Aka Manto赤マント
red paper, blue paper
RegionalA masked figure in a red cloak appears in the stall and asks the trapped occupant: "Red paper, or blue paper?" Red: you're slashed and bled.
Field-guide entries
In this wing
Akabeko赤べこ
the red cow that carries the pox
RegionalThe nodding red papier-mâché cow of Aizu.
Akaname垢嘗
the filth-licker
Edo catalogThe akaname licks the scum from your bathtub.
Akubōzu & Agubanba灰坊主
the things in the hearth ash
RegionalAkita's hearth-yokai: the akubōzu ("ash monk"), living in the ash of the irori in Senboku and Ogachi districts, "appear when play with the ash".
Amazake-babaa甘酒婆
the sweet-sake crone
RegionalLate at night, a knock, and an old woman's voice: "Might you have any amazake?" Answer — answer at all — and sickness enters: smallpox, in the age when smallpox was the terror; a cold, in gentler tellings.
Amikiri網切
the net-cutter
Edo catalogA serpent-bird-lobster with pincer claws, drawn snipping through nets: fishing nets drying on poles, mosquito nets over sleepers, sudare blinds.
Anmoアンモ
the burn-scraper who also heals
RegionalThe Kitakami mountains' visitor: Anmo — hairy, strong-smelling, tengu-classed with a human-like face (and, oddly specific, "swollen abdomens...
Ashiarai-yashiki足洗邸
the foot that demands washing
RegionalA hatamoto residence in Honjo: nightly, a colossal hair-covered foot crashes through the ceiling with one demand — "wash it" (arae).
Azukihakari小豆はかり
the beans counted in the ceiling
RegionalIndoors, from the ceiling: "the sound of scattering beans" — a few at first, growing "increasingly loud, eventually resembling a whole bushel" — plus footsteps, geta-clatter, and water-splashing; invisible, harmless, Edo-attested (the classic haunt: a residence in Azabu, Tokyo).
Bakezōri化け草履
the runaway sandal
Picture onlyAt night, from the entryway, the sound of small feet — a straw sandal running the halls on legs of its own, one eye wide, chanting its nonsense anthem:
Binbōgami貧乏神
the poverty god
RegionalA shabby, emaciated old man, pallid, carrying a straw fan, who moves into your storage closet and makes your household poor.
Biwa-bokuboku琵琶牧々
the lute that plays itself
ChronicleA biwa lute for a head, a fine kimono, seated in the tatami room at night "singing and plinking while lamenting the neglect of his former owner".
Boroboroton暮露暮露団
the tattered futon
Edo catalogThe futon too old and ragged to use — but kept anyway, "for various reasons" — rises at night as the boroboroton: the tattered quilt with eyes, shambling on its own corners [ja-boroboroton, per the Daijisen Plus gloss; sekien-1784].
Burabura不落不落
the lantern that might be a fox
RegionalA lantern tied to bamboo, tilted over the road, its split seam hanging open like a mouth — Sekien, Hyakki Tsurezure Bukuro.
Byōbunozoki屏風のぞき
the screen-peeper
ChronicleA figure leaning over the top of a folding screen to watch the people behind it — Sekien's Konjaku Hyakki Shūi (1784).
Chirizuka-kaiō & Fuguruma-yōhi
the king of the dust-heap and the book-cart's ghost-consort
Edo catalogSekien opened his tsukumogami catalog (1784) with a horned red king prying open a great chest — the Chirizuka-kaiō, "monster king of the dust-heap" — and, plates later, a courtly woman rising from a cart of books: Fuguruma-yōhi, the book-cart's ghostly consort.
Chōchin-obake提灯おばけ
the lantern ghost
Picture onlyA paper lantern split across the middle into a mouth, tongue lolling, one eye above — the kasa-obake's inseparable partner in every haunted house.
Dōnotsura胴面
the face on the torso
Picture onlyA human body "missing everything from the neck up," its enormous face displayed on the torso.
