A long time ago on Mt. Sadato, there was a monster (kara-kasa or bura-bura) with one eye and one leg. A hunter named Hataya-no-Nui went and killed it. At that time, there was a dense wood on one side of the mountain. Later, when mining became prosperous, the trees were nearly all cut down and used to fire the mine furnaces. (160-96)
The yama-otoko (mountain man) is one of the most feared quasi-humans among the hermit-like mountain people. They spirit children and women away into the depths of the mountains and prey on travelers and hunters coming from the settled farming communities. Mountain men lurk on lonely mountain passes and in remote mountain valleys. Other quasi-humans are yama-bito (mountain people) and yama-onna (mountain women).
The men in the Ishida family of Yamaguchi all had wild-looking hair and glaring eyes. They seemed like mountain men (yama-otoko). Once during the summer season, when hunting was prohibited, they went fishing in the river. At all other times they spent their days hunting. This family originally had considerable wealth and even had farmland and rice fields, but because they didn’t like farming, their fields fell into disrepair. Since they couldn’t manage the property, they sold it off. They are now the poorest people in the village. Their house has been transferred to others, and they live in a small house that they built at the base of a hill. They live off of small birds that they kill with their homemade bows and arrows. The second son has his own family, but he doesn’t farm either. He also just hunts. (161-108)
The ghost called norikoshi (or mikoshi-nyudo) is a large Japanese monster (yokai). It looks like a shadow figure resembling a Buddhist priest with a long neck. It appears on paths at night, on bridges, and above trees.
At first norikoshi looks like a small Buddhist monk–like figure with a shaven head. Since the image is not distinct, you have to bend over and look carefully. Then if you look up, it grows larger and larger as your gaze rises. Because of this, when norikoshi appears, you should always look at the head first and then move your eyes down until it shrinks and disappears.
The following happened when Gonzo, an apprentice blacksmith from Tsuchibuchi village, was going to visit his master blacksmith. He was on his way back from somewhere late at night, and as he approached the house he could see the master’s wife had the light on bright and she was sewing inside. A man seemed to be peeping into the house through a crack in the sliding doors. Wondering who it was, Gonzo got closer. The man gradually drew back into the corner of the roof and then suddenly grew taller and taller until he was higher than the roof. Then he disappeared into the dark. (162-170)
Gonzo was a pro at river fishing. In the summer, when he was not in the mood for blacksmithing, he became absorbed with fishing. One time, when he went fishing for river trout (iwana), he caught enough fish to fill a bamboo basket.
He was returning on a mountain road when he came to a stone marker designating the entrance to the village. There was a small Buddhist monk–like ghost figure with a shaven head standing in the grass. Wondering who it might be, he looked, and the figure became larger and larger, becoming a huge monster (norikoshi) seeming to penetrate the clouds. Shocked, Gonzo is said to have run all the way home. (163-171)
According to Tetsuzo of Tsuchibuchi village, there are many strange things that happen in the Taimagura Pond across from Oguni village on Mt. Hayachine. A man from Shimomura went fishing for iwana and came across a red-faced old man (tengu) and a young girl in the shadow of a rocky cavern deep in the mountains. They were dressed rather strangely. In the Taimagura area, there are several spots where there were ancient rock dwellings on both sides of a stream. The dwellings were almost circular, only about three meters wide, and the open entrance was one meter high. It is said that at one time people lived there. Even now, it seems that someone is there. Tetsuzo, who told this story, says that if he listens carefully while he is fishing, he can hear a cock crow nearby. This story is from about ten years ago. (164-121)
There was a man who came to Yamada Bay in Shimohei from Sekiguchi valley to buy things on market days. His face was hairy, and the color of his eyes was unusual. The locals doubted that he was a normal human being, so they killed him and then buried him on the “larger island” in Yamada Bay. Killing him was one thing, but since then the number of fish being caught in the bay has declined.
