Uncanny Japan logo

Category: Japanese Folklore 

Nami-Kozō: The Creepy Little Wave Boy (Ep. 142)

A nanafushigi (seven mysterious things) and a local yokai, the Nami Kozō or Wave Boy has a number of variations to his story, some involving real historical monks.
Sketch of a Nami Kozo with waves, artist's hand drawing.

Black-Toothed Yōkai (Ep. 123)

There are several yōkai with black teeth, the Ohagruo Bettari, the Ao Onna, and the Uwan. Is it their practice of ohaguro that makes them scary or something else?
Uwan, a grotesque, humanoid creature with distorted facial features, bulging eyes, and a twisted mouth, clawed hand raised. Japanese characters appear beside it.

The Legend of Shippeitaro (Ep. 119)

Shippei Taro is both a folktale and a nanafushigi (strange occurance). I'll tell you all about this local legend as well as read you my translation of the famous story.
Two small cat figurines on a white stone surrounded by fallen leaves.

The Killing Stone: Sessho Seki (Ep. 96)

It was all over the news: Japan's Infamous Killing Stone that was housing a chaotic, disaster inducing nine-tailed fox spirit, broke in half on March 5th. Is the fox spirit free? I'll tell you all about it on this episode.
Killing Stone Sessho Seki

The Human-Faced Tumor: Jinmensou (Ep. 95)

On today's episode I'm going to tell you about an affliction that involved a strange growth on some part of your body that had the face of a human and did horrible things.
Jinmensou human-faced tumor

Story Time: Tango no Hitobashira / The Human Pillar of Tango (Ep. 94)

Today I'm going to tell you a story called Tango no Hitobashira / The Human Pillar of Tango. It's an old folktale that I haven't found translated into English.
Hitobashira / Human Pillar
1 2 3 4

About The Uncanny Japan Podcast

Speculative fiction writer, long-term resident of Japan and Bram Stoker Award finalist Thersa Matsuura explores all that is weird from old Japan—strange superstitions, folktales, cultural oddities, and interesting language quirks. These are little treasures she digs up while doing research for her writing.

© Copyright 2024 Uncanny Productions
Buy Me a Coffee at Ko-Fi