Fuguruma-yōhi文車妖妃
the demon queen of the love letters
RegionalA woman rising from the fuguruma — the document-cart of palaces and temples — Sekien, Hyakki Tsurezure Bukuro.
Fukuro-mujina袋狢
the badger with the bag
RegionalA badger-figure — female, in the drawing — carrying a bedding-bag (shukuchoku-bukuro): Sekien, Hyakki Tsurezure Bukuro, adapting a figure from the Muromachi Hyakki Yagyō Emaki.
Furu-utsubo古空穂
the old quiver from the fox hunt
RegionalAn old quiver, crawling — Sekien, Hyakki Tsurezure Bukuro, adapting a bow-carrying quiver figure from the Muromachi Hyakki Yagyō scroll.
Gotokuneko五徳猫
the cat who tends the fire
Edo catalogBy the hearth, a two-tailed cat — nekomata anatomy on domestic duty — wears an iron gotoku (the trivet that holds kettles over the fire) upside-down on its head like a crown, and blows the embers to life with a bamboo fire-tube.
Hannya般若
the mask that cries when it looks down
Edo catalogThe most famous face in the tradition is carved: hannya, the Noh mask of the jealous woman become demon — bull horns, metal eyes, the leering mouth.
Haradashi腹出し
the belly-dancer for the lonely drinker
RegionalThe haradashi — "belly-exposer" — a shapeshifter whose constant is "the large, silly-looking face which appears on the creature's enormous stomach".
Hatahiro機尋
the loom-serpent
Edo catalogCloth off the loom become a serpent: a woman weaving while "harboring resentment toward her absent husband imbues the fabric with her malice," and the woven bolt transforms into a snake that goes searching for the husband — Sekien, Konjaku Hyakki Shūi (1784).
Hiiragi-iwashi柊鰯
the holly and the sardine head
RegionalAt Setsubun, a holly sprig with a roasted sardine head goes up at the doorway.
Hikeshibaba火消婆
the crone who blows out the lamps
Edo catalogAn old woman who exists to make it dark: the hikeshibaba blows out household lanterns — at gatherings, or over travelers carrying their light home.
Himamushinyūdō火間虫入道
the idler's ghost who ruins overtime
Edo catalogFrom under the veranda, at night, an old monk-thing hauls its torso up to lick the lamp-oil of people working late — dimming and dousing the lights of the diligent.
Hitobashira人柱
the human pillar
ChronicleWhere a dam kept failing, a bridge kept washing out, a keep kept cracking — tradition says the cure was a person, buried in the foundation as prayer made permanent: the hitobashira, "human pillar".
Honekarakasa骨傘
the bone umbrella
Picture onlyThe catalogs' actual umbrella yokai: not the one-legged mascot, but a karakasa stripped to its bones — paper gone, ribs bare — wreathed in fire and dancing on the air.
Hōsōshi方相氏
the exorcist who became the demon
RegionalThe court's exorcist at the year-end tsuina (the oni-expelling rite Setsubun descends from): a masked officer in "a four-square mask with four eyes, right hand holding a spear, left hand holding a large shield," draped in bear skin — striding through the palace driving the epidemic demons out.
Hyakki Yagyō Emaki百鬼夜行絵巻
the parade, painted
ChronicleThe Shinju-an scroll (Daitokuji, Kyoto): attributed to Tosa Mitsunobu, 16th century Muromachi, Important Cultural Property — the night parade painted: a procession of tsukumogami, with animals and plants, and famously no explanatory text — "most scrolls lack kotobagaki, making the exact meaning unclear".
Hyakumonogatari Kaidankai百物語怪談会
the hundred-tales game
RegionalThe tradition's own delivery mechanism, documented: a room, a hundred flames, a circle of tellers — one tale, one light out, darkness approaching arithmetically.
Ichiren-bozu一連坊主
the prayer beads who preached to the tools
RegionalThe animated rosary: ichiren-bozu — "one-strand monk" — the Tsukumogami-ki scroll's own protagonist.
Inō Mononoke Roku稲生物怪録
the boy who out-waited the parade
RegionalMiyoshi, Hiroshima, 1749.