The larger island in Yamada Bay was also known as the “Dutch Island” because the Dutch ship, the Breskens, landed there on June 10, 1643, in search of food and water supplies. The ship’s crew was welcomed by the people of Yamada, but on July 28, the crew was arrested and taken to the military shogun, Tokugawa Iemitsu, in the national capital of Edo. The Dutch were imprisoned for four months. Around this time, European ships came to the area in search of Japanese gold mines.
This story was told by old man Tora of Tsuchibuchi village, who, when he was young, would transport packhorses over to Yamada. (165-107)
There was a hunter named Kikuchi Eisaku from Wano in Tochinai. He spent a day hunting in the mountains of Oide near Mt. Hayachine. He was relying on the soft evening light coming through the trees to find his way to a small hut when, all of a sudden, he came upon another man. The man’s round eyes glared defensively as he passed. Thinking it strange, the hunter asked him where he was going. The man replied that he was going to a hut in the pastureland. The man pushed aside the dense brush and scurried off.
Sasaki Kizen was a friend of this hunter, and the story was heard directly from him. It was unlikely that there would be anyone in the hut in the pasture in winter. It was also hard to discern the man’s features in the dim evening light, but he wore a fairly common tight-sleeved, rough linen coat and had a bag-like object made from wisteria vines hanging from his shoulder. He was about two meters tall and about the same age as the hunter. This was in the winter of 1913. At that time, the hunter was a youthful twenty-five or twenty-six years old. (166-106)
This story is from around 1920. A child from Komaki in Matsuzaki village encountered a large man on Mt. Nishinai. It was just past noon one day during September or October when people gather bush clover (hagi) to be used as feed for their horses. The child peeked out from behind the bushes and saw a large man wearing a common tight-sleeved, rough cotton coat. He had a bag-like object made from wisteria vines hanging from his shoulder, and the bag had a number of snakes squirming around inside. Frightened, the child crouched down in the bushes, and the man passed right in front of him in great haste. Feeling relieved that he was alive, he took off running back to the village. I heard this story from some young people one night in January when children play New Year’s games. (167-105)
The wife of a cloth dyer in Shinmachi went to see how her sick relative in Shimokumi-cho was feeling. Around nine o’clock in the evening, she came to the corner of Shimoyoko-cho, and there was a priest-like monster (dainyudo) about three meters tall standing there. Terrified, she ran off, chased by the monster flapping its coat sleeves like wings to frighten her.
When she got to the front of the Ayabun house in Muika-machi, completely out of breath from running, she noticed that the sound of the flapping sleeves had stopped. She thought she was safe and turned around to take a look. The monster was standing directly behind her and was taller than the three-story roof on the Ayabun house. She took off running again with all her might until she got to her relative’s house. Having run so hard, her legs swelled, never to return to normal. This story is from the 1870s. (168-172)
A man from Noda in Johoji village was on the way to the mountains one day when he happened to hook up with a large man. The large man asked him several times, “What are you carrying in your backpack?” He knew the large man could smell the rice cakes he had brought along for lunch, so he answered, “I have rice cakes.” The big man said, “How about sharing them with me?” He was very pleased that the man shared his rice cakes and asked if his rice fields had been tilled for this year’s planting.
The farmer answered that no, the soil in his field
s still had to be turned over and tilled. The big man said that he would till the farmer’s fields on a specified day and month, if the man would set out a clawed hoe for turning over the soil and a nice pile of rice cakes. He told him to leave these items on the raised footpath between his rice fields. Grateful that the big man had offered to till the fields, the farmer accepted the offer.
On the designated date, the man put out the rice cakes along with a hoe. Early the next morning, he got up and looked outside. The hoe was in its original location and the rice cakes were gone. The fields had been well tilled, but the entire area had been leveled. The raised footpath walls that separated the fields into different sizes and helped to retain the water in the fields were gone. The big man obviously didn’t know much about rice cultivation.
