Kyassha

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In my small hometown village, there’s a custom that when a woman dies, ten men from the village gather on the night of the funeral. They drink together while keeping candles and incense continuously burning without letting them go out.

The candles have a specific shape—something like a distorted statue of Buddha—, and the youngest among the men selected for the year’s watch carves it. 

They also place various protective charms around the house, especially near water sources and windows, and keep watch to make sure none of them fall out of place. 

Anyone other than the watchmen, even family members, is forbidden from entering the house that night. 

There are several other small rules as well, and all of these customs have been passed down through generations to protect the body from a demon called “Kyassha.”

This happened when I was 16, the first time I took part in the night watch.

A young newlywed woman from the neighborhood had died.

During the day, I carved the candle just as my grandfather had taught me, and then late at night, we lit it and began the gathering.

The group ranged from young men to middle-aged and elderly, and everyone except me had experience with the night watch. 

From my family, my brother, who was five years older than me, and I participated.

The gathering proceeded quietly (or rather, no one except the elderly seemed particularly motivated about the watch). 

Even from my perspective as a kid, the atmosphere was clearly awkward, and time just dragged on.

I wasn’t allowed to drink alcohol, so I got by with juice. 

Around 1 a.m., I couldn’t fight off my sleepiness anymore and went to the washroom to splash water on my face.

That’s when I noticed that one of the protective charms on the smaller, less noticeable of the two windows in the washroom was tilted.

The younger men, including my brother, were supposed to check all the window charms once every hour, but they’d probably gotten lazy and stopped being thorough.

Normally, I should have reported it to the elders and fixed it properly, but I didn’t want the hassle, so I straightened it myself and left it at that.

I also didn’t want my brother and the others to get scolded.

Shortly after I returned to my seat, there came a violent pounding on the front door.

Startled, a few of us went to the entrance, where an old man from the neighbourhood stood, pale and frantic.

“Kyassha showed up! It went from my roof, along the wall, and into this house!”

For a moment, I thought, What is he even talking about? But the older men and the middle-aged ones turned red with anger and started yelling at my brother and the others for neglecting their patrol, then rushed off to check the house.

Left at the entrance were just me, my senior, and my brother.

The neighbour tried to step inside as if it were the most natural thing, but my brother stopped him, saying we couldn’t break the rules.

“There’s no time for that!” the old man shouted angrily. “Fix the charms! Let me in!”

My brother and the others tried to calm him down, but he wouldn’t listen. 

Soon he started screaming incoherently—“Let me in!” and “Aaaaah!”—like a madman.

But strangely, his body remained completely rigid. Only his face twisted as he shouted.

His gaze was unfocused—you couldn’t tell what he was looking at.

Partly because we felt guilty about the charm, I think all of us felt we absolutely couldn’t break the rules any further. 

We just kept trying to calm him down as he screamed.

After about ten minutes, he suddenly let out a deep sigh, said, “Fine, whatever,” and left, closing the door behind him.

Almost at the same time, the elders returned and scolded us, saying that the charm near the water source had been moved.

When everyone gathered and we told them what had happened with the neighbour, their faces turned pale. Someone muttered,

“It’s Kyassha… Kyassha has appeared…”

That night, we stopped drinking and kept a strict watch until dawn. 

Nothing else happened, but I honestly felt like I was going to die the whole time.

Later on, we found out that the neighbour had suddenly come down with a cold that night and had been sick in bed, with his wife nursing him late into the night.

At the time of the incident, his wife confirmed he was lying in bed. 

He didn’t step outside at all.

The protective charms have very strict rules for how they must be placed, and though I’d been taught them, I must not have listened properly.

According to the legend, if there is any flaw with the fire or the charms, Kyassha will enter the house and try to steal the corpse (or perhaps they mean the soul?).

Any household that has its body stolen will never prosper again.

You must never become friendly with Kyassha. 

If it takes a liking to you, it will definitely come to your house when you die.

One of the elders who had been on watch said that the last time Kyassha appeared was decades ago.

His father, who was still a young man at the time, apparently saw it.

He scolded us harshly, saying that if our generation was this careless, the village would be doomed.

This is the only truly terrifying experience I’ve ever had.

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People’s reactions to this story (from a blog): 

[2250]

“Kyassha” = kasha (火車)? 

See more on Wikipedia 

[2252]

Yeah, it must be kasha. So they really do exist ~

[2253]

Apparently there are regions where kasha is pronounced kyassha. It’s fascinating from a folklore perspective too.

[2265]

People die everywhere, and yet I find it interesting that some regions have customs like these while others don’t.

And strange things always seem to happen in places where such customs exist.

Do these beliefs (and customs) attract such beings, or did the customs arise because those beings were already appearing there?

It’s not exactly a chicken-and-egg question, but it does make you wonder.

[5233]

At my father’s family home, they also had the custom of keeping incense and candles burning continuously, but they didn’t display any objects to ward off evil.

Maybe that part of the tradition had already died out.

[5239] 

>>5233

Keeping incense burning continuously is done everywhere, isn’t it?

[5964]

Could this actually be my mum’s hometown? lol

When I was a kid, I went there for my grandma’s funeral, and I remember one of my older male relatives going to a gathering like this.

I remember him grumbling, “I don’t wanna go. What a pain.”

[6878]

Where do people who are taken away by a kasha go?

[9872]

This is what a wake originally was, before it became a mere formality.

The whole point of a wake was originally to stay awake all night and keep watch so that evil beings couldn’t steal the dead person’s soul.

