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Youkai - TV Tropes

yokai

— Michael Foster, The Book of Yokai: Mysterious Creatures of Japanese Folklore

妖怪 (Youkai/Yokai/Yōkai^note All are valid Romanizations of the kanji, depending on the Romanization system used, roughly "bewitching spectres") are a grand collection of various supernatural creatures and phenomena that pop up in Shinto religion, their spelling derived from the Chinese pinyin Yaoguai. They have a lot in common with The Fair Folk — some youkai are good, others are evil, and many have their own alien set of values. Some are mischievous, others avoid humans entirely. Shinto is an animist religion, and youkai are often associated with natural features such as forests and mountains. While sometimes glossed as "demons",^note A word which is usually translated into Japanese as akuma a closer Western equivalent is probably the ancient Roman genii, The Fair Folk, "monsters" (in the Monster Mash sense), or trolls in Scandinavian folklore.

Supernatural creatures drawn from Western sources often turn out to seem more like youkai in Japanese works. For instance, vampires.^note See the section on oni below. In the West, you've got Count Orlok — a grotesque, undead monster who burns in sunlight and murders to preserve his hideous unlife. In Japan you've got exceptionally cute protagonist Moka Akashiya, who is not undead, harbors no ill-will towards the sun, and drinks tiny amounts of blood that leave her "victim" light-headed at worst, but who has a Superpowered Evil Side who can (and will if you look at her the wrong way) kick your ass thoroughly.

Henge, a subset of youkai, are magical animals with Voluntary Shapeshifting powers and human intelligence. They often assume human form and get into all kinds of mischief. Kinds of henge include Kitsune, Tanuki, and Nekomata.

Obake is another Japanese word that can indicate some type of monster. Derived from the word for "to change", it generally covers the subset of youkai that includes shapeshifting animals (hence the terms bake-gitsune, bake-neko, etc.) as well as Animate Inanimate Objects. Confusingly, however, the word obake can also be used to refer to ghosts, also known as yuurei. See Stringy-Haired Ghost Girl for more information.

Ayakashi is a word which is roughly synonymous with "youkai" in current day usage, though it traditionally refers to spirits that appear over water.

Mononoke is a similar term to ayakashi, in that it is widely used but technically refers to vengeful spirits that can cause disease or other harm through possession.

Many types of youkai were codified during the Edo period in the works of Toriyama Sekien. The genre of manga that deals with Youkai was founded by Shigeru Mizuki (1922–2015), who was obsessed with Youkai ever since he was a child. The Trope Codifier of modern youkai manga is his ever-popular GeGeGe no Kitarō that has received an anime adaption at least once a decade since it was written.

Among all these, the Three Great Youkai of Japan are a group of either three species (oni, kappa and tengu) or three individuals (the oni bandit Shuten-douji, the seductive fox Tamamo-no-Mae and the "ferocious demon king" Ootakemaru) considered to be especially famous.^note The last of whom is sometimes confused with members of a group of Vengeful Ghosts called the Three Great Onryō of Japan

Sister Trope of Our Yaoguai Are Different, the Chinese counterpart of youkai — supernatural non-humans who gain their powers and longevity by Taoist cultivation. They share a kanji/Chinese character transcription and several potential characteristics, like Voluntary Shapeshifting powers and (super-)human intelligence, but are not synonymous due to regional variations.

The list presented below is by no means complete. Most youkai are regional creations and then there's also the youkai of the past which have survived to modern times only as a small note or drawing in a scroll. Only a few make it into modern national media and last there.

• Amabie: A beaked mermaid youkai with three tails, associated with healing or prophecy.
• Amanojaku: Manipulative, contrarian oni who compel people to wickedness.
• Aobōzu: Blue-skinned, one-eyed Buddhist monks who represent inexperience or harass people.
• Bakeneko and Nekomata: Types of cat youkai.
• Baku: Dream-eating tapir-like creature.
• Gashadokuro: A giant undead skeleton manifested from the souls of people who died from war, plague, or famine.
• Hitodama Light: Whispy lights that hover around ghosts and possessed people.
• Hyakki Yagyō: A night festival packed to the gills with Youkai.
• Inugami: Dog yōkai associated with possession, revenge, or guarding.
• Kamaitachi: A weasel-like creature with sickle-like claws that rides wind currents and cuts people.
• Kappa: A "river goblin" resembling a cross between a monkey, a frog, and a turtle.
• Karakasa: An old umbrella come to life. A type of tsukumogami youkai.
• Kitsune: Magical foxes with the ability to shapeshift into (usually female) human forms. Closely related to the Korean kumiho and Chinese huli-jing.
• Namahage: Winter-visiting yōkai who harass/scold slackers.
• Nue: A chimera/manticore-esque beast with the head of a monkey, a tiger's body, and a snake for a tail.
• Nurarihyon: Elderly, humanoid yokai with gourd-shaped heads.
• Nurikabe: A living obstructive barrier.
• Oni: Big, muscular horned humanoids that are similar to ogres.
• Orochi: A giant, multi-headed dragon or serpent.
• Raijū: The animalistic personification of lightning.
• Shinigami: A spirit of death.
• Tanuki: A real-world animal also known as the "raccoon dog", treated in Japanese mythology as a shapeshifting trickster.
• Tanuki/Kitsune Contrast: When Kitsune and Tanuki appear in the same work, they tend to be paired together and treated as rivals, or otherwise compared and contrasted.
• Tengu: Mountain-dwelling humanoids which either have long noses or resemble crows.
• Tsuchigumo and Jorogumo: Shapeshifting spiders which usually take the form of beautiful women to seduce male prey.
• Tsuchinoko: A stout little snake cryptid.
• Tsukumogami: Everyday objects that spontaneously become sapient after existing for a century.
• Umibōzu: A shadowy humanoid giant that sinks ships.
• Ushi-oni: Ox-headed (spider) monsters.
• Yuki-onna: A pale, female snow spirit.
• Yurei: Ghosts who have returned from beyond the grave to get revenge on their enemies.
  • Onryo: A vengeful female spirit, usually with long, stringy black hair and pale skin.
• Zashiki-warashi: A childlike spirit that should be cared for to keep one's house in good fortune.

    open/close all folders 

    Futakuchi-onna and Hari-onna 

and

are youkai resembling human women. In the case of futakuchi-onna, the catch is that they have a second mouth on the back of their heads and a voracious appetite. They get up at night and use their

to stuff their second mouth full, leaving any human households they occupy in financial ruin from the constant loss of food. Sometimes, suspicion is drawn away because the human-looking side of the head doesn't eat much or at all. Hari-onna do not have second mouth, but they have prehensile hair that ends in needles. With these, they rip apart their victims to make them consumable to a human physiology.

Not to be confused with the Kuchisake-onna, a female ghost who has only one mouth even if it's ripped open from ear to ear.

• GeGeGe no Kitarō: Futakuchi-onna is a member of the Yōkai Castle trio alongside Tantanbō and Kamaitachi, with whom she abducts children to convert into youkai. In the 1968 anime, her monster mouth is on the front and she has no human face. In this form, she goes by the name Ōguchi-onna. Futakuchi-onna is commonly depicted as having snake hair instead of just prehensile hair.
• Onmyōji (2016): In Episode 2 of Heian Tales, Futakuchi-onna has to deal with social rejection because her second mouth has a will of its own and its will is to eat. She's a sweetie who doesn't ask for much and she's barely aware of her monster mouth and the large tongue that sprouts from it, so she doesn't understand why people keep their distance from her. To gain populairty, she resolves to go on a diet and she's doing well at it until one night her other mouth has had enough and breaks open the food storage to dine. Futakuchi-onna is confused when the next day she sees back to before she started dieting.
• In Tonari no Yōkai-san youkai are completely integrated into human society and are subsequently much more benign than most examples. A hari-onna is present in a class that's half humans, half yokai or part-yokai. In the manga, the tails of her speech bubbles come from the back of her head, not the smaller mouth in front.
• Yokai Doctor: A cute futakuchi-onna is Kotoko's first patient after becoming Gokukuji's assistant. It complains about toothache, which Kotoko is happy to treat until she realizes it's one of her monster teeth at the back that hurts. After treatment, the futakuchi-onna stays around and develops a crush on Gokukuji in Chapter 4. This is a problem because a futakuchi-onna's basic instinct is hunger and she will increasingly forego food to satisfy her appetite with her object of affection. This is regardless of any personal desire not to hurt anyone. Because her yokai nature reaches its peak during a full moon, Gokukuji devises a plan to stay alone with her and when her monster mouth takes over he'll switch out himself for a doll made of meat buns and a vial of his own blood. The plan is risky but successful, leaving Futakuchi-onna cured and Gokukuji alive.

Live-Action TV

• A futakuchi-onna appears as a Monster of the Week in Shuriken Sentai Ninninger, serving as a negotiator for the villains when they manager to gain control of the Sixth Ranger's mecha. She cameoed in Power Rangers Ninja Steel as Jabberon, one of the Gruesome Grunts in the Halloween Episode.

Tabletop Games

• Malifaux: Asami Tanaka used to manage a temple with her father, which came to an end when the temple was attacked. Her father perished and Asami was left dying. At this moment, she was contacted by Amanjaku with a deal for her to live. She accepted and was turned into a futakuchi-onna. In this form, her hair is a weapon with which to attack enemies and toss them into her monster mouth. The bodies aren't consumed, but turned into and spat out as oni that serve her and Amanjaku. It's also not hunger that drives her, but a desire for motherhood that was otherwise taken away by the injuries she sustained during the temple attack. This is why she can barely cope when any of her oni are killed and she doesn't enjoy her role as a Master of the Ten Thunders. Asami knows Amanjaku is untrustworthy, but so far hasn't made a move against him because he keeps making promises of further healing.
• Pathfinder: Harionago are undead that arise from the bodies of innocent women who were brutally murdered in a horrific manner. Cruel and relentless, they constantly hunt for vengeance, using their barbed hair to slaughter all responsible for their deaths, said murderers' family members, and anybody unlucky enough to get in their way.

Video Games

• Pokémon: Mawile is based on the futakuchi-onna. The Pokémon is of both the Steel and Fairy types and presents as a humanoid figure with a large leaf sprouting from its head. That leaf is a mouth the size of the rest of Mawile. Its strong form Mega Mawile even has two mouths.
• Skullgirls: Filia and her Palette Swap Fukua are both women with a parasite that manifests as a large mouth on the back of their heads and replaces their hair. Filia's parasite is named Samson and there is an alternative timeline version in which he is the dominant identity and essentially wears Filia's body as a funny hat. Fukua's situation appears different in that the two identities function as one and are both Fukua.
• TimeSplitters 2: Nikki and Jinki are twins, possibly the autosites of quadruplets, from an unspecified East Asian village. They were sold to and adopted by the Ringmistress when they were still babies and have been with the circus ever since. Nikki looks like a normal person until she turns around. From her back grows another woman with a monstrous face with a huge mouth. Her twin Jinki is the very opposite, being monstrous on the front and having a normal woman growing from her back. The parasites don't seem to have awareness.

Webcomics

• Eerie Cuties features the teacher Ms. Futakuchi as one of the professors at Charybdis Heights.

Western Animation

• Adventure Time: The fruit witches in "Dad's Dungeon" are a trio of witches that try to get travelers to eat one of their apples. People who do so are turned into giant apples that may retain flesh qualities because there's bones inside. As soon as a giant apple comes to be, the witches go into a frenzy and rip it apart, feeding the chunks to large-mouthed black critters that reside on the back of their heads. Whatever the relation between the witches and the critters, it appears the critters are in command. The witches at one point try to get Jake and Finn to eat an apple, but the duo forcefeeds it to one of the witches. It means nothing for the appetite of the remaining witches that their latest meal is one of their own.

    Bakekujira 

Bake-kujira (化鯨, "ghost whale"), more rarely also called Hone-kujira (骨鯨, "bone whale"), are undead whales, floating on or above the surface of the sea and accompanied by strange or likewise undead sea creatures and birds. Bake-kujiras seek revenge against whaling vessels and people who eat or use whale products —sometimes they are specifically the reanimated husks of whales killed by whaling vessels, while other times they are spirits called to avenge slaughtered whales or created by the cetaceans' fear and distress— and relentlessly pursue and attack anyone who endangers or causes pain for whales.

In terms of appearence, Bakekujiras are depicted as various other types of undead — zombie, skeletal, and spectral whales all appear in this capacity.

See also Monster Whale, Raising the Steaks, Gaia's Vengeance, Murder Into Malevolence, and Vengeful Ghost.

• GeGeGe no Kitarō: Bake-Kujira is a huge skeletal whale who guards the whales' graveyard in the seas.

• Pathfinder: Bakekujira are the undead husks of whales who died lingering, painful deaths after being attacked by whaling vessels. They're animated by nothing more than lingering hatred, their flesh animates anything that eats into an undead thrall, and they will viciously attack any ship or coastal settlement they encounter. They are also capable of slowly crawling on dry land at need.

• Smite: Bake Kujira, Yokai of Despair, is a character in the Japanese pantheon. It's a massive spectral baleen whale, slain by whalers and animated by its hatred for its killers and its desire to anvenge itself and its vanishing kind. Its attacks revolve around cursing its foes and unleashing waves of water or sonic energy.

    Kijimuna 

If a tree falls in a forest, are we sure there's no one around to hear it make a sound?

are

in Okinawan folklore the size of children and on occasion

. They are banyan tree spirits characterized by their copious red hair. They may or may not have matching skin, and if not, then their skin is bark-brown, all of which well visible because their choice of dress are skirts made of

and little more. Kijimuna are fiercely protective of the banyan trees they inhabit, but roam widely. They're avid fishermen that spend a lot of time on and around the water and they enjoy the company of humans, so they'll invite themselves over whenever they feel like it. Kijimuna are friendly majimun, bringing good fortune to the houses they pick, but if they're treated unjustly,

.

Kijimuna can be found in any banyan tree, locally known as gajumaru, but the older and bigger the tree, the more likely it is a kijimuna or even a whole kijimuna family lives within its branches. It is common for banyan trees that stand nearby buildings to have a nail driven into the trunk in order to keep any kijimuna inside or prevent them from taking up residence in the first place. Because while kijimuna are friendly, they're also insistent and mischievous. Among other things, they're known to sit on sleeping humans, accounting for sleep paralysis, or disturb their sleep by flipping their pillows. Stories of people who were accosted by kijimuna while out on a walk claim that a human covered in the creature's hair becomes immobilized. Kijimuna also have a small habit of stealing fire from hearths and lanterns. To them it's just play, but to humans it can have consequences. Fortunately, one of the things kijimuna absolutely despise is humans passing gas, so that's a solid way to get rid of them.

The other things kijimuna are known to dislike are hot pot lids, chickens, and, most of all, octopi. There's no reason given why any of those anger the creature, but there is a story that the kijimuna's ancestors were killed by octopi. Kijimuna are fond of fishing, but they're picky eaters who strongly prefer the eyes of the fish and sometimes even only the left eye over the rest of the meat. Rather than let it go to waste, they donate their catch to humans. Fishermen that find their nets filled with one-eyed or eyeless fishes may rest assured that the kijimuna are looking out for them.

Like several other youkai, kijimuna are associated with ghost fires. Occasionally when they walk along the shore, they'll be accompanied by ghost fires and similar inexplicable lights on the sea surface are attributed to the kijimuna. A ghost fire above a roof is a kijimuna's sign that someone in the household will die. Like most majimun, kijimuna are active on Shibasashi Day and this is when their fires are most common.

Kijimuna are known by various names across Okinawa, the second most common being "bunagaya", which calls attention to their slightly oversized heads. An argument can be made that these are all separate majimun, but they're commonly regarded as the same creature. There are also a handful of similar majimun that are specifically defined and therefore have a more complicated relation to the kijimuna.

• Kinushi: Kinushi are banyan tree spirits that are one with the tree. If they have forms separate from the trees, then they never show themselves as such. There's a lot of modern speculation what kinushi are compared to kijimuna, leading to such theories that kinushi is an elderly form of kijimuna or that kinushi and kijimuna have a symbiotic relation. It is said that if a tree is heard falling over but no tree actually falls, that's the kinushi in pain and the tree they inhabit will soon die. Because of the strong connection between the majimun and the tree, in some areas an old banyan tree can only be cut down on Muchi Day, because that's when the kinushi is out.
• Akana: Akana is a kijimuna-like majimun and folklore that addresses the similarity states that Kijimuna as a single individual is the older brother of Akana. Akana isn't known for eating fish eyes, but he does love crabs. Unlike Kijimuna, Akana doesn't live on Okinawa but on the moon and is the local equivalent of the Moon Rabbit. There are several stories as to how he got on the moon, of which two are most prominent. One is that Akana bullied an oni and the oni wanted to kill him. Akana promised the gods that he'd be a humble servant if they'd save him, so they lowered a ladder from the moon for him to climb to safety too. The other is a story with similarities to The Crab and the Monkey. A monkey shares a house and peach tree with Akana and wants all of it for himself, so he forces a bet. He and Akana will each take a basket of peaches to the market and whoever sells the most gets to kill the other. The monkey only gives Akana unripe peaches, so Akana sells none. On the way home, he begs the moon to save him and a bucket is lowered for him to be pulled up in. Depending on the legend, the dark parts of the moon are Akana fetching water, Akana washing something in a pail, or like the Moon Rabbit he's making rice cakes.
• Kenmun: There's a significant overlap between the kijimuna of Okinawa and the kenmun of Amami. They're both red-haired banyan tree dwellers with a love for fishing. However, the kenmun is often depicted with the same bowl-heads as the kappa. As the kijimuna and the kappa are hypothesized to be related, the kenmun could be considered a midway point.

It's usually up to the kijimuna if and when they approach humans, but there are means to coax them out. For instance, whistling while out in the middle of the night might garner their attention. More effectively, there's a child's play to call kijimuna. It consists of drawing a circle in a quiet and dark place and sprinkling white powder such as flour in it. A candle is to be put in the center and the partakers are to hide and concentrate for 20 seconds. After that, kijimuna footprints will be visible in the powder.

The kijimuna are in use as Okinawa's mascots. Tourists are bound to bump into statues of the creatures, both male and female, at key places on the island. This is why they're the go-to pick in supernatural fiction when a creature from the Ryukyu Islands would liven up the cast. Historically, kijimuna have been close to exclusive to Okinawa, but the creature's popularity compared to other Ryukyuan monsters means it sometimes gets assigned to other islands. If a fantasy counterpart of Okinawa is used, it is likely called Chura Shima ("Beautiful Islands"), Japan's nickname for the Ryukyu Islands, or Nirai Kanai, the Ryukyuan divine realm located Eastwards. Another reverberation of kijimuna's popularity is that from time to time they are paired with shisa, the second most well-known majimun.

See also other little people in Japanese folklore, such as the youkai korpokkur, the god Sukunabikona, and the hero Issun-boshi. Kappa are considered to be related to the kijimuna. Other comparisons include the Zashiki-warashi on grounds of being beneficiary and child-like house spirits and the kodama for being small tree spirits too.

