Ushirogami (The Back-Hair Spirit)Iconographic and Literary Tradition Type

A type shaped by Edo-period print culture, centered on Sekien’s imagery and the psychologized readings in kyoka verse. Rather than a concrete monster, it personifies the feeling of being held back by a tug at one’s trailing hair, dulling decisions through interference from behind. Mizuki Shigeru cites tales from the Tsuyama area that give it a corporeal aspect—ruffling a woman’s hair, breathing hot air—but in all cases it touches from behind and stirs hesitation. It is often grouped with hesitation-inducing yokai such as Okubyogami, Sodehiki-kozō, and Furifuri. Though there are notes of it being enshrined in Ise, specific rites are unknown, and it appears mainly in moral and didactic contexts. Stories survive in both urban and local settings, yet no clear lineage of deity name or object is shown, with wordplay and the concretization of psychology driving its transmission.

This yokai is included in the following collections:

Konjaku Hyakki Shūi (Later Gleanings of a Hundred Ghosts)

A 1781 yokai picture book by Toriyama Sekien in the Hyakki series, pairing each yokai with brief notes.

カスタム

今昔百鬼拾遺鳥山石燕

Displaying the Maya calendar KINs that Ushirogami (The Back-Hair Spirit) (Iconographic and Literary Tradition Type) protects.

Yokai with similar personality and characteristics to Iconographic and Literary Tradition Type

Kuro-bōzu (Black Monk)

Kuro-bōzu (Traditional Folk Variants)

92%

Compatibility

Hyakume (Hundred-Eyed Demon)

Iconographic Origin, Modern Interpretation

92%

Compatibility

Ayakashi

Ayakashi: Ghost Lights and Phantoms of the Western Seas

92%

Compatibility

Yokai with opposite personality and characteristics to Iconographic and Literary Tradition Type

Amaterasu-Omikami

Supreme Deity of Takamagahara

59%

Compatibility

Hotei

Incarnation of Maitreya, the Laughing Monk, Hotei

59%

Compatibility

Fudo Myo-o

The Wrathful Avatar of Dainichi Nyorai

60%

Compatibility