Inugami犬神
the dog god
Edo catalogThe inugami is western Japan's answer to the fox-familiar: a dog spirit created by sorcery, kept by families, transmitted through generations — and, exactly like Izumo's kitsune-mochi, the belief attached its stigma not to the spirit but to the families said to own it.
Izanami and Yomi黄泉
the first don't-look
ChronicleBefore any yokai, this: Izanami, the mother-creator, dies birthing fire.
Jami邪魅
the malice classified
Edo catalogSekien's plate carries its own definition: "Jami is a kind of chimi — surely the evil vapor of wicked spirits".
Jatai蛇帯
the serpent sash
Edo catalogA woman's obi sash, left unwound in the night, rises as a snake.
Kameosa瓶長
the jar that never runs dry
RegionalA great jar with eyes, nose, and mouth — and Sekien's caption makes it the catalog's one blessing: "waters pour without end, drinks remain unchanged — an auspicious omen".
Kamiumi & Kuniumi神産み・国産み
the births of land and gods (grouped myth entry)
ChronicleThe two-stage founding: kuniumi — Izanagi and Izanami stir and birth the islands; kamiumi — they populate them with "natural deities (wind, wood, mountains, ocean gods)" — until the last birth: Kagutsuchi, fire, whose delivery burns Izanami to death.
Kaname-ishi要石
the stone that pins the earthquake
RegionalAt Kashima Shrine (Ibaraki) and Katori Shrine (Chiba), two stones show only their tips above ground.
Kanbari-nyūdō加牟波理入道
the privy priest
ChronicleA monk-figure in the privy, spewing birds from his mouth — Sekien, Konjaku Gazu Zoku Hyakki (1779).
Kanedama金霊
the money spirit
RegionalGold arriving as a spirit: Sekien's plate shows the kanedama visiting a virtuous household, filling the storehouse with coins — "heaven bestows fortune upon those performing good deeds".
Kasa-obake傘おばけ
the umbrella ghost
Picture onlyOne eye, one leg, a lolling tongue, a paper umbrella come alive — arguably the most recognizable yokai in the world, mascot of every haunted house in Japan.
Katawaguruma片輪車
the burning wheel and the taken child
RegionalA single ox-cart wheel wrapped in flame, rolling the night streets with a passenger — a beautiful woman, or a terrible man — cursing those who look.
Kesaran-pasaranケサランパサラン
the lucky fluff
RegionalA thumb-sized ball of white down — dandelion-weightless, rabbit- tail soft — drifting on no wind in particular.
Keukegen毛羽毛現
the hairy rarely-seen
Edo catalogA small dog made entirely of long hair — no visible face, just hair — living in the damp dark under floors and in wet corners, bringing sickness to the household above.
Kidōmaru鬼童丸
the demon boy who hid inside a cow
Edo catalogThe demon boy of the Raikō cycle — the tradition's most cinematic assassination attempt.
Kōjin荒神
the rough god of the hearth
RegionalThe kitchen's resident: Kōjin — "the rough god" — enshrined at the hearth, in his sanbō-kōjin form three-faced and six-armed, "displaying wrathful compassion similar to Fudō Myōō".
Komainu狛犬
the shrine's lion-dogs
RegionalAt every shrine gate in Japan, two beasts: one mouth open — "a", the first sound, the beginning — one mouth closed — "un", the last, the end.
Kosodate-yūrei子育て幽霊
the ghost who bought candy
RegionalA candy shop, night after night: a pale young woman buys ame with a single coin.
Kosode-no-te小袖の手
the hands from the sleeve
Edo catalogA fine kosode kimono — donated to a temple after its owner's death, per the shinigawa custom of offering the dead's clothes — hangs in the hall.
Koto-furunushi琴古主
the old master of the koto
Edo catalogA broken koto sprouts eyes and a mouth, its snapped strings hanging like unbound hair.