• Aqua Planet Chronicle: In "Kijimuna Majimuna", Himeko befriends a kijimuna that looks like a lanky teenager. He has pointy ears, wears shorts rather than leaves, and resides in the banyan tree that's iconic to the bed & breakfast ran by Himeko's family. In fact, kijimuna was sealed inside the tree until a storm loosened the nail. He and Himeko never talk, but they communicate through their semi-chance encounters, most of which centered around fishing. Himeko comes to compare the two of them and realizes that the kijimuna is bound to their island while she is free to explore the world, which she resolves to do.
• C.M.B.: In Chapter 87, Shougo Oonaka is afraid to morally stray because there's a kijimuna by his side that will strangle and devour him if he ever does so. Unlike the red-haired forest children commonly imagined, his kijimuna is a large cephalothorax with vast brown hair covering him down to his knees that lives in a hut in the forest. With Obon around the corner, Shougo visits his grandmother in Okinawa. As he explores the places of his youth, it is discovered that his kijimuna is a figment of his imagination pieced together from memories, such as learning that banyan trees are also called strangler figs and, most importantly, spending time with a kind, large, and bearded man who lived with the regret of a past moral error. When that man suddenly died, Shougo began seeing the kijimuna. Shougo realizes there never was a threat of being devoured and that instead the kijimuna, be it the form of his own moral compass or a true guardian spirit, only wants him to make better choices than the kind man once did.
• Doraemon: The Sleeping Sea Kingdom: The Unnaana are aliens that closely resemble the standard description of kijimuna as applied to the model outline of the eponymous character of Jungle Kurobe. The Unnaana came to Earth long ago and lived on a star-shaped island amidst the Ryukyu Islands from where they traveled all across the globe to help the infant human civilizations. When the Ice Age ended 12.000 years ago, the island was flooded and the Unnaana hurried back home. Jikim was accidentally left behind. One rocket remained for him in the domed capital city, but it required both an Unnaana and a human to launch. The Unnaana are only visible to kind-hearted humans, so Jikim had to wait. Keeping him company for that time was Oji-san, a holographic caretaker of the city who resembles a hairy elderly human. He commands at least one likely mechanical octopus for security. In present day, Jikim meets and befriends Nobita and tricks him into coming aboard the rocket with him so he can go home. Racked with guilt, Jikim destroys the rocket right before its launch. He reasons that he'll just stay with Oji-san, but the fact is that the barriers of the city are crumbling. Oji-san asks Doraemon for help and of course the robot has a space capsule to get Jikim home. A distressed Jikim promises Oji-san he'll return for him as he, Doraemon, and the children are transported to the surface.
• Gaist Crusher: Jungle Kijimuna is a gaist that looks like it's composed of wood and leaves. It has the ability to stimulate plant growth wherever it pleases, which not only sabotages whatever the jungle overgrows but also gives Jungle Kijimuna a huge terrain advantage. Jungle Kijimuna is native to Okinawa, but Cypher summons it to Tekkou City in Episode 5. It subdues the city and easily evades Kuruma through the numerous branches. Rekka combines his fire power and the local river to create steam and catch Jungle Kijimuna off-guard, after which Kuruma's Extreme Form finishes off the gaist.
• GeGeGe no Kitarō: Kijimuna are small furballs with bird faces, some of which are cephalothorax while others have a small body underneath their large heads. Depending on the medium, they're brown, yellow, or purple. They move in groups and switch around being Kitaro's allies or enemies. As allies, they're commonly good friends of the youngster Shisa.
• Haitai Nanafa: Nina and Rana are kijimuna who live inside the two banyan trees in the Kyan Family's garden. They're locked into the kijimuna's realm by nails that are driven into the trees, but one day those come out and the kijimuna go live at the Kyan Household. Nina and Rana both have human form, being only recognizable as kijimuna to the eye by their red hair and green clothing accents. Their mother, Nana, is a blonde and wears no green at all. Personality-wise, all three can be brought to their knees by presenting them with octopi, the two girls are crazy about fish eyeballs, and at least Rana likes crabs. Nina is an unfortunate combination of delinquent and slacker and maintains a rivalry with both the shisa Ina and eldest Kyan sister Nao. Rana isn't innocent, but mostly gets hurt because she's Nina's sister. Kijimuna are supposed to bring blessings with them, but Nina couldn't be bothered and Rana has no control over her plant boosting so for her touching any greens is to be done with caution.
• Interviews with Monster Girls: Kaoru Higa is a transfer student from Okinawa that joins the cast in Chapter 45. She's a kijimuna and can read people's emotions from the colors in their eyes. Not looking for social isolation, she wears shades to minimize the readings. The first friend Kaoru makes is Kyouko, because the dullahan is delightfully upfront. From Kaoru's talk with Takahashi about the nature of her Demi-ness, it is confirmed that kijimuna have reddish skin and ensure a good fishing trip, but if the whole living in trees thing ever was true it no longer is. It is furthermore found that Kaoru doesn't eat fish eyes and in fact is creeped out by them. Takahashi proposes that the eyes of corpses display colors from a different dimension and that kijimuna can pick up on those. This would merely catch the attention of a normal kijimuna, but a powerful one like Kaoru would experience the glimpse into the other dimension as uncanny. The theory goes even further with the suggestion that kijimuna can overwrite other creatures' thoughts and that is why their catch is always so abundant.
• Stitch!: Kijimunaa is the sanshin-playing protector spirit of Izayoi Island and lives in the largest banyan tree in the center of Chitama Forest. He has a sister, Kijimagii, who lives on another island, and it's suggested that there was once a thriving kijimunaa community on Izayoi, but today there's only Kijimunaa. Kijimunaa are short and rotund creatures with brown skin and enough red-to-pink hair to hide in. Elderly kijimunaa have greyed hair, but no less volume. The hair hides the eyes, which is not immediately obvious because kijimunaa have prominent upturned nostrils that look like eyes. These nostrils can emit powerful gusts of wind and are an important symbol of the kijimunaa as shown by the kijimunaa sanctuary located in the Twin Caverns, which are giant nostrils hewn out of stone. In fact, the caverns are part of a giant stone kijimunaa with plant hair which origins aren't expanded on. Kijimunaa are very plant-oriented, as they have the ability to fuse into trees and heal plants with their tears. Kijimunaa himself becomes a friend of Yuna and Stitch when they help him get his tree back from a fire-breathing youkai named Tachichu.
• Ushio and Tora: In "Story 35: Full Moon", three kijimun on Iriomote Island save a baby from being eaten by Kani-Majimun, a giant crab. They'd witnessed such a killing many times before, aware that Kani-Majimun would destroy them if they'd interfere, but because this child's face resembles the moon they take a chance. They fly a tree branch broomstick-style to the Sky Mansion in hopes of getting help from its lord, but find Ushio and Tora instead. The duo comes to their aid and fairly easily destroys Kani-Majimun.
• Summer Days with Coo: Kappa and kijimuna are related youkai. Once Coo becomes big news all over Japan, a kijimuna in Yanbaru on Okinawa invites him to stay with him for a while far away from human society. The kijimuna's face resembles that of a shisa and his mannerisms have a slight stutter as if he's partly inanimate. His hair is brown and his skin red and he has the ability to take human form. He and Coo get acquainted in the peaceful surroundings of Yanbura and the kijimuna promises Coo he'll teach him how to turn into a human too once he's properly rested.

Literature

• Utsunomiko: Utsunomiko meets Kijimuna when he visits Akonaha in Volume 8. Kijimuna is a former god who's fallen into the state of youma. At the time of the meeting, Kijimuna is tormenting the locals in their sleep. Utsunomiko defeats and befriends them. Seeking to regain its divine nature, Kijimuna joins Utsunomiko on his own quest to achieve godhood. Incidentally, Kijimuna is said to be the same creature as the Korpokkur from Ezo.
• The Zashiki Warashi of Intellectual Village: In Volume 2, Shinobu's grandmother finds a full-grown banyan tree on the path in her garden and so Shinobu checks it out. He's greeted by a shisa who explains that the tree is a kijimuna. The shisa has come to experience snow and the kijimuna only came along as a friend. While the shisa goes to see the yuki-onna, the kijimuna moves over to the garden so as not to be in anyone's way. Shinobu compares the way the roots move to the way snakes slither. Once in the garden, the kijimuna gets in a turf war with the furutsubaki and things only intensify when a second furutsubaki joins in. Rather than fight as trees, the youkai take the form of kimono-wearing children to beat each other up, which is simultaneously a transformation show-off. The fight comes to an end when the shisa calls that it's time to go home.

Live-Action TV

• Churasan: Shortly before his death, Kazuya and his brother Fumiya dress up as kijimuna to entertain Eri. Years later, Eri faints from an untreated tumor while out on a walk with her and Fumiya's son Kazuya on Kohama Island. As the young boy rushes off to find help with no idea which way to go, his deceased uncle appears before him as a kijimuna and leads him to the nearest houses.
• The Yokai King: Ippei is a coconut-born human who drifts ashore and is raised on Okinawa. His childhood friends are the kijimuna, which makes for a precarious friendship because his ability to see youkai is why he's alienated by his human peers. After his mother is attacked by a majimun, Ippei closes himself off from the supernatural and loses contact with the kijimuna.

Tabletop Games

• Pathfinder: Kijimunas are goblinoids distinct from the rest due to their bright red hair and the little matter that they have a capacity for kindness. They are easily mistaken for children until the final years of their lives, with is on average at 15. Kijimunas love two things: fishing and pranking. They never target each other and believe that humans who are targeted should feel honored. Elderly kijimunas no longer have the physique to go out pranking, but they pay others to do it for them with the fish they catch now that fishing is all they have left to do. Kijimunas have a deep hatred for octopi and aren't very fond of spiders either because they could be octopi in disguise.

Video Games

• Bahamut Brave: Kijimuna is a child-like nature spirit armed with a spear or harpoon. They're a long distance attacker and a rare card.
• Dragon Collection: Kijimuna is of the forest attribute and resembles a puffy bird with a tree growing on top of them. They are the protector of the island and while friendly by default, they hold no mercy for anyone who cuts down trees.
• Goemon's Great Adventure: Kijimuna are encountered starting Kaiware Road of the Underworld. As per Shigeru Mizuki's design, they are small bird-like creatures that operate in groups. They drop down from above to attack travelers, but aren't dangerous beyond their numbers.
• Icchibanketsu -ONLINE-: Kijimuna is a woman with fiery red hair and a playful disposition. She falls under the ayakashi race and her type is deva. In combat, she benefits from resistance against fire and wood attacks.
• Monster Rancher Advance 2: Kijimuna is of the Garu species and the Octopee breed. It's an orange furry creature with a tentacle as its prehensile tail. It's fond of fishing.
• Oreca Battle: Kijimuna is B03-051, a weak wind-attributed card, and belongs to the Kaze Komo no Inbou set. It looks like a black ball with limbs hidden underneath red petals that serve as hair and that are tied together with green beads. Their home is the realm of Nirai Kanai.
• Kemono Heroes: Kijimuna are red furballs with a green leaf crown. They're encountered in World 1-2, where they passively wait for the protagonists to jump on the hook of their fishing rod to momentarily stun them. They have no means to do damage themselves.
• Onigiri (2014): Kijimuna are a youkai family of tree spirits and comprise Kijimuna Maiden, Kijimuna, Akana, Momijina, and Onmoraki. With the exception of the humanoid Kijimuna Maiden, they look like bird-faced leafballs topped with two larger leafs. Kijimuna are blue, although the bestiary states that the skin underneath is red. They're both pranksters and protectors and are notably affectionate towards Kikuzou. Akana are red and reside on the moon ever since they were saved from a voracious oni. They're excellent fishers and enjoy crabs in particular. Momijina are an autumn-like orange and well-regarded medics. Onmoraki look like undead Akana with toothed top leafs and are said to be born from unburied corpses. Despite their origins and appearance, they're not that harmful. Lastly, Kijimuna Maiden appears as an anthromorphic Kijimuna with her blue hair and playful demeanor.
• Shin Megami Tensei: Kijimuna are recurring timid monsters in the series. Depending on the game, they belong to either the Fairy race or the Yoma race. They're represented by a little green furball with a flower sprouting from its head. The kijimuna's elemental associations change from game to game.
• Tokyo Afterschool Summoners: Kijimuna is a tattooed kijimuna dressed mostly in just a few leaves. His hair is brown at the root and become red towards the ends. He carries mugwort with him for medicinal purposes, has no alliances, and only shows up during events. Kijimuna hails from an old giant banyan tree in Nirai Kanai, the world for which he is a Pillar. His move list is largely restorative and movement-based, whilehis offense is particularly effective against Gardeners and Creators.
• Tomba!: Tomba's default look takes design cues from the kijimuna. He has wild pink hair and wears green fur or grass shorts. His monkey-like movement versatility also matches the kijimuna.
• Yatagarasu: Kijimuna is a shadowy figure with red accents. He is the game's final boss and a Palette Swap of the protagonist Kou Hinukan, in whose body he resided prior. Kou himself is half human, half hinukan, the latter being an Okinawan hearth deity. Kou and Kijimuna both have an affinity with fire.
• Yuki Yuna Is A Hero A Sparkling Flower: Kijimuna is a brown furball with a tail and a myrtle binding together a tuft at the top. It is a spirit owned by Natsume Kohagura.

Visual Novels

• LifeSigns: Surgical Unit: The people of Waginoma Island view the Kijimuna Elves as protector gods, although few actually believe they exist. Shizuku remembers seeing one as a child and Kaori regularly communicates with them. The Village Chief lost his wife and son 40 years ago in accident foretold by the kijimuna in a dream that he didn't heed. Ever since, he's wary of any bad omens. When three major misfortunes occur in quick succession, the Village Chief views these events as messages from the Kijimuna Elves to postpone the Greenery Day Festival. Kaori insists the kijimuna would never harm humans and along with Tendo uncovers logical explanations to get the Village Chief to put the celebrations back on schedule. During the festival, Kaori is telepathically warned by the kijimuna that Sora and Hikaru suffered a fall. She and Tendo find them and realize that Sora needs immediate intervention for a punctured lung. They have the tools, but no light. Right then, a Kijimuna Elf, a little rabbit-like creature with prehensile ears, jumps out of the bushes and generates a light ball. It leaves the moment Sora is stabilized, which is before anyone else arrives.

Web Games

• AdventureQuest Worlds: There are several female forest spirits bearing the name "kijimuna". Green Kijimuna are found in Shogun War. Some need to be fought during the "We Need Supplies" and the "Tea for Me" quests for their pollen, which have healing properties. A green Mini Kijimuna as pet is a possible reward for completing "Tea for Me". Giant Kijimuna are red and wear oni masks as representation of their alliance with the Shadow Shogun. They can be obtained as pets by completing the "Empowered Shadow Medallions" quest in Shogun War. Defeating the blue Aozora Kijimuna found in the Aozora Hills may lead to the attainment of a Mini Aozora Kijimuna or a Giant Aozora Kijimuna as pets. Aozora Kijimuna Cape is another possible drop, which is a living Aozora Kijimuna that act like a cape.
• Shikihime Garden: Kijimuna are mobs found in several areas and as boss fights in Forest of Banquet and Castle of Snow Banquet. They're red furry creatures with a hat, a bird mask, and clawed feet. Their description stated that they're fond of fish and fishing.

    Korpokkur 

, rendered in Japanese as koropokkuru

and

in more ways than there's fingers to count with, are

from Ainu folklore said to have lived on Hokkaido before the Ainu arrived. There is debate on the meaning of the term, but "kor-pok-kur" is generally taken to mean "people under the butterbur (leaves)".

In modern media, they are typically depicted as

dressed in traditional Ainu-inspired clothes while carrying a butterbur leaf to hide or take cover under. They are shy and harmless nature spirits that straddle the line between youkai and

.

According to the Ainu, the korpokkur were more hairy than they are, had reddish skin, and were a lot shorter. Depending on the retelling, they are a pygmy-esque 120 cm in height tops (as opposed to the Ainu average height of around 160 cm) or they are as small as 10 cm. The korpokkur are given credit for the flint tools and samples of pottery left behind in and near pit-house remnants of 1 to 2 meters deep. It is thought that these pit-houses were thatched with butterbur leaves.^note The meaning "people under the butterbur (leaves)" evokes the image of a little person finding cover under a small plant. There's folkore that supports this, but also the butterbur of Hokkaido go up to 2 meters, up to 3 meters if they grow near the Rawan river, and supposedly in the past there were butterbur that could reach 4 meters. Hiding under a roof made from leaves makes more sense than hiding under the plant. The korpokkur are variously said to have left gifts and to have been secretive trading partners of the Ainu, only operating by night or through gaps and windows. Either scenario is consistent with the principles of silent trade. There are multiple stories as to why these little people disappeared, a notable one being that an Ainu man was curious and grasped a korpokkur's arm during a trade. The korpokkur were furious and left after that incident never to return. The popular version of that tale states that the korpokkur was a woman with tattoos on her arm and that hers were the inspiration for Ainu women to get tattoos, but it's also said that the korpokkur didn't do tattoos. Another tale in regards to their fate is that the Ainu drove the korpokkur to extinction, but there's also the claim that the korpokkur are the ancestors of the Ainu.

Prior to the 1880s, the korpokkur had been reported on to Mainland Japan by travelers such as Matsuura Takeshirō. A nationwide introduction began with Edward Morse, a pottery enthusiast who did archeological research in Japan in the late 1870s. One thing he took note of is that there was pottery to be found on Hokkaido, but that the Ainu didn't make any and claimed never to have done so. Morse reasoned that there must have been another culture before the Ainu settled on the island. Morse's student Shōgorō Tsuboi heard of the korpokkur and ran with it, proposing that they were the pottery-making Jōmon of yore and the Ainu invaders. Thus the korpokkur became a subject of fierce debate in Japan's climate of rapidly developing nationalism and desires of colonization. The contention died down in the 1900s when Tsuboi's own protégé, Torii Ryūzō, pointed out that the Kuril Ainu did live in pit-houses and made pottery. To this day, there's no definite answer what inspired the stories of the korpokkur, but contact with the Kuril Ainu remains a candidate.

In 1959, Satoru Satō finished A Little Country No One Knows, the first book of the Korobokkuru Monogatari series. Satō was born in 1928 when the korpokkur were receding from Mainland Japan's awareness and grew up reading Western Fairy Tales such as Aesop's Fables and the works of The Brothers Grimm. Korobokkuru Monogatari reimagines the korpokkur as fairy-like liliputians that live beneath human notice and stand for a nature-compatible Japan in the face of the rapid industrialization of the post-war era. The novel was distributed in private circles in March and picked up by Kodansha for commercial publication in August. The novel and its sequels were a huge hit with lasting impact both on the Japanese fantasy genre and on the image of the korpokkur.

To this day, Satō's fairy tale version remains the dominant template for the korpokkur, but Ainu culture is infused as far as Mainland Japanese assumptions and aesthetics allow. For instance, korpokkur commonly dress and adorn themselves as per Ainu tradition, but because of the stigma on tattoos, korpokkur aren't ever depicted as having those. If the korpokkur are from a fantasy counterpart of Hokkaido, it is likely called Kamuy, the Hokkaido Ainu word for "deity". The key attribute of a korpokkur is the butterbur leaf they carry around as umbrella or parasol. To further emphasize the korpokkur's size, they tend to be put next to small animals like frogs and mice and sometimes are depicted as anthropomorphic animals. If there's an elemental theme in a given work, the korpokkur will fall under plant and/or ice. The former derives partially from Satō's work and partially from the butterbur association, while the latter comes from Hokkaido being Japan's cold north. The korpokkur have an affinity with children.

See also other little people in Japanese folklore, such as the majimun kijimuna, the god Sukunabikona, and the hero Issun-boshi. The tsuchigumo and living dogu are related youkai on account of their historic origins and interpretations, while snow rabbits share in the winter sentimentality.

• 090 ~ Eko to Issho: In Chapter 29, a tanuki presumes that Eko, who has shrunken considerably due to bathing in hot water, is a korpokkur.
• act-age: In Chapter 70, Hanako relays how she grew up in the middle of nowhere in the mountains of Hokkaido. During winter, she was left alone as her farmer parents went away for jobs. To cope with the loneliness, Hanako made an Imaginary Friend called Fukiko ("Butterbur Girl"), a korpokkur who floated on the wind hanging from her butterbut leaf. Continuous disappointments railroaded Hanako into adulthood and she stopped seeing Fukiko, which is a loss that defines her adulthood. Her goal as an artist is to see Fukiko again, but no matter how much she tries, she can never quite recreate Fukiko's image. She burns all of her failed attempts, which is the bulk of her oeuvre.
• Bouken Korobokkuru: As a loose adaptation of Korobokkuru Monogatari, the anime centers around four characters: the heroic korobokkuru trio of Bokkuru, Couscous, and Love Love, and the human boy Seitaka. The korobokkuru trio have come from Hokkaido to the city because humans no longer believe in them. Many adventures follow, such as other korobokkuru visiting them, Seitake becoming korobokkuru-sized, and battles against animals that are very dangerous to anyone the size of a leaf.
• Honey and Clover: In Chapter 1 and Episode 1, Hagu draws the attention of Morita for a profitable venture. Hagu is 18 years old, but she looks and dresses like a child. Upon meeting, Morita hands her a butterbur leaf and a toadstool prop for a korpokkur photo shoot. He edits the photos and uploads them as evidence that korpokkur exist on his advertisement-riddled website.
• Inu × Boku SS: The childish and energetic Chino is a maid at Maison de Ayakashi with korpokkur heritage. As a result, her youkai form is a tiny human dressed in Ainu clothes and carrying a butterbur leaf. Her work benefits from her korpokkur form, because it allows her to clean really narrow places.
• The Littl' Bits: The eponymous Littl' Bits (Fanit in Japanese) are inspired by the korobokkuru of Korobokkuru Monogatari and Bouken Korobokkuru. They are tiny people who live a peaceful but adventurous life in the forest away from humans.
• The Morose Mononokean: Abeno introduces Ashiya to the korpokkur Okina in Chapter 23 (Episode 11). He is an elderly figure just short of knee-high with long hair, thick eyebrows, and a beard. Okina's full name is Inogaratake Yuuhi Takino Okinagami, the "kami"-part being a title bestowed on him by humans who've dedicated a shrine to him. He lives there among the butterbur leaves. Many youkai visit the shrine for a chat or for help to reach the underworld, which is why he came in contact with Abeno. Okina is a voice of wisdom and reason and well-liked by the Mononokean team.
• Shaman King: The korpokkur (minutians in the American dub) are endangered due to the ongoing destruction of butterbur fields for development projects in Hokkaido. As the Shamans of the Ainu, the Usui Family are tasked with getting the title of Shaman King to have the means to reverse the damage. Both the main contestant Horokue and his father Lycan have a korpokkur as guardian spirit and both these korpokkur are unusual. Lycan's spirit is Gororo, a mutant korpokkur who dwarfs even humans. Horokue's spirit, Kororo, is a former human, Tamiko. Tamiko was a close friend of Horokue, but their relation was put an end to because Tamiko's parents were among the dam-builders demolishing the Hokkaido landscape. Because Horokue ignored Tamiko from then on, she followed him to talk but got lost and froze to death. Her soul rejected the korpokkur's help in passing on and so she was offered training by Gororo to become a korpokkur in order to reunite with Horokue, relieve both their sorrows, and help restore the butterbur fields she'd come to love.
• Takeo-chan Bukkairoku: The korpokkur are blobular humanoids less than a centimeter in height, which is why even in the youkai-populated Hyakkisou Inn no one knows they're fellow residents. They take whatever items they need as resources for their own community, hence why small things go missing, and they keep insects as mounts. They used to live in the kitchen until a ferocious rat they declared the incarnation of the deity Kim-un-kamuy chased them out. Takeo meets the korpokkur when she's fed a Alice's Adventures in Wonderland-inspired shrinking potion in Chapter 27. In her quest for the antidote, she defeats Kim-un-kamuy and is declared Pirka-kamuy by the grateful korpokkur. They move back to the kitchen, return her stuff to her, and every so often Takeo leaves cookies for them on the floor.

