English Version
For centuries, yokai have represented strange and uncanny phenomena beyond ordinary human understanding. Some are said to bring good luck, and others have been imagined as harmless beings living alongside people. But Japanese folklore also includes yokai feared for hurting, possessing, or even killing humans.
Here are three especially dangerous yokai from legend and modern yokai culture.
Itsuki: The Spirit That Drives People Mad
Itsuki is an unusual kind of oni. It is said to have no legs, long hair, and a terrifying demon-like face. But despite its appearance, Itsuki is not really an oni in the usual sense. It is closer to a restless dead spirit.
Its danger is not the stereotypical oni image of swinging an iron club or stealing treasure. Itsuki is feared because it is said to possess people and control them.
One legend goes like this.
A drinking party was being held, but one man who was supposed to attend still had not arrived. After some time, he finally appeared. But when he did, he announced that he had “made a promise to hang himself” and tried to leave.
The people at the party panicked and stopped him. Once they calmed him down, they asked what had happened and why he would say such a thing.
The man replied that he did not remember everything clearly. While walking to the drinking party, he had suddenly heard someone tell him to hang himself. For some reason, he felt no desire to refuse. He told the unseen voice, “I have promised to go drink first, so I want to cancel that before I do it.” Then he came to the party intending to leave afterward and die.
When the others, now understanding the situation, asked whether he still wanted to do it, the man said only that it was terrifying and denied any such desire.
A little later, news arrived that someone else had died by hanging. The place where that person died was the same place where the first man had heard the voice.
That is the legend of Itsuki: a yokai-like dead spirit that remains in a certain place, possesses people who pass by, and drives them toward death.
In the story, the final victim may have been someone else Itsuki possessed after the first man was stopped by his friends. There may be no red oni rampaging through the modern world with an iron club, but stories of people suddenly changing and taking their own lives still feel disturbingly real. In that sense, Itsuki may be one of the most frightening yokai for the modern age.
Gashadokuro: The Giant Skeleton Born from the Grudge of the Dead
Gashadokuro is a massive yokai in the form of a giant skeleton.
According to its usual description, it is formed from the bones and negative emotions of people who did not meet a peaceful end: those who died in battle, those who starved to death, and others whose deaths were filled with suffering.
At night, Gashadokuro is said to wander while making a clattering sound with its bones. If it finds a living person, it attacks with its enormous body, crushes them in its hands, and devours them.
It is a terrifying image. However, unlike many yokai with long folk histories, Gashadokuro is not an ancient creature from village tradition. It first appeared as a created yokai in a book published in 1960.
Even so, its concept is powerful: a giant skeleton born from the resentment of the dead, roaming at night and attacking the living. Thanks to that striking idea, and to later appearances in games, manga, anime, and other modern works, Gashadokuro has become a well-known and beloved yokai despite its relatively recent origin.
Ittan-momen: Not the Friendly Yokai You May Know
Anyone interested in Japanese occult culture has probably heard of Ittan-momen. In GeGeGe no Kitaro, it is known as a reliable companion who speaks in a Kyushu dialect and helps the hero even in dangerous situations.
But the Ittan-momen of folklore does not seem nearly so kind.
Its appearance varies by region. In some accounts, it looks like a long white bolt of cloth about 10 meters in length. In others, it appears as several cloths gathered together and rolled up.
This yokai is said to appear around evening or sunset near human settlements, attacking people from the sky. Its method is especially cruel: it wraps its long body around a victim and strangles them.
For anyone who knows the friendly pop-culture version, the idea of Ittan-momen as a murderous yokai may come as a shock.
It is also troublesome because it is said to become active relatively early for a yokai—around evening rather than deep at night. Imagine simply walking outside at dusk and being attacked from above by a long, flying strip of cloth. It is a deeply unpleasant thought.
The most common theory is that Ittan-momen stories were used by parents to frighten children so they would not stay out playing too late. That explanation makes sense. A yokai that appears in the evening and attacks from the sky would be very effective at keeping children close to home.
However, there is also a legend in which a person fought off an attacking Ittan-momen by slashing it with a sword. After it disappeared, the person looked down and found blood on both the sword and their hand.
If that story were true, Ittan-momen would be less like a simple folktale and more like what we might now call a cryptid or unidentified creature. It would suggest that a legendary being may once have existed, gone extinct, or perhaps still lives somewhere beyond human notice.
That possibility is strange, romantic, and fascinating. But whatever interpretation you prefer, one thing remains the same: Ittan-momen is an alluring yokai, and absolutely not one you would want to encounter in real life.
Final Thoughts
In recent years, yokai are often portrayed as cute, friendly, mascot-like characters. There is nothing wrong with that. But legends like these remind us that some yokai were once imagined as beings people truly feared and never wanted to meet.
From the possession of Itsuki, to the giant bones of Gashadokuro, to the flying cloth of Ittan-momen, these three yokai show a darker side of Japan’s supernatural imagination.
