Tradition: Japanese Mythology
Alternative Names: 姥ヶ火, 姥火, Old Woman’s Fire
Category: Flame
The Myth
The Ubagabi, meaning “Old Woman’s Fire,” is a mysterious ghost light from Japanese mythology, associated with Kawachi Province, now part of Osaka Prefecture, and Tanba Province, in northern Kyoto Prefecture. It typically appears on rainy nights as a glowing ball of fire approximately thirty centimetres in diameter. In some accounts, the flame can suddenly rush toward a traveller and strike them in the face before transforming into a strange, chicken-like bird. When the creature flies away, it returns to its original form as a ball of fire.
One legend from Kawachi tells of an old woman who stole oil from Hiraoka Shrine. As punishment for her theft, she was transformed into the Ubagabi, condemned to wander as a supernatural flame. According to another account, recorded in Ihara Saikaku’s collection of tales, the fire could travel approximately four kilometres in an instant. Anyone whose shoulder it brushed was said to die within three years. However, the Ubagabi could supposedly be made to disappear by calling out the words “abura-sashi,” meaning “oil pourer,” a reference to the theft that caused its transformation.
Another legend, associated with the Hozu River near Kameoka in Kyoto Prefecture, tells of an old woman who accepted money from parents on the promise that she would take them to people they wished to visit. Instead, she threw their children into the river. Eventually, a flood drowned the woman, which was interpreted as divine punishment for her crimes. After her death, a mysterious flame began appearing near the river, and people came to know it as the Ubagabi.
The Ubagabi also appears in Toriyama Sekien’s illustrated collection Gazu Hyakki Yagyō, where its supernatural flames contain the face of an old woman. The accompanying description associates the creature with Kawachi Province. Across these different accounts, the Ubagabi is linked to wrongdoing and punishment, its ghostly fire serving as the lingering manifestation of an old woman’s crimes.
Sources
“Ubagabi.” Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation. Accessed October 11, 2026. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ubagabi