Makuragaeshi

◆ The legend

A yokai that slips in while you're fast asleep and moves your pillow, or flips it over. Sometimes, it's said, it even turns the sleeper completely around, so head and feet swap places. You wake in the morning, find your pillow down by your feet, and tilt your head in puzzlement. Small mysteries like that have long been told of as this yokai's work.

The stories about what it looks like vary from place to place, and nothing is certain. Some say it takes the form of a small child, and in the Tohoku region of northern Japan there are tales blaming the zashiki-warashi, a child spirit of the house. In some places a slightly scarier story is told: that the pillow is turned by the ghost of someone who once died in that very room. Is it simple mischief, or some kind of message? Since it all happens while you sleep, no one can ever be sure.