Konaki-jiji (子泣き爺, ''Konaki-Jijī'', translated into ''Old man crying'') is a kind of Japanese
yōkai
are a class of supernatural entities and spirits in Japanese folklore. The word is composed of the kanji for "attractive; calamity" and "apparition; mystery; suspicious." are also referred to as , or . Despite often being translated as suc ...
, a supernatural spirit in
Japanese folklore
Japanese folklore encompasses the informally learned folk traditions of Japan and the Japanese people as expressed in its oral traditions, customs, and material culture.
In Japanese, the term is used to describe folklore. The academic study o ...
. It is similar to the Scandinavian
Myling.
Description
The Konaki-jiji is said to be able to take the appearance of an old man or a baby.
In either case, the spirit lures an unwary passerby towards it and allows him or her to pick it up. After the spirit is picked up, it suddenly becomes a heavy stone that crushes the victim to death.
In some versions of Konaki-jiji stories, the spirit is that of a baby left to die in the wilderness.
The Konaki-jiji can be traced back to family records in
Shikoku
is the smallest of the four main islands of Japan. It is long and between wide. It has a population of 3.8 million (, 3.1%). It is south of Honshu and northeast of Kyushu. Shikoku's ancient names include ''Iyo-no-futana-shima'' (), '' ...
where the term was used to describe an old man who sounded like a child when he cried.
The term was eventually used in a national encyclopedia of yōkai and became a nationally known phenomenon.
References
{{Japanese folklore long
Japanese folklore
Yōkai