Literature

• Korobokkuru Monogatari by Satoru Satō: The kobōshi ("little boys") are a race of tiny people that live all around humans, but distrust them and therefore don't go near them. However, they allow Seitaka to meet them. The boy is reminded of the korobokkuru and calls them such, a name which they happily adopt and go by from then on. When Seitaka is an adult, the korobokkuru turn to him to save their hill from being demolished to make room for a highway. Seitaka is the protagonist of the first book, while in most books following a korobokkuru is the main character. Seitaka's success in saving the korobokkuru's hill generates good will and they willingly interact with other humans near Seitaka later on.
• Utsunomiko: Kijimuna is said to be the same creature as the Korpokkur from Ezo. Utsunomiko meets them on Akonaha and befriends them, after which Kijimuna becomes another one of his companions.

Music

• Vocaloid: The 2015 edition of Winter Miku is dressed like a korpokkur and Yukine's green ribbon evokes the look of a snow rabbit. The theme of 2015 was "Plant Life in Winter".

Tabletop Games

• The Caster Chronicles: Card SDS2-b08 of Phase 2's 1st starter deck, "Tenshi no Enbukyoku VS Akuma no Rondo", is Korpokkur and depicts a girl in a short Ainu dress who holds a butterbur leaf in her hands. The unusual element here is that she also has wings, and is classified as both an angel and a youkai. Her type is Mystery.
• Kara-tur: Korobokuru are dwarf-sized humanoids with a peaceful disposition and an unfair reputation as being uncivilized and arrogant. Due to bad prior experiences and harsh living coonditions, the korobokuru mostly keep to themselves. They are excellent hunters, practice shamanism, and maintain a semi-democracy. Female korobokuru can grow a little bit of chin hair and tattoo their hands and faces with blue ink.
• Legions! by FLIPFLOPs: Korpokkur no Senshi is card BS02-001143, released as part of the "Ryuhime no Kakusei" booster pack. It's a minion of the fairy and warrior types which skill is to hide under its butterbur leaf to avoid damage and effects.
• Shadowrun: The Koborokuru are a dwarfen metavariant which is the dominant in Japan. They're smaller, less muscular, and less hairy than most other dwarves.
• Yu-Gi-Oh!: There are two korpokkur-inspired cards: Acorno and Pinecono. Acorno is Korobokkuri in Japanese, which is a portmanteau of "korobokkuru" and "donguri" ("acorn"). Pinecono is Matsubokkuru in Japanese, which is a portmanteau of "korobokkuru" and "matsu" ("pine"). The both of them are anthropomorphic nuts and they fall under the earth attribute and the plant type. Acorno and Pinecono show up side by side in the artwork of the Mini-Guts spell card and the Xyz Pieces trap card.

Video Games

• Disgaea: Hour of Darkness: One mid-tier member of the Feary class is the koropokkoru. They're a human-sized dark creature with an outfit between a Christian priest and a stereotypical voodoo doctor.
• Divine Gate: The pok-gurus are small elemental beings with one button eye and one wingding eye. There are six of them, as there are six elements, and each pok-guru has a three-step evolution. There's pika-pok-guru (light), hino-pok-guru (fire), koro-pok-guru (void), mizu-pok-guru (water), yami-pok-guru (dark), and kaze-pok-guru (wind). Evolutions go from [koro]-pok-guru to [koro]-pok-gurun to mega [koro]-pok-gurun.
• Dragon Collection: There's Korpokkur and the halloween-themed Witchpokkur. Korpokkur is a shy guardian spirit who resembles a child-like figure in Ainu clothes hiding beneath the leaves. He is of the forest attribute and has some control over plants. Witchpokkur is largely the same, but hides under a pumpkin cookie instead of a leaf and is dressed as a witch.
• Dragon Quest: Korpokkur show up every once in a while in the series.
  • Dragon Quest VI: One member of the Plant Family is the tree feller, which Japanese name is hellbokkur. It's a short, rotund, and tree-themed fellow.
  • Dragon Quest VII: There's a mob family of acorn-themed forest creatures that resemble korpokkur. The Japanese names of several reveal as much: Kor Fighter, Kor Hero, Kor Mage, and Kor Priest.
• Elemental Monster: Online Card Game: The snow-dwelling korpokkur is a four-eyed fae-like being with vulpine attributes and companions. Both their fur and dress display Ainu-inspired patterns. Korpokkur's element is Earth and they belong to the Spirit family, and their main skills are Breath of Nature, which undoes an opponent's stat changes, and Butterbur Cutter, which guarantees a critical hit against other earth-attributed monsters.
• Elemental Story: Korpokkur is a monster with three stages of awakening, all of which resemble a little lady in Ainu clothes holding a leaf decorated with water drops. She's of the Water element and has water-based skills, which because she controls the drops through her leaf are named "Leaf [Attack/Smash/Splash]". She is enlisted in the Frozen Water Continent.
• Final Fantasy: Korpokkur show up in a myriad of roles and shapes.
  • Final Fantasy XI: Koropokkur are members of the Mandragora family, which are humanoid plant bulb monsters. They live in the Yuhtunga Jungle and are effectively identical to the Yuhtunga Mandragora, but more rare.
  • Final Fantasy XIV: Korpokkur looks like a freshly sprouting seed with limbs and a bird-like face. They show up as enemies, minions, and mounts. As enemies, they belong to the seedkin class and mainly reside in Saint Mocianne's Arboretum. There's the green Korpokkur, the brown Muddy Dorpokkur, and the mud-covered and blooming boss Tokkapchi. A copy of Tokkapchi known as The Mudman is an enemy in II Mheg and the green Korpokkur show up as Polis Korpokkur in Aquapolis. The minion Korpokkur Kid, a green Korpokkur, is obtained at the Saint Mocianne's Arboretum or in Heaven-on-High. The mount is known as Korpokkur Kolossus. It is a giant green Korpokkur that is said to have been small ones but through its adventures it became big. It is bought from the Gold Saucer Attendant and is summoned with the Korpokkur Kolossus Horn. As a 2021 promotion with the chocolate company Lawson, a Chocorpokkur, which is a Korpokkur Kolossus covered in chocolate, is available to anyone who buys 18 pieces of Final Fantasy-licensed candy.
  • Mobius Final Fantasy: Korpokkur are humanoid mice with the ability Earthslide. They're a support card with an elemental alignment to Earth.
• Genjyu Monogatari 2: Korpokkur is a small, shy being who feels most comfortable hidden underneath a butterbur leaf. She's a Class C creature of the rei type and her signature item is her Large Butterbur Umbrella.
• Icchibanketsu -ONLINE-: Korpokkur is a shy boy dressed in clothes that include Ainu elements. He falls under the ayakashi race and his type is shaman. His magic centers on healing and boosting stats.
• THE iDOLM@STER: SideM: From November 8-November 14, 2020, the members of Mofumofuen and F-LAGS participated in a promotional event for Hokkaido. During this event, they dressed up as korpokkur. The korpokkur were suggested to be very small because they were depicted as living inside hollowed out acorns.
• Kingdom Corps: Koropokkuru is among the common cards. It's a little man wearing Ainu clothes sitting under his leaf alongside a snow rabbit. His element is water and therefore his primary skill is Aqua Whip, but he also learns Fire Ball.
• Legend Of The Cryptids: There are two korpokkur lines.
  • Korpokkur Gnome and its evolution (Nature) Korpokkur Gnome are liliputians associated with the wind and butterflies. Playful Gale is their proactive skill and the lore for (Nature) Korpokkur Gnome reads that when three full moons rise at dusk and generate a rainbow, the korpokkur are out and about riding the gale with their leafs.
  • Runevalis Korpokkur and its evolution (Fuzzy) Runevalis Korpokkur are anthropomorphic rodents associated with water and wind instruments. Whisker Healing is their proactive skill and it's said that obtaining a whisker comes with a blessing of good fortune.
• The Legend of Zelda:
  • The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap: The Minish are largely based on the korobokkuru from Korobokkuru Monogatari, with their Japanese name Pikkoru being a portmanteau of "pygmy" and "korobokkuru". Other sources include the small people from The Elves and the Cobbler and Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. The Minish are mouse people who leave gifts for humans to find and who can only be seen by children and animals. The Forest Minish are associated with clovers the same way korpokkur are associated with butterbur leafs. The Hurdy-Gurdy Man may be a Minish living in the human world, although by what means he got and stays human-sized is unknown. Both Link's hat Elzo and Big Bad Vaati are Minish too.
  • The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker: The Koroks, degenerate descendants of the elflike Kokiri from Ocarina of Time, are dimunitive wooden creatures predominantly modelled on the popular image of kodama (tree spirits), but their name is also evocative of korpokkur. The resemblance is increased when they extend the leaves that they use to fly, and by their appearance in Breath of the Wild as mischievous spirits who hide across the overworld and are Invisible to Normals.
• Little King's Story: It's in King Corobo's very name: "Korobo"kkuru. All in the kingdom are implied to be korobokkuru as per the portrayal of the creature in Korobokkuru Monogatari. To drive the point home, there's a scarecrow UMA at the Melon Patch who commands the meloncholies. The scarecrow resembles King Corobo and itself is named "Korobokle" ("Korobokkuri" in Japanese).
• Mega Man Battle Network: IceMan.EXE is an ice-based NetNavi with a green suit and a curl on his cap reminiscent of the korpokkur's leaf.
• Neutopia II: Korpokkur are brown-furred critters native to the frosty Shinoro Headwaters. They have the ability to curl up into a ball and bounce around. They are reused in Super Bomberman 3.
• Ōkami: The poncles (korpokkur in Japanese) are the inhabitants of Ponc'tan (Ponkotan in Japanese, which is Ainu for "small settlement"), a village that is located inside a tree stump. Ponc'tan is part of the frozen lands of Kamui, but itself is a cozy hideout. In addition to the korpokkur, the poncles are also based on the legend of Issun-Boshi, which is why they're so tiny. They are bug-themed humanoids with strong bodies and that can get a lot older than humans. They are invaluable servants of the gods because the gods need the faith of humans and every time that wavers it's the poncles who sent out their best artist to restore the connection. This artist is known as the Celestial Envoy and at the time of Amaterasu's return Issun is the one selected for the task. Therefore, is is he that accompanies her on her quest.
• Otogi: Spirit Agents: Koropokkur is a card obtained via Jewel Summon. Its image is of a young man in Ainu clothes carrying a butterbur leaf (wrongly translated as a burdock leaf). In a rare case of Ainu tattoo customs being acknowledged, he has them on his arms. Traditionally, Ainu men don't have tattoos, but there's technically no word on whether korpokkur men do or do not have them. He also has tattoos on his neck and face where Ainu don't have them. Korpokkur is a butterbur connoisseur, a proud hunter capable of catches twice his height, and good at camouflage.
• Shin Megami Tensei: Koropokkuru/koropokguru/korbacle are recurring peaceful monsters in the series. Depending on the game, they belong to either the Jirae race or the Mute race. They're represented by a little bearded man in Ainu clothes, without shoes, and carrying a butterbur leaf. The koropokkuru's elemental associations change from game to game.
• Stardew Valley: The junimo are expies of the harvest sprites of Story of Seasons and the Minish from The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap. They're tiny, colorful, sprout-like creatures from another dimension. While in the valley, they secretly distribute gifts to spread happiness around. Furthermore, they reside in junimo huts. A junimo hut is a building that can be magically placed on the farm so that the junimo will help with the harvest.
• Story of Seasons: The korobokkuru, which in English get the name "harvest sprites" and "nature sprites", are a staple of the series ever since the second game. They're modeled after the korobokkuru from Korobokkuru Monogatari, and as such are small fairies who serve the Harvest Goddess and the Harvest King and who help out the player if they take the effort to befriend them. For the most part, the sprites are reimagined and new characters feature in each game, but there is chromatically arranged trio by the names of Nic, Nak, & Flak that is present in multiple games.
• Super Bomberman 3: Korpokkur are white-furred critters native to Winterland. They have the ability to curl up into a ball and bounce around. They are reused from Neutopia II.
• Tokyo Afterschool Summoners: Korpokkur is a butterbur leaf-bearing korpokkur and a member of the Rule Makers. He is the World Representative of Kamuy Kotan, a frozen world where adults are killed to serve as food for children. This seems to be a reference to the historical bear worship of the Ainu, which saw bear cubs taken care of better than children, but adult bears killed because that was viewed as sending the god back home. Korpokkur is principally only visible to children, but in Tokyo everyone can see him. He's not happy with that because he has a mindset reminiscent of Peter Pan: children are good (and should not grow up) and adults are horrible. When he's defeated, he curses that "all the water and fish shall dry up now!!!", which is a reference to the legend that the area of Tokachi derives its name from "Tokappuchi", a korpokkur curse aimed at the Ainu that means the same thing. His move list is largely defensive and his offense is ice-based.
• Trials of Mana: The heroes visit Koropokkur Woods, located within Rabite Forest, to speak to the brilliant strategist Domperi for advice on how to retake the kingdom. The koropokkur are modeled after the ones from Korobokkuru Monogatari and don't trust humans, which means the party first has to get the Midge Mallet to turn themselves small and then pretend to be koropokkur. They do such a poor job at it that Domperi immediately sees through the ruse and messes with them before helping them.

Visual Novels

• Koropokkur In Love ~A Little Fairy's Tale~: The koropokkur are people tiny enough to be carried in a human's hand. They wear Ainu clothes, have Ainu names, and possess magic to turn into a human, but they've been living separate from humans in their own dimension for a long time now. One koropokkur, Asirrera, gets permission to leave the village and take a chance on becoming human, as there's legends saying that's possible. Asirrera ends up ruining an important event at Petit Fille, a maid cafe owned by Satoru Segawa, and makes a deal to work for him for free to compensate for the damages. Through the Spring of Clairvoyance, her friends Cirta and Haruante learn of what happened and they decide to leave too to assist her. It isn't long before Satoru realizes the three aren't human because any stress returns Asirrera to her true form, but he keeps it a secret.
• Moe! Ninja Girls: In Season 17, the ice-ninja Ricka saves Koropokkur from a wild dog. The tiny girl settles herself in Ricka's breast pocket, but not only out of gratitude. Koropokkur is millennia-old being with a mission to revive her master, the goddess Mistress Swan. Ricka is a dead ringer for the goddess and with some manipulation Koropokkur succeeds in getting her to wear the necklace that houses Mistress Swan's soul. Ricka gets possessed by the goddesss, who is happy to reunite with Koropokkur, but Ricka's friends want her back. It all ends well when Mistress Swan leaves Ricka's body in an act of self-sacrifice. Thereafter, Koropokkur sticks around, partially because of an uneasy friendship with the club and partially to keep looking for ways to revive Mistress Swan.

Web Games

• Daily Life With Monster Girl Online: Shinotcha is a korpokkur. She's a tiny person in a very short Ainu dress who carries a butterbur leaf around. She's got the reputation of being a cheery and diligent worker.
• Shikihime Garden: Korobokkuru is a fuchsia-haired hime with animal ears and feet and a large fluffy tail. Her description proclaims the korobokkuru to be a Beast Fairy race. She is a bow-type hime and can be obtained through a summon, from a Pattern Quest, by matching Kurousagi with an Spricot Spirit, or by upgrading Izuna. By putting her through an Eight Gods Awakening, Kei Korobokkuru is unlocked, which is the only version to wear Ainu-inspired clothes. She's available in the variants Tanabata and Chibi.

    Kuchisake-Onna 

"Are we pretty?"

The "Kuchisake-Onna" or the "Slit-Mouthed Woman" is a malevolent ghost woman who appears wearing something to cover her face hiding a

while brandishing a sharp object. Legend says that she hunts targets and asks them if she looks beautiful. If they answer "no", she'll use her weapon to kill them on the spot. If they say "yes", she'll remove her mask to reveal her scars and asks again if she's beautiful. No leads to death but yes leads to her using her knife to carve a smile on their target's face.

Her origins dates back to Japan's Edo period and the reasons for she received her original scars vary. Some stories say she was attacked by a jealous rival or the victim of a surgical operation gone wrong. Others say that she was in a relationship with a samurai who cut her face after she cheated on her with countless men. For past depictions, she'd often wear kimono dresses and would cover herself fan while using a knife or scissors as her main weapon. In modern times, she wears a large trench-coat and uses a face mask.

The few ways to escape her wrath involve either saying she looks "average" (which leads to her working on her appearance which grants the target a chance to run away) or if they say "pomade" three times to ward her off.

• Dandadan: One of the major villains in the Space Globalists Arc is a giant woman named Reiko Kashima who hunts the protagonist Momo Ayase. She's considered an amalgamation of various yokai women, including Reiko, but has the same manner of attacking others based on how they view her beauty. Though she doesn't have a sharp weapon or cover her face, she instead carries a hand mirror which gives her access to various abilities such as teleporting her hands to attack, trapping others in her mirror world to even hypnotizing anyone who looks in any reflective surface. She's also regarded as the strongest yokai of all of Japan as she single-handedly takes down the Space Globalists when they trigger a traumatic memory from her past life.
• Jujutsu Kaisen: In the Hidden Inventory Arc, Geto summons the Slit-Mouthed Woman while fighting Toji Fushiguro.
• Zekkyou Gakkyuu: A story in Volume 6 shows how she started out as an ordinal girl named Akamiya who was regarded as popular with the boys for her beauty. Earning the jealousy of her girl peers, one of them gives her the titular nickname and convinces the other girls to brutalize her. This lands her in the hospital where the doctors lament not being able to do more for her face.

Film

• The horror movie Carved (2007) and it's sequel features the Kuchisake-onna as a main antagonist who's responsible for a series of child abductions.

Web Comics

• Mob Psycho 100: During the Urban Legends Arc of the original, Mob, Reigen, Dimple and resident psychic Banshomaru Shinra have a fateful encounter with a kuchisake-ona who appears before them in a rainy forest. To the shock of the adults, she proves to be exceptionally powerful since she feeds on the fears of those who know of her legend. But because Mob didn't know about her legend and isn't afraid of her, he's easily able to exorcise her. The anime adaptation changes her into a different yokai known simply as "The Dragger" who has sharp claws and has several broken dolls attached to her.

    Living Haniwa sculptures 

are clay statues from the end of the Yayoi period through the Kofun period to the early part of the Asuka period. They're funerary objects and may have been made to replace

. The

mentions that Emperor Suinin, who is thought to have ruled from 29 BCE to 70 CE, issued an edict to erect clay statues during funerals and not hurt people.

Haniwa are an example of Haji pottery, mass-produced objects of clay that are unglazed but sometimes painted. They become popular during the 1970s along with the dogu and have been incorporated in loads of fiction. The funerary element may be present, but just as likely they are present for comedic purposes. Haniwa are also prone to be connected with other elements assigned to their general era of production, whether by legend or science. The legendary Queen Himiko and the Seven-Branched Sword are examples of such elements.

Haniwa were mass-produced during the 6th century, but thereafter the introduction of Buddhism and the practice of cremation caused a decline in the building of tumuli and, thus, in the production of haniwa.

• 8020 Yogurt by Shikoku Yogurt (2010): Two haniwa dance around a carton of yogurt and show off their healthy teeth.
• Izumizaki: Izumi-chan is a haniwa with a magatama necklace who acts as the mascot of Izumizaki, Fukushima. She's 1400 years old, loves fashion and collecting magatama, and before becoming a mascot she had a job as a grave keeper.
• Sakai: CHO (Chief Haniwa Officer) is the Haniwa Director of the Furuichi Kofungun and Mozu Kofungun and active in Sakai, Osaka since 2019. He is 1600 years old and looks like a man with a full dancing haniwa for a head.
• Shibayama: Since 2014, Shibakko-kun is the mascot of Shibayama, Chiba and the Shibayama Haniwa Festival in particular. He is 1400 years old and shares his birthday with the festival's date (second Sunday of November) because that was the day he woke up to its sounds. Prior, he was asleep in the museum. He has a jetpack in honor of Narita Airport and is good friends with Unari-kun and Kutan. On the nature side, the jetpack is decorated with a lantern lily, he wears a flower necklace, and from Shibakko-kun's helmet grows a little sprout.
• Takatsuki: Hani-tan is the haniwa mascot of Takatsuki, Osaka since 2012. Their place of birth is given as the Imashirozuka Kofun and the date is August 20th, which is Haniwa Day in Takatsuki. Hani-tan is modeled after a warrior dug up at the Imashirozuka Kofun, but may or may not share its gender.
• Tokyo National Museum: Since 2012, the haniwa-based Tohaku-kun is the mascot of the Tokyo National Museum alongside the liriodendron-inspired Yurinoki-chan. They were introduced to commemorate the 140th anniversary of the museum.
• Yao City Shionjiyama Kofun Learning Center: The mascot of the Shionjiyama Kofun museum in Yao, Osaka is the Haniwa Emperor. His design is a clothed, humanoid adaptation on the kinugasagata haniwa that were recovered from atop the kofun. The Haniwa Emperor seeks to expand the Haniwa Empire by giving tours at the museum.

