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There are different types of ghosts: some of them just wander on the ground, others try to scare people, still others try to join them into contact etc. Very unusual in this regard is the behavior of the Japanese, the so-called hungry ghosts of hidarugami.
Hidarugami – restless souls or vampires?
Hidarugami – one of the most famous in Japan otherworldly entities. Their name in translation means “hungry gods”, however according to legend, these are the souls of people who have lost their way among the mountain paths and starved to death, while remaining unburied, and therefore – restless. Depending on the region, the name of these spirits may be slightly different, but no matter how these ghosts called, their essence and actions are the same – they roam in search of unfortunate with whom only they can share their eternal torment hunger. This is the curse imposed on them (why, nobody knows). Naturally, therefore, the victims of hidarugs become most often lonely travelers …
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A lot of stories tell about how a person walking along mountain path in Japan, suddenly embraces a sense of wild, never previously not experienced hunger. This feeling is not only absolutely overwhelming, but also almost insurmountable. Often he is accompanied by inexplicable fatigue and even strange numbness of the extremities, why the traveler falls to the ground and at the same time does not understands what is happening to him. If you do not help him on time, man will go mad and die, and after death he himself will become hungry ghost of the Land of the Rising Sun …
However, such an ominous fate can be avoided if you have with you at least a tiny piece of edible. Even the only one will do. a grain of rice, it is able to quickly quench the supernatural hunger.
Therefore, today, the Japanese, traveling alone to the mountains, they will certainly take food with them, even if only a little, if, to primrose, the road ahead is short.
Interestingly, the inhabitants of Shiga Prefecture (Honshu Island) describe hidarugami like zombies: these are aggressive creatures that can attack on a man and eat his flesh in order to satisfy his fierce hunger. To protect yourself from them, you should always carry rice balloons.
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Cases of meeting with hidarugami
All this can be treated like a fairy tale, but what to do with numerous testimonies of people who claimed that personally encountered insatiable ghosts? For example, in 1736. a certain Japanese named Senkichi went off somewhere in the desert mountain trail. Later he, a little alive from fear, was found by local residents. When they brought Senkichi to their village, a man said that a whole flock of hungry attacked him ghosts.
Another story that happened around the same time tells of traveler Mizuki Shigeru, who was also attacked by ghostly critters. The man survived only due to the fact that in his the bag was pic. Mizuki grabbed a handful of saving grains and scattered them on the ground. While the hidarugs were looking for and picking up pictures, the traveler managed to hide.
And here is an irrefutable fact far from “oral creativity”: ancient japanese guides and maps directly warned of hungry ghosts and advised travelers to take with them something edible, say, traditional rice for Japan.
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Especially a lot of gloomy traditions went around rural Japan. For example, that in Wakayama Prefecture, near the mountains Shokumotori and Okumotori, there is a deep hole in the ground where they live evil hidarugami. Many mountain trails in Japan have special holy places where you can pray for protection from the hungry ghosts.
The Japanese believe that all rumors and tales of hidarugs are real, their could be hundreds of times more if meeting hungry For the most part, they didn’t end with ghosts deplorably for a person – and he himself becomes such a terrible ghost …
Are hungry ghosts so terrible?
It is believed that such stories only personify severe hunger, which Japanese have suffered for centuries peasants. However, stories about hidarugami spread in those areas of the country that remained relatively wealthy and prosperous. Moreover, hungry ghosts are considered as hidarugs. still quite weak spirits against all other Japanese evil spirits.
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Sometimes they are credited with disgusting, eternally thirsty and hungry spirits named “gaki”. It is humanoid, very thin creatures with heavily swollen bellies looking all the time anything edible. Gaki is the lowest form of human existence, after death they become gluttonous, greedy, envious and generally bad people. The hunger tormenting these creatures so strong that they can eat corpses and feces and desperately lick at the sight of the slightest drop of blood. However their hunger is always remains unsatisfied …
Japan time