Japanese Language
昔から人間の理解を超え、奇怪かつ異常な現象を起こしてきた妖怪。その中には幸運を呼び、人間と共存してきた無害な妖怪もいたが、そんな中で人を傷つけ、危害を加え恐れられてきた危険な妖怪もいた。ここではその中でも一際恐ろしい、かなり危険な妖怪を3種、紹介する。人をおかしくしてしまう鬼 縊鬼(いつき)。。画像引用元： 。足がなく、長い髪に鬼の形相という、鬼としては風変わりな容姿の鬼。実はこの縊鬼、鬼ではなく亡者の類なのだ。そして、こいつの危険性も一般人な鬼のイメージである「金棒を振り回し、金銀財宝を強奪していく」といった感じではなく、「憑いた人間を操る」という所にある。
まずは、縊鬼の伝承を聞いて欲しい。” 酒の席を開いたが、来るはずだった男が一人、まだ来ない。しばらくしてその男は現れたが、その男は 「首をくくる約束をした」 と言い出し、帰ろうとした。席にいた皆が慌てて男を引き止めた所、男は落ち着きを取り戻した。落ち着いた所に皆が 「何故首をくくるなんて言い出した。何があったんだ」 と聞くと、男は 「ぼんやりしていたのでよく覚えていないが、酒の席の場まで行くのに歩いている時、いきな何者かからり『首をくくれ』と言われた。
その時、何故か断る気にならなくて、声の主に『酒を飲む約束をしているので、それを断ってからにしたい。』と言って、断ったら首をくくろうと思ってここまで来たんだ」と。事情を知った皆が改めて 「今でも首をくくりたいか」と聞くと、男は 「恐ろしい」と言いながら否定した。それからしばらくして、「誰かが首をくくった」との知らせがあった。その者が首をくくった場所は、男が声をかけられた場所と同じだった。,,。どうだっただろうか。これが縊鬼の伝承だ。つまり、縊鬼とは 「ある特定の場所に居て、通りかかった人に憑いて首をくくらせ、自殺させてしまう亡者の妖怪」だ。
きっと、伝承で最後に首をくくった者は、縊鬼が最初に憑いた男が皆に引き止められ首をくくらせられず、業を煮やし他の者に取り憑き首をくくらせたのだろう。この現代に「金棒を振るい暴れる赤鬼」は居ないが、「元気だった人がいきなり様子がおかしくなり、首を吊り自殺してしまった」という事はある。もしかしたら、現代社会において1番恐ろしい妖怪は「縊鬼」なのかもしれない。死骸の怨念から生まれた大妖怪 餓者髑髏。。画像引用元： 。巨大な骸の姿をした大きな妖怪。
なんとこの妖怪、戦死者や餓死した者、その他の「幸せな最期を迎えられなかった人達」の負の感情と骸骨が集まり、巨大な一つの骸骨の姿になったのだ。餓者髑髏は、夜中にガチガチ、と骨を鳴らしながら彷徨い歩き、生きている人間を見つけるとなんとその巨体で襲いかかり、握り潰し、食い殺してしまう。なんとも恐ろしい妖怪だ。しかしこの餓者髑髏、誕生したのが創作物として1960年に書籍に登場した時であり、民間伝承由来の妖怪とは違い、長い歴史も古くからの伝承もない。
しかし、そんな餓者髑髏だが、「死者の怨念よ死体によって生まれ、夜な夜な彷徨い人を襲う」という面白い設定と後の創作物(現代のゲーム、漫画、アニメ等)による知名度から、餓者髑髏は恐ろしく、かつ魅力的な皆から愛される立派な妖怪だと言えるだろう。皆が知ってるのとは違うかも 一反木綿。。画像引用元： 。オカルトが好きで「一反木綿」を知らない、という人はいないだろう。「ゲゲゲの鬼太郎」では「危険を顧みず主人公を助けてくれる、九州弁を使う頼れる相棒」として視聴者に親しまれてきた。
しかし、伝承上での「一反木綿」は、そんな優しいものではなさそうだ。姿は全長10m程の白い反物のようであったり、反物が何枚も集まり丸まっているようであったりと地域によって異なるようだ。そしてなんとこの妖怪、夕方～日没にかけて人里に出没し、空から人を襲うのだ。襲う手段も「長い体を巻き付け、首を絞めて殺す」という残酷で恐ろしいものである。あの一反木綿が人を襲い殺す恐ろしい妖怪だというのは意外だと感じる方も多いだろう、筆者もかなりのショックを受けた。
しかしこの妖怪、夕方という妖怪にしては比較的早い時間から活動しており、しかも空から長い体を利用して殺しにかかってくるのだから、かなり厄介な妖怪だと言えるだろう。夕方外を歩いているだけで空からこんな妖怪が襲いかかってきたらと考えると、たまったものでは無い。こんな一反木綿ではあるが、こいつの正体は 「親が子供に遅くまで遊んで来ないように、一反木綿の話をして怖がらせていた」という説が主流である。確かに「夕方から活動する妖怪」は珍しく、この記事で語った一反木綿の伝承は子供を怖がらせるのにかなりの効果がありそうだ。
だがしかし、この主流の説がある中で「襲いかかってきた一反木綿を刀で斬りつけて撃退し、居なくなった所で手元を見ると刀と手に血が付いていた」という伝承もあるのだ。この伝承が事実であれば、一反木綿は今で言うUMA(未確認生物)として存在していた、という事になる。「伝承上の生き物が実在しており、既に絶滅した、或いは現在もどこか人間に見つからない場所で生きているかもしれない」という説になるが、なんと面白く、ロマンがある説なんだろうか… という風に、様々な伝承、考察がある一反木綿だが、とりあえず魅力的であり、絶対に実際に遭遇したくない妖怪であることは変わりないだろう。
まとめ。どうだっただろうか？近年では妖怪は可愛らしく、マスコット的キャラクターとして描写されるこが多い。それを批判するつもりは一切ないが、この3種のように恐ろしく絶対に出会いたくないと思わせてくる妖怪がいる事を知って頂けたなら幸いだ。他の妖怪記事については↓。【現実】メジャーな妖怪の実態 。アマビエだけじゃない！人を助けてくれる妖怪三選 。あまりにもしょぼい妖怪【三選】
