Essay: Liminality in Yu Yu Hakusho

          

           In mangaka Yoshihiro Togashi’s popular manga series (followed by an even more popular anime) Yu Yu Hakusho, many characters exist in some state of liminality. That is, they operate in the malleable space between one state of being and another, or they are between “worlds,” straddling the boundary between the mortal “Human World” and the supernatural realms of “Spirit World” and “Demon World.” Indeed, the boundaries of the “real world” are often broken in this series, whether it be travel between worlds or the dual nature of most of the series’ important characters.

            The series even begins with a jarring entry into the negative space between worlds. When protagonist Yusuke Urameshi is struck and killed by an oncoming vehicle, his soul separates from his body. Floating invisibly in the air above the scene of his death, unable to communicate with the emergency responders who arrive at the scene, Yusuke finds himself greeted by a “shinigami,” or a “god of death,” the cheerful, pink kimono-clad Botan. Botan rides a magical oar and it is her job to guide souls from the human world to the Spirit World upon their deaths. However, Yusuke’s death was unplanned. The Spirit World has no room for him, trapping Yusuke between the realm of the living and the realm of the dead.

            Yusuke then receives a proposition from the prince of Spirit World. It is worth noting here that while the Japanese term “reikai” literally means “Spirit World,” some English translations of the series, such as the manga, have also called it “Hell.” Hell, the underworld, the land of the dead, is a liminal space in and of itself in many cultures. The ability to move between the living world and Hell has long been sought after, from attempts to psychically or magically contact the dead to attempts to bring the dead back to life, or to travel into hell alive and return. The Greek myth of Orpheus, and the Native American story of Coyote that closely mirrors it, are good examples of both the liminality and rigidity of this boundary. In both tales, the hero has lost their lover or wife to death and subsequently travels to the underworld to retrieve their lover’s soul and return them to life. In both stories, however, the hero breaks the one rule, to not look behind them at their lover’s soul on the return trip, and the dead person is lost to them forever. In Yusuke’s case, however, he successfully passes all of the tests and is restored to life.

This second chance comes with a price tag. Yusuke is still caught between worlds, possessed of psychic ability since his revival and now employed by Koenma, the childlike god who oversees the matters of Spirit World. Yusuke is now a “spirit detective” whose job is to monitor and address the actions of “yokai,” or “demons,” in the Human World. Yusuke now crosses yet another boundary, that between Human World and Demon World. It is also important to note that while “demon” is a common translation of the term “yokai,” it carries a negative connotation that does not necessarily always apply to these supernatural beings. Yokai are much more than monsters or agents of evil. They have, traditionally, been agents of liminality themselves. In The Book of Yokai: Mysterious Creatures of Japanese Folklore, Michael Dylan Foster says of yokai,

One common characteristic of yokai is their liminality, or “inbetweenness.” They are creatures of the borderlands, living on the edge of town, or in the mountains between villages, or in the eddies of a river running between two rice fields. They often appear at twilight, that gray time when the familiar seems strange and faces become indistinguishable. They haunt bridges and tunnels, entranceways and thresholds. They lurk at crossroads. (Foster)

Foster goes on to mention that yokai are often associated with “other,” different enough to be aligned as inhuman and often associated with indigenous peoples who were displaced and demonized. A yokai can therefore, “assume a positive and creative role as antiestablishment rebel or disenfranchised Other who challenges the entrenched sociopolitical order and becomes a driving force in shaping history” (Foster).

            The yokai Yusuke goes up against, fighting them with his newly acquired supernatural powers (such as his “reigan” or “spirit gun,” which allows him to fire an energy blast from his finger) are traversers of the boundary between worlds. Most of them slip through holes in the barrier between Human World and Demon World (“ningenkai” and “makai,” respectively). However, Yusuke, accompanied by Botan and his psychic schoolmate Kuwabara, finds himself up against three yokai thieves who have recently broken into Spirit World and stolen three magical items. It is perhaps worth noting here that three is a recurring number in this arc. There are the three thieves, Kurama, Hiei and Goki, who have stolen three magical artifacts from one of the three worlds. Yusuke has two companions to help him on this mission, making it three against three. One of the demons, Hiei, possesses a third eye that enhances his psychic abilities. He inflicts a wound on Yusuke’s love interest Keiko that causes a similar third eye to manifest on the girl’s forehead.

            This story arc is all about liminality. For one thing, it introduces a new level of liminal yokai to the storyline. Kurama is a human boy possessed by the spirit of a “kitsune,” or “spirit fox.” In his previous incarnation, Kurama is dealt a mortal wound in Demon World. In order to escape death, Kurama’s spirit slips into Human World and occupies an unborn fetus. Kurama’s “demon” soul is thus combined with the human soul of the child he has possessed, making him a unique hybrid. Kurama’s character is full of contradictions. For one thing, despite stealing from the Spirit World and having been a famous thief in his past life, Kurama is rather a pacifist in his current form. He has the ability to control plants, and also develops the ability to shift between his human form and his demon form as the series progresses. Despite being male, Kurama is also possessed of some feminine characteristics, such as his luxuriously long red hair and his penchant for flowers, particularly roses. Rather than being motivated by greed for wealth or power, like his two companions, Kurama is attempting to save the life of his human mother, who is at death’s door. The artifact that Kurama steals for himself is a mirror that will allow him to trade his own life for his mother’s life. However, because of his noble sacrifice, the mirror both spares Kurama and restores his mother to health. Kurama, in short, travels to the realm of the dead to retrieve his mother and returns with her soul without breaking the rule of not looking back.

