Today’s yokai is a silly one to be sure. Tales about ōkubi began popping up in the Edo period. They were sort of a contemporary urban legend (as many yokai were). The story would be that a friend of a friend knew somebody who discovered a giant head in his barn or warehouse, and when he came back with other people to show them, the head was gone. Or other silly stories like that.

In fact, most yokai stories are very much like that. While a few yokai have long, detailed story, the majority of them really amount to little more than “somebody in this town saw something really strange! It was a __________!” And then that’s the end of it.

While at first glance, that might seem kind of boring. However, to me they are a delight to read. The briefness of them leaves so much up to the imagination, and even gives them an feeling of being slightly more believable than if the story were overly detailed. They sound more like unexplainable accounts as opposed to novels or short stories design to scare. It especially works well for the sillier yokai like the one below.

If you want a great example of what I mean, you might want to read The Legends of Tono, which is one of the most famous books of Japanese folk tales (including ones about yokai). Some of the “legends” in the book are no more than a couple of sentences in length. They end abruptly but somehow they leave you feeling enchanted, rather than cheated.  A number of versions are available on Amazon.

Click to view the entry on yokai.com!

Ookubi / 大首 / おおくび