No.13

Nopperabo

THE FACELESS GHOST

For reference: old artRyusai Kanjin Masasumi（1853）
"Noppera-bo" from Kyoka Hyaku Monogatari
Public domain (Wikimedia Commons)

Japanese name

のっぺらぼう（NOPPERA-BO）

Type

Human-shaped yokai

Found in

Late-night slopes and roads by the moat

Where the legend lives

Tokyo — Kii-no-kuni-zaka slope in Akasaka, setting of Hearn's "Mujina"

◆ The legend

A traveler on a dark road looks up — and sees a face with no eyes, no nose, no mouth, smooth as an egg. He runs off screaming to a noodle stand, where the owner asks what's wrong. He explains, and the owner strokes his own face and says: "Did it look something like this?"

This is the famous ghost story of Kii-no-kuni-zaka in Edo, recorded by Lafcadio Hearn as "Mujina." The nopperabo never hurts anyone; it just enjoys giving people a fright. Its true form is said to be a mujina (badger) or a fox in disguise. Maybe that's why, even without a face, it has a certain charm.