Anime & Manga

• Flint the Time Detective: There are two haniwa-based time shifters due to one being replaced by the other when the franchise went through a final revision.
  • Haniwani is introduced in Chapter 1 of the manga. It is a crocodile-based haniwa without legs and with mizura-styled head ornaments. It has has very strong jaws capable of crushing through rock. The name "Haniwani" is a portmanteau of "haniwa" and "wani", which means "crocodile".
  • Jitterbug (Hani-Hani in Japanese) is a simplistic human-shaped haniwa with mizura-styled head ornaments. He has the power to force others to dance in a metronome-like fashion and, being pottery, he both easily breaks and is reassembled. Before being retrieved, he hangs around in 2nd Century Japan when Queen Himiko has only just begun her reign and isn't a strong leader yet. In the manga, she reassembles and befriends Jitterbug, but one piece of the time shifter ends up in Petra's hands. This piece gets stamped and returned to Jitterbug, which brings him under Petra's control. As Jitterbug-Con (Hani-Waru in Japanese), he is capable of consuming clay to turn into missiles, which is too much for the Time Police to handle. Himiko's pleas to Jitterbug to remember her do work and the time shifter returns to normal. In the anime, Jitterbug barely interacts with Himiko and instead bonds with Flint.
• Gregory Horror Show: It is said that all cubicle-dwellers that live only for raises and promotions and forget about their friends and family become hollow and deadened haniwa in the end. Stephen Haniwa Salaryman, for instance, is strongly implied to be the new form of the First Guest.
• Inazuma Eleven GO Galaxy: In Episode 21, Shinsuke and Tetsukado become trapped in a holographic match in the Black Room. The arena is underground and their opponents are a team of animate haniwa. Because the match was set up for Shinsuke to work on his capacity for defense, the only means to end the program is for him and Tetsukado to prevent a goal by the Haniwa Team. It takes a little, but eventually Shinsuke succeeds, ending the program and the haniwa.
• Kasumin: Ms. Haniwa (Alice Clay in English) is the loyal and reliable housekeeper of the Kasumin Household. She has hair, is composed of a tan-colored clay, and wears a shirt with a magatama depicted on it. Haniwa gets married and officially quits around the arrival of Kasumi, to whom she hands over her duties. Nonetheless, she shows up daily to make sure everything's running smoothly. In S1E21, she invites the moai representatives to stay at the Kasumin Household instead of going to a hotel and is most in tune with their customs and needs. Starting the second season, it's revealed that Haniwa has a sibling who is a dogu. Her niece, Dogu, visits from time to time.
• Magical Circle Guru-Guru: When Barckweener got bored writing the Guru Guru Tome, he enchanted it with incarnation gas that would bring about a haniwa to give instructions to who would inherit the tome. Kukuri opens the tome in Chapter 27 (Epsode 24 of the 1994 anime and 6 of the 2017 anime), thereby summoning the richly dressed haniwa. It gives the instructions and dissolves back into gas once its task is finished.
• The Monster Kid: Haniwa is a living haniwa posing as a human with surprising success given his minimally humanoid appearance. He's a zealous defender of justice who beats up bullies as readily as he broadcasts to the entire school that Hiroshi intended to cheat on a test. Every time he is about to deliver justice, he strikes a dancing pose, and if needed, his eyes start glowing as he grows into a giant haniwa warrior. He is powerful in that form, but still only as strong as hollow baked clay can be. Tarou smashes Haniwa into pieces, but as he means well he and Hiroshi put the haniwa back together. Grateful, Haniwa leaves the area to spread justice elsewhere.
• Monster Strike (2016): The haniwa-commanding Himiko is Shino's signature monsters. Her army consists of a lot of small ones and one giant armored one that is entombed in a kofun until he is called for. In Episodes 30-31, Himiko and the haniwa take on Napoleon and her usafines as summoned by Aoi. While Himiko theoretically is superior, her element is fire and that of Napoleon is water, so Napoleon wins the battle. In Episode 43, Haruma summons Himiko and her army as a means to defeat the wood-aligned Kushinada, which ends much better for the haniwa army.
• Nintama Rantarou: Sekito Haniwa is a transfer student whose face resembles a haniwa, hollow eyes included. His hair is in the mizura-style and his clothes sport a haniwa print.
• The Exposition Greek Chorus of Super Mashin Hero Wataru is a family of three Haniwa sculptures called "Haniwaman" that also function as Idiosyncratic Wipes for the show.

Films — Live-Action

• Daimajin: Daimajin is a kaiju-sized haniwa warrior infused with a violent spirit by Shino, the warrior who defeated it. While holding the spirit, the statue bleeds if injured and it has a green hidden face that reveals itself when Daimajin is roused from its slumber. In times of chaos, such as that of the Sengoku Period, Daimajin comes to life one way or another to punish all evildoers. Because the threshold for "evildoer" is low, his appearance is not solely a blessing and only someone willing to give their life can stop the haniwa warrior. This usually ends with the spirit leaving the statue, which returns it to its rocky state.

Literature

• INVADERS of the ROKUJYOUMA!?: Kiriha, a member of the People of the Earth, is accompanied by a pair of Hot-Blooded talking haniwa named Karama and Korama, created by implanting artificial souls into clay bodies. Barrier Warriors with the powers of Flight, Invisibility, fire and lightning, they initially stay glued to Kiriha or function as her personal scouts, but as she settles into her role as The Strategist of the team she more frequently lends them out to other characters. Later in the series they can also act as R2-D2-esque control units for the Space Fighter Oohime. Outsiders studying spiritual technology note that the religious symbolism of haniwas might make them better vessels for a soul, or that conversely "normal" haniwas might have developed in imitation of the People of the Earth's creations.

Live-Action TV

• Choudenshi Bioman: In Episode 18, the Mecha-Gigan Haniwa Canth awakens, but the Biomen are warned in advance by a local girl, Risa, who can see the future. Unbeknownst to anyone, she gets this power from her necklace, which contains a piece of the planet Levy. The necklace also can temporarily disable Haniwa Canth, which gives the Biomen a chance to escape after the robotic warrior gives them a beatdown. The next encounter proceeds in favor of the Biomen and even when Haniwa Canth opens its face to reveal a laser cannon it can't prevent its own destruction.
• Gosei Sentai Dairanger: Haniwa Ventriloquist is one of Gara's soldiers. He appears as a man with a moon-face and a haniwa-shaped ventriloquist puppet, but the truth is that it is the "puppet" who is the puppeteer of the moon-faced "man". Any time the large body gets destroyed, Haniwa Ventriloquist can reassemble it. In Episode 16, he is tasked with turning children into statues in order to find those who could join the Gorma Tribe. Haniwa Ventriloquist's short stature is useful in this regard, because it allows him to pretend to be another child. It takes the Dairangers a bit to figure out the large body is a mere puppet, but eventually they get it right and electrocute him through his own puppeteer wires.
• Ooi! Hanimaru!: Hanimaru and Hinbee are a haniwa duo consisting of a princely warrior and a horse. They started as a painting by Seiichi and were brought to life by the frame he'd created. Because they are from the Kofun Period, they initially don't speak modern Japanese, but learn with the help from their new friends. Hanimaru's catchphrase is "hanya" and Hinbee is prone to say "funya". In addition to being Hanimaru's mount, Hinbee also is his valet and decidedly smarter than his master.

Tabletop Games

• Yu-Gi-Oh!: Haniwa and its Palette Swap Rock Spirit are haniwa monsters. They're of the earth attribute an while Haniwa's type is rock, Rock Spirit's is spellcaster. Haniwa is a member of the Normal Quintet featured in three trap and spell cards and also shows up as Treasure Panda's loot.
• Z/X Zillions of enemy X: The three cards Invincible Haniwa, Honey-One, Strongest Haniwa King, Honey-One, and Perfectly Invincible Haniwa, Honey-Shogun all represent living haniwa. Invincible Haniwa, Honey-One depicts a dancing haniwa, while the other two look little like any of the usual haniwa forms. Perfectly Invincible Haniwa, Honey-Shogun is the only one with wings, but the other two share in the flight theme because they each have a bird perched on their shoulder. All three are inhabitants of the technologicallly advanced Blue World.

Toys

• Neclos Fortress: Haniwa is one of the monsters from the third line. It resembles the haniwa warrior.

Video Games

• Animal Crossing: Haniwa have enjoyed a solid presence in the series from its inception.
  • Gyroids (Haniwa in Japanese) are a type of sapient furniture usually obtained by digging them up on days that follow after rain or snow. Gyroids are organized into 39 families of which members share similar aesthetics but differ in sizes. The name "gyroid" comes from the fact they gyrate to the rhythm of the song playing in the house they're placed in. Gyroids are worth 828 points to the housing association and they sell for 828 bells, "828" being an homonym for "haniwa". In the first game, a gyroid is permanently stationed next to the player's house as the save point and as a representative of the player should a visitor drop by. Animal Crossing: City Folk introduces Lloid, a gyroid who goes through several jobs: auctioneer, foreman, rental store owner, and miner.
  • If in the first game the player visits another town and shuts off the system, they'll have a haniwa face the first time they start up their game file thereafter. This serves as a reminder to always save at the gyroid stationed at your house.
  • Coco is one villagers that are living objects. She is a haniwa rabbit. Her Japanese name, Yayoi, references the people and period that produced haniwa statues. Coco's house is always earthy and sombre, reflecting a haniwa's funerary purpose. For most of the series, she has K.K. Dirge playing in her home.
  • A game series villagers sometimes talk about is Gyroid Joe, presumably related to Super Gyroid Brothers. By the sound of it, a gyroid is the protagonist.
• Bomberman: Little Demons (Komajin in Japanese) are hopping haniwa-based enemies with low health and low speed.
• Cotton: Fantastic Night Dreams: A sub-boss encountered in front of the mansion in the first level are a number of floating boulders controlled by a warrior haniwa head. Shooting its head makes pupils light up in the otherwise hollow sockets.
• Final Fantasy Legend II: Haniwa is a boss-level enemy encountered on the last floor of the Central Shrine. It has 10000 health points and automatically recovers 1000 each turn. It has access to bash, quake, and flare, but the most dangerous is when it attacks with the Seven(-Prong) Sword. This sword is also a possible drop from the haniwa and one of the best weapons in the game.
• Final Fantasy: Cactuar is among the series' iconic creatures. It's a cactus-haniwa hybrid normally posed in running adaptation of its dancing form. They are both fast and evasive due to their ability to hide underground.
• Genji Tsuushin Agedama: In the video game's underground level Kyōfu no Chika Teikoku, Agedama encounters ghosts that resemble haniwa that wear hats. They're not strong, but they come in large numbers.
• Hani: Two haniwa are the protagonists of the series. They're the brown Honey, who appears in both games, and the grey Lemon, who joins in the second game. Their boss, the god Izanagi, resembles a legless humanoid haniwa.
  • Hani in the Sky: Honey is contacted by Izanagi to take out all the other gods. For the first level, Honey flies over several kofun until they find one guarded by Omoikane. Upon defeating him, Honey proceeds on his quest by entering the kofun.
  • Hani on the Road: Honey and Lemon are called upon by Izanagi to defeat Takeminakata, who has a lot more minions than the gods of the previous game to go through first.
• Haunted Museum: Haniwa are among the exhibits that come to life in the Ancient Civilization exhibition room.
• The Legend of Zelda: Arm-Mimics resemble haniwa. They don't have any form of attack, but copy their target's move and do heavy Collision Damage.
• Kabuki Rocks: Haniwa Robo's are enemies first encountered in the Tokyo Sewers on Kyou. They are cephalothorax robots with hollow haniwa faces.
• Kirby: Cappy is a recurring enemy that resembles a living mushroom. If inhaled once, their cap comes off, revealing that they are haniwa pretending to be living mushrooms. They're distraught when their caps get eaten. The caps can be used as ammo and inhaling the full Cappy does not net any abilities.
• The Hoohooligans from Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga and the Hooskis from Mario & Luigi: Dream Team are inhabitants of the Beanbean Kingdom with hollow-looking faces and curled arms that make them resemble Haniwa statues. Despite their rigid postures and association with stony mountain areas, though, they're not statues but humanoid beans.
• Medabots: Haniwa Golem and its upgrade Haniwa (Mirror) are haniwa-based hover-type medabots of the HNI-line. Neither medabot is capable of attack, but they can absorb and deflect most of what the enemy throws at them.
• Mischief Makers: The Clancers are haniwa-like robots, a fact emphasized by their resemblance to the actual haniwa enshrined in the Item Shrine. For that matter, everything on the planet Clancer has a haniwa-like face and more than just the Clancers are alive, such as clanballs and flowers. The Clancers are peaceful but extremely naive creatures easily swayed by evil influences. Marina gets to deal with them a lot as quest givers and as enemies. Of note are Calina, a Clancer who has the ability to mimic Marina, and Cat Clancer, who acts as Marina's mount for a time.
• Monster Strike: Haniwa show up both as a team and as servants of Himiko.
  • Hanashike is one of the dark-aligned monsters and gets classified as a sprite. They're a Hatcher Monster and like most of those has no ascended form. Hanashike's evolution, called Himiko's Attendant in Japanese, nets the critter the ability to create four copies for a Sentai Quintet.
  • Himiko is a fire-aligned paladin who commands an army of small haniwa in her default form and her evolved form. In her ascended form, she may count a giant armored haniwa among her servants.
• Ōkami: The Clay Army (Haniwa in Japanese) are living warrior figures that dwell in Shinshu Field a 100 years in the past. They come in five classes, the first of which is the green Clay Soldier who is armed with a pipe. Stronger than them is the red Clay Samurai who wields a sword. Thereafter follows the yellow Clay Drummer, who carries around a drum and tunnels around underground. The Clay Flyer is blue and takes to the sky with a kite. The Clay Shogun is white and the strongest, showing up to battle with a portable cannon. The Clay Army is said to be inhabited by the souls of deceased warriors that are infected by Orochi's dark influence.
• Ōkamiden: The Clay Army (Haniwa in Japanese) consists of Clay Soldiers, Clay Samurai, and Clay Steeds. Clay Soldiers and Clay Samurai are human warriors, armed with piped ans swords respectively, while Clay Steeds are warhorses. The former two are statues inhabited by the souls of deceased warriors, while the Clay Steeds are manifestations of horses that were buried alive. They've lost their bodies due to nature and grave robbers and thus search the land for their missing parts. All of the Clay Army dwell in Shinshu Field a 100 years in the past.
• pop'n music 18 Sengoku Retsuden: Hanico ("Clay Girl") is a haniwa with a humanoid form with her hair in the mizura-style. She's an idol in the haniwa society and always is accompanied by other haniwa as backup dancers. Her background image depicts multiple brightly colored kofun. Hanico's birthplace is an ancient imperial grave and her birthdate of August 25th (825) is a homonym for "hani[g]o". If she misses or loses, Hanico returns to a simpler haniwa form like her backup dancers, which is something she doesn't like to happen.
• Touhou Kikeijuu ~ Wily Beast and Weakest Creature: Keiki Haniyasushin, who is based on the ancient clay-kneading god Haniyasu, is the creator of the Haniwa Army Corps. It is the purpose of the corps to protect the home of the human spirits from invasion by the animal spirits. Because of the superiority of the haniwa, who need neither rest nor nourishment and can't be harmed by incorporeal entities, their task is too easily fulfilled, causing them to invade the home of the animal spirits. Most of the haniwa are of the dancing type, but Haniwa Lance Corporal Mayumi Joutouguu is a human-looking haniwa based on the haniwa warrior. She commands the corps and can summon archers, fencers, cavalry, or the whole lot at once to her aid. Her personal strength is in her loyalty to Keiki Haniyasushin: the more loyal she is, the stronger she is. Mayumi acts as the Stage 5 boss and Stage 6 midboss.
• Yo-kai Watch: There are two haniwa-based Yo-kai and they are both classified as Treasure Yo-kai.
  • Fitwit (Yamato Bokeru in Japanese) is a haniwa in imperial regalia, though with a commoner's mizura hair style, introduced in Yo-kai Watch 3. His Japanese name is a portmanteau of Yamato Takeru, a legendary prince from the Yayoi Period, and boke, and therefore he is someone who keeps making jokes and becomes more powerful the less his humor is appreciated. Fitwit belongs to the Slippery Tribe and is of the earth element.
  • Encore Dead is a Yo-kai, introduced in Yo-kai Watch Busters 2: Secret Treasure of the Legendary Banbarayar, that resembles a spectral zombie with three heads and a golden High Collar of Doom composed of four seated haniwa. They're Encore Dead's audience encouraging him to repeat himself. Encore belongs to the Eerie Tribe and is of the fire element.

Western Animation

• The Venture Bros.: In "Return to Spider-Skull Island", Dr. Orpheus mentions that he's been getting a steady shipment of chai tea ever since he saved the emperor from an army of clay samurai warriors. While ambiguous, the "clay samurai warriors" are most likely haniwa.

    Living Jizo sculptures 

Mi kasa es su kasa.

(Daigan) Jizo (Bosatsu) is the Japanese name for the bodhisattva better known as Ksitigarbha. Because he has postponed his own ascension to Buddhahood until all hells have become empty, Ksitigarbha is a guardian deity of the souls stuck in hell. In Japan, he is specifically worshipped as a protector of deceased children and fetuses, who are stranded at the banks of the Sanzu River. Statues of him, simply called jizo, are therefore a common sight near or at cemeteries. Jizo placed along roads away from cemeteries and shrines are plentiful as well and cast the bodhisattva in the role of roadside guardian. Placement of jizo varies from a single statue in the open, one or more statues placed in a shrine, to multiple statues in a row. Groupings of six have significance as symbols of the six realms of existence.

The core design principle of jizo is that they look like a Buddhist monk. They are bald, have long ears, wear a urna, are dressed in a robe, and carry a peaceful expression. They may hold their hands together in prayer or hold a khakkhara on the right and a cintamani on the left. Because of Jizo's association with children, some statues are childlike in appearance with big heads and cute faces. It is practice to adorn the statues with hats, bibs, bandanas, scarfs, and other such accessories. There is no prescribed color for the fabric, but by far the most popular and iconic is red. Food is another customary offering to jizo, and flowers, toys, and other small items are possible gifts too. Small piles of pebbles placed nearby jizo are to alleviate the workload of deceased children, who have to build a tower of pebbles to escape the river bank.

The ubiquity of jizo in the Japanese landscape has given rise to numerous folktales in which these statues come to life. If they do, they're imagined as aspects of Jizo but all the same separate entities and it's about as likely that a given living jizo is benevolent as it's likely that it's malevolent. After all, the statues are theoretically in contact with hell and there's an undeniable creepiness to having to pass by one or several little humanoid forms while out alone. It's not necessarily that all of them would be dangerous, but rather that one among the statues is a monster Hidden in Plain Sight. Or they might attract a real monster, as for instance is the case with the ubume that sometimes carries not a child with her but a jizo. Haunted jizo, whether malicious or just uncanny, may be referred to as bake-jizo.

The best-known folktales involving living jizo are Kasa Jizo and Kesakiri Jizo. In Kasa Jizo, an impoverished elderly couple donates spare kasa and one of their own to a row of jizo to shield them from the cold weather. The statues visit them later and generously repay them for their kindness with money and food. In Kesakiri Jizo, a haunted jizo scares passers-by with its eerie laughter and long red tongue until a samurai cuts it in two. Kesakiri Jizo is an example of a Warai Jizo (Laughing Jizo) story. It also is a twist on the popular Migawari Jizo or Substitute Jizo motif, which is about jizo taking a human's place as recipient of harm. Such a Heroic Sacrifice often leaves the statue headless or split in two.

The first modern work to feature a living jizo may be Bake-Jizo, one of the two oldest Japanese horror films, both finished in 1898 and both lost. No details remain of the film, but the title suggests that a jizo would have played a role, quite likely as an antagonist. In the decades after, depictions have come to lean more towards a positive portrayal influenced by Kasa Jizo. Being nice to a jizo is close to a guarantee it'll be indebted to you, which usually is a favorable situation but may result in comedic Unwanted Assistance. On the other hand, a slighted jizo is dangerous. In contrast to folktales in which injured jizo always bleed, modern works depict stone as stone. Equally, the folkloric possibility for a living jizo to be another youkai in disguise, such as a tanuki or a hitotsume nyūdō, is rarely reproduced nowadays, even in regards to evil jizo.

In regards to the word "jizo", the Japanese language allows wordplay that doesn't translate easily to English. The name "Ji-zō" is composed of the kanji for "earth-place of safekeeping", but can phonetically be interpreted to mean "old man-statue". There are other puns possible, but "old man-statue" is particularly fitting. Another bit of linguistic flexibility is that in Japanese, the "ji" and the "zi" aren't distinct letters, meaning that there's greater room for puns than in English.

Sub-Trope of Living Statue. Compare Genie in a Bottle for another monster that becomes indebted if cleaned.

