husband's home, a strange, nameless medicine-seller arrives and enters the house, its entrance left unguarded in the rush to prepare for the wedding. Heading immediately to the servant's quarters he meets Kayo, a young servant girl, who explains the situation after he shows her some "marriage aid" charms. Her bravery and good sense continue to aid him throughout the storyline.
The moment the bride crosses the threshold of the house to leave, she is struck dead. The medicine-seller, being a stranger and looking rather suspicious, is seized as the culprit and bound. After an older retainer is killed while attempting to fetch a doctor, the medicine-seller breaks his bounds, reveals himself to also be a demon-hunter, and claims the true villain is a bakeneko
. The medicine-seller sets up a barrier to keep the demon at bay and begins questioning the family and their retainers to learn the Shape (Katachi), Truth (Makoto), and Reason (Kotowari) of the demon so that it can be exorcised. At first the family prevaricates, but as the demon grows stronger, breaking through the medicine-seller's barriers and killing their members, they begin to talk, alluding to the family's dark past. As the demon breaks through his final barrier, the medicine-seller attempts to unsheathe his sword and destroy it, but fails and is shown a vision by the demon itself.
In his youth, the head of family had kidnapped a sacrificial maiden, keeping her locked away in a basement prison to be raped and abused at his leisure. Her only companionship was a young cat which she secretly raised with the food she was given, hoping it would one day escape where she could not. One day the head of family's elder son was caught raping her, after which the head beat her to the point of death as punishment. The cat attacked him to protect her, then escaped as she died; its regret from being unable to protect her combined with her sorrow, eventually turning it into a demon. Having finally realized the demon's Shape, Truth, and Reason, the medicine-seller unsheathes his sword, which in reality releases his true spirit-nature from the human shell it is bound within, allowing him to exorcise the bakeneko's grief and release it from its vengeance. In the end, only the two blameless retainers, Kayo and a young samurai, are left to be saved. The story ends with the medicine-seller, once again sealed in his human form, exhausted and bending over the emaciated body of an old cat, at peace in death. As he leaves, he sees a brief vision of the girl and her kitten finally emerging into the outside world.
Cast
("Yotsuya Kaidan"), Yasuhiro Nakura ("Tenshu Monogatari") and Takeshi Hashimoto ("Bakeneko")
, while the ending theme "Haru No Katami" is performed by Hajime Chitose.
lineup from January 13, 2006 to March 24 of the same year. The series also aired on On Animax
.
A spin-off series based on the character of the medicine seller (Mononoke) aired in 2007.
Anime
is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....
horror anthology television series
Anthology television series
An anthology series is a radio or television series that presents a different story and a different set of characters in each episode. These usually have a different cast each week, but several series in the past, such as Four Star Playhouse, employed a permanent troupe of character actors who...
produced by Toei Animation
Toei Animation
Toei Animation Co., Ltd. is a Japanese animation studio owned by Toei Co., Ltd. The studio was founded in 1948 as Japan Animated Films . In 1956, Toei purchased the studio and it was reincorporated under its current name...
.
The series is made up of three stories: "Yotsuya Ghost Story
Yotsuya Kaidan
Yotsuya Kaidan , the story of Oiwa and Tamiya Iemon, is a tale of betrayal, murder and ghostly revenge. Arguably the most famous Japanese ghost story of all time, it has been adapted for film over 30 times, and continues to be an influence on Japanese horror today.Written in 1825 by Tsuruya Nanboku...
", an adaptation of the classic Japanese ghost story; "Goddess of the Dark Tower", based on the play by Kyōka Izumi
Kyoka Izumi
is the pen name of a Japanese author of novels, short stories, and kabuki plays who was active from the late Meiji to the early Shōwa periods. He is best known for a characteristic brand of Romanticism preferring tales of the supernatural heavily influenced by works of the earlier Edo period in...
; and Goblin Cat
Bakeneko
A is, in Japanese folklore, a cat with supernatural abilities akin to those of the fox or raccoon dog. A cat may become a bakeneko in a number of ways: it may reach a certain age, be kept for a certain number of years, grow to a certain size, or be allowed to keep a long tail. In the last case,...
, an original story by Kenji Nakamura and Michiko Yokote
Michiko Yokote
is a Japanese screenwriter. In facts it's a team of screenwriters: they use this name because they are coordinated by a woman named Michiko.-Tokusatsu:*Tokusou Sentai Dekaranger*Mahou Sentai Magiranger*Jūken Sentai Gekiranger*Tensou Sentai Goseiger-Anime:...
