Yamabiko, the Echo in the Mountains
In Japan, when you shout in the mountains and hear your voice come back, people once said it was a spirit answering.
What was reported
Yamabiko is a spirit of Japanese folklore that lives in the mountains and valleys. When someone calls out and an echo replies, slightly late, it's the yamabiko copying their voice.
Old picture books show it as a small, dog-like or monkey-like creature crouching among the rocks. In some places the yamabiko was thought to answer with mischief, saying things back a little differently.
Explanations offered
An echo is sound bouncing back from a cliff or slope, delayed by the time it takes to travel there and back. The word yamabiko is still the everyday Japanese word for an echo in the mountains.
- When
- Told for centuries
- Where
- As told across Japan's mountains
- Witnesses
- Japanese folklore
- Status
- Legend
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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