Tradition / Region: Japanese Mythology
Alternate Names: Wau, Wauawu
Category: Mountain dweller, Yokai
The Myth
In the mountains near Karimata, at the foot of Mount Hotaka, there is said to be a strange being called Waawu, named for the cry it makes in the night.
Long ago, a hunter from a nearby village went into the mountains and stayed overnight in a small hut. In the middle of the night he heard a terrifying voice echo through the darkness.
“Wauawu! Wauawu!”
Something rushed toward the hut and began to shake it violently. The walls rattled and the beams creaked, but the hunter could not see what attacked him. Frozen with fear, he waited for morning and fled back to the village, telling everyone a Waawu had appeared.
Some days later, several villagers went into the mountains to gather lumber and stayed in the same hut. As night fell, they heard the same cry approaching through the forest.
“Waawu… Wauawu…”
The sound grew louder and louder until their bodies seemed to go numb. Too frightened to leave, they remained inside the hut for several days.
One night the creature returned again, screaming “Waa-woo! Waa-woo!” and shaking the hut so violently it seemed it would collapse. The men huddled together and chanted, “Far-off Kuwabara, far-off Kuwabara,” praying for safety until dawn.
When morning finally came, they fled back to the village and told what had happened.
From then on, the place where the cries were heard was called Waa-woo Sawa—Wau Valley—named after the unseen monster whose voice once shook the mountain huts in the night.
Gallery
Sources
tyz-yokai.blog.jp contributors. (n.d.). Waawu. In tyz-yokai.blog.jp, from https://tyz-yokai.blog.jp/archives/1077741604.html
Interpretive Lenses
Religious Readings
- Christian Ascetic Deep Dive
Philosophical Readings
- Nietzschean Deep Dive
Psychological Readings
- Jungian Deep Dive
Esoteric Deep Dive
- Hermetic Deep Dive
Political / Social Readings
- Marxist Deep Dive
Other
- How to Invite The Waawu