Places

Japan

• TaleMiyoshi, Hiroshima, Japan, 1749 to 1859

  The Inō mononoke roku: where the demon king's mallet came from

  In 1749 a demon king is said to have given a sixteen-year-old in Miyoshi a mallet. A comparison of four versions shows none in the text dated 1783.

  

• CaseShimoda, Izu, Japan, 1884 to 1891

  Kokkuri-san came ashore at Shimoda, or so Inoue Enryō heard

  In 1887 Inoue Enryō traced the kokkuri craze to an American ship at Shimoda, a story he dated to about 1884 in one book and about 1885 in the next.

  

• TaleHanyū, Shimōsa (now Jōsō, Ibaraki), Japan, 1672 to 1859

  Kasane's spirit left Hanyū village twice

  In 1672 a Shimōsa village freed a girl from Kasane's spirit with its own nenbutsu, and the spirit came back. Only then, the one account says, did Yūten come.

  

• TaleHigo (Kumamoto), Japan, 1843 to 1882

  Amabie, from a single news sheet of 1846

  In 1846 a news sheet drew a long-haired sea creature from Higo and named it Amabie. Every other known paper about the creature calls it amabiko.

  

• TaleNasu, Tochigi, Japan, About 1400 to 2022

  The killing stone of Nasu and a fox with two tails

  The killing stone at Nasu split in two in March 2022. In the oldest written versions of its legend, the fox has two tails, not nine.

  

• TaleHimeji, Hyōgo, Japan, About 1577 to 1952

  How Okiku came to Himeji Castle’s well

  Himeji Castle shows visitors the well Okiku is said to lie in. The oldest version of her story has no Okiku, no plates and no well.