• Blood-C: The first Elder Bairn dealt with takes the poetic form of a jizo with the arms of praying mantis. It shows up floating on the lake near the shrine, where it fights and is killed by Saya.
• Dororo: In Episode 20, a spider youkai haunts a jizo, granting it limited facial movement and extra limbs if needed. It preys on humans by insisting that someone babysits it and then driving the caretaker to the end of their energy with demands for lullabies and being carried. When finally its caretaker gets to sleep, they're an easy meal. Hyakkimaru kills it when he saves Dororo from being eaten.
• GeGeGe no Kitarō: In Episode 89 of the fifth series, a little girl whose mother is in the hospital gives a jizo her umbrella against the snow. On Kitaro's request, Ido-Sennin gives the statue a potion to move so that it has the means to go to the hospital and cure the girl's mother.
• How to Keep a Mummy: In Episode 8, the protagonists decide they need a youkai-sitter for when they are at school. Sora and Tazuki know just the people for that, because they've been helping out at the Outotsu Shrine and befriended the local god and elderly jizo. They keep the statue clean and well-fed with dumplings, thereby having earned the right for them and their friends to call him "Gramps" ("Ji-san"). Because he's a statue, he can move his body, but he can't move from his spot, which becomes inconvenient when Mii-kun goes missing.
• Sgt. Frog: Jizozo is one of the many Keronians that debut in Keroro Land, specifically Volume 20. He resembles a jizo, complete with peaceful demeanor and a Keronian take on the khakkhara.
• Katatsumuri-chan: Before the Old School Building was built, its grounds were in use as an execution site. To appease the spirits, a jizō was set down. This statue was removed during the school's construction with little care, causing its head to break off and become lost. The headless statue returned as a school ghost to retrieve its head. The jizō has trouble talking like this, but a lot of random items will do as a temporary head.
• Kimi ni Todoke: In an early chapter, Sawako gets her long hair drenched in the rain because she left her umbrella to cover an ownerless dog. As she emerges from a bathroom stall with her head wrapped up to dry it off, a classmate initially mistakes her for "Jizo-san" because of the resemblance.
• The Morose Mononokean: In Chapters 4-7 (Episode 3), the protagonists work on the case of Mitsuchigura's missing mask. Mitsuchigura is a hollow-eyed jizō wearing a red bandana, blue robe, and beaded necklace. Because he is a statue, he has no facial expressions of his own and uses three masks corresponding to laughter, sadness, and anger to convey his emotional state. However, he's lost the laughter one when Abeno sent him to the underworld a month prior, so now he's back to retrieve it. Ashiya discovers the mask to be stuck to the face of Tatsuma Fujiwara, who has been struck with uncontrollable laughter ever since he found it, and removes it by showing Tatsuma his daughter's crying face. Mitsuchigura is very grateful to be complete again and returns to the underworld.
• Natsume's Book of Friends: Natsume meets Haru Jizō in Chapter 15 (Episode 22) when the latter warns him that he's in danger from a tree. Haru Jizō is a youkai that takes the appearance of a hollow-eyed jizō almost twice as big as a human. He travels the country every spring to cryptically tell people what fate has in store for them.
• O-Jizō Quest: A month ago, Himeno fixed up three identical jizō that were left in disarray in the rain. To repay the favor, they've been her weird posse since. Their names are Ichiro, Jiro, and Saburo and they have human forms to walk around freely in. They do need to concentrate to maintain their human forms, so dozing off is something they can't do in public. During a school trip to the ocean, Himeno discovers another trio of jizō statues ceremonially buried underwater. Unlike her friends, they're made of wood, and one looks more like a dogu while another has a face that resembles a moai. Himeno brings them to the surface, and they reveal themselves to be evil jizō born from selfish wishes and turned rotten in the water. Their leader is Kaizo, the dogu is female and named Iroko, and the moai-faced one is Asa. They too have human forms. A battle ensues between the groups of jizō, which is won by the good ones. They awkwardly become friends thereafter.
• Plastic Nee-san: In Chapter 85, a shrine holding two jizō is temporarily moved from the street to school grounds because of roadworks. These two are Ai-Jizō for relationship requests and Kin-Jizō for monetary appeals. Nee-san is displeased by how dirty they are and cleans them up. That night, the statues crash through her window to reward her kindness with a wish. Nee-san asks who's stronger of the two because she wants that one to grant her wish. Ai-Jizō tries to diffuse the situation until Kin-Jizō insists that money beats love at which point it's an all-night brawl. Nee-san never gets her wish and the next morning Kin-Jizō lies knock-out in the corner of the shrine where Ai-Jizō remains in pristine condition.
• Ranma ½: In Chapters 350-351, Mousse gifts a jizō the scarf Shampoo didn't want. The jizō repays the offering by taking the appearance of Shampoo to go on dates with him. Mousse doesn't see through the statue's poor disguise or immense weight and he imagines the dates to take place at fancy establishments while actually they're at the statue's shrine and at the cemetery. This seems to be less the magic-wielding statue's doing and more Mousse's wishful-thinking combined with sleep deprivation. The others, thinking that the statue is harming Mousse, try to take the scarf back, but the statue won't give it up. By accident, Shampoo gives the statue ramen, which makes it turn into Ranma to repay her. Shampoo's done with the situation by this point and gifts Mousse a scarf so that the statue will consider the debt repaid. It returns to its shrine and to the protagonists' knowledge never comes to life again.
• School Rumble: In Chapter 322, Lara walks by a jizō shrine and taking pity on the statues' bald heads she wraps a headscarf around each of them and gives the last one a luchador mask. That night, the jizō break into Yagami High School to repay her kindness. Most of them glide, but the one with the mask somersaults, among others straight into Koriyama when he tells them to go away. Lara is given a load of money, but arrested the next day on accusation of stealing from the shrine's offering box.
• Tanikamen: At the countryside summer festival in "The Black Jizō Statue", the protagonists are warned to stay away from the mountain path because there's a shrine up there that houses a black jizō. This statue is known to kill people. The story only provokes the four to investigate, even though from early on there are signs that the statue is watching them. When they reach the shrine, eyes peer out from its darkness and all but Tani are frozen where they stand. Tani destroys the shrine, but the statue rolls out unharmed. It's then all four fall prey to hallucinations that aim to drive them off the cliffside. By chance, Tani breaks out of his hallucination and proceeds to smash the statue to bits, which ends its reign of terror.
• Yamamoto Zenjirou to Moushimasu: In Chapter 8, Hotate gives a jizō some flowers just before she gets lost in the forest running after a rainbow. The statue manifests itself as a talking rabbit to lead the girl home safely.
• Yamishibai: Japanese Ghost Stories: Two instances of living jizō occur.
  • In "Substitute Jizo", an oddly agonized-looking jizō appears to a girl on her route home. Taking a leap, she wishes for her crush to break up with his girlfriend, which comes true the next day. The girl goes to thank the jizō, but in a twist on the usual substitution, to repay her wish she is made to take the jizō's place as statue until she fulfills the wish of the next person.
  • In "Curse", a boy accidentally bumps into and beheads a jizō. Rumors of a curse, overheard gossip, and his own paranoia drive him mad until he trips and falls down the stairs leading to the jizō's location. He dies from a broken neck or cracked skull as the jizō's decapitated head looks on in satisfaction.

Folklore

• Kasa Jizō: An elderly man fails to sell his home-made kasa and returns home through the snow without food. As he passes by six jizō, he reasons that they must be cold and as an offering puts a kasa on each. He is short one kasa, so he hands the last statue his own (or another piece of clothing). When he returns home and tells his wife what he did, she's proud of his good deed. Later that night, the couple is awakened by knocking and when they open the door they find food and riches laid out before them. Over in the distance, they spot the six jizō marching away.
• Hitosarai Jizō: In the area of Tottori, a jizō goes around abducting almost every resident from a mountain village because the roof of its shrine further up the mountain has collapsed and no one has come to fix it. None of the residents is aware of this and the remaining few get a huntsman involved to save them. He shoots the jizō when it returns that night and it surrenders. It explains its behavior and promises to return everyone if the shrine gets repaired. Instead, the villagers build a new shrine more beautiful than before and no one got abducted anymore.
• Kesakiri Jizō: The area of Kosai, Shizuoka suffers from a row of six jizō, of which one comes to life to frighten passers-by. A young samurai heads out to defeat the evil and when he arrives one of the statues turns into a large hitotsume nyūdō that sticks its bright red tongue out at the samurai and laughs eerily. The samurai slashes the youkai with his sword and it disappears screaming. The next day, he returns to find that one of the statues has the same injury as inflicted on the hitotsume nyūdō.
• Nonbee Jizō: A tofu-seller is visited by a strange man who wants him to put a block of tofu in a sake bottle. The tofu-seller argues that's not possible but sells him the tofu when the man insists. Somehow, he gets the tofu in the bottle. A sake-seller has the same issue when the strange man wants him to pour the sake in a basket. He relents and somehow the sake doesn't spill through. The strange man returns some days later and the two sellers follow the trail of tofu crumbs and sake driblets until they reach a jizō that smells of sake and has bits of tofu around its mouth.
• Tofu Jizō: A tofu-seller begins to scam his customers by providing less and lower quality tofu. One day, an unfamiliar man pays with money that later becomes a leaf. Not one to let that just happen, whether dealing with a human trickster or a youkai, the tofu-seller follows the unfamiliar man when he returns the next day. He injures him with a knife, but loses sight of him at the cemetery. After some searching, he finds that a jizō has the same injury he inflicted on the unfamiliar man. The tofu-seller repents and returns to being honest with his customers.

Literature

• The Old Woman Who Lost Her Dumpling: Hot on the trail of a runaway dumpling, the woman finds herself running on a desolate road lines with jizō. She asks them if they've seen her dumpling and they have, but they warn her to turn around because she's heading for oni territory. The woman refuses, but she does hide behind one of the statues when an oni approaches. The oni and the statues greet each other cordially until her human scent gives the woman away. The statues request that the oni doesn't hurt her, which he obliges because he didn't intend to.

Tabletop Games

• Duel Masters: ZIZO Town is a joint reference to Kasa Jizō and the mail order website ZOZOTown. The card is part of the Kirifuda x Onifuda King Wars!!! booster pack and is both a member of the Jokers and Team Kirifuda. Depicted are six jizō in winter accessories carrying food and money.
• Force of Will: The Six Jizo Statues is a card that's part of the The Strangers of New Valhalla expansion. Its of the Resonator type for youkai and its element is wind. Its Flavor Text reads: "While it may take time, they will always return the favor."

Urban Legends

• The vanishing jizō of Kanmangafuchi Abyss: The story goes that the long row of jizō at the abyss was once even longer. Originally, there'd been a 100, donated by the Daisoujou Tenkai, but around 30 got lost during the flood of 1902. Supposedly, nowadays you could count all you want, the number of statues you find each time differs. Some accounts mention the rustling of plants as if the jizō themselves move around when nobody's watching.
• The talking Jizō of the Shogin-ji Temple in Taito, Tokyo: One variant of the story of Shirai Gonpachi states that he hid behind the jizō of the Shogin-ji Temple to await one of his victims. Upon making his kill, he instructed the statue not to tell on him, to which it replied it wouldn't. This is an adaptation of various rumors that the statue talked and moved his head, because Gonpachi would've been executed some twenty years prior to the statue's creation. The statue is said to no longer talk because it was damaged during the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923 and got its head replaced.

Video Games

• The Battle Cats: Kasa Jizo is a unit unlocked during the Ancient Heroes Ultra Souls. It consists of kasa-wearing cat with a gun-toting jizō in a basket. During attack, the statue rises up from the basket and shoots the opponent. Kasa Jizo's evolutions are Jizo's Moving Castle and Jizo's Mega-Castle, mobile fortresses that belong to the Jizo Organization. The cat, now without kasa, is stationed at the top and four kasa-wearing jizō are stationed on armed balconies on the sides. In the center of the fortress is a door behind which a fifth kasa-less jizō hides until it has charged its attack.
• Blood Warrior: Ikkyu is a living jizō and one of only two non-human combatants, the other being the kappa Sanpei. He is named after the historical monk Ikkyū Sōjun. As a living statue, Ikkyu has a set countenance and while his body is free to move, he tends to keep his hands together in prayer, leaving him to kick and headbutt his way through a fight. Ikkyu is a standard stone jizō with a red cap and bib, while his Mirror Match self is made of gold. His home stage is a Buddhist temple where three other stone jizō cheer him on. The caps and bibs of two of them are blue, while the third is dressed in green.
• Bonze Adventure: The monk Kackremboh is guided on his journey by jizō, who appear at the end of each level to encourage him and take him a level further.
• Culdcept Revolt: Stone Jizo is a neutral-type monster with an item limit for weapons and armor. It looks like a standard jizo adorned with a red bib. It is immune to magic as long as it's the primary target and can't be forcibly moved. Its greatest power is its power over the land, which it can change into multi-element territory at the cost of its own life.
• Cotton: Jizō are recurring enemies in the series. They're usually encountered while standing or floating peacefully. If shot, their bodies are destroyed and the heads float around holding a Power-Up. To claim the items, the heads need to be destroyed first.
• Deae Tonosama Appare Ichiban: Jizō are among the enemies found in Japan. They fight by hopping and stomping.
• Downwell: The shopkeepers are living jizō. They're hollow-eyed statues with red bibs.
• Goemon's Great Adventure: There's a Roadside Guardian in Spook Village who requests that the protagonists go find its seven siblings who've gone out to Lake Pochan. They've left without their kasa and its cold out there, so the protagonists have to find them before sundown. To make matters worse, among the monsters inhabiting Lake Pochan are fake Roadside Guardians and if any of them receives a hat the mission has to start all over. The fake ones are identical to the real ones, but have a mysterious aura to them that sets them apart. When all seven kasa are handed over to their rightful owners, the Roadside Guardian in Spook Village rewards the protagonists with an entry pass.
• Granblue Fantasy: Rokujizō is a sextet of moss-covered and catlike jizō of varying sizes. They all wear red scarfs, but only the big one wears a kasa. Rokujizō was added as a boss fight during Cinderella Fantasy ~Peace for Lost Souls~.
• Hana Tāka Daka!?: Jizō show up in the first two outside levels. When the flying protagonist nears, they launch themselves upwards into the air in an attempt to hit him.
• The Legendary Starfy 4: There's King Warp Jizō and nine normal Warp Jizō, one for each world. King Warp Jizō is always present at the start of a level and a normal Warp Jizō is further into the level. Normal Warp Jizō have the ability to send Starfy and Starly back to King Warp Jizō for easy access out of the level. King Warp Jizō is a large golden statue who holds a bird and an eggplant and wears a green scarf. His subjects are all stone statues with each their own color scarf and different accessories. The first one has a red scarf and no accessories. The second one also has a red scarf and holds a kasa and flower scepter. The third one wears an aquamarine scarf and holds a squid scepter. The fourth one has a purple scarf and holds poop and earmuffs. The fifth one wears a green scarf and holds a shell scepter and a hoodie. The sixth one wears a yellow scarf and is a robot. The seventh one wears a blue scarf and is a rockstar. The eighth one wears a mauve scarf and is a biker. Lastly, the ninth one is dressed in all greys, wearing a scarf and a bobble hat.
• Makai Prince Dorabocchan: Spike has two kinds of statues as manservants: the large moai-based ones and the small jizō-based ones. The latter kind wear a red bow tie and can be punched for tomato juice and upgrades, although on occasion an enemy will spawn instead. Incidentally, the sequel replaces the jizō-based manservants with sheep as manservants.
• Momotaro Densetsu II: After Fujin disperses the protagonist party, Momotaro gets a whopping ten teammates at once when a row of jizō joins up. They can't fight, but they can offer themselves as substitutes in battle to draw fire away.
• Musya: Many jizō are found at the exits of the Palace of Hate and the Cursed Palace and only one grants access to the next area. Searching is a hazardous endeavour, because several are jizō alive and hostile. They fight by hopping and stomping.
• La-Mulana 2: Among the shopkeepers added to the console versions is one that homages the jizō shopkeeper from Downwell. It's a hollow-eyed statue with a red bib.
• Ōkami: Guardians (Jizō in Japanese) are headless jizō encountered along the Ryoshima Coast. They come in four classes: Headless Guardians (red), Bell Guardians (yellow), Halo Guardians (blue), and Executioner Guardians (black). All of them are hostile due to the lack of their heads, which they are in constant search of and will go to extremes to have back. This includes taking the heads of unfortunate humans as replacements.
• Onmyōji (2016): Jizo Statue is one of the souls that can be linked to a creature for combat benefits. It grants a health boost and shields its allies from the full force of enemy attacks.
• Ragnarok M: Eternal Guardians of Love: Amatsu houses multiple jizō under the name Ksitigarbha. They're part of several quests as information providers and play a key role in the quest to unlock the game's engagement feature. They're the ones who make the feature available if their questions are answered to their satisfaction.
• Shiren the Wanderer 3: The Sleeping Princess of the Karakuri Mansion: There's a rumor in Otsutsuki Village that a headless jizō that belongs to the Ruined Temple wanders around from time to time. The protagonists can visit the temple and opt to go on a quest to get the statue a new head. A carver will make one for them and when they place it on the statue it thanks them. After that, the jizō appears on random floors in dungeons to bestow favors.
• Super Mario Bros.: A staple ability of the series is for the Mario Bros to turn into the likeness of jizō. In this form, they're ignored by enemies and impervious to various forms of harm, while their stone bodies can inflict greater stomp damage. The Mario Bros usually can't move as statues, but they can take the form midair for the aforementioned stomp damage. The ability to turn into a statue was introduced as a function of the Tanooki Suit, but since then the Statue Leaf and capture by a Bonneter have also granted the transformation.
• Super Robot Wars OG Saga: Endless Frontier: Kasa Jizō is a boss enemy present in both games. The name references the folktale, but the kanji used for "kasa" mean "fire-chain" instead of "hat". Kasa Jizō is a column-mounted bust with gatling-gun arms and no visual resemblance to a real-life jizō.
  • Super Robot Wars OG Saga: Endless Frontier: Kasa Jizō is an optional boss fight in Kagura Amahara. There's a jizō to the East which can be left alone, can have its bell rung for small items, or can be shot to engage it in battle for a treasure box. The statue is permanently destroyed if fought.
  • Super Robot Taisen OG Saga: Endless Frontier Exceed: Kasa Jizō is encountered twice, once as an optional bounty and once as a sub-boss. As Bounty N, it is fought by checking the flower at the Fujisakura Altar and tough to defeat because of a strong defense and healing abilities. It a sub-boss, it is encountered on Floor 32F of Haryuu Tower, where two orochi also dwell.
• Touhou Tenkuushou ~ Hidden Star in Four Seasons: There are two living jizō. One retains the qualities of a statue while for the other her origin as a statue has no bearing on her present.
  • Narumi Yatadera is a true jizō. Her status as a youkai comes from the influence of the Forest of Magic, which is potent enough that is bestows Narumi with power of her own. She has yet to learn to fully control her magic. Because of this, she acts as the Stage 4 Boss despite being a kindhearted individual.
  • According to Touhou Sangetsusei, Eiki Shiki is a jizō that received enough faith from worshippers to become divine in her own right. Eiki is based on Enma, who is a counterpart to or an aspect of Jizō.
• TwinBee 3: Poko Poko Daimaō: Crystal Jizō is in charge of guarding the Air Island floating fortress and therefore is the first stage's boss. He is a giant jizō made from crystal with the usual dress, robe, and staff accessories, but on top of those he also wears sunglasses, a biker jacket, and carries a chain. His means of attack is to stomp around to make crystal stalactites fall down on the protagonist. If shot often enough, Crystal Jizō splits into two smaller Crystal Jizō and if those are shot often enough, they'll split up into four smaller Crystal Jizō, making for a maximum of eight. Crystal Jizō is defeated when all smaller selves are.
• Youkai Dōchūki: In the arcade version, bake-jizō start off as small statues amidst normal ones. As Tarosuke approaches they grow to twice his size and spit fire. Upon defeat, they return to their statue form and then go up in smoke. Home console versions simplify the graphics, such as by omitting the normal statues or the transformation process.
• Zunzunkyō no Yabou: The protagonists are two jizō, the silver Gin-Jizō and the gold Kin-Jizō. Gin-Jizō is dressed in red while Kin-Jizō is dressed in indigo, and they have a distinct laugh. Through upgrades, they may transform into stronger statues which in order resemble a bodhisattva, a wisdom king, and an asura. Dying causes their shapes to be reset. The goal of Gin-Jizō and Kin-Jizō is to defeat Zunzunkyō. After elimating the four earthly divisions, the duo heads to the final boss. The stage preceding the final boss consists of a confrontation with orange hollow-eyed jizō and red bodhisattva statues. Harming but not killing an enemy jizō causing it to become preta-like in appearance with thin bodies and a ravenous visage.

Web Animation

• Zizoman Z: A jizō hangs out at the Sanzu River where an oni is harrassing two children who try to build their tower of pebbles. To aid the children, the jizō has a superhero identity as Zizoman Z. However, he's more concerned about social media and when he does look up from his smartphone his superhero activities range from useless to making everything worse. In Episode 3, even the oni calls him out on it.

    Living yuki-usagi sculptures 

I asked fow a

and tuh snowman tuhned theiw nose up at meh.

are rabbit-shaped snow figures made in Japan that consist of buns pressed from snow, leaves of the evergreen nandina as ears, and red nandina berries as eyes. They've been a winter tradition for several centuries as attested to in paintings. For variety or lack of resources, sometimes other animals are created or other plants used for the decoration.

Living snow rabbits may be sculptures that have come to life, or mystical bunnies that share the same colors. They sometimes represent snowflakes. Because of their positive image, their presence is a useful shorthand to communicate that a Yuki-onna or similarly intimidating cold spirit is a kind person.

See also snowlems and Living Dust Bunnies.

• Shortly after 1965, Fugetsu-Do launched an animated commercial to promote their yuki-usagi confectionary. In it, two children hide out in an igloo while snow rabbits fall from the sky like snowflakes. One snow rabbit takes the children along to a warmer place.

