Tradition / Region: Japanese Mythology
Alternative names: Boneless Woman, Jellyfish Woman
Category: Ghost
The Myth
The Hone-onna, or Boneless Woman, is a strange ghost said to originate from Habayama Mountain in Shioe. According to tradition, she was once a jellyfish that lived for so long that it transformed into a woman, though one without any bones.
The creature is associated with death and mourning. Whenever someone dies, the Hone-onna is said to visit the house of the deceased. Night after night, she appears in the garden, clinging to the branches of trees.
There she plays by herself and laughs, seemingly unaware of the living around her. Her eerie laughter echoes through the darkness while she sways among the trees, returning again and again to places touched by death.
Unlike many violent spirits, the Hone-onna is not known for attacking people. Instead, she is remembered as a strange and unsettling apparition—a boneless woman who arrives whenever death enters a household and spends the night laughing alone among the garden trees.
Sources
TYZ. (n.d.). Hone-Onna [骨女]. In 新版TYZ 妖怪図鑑. Retrieved June 20, 2026, from https://tyz-yokai.blog.jp/archives/1010654275.html