Tradition / Region: Japanese mythology
Alternate Names: Mountain crocodile
Category: Mountain dweller, yōkai, Crocodile
The Myth
In the old illustrated scroll known as the Tosa Obake Zōshi, there appears a strange creature called the Yamawani—the Mountain Crocodile.
It is shown with a grotesquely large mouth, wide and thick-lipped, dominating its face. Its body is less clearly described than its jaws, for it is the mouth that defines it: heavy, fleshy, and capable of swallowing great things in a single gulp.
In the scroll, the Yamawani is said to speak of its kin. “My cousin lives in the sea,” it boasts, referring to the crocodile or shark of the waters. “He too is thick-mouthed and can lick up anything in one bite.” The creature claims a kind of family pride in its devouring nature. Even the crocodile carved or imagined at temples—known for their gaping jaws—is said to share this thick-mouthed likeness.
The Yamawani’s voice is described as making a peculiar sound—“tickle, tickle”—as though it mutters or chuckles through its massive jaws. Whether this is a threat, a laugh, or simply the grinding of its teeth is unclear.
It is not told that it hunts men, nor that it brings disaster like other mountain spirits. Instead, it lingers in the strange borderland between beast and caricature, a mountain echo of the sea’s crocodile, defined by its monstrous mouth and its unsettling presence in the wilderness.
Thus the Yamawani remains in the scrolls: a thick-mouthed being of the mountains, grinning in silence, its jaws large enough to swallow anything in a single bite.
Gallery
Sources
TYZ-Yokai Blog contributors. (n.d.). 転倒お化け (Yamawani). In TYZ-Yokai Blog, from https://tyz-yokai.blog.jp/archives/1010653500.html
Interpretive Lenses
Religious Readings
- Christian Ascetic Deep Dive
Philosophical Readings
- Nietzschean Deep Dive
Psychological Readings
- Jungian Deep Dive
Esoteric Deep Dive
- Hermetic Deep Dive
Political / Social Readings
- Marxist Deep Dive
Other
- How to Invite The Yamawani