(Also: I found a deck of karuta at a 100 yen store that according to the box had romaji, I was like 'Oooh!' but upon opening it discovered the romaji is in fact written in a teeny tiny manual included with the cards. Uh, you want a game that'll teach you hiragana and exercise your memory? The kanji has furigana so it won't be THAT tough! :D :D :D)
Shirime (lit. "anus eye") is a strange yōkai with an eye in the place of his anus. The story goes as follows: Long ago, a Samurai was walking at night down the road to Kyōto, when he heard someone calling out for him to wait. "Who's there?!" he asked nervously, only to turn around and find a man stripping off his clothes and pointing his bare buttocks at the flabbergasted traveler. A huge glittering eye then opened up where the strange man's anus should have been. This creature was so liked by the haiku poet and artist Buson that he included it in many of his yōkai paintings.
Hum.
Err.
Well, if it's any consolation, you are not the only one with original taste? :P
The thing was I was having a discussion with someone over the "cute" youkai like kappa being made toys and such, and he said (not sure if he was joking or not) that he was still holding out for a shirime plushie. Then apparently I went insane and started googling for images, found this and then decided it needed to be done.
Actually, it makes me think of the noppera-bo, too. Also interesting to note that noppera-bo are referred to as mujina (tanuki); both beasties may just be tanuki tricks. [/folklorenerd]
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(Also: I found a deck of karuta at a 100 yen store that according to the box had romaji, I was like 'Oooh!' but upon opening it discovered the romaji is in fact written in a teeny tiny manual included with the cards. Uh, you want a game that'll teach you hiragana and exercise your memory? The kanji has furigana so it won't be THAT tough! :D :D :D)
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The story goes as follows: Long ago, a Samurai was walking at night down the road to Kyōto, when he heard someone calling out for him to wait. "Who's there?!" he asked nervously, only to turn around and find a man stripping off his clothes and pointing his bare buttocks at the flabbergasted traveler. A huge glittering eye then opened up where the strange man's anus should have been.
This creature was so liked by the haiku poet and artist Buson that he included it in many of his yōkai paintings.
Hum.
Err.
Well, if it's any consolation, you are not the only one with original taste? :P
Reply
Actually, it makes me think of the noppera-bo, too. Also interesting to note that noppera-bo are referred to as mujina (tanuki); both beasties may just be tanuki tricks. [/folklorenerd]
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I don't mean to spoil the folklore, but that one looks like the guy sat on a fried egg and is all "oh noes! my new fabulous white pants!"
But damn, reading your entries is educational! It's awesome :D
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Exactly! The fact that it's more comical than horrific convinced me that a soft squishy "cute" toy could be made. XD
Part of the fun of learning stuff is sharing the love. :3
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Or one weird-lookin' beholder, that's for sure. :P
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