YAMAUBA 山姥
Pronunciation: YAH-mah-OO-bah
Translation: Mountain Witch or Mountain Crone
Also known as: Yamanba (山姥), Onibaba (鬼婆), Yamahime (山姫), Yamaonna (山女), Kijo (鬼女)
Overview
Yamauba are mountain-dwelling yōkai that resemble dreadful old hags. These mountain witches, for the most part, wear filthy, tattered kimonos or skirts made of tree bark and have darkly tanned and deeply wrinkled skin. Their red or stark white hair is long and tangled and is sometimes tied back with a piece of straw. When one is chasing her prey at inhuman speeds, though, her eyes flash blue, her mouth stretches from ear to ear, and those uncombed locks stand out in all directions.
Yamauba live in rickety huts or in caves and are rumored to be real women who have left their homes or were banished for one reason or another. Over time, their circumstances—together with a hefty dose of bitterness and resentment—apparently turn them into these cannibalistic supernatural monsters.
There are actually two types of yamauba. One will chase you down and chop you up or, if really hungry, eat you alive. These flesh-eating kind do things like snatch children away from their parents and target anyone walking alone in mountain passes. If you are lost or the weather is turning bad, a yamauba might appear a little more well-groomed and kindly offer you a place to stay for the night, where you will no doubt meet your grisly end.
The second variety, though, is quite the opposite in character. She’ll venture down into villages and rice fields and dispense good luck and fortune. This more compassionate mountain witch is portrayed as a maternal figure and can be seen in the legend of Kintarō (see his earlier entry), where his mother, a yamauba on Mount Ashigara, cares for the young hero and raises him lovingly.
There are also tales of people running across these beneficent yamauba going into labor. The concerned person helps out and ends up delivering thousands of the yamauba’s babies. Their diligence and (no doubt) trauma are thusly rewarded when afterward they are blessed with great wealth and prosperity.
Sadly, another way to gain fortune with a mountain crone is to capture and burn her. Legend says her body will turn into all sorts of lucky items, like gold, silver, medicine, rice, millet, silk, and even silkworms.
Background and Popular Stories
A very popular children’s story about a yamauba is called “Sanmai no Ofuda” or “The Three Charms and the Mountain Witch.” Once, there was a young, mischievous apprentice monk who lived in a temple in the mountains. He was always taking naps and playing pranks and never listening to the head monk. One autumn day, the boy saw that the chestnut trees higher up in the mountains were starting to bear fruit and asked if he could go collect some.
The head monk told him it was very dangerous, as a wicked yamauba lived near there and would eat him up. But the young boy laughed and said he didn’t believe in such things and begged to be allowed to go. This went on until the head monk finally decided such an experience might teach the young boy a lesson and gave him permission. He presented the boy with three paper ofuda (お札) charms (sacred amulets believed to possess spiritual power and offer protection) and told him to use them wisely.
The apprentice climbed into the hills and began filling a bag with chestnuts. He lost track of time and soon noticed it was getting dark. He was about to hurry back to the temple when he heard a woman’s voice behind him.
“Look! A young boy!”
The little monk was afraid it was the yamauba, but when he turned there was only a kindly old woman standing there. She said it was probably too dangerous to go home at this late hour and suggested he stay with her for the night in her little house. She offered to roast the chestnuts for him. The hungry boy agreed, and he ate so many of the delicious nuts that he fell asleep on the floor. When he woke up, it was late, and he was alone in the room. He heard a strange sound coming from next door and peeked in. There sitting on the floor was the old woman—only she had changed into a scary hag and was sharpening a large knife.
She sprang across the room and grabbed him before he could even turn to run. Cackling, she said that she intended to eat him up. The apprentice monk said that he understood that, but the whole shock of the situation made him really have to go to the outhouse. He’d be right back.
The yamauba was no fool. She tied a long rope around his waist and, clutching one end in her hand, let him out the front door. The boy went into the outhouse and tried to think of a plan. It wasn’t long before she called out, “Are you finished yet?”
“Not yet,” the boy replied. This went on a couple of times until he suddenly remembered the three ofuda charms. He pulled one out and stuck it to the door, praying to it. He implored, “Please, pretend to be me and answer her when she calls.” With that, he untied the rope and snuck out a back window.
“Are you done yet?” the witch shouted again.
“Not yet!” This time it was the ofuda talking.
This back and forth continued until the yamauba realized something was wrong. She threw open the door and found her young meal gone. The boy monk had gotten a head start, but the mountain witch was very fast. She screeched as she ran after him, gaining quickly.
The boy grabbed the second ofuda and prayed for a large river to be made between them. Whoosh! It happened, washing over the frightening hag. But before the boy could get too confident, the yamauba swallowed up all the water and continued her chase.
He could see the temple but still wasn’t close enough to be safe. He pulled out the last ofuda and this time wished for a sea of fire to spring up behind him. Whoosh! A sea of fire appeared. But the yamauba spit out all the water she had just swallowed and extinguished the fire. The terrified boy barely made it into the temple’s main hall to find the head monk sitting on the floor, roasting rice cakes over a fire. Without words he understood what was going on and hid the boy inside a large vase.
The yamauba burst into the room and demanded the boy. The head monk said he didn’t know anything about that but suggested they have a test of powers. If she won, he would sacrifice himself for her evening meal. The mountain witch agreed.
The monk asked her to make herself huge. The old hag laughed and turned herself into a giant. The monk agreed that was impressive and then asked her to make herself as small as a bean. She immediately turned herself tiny.
“Now it’s my turn,” said the head monk, and he plucked her up, stuffed her into a rice cake, and popped her in his mouth and swallowed.
The wicked mountain witch was never seen again, and the little apprentice monk became a very good listener and a very hard worker.
In Modern Stories
There is a yamauba character in the Bushido: Cult of Yurei board game. She also appears as a powerful knife-wielding enemy in the game Nioh 2 and as a spiky-haired old lady in products from the Japanese media franchise Yo-kai Watch. In folktales about Kintarō, his mother is usually portrayed as a yamauba.