Tradition / Region: Japanese Mythology
Alternative names: Wild Horse
Category: Horse

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The Myth

Nouma is a one-eyed man-eating yōkai from the folklore of Hinui Village in Ōchi District, Shimane Prefecture.

The creature is associated with the time when iron was produced in local tatara furnaces. One night, while a worker was sleeping at a smelting site, a mysterious woman suddenly appeared and lay over his body.

At the same time, the eerie neighing of the Nouma echoed in the distance. The creature gradually approached the furnace and peered inside through a high window. However, the moment it saw the woman, it immediately fled in terror.

The mysterious woman was later believed to have been Kanayago, the goddess of ironworking and metallurgy, whose presence protected the worker from the man-eating Nouma.

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Sources

TYZ. (n.d.). 野馬 (Nouma). In 新版TYZ 妖怪図鑑. Retrieved June 29, 2026, from https://tyz-yokai.blog.jp/archives/1010655022.html

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Tradition / Region: Japanese Mythology
Alternative names: Foolish
Category: Horse

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The Myth

Umashika is a yōkai depicted in Edo-period monster picture scrolls, including the Hyakki Yagyō Emaki preserved in the Matsui Bunko collection.

The creature has a beast-like appearance with a long face resembling that of a horse, deer-like hooves, and a single horn. It wears clothing and is distinguished by one eye that protrudes from its socket.

It is believed that Umashika was created through a visual play on the Japanese word baka (“fool”), giving the yōkai its unusual form rather than deriving it from an older folk tradition.

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Sources

TYZ. (n.d.). 馬鹿 (Umashika). In 新版TYZ 妖怪図鑑. Retrieved June 29, 2026, from https://tyz-yokai.blog.jp/archives/1010655018.html.

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Tradition / Region: Japanese Mythology
Alternative names: Horse Lord
Category: Horse

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The Myth

Umadono is a horse yōkai depicted in the 1788 illustrated work Yōkai Chakutōchō (A Record of the Arrival of Monsters) by Kitao Masami.

In the illustration, Umadono appears among a gathering of yōkai celebrating a feast on an inauspicious day. He is shown beating a drum while a cat dressed in similar clothing plays the shamisen and a fox performs the Shinoda-zuma dance. The accompanying text simply states, “Umadono is beating the drum.”

The image is based on a traditional Japanese metaphor in which “a horse beating a drum” refers to a stallion in heat. Similar depictions of horse monsters playing drums also appear in other kibyōshi (illustrated yellow-covered books) of the Edo period.

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Sources

TYZ. (n.d.). 馬殿 (Umadono). In 新版TYZ 妖怪図鑑. Retrieved June 29, 2026, from https://tyz-yokai.blog.jp/archives/1010654092.html

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Tradition / Region: Japanese Mythology
Alternative names: Horse Leg
Category: Horse

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The Myth

Uma-ashi is a strange supernatural phenomenon from the folklore of Fukuoka Prefecture in Japan. Rather than appearing as an entire horse, only an enormous horse’s leg manifests.

According to one legend, a horse’s leg hangs down at night from the branch of a tree growing out of an old wall. Anyone unfortunate enough to walk beneath it is kicked by the phantom limb.

Another tradition from Harukoga in Kurume City tells of a gigantic horse’s leg, about ten feet long, descending from a large hackberry tree at midnight. Local people attributed this eerie apparition to the magical powers of a tanuki (raccoon dog).

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Sources

TYZ. (n.d.). 馬足 (Uma-ashi). In 新版TYZ 妖怪図鑑. Retrieved June 29, 2026, from https://tyz-yokai.blog.jp/archives/1010655024.html

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Tradition / Region: Japanese Mythology
Alternative names: Iron Horse
Category: Horse

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The Myth

Tetsume, the Iron Horse, is one of the infernal creatures that inhabit the Iron Chariot, Iron Ox, Iron Donkey, and Iron Horse Hell, one of the Buddhist hells reserved for monks who have broken their religious vows. This realm is described in the Mahayana Lotus Sutra: Questions and Answers of Bodhisattva Retribution, included in the thirty-volume Buddha’s Name Sutra.

The hell is surrounded by four gates and an immense iron fortress. Within it, blazing fires rage as burning iron chariots race through the infernal landscape. Horse-headed rakshasas, iron oxen, iron donkeys, and the Iron Horse relentlessly torment the damned.

The Iron Horse is covered with a mane and tangled tail as sharp as sword blades. It breathes flames and smoke as it charges through the fiery realm.

