The Hannya is often seen characterized on Japanese masks.
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Introduction
The hannya is a demonic woman with vampire-like qualities from Japanese lore. She is very jealous and is described as having two sharp horns poking from her head, eyes that are known to glare, and a large mouth. When opened, the mouth stretches from ear to ear. She eats children and drinks their blood. She is very popular and can be seen in many mask designs throughout Japan. The masks expression has her mouth open and is suppose to capture her anger and wrath. The oldest hannya mask is from 1558.
The Mask
When the mask is used in popular plays the coloration of the mask will depend on how angry she is. The redder her face the more angry she is. For example in a play known as Dodoji, which is a play about a woman who falls inlove with a priest from the Dodoji Temple, the hannya is very violent. She turns herself into an evil serpent and slithers up to the bell at the top of the temple. She wraps herself around it and eats it then turns against the priest and devours him as well. In other plays when she is not so angry her face is portrayed with a paler yellow mask.
Interesting Fact:
In modern day Japan when a wife gets angry or jealous the man will put his two index fingers out from his forehead to symbolize the hannya.
The Dearg-Diulai, a vampire from Irish lore.
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Introduction
The Dearg-Diulai is a vampire from Irish lore. The name, when translated, means “red blood sucker.” This vampire takes the shape of a beautiful woman. She waits on travelers in unpopulated areas. It was believed that the spirit could not rest in peace until she finds a female to take her place. In Waterford, there is a specific Dearg-Diulai legend where a dearg-diulai would lure men by offering sex, then sucks their blood.
The Evil Man
The Dearg-Diulai doesn’t necessarily have to be a female, there is one legend of a male that comes from the county of Derry. A man named Abhartach was said to have performed many evil deeds on local residents. After hearing stories from several of these people, the village chieftan killed him and buried Abhartach standing up (which was how they buried people in Celtic tradition).
The Next Day
The next day his spirit rose up from the grave and drank blood from the people in the village. He was killed again by the chieftain and was reburied. He reappeared the following night and once again drank blood. The chieftain, receiving advice from a Druid, stabbed Abhartach with a sword made of yew. After he died for the third time, they buried him upside down and weighted him down with a massive rock that was covered in mountain ash, which was thought to repel evil. After that occurrence, Avhartach was not seen again.
The Empusa is a vampire from Greek lore.
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The Empusa when directly translated from Greek, means simply “vampire.” In Greek legends, vampires are demons that takes over a corpses. It has no particular shape, but it sometimes takes the shape of a young woman or a phantom. It enters a human’s body and drinks all of their blood. It prefers blood from a young healthy person, and the Empusa believe that a youthful person’s blood is more pure and strong.
The Drunken Boy, from Japanese lore.
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The Drunken Boy, from Japanese lore, is a demonic ogre that drinks the blood of his targets. He often wears red and tends to favor women as his victims. In medieval Japanese lore, a hero named Raiko disguises himself and gets into the Drunken Boy’s lair. Raiko finds the ogre and others sucking blood from young females. He then shows himself and decapitates the ogre. He takes the head back to Miyako (Kyoto) and saves the women.
