Three-Eyed, Eight-Faced - Yokai Encyclopedia

Basic Description

Three-Eyed, Eight-Faced is a monstrous entity said to dwell on Saruyama in old Tosa. True to its name, it had three eyes and eight faces. It attacked travelers headed toward the forest hamlet and devoured them. Its exact appearance is unknown, but its charred corpse was so enormous it was said to sprawl across the neighboring village. Local lore ties the site to mountain-pacifying rites, remembered in place-names like “Shizume Stone” and “Shizume Site.”

Folklore & Legends

A man called Shimen Dayu, said to be the younger brother of Mizuno Wakasa-no-kami, a powerful lord of Tosayama, set up purification gohei and put Saruyama to the torch. Three-Eyed, Eight-Faced rampaged within the flames and finally burned to death. After the conflagration, only the gohei remained, and the place was revered thereafter as a sacred site for calming the mountain. The creature’s body was so vast it was said to stretch into the next village. Some note parallels to Tosa tales of multi-headed giant serpents, though details remain unclear.

Yokai Cards1

Three-Eyed, Eight-Faced across multiple art-style decks

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Apparitions with Grotesque Gazes

Yokai of Eyes

Yokai characterized by countless or grotesque eyes. The Dodomeki with a hundred bird-like eyes sprouting on her arms, the Tenome with eyes opening on its palms, the Mokumokuren swarming on old sliding doors, and the one-eyed Hitotsume-kozo—a grotesque lineage born from the primal fear of being watched.

Dodomeki

Hyakume (Hundred-Eyed Demon)

Three-Eyed, Eight-Faced

Eye Standoff

Borrowed Sieve Hag

Detailed Analysis

This version organizes the Saramiyama monster tale preserved around Takagawa in Tosayama Village, Tosa Province. Aside from the aberrant traits of three eyes and eight faces, its appearance is left undescribed, with only the enormity of its remains emphasized. Cast as a mountain demon that attacks passersby, the tale centers on pacifying the mountain and slaying it with fire under the leadership of a local notable. A ritual wand (gohei) is said to have endured amid the blaze, leaving traces in toponyms and legendary sites known as the Pacifying Stone and Pacifying Place. While linked by association to regional stories of multi-headed serpents, it is not directly identified with them, and the true nature of the three-eyed, eight-faced being remains unknown. The story conveys taboos against crossing mountain boundaries and the folk theme of calming with fire and purification, though details such as dates, identities, and specific rites are unclear in tradition.

Character Profile

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

Yokai Type: Traditional Yokai
Category: Half-Human Beings
Rarity: Uncommon
Personality: ferocious, relentless
Compatibility: hostile to those who ravage the mountains, warns those who fear the mountain’s curse
Abilities: ambush and assault in the mountainskeen sight that pierces darkness attributed to its three eyescrushing and constricting with a powerful giant body
Weaknesses: incineration by raging fire, pacification rites using a gohei purification wand
Habitat: around Saramiyama in Tosa Province, mountain ravines, between forest trees

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Yokai Compatibility Test

The diagram below is a diagnostic evaluation chart for Tradition-Concordant Version: The Tosa Saramiyama Tale. The higher the value of each item, the stronger that characteristic is expressed.

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