Yamauba- Japanese SpiritSpirit"The Mountain Hag"

The Mountain Hut

She lives where the trails end. An old woman with long, disheveled white hair, wearing rags, alone in a hut so far into the mountains that no one finds it on purpose. In the Otogizōshi retellings, travelers who lose their way in the peaks stumble upon her dwelling. She offers food and shelter. Then she eats them.

The Muromachi-period tales give her a mouth that can appear anywhere on her body and hair that moves on its own, reaching for food and prey. But the same traditions that make her a devourer also make her a provider. She feeds the lost. She spins thread. She appears at the edge of villages to help with weaving, then vanishes back into the trees.

Kintarō

Yamauba raised Kintarō on Mount Ashigara. She fed him on wild roots and mountain plants, and he grew into a child of extraordinary strength. He wrestled bears. He split boulders. The animals of the forest followed him.

Kintarō grew up to become Sakata no Kintoki, one of the four retainers of Minamoto no Yorimitsu. The boy who had been raised by a mountain hag became a warrior who hunted demons. The story of Kintarō and his wild mother became one of Japan's favorite children's tales, and the image of the ruddy, powerful boy grappling with animals appears on banners every Boys' Day.

The Noh Play

In the Noh play Yamamba, attributed to Zeami's circle, a famous court dancer is traveling through the mountains. She is known for performing a dance piece called "Yamamba." The real Yamauba appears and asks to see it.

The dancer performs. The real Yamauba watches, then reveals herself. She describes her existence: she wanders the mountains without rest, spinning thread from the trees and weaving cloth from moonlight. She carries firewood for woodcutters who never see her. She is not evil. She is not good. She moves through the mountains the way weather does, and she cannot stop.