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Ibaraki (former Shibaya-chō)いばらき・きゅうしばやちょう

1 yokai rooted in Ibaraki (former Shibaya-chō). Explore the legends tied to this land.

Also known as: 旧柴屋町 / 柴屋町 / Ibaraki Shibaya
  • Rokurokubi

    Rokurokubi

    Legendary

    Rokurokubi

    Rokurokubi in Early Modern Texts and Flying-Head Traditions

    Human-Yokai / Half-Human Half-YokaiThroughout Japan (early modern literature and regional records)

    Rokurokubi is a humanlike apparition that may have a neck stretching far while still joined to the body or a head that separates completely and flies. Its name appears in seventeenth-century haikai and ghost stories, but its form and character vary greatly by period and source: stories that feel like dreams to the sleeper, accounts explained through karma or curses, images linking head and body with a fine line, and the detached-head form depicted by Lafcadio Hearn. It is comparable to Chinese Luotou people and flying-head traditions, but cannot be explained through one direct origin alone.