Obake Series #2: Kyuketsuki Brine

A Vampire Spirit, the Kyuketsuki Brine sucks on the blood of flowers and can turn itself into a bee.

.

These Swan Songs To Thee

(Collage by Krystyna for Lee's Xmas present)

My Work 09

My Artwork: Obake Series #1 樹木子

Click Image for full size version

Jubokko/Vampire Tree

Anyone who knows me knows I love Japan. And J-Horror. I'm talking the good stuff; Junji Ito & Suehiro Maruo comics, and some Tartan Asia Extreme films such as Tale Of Two Sisters. I have always had a passion for ghosty goodness; it fascinates me.

At the moment, I have a growing obsession with trees and the folklore surrounding them. This piece begins a series based on Japanese Folklore and Obake (ghosts) & Kami (spirits). It is said a lot of these spirits live in trees or haunt them, and I am increasingly interested in why trees seem to hold a certain powerful energy of sorts, seeming to be used throughout the world's folklore in a variety of different supernatural ways.

'Jubokko are said to thirst for and suck blood. According to some tales, they were born by growing near carnage places or battlefields where so much blood was shed on the ground that it was sucked up in great quantities by their roots.

Folklore stipulates Jubokko are not like other trees; if a jubokko is cut, it will bleed red blood. However, they are also fast healers and any branch taken from a Jubokko, with permission, can be used to heal and purify. Jubokko may also hide themselves amongst other trees and bushes, and they may even appear to alter the flora around them. They may make it easy for someone to become lost in the nearby forest, through communication with other plants.'

My Work 2008