Anime & Manga

• Natsume's Book of Friends: In Chapter 13 and Episode 15, Natsume and Madara enter Shiba Field where only one statue of a komainu set remains. The komainu's spirit, Gen, is looking for its missing partner, Sui, but can't do much as a statue. He aims to possess Natsume, but misses and possesses the snow rabbit Natsume just made. Because Natsume made it, the snow rabbit's body is functional and spiritual possession makes it resistant to melting, so Gen accepts to keep it until they find Sui. The body is good enough that he can take a bunny-eared human form for short times. In the end, Gen finds Sui just before the snow rabbit melts and they both take up residence in the remaining komainu statue.
• Oni no Ko to Yuki Usagi: An oni steals a temari ball from a human girl to gift to his son. The oni boy feels guilty and travels through the snow to return it to her. The human girl is very grateful and crafts him a snow rabbit in return. On his way home, the weather picks up and the oni boy trips and drops his snow rabbit. From the remains rise multiple snow rabbit spirits that greet the oni boy before following the wind spirit Kantaro onwards.
• Tonari no Yuki Onna-chan: Fuyu's and Haru's first peaceful exchange occurs when Fuyu creates three living snow rabbits for Haru to apologize for causing him to catch a cold. Fuyu has only ever seen actual rabbits on the internet, so she's happy that Haru likes them.

Music

• Vocaloid: The 2015 edition of Winter Miku is dressed like a korpokkur and Yukine's green ribbon evokes the look of a snow rabbit. Additionally, Yukine was introduced in 2014, but may have a predecessor in the snow rabbit that accompanied the 2013 edition of Winter Miku. Whether that snow rabbit is alive or not, considering it's a Digital Avatar like Miku herself, is up in the air.

Tabletop Games

• Yu-Gi-Oh!: There are two instances of snow rabbit cards, although they're never the focus monster.
  • Ghost Ogre & Snow Rabbit is a card depicting a ghostly oni girl surrounded by snow rabbit spirits. It's the first of the Yo-kai Girl series of tuner monsters and has the light attribute. The Japanese card name, Yuki Usagi, contains a pun wherein the kanji for "yuki" ("snow") is replaced with the kanji for "yu" ("ghost") and "ki" ("oni").
  • Ghostrick Yuki-onna and Ghostrick Yeti are accompanied by a snow rabbit each, both in their individual cards and in Ghostrick scenery cards. The exception is Ghostrick Break, which depicts the two of them surrounded by a total of six snow rabbits.

Video Games

• The Alliance Alive: The snow rabbit is a mount encountered in the Snow Realm. The protagonists acquire its aid when they find a half-melted snow rabbit inside an igloo and befriend it by feeding it a snow carrot. They get the rabbit flute in return, which summons a huge snow rabbit to ride and do extra damage to enemies upon entering battle.
• Bomberman 64: Snow Rabbits are slow, non-threatening enemies found in White Glacier. They're as easily ignored as they are destroyed and always yield a 1-Up.
• Goatlings: Snow bunnies are one of two baddies found in Majestic Mountain 5, the other being dwarflings. Its exclusive drops are a snow bunny stamp and cloud fruit.
• Heartbeat: Snow Bunny is an ice-type enemy found in Pretorricane. It's a bipedal snow rabbit with a leaf tail that wears a helmet and carries binoculars with them. Its alchemy drops are Quartz Ice and Interstellar Ice, while for Mott it may drop an Arctic Sherbet.
• Heavenly Guardian: Sayuki's pet and companion is the floating snow rabbit Toto. While on her adventure, Toto backs up her offense with bursts of extreme cold that freeze opponents upon contact. They're also capable of performing Wild Dance, during which Toto acts as a shield that freezes enemies on contact.
• Kingdom Corps: A snow rabbit is depicted keeping Koropokkuru company on the latter's card.
• Mario Party 6: Two living snow rabbits inhabit the area of Snowflake Lake along with some living snowmen and sapient penguins.
• Maze Mice: The character Yuki is a "rabbit" made from a flat snowball with two green leaf ears and red berry eyes.
• Neko Atsume: Frosty is a snow cat variant, sporting green ears, red eyes, and with a bunny-like snowball tail. Frosty is a rare cat who outside of snowy days only visits if a Snowy Pillow is spread out.
• OMORI: All-snow Snow Bunnies are enemies encountered at Frozen Lake and on Snowglobe Mountain. They kick snow at the heroes, a move which Omori sarcastically declares to be the world's smallest snowstorm.
• Onmyōji (2016): Yuki-Doji's eternal companion is the snow rabbit Yukimaru. Yuki-Doji keeps a layer of snow circling around him to prevent Yukimaru from melting.
• Otenki Kororin – Weather Tales: Snow has companions in the form of living snow bunnies. There's at least one with him at all times, but if he wins four dance around him.
• Rabio Lepus: The mechanical rabbits Rabio and Lepus jointly invoke the look of a snow rabbit. Rabio is a white rabbit with red accents, while Lepis is a white rabbit with green accents.
• Recettear: An Item Shop's Tale: Snow Rabbits are encountered in Jade Way, Amber Garden, and Lapis Ruins. They're not strong, but they're almost flawless at dodging attacks. Their unique drops are Fur Ball and Nut Mix.
• Yo-kai Watch 3: Snow Spect-hare is a red-eyed, all-white anthropomorphic hare Yo-kai whose description reads that she houses the feelings of a crying child over the fading snow.

    Nozuchi 

or

are one of the oldest youkai in recorded history. Their name means "wild hammer" or "wild mallet" due to their hammer-like shape and temperament. Hairy and snake-like, nozuchi lack any features other than a mouth and make their habitats in trees. They move around by biting onto their tails and rolling down hills. They generally eat small mammals and aren't outright malevolent, but will attack humans in their territory. They can deliver strong bites, horrifically mangling the victim's legs and afflicting them with a lethal fever. Nozuchi are also said to transform into a humanoid form, though only on rare occasions.

It's said that monks who are banished from their temples due to wickedness may turn into nozuchi. These formerly human nozuchi are more likely to take on humanoid forms than natural-born nozuchi.

Nozuchi were once considered simply another name for tsuchinoko, but over time both have evolved into distinct youkai.

• Onigiri (2014): Nozuchi is a snake covered in black fur with large lips that were inflamed due to eating mountain peppers. They also have a variant named Earthzuchi.
• Yo-kai Watch: The first boss in the game is a bizarre variant of nozuchi, Mitsumatanozuchi or Slimamander in English), meaning "three-pronged nozuchi". As his name suggests, he has three heads, making him closer to a hydra. He has a Palette Swap named Jigoku Oosanshou, or Eyedra in English, meaning "Hell's giant salamander", though, outside of having the same reptilian design, shows no indication of actually being a nozuchi.

    Nukekubi and Rokurokubi 

: These two creatures are

monsters, usually but not always female. The Nukekubi can detach their heads from their necks and float away in search of human flesh and blood, as well as vermin and lamp oil; while Rokurokubi are human by day, but have extremely elastic necks during the night. In some depictions, Rokurokubi aren't a true species, but the

form of a snake youkai. Sometimes they enter

territory, being treated as humans afflicted by a strange

or

; those who were born and live as humans also make for a good "almost-normal"

among a cast of more dangerous youkai.

Interestingly, the Nukekubi and Rokurokubi both resemble some very similar monsters from Southeast Asian foklore; including the Krasue, Leyak, Manananggal, and Penanggalan. Much like the Nukekubi, these are all vampiric creatures which can detach their heads (or torsos) from the rest of their bodies, flying around in search of human prey. It's very probable that the Japanese Nukekubi/Rokurokubi shares a common mythical origin with their Southeast Asian counterparts.

• Hell Teacher Nube: Rokurokubi are a HUGE part of the series, as the Genre Blind Miki insists on trying out techniques for astral projection and, instead, ends up turning herself into a rokurokubi. She's unable to control this state at first, and honestly believes that Nube, as the resident exorcist, will kill her because she's become a youkai, but he simply shows her how to control this new side of herself and the ability to extend her neck (sometimes across town) becomes another aspect of her personality... one that she uses incessantly to play pranks, annoy others, and, on at least one occasion, save the lives of herself and her friends.
• Junji Ito Kyoufu Manga Collection: "The Hanging Balloons" riffs on the classic nukekubi tales. After a Teen Idol is found nearly decapitated by an apparent suicide, her fans begin seeing a giant version of her head floating in the sky. From there more giant noose-bearing balloons of people's heads show up, hunting their own living counterparts.
• Mononoke Sharing: Kuro is a rokurokubi and aspiring comedian. Most of her jokes revolve around her long neck.
• Nura: Rise of the Yokai Clan: Kubinashi is a nukekubi.
• Rosario + Vampire: Kubisaki from the Fan Club Coaltion is a rokurokubi.
• In Tonari no Yōkai-san youkai are completely integrated into human society and are subsequently much more benign than most examples. A Rokurokubi teaches a class that's half humans, half youkai and human-youkai hybrids. You wouldn't know she wasn't human, except that when a kappa student faints she extends her neck across half the room in concern.
• Ushio and Tora: The Gamin-Sama are a family of five monstrous nukekubi (grandfather, mother, father, son and daughter) who are accidentally fred by workers and proceed to wreak havoc looking for the woman who sealed them, only to run into Tora who's annoyed enough to teach them a lesson or two. Also according to Tora, they come from China and they're also known as "Hitoban" (Barbaric Flying Heads, which is the collective name given to flying head monsters).
• In YuYu Hakusho, one demon that showed himself to Yusuke after the Hell Tournament Arc, with news on his demon ancestor was an example of a Rokurokubi with surprisingly human looks for a demon. It was nighttime as well.

Comic Books

• Hellboy:
  • The story "Heads" has Hellboy accidentally running across a household of Nukekubi. Needless to say, he hits them and pokes fun at them.
  • The OVA Hellboy Animated: Sword of Storms includes a scene that's an almost word-for-word adaptation of "Heads". In another scene, Hellboy encounters female Rokurokubi.
• Usagi Yojimbo: Rokurokubi sometimes appears among Youkai, but a single, old Nukekubi is the protagonist of a story of the same title in the book A town called Hell, where he ambushes Usagi. Usagi manages to capture him and gives him to a talkative old woman who lives by herself and is plagued by lizards, so that the woman has company and the Nukekubi can sustain himself by eating the lizards.

Literature

• Fighting Fantasy: The gamebook Sword of the Samurai has the protagonist visit an entire village of nukekubi, though the book mistakenly referred to them as rokorokubi.
• Pact: At one point, Blake encounters a group of Others in the form of Japanese women who can "unspool" their internal organs into a long neck, or detach their heads entirely (though reattaching them is implied to be difficult). He notes that they don't seem very strong, and that the mage commanding them likely uses them as scouts rather than fighters.

Live-Action TV

• Punky Brewster: In "The Perils of Punky", Cheri is taken by the Spirit and turned into either a rokorokubi or a nukekubi (you cannot really tell).
• Super Sentai
  • Ninja Sentai Kakuranger: A rokurokubi married to a Kappa appears in as a Monster of the Week in the first two episodes.
  • Tsubotoguro from Samurai Sentai Shinkenger (Pestilox from Power Rangers Samurai) claims to be the basis for the nukekubi. However, he has very little in common with the youkai, instead being able to summon hordes of fiendish insects to torment humans.

Tabletop Games

• Pathfinder features the rokurokubi as one of their many varieties of Japanese monsters. They are stated to be a Tian relative of the hag, although they seem to also be a variety of Snake People; in addition to their extendable necks, they have mouths full of sharp fangs, clawed fingers, and green-scaled skin, which they hide behind clothing and makeup. They are much more malicious than the typical rokurokubi, with murderous inclinations and a taste for human flesh, but at the same time, they need to breed with humanoid men, as they are an Always Female One-Gender Race.

Video Games

• Nioh: Dragon of the North adds Rokurokubi to the enemy roster: they normally look like any simple samurai warrior, but when engaged they extend their necks to attack, revealing a gaping mouth and Amurita crystal spikes all over their head and neck. Also, the "hands" on the side of the head makes the neck appear as a pair of arms.
• In Onmyōji (2016), there is a creature called No-neck (kubinashi) whose head floats over his body. Appears as NPC, monster and attainable shikigami.
• Nebula Oblongata in Puppeteer is a highly melodramatic rokurokubi that is the daughter of Hallowee Ville's mayor, the Headless Horseman.
• Rei from Sable's Grimoire is a rokurokubi, which doesn't immediately seem to mean much, as she's basically just another (rather bad) student at the game's Wizarding School. Her route however shows that using her human appearance to pass for actually being human to avoid Fantastic Racism has given her some deep seated issues.
• Team Fortress 2: The viral video nope.avi seems to reference rokurokubi. Or submarine periscopes.
• Touhou Project: Sekibanki is officially called a Rokurokubi, but has flying head related abilities closer to a Nukekubi. However, her one spell card that directly references the Rokurokubi gives her flying head a stretchy neck. It's implied she is both, thanks to the two youkai often being confused for each other.
• Yo-kai Watch: Rokurokubi is one of the "Classic" Yo-kai introduced in Yo-kai Watch 2. The English version renames her "Lady Longnek".
• The Teacher in Little Nightmares II has the ability to grotesquely elongate her neck.

Webcomics

• Ena Yureimoto, aunt of Erma is one of these. She's a Genki Girl, but she's also somewhat scatterbrained. In other words, her head's a little out there.

    Nuppeppo 

Nuppeppō: A fleshy blob creature that lumbers around in deserted places, mainly temples and graveyards. They have a smell comparable to that of rotting flesh, leading some to believe they are made of corpses. In spite of this, nuppeppo are generally peaceful creatures.

• Super Sentai: A nuppeppo (although called Nuppefuhofu for some reason) who stole humans' faces appeared as Monster of the Week in Ninja Sentai Kakuranger. He was adapted as Face-Stealer in Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers.

Tabletop Games

• Dungeons & Dragons: Nupperibo, one of the weakest denizens of the Nine Hells of Baator, are near-mindless corpulent blobs with no senses beyond smell and pain. They are not a standard part of the infernal hierarchy, but an And I Must Scream punishment inflicted on higher-ranking devils who fail their masters.
• The Strange: Nuppeppos are a type of monster native to the recursion of Samurai Sky. They are lumps of flesh with vaguely defined limbs —the illustration shows one with a cluster of stumpy legs, no arms, and no face— stink of decay and death, and wander alone or in groups of up to eight. They are usually harmless, if disgusting, and mostly gather around places such as graveyeards and cemeteries where they can graze on dead flesh, but sometimes follow people around for unclear reasons.

Video Games

• Goemon's Great Adventure: Nuppeppo appears in the Mafu Island. True to what the blurb states, they won't try to attack you on the spot unless you attack them first, causing them to go berserk.
• The Mimic: Nuppepo is a flabby chunk of flesh with chubby limbs and a large mouth, alongside flabs where the eyes and nose would normally be. He's one of the only creatures in the game who is outright helpful to the protagonist, due to being a vegetarian and thus doesn't want to eat him.
• Muramasa: The Demon Blade: Nuppeppo are enemies resembling purple blob creatures with eyes. They mainly try to throw pieces of themselves at you, but otherwise stand in place to allow you to whack on them.
• Nioh 2: A Nuppepo is introduced as an enemy that looks just as blobish as described. However, despite this, their Flavor Text says that they are incredibly agile for something so sluggish.
• Pokémon: Gulpin and Swalot resemble this creature, being voracious ambulatory stomachs that emit repulsive gases while digesting their food.
• Yo-kai Watch:
  • Everfore ("Oiran" in Japan) is related to the nuppeppo Yo-kai but is not directly based on it. She is the evolved form of Grumples after fusing her with Ageless Powder. She goes from a wrinkly old woman to a beautiful, young looking one. It's implied that the Ageless Powder is a powdered form of nuppeppo.
  • Dismarelda ("Don'yorinu" in Japan) seems to be loosely based on nuppeppo. She is a huge purple blob that puts people in a bad mood.
  • A proper Nuppeppo is introduced in Yo-kai Watch 4. Named Nuppefuhofu, they are a group of Yo-kai resembling large blobs of saggy pink flesh with small arms and legs. They give those they like pieces of their own flesh, which are said to grant eternal youth. Now if only they didn't get said properties from feasting on corpses...

    Nyuudou 

: Youkai that look like Buddhist monks, commonly encountered on roads. They existed in many different varieties and were one of the favorite forms for youkai possessing

powers to assume.

Mikoshi-nyuudou, Miage-nyuudou, and Nyuudou-bouzu are short monks who would grow taller as one looked at him until either one's neck was completely exposed from looking up at the nyuudou, at which point it would cut off one's head, or one fell backwards from trying to see how tall the nyuudou became, at which point it would laugh at you and disappear. Hitotsume-nyuudou are, just as their name indicates, one-eyed, cyloptic nyuudou.

• Monster Musume: In the anime, one of the listed sub-species for Cyclops/Monoeye is One-Eyed Monk, what is basically just a Monoeye who converted into Buddhism.
• In Nura: Rise of the Yokai Clan, Hitotsume Nyuudou is a member of the Nura Clan and the chairman of the One-Eyed Demon Clan. Four hundred years ago, he was part of Nurarihyon's Hyakki Yakkou and as a result of Kokehime's rescue, she became attached to him.

Live-Action TV

• Super Sentai
  • Ninja Sentai Kakuranger: The Movie featured two Hitotsume Nyuudou brothers (referred in the movie by their alternate name Hitotsume Kozou) as secondary antagonists. Their boss and the film's main villain was another type of Nyuudou called Onnyudou.
  • Samurai Sentai Shinkenger / Power Rangers Samurai had Hitomidama/Madimot, whose appearance is the in-universe basis for the Hitotsume Nyuudou.

Video Games

• Nioh has Nyuudo as huge, hard-hitting enemies with round eyes and long, lolling tongues they can use to whip the player. They are something of a Mini-Boss. Their cyclopic one-eyed variants also appear, and they can be weakened by slashing their eye.
• Touhou Project: Though only identified as a "Nyuudou"^note Cumulonimbus clouds are called "Nyuudou" in Japanese; Unzan is able to change size and shape due to being composed of clouds and his name means "Clouded Mountain" or "Mountain of Clouds"., Unzan used to be the road-roaming, size-shifting and decapitating kind of nyuudou before Kumoi Ichirin defeated him. These days he acts much like a Guardian Entity to her and his Megaton Punches and Rapid-Fire Fisticuffs are a popular source of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure references within the fandom. It's also explained the reason why nyuudou grows taller when seen is because they're just really shy.

    Sazaeoni 

Sazaeoni means "turban shell spirit", and refers to a humanoid version of the turban-shell sea snail. The usual way this obake comes about is when a regular turban snail reaches 30 years of age, but there's also folklore claiming that sazaeoni are human women drowned because of their libidinous lifestyle. Sazaeoni may be perfectly harmless, be testicle thieves, or discreetly roam the coast for a human to dine on.

Compare umidebito and shussebora, as well as the princess from the Javanese fairy tale Keong Emas.

• Ga-Rei: A sazaeoni is a sesshouseki-powered monster dealt with in Chapter 13. It is an enormous humanoid head from which tentacles emerge. This sazaeoni is connected to two shells, which like horns are located on its head. It takes up residence in a sunken warship and raises it to the surface. To make matters worse, the corpses and souls of people who died in a shipwreck are drawn to it and protect it. It takes a lot of pure rage for Kensuke to manage to land a killing hit and retrieve the sesshouseki.
• GeGeGe no Kitarō: The sazae-oni is one of Kitaro's most dangerous enemies, best known for its attempt to eat him. The sazae-oni consists of a blobular body with shell decoration and long hair covering the eyes, if there are eyes at all on its face. This, blobular body, however, is the "shell" of the true sazae-oni, which is the tongue with an eye on the tip that peeks out from between the lips. Only this part of the sazae-oni is susceptible to harm.
• Raise Kamika: En route to the Palace of the Dragon King, the protagonists run into a small group of sazae-oni. They're gigantic octopi which head is hidden inside a turban shell. One of them tries to eat Kamika, but because she's wearing an armored diving suit, she escapes. Loki subsequently destroys the sazaeoni to save her.
• Sailor Moon S: The Daimon U-Ndoukai is a blue-skinned athlete with a shell on her back. In episode 28, she is summoned to extract the Pure Heart Crystal of Shun Hayase. She succeeds, but is nearly obliterated by Hotaru after she took a moment to check on the girl when it looked like she needed medical attention. A quick retreat into her shell saves her, yet in there she's an easy target for Sailor Moon and Sailor Chibi-Moon.

Comic Books

• Anthony Bourdain's Hungry Ghosts: "The Pirates" stars a sazaeoni, a crustacean mermaid-esq creature that steals a crew of pirate's collective testicles.

Live-Action TV

• Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers: Turbanshell is a crustacean humanoid with a turban shell for pants and a turban shell-themed staff. He is created in "Green No More" from an odd shell Kimberley had found earlier at the lake. Turbanshell is very powerful, but impulsive. When it's discovered his only weakness is to be heated on the inside and cooled on the outside, Tommy hides among some melons to get eaten by Turbanshell and shoot him from the inside. Outside, Zack grabs a water hose to take care of the cooling part. This isn't enough to end the creature, but makes it possible for the Thunder Megazord to deal the finishing blow.
• Samurai Sentai Shinkenger: Marigomori is an armadillo-like ayakashi whose shell surrounds his back and shoulders, and like all of his kind, is the basis of a particular yokai. He is summoned in Episode 16 and his shell makes it difficult for the Shikengers to hurt him until they crack it with heat and water. Marigomori is finished off with the Tora Drill Strike.

Tabletop Games

• Mitos y Leyendas: Sazae Oni is one of the cards in the Sol Naciente expansion. She looks like a hermit crab which face is a blue-skinned female humanoid with an octopus as hair. She is classified as an oni and her design references the fairy tale.