I’m pretty sure customs like this existed outside Buddhist cultures too.

It’s rather frightening to think that customs found universally throughout the world might have some solid reason behind them…

[17456]

Is OP from Tōno?

[27436]

In my area (Kanagawa), the usual customs at funerals were:

* Never let the candles go out.

* Place a bladed object on top of the deceased to ward off evil.

As a child, I always thought these customs must be meant to keep kasha away.

[35053]

Wasn’t the blade supposed to ward off Bake Nero  (yokai cats)?

[35065]

>>27436

Isn’t keeping the candles and incense burning throughout the funeral, and placing a protective blade on the body, pretty much a nationwide custom?

[35073]

In my area, we did have the custom of never letting the candles and incense go out, but I don’t think we had the custom of placing a protective blade on the deceased…

I suppose it really does vary by region.

[46114]

I’m from Kansai, and we definitely put a mamorigatana [protective blade] there. Even if the wake is held at a funeral hall or temple rather than at home, after the wake ceremony is over, someone stays up all night tending the candles and incense.

My job has made me pretty used to staying up all night, so I’ve done incense-watch duty plenty of times.

[37533]

They say that kasha are cats that have transformed into supernatural creatures.

In my area too, it’s customary to place a kitchen knife, sickle, or something similar on the futon where the deceased is lying.

[46540]

When my mum’s older brother—my uncle—had just finished junior high school, he and some of the other men in the family were keeping watch over the incense.

At some point, the protective blade apparently slipped off, and then the corpse started moving. They say it actually started hopping up and down right in front of everyone.

They hurriedly called a Buddhist priest…

I suppose those protective objects really are necessary after all.

[35090]

There was an episode of GeGeGe no Kitarō where some kind of sealed-away yōkai came back to life and went on a rampage looking like a sports car.

Wasn’t that a kasha?

[46503]

>>35090

Wasn’t that an oboroguruma?

[24681]

Is it some kind of evil spirit?

Going after corpses is just disgusting…

[34245]

From “their” point of view, I suppose a freshly dead body is like having a brand-new car sitting right in front of you with the keys still in the ignition.

[34370]

They said you mustn’t let the incense go out, so when my grandpa and grandma died, my dad and uncles took turns keeping watch over it. Even as a kid, I could tell how exhausting it was.

I asked, “Can’t you just use a mosquito coil?” and they laughed and told me off.

Nowadays they actually sell those spiral incense coils that last about ten hours, lol.

I guess everyone had the same idea. lol

[39166]

>>34370

A victory for science! lol

[41516]

>>35370

Nowadays we have things like dry ice, but in the old days it must have been difficult to conceal the smell coming from a corpse so that supernatural beings wouldn’t find it.

Originally, every part of these rituals had a meaning. But the meaning stopped being passed down, leaving only the outward form, and that’s why people started thinking, “Well, I suppose we can just leave this bit out.”

Whether it’s a birthday, Shichi-Go-San, or a wedding, we should put our hearts into these rituals rather than merely going through the motions.

[52898]

Am I the only one thinking, “If you’re supposed to stay awake all night keeping watch, maybe don’t drink alcohol in the first place”?

[67183]

Alcohol can be considered sacred, so maybe it was also some kind of protection against evil? I wonder.

[71488]

>>52897

There’s pretty much always alcohol at gatherings like these, lol.

At an elderly person’s wake, by the second half it usually turns into something of a class reunion anyway.

[102528]

In this story, it only happens when a woman dies. Are men safe?

Is this kyassha some lecherous, woman-crazy creature that only comes to steal women’s corpses?

Or is there some symbolic purpose behind it—destroying the family by taking away women, the sex that bears children?

Someone above wondered why some regions have customs like this and others don’t, but maybe kyassha themselves are everywhere. Perhaps in places where wake traditions don’t exist—or aren’t observed very strictly—women kept getting taken without anyone noticing, until those communities eventually died out.

Maybe that even explains so-called genkai shūraku [marginal villages—communities at risk of disappearing due to depopulation and ageing]?

Japan’s declining birth rate is a nationwide problem now. Maybe the decline and hollowing-out of traditional wake rituals is one of the causes?

[163605]

At my grandpa’s wake, they had this incense that looked like a mosquito coil shaped into a sort of sphere and could easily keep burning all night.

I found that pretty interesting.

[183022]

Apparently, originally you weren’t supposed to let the incense go out until the seventh day after the person’s death.

Nowadays spiral incense has become standard, and the usual kind can easily burn for twelve hours. And you only really have to worry about it during the wake, so it’s easy enough.

It must have been a lot of work in the old days.

[209634]

>>183022

In the old days, people also observed things like forty-nine days of ritual purification and abstinence. It must have been exhausting.

But I think that by going through all that trouble for the deceased, once the mourning period ended, people could tell themselves:

“They’ve safely reached the Pure Land now. Thank goodness. All that effort was worth it.”

Perhaps that helped ease their grief.

In our busy modern world, I think simplifying these customs and making them more convenient is only natural. But then I also wonder: what are bereaved families supposed to use to fill the void left by their grief and sense of loss?

[221565]

So basically, this is a story where those clueless old men were fooled by the kyassha, while the younger men telling the story had their heads screwed on straight and managed to protect the body, right?

The old men spend the whole story scolding the younger guys, so it’s easy to get the wrong impression.

[221575]

I wonder what happens to these local, indigenous-yōkai-type creatures when depopulation gets so bad that all the people disappear from their home territory.