Terrifying Japanese Folklore Creatures (Yokai)

In this video, I want to discuss some of the weirdest, scariest, and strangest yokai in Japanese folklore. Up until this point, I really didn't know too much about them, and after reading a few comments I knew I had to dig deeper. Initially, I just thought yokai was a type of Japanese creature, or just one sort of folklore monster, but I was quite wrong, and the lore goes much deeper. Yokai is essentially just a blanket term for anything supernatural in the world of Japanese folklore, and the word itself is comprised of two kanji characters that both mean suspicious or doubtful. So if you think about it, yokai are just sus. I've been doing a ton of research, and this is just my small list of some of my favorites, and like every list we do, we start tame and get more intense. Starting off pretty tame, we have Nuri Botoke. He is kind of a chill dude, he's really just a prankster. His appearance is definitely the creepiest or strangest part about him. He is essentially a flabby, overweight, buddha looking creature with oily black skin, a very horrible stench, and probably the scariest part, his eyes are dangling out of the sockets. They are also known as altar yokai, or shrine ghosts. This is because they appear when family shrines are left open overnight, allowing them to crawl into the room from the other world. When this imp-like creature appears in the home, they don't do anything violent, but their job is to more or less annoy the inhabitants of the house. They are known to stomp around and flap their tails and be rather annoying. Some say just for fun they even give humans false prophecies just to try to trick them. Although he may look scary and he may be rather annoying, they disappear on their own when daytime comes, and can be easily avoided by keeping your shrine closed, or by sprinkling a little bit of salt on the floor. Nuri Botoke is definitely one of the most forgiving mythical creatures, or specifically yokai we've ever touched on the channel. He is realistically just a reminder to keep your shrines closed at night, and he is extremely easy to avoid, and even if you do forget to close your shrine, just putting salt on the floor will help you avoid him, and even if he does appear, he's just gonna make some noise and stink, and he'll be gone by morning. I think we all have had friends stay over that have done that, so realistically, not too bad. And for that reason, he's only the first entry on the list. Let's keep going. Next up, we have Obaryon, another imp-like creature with a much different intention. The Obaryon jumps onto the backs of travelers walking through the woods, piggyback style, which is actually where the name comes from, as in some local dialects in the Niigata prefecture, the phrase Obaryon is a way to ask for a piggyback ride as you're jumping on someone's back. The appearance of the Obaryon isn't necessarily notable as far as yokai go, it's just a imp or goblin-looking creature that's probably around 3 feet tall, typically naked, long head hair, somewhat fuzzy body, and sometimes sharp teeth. Now, your interaction with the Obaryon can go one of two ways, depending on how you react to him jumping on your back. If he jumps on your back and you immediately try to remove him, he will not leave. And from that point on, every step you take, he will get heavier and heavier, until you are crushed under the weight of him. However, if he jumps on your back and you accept the responsibility of carrying him, somewhere along the path from where you are to your house, he will be turned into a bag of money or gold. And when you check your back, you'll notice that you aren't carrying an Obaryon, you're carrying a bag of gold. So for that reason, because he does have the opportunity to kill you, he is a little bit more scary than our first entry, but he definitely does have a good side. And in my opinion, if you knew the story and you did encounter one, I feel like it'd be a very cool experience. What would not be a cool experience is running into the Jorogumo, or the Spider Woman. The Jorogumo, in typical yokai fashion, appears as a beautiful woman when you first encounter it, but it soon shapeshifts into something much more scary and deadly. The Jorogumo starts off by striking up a conversation with young, handsome men. Shortly into the conversation, once she knows the man's engaged, she will shapeshift and either turn into a spider completely or grow large spider-like legs. She'll then start weaving the man into a huge silk cocoon until he is trapped in a web. At that point, the Jorogumo will inject him with venom, slowly and painfully killing them. This is definitely a simple yokai, but one of the deadliest we've experienced so far. Unless you happen to be a woman, or you are just a man who is simply not her type, there is no escaping this yokai. At least if you're a man. But this next yokai, you can't escape no matter what you are. We're talking about Yama-Uba, or the Forest Witch. Right off the bat, Yama-Uba is basically the Japanese version of Baba Yaga, and it also has an equally fun to say name, Yama-Uba. Baba Yaga. Yama-Uba. Both pretty fun, let me know what you guys think. Yama-Uba is a yokai that takes the shape of a filthy old woman with long, white hair and a thin, pale face. She lives in the wooded