Bake-Kujira

Bake-Kujira (化け鯨 Bake-Kujira, lit. Monster Whale) is a whale skeleton yōkai.
==Appearance==
Bake-Kujira is a gigantic yōkai, resembling a whale skeleton, however, their structure does not correspond to any real-life cetacean skeletons. Their skull is rounded with empty eye sockets and a mouth that has a row of sharp teeth on their upper jaw, overall their facial structure gives them the impression of a permanent scowl. They have a simple spine with a long set of ribs that reaches their flukes and are more compact. Their flippers and flukes appear to be made of black flesh and are somewhat glossy and tattered. From an outer view the space between their bones is black, but from within Bake-Kujira's body is actual flesh.
==Personality==
Medama-Oyaji noted that little is known about Bake-Kujira, and hypothesized that Bake-Kujira is an "entity, like a formation of whale spirits".
Bake-Kujira in the series has been noted as powerful but kind-natured, protecting the graveyard of whales, spirits of whales, and the ocean and its wildlife, hence being called the "Sea's Guardian Yōkai" (海の守護妖怪 Umi-no-Shugo-Yōkai) in the Yōkai Sen Monogatari. Bake-Kujira is also generous to let the soul of Shizuko's Father, a whale biologist who died trying to find the graveyard of the whales and Bake-Kujria to reside within the graveyard of whales, knowing the biologist loved and adored whales. After the battle in Tokyo Bay, Bake-Kujira quietly swam to let Kitarō and others sleep on the back on the way to send them back.
Although Bake-Kujira attacked notorious humans, it was to call Kitarō and others including Shizuko the daughter of the biologist, to reunite the father and the daughter, and to warn humanity not to disturb the sanctuary and the environment.
Later, he saved and helped Kitarō and the others on several occasions, even to travel long distances and to battle against foes.
They are unable to speak the human language, instead, they communicate through whale songs similar to that of baleen whales.
==History==
===1996 Anime===
Bake-Kujira appears in episode #18 of the fourth anime adaptation, Deep Sea Mystery! Bake-Kujira.GeGeGe no Kitarō (1996): Episode 18 
Bake-Kujira later appeared in Series 4 Episode 98 and Series 4 Episode 99 and Series 4 Episode 104 to help Kitarō and others. In episode 98, Bake-Kujira saved Kitarō and the others from Viy and attacked it.GeGeGe no Kitarō (1996): Episode 98GeGeGe no Kitarō (1996): Episode 99
Bake-Kujira later helped the Kitarō Family to search and save missing Kitarō, and saved the family from Kyūketsuju's children, exterminating them with seawater.GeGeGe no Kitarō (1996): Episode 104
===Yōkai Sen Monogatari===
Bake-Kujira aided Kitarō to battle against Han-Gyojin on his Ōika.GeGeGe no Kitarō: Yōkai Sen Monogatari: Surprise! The Yōkai of Sea Han-Gyojin
==Powers and Abilities==
Cetacean Physiology: Being a whale spirit, Bake-Kujira's physiology is that of a whale, albeit a skeleton of one. They are a capable and extremely fast swimmer, even being able to completely breach out of water. Like living whales, they are able to spray out water through their blowhole. Because of their immense size they are able to capsize small ships, create large waves by lashing their tail fin and overwhelm large foes such as Viy in close combat. Because of the lack of flesh, they can withstand Viy's blizzard freezing them.
*Habitable Anatomy: Bake-Kujira can also keep smaller beings within their body, where they exit through the whale yōkai's blowhole. Bake-Kujira can also recover frozen allies by the same method.
Water Cannon: In Yuru-i GeGeGe no Kitarō: Yōkai Dotabata Daisensō, Bake-Kujira is capable of firing a powerful water breath from its mouth. Mechanical counterparts of the Yōkai fire energy beams instead.
Immense Spiritual Energy: Bake-Kujira is noted to possess a large amount of spiritual energy by Kitarō. Bake-Kujira can glow with a green aura.
==Legend==
Although there have been many ghost stories involving whales in Japan, Shigeru Mizuki's Bake-Kujira was based on a specific story from his home region; once long ago, an enormous skeletal whale appeared off the coast of Shimane Prefecture, accompanied by a host of strange fish and ominous birds. A fisherman tried throwing his harpoon at it, but it had no effect, and the ghost whale continued out to sea with its eerie multitude. While majority of ghost stories involving whales in Japan feature whale spirits and sea gods to curse and punish on humanity and leave severe damages on societies, the story of Bake-Kujira is a rare case without such happenings.
Mizuki noted that his "experience" with Bake-Kujira. It was when he started working on a kamishibai titled Bake-Kujira, telling a story of a man who kept eating whale meat gradually turns into a whale. However, as he nearly finished the work, he suddenly had a fever with unknown causes and even a doctor couldn't detect the factor. Mizuki then stopped working on the kamishibai, and the fever suddenly cured. Mizuki referred this event as a curse of Bake-Kujira. When Bake-Kujira was featured on the fourth series, one or more staff(s) worked on the episode(s) are said to became ill. Hiroshi Hashimato, one of storywriters revealed that he was worrying about the curse.Kodansha, 1998, 水木しげるvs.京極夏彦 ゲゲゲの鬼太郎解体新書, pp.76-77, ISBN 4-06-330048-X
However, Mizuki described in another book that it was not Bake-Kujira, but Bake-Garasu episode where Mizuki suffered a sudden illness.「別冊新評 水木しげるの世界」
==Trivia==
*In Mizuki's original illustrations, Bake-Kujira has multiple ridges on the fluke.
*Mizuki noted that his Bake-Kujira's design was based on old paintings from Europe that depicted whales with imaginary characteristics. His original illustration of Bake-Kujira could have been inspired by the artwork La Baleine et le Fretin by Rodolphe Bresdin in 1868.水木しげる元ねたコレクション
*In the 1996 anime, Bake-Kujira's blowhole's position differs between their appearances, being located within their spine near their skull or by the skull itself. Bake-Kujira's blow is "V" or fountain-shaped, more akin to that of baleen whales.
*In Mizuki Shigeru's Bizarre Masterpiece Collection: The Great Mysterious Land of Yōkai (化け鯨 水木しげるの怪奇名画集大妖奇境 Mizuki Shigeru no Kaiki-mei gashū taiyōki sakai) published in Shonen Magazine (1969), Bake-Kujira is called Gaikotsu-Kyogei (がいこつ巨鯨, lit. Skeleton Giant Whale).化け鯨 水木しげるの怪奇名画集大妖奇境 Mizuki Shigeru's Bizarre Masterpiece Collection - Bake-Kujira
*In Yuru-i GeGeGe no Kitarō: Yōkai Dotabata Daisensō, Bake-Kujira gained mechanical counterparts that are not its direct evolved forms but robots mimicking the Yōkai. This is somewhat similar to the concept of Dai-Kaijū and Iron Dai-Kaijū.
*In the original manga and 1971 and 2018 anime adaptations, it was Kitarō whose soul was entrapped within the body of Ōika by Han-Gyojin to overfish, and was attacked by a sperm whale after Kitarō severely depleted fish in the vicinity on the contrary to the situation in the Yōkai Sen Monogatari where Kitarō summoned Bake-Kujira, a guardian of the nature, to fight against Han-Gyojin and Ōika.
==References==
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