BAKEKUJIRA (Giant whale skeleton)

Bakekujira is described as a giant whale skeleton that appeared off the coast of Shimane, accompanied by a variety of strange fish and birds. A fisherman tried to fire his javelin at it but was unharmed, then the whale disappeared with its mystery.

And the legends about it are stories passed down by the fishermen,

In the middle of that night, the fishermen of Okino Island suddenly saw a translucent white mass floating in the sea and roaring fiercely. By experience, they thought it was a stranded whale, and a team of muscular fishermen sailed close to find a way to hunt for this "gift of heaven".

But strangely enough, arrows, javelins or any other sharp weapon all disappeared into nothingness. Then, they realized a fact: the whale they were hunting was just a white skeleton, without skin and larger than any whale they had ever seen. It moved again like when it was alive, making everyone startle in horror.

At that moment, they realized that the surrounding sea was covered with fish and birds with monstrous shapes, which even experienced fishermen have never seen. Then the storm subsided, the whale turned and sank into the sea, the strange creatures also disappeared, leaving the fishermen with extreme anxiety and fear.

The villagers then assumed that what they had witnessed was a ghost of a slain whale, or a god from afar. And later people called that image by a single name: Bakekujira.

Still according to Okino's legend, after seeing Bakekujira, the fishing villagers had to witness a series of disasters occurring in a row: natural disasters, famine, disease, like a curse fell.

It should be known that at that time Okino fishermen made a living by catching whales. Just selling whale meat and fat to the merchants was more than enough for the villagers to live happily all year round. But then the ghost of the whale Bakekujira appeared and wreaked havoc - what the village chief believes "is the revenge of the slaughtered whales".

In order to remove the curse, the villagers gradually gave up whaling and switched to fishing near the shore. Every time an ill-fated whale washes up in the village, the fishermen organize a careful burial and worship. They also established a temple to worship the whale god, because in the custom of fishermen, whales are the embodiment of ferocious gods.

From the point of view of today's science, Bakekujira's story is nothing more than a myth that lacks verifiability. However, there are still very strange stories that no one can explain, related to the curse of Bakekujira.

The most prominent is the story that happened to the Japanese painter Mizuki Shigeru in 1950. This person was on tour, and during the trip he ate a lot of whale meat.

But then when everything was still going well, Shigeru felt uncomfortable, had a high fever, for which there was no cure. It all ended after Shigeru stopped performing (and stopped eating whales). The artist himself later admitted, what happened to him personally was the "epiphany" of the "ghost whale" Bakekujira and the curse of the whale god.

📚 Explore more of the Mystical Creatures series here: Dive into the Enchanted Realms of Mythology

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