MaikubiThe Three Maikubi Locked in Battle off Manazuru

Ehon Hyaku Monogatari presents Maikubi as the vengeful heads haunting the sea off Manazuru. Although the warriors have been beheaded, their hatred survives: the three heads keep biting one another and breathe fire from their mouths. The book preserves two explanations for their deaths. One begins with a quarrel and sword fight during a festival; the other says that several men were executed for gambling. In either account, the heads move by themselves, dance over the water, and create whirlpools and ghost lights. Their circling is also tied to the place-name Tomoe-ga-fuchi. Later kibyōshi picture books and yomihon novels reused similar images of three linked heads in flight. As a coastal ghost story, Maikubi preserves fear of the severed head and of the grudge left by private violence, while also warning of the real danger around deep water and rocky shores.

This yokai is included in the following collections:

Japanese Sea Yokai｜Apparitions of Ships, Shores, and the Deep

Explore Japanese sea yokai including Umibōzu, Funayūrei, Iso-onna, Nure-onna, Shiranui, Amabie, Bake-kujira, and Isonade through place and folklore.

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