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Kera-kera Woman(keh-rah KEH-rah OHN-nah)

Basic Description

A female yokai depicted by the Edo-period artist Toriyama Sekien in Konjaku Hyakki Shūi. She peers over a wall with her mouth agape, cackling kera-kera to bewilder passersby. Sekien alludes to a Chinese anecdote by Song Yu, likening her to the spirit of a woman whose coquettish laughter unsettled hearts. No specific locale or backstory is given; later tradition remembers her as a eerie, laughing apparition.

Folklore & Legends

Printed books and picture booklets show a large female face peeking over a wall, laughing kera-kera—evidence that the laughing woman motif circulated even before Sekien. Postwar notes claim her laughter reaches only a lone traveler on a quiet road; the faint of heart may collapse. Tosa’s “Laughing Woman” is often cited as a parallel, using laughter to frighten people.

Yokai Cards1

Kera-kera Woman across multiple art-style decks

Card gallery

Detailed Analysis

This entry centers on Toriyama Sekien’s imagery, supplemented only minimally by the popular explanations found in modern yokai handbooks. Citing the anecdote of Song Yu of Chu, Sekien likened a woman laughing alluringly over a wall to the spirit of a wanton. The plate itself does not detail temperament, degree of harm, or methods of dispelling, offering only form and associative origin. Later commentators emphasize a dry laugh heard by one person alone on an empty road, framing it as a psychological apparition that provokes fear, shame, and unease. Tangible harm is rarely noted, sometimes limited to shock, freezing in place, or fainting. Its hauntings are not tied to a specific region, and are imagined wherever sightlines are blocked—along city walls, crossroads, or over hedges—though sources are not cited. Accordingly, this version keeps Sekien’s visual prompt at its core, treating confusion by laughter as an ancillary function.

Character Profile

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

Rarity
Rare
Personality
teases and confounds people, persistence unknown
Compatibility
bad with solitary travelers, bad with those vulnerable on night roads
Abilities
intimidation by sudden cacklinga laugh said to reach only a chosen personappearing over walls and hedges
Weaknesses
unknown, said to appear less where many eyes are present
Habitat
city wall-sides, crossroads and narrow lanes, unknown

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