JJRS > Volume 32 Issue 2 Virtual Kamikakushi: An Element of Folk Belief in Changing Times and Media

Staemmler, Birgit

Download PDF

This paper looks at the way in which kamikakushi, a term from Japanese folk belief, is presented in different media, particularly the World Wide Web. The core definition of kamikakushi is the sudden and mysterious disappearance of individuals attributed to their abduction by some supernatural being. It becomes evident that not only more peripheral aspects vary, such as the identity of abductee and abducting being, but that presentations of kamikakushi also increasingly deviate from the core definition. Depending strongly on genre and context kamikakushi is explained as caused by supernatural beings, human villains, or people simply losing their way.