After this, the two men met often. They became friends, and whenever the farmer went into the mountains, he would take along rice cakes. The big man often said that he was a very good person, but his wife was no good, and he told the man to try and not be seen by her. These events seem to have taken place some seventy years ago. (169-101)
Linden (basswood) tree bark is used in a variety of ways: its strong fibers are used for making rope, baskets, and even clothing. The wood is good, and the tree’s berries and flowers have medicinal value. A man in Aozasa village went to Mt. Rokkoushi and was stripping the bark off of a tall linden tree when someone called to him from behind. Surprised, he turned to look, and there was a man over two meters tall standing there. He wasn’t a tengu. The man was watching as if the bark was being taken from one of his very own trees. The tall man asked what he was going to do with the bark.
Frightened, the man told him how the bark could be used. “If that is the case,” the tall man said, “I should peel off the bark as well.” So he pushed over the linden trees and stripped the bark with the same ease that a regular person would have bending a blade of grass. Very quickly, they had enough bark. Then the tall man pointed to some rice cakes the man was heating up on the fire off to the side and asked if he could have some. The man nodded, and without hesitation, the big man ate them all. Then he said, “They were good! Are you going to come here again next year at the same time? If so, I’ll come too and help you. And remember to bring rice cakes again.”
The man, still apprehensive about what might happen, replied, “I am not coming next year.” The big man said, “In that case, I will give you a specific day and month to prepare a good-sized pile of rice cakes and you put them in your garden. If you do that, I will bring you a year’s supply of linden bark.” Then he left. The next year, on the designated day, the man made rice cakes and put them in his garden. Late at night, he heard a large thud sound. The next morning when he got up and looked, he found two horse loads of linden tree bark. The rice cakes were gone. This story goes back to something that happened two generations ago. When the current head of the household was young, the linden bark was still being delivered on the designated day each year. They don’t know why, but for the last thirty years, even though they put out rice cakes, no tree bark is ever delivered. (170-100)
Deep in the mountains of Tochinai, at the entrance to the community of Kotohata, there is a hill called Jizobata (Jizo Point). The shrine to the deity Jizo has been there for a long time. Jizo Bosatsu, who works to ease suffering, is one of the most beloved of all Japanese Buddhist divinities.
A hunter who was a descendant of the Omukai family went into the mountains one day. There was no game to hunt and, on his way home, he decided that the reason there was no game was because of this Jizo in his village. He shot the Jizo in the foot with his rifle, making it lame.
The Jizo flew off to Kyoto City in the south and is now in a Buddhist temple there. A villager, after a pilgrimage to nearby Ise Shrine, went to Kyoto to visit the temple where the Jizo had gone. He said that he just wanted to visit the Jizo and then go home. It is said he heard loud footsteps.
Now the shrine at Jizobata has been rebuilt to face north. The reason for this is not clear, but it is said that it faces north so that the southern direction toward Kyoto cannot be seen. (171-49)
A few years ago, a hunter named Akasupa from Kuribashi village was caught in a rainstorm on Mt. Shiromi. Because the fog was so thick, he couldn’t come down from the mountain, so he passed the night resting against the base of a tree. In the morning it stopped raining. Ready to leave, he took a few steps and suddenly fell into a very deep valley.
