Tradition / Region: Japanese mythology
Alternate Names: Satoru, Omoi, Yamaoni, Kuronbo
Category: Mountain dweller, yōkai
The Myth
Deep in the mountains of Japan, from Tōhoku in the north to Kyūshū in the south, there are tales of a strange being known as the Satori.
It comes quietly to lonely mountain huts where woodcutters, hunters, or fishermen are spending the night. The fire burns low, the wind moves through the trees, and suddenly the creature appears at the doorway or just beyond the light of the hearth.
The Satori is dark-skinned and long-haired, humanlike yet wild in appearance. But its most terrifying trait is not its shape—it is its voice.
Before the startled traveler can speak, the creature begins to recite his thoughts aloud.
“If I stay still, perhaps it will leave.”
“You are thinking of running.”
“You are wondering if you can strike me with that axe.”
Each secret fear, each hidden plan, the Satori speaks before the human can act. No thought can be concealed from it. It mocks hesitation, anticipates attacks, and laughs at every desperate scheme forming in the mind of its victim.
If it chooses, it will try to seize and devour the traveler. Yet the creature’s power has one weakness: it knows only what is intended.
In many tellings, the human, driven to panic, stirs the fire or tosses wood into the hearth. By chance, a log explodes in the flames, sending sparks and splinters flying. The Satori, unable to foresee this accidental burst, is struck and startled.
“This thing does what I did not expect!” it cries.
And with that, the mind-reading monster flees into the darkness of the mountains.
Thus the Satori lingers in remote forests and high valleys—watching, listening, waiting for stray travelers whose thoughts it can plunder. It does not fear strength, nor weapons, nor clever plans. It fears only the unforeseen—the sudden spark, the accident, the moment beyond intention.
For even a creature that reads every thought cannot guard against what no one meant to happen.
Gallery
Sources
TYZ-Yokai Blog contributors. (n.d.). 猿飛 (Satori). In TYZ-Yokai Blog, from https://tyz-yokai.blog.jp/archives/1010653523.html
Interpretive Lenses
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Other
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