Osaka ¨C In Japan, when there¡¯s something strange ¡ª and I mean strange ¡ª in your neighborhood, it might be the work of a Ñý¹Ö (²â¨°ì²¹¾±).
The word Ñý¹Ö features two kanji that can both mean ¡°strange¡± when used in the words ¹Ö¤·¤¤ (ayashii) and Ñý¤·¤¤ (ayashii). The kanji compound was first recorded in the ¡°¾AÈÕ±¾¼o¡± (¡°Shoku Nihongi,¡± 797), a text that posited there were always Ñý¹Ö present in the courts. Something rotten in the state of Denmark, indeed.
At the time, Ñý¹Ö did not refer to beings but to strange phenomena. Whether they were supernatural or mundane is unknown, but this usage of the term persisted through the Kamakura Period (1185-1333).
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