Tradition: Japanese mythology
Alternative Names: Kurozuka, Demon of Adachigahara, Onibaba (鬼婆)
Category: Demon
The Myth
Kurozuka is a demonic woman who haunts the moors of Adachigahara. She is also known as the Demon of Adachigahara or Onibaba, the demon hag. Her original human form was that of a nanny, but after committing a terrible murder and discovering the identity of her victim, she lost her sanity and was transformed into a yokai.
Long ago, a wealthy noble couple had a daughter who was extremely sickly. Even though she was five years old, she had never spoken a word. After consulting priests and doctors, the couple finally met a doctor who claimed that the only cure was the fresh liver of an unborn fetus.
The couple ordered their daughter’s nanny to obtain the liver. Expecting the search to take a long time, the nanny prepared for a journey. She gave the girl a protective charm and promised that she would not return until she had obtained the liver.
The nanny traveled for days, then months, and eventually years, but could not find anyone willing to sacrifice their unborn child. Her search eventually brought her to the moors of Adachigahara in Fukushima. Desperate, she decided that if no one would give her a liver, she would have to take one herself. She made her home in a cave beside the road and waited for a pregnant traveler to pass.
Many years later, a lone pregnant woman finally appeared. The nanny sprang from her cave and killed her with a knife. She cut open the woman’s belly, killed the unborn child, and took its liver.
Only afterward did she look closely at her victim and recognize the protective charm around the woman’s neck. It was the very same charm she had given to the noble couple’s daughter many years earlier. The pregnant woman was the girl she had left behind.
The realization of what she had done drove the nanny insane, and she transformed into a yokai. She became a powerful demon woman capable of using supernatural abilities to lure travelers into her shelter. She would invite them to spend the night and then murder them while they slept. For many years she remained on the moors of Adachigahara, killing lone travelers who passed her cave and eating their remains.
In the Noh version of the story, Kurozuka is eventually visited by traveling Buddhist priests. She intends to kill them, but while she is away gathering firewood, the priests discover a room filled with corpses and human bones. They realize that the woman is the Demon of Adachigahara.
Kurozuka returns and pursues the priests, but they use Buddhist prayers to hold her back and drive the evil spirit from her. Once the demon is expelled from her body, she returns to the form of an old woman and dies.
The monks bury her remains and construct a grave among the black mounds where she had haunted and murdered travelers.
Sources
“Kurozuka.” Yokai.com: The Japanese Yokai Encyclopedia. Accessed September 9, 2026. https://yokai.com/kurozuka/