“Don’t Eat the Mermaid: Exploring the Legend of Yaobikuni”

Screening of a recent documentary on Yaobikuni followed by a conversation with Michael Dylan Foster and Hank Glassman

Description:

The legend of Yaobikuni tells of a young woman who inadvertently eats the flesh of a ningyo (mermaid) and is therefore blessed—or cursed—with immortality and eternal youth. Outliving her family and friends, she eventually abandons society to travel throughout Japan as a nun. Finally, after eight hundred years she returns to her birthplace, current day Obama City in Fukui Prefecture, to enter into eternal prayer in a local cave.

For this presentation we will first screen a recent television documentary (28 mins) that explores how Yaobikuni is understood by current residents in Obama. This will be followed by a conversation about the legend itself, the broader Buddhist context surrounding it, and the making of the documentary.

Participants:

Michael Dylan Foster (University of California, Davis)

Hank Glassman (Haverford College)

Bios:

Michael Dylan Foster is Professor in the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures at the University of California, Davis. He is the author of Pandemonium and Parade: Japanese Monsters and the Culture of Yōkai (University of California Press 2009), The Book of Yōkai (University of California Press 2015; 2024), and numerous articles on folklore, monsters, and media. His edited volumes include The Folkloresque: Reframing Folklore in a Popular Culture World (Utah State University Press 2015), Matsuri and Religion: Complexity, Continuity, and Creativity in Japanese Festivals (Brill 2021) and Japanese Supernatural Tales (Penguin Classics 2026). Since 2022, he has been the “Yōkai Navigator” for the documentary series YOKAI: Exploring Hidden Japanese Folklore (NHK World).

Hank Glassman is is an Associate Professor at Haverford College and holds the Jant and Henry Ritchotte 1985 Chair in Asian Studies. He is interested in medieval Japanese religious culture. Within this field, Hank has published research on a variety of topics, including the cult of Jizō bodhisattva, funerary ritual, gender and kinship, medieval fiction, and grave monuments.