YOKAI.JP

Byōbu-Nozoki (Screen-Peeker)

BYOH-boo no-ZOH-kee

Byōbu-Nozoki (Screen-Peeker)

Byōbu-Nozoki (Screen-Peeker)

Their soul is listening — speak, and they will answer.

Basic Description

A yokai illustrated by Edo-period artist Toriyama Sekien in Konjaku Hyakki Shūi. It is said to spy on human affairs from behind a folding screen (byōbu), peeking even over a seven-shaku-tall screen. Some regard it as a visual invention drawing on Chinese classical anecdotes, while others interpret it as a tsukumogami—an aged screen that transformed after long years of witnessing bedroom secrets. It lacks strong place-based lore, with its identity largely defined by pictorial sources.

Folklore & Legends

Known from Sekien’s image and note as a creature that peers over folding screens. Later kaidan collections tell of a gaunt woman peering from behind a screen on a wedding night; removing the screen ends the haunting. The evidence suggests the prototype is artistic in origin, while regional oral tales are later retellings and compilations that reinforced the link between screens and voyeuristic hauntings.

Maya Calendar Guardian KINs

Displaying the Maya calendar KINs that Byōbu-Nozoki (Screen-Peeker) protects.

Detailed Analysis

Character Profile

This section is our own creative profile for storytelling. It is not historical fact or scholarship.

Rarity
Rare

For more detailed information and diagnosis results about 寝所覗きの屏風闚, please click here.

Interested in this type of yokai?

Discover the yokai most similar to your personality with our yokai diagnosis

Start Yokai Diagnosis

Meet your guardian yokai at the shrine

Draw an omikuji fortune and discover the yokai watching over you today.