A yokai depicted by Toriyama Sekien in Konjaku Gazu Zoku Hyakki, said to preside over clear weather. It appears on sunny days and not in the rain. Beyond Sekien’s notes, verified folk reports are scarce and oral traditions remain uncertain. Scholars have linked it to teru-teru bōzu, but no definitive source confirms this origin. Its name is discussed in relation to regional weather-prayer terms like “hiyori-bōzu.”
Folklore & Legends
Illustrations and captions place it in the mountains of old Hitachi, bringing fair weather. In western Japan, weather-prayer dolls are sometimes called hiyori-bōzu, and texts record terms like hiyori-bō and “prayer-for-clear-skies monk,” connecting it to weather rites. Some see echoes of shaved-headed dolls used in rain or sun rituals, or memories of monks and ascetics who performed weather divination and clear-weather prayers. However, no distinct local folktale type has been firmly identified.
Yokai Cards2
Hiyori-bō (Fair-Weather Monk) across multiple art-style decks
An interpretation based on Toriyama Sekien’s image in Konjaku Gazu Zoku Hyakki of a yokai that governs fair weather. Said to be sighted in the mountains during sunny days and absent when it rains. Historical field lore is scant; the figure seems to layer folk weather prayers (teru-teru-bōzu, hiyori-bōzu) and the image of weather-working ascetics or monks onto a yokai form. Identification with Chinese drought deities is a modern scholarly view without direct evidence. Thus its form is told as a simple monk-like silhouette, a symbolic bearer of prayer for clear skies and the act of watching for good weather.
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 Sekien’s Illustrated Edition: Hiyori-bō. The higher the value of each item, the stronger that characteristic is expressed.
Meet your guardian yokai at the shrine
Draw an omikuji fortune and discover the yokai watching over you today.