Sinners are forced onto the backs of the Iron Horses, where they are cut by the razor-sharp mane and tail. Powerful blows from the creature’s tail crush their bodies. Although the condemned die from these agonies, they are immediately restored to life, only to endure the same punishments again for all eternity.

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Sources

TYZ. (n.d.). 鉄目 (Tetsume). In 新版TYZ 妖怪図鑑. Retrieved June 29, 2026, from https://tyz-yokai.blog.jp/archives/1010655037.html

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Tradition / Region: Japanese Mythology
Alternative names: Traveler’s Horse
Category: Horse

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The Myth

The Tabibitoma is a folktale told in several regions of Japan, including Kyushu and the San’in region.

The story tells of two close friends, one the son of a wealthy family and the other from a poor household. Although their backgrounds differed, they set out together on a journey. When night fell, they found lodging in a stranger’s house.

During the night, the poor boy secretly watched the woman of the house behaving strangely beside the hearth. After raking the ashes, she sowed rice seeds into them. The rice instantly grew to maturity, and she harvested it to make dumplings.

The following morning, the travelers were served the dumplings. Despite his friend’s warnings not to eat them, the wealthy boy tasted one. The moment he swallowed it, he was transformed into a horse.

The woman placed a bridle on the transformed boy and led him away to work as a horse, while the poor traveler escaped. Along the road he met an old man, who listened to his story and revealed that an eggplant tree bearing seven eggplants facing east could reverse the enchantment. If one of those eggplants were fed to the horse, it would become human again.

After searching for several days, the poor boy finally found the magical tree. He returned to the house, where his friend had become weak and emaciated from hard labor in the fields. He forced the seven eggplants into the horse’s mouth, and the spell was immediately broken.

The two friends returned home and told their families what had happened. Deeply moved by the poor boy’s loyalty and courage, the wealthy boy’s father bestowed his fortune upon him. The two friends then lived happily together for the rest of their lives.

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Sources

TYZ. (n.d.). 旅人馬 (Tabibitoma). In 新版TYZ 妖怪図鑑. Retrieved June 29, 2026, from https://tyz-yokai.blog.jp/archives/1010655044.html

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Tradition / Region: Japanese Mythology
Alternative names: –
Category: Horse

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The Myth

Sagari is a yōkai found in the folklore of western Japan, particularly in Okayama and Kumamoto prefectures. It appears as the grotesque severed head of a horse hanging from the branches of hackberry trees.

The apparition suddenly drops down in front of travelers passing beneath the trees, startling them with its horrifying appearance. It does little else besides hanging from the branches, screaming and neighing with an unnatural cry.

Those who hear the Sagari’s eerie whinnying are said to be afflicted with a terrible fever.

According to tradition, the Sagari originates from the spirits of horses that die on the roadside and are abandoned where they fall. As the souls of these horses rise from their bodies, some become trapped in nearby hackberry trees. Unable to pass on to the next world, they transform into the yōkai known as Sagari.

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Sources

Foster, M. D. (n.d.). Sagari. In Yokai.com: The Illustrated Database of Japanese Folklore. Retrieved June 29, 2026, from https://yokai.com/sagari/

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Tradition / Region: Japanese Mythology
Alternative names: Headless Horse, Head-cutting Horse
Category: Horse

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The Myth

Kubiki-uma is a yōkai that appears as a horse without a head. It is known throughout various parts of Japan, although the traditions of Shikoku, particularly Tokushima Prefecture, are the most famous.

While the details differ from region to region, the stories generally agree that the headless horse appears at a specific place and time, wandering silently through the night. Sometimes it appears alone, while in other tales it carries a deity, a headless person, or a yōkai known as Yakō-san.

Encountering a Kubiki-uma is generally regarded as a sign of misfortune. However, in some areas, such as Tamagawa Town in Ehime Prefecture, seeing the headless horse is considered a good omen instead.

Various legends explain the origin of the Kubiki-uma. Some say it is the spirit of a horse that was loved by a princess but was killed out of jealousy. Other traditions claim it is the ghost of a horse slain together with the monk riding it, or of a horse killed by thieves after they broke into a temple.

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Sources

TYZ. (n.d.). クビキ馬 (Kubiki-uma). In 新版TYZ 妖怪図鑑. Retrieved June 29, 2026, from https://tyz-yokai.blog.jp/archives/1010655026.html

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Tradition / Region: Japanese Mythology
Alternative names: Horse Demon
Category: Horse

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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.

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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

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