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fifthchamber
3rd October 2002, 14:53
Hello all.
I have started the last year of my degree and I intend to use as one of my 'personal project' assignments the Tengu myths that circulated (Circulate?) in Japan.
I would appreciate any links to websites or names of good source books on the subject. Anything that vaguely covers the Tengu (In all their guises..) would be appreciated. Especially I would like to find out if anyone has the first recorded appearance of them or any good sources for description as the project will involve some quite heavy prosthetic work and I would like to know exactly what I should start off with..
I am especially interested in the 'Karasu Tengu' but anything on them could be used for the start of the process..
Thanks in advance.
Regards..

Soulend
3rd October 2002, 19:36
Ben, this article from Furyu may help:

http://www.furyu.com/archives/issue2/tengu.html

Here's another one:

http://www.metropolis.co.jp/biginjapan/364/biginjapaninc.htm

Karl Friday
4th October 2002, 15:00
Originally posted by fifthchamber
Hello all.
I have started the last year of my degree and I intend to use as one of my 'personal project' assignments the Tengu myths that circulated (Circulate?) in Japan.

There's a fair amount of good literature out there in Japanese, but not much in English (or any other Western language, as far as I know). The standard English work on tengu is still M.W. DeVisser's "The Tengu" in Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan 36 (1908) pp. 25-99. There's also a good section on tengu and tengu legends in Richard Dorson's Folk Legends of Japan (Tuttle, 1962).

This sounds like a great project! I hope you publish whatever you come up with!

fifthchamber
4th October 2002, 15:22
Hello.
Thanks to both David and Dr. Friday...I am currently studying in a course on Special Effects (Hopefully for a BSc) which I am told is one of only two available worldwide..The nature of the course is more theatrical than written and we use Prosthetics, 3D animation, lighting, sound, and other devices on our major projects to create effects that can be used in either Theatre work, film work, or television work as required..If all goes well I will certainly try and get some pictures up here of my final show but I am afraid a thesis is a little beyond me at the current time!
I hope to produce a story based on the Minamoto no Yoshitsune legend and his training with the Tengu early in his life and to this end hope to design costumes, prosthetic masks and body masks, and perhaps some 3D environment if I can add this on in time..Short of filming in Japan I will have to try and design some 'scenery' for the shots and if all goes well the piece should be around 10 to 15 minutes long...But as I said I have only started on the first stages of the project and we'll see where it ends up.
Once again thanks for the help.
Yours.

Harry Cook
14th October 2002, 11:39
You might find Carmen Blacker's The Catalpa Bow A Study of Shamanistic Practices in Japan (George Allen & Unwin, London 1975, 1986) of interest. For tengu see pages 181-185.
Yours,
Harry Cook

fifthchamber
16th October 2002, 15:34
Hello Mr. Cook.
Thanks also for the recommendation you posted. Is it still in print do you know or should I search the Japanese Second hand bookstores around the British Museum for it?
Thanks for the help.:)
Yours.
Ben.

Harry Cook
17th October 2002, 10:13
Dear Ben, I don't know if it is still in print, but you should be able to get a copy through inter-library loan. If you cannot find a copy please send me your address and I'll photocopy the relevant sections for you.
Yours,
Harry Cook

fifthchamber
19th October 2002, 17:04
Mr. Cook,
Thanks for the pages you mention above. The book says Tengu are known for a 'gleam in the eye' type of an effect that I can certainly put into the creatures basic designs..Also the more human looking style of Tengu could possibly work out well as a start with the Tengu able to change its form?....I don't know but there is enough ideas to go with though;)
Thank you.
Abayo..

Genin Andrew
14th June 2005, 12:10
Fifthchamber,

I've had a great interest in the myths and legend regarding Japan's Oni and Tengu and have read and browsed here and there, Hope a few of these sites are of some use.

http://www.furyu.com/archives/issue2/tengu.html
www.st.rim.or.jp/~cycle/myrefE.HTML
http://www.artelino.com/articles/japanese_mythology.asp

Searching for history on Ninjutsu may also hold a few tales of tengu and Oni. In fuedal times, farmers and locals often affilliated the ninja with creatures such as the tengu, they saw this as a logical explanation for the warrior's skill. We today know a little better...or do we? :rolleyes: Its always an interesting viewpoint to look at anyway.

-Andrew

poryu
14th June 2005, 13:23
Hi ben

I htink you may find this site of some use

http://www.onmarkproductions.com/html/tengu.shtml

it has a brief history and also descriptions with pictures of many different types of tengu.

shieldcaster
14th June 2005, 13:51
Ben, you sly devil. There is a helluva lot of info in here already, but use the search function for some more--though avoid Earl's tengu/Jew connections (no offense Earl). Blacker's book is still in print and found at a number of e-locations. Lemme know if you can't find it.
This is a great subject from the perspective of a number of disciplines. I am even doing research on it from an Anthropological angle. You better damn well keep us posted.
The info the rest of you have provided is gold so far. Thanks a million from my end, too.

fifthchamber
15th June 2005, 02:16
Hi Matt,
Actually...This thread dates back from before I got to Japan!! I had to work on that project to get the degree to come out here..So it was all done a year and some ago now....Good project though...I managed to get the mask done and feathered up okay and used black make up to blend my eyes into the mask...Added wings and paraded around the exhibition hall in a keiko gi and katana...Got a few odd looks and one challenge to duel...All good fun...
Sorry...It was a great project and Blackers book was just the link I needed to work it into something I could do..It was great fun...And the mask is still at home..Disintegrating slowly...I wonder how Batman keeps his masks so well formed...I can't...
Thanks again all!
Regards.

shieldcaster
15th June 2005, 02:31
Ooops...Guess that's what I get for reading that dates on these things. Well, in that case: Great job!

Mekugi
18th June 2005, 20:47
Lafcadio Hearn wrote In Ghostly Japan in 1899 undre Little Bown and Co., which has a section about Tengu. This is online, here: http://www.sacred-texts.com/shi/igj/.

There are literally THOUSANDS of these tales around Japan! Two of the most famous are Benkei, and the tale of Takegoro in Shimane prefecture.

Hope that helps!

-Russ

Mekugi
18th June 2005, 21:49
Just another thought...
You may want to start hitting up shrines and art museums for this stuff as well.

I was digging around and found this at the JAANUS (http://www.aisf.or.jp/~jaanus/) website:
http://www.aisf.or.jp/~jaanus/deta/t/tengu.htm, which has a many references with kanji.
I also found this :
http://www.ifi.unizh.ch/ailab/people/thomas/erina/tengu.htm

If you ever make it down here to Aichi, you can go to Shinmei shrine in Toyohashi on Feb 10th and watch a tengu battle played out in costume.
Hope that helps!

nyoronyoro
19th June 2005, 17:12
ニョロニョロです。
天狗については、お勧めさせてもらえば知切光歳著の「天狗の研究」は勿論でしょう。

ojiji
19th June 2005, 19:01
If you ever make it down here to Aichi, you can go to Shinmei shrine in Toyohashi on Feb 10th and watch a tengu battle played out in costume.
Hope that helps!


I remember that from back in the mid-90s when I lived in Toyohashi.

Mekugi
20th June 2005, 21:16
Umm...yeah....thanks for recommending Tengu no Kenkyu oh slimy one!


ニョロニョロです。
天狗については、お勧めさせてもらえば知切光歳著の「天狗の研究」は勿論でしょう。