This is blog is a student assignment for a university visual anthropology course. The blog shall be terminated upon the end of the course in April 2012. Permission has been obtained from individuals before the posting any images of persons. In the case of more general images, great consideration has been given to individual privacy and respect in these circumstances. However, should there be any concerns please contact me and I shall move to quickly resolve them including image removal.
Thursday, April 5, 2012
Tengu
Tengu are an ambivalent supernatural being or sometimes monster that can be found throughout Japanese folklore and have any number of different manifestations depending upon the region visited. I've mostly run into depictions of tengu in areas that possess many hills or mountains. I don't think I've ever encountered an area that openly features tengu folklore outside those geographical areas. I actually don't know much about tengu yet, but it seems tengu are sometimes used in the same roles oni are used in other regions, even the same festivals. While I've encountered small shrines that are supposed to keep a tengu imprisoned on a mountain, I've seen people dressed as tengu leading parades that had nothing to do with the tengu themselves. Interesting to see how the same or similar supernatural being is treated in varying areas.
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