Queen Marika's Essays / Episode 60: The Scariest Yokai 😨

Hello 😨 It's Queen Marika 😱

I'm creating a bit of an unsettling atmosphere, aren't I?

Well, of course I am.

Because of this topic.

It's a subject I've wanted to write about, but have been putting off for a long time.

Episode 60: The Scariest Yokai 😨

What is the scariest yokai to you all?

For me, it is definitely this yokai 😱

It is the 'Konaki-jijii' (Child-Crying Old Man).

He is a yokai familiar from Kitaro.

He looks like an old man, makes a sound like a crying baby, and becomes incredibly heavy.

An old man crying with a baby's voice is already way too creepy, though.

The Konaki-jijii from folklore is actually one of the most dangerous yokai in Japan!

The original Konaki-jiji has the same basic specs as the Konaki-jiji from Kitaro, but there is a decisive difference between the Kitaro character and the original.

That is... 😨

The original kills humans 😱

Moreover, the method is terrifying.

It lures humans with a cry like a baby's, and once they take pity and pick it up, it gradually becomes heavier.

Eventually, it becomes too heavy to hold, and the person who picked it up is crushed.

However, it doesn't finish them off all at once.

The person crushed by the weight of the Konaki-jiji becomes unable to move, cannot call for help, gradually weakens, and dies over a long period of time...

The fact that it slowly weakens its victims is scary, but what I found even scarier was...

Only those who reach out with good intentions are killed!

This point.

The way to avoid a Konaki-jiji is simple. You just have to ignore it and walk on by.

After all, a Konaki-jiji won't jump onto you on its own.

People with good intentions get killed, while those who can calmly abandon others survive!

Isn't that messed up!?

Folklore yokai are usually things like,

“If you do something this bad, you'll be punished. So let's stop.”

They're the embodiment of lessons like that, right?

But the Konaki-jiji is completely going against the grain.

“Even if you see someone collapsed and crying, ignore them and walk on by.”

Is that what it's trying to say!?

That's why I was scared of the Konaki-jiji when I was a child.

However, why was such a contrarian yokai born?

After passing twenty, knowing a bit more about the world, I think I sort of understand.

Could this be,

Only those with power can save someone.
If someone without power reaches out with half-baked good intentions, not only can they not save them, they'll just end up falling into hell themselves.
Is that what it means?

Regarding this idea, it would be faster for you to read this note novel than for me to ramble on about it.

Why did people in the past come up with a yokai that seems to reflect such a harsh reality?

The answer lay in the bizarre appearance of the Konaki-jiji.

An old man who cries with the voice of a baby

A baby and an old man.

Does this represent 'infanticide' and 'abandoning the elderly'?

Infanticide is the killing of a newborn baby. Abandoning the elderly is the place where old people who have reached a certain age are sent after being driven out of the village.

Such customs existed because society in the past lacked the resources. Therefore, those who were nothing but a burden had to be cast aside.

Was the Konaki-jiji a symbol of those who were cast aside by society in that way?

Thinking of it that way, the actions of the Konaki-jiji make sense.

If you feel pity and pick him up, he gradually becomes heavier, eventually reaching a weight that crushes you, slowly weakening you.

Even if you try to help with half-hearted goodwill, someone without the capacity to spare will only be ruined. The burden keeps growing, and you end up being crushed by the very existence you tried to help.

Is this the lesson that the Konaki-jiji wanted to convey?

Thinking about it that way, I was able to accept it completely, to the point of it being eerie.

In modern times, social welfare has developed, so the practice of abandoning the elderly has disappeared, and abortions should not be taking place either. Probably.

However, even today, abortions are performed nonchalantly. There is no end to people who, without considering their own situation or financial stability, mate on instinct and then discard the life that is created.

As for temporary agency workers, because of stupid laws, they are released without question after three years.

The Konaki-jiji (crying old man yokai) might not be a thing of the past, but could be appearing in modern times in a different form.

No, actually, I want them to appear.

Because if a new Konaki-jiji stops appearing, it feels like society as a whole has accepted that abortion and the firing of temporary workers are just normal things.

There was more I wanted to write, but since it would get too long, I will end it here.

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