Tradition: Japanese Mythology
Alternative Names: 船越村の奇怪, The Strange Incident of Funakoshi Village
Category: Monkey
The Myth
In June 1716, a farmer named Sagouemon lived with his wife and three children in Funakoshi Village, in Musashi Province. Night after night, strange lights appeared outside their home, accompanied by a terrifying presence that caused their youngest daughter, a two-year-old girl, to scream in fear. Whenever the light from outside approached the house, another glowing light emerged from the inner rooms and confronted it near the window. While the two lights clashed, the child would stop crying, and the disturbance would end. Despite prayers, purification rituals, and attempts to discover the cause, the family could not rid themselves of the phenomenon.
During a thorough cleaning of the house, Sagouemon’s wife discovered an old, soot-blackened paper talisman stuck to a wall in the inner room. Without recognizing its significance, she discarded it with the rubbish. That night, the outside light returned, smashed through the bamboo lattice, and entered the house. The protective light did not appear. The creature seized the little girl and tried to carry her away, but Sagouemon struck it with a sickle. Although he felt the blow land, the creature escaped with the child. The following morning, villagers followed a trail of blood from the house into the nearby hills, where they discovered a large, ape-like beast hiding in a small cave. They beat it to death, discovering that it was an aged monkey on the verge of becoming a hihi, a fearsome Japanese ape-like monster. The missing girl was never found.
When the village officials investigated, they also asked about the second light, which had ceased appearing after the talisman was discarded. The family and villagers searched the drainage ditch where the rubbish had been thrown and recovered an old, blackened Kumano Gohō talisman, a sacred protective charm revered by Sagouemon’s ancestors. They came to believe that the talisman had housed a divine presence that had protected the family by opposing the beast. From then on, the villagers treated the charm with great reverence, and the mysterious disturbances never returned.
Sources
“Funakoshi Monkey.” 新版TYZ 妖怪図鑑 (New TYZ Yokai Encyclopedia). https://tyz-yokai.blog.jp/archives/1046235949.html