Video Games

• Pokémon: Slowpoke's evolutions (and through it Cloyster's evolutions) are based on the sazae-oni and explore the formation variation of the obake. Default Slowbro has a shell on its tail. Galarian Slowbro has a shell on its arm. Mega Slowbro is almost fully enclosed by the shell. Default Slowking wears the shell like a hat and Galarian Slowking wears it as a helmet. It can be argued that slowpoke and cloyster represent the two origins of sazae-oni assigned to it in folklore, with slowpoke corresponding to the drowned women and cloyster corresponding to the 30-year old turban shells.
• Digimon: Shellmon and its subspecies Mori Shellmon have the appearance of a hermit crab if the crab gets replaced by a dinosaur-like creature with anemone hair. They inhabit the Net Ocean, and attack either physically or with water.
• Kakuriyo no Mon: Sazae-oni are green imps with turban shells for hats. They are encountered at Yamabushi Pass and drop spirit pearls.
• Muramasa: The Demon Blade: Shelled Devils are encountered during the fishing minigame. They swing their arms around to do damage, but even if they're parried they still will steal a fish if they collide with the protagonist.
• Yo-kai Watch Busters 2: Secret Treasure of the Legendary Banbarayar: The Doyagari are Yo-kai that belong to the Slippery Tribe. They are crab-like humanoids who wear shells on their heads and they are natives of Karakuri Island.

    Turbo Baba 

Turbo Baba (ターボババア Tābo Babā) or localized as Turbo Granny, is regarded a modern-day yokai. She was originally sighted around the highways of Mount Rokko in Hyogo Prefecture in Japan, where drivers would claim to see an old lady running as fast as them through their mirrors. In some versions, Turbo Baba would try to ram into their cars or break their mirrors to create an accident.

• Dandadan: Turbo Granny is featured as the series' Starter Villain and eventually becomes a recurring anti-hero. She's depicted as a vulgar, violence-happy old lady who curses the deuteragonist Okarun by possessing his body and stealing his "tinker". She resides in an abandoned tunnel alongside a Bound Spirit Crab made up of souls of tormented girls that she comforted and takes great offense whenever someone challenges her Super-Speed abilities. Though Momo, the main protagonist, and Okarun manage to defeat her in a race, her spirit was able to survive and wound up in a maneki neko doll without her original powers. So now she has to work with the heroes in getting Okarun's balls back if she wants her powers.

Webcomics

• Mob Psycho 100: During the Urban Legends Arc, the Spirits and Such team venture into an abandoned tunnel looking for a rumored "Dash Granny". Though they find her, Mob realizes that he isn't able to exorcise her since she isn't a ghost. That said, her aggressive running still manages to scare and outrun the heroes, with Mob being the most effected by it.

  Mob (crying): I run all the time.. with the Body Improvement Club... and I lost to an old woman!
  Narrator: And with that, Dash Granny became the first Urban Legend to traumatize Mob.

Video Games

• The Shin Megami Tensei series features Turbo Granny as a recurring demon of either the Rumor or Foul race. Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance also makes hunting her down the main focus of the sidequest "Supersonic Racing".

    Wanyuudou 

: A burning wheel, frequently with a man's/monk's face serving as the hubcaps. This bizarre entity flies about at night in search of humans to slaughter on sight and kidnap their souls. Often lumped with the Buer from the

.

• Berserk: Guts is attacked by burning wheel monsters at some point, but they're easily dispatched.
• Hell Girl: One of Enma Ai's servants is a Wanyuudou (name's the same). He can turn into a whole cart to serve as Ai's transportation to her targets. His human form is an old man with a pretty sweet hat.
• Nichijou: Mio sees that one has inexplicably replaced the bus that she is supposed to get on with Yuuko and Mai, which lets her know that the previous conversation she had with them about winning a manga contest was All Just a Dream.
• One Piece: Black Maria of the Animal Kingdom Pirates' Tobiroppo wields a weapon which is best described as a Wanyuudo on a pole, complete with flames. In an odd case of Doing In the Wizard, the Wanyuudo is actually a SMILE-user who ate the Pug SMILE, turning his entire body safe for his big head in a little pug's body hidden by the head, and creates flames by running at super speed on the mobile wheel.
• Toriko: The phantom beast Tonyuudo is based on this creature. Like most things in Toriko's universe, the Tonyuudo's tears are edible and made of exquisite soy milk.

Comic Books

• Usagi Yojimbo: in the book Traitors of the Earth, Arc Villain and Evil Sorcerer Hatakeyama takes the form of a Wanyuudo to reach his surviving servant and learn what happened to him.

Live-Action TV

• Shuriken Sentai Ninninger Vs Tokkyuger Ninjas In Wonderland: A Wanyuudou serves as the film's secondary villain.

Video Games

• Age of Mythology: The Wanyuudou is a myth unit available to the Japanese.
• AdventureQuest Worlds: Soultaker, the boss of Yokai Isle's Bamboo Forest, is a wanyuudou.
• The Battle Cats: Wheel Cat is a floating wheel with a cat face and ghostly flames all around its outer rim. According to its description, it got tired of changing the wheels of vehicles, so it became one instead.
• Castlevania: Several of these appear under different names as enemies in the series.
• Goemon's Great Adventure: Appear as common enemies in the Underworld.
• Muramasa: The Demon Blade: Wanyudo is Momohime's second boss.
• Mystical Fighter: The boss of Stage 3 is a wanyuudou.
• Nioh has the Wanyuudo as fire-elemental monsters whose deformed heads seemingly grow out of the hub like tumors. They can breath fire as they roll.
• Ōkami features fire, ice, electric, and wind wheels each with a different sensory organ on them, an eye, lips, ear, and nose respectively. The nose is unintuitively called the Earth Nose.
• Yo-kai Watch: Duwheel, a wanyuudou, is a recurring Optional Boss throughout the games.

     Youkai of the Toilet (Toire-no-kamisama) 

• In Japan, several Youkai spirits dwell in and around toilets: a Disgusting Public Toilet will invariably attract the worst sort of spirit to its squalor and a clean toilet will attract good fortune.
  • The Aka-Manto haunts public toilets and will toy with its victims, offering them an illusory hope of escape, before slaying them. A modern survival of this Youkai would be the urban legend of Toire-no-Hanaku-san, a spirit said to haunt girls' toilets in Japanese schools, who will slay or maim anyone lingering too long in there.
  • Conversely, the Akaname is a disgusting goblin-like creature who is drawn to filth and lives on human excretions. The Akaname also spreads disease and ill-health.
  • The Kappa normally dwells in stagnant or still water, but in its search for the elusive shirikodama, will be drawn to dirty neglected toilets so as to attack the unwary from underneath.
  • The Kainade or Kurote takes the form of a disembodied hand and arm which rises out of the toilet to intimately touch anyone sitting there. Again, a dirty or neglected toilet will attract it.
  • The kawaya-no-kami is generally considered to be a benevolent Youkai who will reward diligent cleaning of the toilet and these who carry out their personal ablutions with faultless attention to hygiene, but in his realm, must be propitiated before entering by a discreet clearing of the throat to display polite regard.
  • The Toire-no-kamisama, the household god of the toilet, is said to reward cleanliness with attractive intelligent children; a householder who neglects their latrine and allows it to become soiled will inevitably have ugly, unhappy and physically impaired offspring.

    Examples 

Works that feature multiple types of youkai include:

• Amatsuki features many various different kinds of youkai, known here as "ayakashi", including spirits, and ghosts. In fact, about half the main cast are ayakashi.
• Though Ayakashi Triangle uses the term "ayakashi" to refers to purely spiritual beings, many individual specimens are based on traditional youkai. Shirogane actually calls himself a "youkai" when introducing the concept of ayakashi, suggesting it's an equivalent term they rarely use themselves, even if humans do. The Japanese version even abbreviates "ayakashi (あやかし)" with the kanji "妖", which is found in word "youkai (妖怪)". Oddly, even spirits that aren't from Japan (like a Snegurochka from Russia) are referred to as "ayakashi".
• In Azumanga Daioh, during one of the School Festival episodes, the girls ponder Osaka's idea of an obakeyashiki kisaten ("haunted cafe"), and imagine Chiyo dressed as a nurikabe and Osaka dressed as a karakasa.
• Dandadan features a variety of yokais that the main protagonists encounter who vary between good, evil and everything in between. Along with Turbo Granny, there's the Acrobatic Silky who's depicted as a tall skeleton woman who wants to claim Aira as her daughter, a karakasa who was once the little brother of a fearsome gang leader, and Reiko Kashima who's considered an amalgamation of various yokai women (like the Slit-Mouthed Woman and the Hachishakusama) and is regarded as THE strongest yokai in the land.
• In Fairy Tail: 100 Years Quest, Youko, the servant of Selene, the Moon Dragon God, wields the Spiritual Art known as "Hyakki Yagyou" (Night Parade of 100 Demons), which allows her to create and summon Youkai such as Enenra, Ittan Momen and Kasha. She can also use her power to forcibly transform people into Youkai, such as Lucy, Erza, Wendy, Charle and Happy who are turned, respectively, into a Nure-Onna, Jorogumo, Bakeneko, and Suiko. Youkou's name itself can be a synonym for Kitsune.
• Gantz features every youkai ever as aliens in the Osaka arc.
• GeGeGe no Kitarō is all about youkai. Kitaro himself is a youkai.
• Gurumin has Monsters as friendly NPCs; they are called Obake in Japanese. Meanwhile, the antagonists are called Phantoms, perhaps drawing parallel to the other meaning of obake.
• Harukanaru Toki no Naka de has these creatures among its mook-type villains (somewhat confusingly, they fall under the collective term onryou, "vengeful spirits", which normally refers to ghosts). In the manga/anime adaptations, some of these get more prominent roles, like the last Nue and the Tengu of the Northern Mountains, but otherwise the youkai-like monsters in general are of little importance to the plot.
• Hell Girl features a hone-onna, or "Bone Woman", a type of vampiric creature which disguises itself as a beautiful mortal woman to lure men away to feed upon their life force.
• Hell Teacher Nube. Between these and Obake, it's practically the whole point. If they're not listed among the specific examples above, it's because they're minor characters, but trust us, these (and more) show up.
• The hololive Alternative manga Holoearth Chronicles Side:E ~Yamato Phantasia~ has youkai as effectively a sort of anti-kami turned by Stigma as opposed to Aura, although some kami are also types of youkai as they are known in mythology. Also, despite Stigma being... well, Stigma, not all youkai are evil or even slightly malicious.
• Inu × Boku SS revolves around a bunch of Half Human Hybrids actually descendants of demons.
• Inuyasha, which in addition to the named characters listed includes at least one example of pretty much every other kind of youkai named on this page and a good many more that aren't. The term "youkai" is officially translated into English as "demon" in both the manga and anime, even though this isn't necessarily a correct term for them.
• Kamisama Kiss, a manga about a teenage girl who accidentally becomes a Shinto god, naturally features youkai.
• Karas (which itself is named for the Karasu Tengu) has youkai in a prominent role, and it depicts tensions between the youkai and the humans who have forgotten them.
• Kekkaishi has Madarao, a white dog youkai that has served the Sumimura family since its founding, passed down to them by the founder, Tokimori Hazama. Madarao is able to detect ayakashi with his amazing sense of smell.
• A Letter to Momo features three Youkai, there are others living in the forest.
• Miss Hokusai, despite being a relatively realistic slice-of-life anime movie about Hokusai's daughter, has several youkai: A famous courtesan is a rokurokubi — her "spirit" stretches instead of her physical neck and while only a few people can see it everyone sees it pressing against the courtesan's mosquito netting. Ghost lights appear in front of a "haunted" painting of Hell and a giant ox demon threatens to show up at the house where the painting is. The painting is "haunted" because "Miss Hokusai" forgot to show the ghosts in Hell being redeemed by Buddha (which was kind of the whole point of the painting's commission in the first place, oops). Hokusai adds the Buddha and the haunting stops.
• Mononoke Sharing is about an ordinary high school girl moving into an apartment complex with five big breasted youkai (Kappa, Oni, Kitsune, Rokurokubi, and Yuki onna) as part of an experiment to see if youkai can integrate with humans.
• Monster Musume has the occasional youkai show up, but the focus is more on the monster girls of other cultures.
• My Monster Secret has Youkai among the non-human students who attend Morobare High School in secret. Most of them are the underclassmen who Asahi councils in the second part of the manga; this list includes a Tengu and a Rokurokubi. Most notably, the series' effective Big Bad, Principal Shirayuki, is a Yuki-Onna who used to be human.
• The manga and anime Nagasarete Airantou takes place on the titular island of Airantou which is inhabited by a large number of youkai. Much of the comedy centers around the protagonist Ikuto's (who is from modern Japan and stranded on the island) refusal to believe in youkai and magic and how much he will bend over backwards with increasingly ludicrous "scientific" explanations to try and handwave away what he just witnessed. (such as seeing a ghost and dismissing it as a polar bear (on a tropical island) and then thinking it's just a kind of trick when it literally vanished into thin air.)
• Naruto, which features several youkai-themed demon-beasts. The first Big Bad Orochimaru is also shown to be capable of stretching his neck out to great lengths, not unlike a rokurokubi.
• Natsume's Book of Friends contains many youkai, referred to as "ayakashi" including those whose names are contained within the titular book.
• Negima! Magister Negi Magi has two hanyou (human-youkai hybrids) among Negi's True Companions, the half-tengu Setsuna and Koutaro who is half-inugami.
• In Neko-de Gomen!, Kuroda makes a serum that turns people into the youkai that fits them best for ten hours.
• Most of the cast of Neko Musume Michikusa Nikki is composed of youkai living in and around a small Japanese town.
• Nijigahara Holograph specificially mentions the "kudan", a youkai in the form of a cow with a human face that is short-lived but is often a Portent of Doom before it dies. In the local mythology of the area the story revolves around, if the former inhabitants sent a dead kudan down the river at that spot, twin kudans would be found there not long after. Later, a strange prophecy about a monster living in the tunnels underneath that area ties into this legend, as the people who relate the prophecy tend to become something like human analogues to the kudan.
• Nura: Rise of the Yokai Clan is based on a mafia-like family of Youkai that live in the present era, in an ordinary city, keeping it safe from other families/groups seeking power.
• Omamori Himari features several other Youkai in addition to the aforementioned, including a water serpent in a leading role, a Shutendoji and many others in minor parts. Most of the major ones are Cute Monster Girls.
• One Piece:
  • Marcus Mars can transform into an Itsumade — a monstrous, gigantic bird capable of blasting an energy beam from its beak.
  • Ethanbaron V. Nusjuro, on the other hand, can transform into a Bakotsu — a skeletal, seemingly undead horse.
• Petopeto-san: Most of the cast are youkai of one kind or another, if not Half Human Hybrids.
• Ranma ½ frequently exploited Japanese folklore to provide their Monster of the Week.
• Rosario + Vampire: There is a reason the school is called Youkai Academy (though monsters from many other cultures are largely present as well). The name of the school, however, is a Punny Name, since it uses a different set of kanji than the ones that designate the youkai (hence why no red-flags were raised when protagonist Tsukune Aono's parents decided to enroll him there).
• Saiyuki, in which three out of the four main characters are at least part youkai, as are most of their opponents. Unfortunately, the majority are generic "demons" — i.e., pointy-eared humanoids with claws — rather than Japanese folkloric Youkai.
• Sengoku Youko is rife with these, s the series is set in feudal Japan and one of the main characters feature a Kitsune. Notably, the monsters are not explicitly called Youkai, but the manga uses a different word with the kanji for "Darkness" and the reading for "others".
• Shaman King features many youkai as Japanese-specific spirits.
• Tactics, unsurprising since the show chronicles the adventures of a Japanese folklorist who practices Shinto and does exorcisms to make a little on the side.
• This Monster Wants to Eat Me: One of the main characters, Shiori Oumi, is a ningyo which is a kind of mermaid. She protects Hinako Yaotose from a different through briefly revealing her true form if only for the express purpose of waiting Hinako to ripen and devour her for herself. Hinako's best friend, Miko Yashiro, is revealed to be an Asian Fox Spirit that was once a cruel monster before being trapped by a monk and forced to help the villagers that prayed to her shrine.
• In Tonari no Yōkai-san youkai are completely integrated into human society and are subsequently much more benign than most examples. There are even some on the International Space Station. A brief look outside of Japan shows that kotodama affect the world in England too, so there are different native non-human creatures including fairies, elves, ghostly projections of characters like Sherlock Holmes, and centaurs (as well as some of the familiar types who're either immigrants or tourists), similarly part of society. Presumably this holds for the rest of the world.
• Idol series Tsukipro has a youkai AU, in which each idol is a different sort of youkai. The AU has not appeared in any of the anime series yet, but in 2018, two of the stage plays featured it — "Natsu-Yume-Matsuri", performed at the Tsukipro Bunkasai event in July 2018, starred Rui, Kai, Ichiru, and Issei, in their youkai forms. SQS Episode 2, to be performed in November 2018, features Tsubasa and Eichi falling into a river and ending up in the realm of youkai, and encountering the youkai forms of the other SQ members. It is said that the youkai forms live around Tsukino Shrine, which is something of a portal between their realm and the real world. The shrine has no set location, and can possibly be found anywhere.
• Usagi Yojimbo has featured nearly every monster from Japanese tradition, from Oni to Kappas to Nues (chimera-like beasts) and an Obakeneko (vampire cat).
• Urusei Yatsura, which, despite the nominal sci-fi setting, features many youkai both as Ancient Astronauts and as actual monsters.
• Ushio and Tora is all about fighting youkai until facing the strongest of them all, a god-like kitsune (born in India of all places). It also shows some hierarchy by explaining that the Youkai of Japan are divided between two leaders, one ruling over the east and the other over the west of the country. The american scientific research team known as H.M.M.R. refers to them as "Metamorphose", a term not used in Real Life but based on the fact that Bakemono can literally mean "Something that can transform".
• ×××HOLiC features many types of youkai.
• In Yes! Pretty Cure 5 GoGo! episode 27, "Rin-chan vs. Ōedo Yōkai!", Shibiretta takes the Cures and mascots back to the Edo period, where they encounter noppera-bō, rokurokubi, karakasa, oni and burabura.
• Yuki Yuna is a Hero features cutesy versions of traditional youkai as the characters' fairy partners. The title character is accompanied by a Gyuuki, which takes the form of a tiny bull with stubby wings.

Arts

• Bakemono no e: It's a Japanese Edo period ink-drawn scroll that records 35 bakemono (lit. monsters) from the country's rich folkloric tradition.
• Oni Embodiments:
  • The two titular characters are Onis themselves. Specifically, technicolor-skinned ogres with tiger hide-made loin-cloths and kanabōs in hand.
  • "Embodiment of 'A'" is standing on a pair of Tsurube-otoshi — i.e, giant-disembodied heads.
  • "Embodiment of 'Um'": is steeping on a smaller, monstrous-looking, red creature.

Comic Books

• The world of Pajan from Okko, being a Fantasy Counterpart Culture of feudal Japan, is home to a variety of Youkai including Oni, Tengu, Kappa and others, which are often hunted by the title character and his companions.
• Usagi Yojimbo often features Obake (translated by Sakai as "Haunts") of different varieties in many stories, ranging from Ghosts, to demons, to Kappas to Tengu and many others. The stand-alone volume "Yokai" has Usagi and demon-queller Sasuke joining forces to fight an army of Obake.
• Anthony Bourdain's Hungry Ghosts: "The Starving Skeleton" features the creation of a Gashadokuro, made when a chef refused to feed a starving homeless man.
  • "The Pirates" stars a Sazae-oni, a crustacean mermaid-esq creature that steals a crew of pirate's collective testicles.
  • "Salty Horse" features a horse-based Tsukimono, a malevolent animal spirit that possesses people.
  • "The Heads" features Rokurokubi, more specifically the kind where their heads detatch.
  • "Deep" stars a Kappa.
  • "Boil in the Belly" stars a Bakemono, a snake-like monster that possesses a young man.
  • "The Snow Woman" stars Yuki-onna, a snow woman.
  • "The Cow Head" stars a kudan, who tries to warn the villagers of a disaster, only for the villagers to kill and eat him. From their stomachs various other youkai burst out, including a Tengu, a Bakemono, an Ushi-oni and a Hitotsume-nyūdō.
  • The epilogue reveals that the chefs are all youkai in-disguise, including a Hitotsume-nyūdō, an Ushi-oni and a Stringy-Haired Ghost Girl.

