Suwa Shrine (Aizu)すわじんじゃ

In early modern tales, the Vermilion Tray is depicted as a red-faced monk-like figure, appearing as an accomplice of the Long-Tongued Crone or showing its visage alone, reappearing to unnerve and harm people. The name varies between “Watcher of Necks” and “Vermilion Tray,” commonly read as Shunoban. Classic illustrations and yokai prints note a red face, horns, a split mouth, and a fiery aura, though details differ by source. Encounters occur mainly at night at shrine gates, in wastelands, and in tumbledown shacks, and the harm is told as loss of spirit leading to fainting, lingering illness, or death. Reports span regions such as Aizu and Echigo, not as a fixed local deity but as a circulating tale-type of the uncanny.