Summary
Silent Hill f’scadre of monsters is shaping up to be a feast ofJapanese ghost, demon, and creature referencesand deep cuts. Producer Motoi Okamoto and various staff members said in the SILENT HILL transmission last March that the game would return to the series’ Japanese horror roots, with a theme of beauty in terror. To this end, they hired monster creature and character designer Kera, who took cues fromSilent Hill 2and her brand of legendary monsters.
If kera’s art seems familiar, she’s done amazing creature design work forLast Chronicle, Wizards of the Coast,Servant of Thrones,Romancing Saga, andSpirit Hunter: NG. She also contributed pieces to the mega art book,Legend of Monsters, which proves her incredible ability to draw from various mythologies, urban legends, traditions, and lore. Here are someJapanese ghosts, demons, and other creatures that may make an appearance inSilent Hill f, and possible yokai inspirations for the game’s known monsters so far.
10Hanya, Hime Uo, And Other Horrific Female Spirits
Hinako’s Worst Fears Codified In Haunting Female-Shaped Creatures
Silent Hill’s monsters,especially its bosses, are emblematic of its protagonist’s fears, psyche, hidden desires and thoughts, and repressed fears. It’s no surprise that the first few monsters revealed forSilent Hill fare female-coded, to protagonist Hinako Shimizu’s disdain.
It won’t be surprising if more monsters are revealed to be female-looking ghosts, spirits, or demons, or spring from Japanese traditions and rituals involving women and coming-of-age tales. The Hangoko, or spirit calling incense, for example, calls spirits of the dead back fleetingly. In most stories, it’s used tocall back female ghosts. Other candidates include:
9Jorogumo And Tsuchigumo, Spider-Like Yokai
It’s Not A Japanese Countryside Horror Game Without Spiders
Gumo is the Japanese word for spider, andjorogumoandtsuchigumoareboth spider yokai. They live in forests and caves, and feed on humans, but Jorogumo prefers virile men and doesn’t mind cities, while Tsuchigumo eats all humans and sticks to rural areas.
Jorogumo fits with the female-centric monsters ofSilent Hill fhas shown so far, matching theSilent Hillnarrative of the town haunting its targets with creatures from their psyche or repressed thoughts. However, Tsuchigumo are masters of illusions. It wouldn’t be amiss to see a horrifying mix of the two.
8Oi-Omoi May Come From Doll Funerals
Represents Japan’s Doll Lore And Hinako’s Fears
Oi-omoihave distinctly Western-style/Furansu/Sakura doll limbs and clothes, and a head/hair shape similar to the ichimatsu ningyo, a traditional Japanese doll seen in the firstSilent Hill fteaser. This doll monster may represent a few things about Hinako’s fears.
On the website, Konami warns: “This game is set in Japanin the 1960sand contains depictions based on the customs and culture of that time.” Hinako is also stated to be under pressure from her surroundings to make a decision about her future. This could be pressure to marry her childhood friend, Shu, or a similar expectation to grow up and settle down.
It is worth noting that dolls are a prominent feature in Japanese folklore. Hanayomeningyo (bride dolls) are dedicated to children and youth who died before marriage. Okiku-chan is a doll haunted by its deceased child owner. Dolls themselves have funerals, ningyo kuyo,if they’re unwanted.
7Vengeful Women And Demons May Have Inspired Kashimashi
Tortured Women Take The Place Of Nurses In 60s Japan
Because of their jerky, unnatural movements,Kashimashimay act asSilent Hill f’sversion of nurses. In kun’yomi, or the Japanese reading of Chinese characters (kanji), “kashimashi (姦しい/かしましい)” means noisy or boisterous. Another kun reading is adultery/illicit sex (姦する/かんする/kansuru). However, when read in on’yomi or historical Chinese readings, it can be interpreted as wicked (奸/カン/kan) or rape (強姦/ゴウカン/goukan).
