Tradition / Region: Japanese Mythology
Alternative names: Tanaka no Mahito Hiromushime, Hiromushi-onna
Category: Cow
The Myth
Hiromushime was a wealthy woman from Sanuki Province who possessed cattle, horses, slaves, rice, money, and farmland. She was extremely miserly and exploited those around her through dishonest trade and harsh lending practices.
When selling sake, she diluted it with water to increase her profits. When lending rice and other goods, she used small measures and scales, but when collecting repayment she used larger ones. Some of her debtors were forced to abandon their homes and flee to other provinces.
In 776, Hiromushime became seriously ill. Shortly before her death, she told her husband and sons about a dream in which she had been brought before King Yama. She was shown three offenses: taking things belonging to temples and monks without repayment, adulterating sake for profit, and using different measures when lending and collecting debts.
Hiromushime died that same day. Her family decided to pray for her rather than cremate her body, gathering monks and ascetics to perform religious rites for nine days.
On the seventh day, Hiromushime suddenly returned to life and opened her coffin. Her body had been horribly transformed. Her upper body had become that of a cow, a horn had grown from her forehead, and her hands had become hooves. Only the lower half of her body retained its human form.
She no longer wanted ordinary food and instead ate grass, chewing it repeatedly and spitting it out before eating it again. She also lived without clothing and showed no concern for where she slept or defecated.
News of the transformation spread, and crowds gathered from surrounding areas to see her. Her family was filled with shame and grief and began making religious vows to atone for her wrongdoing.
They donated large amounts of property to temples, including seventy cows, thirty horses, rice fields, and thousands of bundles of rice. They also forgave all the debts owed by the people from whom Hiromushime had previously demanded repayment.
Five days later, while the provincial authorities were preparing their report about the strange event, Hiromushime died for a second time.
Sources
Takahashi, Toshihiro. “広虫女 (Hiromushime).” 新版TYZ 妖怪図鑑 (New TYZ Yokai Encyclopedia). April 19, 2014. https://tyz-yokai.blog.jp/archives/1010655084.html?