.
Yotsuya Kaidan
- Episodes: 1-4 (U.S. DVD release episodes 5-8)
"Yotsuya Ghost Story" is a retelling of the classic Japanese ghost story
Yotsuya Kaidan
Yotsuya Kaidan , the story of Oiwa and Tamiya Iemon, is a tale of betrayal, murder and ghostly revenge. Arguably the most famous Japanese ghost story of all time, it has been adapted for film over 30 times, and continues to be an influence on Japanese horror today.Written in 1825 by Tsuruya Nanboku...
, written by the 18th century kabuki
Kabuki
is classical Japanese dance-drama. Kabuki theatre is known for the stylization of its drama and for the elaborate make-up worn by some of its performers.The individual kanji characters, from left to right, mean sing , dance , and skill...
playwright Tsuruya Nanboku.
In the anime, Nanboku himself becomes the narrator. Tamiya Iemon is a ronin
Ronin
A or rounin was a Bushi with no lord or master during the feudal period of Japan. A samurai became masterless from the death or fall of his master, or after the loss of his master's favor or privilege....
samurai
Samurai
is the term for the military nobility of pre-industrial Japan. According to translator William Scott Wilson: "In Chinese, the character 侍 was originally a verb meaning to wait upon or accompany a person in the upper ranks of society, and this is also true of the original term in Japanese, saburau...
who marries a beautiful woman named Oiwa. Oiwa is happy with her married life and the birth of their child, but Iemon feels the burden of their poverty.
In return for the promise of a job by a rich man, Iemon promises to marry the man's daughter and conspires to murder his own wife. A servant is ordered by the rich man's daughter to poison Oiwa's food; the toxin permanently disfigures Oiwa's face.
Iemon then orders his servant to kill her after having his way with her. Oiwa commits suicide after coming to know of Iemon's treachery. Another of Iemon's servants is also killed and, along with the dead Oiwa, is nailed to a piece of wooden board and tossed into the river.
After Oiwa's death, Iemon marries the rich man's daughter, as promised. But Oiwa's vengeful spirit could not rest in peace, and she lays a curse on everyone involved with her demise. One by one, Oiwa's enemies die a horrible death, including the rich man and his daughter, and Iemon is plagued by visions of Oiwa's ghost.
Cast
- Tamiya Iemon
- Tamiya Oiwa
- Yotsuya Osode
- Gonbei Naosuke
- Itou Oume
- Satou Yomoshichi
Tenshu Monogatari
- Episodes: 5-8 (U.S. DVD release episodes 1-4)
"Goddess of the Dark Tower" is based on Tenshu Monogatari, a play by Kyōka Izumi
Kyoka Izumi
is the pen name of a Japanese author of novels, short stories, and kabuki plays who was active from the late Meiji to the early Shōwa periods. He is best known for a characteristic brand of Romanticism preferring tales of the supernatural heavily influenced by works of the earlier Edo period in...
. It tells the story of a forbidden love between a god and a human. In medieval Japan, Himekawa Zushonosuke is a falconer who is sent by his master Lord Harima to retrieve a precious falcon named Kojiro.
Zushonosuke's search is initially fruitless, though it leads him to a chance encounter with a beautiful woman bathing in a lake. Zushonosuke more or less falls in love with her at first sight.
When news reach Lord Harima that the falcon has in fact fled to the castle keep of Shirasagi-jo, Zushonosuke is ordered to go there to bring the falcon back.
Accompanied by two friendly demons, Zushonosuke makes his way to Shirasagi-jo, which is rumored to be inhabited by beings called Wasuregami (Forgotten Gods). At the castle, Zushonosuke is surprised to find the same beautiful woman he encountered before, who introduces herself as Tomihime (Princess Tomi), beginning their forbidden romance.
Cast
- Himekawa Zoshonosuke
- Tomihime
- Oshizu
- Wominaheshi
- Kaikaimaru
- Kikimaru
Bake Neko
- Episodes: 9-11
In the Edo period
Edo period
The , or , is a division of Japanese history which was ruled by the shoguns of the Tokugawa family, running from 1603 to 1868. The political entity of this period was the Tokugawa shogunate....
