#backbeard

KANEKO'S CRIB NOTES LVXII: CRIBCEPTION

As you all may be aware, Soren and I initially published Kaneko's Crib Notes monthly--you know, at its outset over 10 years ago. But the grindset needed to maintain that level of output wore us down, plus new material became less and less abundant as the months and years flew by.

Still, reducing KCN's post frequency to an annual I think is kind of a bummer. But here and there we encounter cribs of cribs, which are a novel and meta way to add dimension to this blog's endeavors, and are perfect for a mid-year update such as this one. Just don't call it "filler" or mere "content" (I prefer "context").

CU CHULAINN:

Art nouveau St. George statuette by Alfred Gilbert* | Cu Chulainn in 'Fairy King' by Ryoko Yamagishi | SMT1's Cu Chulainn (*found by Nuzme)

BACKBEARD:

Edited photograph by Masatoshi Naitō | Shigeru Mizuki's Backbeard | SMT1's Backbeard (credit to Mizuki expert and translator Zack Davisson; note his findings also reveal one further degree of crib than could fit here on Tumblr with Odilon Redon)

ROITSCHAGGATTA:

Race: Foul

Alignment: Dark-Chaos

July 1st, 2024

ZEHAHAHA- wait, no L. Unfortunate. Today's Demon of the Day is, strangely, a modern version of a classic type of monster, and one that originates from a very specific source- a manga. Yep, we have another one that leads you in circles in research, though in this case, it's because it might not even exist. Enter Backbeard, a yōkai that originates from GeGeGe no Kitaro. Before I start digging into what little there is to offer, I'd like to give a huge thank you to @kanekocribs 's fantastic post about this subject, which also had a great delve into Porewit, which you all know my very... intense feelings about.

For the most part, Backbeard's origin is incredibly hard to trace; the purported origin of the yōkai in the book "100 Ghosts and Hauntings of the World" seems to have just been made up by the SMT fandom wiki, as the closest thing I can even trace to that name is the series of woodblock prints from the 1830's called "One Hundred Ghost Stories" which can be further traced back to a set of parlor games called "Hyakumonogatari Kaidankai." In these sources, though, I can't find any reference to Backbeard or even just a single-eyed entity, which appears to be the primary trait for a lot of depictions. Even going back and trying to find anything related to an August 1965 edition of Shonen Book, which the wiki page cites...

Sends you right back to GeGeGe no Kitaro. Please get some sources cited Megaten wiki. Regardless, though, what on earth is GeGeGe no Kitaro even about? It's about yōkai, of course! In the story, Backbeard appears as a major antagonist, leading scores of the 'Western Yōkai,' effectively meaning groups of classical horror movie monsters such as the Wolfman, Dracula, Witches, etc. He's seen as the main antagonist of several of the stories, but in most adaptations he's cut for more personal antagonists. I'm not well versed in GeGeGe no Kitaro, especially because I haven't read it, but the design says all it really needs to say.

Later on, it's attributed and believed that Backbeard may have taken inspiration from several sources conglomerating together, though I could not find a source for the LIFE OF ME regarding the first one. TW for body horror and bugs below, but some people purport that Backbeard may have been based on the 'Eye Bugs' from the aforementioned magazine '100 Ghosts and Hauntings of the World,' though again, I have no idea where this picture comes from, and searching is turning up diddly squat. The second picture, though, I can attest to existing- a piece of art called the Shinjuku Phantom Chimera by Masatoshi Naitō.

Ironically, I pulled this from another blog! Special thanks as well to @littleeyesofpallas for this post about Bleach that ALSO goes into Backbeard. Finally, we can trace the inspiration for Backbeard and Shinjuku Phantom Chimera all the way back to the 1800's, wherein we have this painting by French artist Odilon Redon, simply called Eye Balloon.

Gegege no Kitaro Season 6 fanarts!

1, Nekomusume the member of Kitaro Family

2, Camilla the vampire executive of Backbeard army

3, Inuyama Mana the main human heroine character

4, Yuki the half human and half yukionna

5, Yuki's mother the yukionna

6, Rokurokubi one of the inhabitants of Youkai Apartment