The Gashadokuro
A skeleton fifteen times taller than a man, made from the bones of the unburied dead, is said to roam Japan at night. The rattle of its bones is the only warning.
What was reported
The gashadokuro, sometimes translated as the 'starving skeleton', is a giant skeleton yōkai said to form from the bones of people who died in famine or battle and were never buried. It walks at night with a rattling 'gasha gasha' sound and seizes anyone out alone.
It's often illustrated with a famous woodblock print by Utagawa Kuniyoshi, from around 1844, showing a princess, Takiyasha, summoning a huge skeleton to frighten a warrior at the ruined palace of her father, the rebel Taira no Masakado, in what's now Ibaraki.
Explanations offered
The name and story of the gashadokuro seem to come from Japanese books on yōkai published in the mid-20th century, so it's a fairly modern addition to folklore. Kuniyoshi's print, which shows a different story, became attached to it later. Its image of the unburied dead draws on very old fears from times of war and famine.
- When
- Described since the 20th century; the print dates from about 1844
- Where
- Bandō, Ibaraki, Japan
- Witnesses
- Japanese folklore books and Edo-period art
- Status
- Modern invention
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.
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