laughing woman yokai

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- Yōkai 妖怪 Yokai monsters - - ABC-Index -
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- warai onna 笑い女 the laughing woman
sanboku no warai onna 山北の笑い女 from the Northern Mountain -
and two more Yokai from the Tosa region 3大妖魔 :

勝賀瀬の赤頭 the red head of Shogase
本山の白姥 the white old hag from Motoyama
- - - - - and more about
Tosa no Yokai 土佐の妖怪 The Yokai monsters of Tosa

Kochi Tosa 土佐 高知県 安芸郡和食村 Aki district, Wajiki
高知県香南市 Konan town and other regions

- quote
She is a special Yokai of the mountains of Tosa.
Her stories are told since the late Edo period until the early Meiji period.
She is mentioned in the book
Tosa Bakemono Ehon 土佐化物絵本 Picture Book of Yokai from Tosa.




Every month on the first, ninth and 17th day, if people went into the mountain forests, they came home more dead than alive.
- but once upon a time
a man called Higuchi 樋口関太夫 did not pay heed to this, told his men to follow him and went into the forest.　Suddenly a girl of about 17 or 18 years appeared, pointed at Higuchi with her finger and laughed loudly. Her laugh became higher and higher, and all things in the forest, the stoned, plants, the water and wind, all laughed loud.
Higuchi and his men were stuck with fear and run away back home. At the foot of the mountain his men all fainted, but Higuche made it to his home. But until his death he could never forget the laugh of this devilish situation.

A similar story has been told about
warai otoko 笑い男（わらいおとこ) the Laughing Man.
Here the hero is a young man and Higuchi could never forget his laugh, which sounded in his ear like the shot of a gun every time he remembered the situation.

In the village of 芸西村白髪 Shirege at タカサデ山 Mount Takasadeyama two old women went to pick 山菜 wild herbs in the mountain. A young woman showed up and started laughing. The two old ladies soon begun to laugh with her. When the young woman disappeared, they could not stop laughing and developed a high fever for a few days.

In 香南市 Konan town at the ruins of the Doi castle 土居城 the laughing woman was killed by a sword. In the compound there is a small Shinto sanctuary 祠, ツルギ様 Tsurugi sama, where this sword is venerated.

In 土佐山村 Tosayama village the laughing woman appears when the wheat is ripening.

In many villages, they say the laughing woman is in fact a Tanuki　狸.
- reference ; wikipedia

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南宇和郡 Minamiuwa district

An ancestor of Hirata 僧都の平田 has met the laughing woman. When he flet to his home and closed the door, her hair became like a tree, knocking on the door until it had a hole.

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橋上村 Hashigami village

She comes out in the deep mountain and laughs geragera ゲラゲラ, but she is invisible.

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In the hamlet of 和食村 Wajiki
there lived a man deep in the mountains and blew his Shakuhachi every night in front of his hut. One day a beautiful woman came up and asked him to play the Shakuhachi for her. She said her name was "Laughing Woman".
The man smiled and told her he would play a tune to make her laugh.
Her laugh became louder and louder as he blew his Shakuhachi and was heard all over the mountain.
Now the man became angry and threw his ax and hammer at her, but the woman just picked them up and ate them with good appetite.
When the man did not know what to do any more now, suddenly the sound of a rooster came up from the valley and the "Laughing Woman" disappeared.
But the voice of the rooster did not come from an animal, but from an amulet that was hanging at the breast of the man to protect him.
This is a dangerous Yokai, because if you begin to laugh with her, you will be eaten by her.

. komusoo 虚無僧　Komuso and the Shakuhachi Flute 尺八 .
- Introduction -


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Shoogase no akagashira 勝賀瀬の赤頭 the red head of Shogase
Shogase is located in いの町 Ino, Agawa District, Kochi Prefecture

Once a man from the village met this Yokai and felt like looking into the red sunrise, but soon became very ill and almost lost his eyesight. After special treatment he could then see again.



- - - More in the WIKIPEDIA !

A red-headed Yokai is also known in other parts of Japan, like Tottori.
It is often depicted with red hair instead of a red head or face.
Images are found in the Hyakki Yagyo Emaki 百鬼夜行絵巻 illustrated book of 100 Oni

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A plant-like humanoid with intense red hair that can burn ones eyes if looked at.


- source : yokai.wikia.com/wiki -


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Motoyama no hakuba 本山の白姥 the white old hag from Motoyama
Motoyama village is located in Nagaoka District, Kōchi Prefecture


source : saikohime.blog35.fc2.com

There is not much to be found about this Yokai.

