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The Rokurokubi

VisitorsJapan · Told since the Edo periodLegend
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In Japanese folklore, a woman who seems ordinary by day has a neck that stretches across the room at night while she sleeps.

What was reported

Rokurokubi are yokai, supernatural beings of Japanese folklore, that look like ordinary people by day. At night, while they sleep, their necks stretch to great lengths, and their heads wander around the house, sometimes licking the oil from the lamps.

Many are said not to know they are rokurokubi at all, and stories tell of travellers waking at an inn to see a head drifting across the ceiling.

Explanations offered

They're creatures of folklore, popular in Edo-period stories and woodblock prints. A related type, the nukekubi, has a head that detaches completely. Lafcadio Hearn's collection Kwaidan brought them to Western readers.

When
Told since the Edo period
Where
Japan
Witnesses
Japanese tradition
Status
Legend
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