A spectral creature depicted in Edo-period yokai picture scrolls. It wears garments, spreads its forelegs wide, and has a horse’s face with bulging, upward-thrust eyes and cloven deer-like hooves. Identical images appear in late-18th-century works such as the Hyakumonogatari Kae Emaki, Oda Gyochō’s Night Parade of One Hundred Demons, and Bakemono-zukushi emaki. No period captions explain its behavior or origin. The imagery likely plays on the word baka (“fool”), but its function—harmful or helpful—remains unknown in the sources.
Folklore & Legends
Examples are limited to illustrated scrolls; there are no oral tales or local legends. As with many Night Parade scrolls, it appears only as a figure in the procession, with name and appearance paired but no story. Later commentators sometimes claim it possesses people and makes them act foolishly, but early modern sources do not mention this, and no traditional basis is confirmed. Its actual behavior is therefore unknown.
Yokai Cards3
Umashika (Horse-Deer Yokai) across multiple art-style decks
A version that preserves only the appearance seen in early modern picture scrolls. Key features are a horse-like face, cloven deer-like hooves, upturned eyeballs, clothing, and a stance with both forelegs braced. No behavior or abilities are recorded. The name is understood as a visual pun on the written word for “baka” (fool), and any allegory remains speculative. Later embellishments are avoided here; description is confined to the iconography.
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 Emaki-Conforming. The higher the value of each item, the stronger that characteristic is expressed.
Meet your guardian yokai at the shrine
Draw an omikuji fortune and discover the yokai watching over you today.
