The Bura-Bura and the Chochin-Obake [Japanese folklore; yokai]
One of the more famous Japanese yokai, the Bura-Bura is a magically animated Japanese paper lantern. It has a mouth, often with a tongue dangling out of it, and is usually depicted with a large, singular eye. Sometimes it also has a nose.
Sometimes these creatures are treated as haunted paper lanterns with little or no backstory. But in the 18th century, Toriyama Sekien claimed that a Bura-Bura is born when a mischievous fox spirit finds an agricultural field with lanterns (Japanese farmers would install paper lanterns on poles to protect their fields). The spirit then disguises itself as one of them.
Then, as a living lantern, the Bura-Bura would hide between the plants and (presumably) cause mischief.
Its name is derived from ‘burari-burari’, an onomatopoeia for a swaying or dangling noise, like that of a lantern moving on a stick or rope.
The Chochin-Obake is a related and very similar spirit, and the two names are sometimes used interchangeably. Both are magically animated paper lanterns with a face. But the origin often differs: whereas the Bura-Bura is a fox spirit, the Chochin-Obake is a kind of Tsukumogami: an inanimate object that gains a soul after being used for 100 years and becomes sentient.
This belief dates back to the Heian era and has an interesting background. It arose from the combination of the traditional Shinto belief that objects (anything from man-made tools to mountains and trees) can house a spirit or Kami, and the Buddhist idea of karma. As such, an object that has been treated with respect and was well maintained will gain a benevolent spirit. But when a mistreated object comes to life after 100 years, it might be inhabited by a vengeful, malicious spirit.
And then there are also stories of lanterns possessed by the ghosts of deceased humans. The primary example of this is the Kabuki theater story of Oiwa, the vengeful ghost of a woman who was tricked into permanently disfiguring her face with poisoned medicine.
These seem to be considered as Chochin-Obake rather than a separate, third kind. Since paper lantern ghosts are staples of Japanese ghost stories, the specific traits, background and the distinction between these two spirits are often vague.
There is no one ‘canon’ when it comes to folklore, after all.
Sources:
Yoda, H. and Alt, M., 2016, Japandemonium Illustrated: the Yokai Encyclopedias of Toriyama Sekien, 319 pp., p. 267.
Candahashi, H., 2024, Japan’s World of Ghosts and Demons: Myths and Legends in Japanese Folk Belief, Tredition, 228 pp. M
Kennelly, P., 1997, Realism in Kabuki of the Early Nineteenth Century: A Case Study, Proceedings of the Pacific Rim Conference in Transcultural Aesthetics, Benitez, E. (editor), University of Sydney, 249 pp., p. 157-181.
(Image source 1: Benjamin Widdowson on Artstation)
(Image 2: Toriyama Sekien, Hyakki Tsurezurebukuro Vol. 2, 1805)
(Image 3: a Chochin-Obake, woodblock print by Katsushika Hokusai)
