Nadezatō (the “Smoothing” Blind Monk)（NAH-deh-zah-TOH）
Nadezatō (the “Smoothing” Blind Monk)
NAH-deh-zah-TOH
Nadezatō (the “Smoothing” Blind Monk)
NAH-deh-zah-TOH
Basic Description
Nadezatō appears only by name and image in the Hyakki Yagyō picture scroll held in the Matsui Collection in Yatsushiro, Kumamoto. No traits or origin are recorded. A similar figure in the Edo-period Hundred Yokai is labeled “Mugan” (“No-Eyes”), depicting a blind biwa-playing monk without eyes. The element nade (“to stroke, to rub”) has been linked to ritual implements used to transfer pollution, suggesting a notion of brushing off calamity or guilt onto something else, but no firm tradition survives.
Folklore & Legends
No oral traditions are known; references are limited to picture scrolls. In the Matsui Collection’s Hyakki Yagyō, only the name and image appear without notes, while the contemporaneous Hundred Yokai shows a blind, eyeless zatō. Later commentators connect the figure to images of blind performers and to impurity-transferring “nademono,” but there are no local haunting tales or appearance stories. It is regarded as a highly documentary, image-based yokai entry.
This version relies solely on images from picture scrolls with minimal notes. Nade-zato has a transmitted name and appearance, but the textual account is missing, so its nature and conduct cannot be fixed. The iconography shows a shaven-headed, blind masseur-like figure with eyes left undrawn; some depictions emphasize long fingers or claw-like hands. Related imagery includes an identical type titled “Mugan” (No-Eyes) in Edo-period Hyakki-zu, suggesting variant naming. Tada Katsumi notes that nade may connect to nademono, which transfers defilement by touch, and to an old byname for “cat,” hinting at a being that feigns meekness to hide its true nature; however, this is scholarly interpretation, not a firm local tradition. Accordingly, abilities, weaknesses, and habits are scarcely recorded and should be treated as unknown.
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 Iconography-Based Version. The higher the value of each item, the stronger that characteristic is expressed.
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