If you could create earthquakes, what would you do?
Today on Yokai, No Lie, I bring you the Onamazu (大鯰), or Great Catfish.
They’re big ol catfish that not only make earthquakes, they also help the poor.
And I’ll also show you some funny old art prints of these guys.
Onamazu live under the earth in underground rivers and caverns.
Sometimes they brush up against rock or just thrash about, which shakes the earth and your
belief in a merciful god.
Earthquakes in Japan happen all the time.
They used to blame dragons for causing them, but in the Edo Period,
the blame shifted to catfish.
Earthquakes are like arguments with your spouse: most of them are minor and don’t cause problems,
but out of nowhere a big one hits and you lose your home.
One of these big ones hit the city of Edo on November 11, 1855.
And boy were homes lost.
About 14,000 homes.
7,000 - 10,000 people died.
It was a 7.1 magnitude earthquake, followed by 80 aftershocks a day for 9 days.
This was the Ansei Edo Earthquake.
Afterwards, artists started churning out artwork called namazu-e (鯰絵), or catfish pictures.
People loved them, until they found out that the artist was actually 50 years old
and looked nothing like the pictures--beep--
People loved them, and the number of namazu-e exploded.
Artists just couldn’t wait to go to work and make these things.
People started associating catfish with earthquakes.
There’s a story where Takemikazuchi (建御雷), the god of thunder and the sword, trapped
an onamazu by slamming a big stone on top of its head, pinning it down.
It’s surprisingly hard to move with a huge thing on your head, plus a god, so the onamazu
could only make small earthquakes.
But every year, in the 10th month of the lunar calendar, Takemikazuchi has to go attend a
big meeting with the other gods, Kami-Con.
This allows the onamazu to act up while daddy’s away, and people blame earthquakes that happen
during this time on this catfish.
The rock supposedly exists at the Kashima shrine in Tokyo.
They say a lord once tried to dig the rock out, but gave up after a week because he couldn’t
reach the bottom.
So how did onamazu help the poor?
Well, there’s a concept called yonaoshi (世直し), or world renewal.
It was used as a rallying cry for change, for people who thought the current system
was broken and needed to be reset.
For example, farmers in the Edo Period often lived in poverty and would riot to attack
the wealthy, hoping to reduce that wage gap and have everyone start at the same spot again.
In the wake of the 1855 Edo earthquake, the term yonaoshi meant redistribution of wealth.
People saw the earthquake as an act of yonaoshi, and saw the onamazu as a creature of yonaoshi,
an agent of change.
The onamazu was popular with the poor, because afterwards the rich were like,
“Oh no, my house is destroyed.”
And the poor were like, “Oh no, your house is destroyed.
I’ll rebuild it, for a few coins.”
The earthquake devastated mostly the rich, elite areas,
and it came after a few other major quakes.
The Edo Period also suffered riots and civil unrest.
It must have seemed like their entire society was being shaken up.
Rich people lost their homes and possessions,
and poor people saw an opportunity to move up in life.
There was a feeling of everyone starting over again and working together.
The rich had to rebuild their homes, using all that money they had been hoarding to pay
blue collar construction workers and suppliers.
Money flowed from the top to the bottom.
Edo’s pleasure district for the elite, Yoshiwara, was also destroyed, so a bunch of temporary
brothels were opened around the city, and they enjoyed the business of many of these
construction workers who suddenly found themselves with spending money, and what better place
to spend your money than between the legs of a stranger?
Of course, there were also those who had a negative view of onamazu and earthquakes.
The earthquake was devastating after all.
It was around this time that Japan started opening its borders to the West.
Many of the yonaoshi activists thought the earthquakes were a warning from the gods against
these foreigners, and hated the idea of working with outsiders.
Alright let’s look at these namazu-e, catfish pictures.
But while we do that, we need to remember that even though catfish were a symbol of
earthquakes, most people didn’t actually believe they caused earthquakes.
It was a folk story, and drawing catfish was just fun.
Most people actually thought that an earthquake happened when the earth had a yin-yang imbalance.
Too much yang buildup meant the earth had to release yang energy upwards.
[1] Okay here’s Takemikazuchi holding down an onamazu.
Up top you can see the god Daikokuten, a god of wealth, showering money onto these workers.
Remember blue collar workers were rolling in money after the earthquake.
[2] Here’s an onamazu shooting coins out of its blowhole.
You may be asking, “Why does a catfish have a blowhole?” and the answer is:
artists are not zoologists.
No, the onamazu actually represents Western steamships.
The Japanese commonly called them “black ships.”
The money is blowing out from the place where the smokestack of a steamship would be.
This artist must have thought that Western trade would bring them fortune.
[3] Here’s some people beating up a catfish in drag.
They’re in front of a brothel and the catfish is saying, “Hey you fools, the earthquake
gave you this brothel and money.”
[4] Some more people beating up onamazu.
They’re all wearing nice clothes because they’re the rich who were most affected
by the earthquake.
Some workers in black are trying to protect him.
[5] More catfish abuse.
[6] Here’s Takemikazuchi’s rock that was supposed to hold the onamazu.
In this picture, Takemikazuchi has gone to Kami-con and left another god, Ebisu, to take
care of things, but this lazy bum has fallen asleep and allowed the onamazu to wreak havoc
on Edo.
These are kind of light-hearted right, considering they just had a deadly earthquake.
But remember it mostly affected the rich, so these commoners creating art didn’t feel
too bad about it.
Oh, there’s also a dude pooping drums.
[7] Takemikazuchi and an onamazu playing tug-of-war with their necks.
The fancy elites are cheering on Takemikazuchi while commoners stan with onamazu.
[8] Scientology meeting.
[9] Catfish and workers enjoying the pleasure quarters.
Now don’t think that onamazu only exist in the old days.
In Final Fantasy 14, the Namazu tribe will destroy you with cuteness.
In Legend of Zelda, you can get from an onamazu the Quake Medallion,
which lets you call forth earthquakes.
The pokemon Whiscash is based on a catfish, and it causes earthquakes.
There’s a dude in Dragonball GT named Zoonama who lives in an underground cave
and can cause earthquakes.
Yeah.
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Alright, much love guys, and spread the knowledge!