Kera-kera Woman

keh-rah KEH-rah OHN-nah

📖 Detailed Description

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.