The Filipino culture is chock full of folklore.  The legend of the Manananggal is, by far, one of the most widely known and one of the most frightening.  A good friend of mine from UC Irvine, Derrick Yanga, shared his personal interpretation of the Manananggal.  According to Derrick, he Manananggal are “monsters” that are disguised as beautiful women by day.  But at night, their upper torso separates from their lower body.  They fly through the night and go to people’s houses., in which pregnant women are living.  They have incredibly long tongues, so that they can eat the unborn children in the expecting mothers.  The only way to kill the Manananggal is to put salt on their lower bodies so that they can’t attach themselves again.  Also, according to Derrick, he believes that the Manananggal die during the day if they are exposed to sunlight.

Derrick first heard of the legend of the Manananggal as a young boy visiting the Philippines.  Derrick was about thirteen when he first heard this story on this particular visit to the Philippines.  His uncles were sharing the story to him and his cousins, in an effort to try to educate the young kids, and simultaneously scare them.  Derrick, as many other native Filipinos, believes firmly in the legend of the Manananggal.  Due to the heavy supernatural activity that occurs in the Philippines, things of such a nature do not come as much of a surprise to Filipinos.

According to official sources, the Manananggal are, in fact, beautiful women by day.  Men flock to them, and, in turn, these adoring men are then “recruited” and turned into their consorts who guard their queens fanatically, especially when the inanimate bodies of the beautiful Manananggal are most vulnerable: at night.  In Tagalog, the main dialect of the Philippines, the word Manananggal more or less means “self-remover.”  The reason for this is that, at night, the Mananggal, whose bodies are hour-glass shaped with incredibly narrow waists, twist their bodies around so much and so tightly that their upper halves detach themselves from the rest of their bodies and they then travel with their arms transformed into wings, and their internal organs hanging from their severed torsos.  A telltale sign that you are in the presence of a Manananggal is the smell of vinegar.  Vinegar is a fluid that preserves their ghastly parasitical cohabitation with their daytime body.  Like Derrick mentioned, the Manananggal prey on the unborn fetuses in pregnant women’s bodies, by overextending their incredibly long tongues.  Also, as Derrick mentioned, salt is the key in killing and defeating the Manananggal.  However, the only way to kill them is to first get past their adoring male companions, who guard and protect the separated lower halves of their bodies.  Moreover, if the Manananggal cannot reunite with the lower half of her body by sunrise, she dies.  The salt prevents the two halves from rejoining.  The Manananggal are subjects, in a way, or a different version of the Aswang, which are perhaps the strongest and most powerful supernatural, transformational, corpse-loving group of beings in Filipino folklore.

Annotation: More on the Manananggal can be found in

Ghostwise: A Book of Midnight Stories

Dan Yashinsky

august house 1997, pp. 34 – 39

The Japanese—similar to my people, Filipinos—employ a lot of folklore and supernatural myths in their culture.  My good friend, Amina, who was raised in Japan, though originally born in Kuwait, shared with me the story of the Kokeshi Dolls.  Kokeshi dolls resemble young girls in Japan from ancient times, who used to play with these very dolls.  Back in their time, the young girls would play with small dolls, keeping them as constant companions by their sides—the Kokeshi dolls.  These young girls from yesteryear are now the Shakiwarshi, which are little girl ghosts.  These Kokeshi dolls, being from ancient times, hold significant meaning to the Japanese people.  Essentially, the dolls inhabit the spirits of the young girls; they are possessed by the Shakiwarshi.

These dolls, being possessed by supernatural forces, have been observed to have such tendencies as cry with tears of blood, or even tear the regular salt-water tears.  The long black hair of the Kokeshi dolls has even been said to continue to grow on their own.  Since the Japanese value the sanctity of their ancestors, and believe that if they are to rid themselves of a Kokeshi doll that that doll would haunt them, are very careful in the ways in which they choose to disregard themselves of the Kokeshi.  Rather than just completely disregarding the dolls, they are usually given away to shrines so that they can still continue to serve some purpose.  If careful measures are not taken in ridding of a Kokeshi doll, the doll may very well curse and haunt the last possessor.

In Japan, in households that housea lot of children, there are normally several Kokeshi dolls who are just looking for a youthful companion.  Normally, they are harmless and merely just want someone with whom to play.  The Kokeshi play with mari, which are little bouncing balls.  As the Kokeshi bounce these balls, they even tend to sing little songs, chants of some sorts, all the while.  The sound of the bouncing ball and the echo of a small, distant chant are tell-tale signs that a Kokeshi is in your presence.  The Kokeshi appear in doorways of households, just looking for childhood companions.

Amina feels as though she had had an encounter with the Kokeshi when she were younger in Japan.  When she was about four years old, at her grandparents’ house—the house in which her mom grew up—in Japan, Amina recalls hearing the sound of bouncing balls as she climbed the stairs.  She saw a small person’s shadow, and heard the sound of a ball, but did not hear any of the accompanying chants or laughs that normally come with a Kokeshi doll.

It seems as though the Japanese people are not so much scared of the Kokeshi dolls, but that they highly recognize the supernatural beings in their culture, as well as respect the past and respect their elders—which is very characteristic of such cultures, specific to Asia, as the Chinese and Japanese culture.  The Kokeshi seem to be a friendly, if anything, aspect of their folkloric culture, and should not be seen as a frightening threat.