Tradition: Japanese Mythology
Alternative Names: Northern Ghost, Hokkoku, 北国
Category: Ghost
The Myth
The Northern Ghost is a bizarre yokai depicted as a monstrous woman assembled from the people and objects associated with the Yoshiwara pleasure district. Its body takes the form of a courtesan, but its features are made from an assortment of unusual items. Cups form its eyes and mouth, sake bottles make up its nose, and its hair consists of tiny figures representing geisha and jesters. Shamisen instruments, shamisen boxes, hair ornaments, and toothpicks complete its strange appearance, creating a grotesque figure in which women, customers, and everyday objects merge into a single supernatural being.
The Northern Ghost is said to live in a strange place known as Oiranda or the Land of Arinsu. Each night, it emerges from muddy water and approaches any man it encounters. It calls out to its victims in a pleading voice, saying, “You look familiar, please, please.” Its sudden appearance from the mud gives it an uncanny, ghostly quality, as though the strange creature has risen from the depths to seek out unsuspecting passersby.
The Northern Ghost embodies the strange and unsettling world of Yoshiwara, transforming its courtesans, customers, and objects into a single monstrous apparition. Its bizarre construction makes it unlike an ordinary ghost or animal yokai, presenting a supernatural woman whose body is an entire collection of figures and objects brought together into one eerie form.
Sources
“北国の幽霊 (Ghosts of the North Country).” 新版TYZ 妖怪図鑑 (New TYZ Yokai Encyclopedia). https://tyz-yokai.blog.jp/archives/1010654443.html