The Youkai of Natsume Yuujinchou - Part One: Rokurokubi
You know, it is surprisingly difficult to find a reliable source that lists the various kinds of Yurei, Ayakashi, Mononoke, and Youkai in Natsume Yuujinchou. This is quite a shock to me. I figured there would be TONS of blog entries on the subject, but alas no. :(
My first order of business:
To determine, by way of folklore, what kind of youkai Hinoe is.
I could not find a photo of her neck stretched out, but this catches her mischevious nature.
My first inclination is a Rokurokubi, but I have not found a story where a Rokurokubi smokes or has a butterfly motif, which is significant to her story. She may also just be a simple Onryō with Rokurokubi-like tendencies.
The origin of the word "rokurokubi" has several theories, including the possibility that it comes from the feeling of making pottery with a rokuro (a potter's wheel), the possibility that an elongated neck resembles a well's rokuro (the pulley for pulling up loads), or the possibility that an umbrella's handle seems to elongate when opening an umbrella's rokuro (the device used to open and close umbrellas), among other theories.
"Rekkoku Kaidan Kikigaki Zōshi" (列国怪談聞書帖) written in the late Edo period by Jippensha Ikku stated that rokurokubi are "from human's karma." A certain monk from Enshū named Kaishin and a woman named Oyotsu eloped, but since Oyotsu collapsed due to illness, and since they ran out of money for the journey, he killed her. Afterwards, when Kaishin returned to secular life, when he and a girl of an inn he stayed at became attracted to each other and slept together, the girl's neck stretched and her face turned into Oyotsu, and told him about her resentment. Kaishin became regretful of the past, and spoke about everything to the girl's father. When he did so, the father said that he also killed a woman in the past and stole her money, and used the money to start that inn, but the girl that was born afterwards, due to karma, naturally became a rokurokubi. Kaishin once again entered Buddhist priesthood, and built a grave for Oyotsu, and it is said to be the "Rokurokubi Mound" (ろくろ首の塚, Rokurokubi no Tsuka), telling the story to people afterwards.[16] There is also the story that rokurokubi are not yōkai, but rather humans with a type of abnormal body condition, and the Edo Period essay "Kanden Kōhitsu" by Ban Kōkei gave an example of a story where in Shin Yoshiwara, a certain geisha had her neck stretch during sleep, stating that it was a body condition where her heart would come loose and neck would stretch.[19]
Resources:
https://forestofjapan.wordpress.com/natsume-yuujinchou-interconnecting-the-hearts-of-humans-and-yokai/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rokurokubi
http://www.amazon.com/x5341-x8FD4-x820E-x4E00-x4E5D/dp/4336035431
http://www.amazon.com/x5947-x8AC7-x7570-x805E-x8F9E/dp/4480091629http://www.tofugu.com/2011/10/29/super-ghouls-n-ghosts-from-japan/