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No.028

Konaki Jiji

THE OLD MAN WHO CRIES LIKE A BABY

Konaki Jiji
Pixel artOriginal art by Pixel Yokai
Japanese name
子泣き爺（KONAKIJIJI）
Type
Mountain spirit
Found in
Mountain paths and hill villages
Where the legend lives
  • Tokushima — The hills of Yamashiro in Miyoshi City are known as a home of the konaki jiji legend

◆ The legend

A yokai told of in the mountains of Tokushima Prefecture, on the island of Shikoku. It is said to live deep in the hills, and although it looks like an old man, it cries in the voice of a baby. When a passerby feels sorry for it and picks it up, it suddenly grows heavier and heavier, clings on, and will not let go. That is the tale that has come down to us.

Very little is said about how it looks. An old man's body, a baby's cry: only that mismatch has been clearly passed on. It became widely known after the folklorist Kunio Yanagita included it, as a tale from the mountains of Awa (old Tokushima), among the yokai names he gathered from around Japan.

◆ Stories about this yokai

Heavier in Your Arms: Konaki Jiji and the Baby's Cry in the Mountains of AwaTold of in the mountains of Tokushima, the konaki jiji looks like an old man, cries like a baby, and grows heavier once you pick it up. A gentle look at that strange mismatch, other "heavy in your arms" tales, and the hills of Awa where the legend lives.