Popular Japanese folklore and superstitions

DISMDRIVE Research released their 81st Ranking Research results, and one of these was a look at what folklore or superstitions people worry about. 4,597 people replied with the single (I think) superstition that they pay most attention to. 2,383 of the respondents, or 51.8%, were male.

This is a fun one for me, as the folk traditions here are often very different from home; I have never heard here of walking under a ladder being unlucky (probably because all ladders get coned off and have two guys waving batons to steer you round the obstacle), urinating on a bee sting seems a very popular (but totally ineffective) antidote, and PET bottles lined up outside houses to scare off cats don’t work.

Note that effect of black cats crossing your path is…umm, I’m not sure any more! Back home in Scotland it was good luck (I think – my memory’s going!) but in Japan it’s bad luck, according to this survey. I remember the Tom and Jerry cartoons where they’d have a black cat causing bad luck, so perhaps that’s the American belief. This random web page says that Japan is good luck, so I am now totally confused!

Q: Please tell me the superstition that you can’t help worrying about. (Sample size=4,597, free answer)

Rank	Superstition	Votes
1	If you cut your nails at night, your parents will die before you can see them again	624
2	Don’t point at hearses, ambulances, graveyards, etc	500
3	Whistle at night and snakes (or robbers) will come	275
4	It’s bad luck if a black cat crosses your path	140
5	Sneezing is evidence that someone’s gossipping about you	120
6	It’s not good to mix eel and dried plum	97
7=	It’s a bad omen to sleep with your pillow facing north	93
7=	Giving someone a cold will cure yours	93
9	Lie down soon after eating and you’ll turn into a cow	87
10	New shoes are to be first worn in the morning	84

The mixing eel and dried plum one has me confused! If anyone knows anything more about this, or any of the others, please leave a comment. Sleeping with your head northward is bad luck because that’s how dead bodies are oriented.

Q: Please tell me the superstition that you can’t help worrying about. (Sample size=4,597, by sex, free answer)

Rank	Superstition	Male votes N=2,383	Rank	Superstition	Female votes N=2,212
1	If you cut your nails at night, your parents will die before you can see them again	195	1	If you cut your nails at night, your parents will die before you can see them again	429
2	Don’t point at hearses, ambulances, graveyards, etc	163	2	Don’t point at hearses, ambulances, graveyards, etc	337
3	Whistle at night and snakes (or robbers) will come	98	3	Whistle at night and snakes (or robbers) will come	177
4=	Giving someone a cold will cure yours	53	4	It’s bad luck if a black cat crosses your path	89
4=	Lie down soon after eating and you’ll turn into a cow	53	5	Sneezing is evidence that someone’s gossipping about you	69
4=	It’s not good to mix eel and dried plum	53	6	New shoes are to be first worn in the morning	62
4=	Urinate on a worm and your willy will swell (not that kind of swelling!)	53	7	It’s a bad omen to sleep with your pillow facing north	45
8=	It’s bad luck if a black cat crosses your path	51	8	It’s not good to mix eel and dried plum	44
8=	Sneezing is evidence that someone’s gossipping about you	51	9	Giving someone a cold will cure yours	40
10	It’s a bad omen to sleep with your pillow facing north	48	10=	A tea stalk floating upright in a cup is an auspicious omen	39
			10=	Don’t kill a spider in the morning (or evening)	39

That’s a strange one about worms (how many opportunities does one have to be in that situation anyway, given modern plumbing?), and I wonder what is supposed to happen if you do kill a spider in the morning or evening?

Looking at the detailed age breakdown for other interesting or strange superstitions, 3 of the 64 teenage boys and 5 of the 106 teenage girls said idiots don’t catch colds. As a cat person myself, 3 teenage girls also were concerned that if a cat is washing her face, rain will come. A few people reported that a crow’s cry is a herald of bad luck. There were a significant number who said both yawning and periods were infectious; aren’t they both true, though – women who live together do tend to fall into sync, I believe. Another interesting Japanese superstition mentioned was dying after 100 hiccups. A few women in their forties selected a Japanese variant of “Bad things always come in threes.” Some men in their fifties said eating watermelon and tempura together was bad in some unspecified way.