            It is perhaps fitting that Yusuke recognizes a kindred spirit in Kurama when he witnesses the yokai’s sacrifice. Yusuke is a liminal character in many ways besides his connection to Spirit World. The child of a broken home, looked down on by his teachers in school and treated like a hooligan, Yusuke is nonetheless a selfless person who has also traded his life for that of another. It is by pushing a child out of the way that Yusuke is struck by the car that kills him. He and Kurama have traveled the same path from the living world to the underworld. His desire to protect those weaker than himself is exemplified in his anger toward Goki, who has stolen a magical orb that steals the souls of children, which Goki consumes. Yusuke shows no mercy to Goki, who preys on those trapped in the same liminal space Yusuke once found himself in. Goki represents the worst of what Yusuke finds himself up against, a selfish being willing to take advantage of the vulnerable. However, it is Hiei, the third thief, who proves to be the real challenge when the yokai kidnaps Yusuke’s childhood friend Keiko, the girl he happens to be in love with. When Hiei strikes Keiko with the demonic sword he stole from Spirit World, she enters a state of transition. If the third eye on her forehead opens fully, she will become a mindless slave at Hiei’s command. It is up to Yusuke to save her before this transformation is complete. Keiko therefore exists in a liminal state while Yusuke battles Hiei.

            Hiei is another character who has a dualistic nature. Though he is a fire yokai, he is the child of an “ice maiden,” a race of female yokai who replenish their numbers through asexual reproduction. The ice maidens have very strict rules. They live on a secret, floating island in Demon World, which other beings are not permitted to visit. Romantic liaisons with other beings are strictly forbidden, as is travel from their secret island. However, Hiei’s mother Hina breaks these cultural taboos by having relations with a male yokai, through which she conceives twins, Hiei and his sister Yukina. While Yukina is born female and an ice elemental, Hiei is the opposite of his mother and her people, being male and a fire elemental. Upon his birth, Hiei is literally thrown from the floating island of the ice maidens, growing up an orphan in Demon World. Many years later, upon returning to the island where he was born, Hiei discovers that his mother has passed away and his sister Yukina has left the island. He sets out to find Yukina, eventually resorting to a magical surgery that endows him with his third eye, the “jagan,” which gives him psychic powers to aid him in his search for his sister. While Hiei and Yukina are eventually reunited, Hiei has made a promise to the yokai who surgically implanted the jagan that he will never tell his sister his true identity. His relationship with Yukina, therefore, is also liminal, as he never acknowledges his familial connection to her, and even though Yukina seems to suspect that Hiei is her lost twin, she never confronts him with this information. They are siblings and, yet, not siblings at the same time.

            Yusuke’s classmate Kuwabara, unlike Hiei and Kurama, is very much human. However, his psychic abilities allow him to see things hidden from most people. He also has some precognitive abilities, such as how he can predict the outcome of a game of rock-paper-scissors, giving himself an edge. Tall and ginger, Kuwabara stands out from most of his classmates and affects a tough-guy attitude that earns him a nasty reputation. In reality, Kuwabara adheres to a strict moral code and is kind-hearted, a true champion of chivalry. Unlike Yusuke, he never makes leering comments to any of the female characters, seeing this behavior as highly inappropriate. When he and Yusuke are tasked with rescuing Hiei’s sister Yukina from a rich human who is holding her captive, Kuwabara realizes that he is connected to Yukina by what he calls a “red pinky string.” This red line, visible only to Kuwabara, symbolizes his fate to be with the ice maiden. In this arc, the series’ usual pattern of yokai harassing humans is reversed, and instead it is a yokai who must be rescued from a cruel human. Kuwabara’s connection to Yukina connects him to the Demon World, representing a visible breach of the liminal space between those worlds and bridging the gap.

Many other characters in the series are possessed of similar liminal natures. Koenma, the prince of Spirit World, can alternate between the form of a toddler and the form of a young man, and therefore violates the boundary between youth and maturity. Botan, who guides souls from Human World to Spirit World is a regular traverser of liminal space. There is also Genkai, the older female psychic who trains Yusuke to hone his abilities. Genkai lives in a temple, which in and of itself represents the intersection of the natural and the supernatural. Her temple is also located far from Yusuke’s town, in the wilderness, another form of liminal space. Furthermore, it is Genkai’s former lover, Toguro, a human turned demon, who becomes Yusuke’s next rival.

