A baseline profile of Shidaidaka as a roadside, look-up-type apparition recorded across the Chugoku region. It resembles a human silhouette with head and shoulders dissolving into darkness, and its height stretches or shrinks in response to one’s gaze. Harmfulness varies by tale, but fear intensifies through the act of looking up. Countermeasures include keeping your gaze lowered, watching the ground, or peering between your legs, which causes the figure to diminish and dissipate. It is linked to the Mikoshi-nyudo, and tales of the similarly named “Shidai-zaka” are viewed as slope or mountain-path variants. Hunter stories connect it with the nekomata, and identifications differ by locale. Creative embellishments are common, but the core taboo warns that one’s gaze amplifies the phenomenon.
Character Profile
This section is our own creative profile for storytelling. It is not historical fact or scholarship.
Yokai Type - Traditional Yokai
Category - Mountain & Wilderness Spirits
Rarity - Uncommon
Personality - often silent, often emotionless
Compatibility - appears to curious travelers, appears to those walking at night
Abilities - height expands or contracts in response to the gaze, blocks the path to intimidate travelers, appears at night as a humanoid shadow
Weaknesses - a downward or overlooking gaze, peering between the legs, avoiding eye contact
Habitat - mountain paths and passes, roads on the village outskirts, slope-legend sites around Mount Sanbe
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