mountains of Japan. She is a deceptive yokai as she will lure travelers from the path by offering them food and shelter and a place to stay overnight, all of which she will do, but one thing she will do that she didn't mention, devouring them in their sleep, aka sucking their blood and eating their bodies. But to me, that's not necessarily the most interesting part of this yokai. I think if you're on a trail in rural Japan, probably don't accept any overnight stays from creepy looking ladies. But to me, the most interesting part of the lore is actually the origins of Yama-Uba. Some scholars believe that the Yama-Uba are the transformation of the rage and grief of abandoned elderly women who were left in the woods. See, during economic hardship or times of famine, families had to make a tough decision to alleviate dependencies essentially because there wasn't enough food to go around. Typically in these situations, in this old Japanese custom, the family would abandon the oldest woman in their family in the woods. Not cool. But as the story goes, some of those women survived and used their grief and rage and was taken over by a yokai and now we have Yama-Uba. Moral of the story with this yokai is don't trust any Yoda looking ladies in the middle of the woods offering you food and shelter. And if you have a grandma, don't abandon her in the woods because she might turn into an evil witch. Now, staying in the woods for a second, let's talk about Jaboko, also known as the Vampire Tree. The Jaboko appears like any other tree, but upon closer inspection, you'll notice that at the base of the tree there is a large pile of human bones. By the time you're aware of the human bones, it'll be too late. The tree will lift you up and using skinny twigs and branches to pierce your body and suck out your blood. Once the tree is done consuming you, it'll drop you and allow insects and birds to finish you off. At that point, your bones will simply become an addition to the pile that you just noticed. Now you might be thinking, were these trees always yokai or did they start as regular trees in life? And the answer is Jaboko's were just ordinary trees. How they become such deadly vampire trees is pretty unfortunate. Whenever there is a large massacre or huge battle or war, all of the blood that's soaked into the earth would be absorbed by trees and some of those trees would be transformed into the yokai, Jaboko. This is where the list starts to get dangerous because in this case, the Jaboko does not discriminate on its victims. And by the time you can even be aware of the pile of bones, it's already too late, making it almost impossible to identify. To me, that's terrifying. Jumping out of the forest, let's get into the pond and let's talk about the Kappa. This one's weird, so buckle up. The Kappa is a humanoid creature typically around the size of a child inhabiting in ponds and rivers. They're typically a greenish color, but either have scaly or slimy skin and their hands and feet are webbed and they have a turtle shell on their back. As weird as that may sound, this might be the most normal thing about the Kappa. Some of the more peculiar traits of the Kappa is the fact that they have three anuses to produce three times the gas as humans. This will be relevant later. And even though they are relatively small, they are physically stronger than a grown man. And the Kappa also has a dish on its head holding sacred water, which if spilled, severely weakens the Kappa. This is also relevant for later. Now with what they look like out of the way, what do they do? And really, that depends drastically. Their actions can range from mischievous all the way down to deadly. And in some very rare situations, they can even provide gifts. On the lesser end of things, Kappa are known to lift women's kimonos. And on the darker end of things, if you go in a body of water that they are inhabiting, they are more than willing to kill and eat you and kidnap your children. The Kappa are very agile and strong in the water. They are more so clumsy on land. So if there's ever a suspected Kappa in the water, never enter it. And if you see one on land, let me tell you how to deal with it. Kappas are all about respect. And if you are able to respect them, and by that I mean treat them like a god, they will for the most part treat you well. However, if you refuse to treat them like a god, let me tell you how to deal with them once they become angry. Since the Kappa is obsessed with respect and politeness, if you bow at a Kappa, they are obligated to bow back at you. And if you remember the cup of water on their head, this will empty, weakening them severely. Now at this point, if you want to escape, you can. But if you want to get on the Kappa's good side and accept gifts, if you refill this bowl of water, it will serve you for eternity. Or if you rip off its arm in this weakened state, it will offer you knowledge and gifts until you give it its arm back. So there's that. Another way to have the Kappa spill their sacred water is by asking them to sumo wrestle. Sumo wrestling is one of their favorite activities, so they will always oblige. Now during the sumo wrestle, as long as you can get its head water to empty, which isn't too hard, you have weakened them severely and you can proceed just as the first example. Now if for