Tradition / Region: Japanese Mythology
Alternative names: Horse Demon
Category: Horse
The Myth
Giba is a yōkai described in the Sōzan Chōmon Kishū, where it is blamed for the sudden and mysterious deaths of horses. In the provinces of Owari and Mino, the fatal disease known as Teima was instead believed to be the work of this horse demon.
According to tradition, Giba enters a horse through its nostrils and leaves through its hindquarters, causing the animal to collapse and die almost instantly.
One account recorded by Miyoshi Sōzan comes from Yoshimatsu, a former horse handler from Mino Province who claimed to have encountered Giba twice. Local people believed that the demon was the spirit of the daughter of an Eta family from Ōtsu in Ōmi Province, who became a Giba after her death and wandered the countryside killing horses.
The demon was described as a woman dressed in scarlet robes and wearing a golden necklace while riding a small horse with an iridescent golden sheen. She descended silently from the sky like a kite. As she approached, the horses in nearby stables would begin to neigh strangely. Her small mount would leap upon a larger horse, pressing its forelegs against the victim’s mouth while its hind legs gripped the ears and mane. As the creature clung tightly to the horse’s face, the demon smiled before vanishing. Immediately afterward, the horse would turn three times to the right, collapse, and die.
Experienced stable hands were said to know how to save a horse from Giba. They wore their work jackets loosely without fastening them. As soon as the demon seized the horse, they slipped the right sleeve from the jacket, draped it over the horse’s neck together with the invisible demon, forced the horse to turn left instead of right, and pierced the spine above its tail with a needle. If performed in time, these actions were believed to drive away Giba and save the animal.
The Sōzan Chōmon Kishū also records other stories of horses dying in succession because of Giba, making the creature one of the most feared supernatural causes of disease among horses in regional Japanese folklore.
Sources
TYZ. (n.d.). ギバ (Giba). In 新版TYZ 妖怪図鑑. Retrieved June 29, 2026, from https://tyz-yokai.blog.jp/archives/1010655041.html