Kashimashi also appear as a sown-together woman, or one stabbed repeatedly with an implement like the knife they carry. Their doll-like features also have melted or warped parts, and their feet end in animal-like paws.
Kashimashi may stem from yurei, or vengeful spirits born from violent deaths who return to haunt the living until their unfinished business is resolved. However, their violent nature more accurately describes the onryo, malevolent spirits that relentlessly pursue violent revenge.
6Ayakakashi As Vengeful Spirits Hiding Horrors Behind Noh Masks
A Mask Can Hide The Deceased’s Death Face To Preserve Beauty
One ofSilent Hill f’s guiding design principles is beauty so perfect that it crosses through the uncanny and into terror. TheNoh masks of the Ayakakashican disguise those imperfections and, as is their role in Noh theater, give these mutilated girls a new role. Covering the imperfections or possiblecorruption of these schoolgirlsalso plays into some ofSilent Hill f’s content warnings: “gender discrimination, child abuse, bullying.”
The name Ayakakashi, the creature’s default pose, and their presence in foggy rice fields also evoke scarecrows or kakashi. Forestry and agriculture play a huge part in Gero, a city formed by a village and three towns, including Kanayama, the real-world inspiration forSilent Hill f’s Ebisugaoka. Several Shinto shrines in Gero are dedicated to deities who have dominion over agriculture.
Moreover, they partly share a name with the Ayakashi (although all monster names so far are rendered in katakana). The Ayakashi are yokai that appear on thesurface of the water. Traditional depictions show tentacles, keeping in line with other monsters like the ara-abare.
5Shinigami Luring People To Their Deaths, Under Izanami’s Watch
Malevolence That Invites Mortals To Their Peril
IgnoringBleachandDeath Note,Shinigamiin Japanese mythology are evil yokai that fill humans with the desire to die. Shinigami are said to linger in places that have seen death, like sites where murder and/or suicide took place.
Historical depictions of Shinigami show themwith horrific mutationsand their authority in the afterlife, though designs vary by time period. As an example, some view Izanami, Shinto goddess of creation and death, as the first Shinigami. Interestingly, Izanami raised the world’s landmass with Izanagi using the spear Ame-no-Nuboko, commonly depicted as a naginata, or Hinako’s preferred weapon.
Symbolically, Shinigami fit withSilent Hill f,representing the thematic contrast of terror as beauty. Functionally, Shinigami may act as obstacles to Hinako as a non-traditional enemy unit. Players may have to struggle to get Hinako through their sections, as if they’re grappling enemies fromFatal Frame.
4Octopus Yokai And Possible Illness Behind The Ara-abare
Grotesquery Disguised And Covered In Blooms
Ara-abareis immediately striking for its hybrid appearance, combining octopus tentacles with flowers associated with deathand cancerous growths. If a character has a terminal illness, it would explain Konami’s warning of the game having “drug-induced hallucinations.” On the other hand, its aqueous appearance evokes images of octopus yokai.
Akkorokamui are adapted from the Ainu god, Atkor Kamuy, who swallows whole ships in Hokkaido’s Uchiura Bay. The giant spider Yaushikep transformed into Akkorokamui after the god of the sea, Repun Kamuy, pulled it into the bay as punishment for attacking villagers. The carnivorous Yazaimondako, meanwhile, is named after the man who it killed for taking seven of its legs.
3Silent Hill f’s Cult God May Draw From Susanoo, Amaterasu, And Kushinandahime
The Blooming Of Spider Lilies In Autumn Evokes Sun, Plague, And Harvest
Red spider lilies, or higanbana, feature prominently inSilent Hill f, with their tendrils, along with cancerous growths, serving as the game’s equivalent of rust as visual shorthand to depictneglect and decay. Higanbana bloom around the autumnal equinox, which heralds ohigan/higan-e, the Buddhist holiday honoring the dead.
