Hitodama

Hitodama (Japanese人 魂to German " soul " ) refers to a fictional creature of Japanese mythology. It is assigned to the group of yurei ( " ghosts ").

Description

Hitodama are often described as floating, blue or green fireballs with long threadlike tail. Touch the ground, they should be transformed into countless black beetle or black Kohlebröckchen.

Tradition

Hitodama keep According to the folklore in the vicinity of cemeteries and in the summer in dark forests. They are usually depicted as harmless pranks and feel attracted to people with great mental power. But you should also be able to become cancerous, for example if their summoner was murdered. Even otherwise Hitodama should be the soul of unfortunate people who can not find rest after death often.

Origin

The legends of Hitodama might go on in Japan frequent Firefly such as Luciola cruciata (源氏 蛍, Genji botaru; Engl. " Genji firefly " ) and Luciola lateralis (平 家 蛍, Heike botaru; Engl. " Heike firefly " ) back, screw -eating beetles and their larvae, whose rhythmic lights ( bioluminescence ) in the whole of Japan is famous. They are named after influential noble families of antiquity. Hold the event in Fusa - park of Tokyo is annually called Hotarugari ( Engl. " Catching Fireflies "蛍狩り).

Hitodama easily be confused with similarly appearing phenomena, for instance with the " fox fire" spell (狐 火, Kitsunebi; Engl. " fox fire " ), the Irrlicht (鬼火, Onibi; Engl. " Demon Fire" ) and the ball lightning (火の玉, Hinotama; Engl. " fireball ").

Hitodama in modern subculture

Hitodama are a popular motif in modern manga and anime series, such as Inuyasha and Shaman King. In Inuyasha the Hitodama appear as whitish light clouds, which are collected by the so-called " soul catchers " of Miko Kikyo and downright fed to the latter, so that they may live. In Shaman King, the protagonist can (all shaman ) summon Hitodama to use their skills or their energy in battle.