The spirit of hunger. This is an evil spirit or ghost that can inflict itself on travellers in remote locations. When possessed by such an apparition, the individual becomes faint, often losing consciousness, which can be restored only with difficulty by applying mochi (pounded rice cake) or some other ritually special foodstuff. Untreated, the victim will die. Hidarugami is often interpreted as a form of ghost of someone who died a lonely death on some moor or mountain pass. Attacks of Hidarugami can be avoided by carrying a morsel of rice or mochi, or by reciting nembutsu or some other distracting prayer.
The prevalence of Hidarugami stories, which are found throughout Japan, is an indication of the very real problems of hunger and starvation that threatened most of the rural population of Japan in premodern times. Like most premodern people, Japan’s population has gone through recurrent periods of famine because of crop failure or greedy landlords. The specter of Hidarugami is thus a personification of a very real and immediate problem for this population. The problem was particularly severe for those individuals who had no support group—travelers and pilgrims. The cure for Hidarugami is one that, under the circumstances, was almost guaranteed to work.
SEE ALSO:
REFERENCES:
- Iwasaka, Michiko, and Barre Toelken. 1994. Ghosts and the Japanese: Cultural Experience in Japanese Death. Logan: Utah State University Press.
SOURCE:
Handbook of Japanese Mythology written by Michael Ashkenazi – Copyright © 2003 by Michael Ashkenazi