The Gashadokuro is said to be a towering skeletal yokai that appears at night, formed from the grudges and bones of those who died unburied, by famine, or in war. It roams while clacking its teeth and is rumored to seize and crush the living. Direct citations in old folk sources are scarce; its modern image coalesced in mid-Showa children’s books and popular media. While giant skeleton imagery exists in Edo-period ukiyo-e, those works do not necessarily refer to the same yokai.