some reason you just didn't feel like bowing or sumo wrestling, a third way and probably one of the weirdest ways to repel a Kappa is by farting them. I'm not even joking, look it up. If you fart on them or at them, this will definitely scare them away. But keep in mind, they have three booties, so if they want to get in a farting match, you might need backup. I think I've covered the Kappa enough, but one last thing I will say is that they love cucumbers. So there's that. I wanted to have the Kappa so high on the list because there was just so much to say about it and even though it might not be the scariest, it's definitely the weirdest. Now staying on the topic of strange for a little bit longer, let's talk about Akamanto or the bathroom killer. Akamanto, also known as Red Cape, is, as you may have guessed, a yokai. This yokai is described as a masked spirit wearing a large red cloak who floats or flies and typically resides in public or school bathrooms. Akamanto is described as a male yokai that haunts bathrooms late at night. Akamanto is often also said to haunt female bathrooms specifically. Already we're not off to a great start. The yokai will offer you two different types of toilet paper, red or blue, which one you choose will decide your fate. If you accept the red toilet paper, you'll be stabbed to death and murdered directly on the toilet. And if you choose the blue toilet paper, you'll be strangled to death, once again, dying on the toilet. If you try to outsmart the yokai by asking for another color, for example, yellow, do that will result in you being drowned face first in the toilet and likely you didn't flush. So that's disgusting. It is said that the only way to survive an encounter with Akamanto is by refusing either of the toilet papers or simply ignoring them in general and finishing your business and leaving as soon as possible. Moral of the story being, don't use the bathroom late at night in public places or at school. And if you do, do not accept red or blue toilet paper and ignore Akamanto entirely. Now, something you can't ignore is a beautiful person. When you see one, it's hard not to be. Hey, that's a beautiful person. And in the instance of Kuchisake Onna, it could result in the end of your life. I'm going to keep the description of Kuchisake Onna or the slit mouth woman rather brief for two reasons. One, it's the most famous by far on this list. And two, I literally just covered it in depth in my last video. So if you haven't seen it, watch my last video, mythical creatures that probably exist. Great video. And I do a deep dive on Kuchisake Onna in that video. But for a quick overview, Kuchisake Onna appears as a beautiful woman wearing a mask, appearing at night. If you walk faster, she'll ask you a question, striking up conversation. Does it sound familiar? What she'll ask you is very important. She'll ask you, am I beautiful? If you tell her, yes, of course you're beautiful, she'll remove her mask, showing you her horribly disfigured face. And she'll ask you again, am I still beautiful? If you say yes, she'll cut your mouth to look like hers, giving you a slit mouth. And if you say no, she'll murder you with a sharp object, typically scissors. Oh, and if you're a real dick and you said no, she's not beautiful before she even takes her mask off, that's going to get you killed too. So yeah, another relatively simple yokai, but still deadly. What I'm starting to put together is that it's just never worth it to talk to women because you never know who may be a yokai. I know we've been joking a lot, but I want to bring this video back to its core for our last yokai on this list. The core of this video being scariest, strangest, deadliest. And with that, we might have the scariest yokai of all, Gashadokuro, translating literally to rattling skeleton, also known as starving skeleton, Gashadokuro is something you do not want to encounter under any circumstance. This yokai is a spirit that takes the form of a giant skeleton. And I mean giant, over 10 meters tall giant. This yokai forms when bodies are left unburied on the battlefield. This yokai has a vengeance and is seeking revenge and has a seemingly endless hunger for death and violence. It is said to wander around at night, typically around 2 a.m., looking for humans to attack and eat their heads off their bodies. Some of the most terrifying attributes are the fact that they are essentially indestructible and have the ability to become invisible, only to be heard by rattling teeth and bones. And the only way for them to be destroyed is by them satisfying their hunger for violence and revenge. Your only chance of defense is to run and hide and hope that their thirst for revenge has been satisfied before they get to you. But personally, a 15-foot invisible skeleton with an insane vengeance and hunger for violence that can't be stopped until they are satisfied with no remorse is pretty terrifying. But what do you guys think? Let me know which yokai you guys think were the deadliest, the scariest, the strangest. I think there's different yokai for each of those descriptions, so I'll let you guys pick. But that's all from me. If you guys have any recommendations for future video topics or even yokai or mythical creatures, please comment them down below. And until next time, trust me bro. Peace out.