The "ghosts" of Japan 👻

October 7, 2023

Before we get started, NativShark released a Monthly Update going over what the team did in September^^

Quick highlight:

- 20 new Units were added, which include well over 300 sentences with their own contexts and natural examples matching that context

Check out the full update here.

妖怪ようかい

In a recent episode of the Laid-back Japanese podcast, we talked about 妖怪ようかい (yokai, Japanese monsters/ghosts). In short, they're basically Japanese ghosts and monsters but there are many types and they all have a certain personality depending on their types.

妖怪ようかい are some of the coolest things out there.

There's so much to learn about them and references to them are everywhere in Japanese culture and media. Once you know a few of them, you'll begin to see them everywhere.

On top of that, knowing some basic ones will help you pick up on cultural references, which is a big part of being proficient in a language.

河童かっぱ

One of Chie's favorites is the 河童かっぱ. It's a 妖怪ようかい that lives near rivers and drowns people who get too close.

It's particularly infamous for drowning children.

So, uh… anyway they don't usually look that scary in media and they love cucumbers:

Everyone in Japan will know what a かっぱ is.

You'll even see them on signs telling kids to not swim in a pond, river, etc.:

You can see a kappa pulling the kid down under the water. What a jerk.

By the way, the sign says:

あぶない！！この付近ふきんでおよいだりあそんではいけません
Danger!! Do not swim and play in this vicinity

An interesting note is that since this sign is written in mostly kana. That's likely because it's likely aimed at children who may not yet be able to read it if it were written in kanji.

座敷ざしきわらし

One of the 妖怪ようかい that surprised me the most was one called a 座敷ざしきわらし.

These 妖怪ようかい look like small children, usually around 5 or 6 years old, and they live inside Japanese houses. Usually, they have an おかっぱ(bowl-cut).

In fact, I had a friend tell me one time that she saw one in her house.

When I started freaking out, she told me that seeing one was a good thing.

Turns out, these 妖怪ようかい are more of a 守まもり神がみ (protective deity). They protect your house (though they do sometimes play some pranks on you as well), and if they ever happen to leave, the house is said to fall to ruin.

Other 妖怪ようかい

You can fill many books with all the youkai out there, but let's talk about some really common ones you might see in media:

雪女ゆきおんな - 妖怪ようかい that kill people lost in snowstorms and look like a grown woman. By the way, you generally don't want to run in 妖怪 if you haven't noticed yet.

鬼おに - These you will see everywhere in Japan. They're kind of a mix between an ogre and a demon. If you've seen 鬼滅きめつの刃やいば(Demon Slayer), then you know what these are. They appear in lots of games, anime, folktales, and so much more.

妖狐ようこ - These are foxes that are 妖怪ようかい as well. They can transform into people and if you've ever played 人狼じんろうゲーム(werewolf game, [a social deduction game]) then there's a variation where a person is a 妖狐ようこ and they're kind of on their own team.

海坊主うみぼうず - These youkai are basically big shadowy blobs that can be found in the ocean at night. They're famous for sinking ships, so you don't want to run into one either.

We talk about a lot more in the episode (links below), along with showing lots of pictures of both modern-day depictions and ones drawn by people throughout history.

Where can I learn more about 妖怪?

We have a lesson on 妖怪ようかい on Nativshark here.

We also have those podcast episodes we mentioned at the start:

- Laid-back Japanese podcast (mostly English) - Youtube, Spotify

- Not-so Laid-back Japanese podcast (all Japanese) Youtube, Spotify

And of course, you'll be running into all sorts of cultural references, 妖怪ようかい or not, if you just keep showing up and hitting the button that shows you the Japanese you need to see when you need to see it 👀

Did you click it today?

→ → Study Now ← ←

Weekly writing prompt:

You want to invite a new friend to see a movie with you this weekend, but you aren't sure what kind of movies they like. You text them…

Post your responses here and let's talk about them!

This prompt was suggested by VellaMal in the Discord community, thank you for the prompt!

Inviting friends and asking them what they like is a good skill to have~

Feel free to ask for help if you want to say something specific as well. Both myself and other learners will be in there offering advice and help~

Submit prompts you want to see here.

Great job from everyone once again on last week's prompt^^

We had a community member's wife, who is a native Japanese speaker, come in and help people out, so a big thank you to her! Was really nice to have her feedback.

We also looked at the differences between some Japanese that sounds feminine vs masculine/neutral. Things like あのね vs えっとー or そのー when you want to say "umm".

Click here to see those conversations if you'd like to learn more as well~

It's stale :(

Sometimes it's really nice to go back to the fundamentals. At least, as far as sentence length goes.

For some reason, I've always struggled to express that something is stale, and this word just doesn't pop up in my brain because I just barely don't hear it enough:

And interestingly enough, lots of Japanese resources don't really teach you this…? I've noticed a lot of everyday Japanese gets skipped in traditional resources.

That's one of the big reasons we made NativShark to begin with ^^

If the above Japanese is difficult for you, all you need to do is keep hitting the Study Now button, and you'll understand it when you get there. Especially when using a study resource like NativShark, you'll be fine as long as you show up as much as you can. This screenshot comes from a vocab flashcard in Phase Three, Unit 67.

NativShark goodie bag

The content team released another 4 new Phase Three Units this week~

New Phase Three Units

New Podcasts Episodes:

Laid-back Japanese

Yokai: Easy-to-miss Japanese culture (mostly English) - Youtube, Spotify

Not-so Laid-back Japanese

こんなのも妖怪だった？？(all Japanese) Youtube, Spotify

The Konnichiwa Podcast

All Good Things - Spotify