Creating Frankenstein’s Monster in Feudal Japan

Guillermo del Toro’s frankenstein The series premiered in October to critical acclaim and is now available on Netflix, giving people around the world the opportunity to consider the questions first raised by Mary Shelley’s classic novel. For example, could the pursuit of knowledge be dangerous or immoral? Maybe even evil? Hopefully not, because while watching the movie, we asked ourselves a different question: If you were like Victor Frankenstein and tried to create an artificial human being – but in feudal Japan – what would you do? These are the potentially dangerous answers we came up with:

The Sanskrit syllable “A” used in the Shingon Anji Kan meditation practice

the power of words

In a way, Victor Frankenstein’s monster, or creature, is something like a flesh golem: a body made from corpses and breathed with life. Only, in the movie, it’s done with electricity instead of puppets flash: A slip of paper spelling out God’s sacred name in Hebrew animates the artificial shell. demand for electricity – and fresh corpse — Of course, there are problems when trying to create creatures from the samurai era. But maybe there’s a way around this by going back to the original golem myth.

this ManyoshuAn eighth-century poetry collection mentions ” Qin Yu, or “Word as a repository of supernatural power.” This may have affected people’s beliefs Shukichi Seed syllables, which are Sanskrit characters (considered much more mysterious than Chinese characters), are essentially…gods. It was believed that the written letters themselves embodied a powerful deity, much in the same way that Shem, the Golem, worked.

One of the most powerful Shukichi is the Sanskrit letter “A” used in Japanese hear The purpose of the ritual is to tap into the living sacred energy captured in written form. We can combine this with some Buddhist beliefs, such as those of the Shingon sect, which view all things as physical manifestations of the Buddha. In Tantric Buddhism, there is no real distinction between the animate and the inanimate. This teaching of non-duality was also used to eliminate the distinction between Buddha and Japanese gods, theoretically allowing the use of the divine power of one of the gods to animate a “dead” body. The God of the Eight Blessed Lords (literally: “Eight Million Gods” But means “Infinite God”) through sacred symbols.

This ritual has never been recorded. However, the building blocks for constructing an equivalent puppet of Frankenstein’s monster—could be clay, stone, or even flesh sewn together, if you go bone street — and infuse it with the divine spark that exists in the more obscure corners of Japanese spirituality. All they need is a Feudal Japan-era Victor Frankenstein to put them together in just the right way.

Example of a 17th century Karakuri automaton

God in the machine

frankenstein-Inspired stories of robots, creatures made of metal instead of flesh, are a bit dated now. Even Japan got on that train Pluto, A gritty reboot Astro Boy. But in an era without electricity, would such a story be possible? Technically every story in the realm of fiction is possible, but are there “living” robots with free will in 17th-century Japan? This actually has a certain historical and cultural basis.

Japan has been making robots Since before the invention of gunpowder. Japanese Feudal Robot Art in Karakuri Automata. These machines come in many different varieties, moving in a variety of ways, including complex clockwork mechanisms or simple whalebone springs. Some can perform fairly complex tricks, such as shooting small arrows or serving tea. But other agencies have higher purposes. Their role is to serve as vessels for God.

this Dashi Karakuri Automata are large puppets that parade on floats during religious festivals. Follow with mikoshi These purified, mystical-seal-bearing droids are portable shrines thought to be inhabited by specific gods during celebrations. They are truly divine machines.

So, the idea of ​​curing Oishi Karakuri where the rogue god lives? As Japan’s version of Frankenstein’s monster? This is definitely one way to solve the problem, but we can do better, thanks Jinyunshang Legend, it points to any object, even an umbrellacan gain consciousness after 100 years. It just needs to be cherished by humans, accumulate our spiritual energy, and finally give it life.

Japanese mythology is full of collective belief As a source of great power, so if enough people truly believe that Master Karakuri is still alive, and then we abandon it for a century, it Can Gain life and seek vengeance for being forgotten, as is sometimes the case with Jin Yun Shen. To be honest, it’s about frankenstein Because it can be obtained.

The scene of an onmyoji doing fortune-telling with a counting stick as depicted in Tamamo-mae, a Nara picture book from the early Edo period | Wikimedia/Kyoto University Library

Servant of the government’s tech wizards

this Onmyoji is a true Japanese technical wizard, employed by Government Bureau of Magicbecause Japan’s history is great. They can do everything from exorcisms to astronomy and even engineering. Appropriately, their Shikigami The creation is not limited to one character either.

Depending on the time period and the Onmyoji himself, they can be anything from a projection of one’s will to a magical curse or even a supernatural being with a physical form.

Shikigami servants are not limited to human form (in fact, they often appear in animal form), but they usually start from an anthropomorphic stance. Shikigami are summoned by magical items such as amulets. The most common summoning item is a humanoid doll made of paper or grass. Because in Japan’s ancient animistic faith, Onmyoji include everything in their arsenal, inanimate shikigami amulets can generate their own spiritual power or channel it from other sources, including the human soul.

Regardless, with the right combination of summoning words, chants, and gestures, a Japanese feudal techno-shaman can summon a creature that can move, touch, and think. However, there’s a catch here that serves as a convenient entry point for “Shikigami, the Japanese equivalent of Frankenstein’s monster”: while Shikigami are servants of the Onmyoji, they can escape their control and become free (especially if the summoner is inexperienced or weak-willed, or if they lose focus), often choosing to attack the person who brought them into the physical world without regard to the impact of their actions.

If such a story had come from Japan during Mary Shelley’s lifetime, she would have sued for copyright infringement. But what now? it will be perfectly reimagined frankenstein The story takes place in the era of Japan’s state-designated magic engineers. Frankly, it’s weird that we were the first ones to come up with the idea.

Examples of tsukumogami objects depicted in Utakawa Shigekiyo’s (circa 1860) Monsters New Collection

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