Religion:Bake-kujira

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Short description: Mythical Japanese Yōkai

The Bake-kujira (Japanese: 化鯨, ghost whale)[lower-alpha 1] is a mythical Japanese yōkai (ghost, phantom, or strange apparition) from western Japan. It is described as being a skeleton whale that is accompanied by unknown fish and weird birds.[1][2] It takes its revenge against people who hunt whales or eat whale meat,[1][3] and does so by cursing them with plagues and fire.[4] It is also known as Hone Kujira (骨鯨, bone whale).[5]

Legends

In one story, a fisherman tries to catch it with his harpoon but the harpoon sailed right through it and the Bake-kujira floated away. In other stories people say that the Bake-kujira brings a curse and general misfortune to the area where it is spotted.[citation needed]

In popular culture

  • Bake-kujira is a playable character in Smite.[6]

References

Notes

  1. It can also be written as Bakekujira or Bake Kujira.

Citations

  1. 1.0 1.1 Bane, Theresa (2016-03-09) (in en). Encyclopedia of Spirits and Ghosts in World Mythology. McFarland. pp. 29. ISBN 978-1-4766-2339-9. https://books.google.com/books?id=Wl_TCwAAQBAJ. 
  2. McElroy, D. R. (2020). Superstitions: a handbook of folklore, myths, and legends from around the world. New York, NY: Wellfleet Press. p. 54. ISBN 978-1-57715-191-3. 
  3. Roberts, Jeremy (2010). Japanese mythology A to Z (2nd ed.). New York: Chelsea House Publishers. pp. 11. ISBN 978-1-60413-435-3. 
  4. Howerton, Alex (2021-04-07). "Toward a Poetics of Allyship: Rajiv Mohabir's Radical, Animal Coolitude" (in en). MELUS 46 (1): 8. doi:10.1093/melus/mlaa063. ISSN 0163-755X. https://academic.oup.com/melus/article/46/1/1/6172980. 
  5. Mizuki, Shigeru (1994) (in ja). 水木しげるの世界幻獣事典. The Asahi Shimbun. pp. 134–135. ISBN 978-4-02-258572-1. 
  6. "SMITE New God is Bake Kujira, the Whale Yokai" (in en-US). 2023-12-04. https://estnn.com/smite-new-god-is-bake-kujira/. 

External links

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