The Twisted Sisters. The Weird Sisters. The Four Sisters of Deception. The Phantom Sisters. The Spectre Sisters. The Strange Sisters. Over the years, Koan, Berthier, Calaveras, and Petz have been called collectively by many different names. In their native Japanese, they are the あやかしの四姉妹 Ayakashi no Yon Shimai (lit. “The Four Ayakashi Sisters”). The question of how best to translate this term has been the source of much difficulty, all stemming from that one, tricky little word: ayakashi.
In Japanese folklore, ayakashi refers to any supernatural entity or yōkai (lit. “bewitching strangeness”) that “appears above the surface of some body of water.” In many stories, they are “the vengeful spirits of those who died at sea,” but in others, they are simply atmospheric ghost lights, a phenomenon often associated with UFO sightings and most commonly known in the English-speaking world as will-o’-the-wisps or ignis fatuus.
Given there’s nothing remotely nautical or maritime about the Four Sisters, it seems doubtful that series creator Naoko Takeuchi intended to reference vengeful sea ghosts with her use of ayakashi. With UFOs, crop circles, and related phenomena at the center of the Black Moon Clan arc, it seems far more likely she was referring instead to atmospheric ghost lights.
For this reason I think the best way to translate Ayakashi no Yon Shimai would be with a word that evokes that connection, that evokes the experience of witnessing that strange and mysterious phenomenon. “The Four Eerie Sisters” is probably the best option, with “Uncanny,” “Unearthly,” and “Otherworldly” being good possibilities as well.
For the purposes of this blog, however, I will be using a different term for the sisters, one that uses an alternative, more colorful name for atmospheric ghost lights, and one I hope you’ll find as delightfully creepy as I do: The Four Corpse Candle Sisters.
Welcome to Corpse Candle Couture, a blog dedicated to the fashion of vintage horror, sci-fi, and mystery comic books that would be just perfect on these four fierce women from planet Nemesis. Enjoy.
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