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No.029

Sunakake Baba

THE UNSEEN SAND THROWER

Sunakake Baba
Pixel artOriginal art by Pixel Yokai
Japanese name
砂かけ婆（SUNAKAKEBABA）
Type
Forest spirit
Found in
Shrine forests and shaded paths
Where the legend lives
  • Nara — Across Nara Prefecture, people told of sand falling on them as they passed through shrine forests

◆ The legend

A yokai told of in many parts of Nara Prefecture. When you pass through the shadows of a lonely shrine forest, they say, sand comes pattering down on you from somewhere, just to give you a fright. Similar tales of being showered with sand are also told in Hyogo Prefecture.

The strange thing is that no one is said to have ever seen her. Is she up in the trees, or hiding in the bushes? Nobody knows. And yet her name calls her an old woman. She became widely known after the folklorist Kunio Yanagita included her, as a tale from Nara, among the yokai names he gathered from around Japan.

◆ Stories about this yokai

No One Has Ever Seen Sunakake Baba: The Sand That Falls in the Shrine ForestTold of in Nara, the sunakake baba showers sand on people passing through lonely shrine forests, yet no one is said to have ever seen her. A gentle look at why an unseen yokai is called an old woman, the shrine forest itself, and other yokai known only by sound.