The deeply Buddhist Emperor Shomu in the 8th century held the first ohigan, aiming tomerge church and state, similar to the later Meiji era integration of Shinto and indigenous beliefs. The merging of these beliefs lead to an interesting twisting of what gods symbolize.
Ohigan itself takes place during the autumnal equinox, a period with plenty of harvest and shrine festivals. The sun goddessAmaterasuand her brother, the storm godSusanoo, are both associated with agriculture.
Susanoo was conflated with foreign Buddhist gods—specifically, Gozu Tenno—in the Kamakura period. Gozu Tenno had origins as adeity of pestilence, but was eventually worshipped by the Gion cult as a protector.
Susannoo’s chief wife,Kushinadahime, is also worshipped by the Gion cult, although she is also a Shinto goddess in her own right. She was destined to be sacrificed to the many-headed serpent Yamata-no-Orochi, but was saved by Susanoo. Kushinadahime is considered the goddess of rice, marriage, and love, among others.
2Priest Yokai Are Possibly The Corrupted Form Of Hinako’s Friend
Silent Hill f’s First Revealed Boss May Be A Character’s Worst Fate
Igarashi Sakuko isa friend ofHinako and Shu who helps with the ritual duties at her family’s local Shinto shrine, likely as a miko or shrine maiden. Because of this, and the low-hanging pigtails on the first boss shown inSilent Hillf’s first trailer, fans are speculating that she is the unfortunate jawless priest.
Shinto priests, or kannushi, have fewer recorded myths than Buddhist monks. However, Shinto priests preside over exorcisms and ritual purifications to purge kegare, or defilement/uncleanness related to death, childbirth, disease, rape,and menstruation.
The female-like priest missing her jaw may also be based on kuchisake-onna. This onryo asks victims if it’s beautiful, and will slit their face ear to ear if they say yes twice, or kill them with her scissors if they say no.
Interestingly, the halo around the jawless priest’s head is reminiscent of typical depictions of Amaterasu, like the woodblock print by Kunisada. Although Amaterasu is chief among thepantheon of Shinto, a religion older than Buddhism, she—like her brother—was associated with a foreign deity, in this case, the Buddha Mahavairocana.
1The Flower Woman In Silent HIll f’s Trailer May Be A Flower Yokai
Furutsubaki No Rei, Hanayomeningyo, And Tsunokakushi-Related
In the firstSilent Hill fteaser trailer, a feminine figure crosses a torii gate in a lake as red spider lilies bloom on corpses. Flowers, fungi-like tendrils, and flesh tentacles grow on her and, as they reach her weeping face, it falls off, revealing a fungi-like, hollow cross-section.
Torii are symbolic gateways in Shinto that mark holy places and entrances to the spiritual world. On the other hand, spirits cross the Sanzu River in Japanese Buddhist tradition to reach the afterlife. Given the strong religious or cult themes of theSilent Hillseries, this may be a process like the Ritual of the Holy Assumption, or other rituals to summon a corrupted deity.
The flowers surrounding the woman also have significance, and point to the kind of yokai it may reference. Red spider lilies, the flower most commonly associated with death in Japanese folklore, bloom in the river of the dead. Flowers associated with eitherfleeting beauty and life, or death, also crawl up the woman: cherry blossoms, chrysanthemum, dahlia, and camellia.
Furutsubaki no rei are yokai born from long-living tsubaki or camellia trees. These yokai appear as beautiful women who can either trick people or warn them of impending disaster. Camellia are associated with death; thus, it’s considered taboo to send camellia flowers to the convalescent.
There’s a myth in particular from Ogaki, Gifu—the same prefecture asSilent Hill f’s town—where locals planted a tsubaki on the grave of a man who died after he robbedan ancient burial mound. A ghostly woman appeared at the site by night once the tsubaki had grown old.
The flower woman’s head was also coiffed by flowers in a style reminiscent of tsunokakushi, or the headdress worn by brides in Shinto weddings. This can tie into hanayomeningyo and the tradition of ghost marriages, and possible anxieties of women at the time.
