Hihi

◆ The legend

A yokai born when a monkey lives for many, many years and grows a body bigger than a person's, with enormous strength. It is covered in long hair and lives deep in the mountains, and one old account says that when it sees a person, it opens its huge mouth and laughs. Among monkey yokai, it has always been pictured as one of the biggest and wildest.

The tale told in many places goes like this: a hihi pretends to be the god of the mountain and demands that a village offer up a young woman. Then a traveling hero, or a brave dog, arrives in the desperate village, sees through the disguise, and defeats the beast. The best known are the story of the swordsman Iwami Jutaro, a favorite of storytellers, and the tale of the faithful dog Hayataro, also called Shippei Taro.