Tradition: Japanese Mythology
Alternative Names: もぬけ
Category: Monkey
The Myth
The Mononuke is a mysterious supernatural being described in Senkyō Ibun, a collection of accounts attributed to Torakichi, a boy who claimed to have lived among the mountain-dwelling people associated with tengu. According to his testimony, monkeys can grow extraordinarily large as they age, eventually standing upright and walking on two legs. Their heads develop long hair, their eyes shine with exceptional brilliance, and they acquire supernatural abilities that allow them to perform extraordinary feats.
If such a monkey survives for several thousand years, it may eventually burst into flames and burn its own body to ashes. From within the burning body emerges a new form, hairless and shaped much like a human being. This being is called a Mononuke. Although it usually possesses a human-like appearance, it can occasionally return to the form of a monkey and mingle with ordinary monkeys.
Torakichi claimed that his teacher, Sugiyama Sōshō, had once shown him the moment when a human-shaped being emerged from the burned body of an ancient monkey. He was instructed to observe such transformations, suggesting that the Mononuke represented one of the extraordinary forms that a supernatural monkey could attain after an immense lifespan.
Sources
“Monuke.” 新版TYZ 妖怪図鑑 (New TYZ Yokai Encyclopedia). https://tyz-yokai.blog.jp/archives/1051544881.html