Added | Sat, 10/11/2018 |
Hierarchy | |
Область распространения | China
Japan
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Характерные признаки |
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Ame-onna (yap. 雨女, rain woman) - in Japanese mythology, the rain spirit in the form of a wet woman licking off drops of moisture. Steals babies and sucks the soul out of them.
Originally, she was an ancient deity from the folk beliefs of Japan and China, where the rains were sent by good gods and goddesses who live on clouds in the morning and descend at night, forever traveling between heaven and earth, but, according to beliefs, some of them corrupted and gradually turned into evil youkai.
It appears on rainy days and nights, because it causes rain wherever it passes. Although it brings rain with it and can save from drought, or even enrich some peasant, it is not considered a good spirit.
If she manages to find a child who was born that night, she kidnaps him and takes him with her into the darkness, where she drinks his soul and turns him into another ame-onna. Mothers who have lost their children in this way also turn into them (having lost their minds, these transformed women wander the streets at night with large bags in their hands in the hope of replacing what was stolen from them when they were still people).
In the modern view, the Japanese consider "ame-onna" (or "ame-otoko" — her male equivalent) of an unhappy person who has apparently been jinxed, since the rain follows him wherever he goes, thus he acquires the reputation of a "rain man", whose invitation, due to the precipitation accompanying his person, promises disruption of street events such as a wedding or a sports event competition.
Phenomenon in mass culture
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