Aobōzu

A large blue monster with a wide grin and balding grey hair peers over a gate.

An depicted in a deck of cards.

is a Japanese (spirit) found in a number of Japanese legends. Stories about , in particular the exact details of the spirit, vary widely.

As well as appearing in Japanese folklore, the has also been depicted numerous times in traditional Japanese art; examples include one depiction of found in Toriyama Sekien's e-hon tetralogy .

In folk legends

Though the exact details of the vary throughout legends, with differences often split along regional lines, the is typically depicted as a large humanoid figure resembling a (priest). The exact nature of the 's actions, or the nature of its haunting, also vary; though the is simply said to appear in Minabe, Hidaka District, Wakayama Prefecture, in contrast, appearances of the in Kaneyama, Ōnuma District, Fukushima Prefecture are said to be a weasel disguised as an . In Gifu Prefecture and Hiroshima Prefecture, appearances of the are said to be a disguised as an . Appearances and stories of the also appear in other areas, such as Haibara District, Shizuoka Prefecture.

Nagano Prefecture

In Nagano Prefecture, a few variants of the legend exist. In one, if a person stops breathing and spins around 7 times at the base of a certain pine tree, an is said to appear and say "don't trample the rocks, don't snap the pine tree".

Shizuoka Prefecture

In Shizuoka Prefecture, it is said that in spring, children who come home late around the time of sunset and run across a wheat field may be kidnapped by an appearing from the wheat. The legend is used in part as a reason for not letting children out into the fields at evening in springtime.

Okayama Prefecture

In Okayama Prefecture, an with a blue body or blue clothes is said to appear in vacant houses and other places.

Yamaguchi Prefecture

In Yamaguchi Prefecture, are said to be mountain gods () who have taken on the appearance of a small priest. In this legend, are said to appear before people and suggest they take part in a sumo match with them; despite their small size, the , having the powers of a mountain god, is said to toss people easily if they overconfidently take them on.

Kagawa Prefecture

In Kagawa Prefecture, are said to appear before women and ask, "how about hanging your neck?". In this legend, the disappears if rejected, but if the woman ignores them without saying anything, the forcefully attack the woman, rendering her unconscious before hanging her by the neck.

Yamagata Prefecture

In Yamagata Prefecture, it is said that the bathroom in one elementary school along the base of a mountain is haunted by an . In this legend, the face of a priest with a blue head appears from the toilet and stares at whoever is using it.

Fukushima Prefecture

Similar to Yamagata Prefecture, in Fukushima Prefecture, in the first half of the 1930s, it is said that an would appear in an elementary school bathroom, and it is said that the students at the time were so fearful of it, they would not use the toilet.

In urban legends

Beginning in the Shōwa period, urban legends and school horror tales featuring the became popular.

In the

A one-eyed monk stands on the veranda of a Japanese home.

from the by Sekien Toriyama

In Sekien Toriyama's tetralogy , a potential depiction of an shows it as a one-eyed priest standing next to a thatched hut. Despite the similarities to the legend in appearance, the , as an picture book, did not come with accompanying explanatory text, meaning that the image may not show an , and instead may be intended to depict another , such as the (one-eyed monk) commonly depicted in Edo period artworks, such as the by Sawaki Sūshi. Toriyama, playing into the fact that the word for blue in Japanese () can refer to immaturity, may also have intended to depict an insufficiently trained priest as a .

See also

• List of legendary creatures from Japan