Kyōrinrin経凛々
the sutra scrolls in armor
Edo catalogSekien's most bookish invention: discarded sutra scrolls risen as a dragon-crested figure of unrolling paper — the loser's scriptures, armored.
Menreiki面霊気
the spirit of the masks
Edo catalogA being made of theatrical masks — the accumulated spirit of gigaku masks, the oldest masked dance-drama tradition in Japan.
Mokumokuren目目連
the eyes in the screen
Edo catalogEvery hole in a torn shōji screen fills with an eye.
Momiji紅葉
the witch of Togakushi
RegionalAutumn, Mt.
Namahageなまはげ
the visiting demon of New Year's Eve
RegionalNew Year's Eve, Oga Peninsula, Akita: masked figures in straw coats storm the houses shouting "泣ぐ子は居ねがー" — "Any crybabies here?" — hunting the lazy and the whining, scolding children, driving out misfortune.
Narigama鳴釜
the singing kettle
Edo catalogA hairy little figure wearing an iron kettle for a head, ema-plaque in hand — Sekien's narigama (1784).
Ne-no-kuni根の国
the root land, address disputed
ChronicleThe "root land" — the otherworld where Susanoo rules after his descent.
Nebutori寝肥
the sleep-swollen
RegionalA woman who swells gigantically in her sleep — until "she no longer fits in her room, emitting thunderous snoring sounds" — Ehon Hyaku Monogatari (1841).
Nuppeppōぬっぺっぽう
the blob of flesh
Picture onlyA wandering lump of flesh, face suggested only "in the folds of fat," trailing a smell rivaling decomposition through night graveyards and abandoned temples.
Obariyonおばりよん
the piggyback rider that pays in gold
RegionalNight, a thicket path near Sanjō (Niigata): something small leaps onto your back shouting its own name, and starts getting heavier.
Ofuda御札
the paper that holds the line
ChronicleThe tradition's monsters have one standard-issue countermeasure: a slip of paper.
Oiwaお岩
the wronged wife of Yotsuya
RegionalJapan's most famous ghost.
Okkeruipeオッケルイペ
the Ainu fart monster
RegionalThe name translates, with dignity intact, as "a monster that breaks wind".
Oshira-samaおしら様
the god of the girl and the horse
RegionalTōhoku's household god comes in pairs: two wooden dolls — mulberry wood, 30 cm — one male or horse-faced, one female, wrapped in layer upon layer of cloth garments, kept in the alcove.
Otoroshiおとろし
the gate-topper
Picture onlyA hunched mass of long hair with claws and tusks, crouched on top of a shrine gate.
Ouni苧うに
the hemp-hag who spins
Picture onlyA woman demon-mouthed to the ears, her whole body shagged in what looks like heaped hemp fiber — the o of her name is the bast-fiber itself; "the yokai's hair and body fur resembled piled-up fiber bundles".
Rashōmon羅城門
the gate where the city ended
ChronicleThe capital's front door became its most haunted address.
Sakabashira逆柱
the upside-down pillar
Edo catalogInstall a pillar upside-down — against the direction the tree grew — and the house never forgives it: groaning beams at night, creaks with no cause, fires, ruin.
Sankai産怪
the birth-marvels
RegionalThe class of beings "born instead of healthy infants...
Sansei山精
the backwards-heeled mountain imp
Edo catalogA knee-high to waist-high mountain imp on one leg — with the heel mounted backwards, toes pointing behind [ja-sansei, per the Wakan Sansai Zue citing the Baopuzi].
Setodaishō瀬戸大将
the general of the china cabinet
RegionalA little general armored head to foot in assembled crockery — teapot helm, plate pauldrons, a sake-flask somewhere in the cuirass: the Setodaishō, "General of Seto ware."
Setsubun節分
the night Japan throws beans at demons
RegionalAround February 3rd, the whole country performs the tradition's oldest program: mamemaki — roasted soybeans hurled at the year's demons to the formula "Oni wa soto!