In the valley, he saw a woman with wild hair who was coming toward him. Her clothes were tattered and torn, and her feet were bare, but she was clearly a human being. He aimed his gun at her, but she merely laughed. While he was aiming and re-aiming to shoot her, she flew off deep into the valley and disappeared. Later, he heard that she was probably the mad woman from Oguni village who had left home four or five years ago. People said that she had probably gone off to Mt. Shiromi. They were not sure that the woman he met was the same mad woman. (172-111)
A hunter in Sotokawame village of Hienuki also came across a woman. He got close, intending to shoot her with his rifle, but suddenly his hands and feet became numb and he couldn’t speak. He was frozen in place as the woman went off smiling with a broad grin. After this, he became seriously ill. If people from Ayaori or Miyamori ever saw the woman, they would become sick or die. It was said that only the old man from Miyamori who grappled with her had no serious problems. (173-114)
A seventeen-year-old youth from Ayaori village recently went to enjoy himself on Mt. Futago, and he saw a strange-looking creature climbing a tree. When he got home, he told the others what he had seen. It is said he died soon after. (174-165)
It is well known that at night a woman can be seen combing her hair in front of the second-story alcove in the Okuda house of Shinmachi. A person named Ryokawa, doubting that there could be such a thing, went one evening to see for himself. Sure enough, just as in the rumor, a strange woman was combing her hair. When she glanced at him, her face was indescribably ugly. This story is from the Meiji period (1868–1912). (175-92)
A man was on a mountain road from Masuzawa village to Taninai in Hienuki when he saw the straw sandals that a mountain man (yama-otoko) had taken off. They were made from bamboo grass and were almost two meters long, which is unusually large. In the bushes off to the side, a large red-faced man was sound asleep. This happened during the early years of the Taisho era (1912–1926). The person who saw this was about fifty years of age. (176-104)
Toward the end of the Meiji era (around 1908–1912), a retired soldier named Onara Kosuke went to gather grasses on Mt. Rokkoushi. He went deep into an unknown valley where he noticed laundered clothes drying on the branches of the trees. Curious, he went to look, and a large man came out. The man quickly gathered up the clothes and disappeared into the valley. This story was heard directly from the person who experienced it. (177-102)
He is old now, but when he was middle-aged, Takamuro Kannosuke of Hiishi in Yamaguchi had an unusual experience while transporting goods along the coast. One day, when he was hauling fish on the way back from Otsuchi fishing village, he came to a high spot above the valley called Yama-otoshiba (Mountain Falls). He looked down into the valley and saw straw mats spread out drying in a narrow flat area. He thought it was unusual, so he left his horse at the top of the valley and went down to take a look. But before he got there, someone had gathered everything up, and not one straw mat remained. This old man died toward the end of the Meiji era (1908–1912) at age eighty-three. This story was heard from the man’s grandchild. (178-103)
The old hunter Masakichi lives in Tono now. When he was thirty-five or thirty-six years old, he climbed on some rocks at Koatsuraku in Kotohata and blew a deer call. Suddenly, something knocked him over from behind. For a bit, he couldn’t breathe and just lay on the ground unable to move his body.
He finally crawled back to the hut where the other hunters were. At that time, an older person told him that hunters h
ad this type of encounter from time to time. He strongly warned him not to tell anyone about his experience. It is said that from olden times, mountain men and mountain women often used the walking path in this area. (179-120)
Religious pilgrims from Miyamori village recently climbed Mt. Hayachine from the Tsukumoushi trailhead. At Ryugababa (dragon riding grounds) at the top, they saw six or seven big men (wind deities), who passed from south to north, carrying large sacks of wind. It was getting dark by the time these pilgrims were returning, and they became confused about which way to go on the road. Then something shining brightly flew ahead of them, lighting the way. They were able to get down to Karabobo, the spot where pilgrims purify themselves before they climb a sacred mountain. By then, the moon had come up, and the path was well lit. The thing that had been shining brightly just disappeared. (180-166)
There was a man named Maekawa Kanemon from Unosaki who was over thirty years old. It was around 1910 when he went to Yama-otoshiba to gather hardy kaya grass used as roof thatch. He was spending the night in a hut he had set up when he heard the voice of an old person coming directly from behind the hut. It is said the voice laughed “ha-ha-ha” very loudly two times. The man is also said to have seen a ball of red female hair like the one that had been dropped on Mt. Shiromi. Female hair is said to have spiritual power and is treasured by hunters. It is said that hunters often see this kind of dropped hair. (181-116)
Folk Legends From Tono: Japan's Spirits, Deities, and Phantastic Creatures Page 9