Betobeto-sanThe Footsteps Echoing on the Night Road

In this version, we interpret Betobeto-san as an "invisible companion of footsteps." While there are many unseen yokai, it is rare to find one like Betobeto-san that is established solely by the sense of distance in sound. The footsteps seem to be right behind you, yet they never catch up. Turn around, and they vanish; start walking, and they begin again. Through this repetition, the walker is forced to harbor the unshakable sensation that "I am not alone," a feeling they can neither prove nor deny[1].

It is crucial that the stage for this yokai is the "road." A mysterious sound inside a house would be a phantom of the parlor or ceiling, but Betobeto-san clings to the body in transit. On a night road, a person has no choice but to move forward; they cannot continuously check behind them. When footsteps occur in this context, fear is locked just outside the field of vision. Because the sound from behind approaches from the place the human body finds hardest to verify, it generates a far more sustained anxiety than a yokai with a physical form.

The phrase "Please go ahead" (Osaki e okoshi) is the central etiquette of this version. Betobeto-san is not exterminated, but rather given a turn to pass[2]. This concept reflects a folkloric attitude of treating the yokai not as an enemy, but as a fellow traveler encountered on the road. By calling out, the invisible footsteps transform from a threat behind into a companion walking ahead. Changing the position of the fear is the best way to handle this anomaly.

Shigeru Mizuki's iconography converted a formless sound into an approachable yokai. The figure resembling a small shadow wearing a hat was easy even for children to remember, popularizing Betobeto-san as a character[3]. However, in this version, the focus is placed heavily on sound rather than imagery. If seeing a round figure puts one at ease, then half of Betobeto-san's original power is lost. Precisely because it is unseen, it expands and contracts within the imagination of the listener.

Despite being a yokai of little harm, Betobeto-san alters the very nature of solitary walking. On a path that should be empty, another rhythm that mimics one's own stride overlaps. Ignore the sound, and it stays behind; acknowledge it and yield, and it moves ahead. In other words, this anomaly teaches the minimum folkloric manners required to walk a road alongside the unseen.

In this version, the footsteps are read not only as the "presence of an other," but also as the "echo of one's own anxiety." Betobeto-san's sound appears to come from the outside, yet it syncs perfectly with one's own walking. If it were completely an other, the distance should fluctuate, but because it continues at exactly the same interval, the listener cannot separate the external anomaly from their internal unease.

Therefore, the phrase "Please go ahead" is simultaneously a greeting directed at an external yokai and a physical gesture of sending one's own anxiety forward. By shifting what is stuck to one's back to the front, a person is finally able to keep walking. Betobeto-san is not a monster to be slain, but a yokai that realigns the physical and mental rhythm of the walker.

What remains at the end of this version is the small ethic of yielding the road. Rather than forcefully pushing forward while ignoring the unseen, one offers a brief word to the presence that might be there. Betobeto-san seems like a weak anomaly, but it serves as a reminder that humans do not monopolize the dark roads.