Shamichōrō三味長老
the shamisen elder
Edo catalogThe third chair of Sekien's string section: a master's shamisen, discarded after its player's day, risen as the "shamisen elder" — "the spirit of the instrument of one who led this art," per his caption [ja-shamichoro, per Inada/Tanaka 1992].
Shimenawa注連縄
the rope that draws the line
RegionalThe tradition keeps insisting on boundaries: the sealed pass of Yomi, the kimon corner, the birth-hut door.
Shio-no-Chōji塩の長司
the man who ate his horses
Edo catalogA wealthy Kaga merchant, master of 300 horses, who developed a taste for horse flesh — dead horses prepared "as miso and salt-pickled dishes," eaten regularly.
Shirime尻目
the eye where no eye should be
RegionalA figure on a night road near Kyoto drops its clothes, bends over, and reveals a single eye shining from its buttocks — "lightning-like."
Shirouneri白溶裔
the dishcloth dragon
Edo catalogAn old kitchen dishcloth, gone gray with use, rises as a small ragged dragon of cloth — undulating ("yōei," the caption's word, means the way things billow in wind) through the house.
Shōkeraしょうけら
the skylight watcher
Picture onlySekien draws it clinging to a roof, peering down through the skylight — muscular, clawed, watching you.
Suzuhikohime鈴彦姫
the bell princess
Edo catalogA woman whose face is a bell, crowned with the kagura-suzu — the tiered ritual bell-cluster shaken in shrine dance.
Suzuri-no-tamashii硯の魂
the battle inside the inkstone
ChronicleA reader falls asleep over the Heike Monogatari.
Takirei-ō滝霊王
the king in the waterfall
Edo catalogThe tradition's mildest possible ending to a milestone: Sekien's Takirei-ō (1781) is Fudō Myōō appearing in a waterfall — said to "emerge from waterfall basins in every province," his caption citing the sutra-commentary line that this power "subdues all demons and obstructions".
Tenjōkudari天井下り
the woman who descends from the ceiling
ChronicleAn ugly old woman, long hair wild, hanging upside down out of the ceiling — Sekien, Konjaku Gazu Zoku Hyakki (1779).
Tenjōname天井嘗
the ceiling licker
Edo catalogThose brown stains high on an old ceiling — too high for any hand — have an author: the tenjōname, a tall yokai with an enormous tongue, licking the rafters by night, "particularly in the cold months when light cannot reach all the way to ceiling and casts weird shadows".
The Tsurezure Bukuro Remainder百器徒然袋
the household parade's back rows (grouped entry)
RegionalSekien's fourth catalog runs 50 plates; the tradition has drafted its stars individually.
Tsukumogami-ki付喪神絵巻
the tools' revolt and their retirement
RegionalThe tsukumogami doctrine's actual scripture: a Muromachi sermon-scroll narrating the revolt of the discarded.
Tsukuyomi月読命
the moon who was never forgiven
ChronicleThe tradition's whole territory — the night — has a warden it almost never mentions.
Umi-nyōbō海女房
the sea wife
RegionalIzumo coast, Shimane.
Ungaikyō雲外鏡
the mirror beyond the clouds
Edo catalogA possessed mirror on a stand, tongue out, showing you what isn't there — or turning your reflection monstrous.
Wairaわいら
the crouching dread
Picture onlyA massive bovine-bodied croucher with a single sharp curved claw on each forefoot — Sawaki Sūshi's Hyakkai Zukan (1737), Sekien's Gazu Hyakki Yagyō (1776).
Yamaoroshi山颪
the grater with a grudge
RegionalA humanoid whose head bristles with spikes — a daikon grater walking — from Sekien's Hyakki Tsurezure Bukuro.
Yanari家鳴
the house that creaks
Edo catalogAt night the house shakes — beams tick, walls knock, furniture trembles — and no one is doing it.
Zashiki-warashi座敷童子
the parlor child
RegionalThe luck of a Tōhoku household, embodied as a child no visitor quite sees: a red-faced, bob-haired boy or girl of three to fifteen who leaves small footprints in ash, turns pillows over, and makes phantom spinning-wheel sounds.