The sign says, “Baby kyonshii,” but you’d be hard put to find it spelled with two i‘s in any Internet search. Actually, on the sign it’s more like “BEBII KYONSHII.”
A kyonshi, or jiang shi, in Chinese, is a zombie that seeks to rob people of their qi (ki, in Japanese), or their life essence/soul. They are stiff, so they hold their arms out and usually hop toward their victims. They can be temporarily sedated, however, by tacking a piece of paper with a spell on it to their foreheads. Kyonshi have been the subjects of quite a number of movies, having enjoyed a following not unlike the vampire fans in America. In fact, kyonshi movies have adopted vampire characteristics to keep up with the current fads.Â
I saw one of the kyonshi movies while I was in Japan, but at the time I did not know what they were called. But there it is, written right on the sign!
I don’t understand the name, but this snow sculpture is labeled “black stones.” It is likely some cartoon character. The sign also says something about skiing, and if you look closely, you can tell the creature is wearing skis and is holding ski poles.
This structure looks like concrete, but it’s all snow and ice.
We’ve seen this one before, but at this angle you can get a better 3-D perspective and see more contrast. Yes, this is the one with the creepy clown, but you get to see him (it?) face-on in this view.
Amazing that this ice man hadn’t totally melted yet. Looks like he might be holding a flute.
Check out the director and the movie cameraman.
The sign behind this group of sculptures confirms my earlier suspicions that this was the 40th Sapporo Snow Festival, or Yuki Matsuri.