, the young daughter of a samurai family is planning to marry, but not for love. Her father, while being a good man, is financially incompetent and too madly in love with her mother to refuse her anything, drowning the family in debt. To save themselves from disgrace and the poor-house, her parents and the head of family decide to sell her marriage to clear these debts. While waiting for the agreed upon time to leave for her new husband's home, a strange, nameless medicine-seller arrives and enters the house, its entrance left unguarded in the rush to prepare for the wedding. Heading immediately to the servant's quarters he meets Kayo, a young servant girl, who explains the situation after he shows her some "marriage aid" charms. Her bravery and good sense continue to aid him throughout the storyline.
The moment the bride crosses the threshold of the house to leave, she is struck dead. The medicine-seller, being a stranger and looking rather suspicious, is seized as the culprit and bound. After an older retainer is killed while attempting to fetch a doctor, the medicine-seller breaks his bounds, reveals himself to also be a demon-hunter, and claims the true villain is a bakeneko
Bakeneko
A is, in Japanese folklore, a cat with supernatural abilities akin to those of the fox or raccoon dog. A cat may become a bakeneko in a number of ways: it may reach a certain age, be kept for a certain number of years, grow to a certain size, or be allowed to keep a long tail. In the last case,...
. The medicine-seller sets up a barrier to keep the demon at bay and begins questioning the family and their retainers to learn the Shape (Katachi), Truth (Makoto), and Reason (Kotowari) of the demon so that it can be exorcised. At first the family prevaricates, but as the demon grows stronger, breaking through the medicine-seller's barriers and killing their members, they begin to talk, alluding to the family's dark past. As the demon breaks through his final barrier, the medicine-seller attempts to unsheathe his sword and destroy it, but fails and is shown a vision by the demon itself.
In his youth, the head of family had kidnapped a sacrificial maiden, keeping her locked away in a basement prison to be raped and abused at his leisure. Her only companionship was a young cat which she secretly raised with the food she was given, hoping it would one day escape where she could not. One day the head of family's elder son was caught raping her, after which the head beat her to the point of death as punishment. The cat attacked him to protect her, then escaped as she died; its regret from being unable to protect her combined with her sorrow, eventually turning it into a demon. Having finally realized the demon's Shape, Truth, and Reason, the medicine-seller unsheathes his sword, which in reality releases his true spirit-nature from the human shell it is bound within, allowing him to exorcise the bakeneko's grief and release it from its vengeance. In the end, only the two blameless retainers, Kayo and a young samurai, are left to be saved. The story ends with the medicine-seller, once again sealed in his human form, exhausted and bending over the emaciated body of an old cat, at peace in death. As he leaves, he sees a brief vision of the girl and her kitten finally emerging into the outside world.
Cast
- The Medicine Seller
- Kayo
- Odajima
Character design
The characters were designed by Yoshitaka AmanoYoshitaka Amano
is a Japanese artist. He began his career as an animator and has become known for his illustrations for the anime Vampire Hunter D and for his character designs, image illustrations and title logo designs for the Final Fantasy video game series developed by Square Enix . His influences include...
("Yotsuya Kaidan"), Yasuhiro Nakura ("Tenshu Monogatari") and Takeshi Hashimoto ("Bakeneko")
Music
The opening theme song "Heat Island" is performed by RhymesterRhymester (group)
is a Japanese hip hop group consisting of MCs Mummy-D and Utamaru, and DJ Jin. The group is one of the oldest Japanese hip hop acts, having formed in 1989. They debuted on an independent label in 1993 with the EP , which was panned by critics...
, while the ending theme "Haru No Katami" is performed by Hajime Chitose.
Broadcast
Ayakashi aired on Fuji TV as part of the noitaminaNoitamina
– "Animation" written backwards – is a Fuji Television programming block, devoted to anime, originally broadcast each Thursday night from 24:45 to 25:15 . It was launched with the intention of expanding the target audience beyond the typical young male demographic...
lineup from January 13, 2006 to March 24 of the same year. The series also aired on On Animax
Animax
is a Japanese anime satellite television network, dedicated to broadcasting anime programming. A subsidiary of Japanese media conglomerate Sony, it is headquartered in in Minato, Tokyo, Japan, with its co-founders and shareholders including Sony Pictures Entertainment and the noted anime studios...
.
A spin-off series based on the character of the medicine seller (Mononoke) aired in 2007.