Fan Works

• Danganronpa: Memento Mori: Chapter 3 heavily discusses the Kuchisake-onna, with the surviving students finding out about the existence of a Theme Serial Killer that operates akin to a Kuchisake-onna, leaving behind Glasgow Grins on the faces of their victims. Luka Aikuchi, the culprit of the chapter's murder, turns out to be that serial killer.
• In The Price of Flight, a fic by A.A. Pessimal set in the Discworld, the one Agatean pilot in the Air Watch is revealed to have things in common with Emiko Yureimoto. Akuma-san also has a good working relationship with the world of the Youkai. One of the reasons why Akuma-san has been accepted into the Air Watch, in fact, is that this Agatean witch is in herself a gateway to the world of the Youkai. Lord Vetinari would therefore like her to be kept under observation and subject to a formal chain of command to prevent any little misunderstandings from happening in his City.
• Danganronpa: Paradise Lost: In Chapter 1, Sumire brings up several well-known youkai, with Noriko describing the legend of the toilet-haunting youkai Aka Manto in detail. Junpei's murder is also made via a pair of red and blue sheets to appear as a result of Aka Manto, although a few details Takeshi, his killer, gets wrong about the urban legend exposes his attempts to cover his tracks.
• Embers (Vathara): The various spirits are largely based on various youkai.
• Infinity Train: Blossoming Trail: In an effort to change herself, Chloe decides to change Lexi's papers from her beloved "Specter of the Black Forest" into a kyorinrin, which is a collection of papers and scrolls that take on a draconic appearance and scarlet yukata.
• Pony POV Series: While the normal versions exist as species (with Kitsune and Shisa being seen in Neighpon), this word is used to describe the draconequus equivalent of angels. They function identically to angels (being servants/messengers of their deity), the difference being primarily cosmetic.
• The World is Filled with Monsters: Yokai are a kind of trickster spirit with no true form of their own, or at least none that can be seen directly; by themselves, they're simply insubstantial wisps of mist and magic, barely able to perceive or interact with the physical world unless they possess a living pony. If they do, they can use illusions to disguise themselves as any sort of fantastical creature they can imagine. They're not truly malicious beings, as they simply wish for the chance to experience the world like other living things can, but they cause the ponies they possess to become sluggish, dull-minded and barely aware of the world themselves.
• Metamatronic's Monster AU features several Danganronpa characters being portrayed as Yokai alongside various western monsters.
  • Leon Kuwata is a Kitsune. He only has five tails due to his recklessness.
  • Toko Fukawa is a Kuchisake-onna^note she was originally possessed by the spirit of a Serial Killer until the author was informed of the implications of trying to "play off" Toko's DID for a monster form, fitting with both her insecurity about her appearance and her alter Genocide Jack's wide mouth and use of scissors as a weapon.
  • Mukuro Ikusaba is a Tatarigami (a storm spirit that curses people). She was originally going to be a Waheela (a Native American spirit associated with wolves) before the author decided it didn't work that well.
  • Mahiru Koizumi is a Yuki-onna. This was apparently intended as a pun on Mahiru's status as a photographer (as in, you freeze for the camera).
  • Gundham Tanaka is a hamster version of a Bakeneko (referred to by the author as a "Bakehamasuta"), with his backstory showing that he was once a regular hamster who was killed by his owner's abusive father and came back as a vengeful spirit to protect said owner.
  • Akane Owari is a Futakuchi-onna, due to her status as a Big Eater (two mouths = twice as much food).
  • Kirumi Tojo is a Jorogumo, because of the spider imagery she's associated with.

Films — Animated

• Studio Ghibli:
  • My Neighbor Totoro: The Soot Sprites and Totoros, though original to the movie, have some characteristics of traditional youkai.
  • In Pom Poko, the Tanuki prove capable of transforming into a wide variety of other youkai. Kitsune make an appearance as well, later in the movie.
  • Princess Mononoke has the Kotodama, which are spirits that live in the forest, as well as the Deer God.
  • Spirited Away: Most of the background characters are some form of youkai. "No Face" is a noppera-bō, while the workers at Yubaba's bathhouse are toad and weasel spirits.

Films — Live-Action

Literature

• InCryptid uses "yokai" as a classification for any cryptid from Japan (and some that are also found in China). So far we've seen a tanuki, a Fūri (who is a major character), and a Jorogumo. Yuki-onna and Kawauso have been mentioned but not seen.
• Kanokon: Nozomu Ezomori is a 200-year-old wolf spirit, both trying to seduce the protagonist, Kouta Oyamada. In fact, nearly everyone except him is Obake of some sort (sisters, brothers, etc to Chizuru and Nozomu. Many don't show up in the anime, though).
• Our Home's Fox Deity has spirits like these, including an entire arc with oni.
• Tale of Yashima: A web novel set during the Sengoku Era of Japan where several yokai feature as both main characters and villains.
• The Zashiki Warashi of Intellectual Village revolves around youkai and humans making use of their power for various purposes. The eponymous Zashiki Warashi is a major character.
• Anno Dracula features many youkai in the short story Anno Dracula 1899: Yokai Town and its follow-up novel Anno Dracula: One Thousand Monsters. As with all supernatural beings in the AD-verse, youkai are actually vampires, just really imaginative when it comes to shapeshifting.

Live-Action TV

• Akumaizer 3 Several military officers of the Akuma Clan are Youkai or Youkai-themed, including Kamaitachi, Kitsune, and Yuki-onna.
• Choujin Bibyun, the sequel to Akumaizer 3, features Youkai as the main enemies. Even Backbeard from GeGeGe no Kitarō appears as a Monster of the Week in one episode.
• Super Sentai tends to use youkai as enemies in especially Japanese-themed series (meaning featuring ninja or samurai):
  • Ninja Sentai Kakuranger: The enemies are ALL Youkai, nearly all of which have adapted in some way to the modern world. There's a nurikabe covered in graffiti, a sand woman dressed like a hooker, a chariot youkai who's now a taxicab, and a hungry ghost dressed like a fast-food jockey. Sometimes the behavior is very different from the traditional youkai they're based on, but that's usually excused with "long ago, they were like [insert mythological behavior here] but the modern ones are [insert a Monster of the Week-ish behavior here] instead!"
  • Samurai Sentai Shinkenger: The enemies are called ayakashi and are based on youkai (and In-Universe, the basis for youkai), but following ayakashi's traditional meaning of "shipwreck ghost", most if not all of them have some kind of sea-creature theme along with their mythic one.
  • Shuriken Sentai Ninninger: Similar to Kakuranger, the enemies are modernized versions of youkai; this time done by bringing inanimate objects to life. For instance, a chainsaw is turned into a kamaitachi and a snowcone maker into a yuki-onna. They also bring in three classic Halloween monsters (Frankenstein's Monster, Dracula and the Wolf Man) and classify them as "Western youkai".
• Ultra Series: Youkai or Kaiju based on them have appeared as a Monster of the Week here and there. Many are based on examples above, but others are wholly original.
  • Ultraman: Woo from the original series is a yeti-like youkai manifests from the spirit of a deceased parent who seeks to continue to protect their child.
  • Ultraman 80 featured a few youkai, like Jihibikiran (a sumo boy who wrestles everyone he meets) and Idantenran (a marathon runner who transforms into a giant monster when enraged).
  • Ultraman Tiga: One episode features a youkai named Obikoboushi (Obiko for short), a mischievous demon-like creature who thrives in darkness and disguises himself as a noodle vendor in order to scare people with his magically animated shadow.
  • Ultraman Cosmos: Two episodes deal with a Bigfoot-like youkai named Yamawarawa^note the name is shared with an actual youkai but they are hairy one-eyed mountain dwarfs instead who likes to befriend children lost in the forest. In the latter episode, we also meet Yamawarawa's archenemy, the demon-like Mahagenom.

Music

• sasakure.UK: The Ayakashi series focuses on youkai in modern Japan, known here as ayakashi. Kei, the main character of "A(ma)YAKASHI Diary" and "A(ma)YAKASHI Monoganasy", has been writing a diary where he blames imaginary ayakashi for everything bad that happens to him.

Tabletop Games

• In Chuubo's Marvelous Wish-Granting Engine, there are some youkai living in Town, primarily tsukumogami, with an assortment of various others sometimes popping up. Town's long-necked people are basically rokurokubi who've learned how to stretch their necks any time they like.
• Dungeons & Dragons: The "Oriental Adventures" setting features all kinds of youkai, including oni, kappa, tengu, and yuki-onna. Oni have made their way into the main game as ogre mages, while nuppeppo have made their way in as nupperibo, residents of the Hells.
• Golden Sky Stories: The player characters are all various kinds of henge, although from the more benign variety. A later Japanese supplement introduces mononoke, wholly magical creatures, which cover virtually any type of non-henge youkai.
• Kitsune: Of Foxes and Fools obviously has kitsune as the player's characters, but a number of other youkai are available as allies as well.
• Legend of the Five Rings, which draws heavily on Japanese Mythology, has many youkai, mostly malevolent.
• Magic: The Gathering: The Kamigawa block, which is heavily inspired by Japanese Mythology, features numerous yokai among its many and diverse spirit creatures.
• The Obake Karuta, a set of cards with Yokai themes that were used in the Edo Period. An ancestor of the modern Pokémon and Yu-Gi-Oh! card games.
• Yu-Gi-Oh! has a number of cards based on youkai.
  • Most youkai which don't belong to a certain archetype tend to be Zombie-Type. This includes: Gozuki (Ox Head) and Mezuki (Horse Face); a Nine-Tailed Fox; Shutendoji, and Kasha (though its flaming chariot appearance matches that of Hinoguruma more). In the Yu-Gi-Oh! GX manga, Bastion uses a deck comprised of these youkai that centers around bringing cards back from the graveyard. Incidentally, this adaptation is the only one to make "Youkai" its own monster Type.
  • The "Yosenju" archetype, which seems to be mostly (if not entirely) made up of Kamaitachi.
  • Spirit Monsters are a type of card that return to your hand at the end of the turn, the majority of which are based on famous gods and monsters from Japanese Mythology.
  • The Synchro-climb based archetype, "Mayakashi", includes an Oboroguruma, Tsuchigumo, nine-tailed fox, Yaksha, Tengu, and Gashadokuro.
• Pathfinder, which tends to include a lot of creatures from real-life mythologies, does one better than its rival D&D by featuring many of the same youkai (including Ogre Magi under their proper name of oni), but also including many, many others (both on this page and not), including a number of obscure ones like the sagari, the hyakume, the jinmenju, the bisha ga tsuku, the harionago, the akaname, the kuda-gitsune (referred to simply as the pipefox), and the bakekujira.

Video Games

• Age of Mythology: The Japanese civilization introduced in the Heavenly Spear expansion for Retold features many youkai as myth units. These include kitsune, tengu, raiju, oni, kamaitachi, wanyuudou, shinigami, and orochi
• Ayakashi: Romance Reborn features several youkai usually disguised as humans. Other than that, there's also someone else who isn't an ayakashi/youkai at all, but not fully human either.
• Blade Chimera: A majority of the demon enemies Shin fights are based on youkai. Since the D-Virus mutates humans into things they fear, it makes sense that the infected citizens of Osaka would transform into the more monstrous or eerie youkai.
• Kind of a rarity in Cuphead, as all of the ghosts inhabiting the Phantom Express are subtly based on different types of youkai. The Blind Specter is based on tenome, an eyeless old man with eyeballs on his hands; T-bone is based on gashadokuro, a giant skeleton; the Blaze Brothers appear to be based on wanyuudou, flaming oxcart wheels with screaming faces; and the Head of the Train is based on oboroguruma, oxcarts with faces found on roads late at night. Maybe; what Japanese spooks are doing in a game based on American cartoons is a mystery.
• EVE Online has a couple of spaceships named after Youkai. Among those are the Kitsune, a small, but very potent ECM-based ship and the Tengu, a fast, medium-sized, powerful (and incredibly sturdy) ship capable of doing Level 5 Missions with no support, while all other ships require a fleet for those. It's also the general favorite among Mission-Runners, due to its high amount of Firepower.
• Izuna: Legend of the Unemployed Ninja has Kappa, Tengu, nurikabe and many other youkai among the enemies.
• One of the games in The Jackbox Party Pack 3 is Tee K.O., and its motif has the players selecting one of the icons representing a select number of Youkai.
• Kanon: Makoto is a kitsune who lost her memory in exchange for the ability to transform. It came with a hefty price.
• Kiki Kai Kai, a series of Cute 'em Up games (which were localized under the Market-Based Title of Pocky & Rocky) that includes several kinds of obake as enemies, several of the partners throughout the series are yokai as well. Aside from that, the main protagonist, Sayo-chan, is a Miko.
• The Kirby games have several enemies and bosses based on youkai, like Jumpershoot, Pon and Con, and perhaps most surprisingly, Whispy Woods. According to his Flavor Text in Kirby Star Allies, he's actually a ninmenju.
• Survival Horror videogame Kuon features Gaki (emaciated, costantly hungry ghouls) as standard enemies, as well as ghosts, living corpses and huge wild monkeys possibly based on the wild youkai Hihi.
• Monster Hunter: Rise release trailer alongside a Japanese aesthetic shows new dragons inpired by youkai: Aknosom (an umbrella-plumaged crane), Tetranadon (a kappa with an alligator's head), and Izuchi (a weasel raptor with a sickle-bladed tail).
• Muramasa: The Demon Blade features many youkai enemies.
• Musya has plenty of assorted yokai as enemies, including the Hōnengame in the last level - a giant turtle with a human head, a somewhat rarely-seen yokai in media.
• Nioh, an historical fiction following William Adams, features Youkai as enemies in the waning days of the Sengoku Jidai period, who have been brought forth by the persistent war.
• Onigiri (2014) uses nearly all the youkai mentioned above, plus several not even listed here. They're all faithful to their original sources.
• Oriental Legend 2: Its predecessor, which is based entirely on Chinese myths, lifted traits from Japanese mythology as well. There are youkai-themed enemies like fire-breathing Chōchin-obake, and the playable character, Sha Wujing, has been reimagined into a kappa.
• Onmyōji (2016) is about, well, an onmyōji named Abe no Seimei who, along with his companions, prevents yōkai from causing troubles to humans.
• Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Dual Destinies: The second case of the game takes place in a town that maintains an ardent superstition of the youkai and plays a major role in the order of events (particularly a Karasu Tengu creature called "Tenma Taro" and the fabled nine-tailed Kitsune).
• Pokémon has a lot of creatures based on youkai. It can even be said that all Pokémon take on the same roles that youkai supposedly play in the real world, as both take on the roles of animals and nature spirits while also being combination of malicious and scary yet friendly and endearing when befriended.
  • Exeggutor bears a resemblance to the ninmenju, a tree that grows human faces instead of fruit.
• Rising Dusk is full of Youkai, with the player's character finding herself trapped in their world.
• In Sable's Grimoire, Sable's demihuman classmates include a rokurokubi and a noppera-bō.
• Various of the fighters in Samurai Shodown series are youkai or based on them like Gen-An Shiranui (a goblin-like creature), Basara Kubikiri (a yurei, who also has a hitodama) and his lover Kagaribi (an onryo), Kusaregedo (a gaki), Chanple (Mina Majikina's mon, an ayakashi), Iroha (a Tsuru Nyōbō aka "Crane Lover"), and Yashamaru Kurama (a half-human half-tengu).
• Shin Megami Tensei has lots and lots of these, in addition to nearly every other culture's demons and spiritual beings, in the main series of games, as well as spin-offs.
• SNK vs. Capcom: SVC Chaos: Some of the characters, when defeated by Red Arremer, turn into different types of youkai.
• Spiritual Assassin Taromaru have assorted yokai enemies showing up throughout the game, hitodama flames and Wanyūdō as mooks, to a kitsune, an Uwabami, the Jorōgumo and Tsuchigumo as bosses.
• Throne of Darkness, a Diablo-like Hack and Slash when not using various forms of undead employs many variations of oni, tengu, hengeyokai, jorogumo and more.
• Touhou Project: In Touhou Project, almost every known character, apart from the four-and-a-half human protagonists, a couple ghosts, and a handful of goddesses, is some form of youkai. Whether or not fairies are youkai is also subject to interpretation, both in and out-universe.
• Ugetsu Kitan is a horror game set in an empty, Abandoned Hospital full of youkai, who will appear in the most random locations, from the karakasa to the kitsune, to the nukekubi and even a chance encounter with a man whose back is facing you... only for his Face-Revealing Turn to show you he had one eye (a reference to another classic Japanese horror story).
• Warriors Orochi: in the original version of the game, all the generals under Orochi's command are given names of various Youkai and chinese monsters, though they all look the same. In the english translation they're named either after snakes (the Serpent Demons), spiders (the Dodomeki family) or minerals (Gyuki)
• Yokai Hunter Shintaro, befitting it's title, have assorted yokai as it's enemies, from the classics like the Oni, Kappa, Karakasa, Rokurokubi and Yuki-onna to some really, really obscure ones like the Ōgama, Oboroguruma and Sōgenbi as bosses. The game's main villain is even called Shuten dōji, named after the mythical King of Yokai (with a tengu serving as The Dragon).
• Yo-kai Watch is a Mon series revolving around Yo-kai. The games and anime revolve around people using a mystical watches to perceive, communicate with, and summon Yo-kai to solve other people's (or other Yo-kai's) problems.
• Yodanji is a mobile Roguelike that features many yokai as character classes.
• Yomawari: Night Alone and its sequels Yomawari: Midnight Shadows and Yomawari: Lost in the Dark feature various youkai as enemies that kill the player on contact.
• Yume Nikki: Some of the equippable effects take the form of supernatural creatures from Japanese mythology, namely Yuki-onna, an ice spirit, Oni, a horned demon, and Nopperabou, a faceless ghost. These are obtained by finding and interacting with the respective creature within the dream world. There's also the Mouth Monsters, which are a trio of brown blobs with large mouths and varying hairstyles, based on the Nuppeppo. Each of them are seen near blood stains, and are the only NPCs in their respective areas.^note Two are found in the Mural World, one in the Storage Room. Interacting with each of them grants the player the Long Hair, Blonde hair, and Poop Hair effects. Uboa's design seems to be based on the Nuppeppo as well, though it may just be coincidence, as he is seemingly malicious, which the Nuppeppo is not.

Web Animation

• Nightmare Tales: Mostly seen in the ongoing Japanese urban legends series, though plenty of specters and creatures from other mythology and folklore are commonly used as well.

Webcomics

• Charby the Vampirate: The twins Han and Cho are cat youkai living at King Samrick's palace. Han is working for the king as one of his Justiciars.
• Demon's World, a Toaplan Arcade Game also known as Horror Story, features many enemies from various mythologies, and in the Japan-esque stage you get to fight kappa, karakasa, rokurokubi, and other youkai.
• In Hetalia: Axis Powers, Japan talks about the legend of youkai but states that they do not exist. However, England does meet and talks to a kappa and an onion-head youkai, though Japan is skeptical. This is meant to mirror their countries views on myths, modern Japan sees myths as esoteric nonsense, quirky at best, while modern England still sees some value in myths and traditions.
  • This is expanded upon in the anime; the Youkai explain to England that they all will eventually have to leave Japan's home as less and less people believe in them, so they have no reason to stay. England is shown to be quite upset about it, but there's nothing he can do to help them.
• Karin-dou 4koma: The vast majority of the cast are either magicians or some kind of youkai, generally either tsukumogami (coin, camera...) or animal (fox, bird/dog, snake, toad, crow...). Somehow, there's a Henshin Hero youkai. In one strip, a few characters discuss the possibility of virtual idols becoming youkai; one dismissing them as too fleeting to take hold and a moment later suggests that God is the original such idol.
• In Erma, the titular character and her mother are both youkai (although Erma is only half thanks to her human dad), and when they go back to Japan in the Family Reunion arc, it's obvious that the author did their research on youkai, as the youkai marketplace is a massively detailed Cast of Snowflakes with too many species to list, all of them actual mythological youkai.

Web Original

• The web story Broken Gate has Nezumi, a rat (or mouse) youkai, and her three siblings, Toramaru (otherwise known as Tora), a tiger youkai, Miyako, a horse youkai, and Ryuuji, a dragon youkai. However, aside from her ears, Nezumi can pass for human and the same occurs for Miyako, aside from the hooves she keeps concealed under a kimono or her ears).
• In the Monster Girl Encyclopedia, Youkai are exclusively Cute Monster Girls of the Zipangu region. Unlike other parts of this world, they've peacefully coexisted with humans long before anyone can remember. The youkai aren't part of the Demon Lord army and there is no Knight Templar religion hunting them down — in fact, powerful monsters like nine-tail Inari are revered as gods.

Western Animation

• Legend of the Three Caballeros has various youkai living in the Underworld. Unlike the ghost citizens, they are not dead, and are able to kill spirits as well. A Tengu in particular is the guard of the gates to the living.
• Legend Quest: When the characters visit Japan, they naturally meet a few, specifically an ittan-momen (see "Tsukumogami" above) and a basan (a rooster yokai that breathes fire). Additionally, Demonic Dummy Senor Madera is identified as a type of Tsukumogami, although he's a malevolent, soul-sucking force of evil more than anything else.
• Randy Cunningham: 9th Grade Ninja has really shown its work for a western cartoon when it comes to the actual Japanese mythological elements, right down to the inclusion of youkai. The feathers of the Tengu were used to create the Ninja suit, and in the episode Evil Spirit Week, Howard becomes possessed by a Tengu.
• Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles:
  • Not the first adaptation of the franchise to use them, but featured much more prominently here, as Yokai have a huge subterranean city beneath New York. Supporting villain Big Mama is a Jurogumo, and main antagonist/mutant-creating-alchemist-warrior Baron Draxum is a humanoid ram identified as a "Yokai". The mutants the franchise (the title characters included) are even eventually revealed to be artificial yokai. The series finale states yokai were created by a mysterious substance called Empyrean, which is implied to have been brought to the Earth by aliens (this continuity's equivalent of Krang).
  • Many of the real Yokai are actually references to cultural supernatural creatures from around the world, including gargolyes, kitsune, dragons, and the living skeleton being a reference to the Mexican holiday 'Las Dias Des Muertos'.
• My Little Pony: A New Generation: Hard to believe, but Cloudpuff the Flying white Pomeranian Dog that is kept by Queen Haven as her personal pet is actually based on the Hainu, a rather obscure Winged Dog Yokai that is native to Chikugo City in the Fukuoka Province.
• In Samurai Rabbit: The Usagi Chronicles, all the youkai have been trapped for a thousand years in the chi crystal, until Yuichi accidentally releases them. While he initially offers his services as a youkai hunter, he quickly realises the youkai aren't the threat he believed, and declares he will no longer fight them. His sensei is a Tengu, he befriends many tsukumogami including a Karakasa, and while it takes longer for Gashadokuro to come round to the idea that Yuichi isn't an implacable enemy, they eventually become allies as well.

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