Drawing on the Konjaku Monogatari-shū, later scholarship calls it “Ita-oni” (Board Ogre). The entity is either a board itself or a phenomenon dwelling in a board, taking a plank-like form that juts from roof beams or lattices. Its motive and will are unstated, but its core act is crushing sleepers to death. In Heian court and aristocratic residences, night watch and gate duty were crucial, and tales of the uncanny often served to reinforce discipline. Here too, it bypasses two armed men and strikes a defenseless sleeping place, embodying the ethic that negligence invites death. While it aligns with the idea of spirits inhabiting objects, it lacks tales of aging into autonomy or growth, and is told as a transient manifestation of a specific board appearing to suit the scene. There are no records of pursuit or capture, and it appears and vanishes swiftly without leaving traces.
Character Profile
This section is our own creative profile for storytelling. It is not historical fact or scholarship.
Yokai Type - Traditional Yokai
Category - Household Spirits
Rarity - Uncommon
Personality - emotionless, relentless
Compatibility - understood to avoid those who stay alert and never set aside their arms
Abilities - extends and contracts its board-like body, infiltrates lattices and gaps, crushes with strong pressure, appears and disappears quickly without leaving traces
Weaknesses - tends to avoid armed individuals, maintaining lights and vigilance is said to reduce encounters
Habitat - roof beams and latticework of the imperial court and aristocratic estates, guard posts and sleeping quarters
🔮Yokai Compatibility Test
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