Kasha Demon

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. - yookai, yōkai 妖怪 Yokai monsters - .
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- Kasha 火車 Kasha Demon "burning chariot" -



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Kasha 火車 (folklore)
The kasha (火車, lit. "burning chariot" or "burning barouche" or 化車, "changed wheel")
is a Japanese yōkai that steals the corpses of those who have died as a result of accumulating evil deeds.

They are a yōkai that would steal corpses from funerals and cemeteries, and what exactly they are is not firmly set, and there are examples all throughout the country. In many cases their true identity is actually a cat yōkai, and it is also said that cats that grow old would turn into this yōkai, and that their true identity is actually a nekomata.

There are tales of kasha in tales like the folktale Neko Danka etc., and there are similar tales in the Harima Province (now Hyōgo Prefecture), in Yamasaki (now Shisō), there is the tale of the "Kasha-baba."

As a method of protecting corpses from kasha, in Kamikuishiki, Nishiyatsushiro District, Yamanashi Prefecture (now Fujikawaguchiko, Kōfu), at a temple that a kasha is said to live near, a funeral is performed twice, and it is said that by putting a rock inside the coffin for the first funeral, this protects the corpse from being stolen by the kasha. Also, in Yawatahama, Ehime, Ehime prefecture, it is said that leaving a hair razor on top of the coffin would prevent the kasha from stealing the corpse.
In Saigō, Higashiusuki District, Miyzaki Prefecture (now Misato), it is said that before a funeral procession, "I will not let baku feed on this (バクには食わせん)" or "I will not let kasha feed on this (火車には食わせん)" is chanted twice. In the village of Kumagaya, Atetsu District, Okayama Prefecture (now Niimi), it is said that a kasha is avoided by playing a myobachi (妙八) (a traditional Japanese musical instrument).

There is also the theory that the legend of kappa making humans drown and taking their butts (eating their innards from their butts) was born as a result of the influence of this kasha.

The expression "hi no kuruma" which means urgency of economic conditions, comes from how the dead would receive torture from this kasha (hi no kuruma).
- - - More in the WIKIPEDIA !


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Kasha – The Corpse-Eating Cat Demon 火車猫
Fire (火) chariot (車)- Kasha 火車

Kasha are one of the most confused of Japan’s yokai.
Over the centuries kasha have evolved from a fiery cart pulled by devils to an aged cat that changes form into a corpse-eating monster. Even the calling them yokai is dubious.



Although yokai can be a catch-all term for Japan’s monsters, the kasha are more properly demons. They have more in common with Hell-dwellers like oni, and are found on Kamakura period Hell Portraits designed to terrify people into following the righteous path of the Buddha.

More details and colorful photos :
- source : hyakumonogatari.com -


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音誉上人 - 音誉聖観上人 Saint Onyo Shokan Shonin

音誉上人自ら火車に乗る Onyo Shonin riding the chariot of fire

On the 2nd day of the 7th lunar month in 1479 文明11年, at temple Zōjō-ji 増上寺
saint 音誉上人 Onyo Shonin was welcomed at the end of his life by the chariot of fire 火車, which was not a welcome from hell but an envoy from the Gokuraku Paradise.
The people of that time saw this wheel of fire according to their own liking, hell or paradise, at the end of life.

"Shin Chomonjū (新著聞集)," Chapter Five "Acts of Prayer"


source :　minneko.blog.so-net.ne.jp

hi no kuruma 火の車 wheel of fire
火車来現 the Buddhist wheel of fire at the end of life

火の車、造る大工はなけれども、
おのが造りておのが乗りゆく

the wheel of fire is not made by a carpenter
I made it myself, I will now ride it myself

. Legends about Japanese Saints .

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.................................................... Ehime 愛媛県 ....................................................

訃報の使いを知らせの使いと言い、必ず２人で行く。２人で行くのは、途中で火車や山犬に襲われる可能性があるからである。火車や山犬は死人を好むという。使いが提灯を持つのは夜になると火車や山犬が襲う可能性があるためで、魔は火を恐れると信じているからである。


.................................................... Miyazaki 宮崎県 ....................................................

西都市 Saito

The Kasaha came to get a dead body. During the burial service of a bad person, it usually comes. Suddenly the sunny sky turns to rain and the Kasha comes down from heaven.
In this case the priest has to sit on the coffin and perform ablutions with his wand 払子. This will make the Kasha retreat. (And the Kasha is usually a cat.)



.................................................... Yamanashi 山梨県 ....................................................

上九一色村 Kamikuishiki

精進に寺がない時には竜華院まで坊様を頼みに行っていたが、その近くに火車という化物が住んでいた。葬式が出るたびに死体を食おうと狙っていた。ある時村に葬式が出ると火車は飛脚に化けて竜華院にたのみに行ったが、坊様は見破り、施主に葬式を2回出し、最初の棺には石を入れておくよう指示した。最初の棺が出ると空に黒雲が沸いて雲の中から火車が飛んできて棺をさらっていった。その隙に施主の家では2回目の葬式を出して骨を無事に寺に納めた。火車は「竜げん坊主にだまされた」と叫んだという。


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yokai database 妖怪データベース (30 entries) (02)
- source : www.nichibun.ac.jp -

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- reference -


. KASHA - shared at PINTEREST .

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. Kappa densetsu　河童伝説, Kappa minwa 河童民話 - Legends - Introduction .

. - yookai, yōkai 妖怪 Yokai monsters - .
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