Trailing BoyTrailing Boy Monk (Tradition-Faithful)

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.

Yokai with similar personality and characteristics to Trailing Boy Monk (Tradition-Faithful)

Yuki-warashi (Snow Child)

Echigo Traditions Type Snow Child

90%

Compatibility

Goldfish Lantern

Modern Version

90%

Compatibility

Suzu-hiko-hime

Based on Sekien Toriyama Plates

90%

Compatibility

Yokai with opposite personality and characteristics to Trailing Boy Monk (Tradition-Faithful)

Demons of Tateyama Jigoku

Demonic Jailers of the Tateyama Mandala Hells

60%

Compatibility

Kanatsubute

Canon-Conforming (Traditional Lore)

60%

Compatibility

Giant Centipede

Giant Centipede (Mikami-yama Tradition)

61%

Compatibility