Japanese Folklore. The Tongue-Cut Sparrow: The spiritual symbolism of the Shita-kiri Suzume folktale.
The discovery that this "fairy tale" was treated as a legal reality in 1661, appearing on a government land dispute map in Gunma Prefecture, which suggests the story served as a codified warning about...
26 Nov 202512min
The Story of O-Tei: A Vow Stronger Than Death
In this podcast, we explore "The Story of O-Tei," a well-known tale from Lafcadio Hearn's Kwaidan. The story is about a young woman who, on her deathbed, promises to be reborn and find her beloved aga...
17 Nov 202510min
Why the Norse Cosmos Was Fated for Destruction
The Norse universe wasn't built for peace. Its creation from a murdered giant (Ymir) means that chaos is an inherent, inescapable part of the world, making the final, violent doom of Ragnarok an inevi...
10 Nov 202524min
The conceptual evolution of the "demon," from the neutral Greek daimon to the malevolent entity of Christian theology
In this podcast, we explore the history of the "demon." It's a word we all know, but its meaning has changed dramatically. This episode traces that journey. We start in ancient Greece, where the daimo...
10 Nov 202518min
Tsuru no Ongaeshi: A Japanese Folktale of Love, Sacrifice, and Greed
The tale is not just about a magical reward, but a tragic warning. It explores how human greed (or curiosity) corrupts a supernatural gift, forcing the crane wife to literally unmake herself (plucking...
8 Nov 202514min
Japanese Folklore: Can Grief Turn a Man Into a Demon?
The idea that the purest love and most profound grief can corrupt a holy man into a monster, and that the same obsessive energy, when redirected, can become the path to salvation.In this episode of th...
3 Nov 202513min
The legend of Minamoto no Yoshitsune and his loyal warrior monk, Benkei.
The paradox that Yoshitsune's military genius and immense popularity, which won a war for his clan, were the very qualities that led his own brother to betray and destroy him.This podcast episode delv...
24 Okt 202523min
The legend of the Ganjō-ji temple mermaid mummy and the story of the nun and the page.
The popular idea of a "ghostly nun" at Ganjō-ji is a modern myth; the true, ancient legend is a tragic story of a mermaid who fell in love with a human nun, only to be killed and mummified by jealous ...
14 Okt 20255min
