Raiju

 


The raiju was a yokai from Japanese mythology that represented lightning strikes. It was once one of the most well known and feared yokais. Today it's lost much of its hold over the minds of people and is now confined to fantasy.

Raijus were rarely seen and their appearance was highly variable from region to region. They could be any sort of predatory animal that occurred in Japan, such as wolves, weasels, cats, tanukies, and some animals which were not native, such as large jungle cats. The most common form Raijus took was that of a badger or civet. Some variations of the raiju were more fanciful, such as being a chimera of different animals, or having multiple limbs, such as having two tails or two sets of back legs. Regardless of appearance, raijus were always wrapped in lightning as they travelled to Earth. They had strong claws that could rip apart trees and tear holes in buildings. They could also set fire to anything they touched.

Raijus were the pets of the storm god Raijin and were frequently associated with him. They lived up in the sky realm and would come to Earth as lightning bolts. They would viciously attack anything they could reach, destroying buildings and injuring people.

There was very little people could do to avoid Raijus during thunderstorms. Even hiding inside was not guaranteed safety. Raijus were believed to hate incense and were unable to enter mosquito netting around a bed. This gave people at least a small amount of protection from the raiju's rampage. Being attacked by a raiju was not just seen as back luck, but divine punishment brought by the god of thunder.

Raijus were also believed to enter people and possess them through their navel. Unlike other possessions the Raiju didn't take control of the person and they wouldn't even know the raiju was there. That is until the next thunderstorm, when the raiju would violently leap out of the person and they would be struck by lightning. To protect oneself from this possession a person should avoid sleeping outside. Even inside, during a thunderstorm a person should sleep with their hands over their navel or sleep on their belly.

Raijus would often feature in stories as monsters to be defeated by heroes. One such story was that of the samurai Tachibana Dosetsu. He was sheltering under a tree during a thunderstorm when the tree was struck by lightning. He slashed his sword so fast as to cut the lightning in half. When the smoke and fire had cleared a dead raiju was laying on the ground. After this he named his sword raikiri, which means lightning cutter.

During the Edo period taxidermied 'raijus' became popular attractions. These creatures were sown together from the taxidermied remains of multiple animals to make a fanciful beast. They would tour the country and take paying viewers at festivals.


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