jinmenju
{{short description|Yōkai and Yaoguai in Japanese and Chinese folklore}}
File:SekienNinmenju.jpg by Toriyama Sekien]]
Jinmenju or Ninmenju ({{CJKV|j=人面樹 [にんめんじゅ、じんめんじゅ]|c=人面樹|p=Rénmiànshù|l=human-faced tree}}) is a type of Yōkai and Yaoguai in Japanese and Chinese folklore. It is commonly depicted as a tree bearing flowers that resemble human heads. It notably appears in the Edo period Konjaku Hyakki Shūi by Toriyama Sekien.{{Cite book|author=多田克己|title=百鬼解読|year=2006|publisher=講談社|series=講談社文庫|isbn=978-4-06-275484-2|pages=20頁|lang=ja}}
Concept
The Konjaku Hyakki Shūi depicts it as a tree blooming with flowers that resemble human heads, with the following explanatory text:
{{quotation|In mountain valleys, its flowers just like human heads, without a word, they merely just smile away, smile away until its petals fall just like that (山谷にあり その花人の首のごとし ものいはずしてたゞ笑ふ事しきりなり しきりにわらへば そのまま落花すといふ){{Cite book|author=稲田篤信・田中直日編|others=高田衛監修|title=鳥山石燕 画図百鬼夜行|year=1992|publisher=国書刊行会|isbn=978-4-336-03386-4|pages=191頁|lang=ja}}}}
Besides Japanese yōkai, the Konjaku Hyakki Shūi also included publications of plants, animals and yōkai outside of Japan and this "jinmenju", as well as the Wakan Sansai Zue, quote from the Chinese Sancai Tuhui, which describes a similar tree from a land called "Dashiguo" ({{CJKV|j=大食国|c=大食国|p=Dàshíguó}} romaji: {{transl|ja|Daishikoku}}; {{literal translation|big-eat country}}).
According to the Sancai Tuhui, Dashiguo is a land one thousand li southwest, with flowers like human heads, and upon asking it questions, its flowers would laugh, but it wouldn't understand human language. If they laughed too much, the flowers would wither and fall.{{Cite book|author=寺島良安|others=島田勇雄・竹島淳夫・樋口元巳訳注|title=和漢三才図会|year=1986|publisher=平凡社|series=東洋文庫|volume=3|isbn=978-4-582-80456-0|pages=319頁|lang=ja}} The Rōō Sawa (老媼茶話), a collection of strange tales from Aizu, also quotes the Sancai Tuhui while making statements about this tree.{{Cite book|author=三坂春編|editor=高田衛校訂代表|title=近世奇談集成|year=1992|publisher=国書刊行会|series=〈叢書江戸文庫〉|volume=1|isbn=978-4-336-03012-2|pages=24頁|chapter=老媼茶話|lang=ja}}
In popular culture
See also
Notes
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{cite web|url=http://hyakumonogatari.com/2012/06/03/jinmenju-the-human-face-tree// |title=Jinmenju – The Human Face Tree |website=hyakumonogatari.com|date=4 June 2012 }} (English)
- {{cite web|url=http://www.arasi.com/ayashi/07/jinmenju.shtml |website=arasi.com|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070929215608/http://www.arasi.com/ayashi/07/jinmenju.shtml |archive-date=2007-09-29 |title=人面樹 じんめんじゅ }} (Japanese)
{{Japanese folklore long}}
Category:Mythological human hybrids
{{Japan-myth-stub}}