Archives: EIDOLON Posts

Kamaitachi is a Japanese yōkai from the oral tradition of the Kōshin’etsu region. It can also refer to the strange events that this creature causes. They appear riding on dust devils and cut people using […]

Kameosa are old earthenware jugs used to hold water or sake that have changed into tsukumogami—objects that have been around for so long that they develop a spirit. They look like ordinary jugs, except that […]

For the Hyakki Tsurezure Bukuro, Toriyama Sekien depicts a woman before a mirror. After cutting off a large amount of hair, she is seemingly watching new hair grow back in. Is she a spirit (kami) […]

Kanbari nyūdō is a perverted ghost-like yōkai which lurks outside of bathrooms on New Year’s Eve. It has a roughly priest-like appearance, with robes and a tonsured haircut. Its body is covered in thick hairs. […]

Instead of a giant monk’s head stuck in a wheel, katawaguruma appear as tormented, naked women riding single, flaming, ox-cart wheels. They suffer eternally, burning in pain. Katawaguruma look and act in much the same […]

Kazenbō is a ghostly apparition which resembles a monk wreathed in flames, being burnt alive. They appear on a mountain in Kyoto called Toribeyama, which has been used as a grave site for many centuries. […]

Kejōrō are prostitutes whose face and body are hidden behind a curtain of disturbingly thick, long, disheveled black hair. From behind they look just like normal women with their hair hanging down loosely. They appear […]

Keukegen are filthy monsters commonly found in populated areas. They are the size of a small dog and appear as a mass of long, dirty hair. Keukegen make their homes in cool, damp, dark places; […]

Kinutanuki are silk products which have transformed into tsukumogami. They sprout heads, feet, and tails which resemble those of tanuki. Toriyama Sekien invented kinutanuki for his book Hyakki tsurezure bukuro. While tanuki are famous for […]

Kodama are spirits in Japanese folklore that inhabit trees. The term is also used to denote a tree in which a kodama supposedly resides. The phenomenon known as yamabiko, when sounds make a delayed echoing […]

In a two-page spread starting off the Hyakki Tsurezure Bukuro, Toriyama Sekien drew three yokai: Yarikechō (槍毛長), Koinryō (虎隠良), and Zenfushō (禅釜尚). Zenfushō is a yokai with a pot on its head depicting the spirit […]

A kokuri babā is an old hag which inhabits temples deep in the mountains. She hides herself away in the back of the temple and feeds off of human corpses. A kokuri babā was once […]

A Will-o’-the-wisp of an old garden lantern, drawn by Toriyama Sekien for Hyakki Tsurezure Bukuro Volume 1 in 1781. Alias Korōka (古籠火) Real Names/Alt Names ○ Characteristics Yōkai, Enlightenment and Neoclassicism, Public Domain Creators/Key Contributors […]

Kosamebō are yōkai which look like Buddhist monks. They loiter about on empty mountain roads at night. As their name implies, they only appear during nights when light rain is falling. Kosamebō accost travelers and […]

Kosode no te appear in short sleeved kimonos formerly owned by prostitutes. This yōkai manifests as a pair of ghostly hands that emerge from the sleeves and assault welching clients—or whoever happens to be nearby. […]

The Koto furunushi looks like a koto—a long, harp-like instrument that is the national instrument of Japan—transformed into a wild beast. A koto which was once played frequently but later forgotten about and stored away […]

Kura yarō are saddles whose masters have been slain. They take on lives of their own and act like warriors. The most famous kura yarō was once the saddle of Kamata Masakiyo, the first and […]

Kutsutsura are tsukumogami of shoes. They can take either a human form or an animal form. In human form, they look like a court noble wearing a shoe as a hat. In animal form, they […]

A kyōkotsu is a ghostly, skeletal spirit which rises out of wells to scare people. It is wrapped in a ragged shroud, with only its bleached skull and tangled hair emerging from its tattered clothes. […]

Kyōrinrin is a spirit of knowledge formed from ancient scrolls, books, and scriptures which have been left unstudied by their owners and gathering dust. Kyōrinrin are often extravagant; they decorates themselves with the most ornate […]