No.046

Ubume

THE MOTHER WITH THE BABY

For reference: old artToriyama Sekien（1776）
"Ubume" from Gazu Hyakki Yagyo
Public domain (Wikimedia Commons)

Japanese name: 姑獲鳥（UBUME）
Type: Ghostly woman
Found in: Riverbanks, bridge ends, and crossroads at night

◆ The legend

A yokai said to be a woman who died in childbirth and could not let go of this world. Her name can also be written with the characters for "birth" and "woman." At night, by a riverbank, at the foot of a bridge, or at a crossroads, a woman stands quietly with a baby in her arms. When someone passes, she asks, "Would you hold this child for me, just for a little while?" She is usually described in pale, whitish clothes, with a lonely air about her.

If you take the baby as she asks, the woman vanishes before you notice. Some tales say the baby grows heavier and heavier in your arms, and that those who hold on to the end are given great strength. It is told as a ghost story, yet running beneath it is the feeling of a mother who had to leave her newborn behind.

◆ Stories about this yokai

October 28, 2026Ubume and the Night Bird: Why a Mother's Ghost in Japan Bears the Name of a Chinese BirdThe ubume is told of as the ghost of a woman who died in childbirth. She is often written with the name of a Chinese night-flying bird spirit. A gentle look at how the two came together, a riverside memorial custom, and other tales of mothers who could not let go.