Records in Wakayama

Kawa-akago

川赤子(かわあかご)

Toriyama Sekien drew an infant-shaped creature rising from the water plants of a mountain river in 1779, watching a man on a raft — and admitted in the caption that he was guessing about what it was.

  • River
  • Unknown

Danger 2/5 Editorial rating Danger rating 2 out of 5. This is an editorial rating, not a folklore measurement.

  • 1960 Naki-kawa, Arida District Folklore record

    Baby's crying from the weeping river, stopped by a priest's sutra

Ippon-datara

一本だたら(いっぽんだたら)

In the Kii mountains a one-legged thing leaves enormous single tracks in the snow — and Yanagita Kunio, reporting them, declined to conclude a one-legged creature from footprints alone.

  • Mountain · Snow · Road
  • Harmful

Danger 3/5 Editorial rating Danger rating 3 out of 5. This is an editorial rating, not a folklore measurement.

  • 1926 Kumano, Kii mountains Folklore record

    Single giant footprints in snow, reported by Minakata to Yanagita

Chabukuro

茶袋(ちゃぶくろ)

A tea-steeping bag that hangs in the air on eerie stretches of road in the Hata district of Kōchi, recorded in 1938, with illness blamed on anyone it strikes; related bags hang from trees in Kagawa and float on rivers in Wakayama.

  • Road · River · Temple or shrine
  • Harmful

Danger 2/5 Editorial rating Danger rating 2 out of 5. This is an editorial rating, not a folklore measurement.

  • undated Inami river, Hidaka district Legend or tale

    The chanbukuro floats on rivers, drips cold water on a passer-by's neck and flies off over the mountain

Records Library: Wakayama