Yusuke and his friends are invited to join the “Dark Tournament,” a martial arts tournament that takes place on a remote island. The location of the tournament is a liminal space as well, where the rules of Human World no longer apply. Yusuke and his friends all become liminal travelers when they leave the relative safety of Human World to attend this tournament. Each subsequent match that Yusuke and his teammates fight inspires evolution and transformation for each of the characters. Kurama regains his old shapeshifting abilities, though they are admittedly limited. Kuwabara’s and Yusuke’s psychic abilities increase and Hiei transforms himself by absorbing a dragon spirit into his body and mastering its abilities. Finally, by winning the tournament, Yusuke’s team brings down the secret circle that organizes and perpetuates it.

Unfortunately, this is not the end of the story for Yusuke. A new problem arises when it is discovered that a former spirit detective, Sensui, is bent on tearing down the barrier between Human World and Demon World. Sensui, who once fought on the side of humanity, was traumatized by the knowledge that humans committed atrocities against yokai as well as vice versa. A human who sides with yokai, he is therefore another liminal character stuck between worlds. With the help of his yokai companion Itsuki and a small band of human psychics, he seeks to break down the boundary between humans and yokai completely, presumably putting humanity as risk by doing so. Yusuke and his friends also meet other psychics, tasked by Genkai with challenging the heroes so that Yusuke will know how best to fight Sensui’s underlings. These psychics have abilities that literally manifest liminal spaces, called “territories” in the series. These territories have their own unique rules. One psychic has the ability to separate a person’s soul from their body if they utter a taboo word. The word he establishes as taboo is “hot,” and Hiei, whose element is fire and who could only be described as “hot-headed,” immediately breaks the rule on purpose.

As this arc unfolds, Yusuke and his friends once again penetrate that barrier themselves, leaving the Human World to pursue Sensui into the Spirit World. First, however, Sensui kills Yusuke for a second time. This second death once again results in Yusuke’s resurrection, this time caused by dormant yokai blood passed down to Yusuke from a distant yokai ancestor. Yusuke is now connected to all three worlds, comfortable in his own liminality and stronger as a result. Yusuke’s compassion and sense of justice extends to humans, yokai and deities alike, indiscriminately. However, upon returning to the Human World, he feels unsettled, as though he no longer belongs there. Additionally, Koenma, who has aided Yusuke against his father’s wishes, now resides in the Human World as well while he hides from the punishment his father is likely to dole out. Koenma’s father is King Enma, sometimes translated as King Yama, the true ruler of Spirit World. While hiding from his father, Koenma retains his adult form, a marked departure from earlier points in the series when he is most commonly seen in his toddler form. It is implied that Koenma, though several hundred years old, is finally himself beginning to mature and put away childish things, like his childlike form and the magical pacifier, or “mafukan,” that he keeps in his mouth at all times up until using it in the battle against Sensui.

Yusuke determines to return to Demon World and seek out his demon ancestor for answers about his heritage. Kurama and Hiei also return to Demon World, each having received a summons from one of the three rulers of Demon World, reestablishing the pattern of three from the earlier arc. Yusuke’s ancestor is the third ruler, setting Yusuke, Hiei and Kurama up as the three potential heirs to their respective lords. Once again, Yusuke and his friends have crossed the threshold, and this time, their loyalty to one another is put into question. They each keep secrets from one another and their friendships seem uncertain. Of course, it is Yusuke who bridges the gap by proposing a new method of establishing rule in Demon World. Yusuke proposes a tournament, like the Dark Tournament he and his friends were invited to in Human World, with the winner becoming ruler of the entirety of Demon World. At the end of this tournament, a new king is fairly chosen, Enki, who declares that it is now against the law for yokai to attack humans. The barrier between the worlds is eliminated, allowing for free travel. Yusuke, Kurama and Hiei can now be part of both Human World and Demon World whenever they choose.

As the series concludes, Yusuke returns to Human World and opens a ramen stand. This seemingly normal occupation, however, is more of a front for the detective service he continues to offer to any yokai who reach out to him, perpetuating his status as an agent of liminality between worlds. Yusuke’s ally Koenma takes control of Spirit World, further solidifying the harmony between worlds that Yusuke’s tournament has brought about. Genkai’s temple in the wilderness is left to Yusuke and his friends when Genkai passes away, and they establish it as a sanctuary for yokai and humans alike.

Boundaries in Yu Yu Hakusho are meant to be crossed. If a rule is established for Yusuke, he will undoubtedly challenge it, even if he has set those rules himself. He is drawn to people of a similar liminal nature, and they are likewise drawn to him and his ability to traverse thresholds. Death is an impermanent condition for some characters, such as Yusuke, Kurama and Genkai. Other characters, such as Toguro and Sensui, end up in “purgatory,” caught between realms for eternity. Some characters, like Sensui’s partner Itsuki, have the ability to enter and exit this liminal space when they wish. Barriers between worlds are torn down. The distances between cultures are bridged with unions between humans, yokai and gods. Difference is celebrated at every turn and the acknowledgment of it allows Yusuke and other characters to evolve and grow stronger. Any division between people is torn down for the sake of unity.