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waraiotoko, warai otoko 笑男 the laughing man


source : geocities.jp/kyoketu

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Tosa no kechibi　土佐の鬼火 / けち火 "demon fire" from Tosa

- quote -
人間の怨霊が火の玉と化したものとされ、草履を3度叩くか、草履に唾をつけて招くことで招きよせることができるという[1]。火の中には人の顔が浮かんでいるともいう[2]。
海上に現れるともいい、そのことから船幽霊の一種ともいわれる[3]。奈良県に伝わる怪火・じゃんじゃん火と同一視されることもある[4]。



民話研究家・市原麟一郎 Ichihara Rinichiroの著書によれば、大きく二つに大別され、人が死んだ瞬間にその肉体から発生したものと、眠っている人間から発生するものとがあるとされる[5]。

後者の事例としては、明治初期の高知県香美郡（現・香美市 Kami district）の以下のような民話がある。Yoshiyan 芳やんという男が夜道を歩いていると、物部川のそばで道端にけち火が転がっていた。近づくところころと転がりだすので、好奇心から追いかけたところ、けち火も逃げ出し、その内に人家に入り込んだ。その家では、うなされながら寝ていた男が目を覚まし、妻に「芳やんが追いかけて来るので必死に逃げて来た」と語ったという[6]。

また同じく明治時代の高岡郡 Takaoka の民話では、斎藤熊兄という度胸のある男がけち火を目撃し、「ここまで飛んで来い」と怒鳴ったところ目の前に飛来して来た。斎藤はけち火を生け捕りにしようとするが、手でつかんだり足で踏みつけようとするたびにけち火は消え、また現れを繰り返した。ようやく両手でつかみ取って家へ持ち帰ったが、家で手を開くと、いつの間にかけち火は消えていた。翌日から熊兄は原因不明の熱病にかかり、そのまま死んでしまったという[7]。

江戸時代の土佐国（現・高知県）の妖怪絵巻『土佐お化け草紙』（作者不詳）では、鬼火と書いて「けちび」とふりがながふられている[8]。
- source : wikipedia -

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- quote -
Kechibi　
It is stated to be the onryō of humans turned into balls of fire, and it is said to be possible to beckon for it by beating a zōri three times, or putting saliva on the zōri and calling for it. It is also said that the face of a human floats in the fire.

They are also said to appear above water, and from this they are sometimes called a type of funayūrei. In the Nara Prefecture, they are sometimes seen to be the same as the kaika janjanbi.

According to the folklore researcher Rinichiro Ichihara's book, they are largely split into two different kinds, the ones that come forth from the flesh the instant a human dies, and those that come from humans while they sleep.



As an example of the latter, there was a folktale as follows from the Kami Distrinct, Kōchi Prefecture from the early Meiji period.
When a man called Yoshiyan was walking through the road at night, beside the Monobe River, there was a kechibi turned over on the roadside. Upon coming closer to it, it would start rolling around, and when he chased it due to curiosity, the kechibi would also run away, and eventually he found himself entering a person's home. In that home, a man who was having a nightmare woke up, and said to his wife, "Yoshiyan was chasing me, so I ran away desperately."

Also, as a folktale in the Takaoka District also from the Meiji Period, a man with much bravery named Kumaani Saitō witnessed a kechibi, and when he shouted, "come fly over here," it flew right in front of him. Saitō attempted to catch the fire alive, but each time he tried to catch it in his hand or tread on it with his feet the kechibi would disappear, and then reappear over and over. He finally captured it in both hands and took it back to his home, but at his home, when he opened his hand, the kechibi had already disappeared before he knew it. The next day, Kumaani had a fever of unknown cause, and died just like that.

In the Tosa Obake Zōshi, a Yōkai Emaki from the Tosa Province in the Edo Period, it was written as 鬼火 and had furigana indicating a reading of "kechibi."
- source : america.pink/kechibi -


. onibi 鬼火 "devil's fire", will-o'-the-wisp .
"fox fire", kitsunebi 狐火 (きつねび)
- kigo for all winter -
”a mysterious light associated with spirits, found in various folklore tales”


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- reference : nichibun yokai database -

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『あの世・妖怪・陰陽師―異界万華鏡・高知編』
- reference : - d.hatena.ne.jp

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土佐の妖怪 Tosa no Yokai - - 市原麟一郎 Ichihara Rinichiro



- reference -

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