(December 2020)
Japan is a country of high mountains and large forest coverage. Since landscape and nature are prevalent elements of national distinctiveness and cultural identity, Japanese forests became an important element for artistic flourishing and fuel for people’s imagination. Since ancient times, the oldest trees have a prominent presence in religious and mystical aspects of Japanese culture, so many stories from national folklore, popular beliefs, and fantastic creatures have emerged. This month’s article will present the figure of kodama, the spirit that lives in the forests.
The kanji characters for the word “kodama” changed over time. According to the writer and translator Davisson (2012), the old kanji composition for the word kodama was 古多万, with the characters 古 (ko, which means old), 多 (da, which means many) and 万 (ma, which means ten thousand). However, the combination of these characters did not seem meaningful, possibly due to the fact that the ancient Japanese did not have their own writing system and, when the Chinese writing system was adopted, kanji characters were often chosen according to the sound rather than the meaning. Other kanji characters were selected later, such as 木魂 and 木魅, in which 魂 (dama) or 魅 (dama) means soul. In modern times, the characters 木霊 are more commonly used, in which 木 (ko, that means tree) and 霊 (dama, that means spirit).
Kodama is a spirit that protects the forest, maintaining its equilibrium, as well as blessing the communities that live around the area. The exact nature of this spirit was differently perceived in distinct times and areas of Japan. In the past, kodama was more likely to be seen as a kami (deity) that could move through the forest across different trees. Other beliefs would say that kodama is the soul of an old tree, rooted to that one tree only, and such a deep connection even meant that the death of the tree would also be the death of kodama, and vice versa. Some stories also portray kodama as the tree itself, referring to the idea that both coexist and one will not live without the other. From Edo period until present times, the most common perception is that kodama would be a yokai, a type of mystic creature of Japanese folklore.
The shape of a kodama also changes according to the tradition, representation, or artist. The illustrator Matthew Meyer explains how kodama are rarely ever seen, but often heard; if they eventually appear, they usually look like faint orbs of light in the distance. Davisson mentions a famous representation by Toriyama Sekian, an artist that has set the standard for the appearance of many Japanese mystic creatures; Toriyama drew kodama as an ancient man or woman standing near a tree in his famous Gazu Hyakki Yagyō (The Illustrated Night Parade of a Hundred Demons), showing the connection of these spirits with their respective tree.
In 1997, a quite friendly portrayal of kodama appeared in the well-known animated film, Princess Mononoke. The little creatures with white skin, dark eyes, and doll-shaped body became a very popular representation of kodama. In the movie, those spirits are connected to the forest’s life and health, since they start to fade and disappear when the main forest spirit is shot, just as they reappear when the forest is recovering and regrowing.
Most stories refer to the echoes that can be heard through the forests and mountains, but the sound might be similar or misunderstood by the sound of another mystical creature: the yokai yamabiko (山彦), with the kanji characters 山 (yama – mountain) and 彦 (biko – boy). According to Meyer (2019), sometimes, it is possible to hear sounds, similar to the wind echoes, that last longer than they should, or that come back slightly different from the original sound. When the echo comes from the forest, it is usually attributed to kodama, while when it comes from the mountains, it is attributed to yamabiko. But these two spirits are very distinct, since yamabiko is capable of mimicking a wide variety of sounds, such as clatter from nature, human language, and, at modern times, even trains and cars. A yamabiko seems to be more skilled, tricky, and noisy than a kodama.
Sometimes, the presence of kodama as a power spot can be felt in certain places or elements. Sacred spots with divine power, such as the entrance of shrines, rocks, and even trees, are specially protected. According to Taka Yamada (1966), for the Shinto practice, a rope named shimenawa, made of rice-straw, plucked by the roots and twisted to the left, is used as a signal to mark these particular spots. Although the described practice is not limited to the presence of a kodama, shimenawa can also be used to identify and protect a tree that is hosting a kodama and, therefore, cannot be cut.
But why is it necessary to mark such a tree? Stories about kodama mention that, if a very old tree is cut and bleeds, that means a kodama was living there, and the cracking sound of the falling wood is kodama's crying. Since the kodama is responsible for keeping the forest safe and sound, to cut down such a tree brings a terrible curse to the village and its inhabitants, leading to their decay. Not because kodama is a nasty creature that will attack humans out of vengeance, but because kodama’s protection will be lost and human survivability itself will be at risk.
Conservationists have at least two important reasons behind their concern and preaching about how mother nature is not an unlimited force and endless source to humans’ disposal, and how environmental damage should be rather avoided instead of remedied. First, we cannot fully calculate the extension of certain damage, since we cannot put a price on everything that has been lost. Second, no matter how careful and ingenious the remediation is, it can never fully restore what has been lost, because we cannot buy time and we cannot compensate for the over one thousand years that those ancient trees took to grow.
References:
[1] Matthew Meyer (2019). Kodama. Retrieved from: http://yokai.com/kodama/
[2] Matthew Meyer (2019). Yamabiko. http://yokai.com/yamabiko/
[3] Taka Yamada (1966). Shinto Symbols. Retrieved from: https://nirc.nanzan-u.ac.jp/nfile/3164
[4] Zack Davisson (2012). Kodama – the tree spirit. Retrieved from: https://hyakumonogatari.com/2012/08/05/kodama-the-tree-spirit/