A type of mountain spirit from the eastern Tanzawa range. It appears as a child about four to ten—sometimes up to fifteen—wearing straw mats, homespun kasuri cloth, or animal pelts, and follows people in silence. When one turns around, it slips behind trees or rocks and vanishes, doing no harm. At times it even goes ahead to guide travelers. After dusk it is said to carry a small light like a lantern, which fades as it nears the village.
Folklore & Legends
In the mountains, people feel a presence behind them; when they turn, nothing is there, but as they walk, it pads along without a sound. Those who met it repeatedly would leave rice balls, potatoes, or dried persimmons on rocks or stumps. Elders say it appears most often in the early afternoon, and if encountered at night, it disappears when addressed. Because mountains were seen as close to the realm of the dead, some interpret it as the spirit of a deceased child seeking company.
A version organized from folklore materials of a child-shaped mountain spirit seen in the eastern Tanzawa mountains. Generally harmless, it simply follows quietly behind travelers, yet at times steps ahead at forks to guide them onto the right path. It wears rough straw matting or homespun, sometimes pelts, blending into the forest’s shadow and vanishing when one turns back. It is said to appear most often in the afternoon, and at night to carry a small light like a lantern. Those who meet it repeatedly often think of lost children and leave rice balls, yams, sweets, or dried persimmons on rocks or stumps as offerings. Some accounts say it fades away as one nears the villages, others that it withdraws when called to at night, and none describe it as vengeful. Rooted in overlapping ideas of mountains and the dead, it stands as a symbol of the boundary nature of the mountain realm.
Character Profile
This section is our own creative profile for storytelling. It is not historical fact or scholarship.
The diagram below is a diagnostic evaluation chart for Trailing Boy Monk (Tradition-Faithful). The higher the value of each item, the stronger that characteristic is expressed.
