Japanese Horror Stories
Nukekubi

Rokurokubi (f)

Rokurokubi ( ⁇ ) said to have an ordinary human form during the day, but at night, his head will float and connect to his neck with a long white thread like a very long neck. The story begins in the Edo period, when the white thread symbolizes the relationship between body and soul (head as soul), but is often mistaken for an elongated neck. Therefore, in today's times, Rokurokubi is more often depicted with modern interpretations than based on fairy tales from ancient times.

Origin of Rokurokubi: Nukekubi ( ⁇ )

Before Rokurokubi was known in the Edo period, there was an even older story that told about Nukekubi (the freelance head). The oldest story about Nukekubi dates back to 1663 which described Nukekubi as a soul separated from the body of a woman, then the shape of her soul changed to the head, which was then the shape of her soul, it floated off at night when his body was sleeping. This story does not say that his head is completely separated from the body. The story only says that the head floated this woman was seen by a man, and she then chased after the head with a sword. The woman then awakens because she says she has a nightmare where a man with a sword is chasing her. So the headless body element itself never existed in the old story.

After rokurokubi became more famous than nukekubi, rokurokubi was depicted with something white and thick appearing from her chest, hiding her true head with a very long neck.

Influenced by stories and tales from other countries

Because this story used to appear when Japan held trade with China and Southeast Asian countries, the story of nukekubi is believed to receive influence from the stories of other countries. When Japan closed itself off in the Edo period, the story gradually turned into rokurokubi.

In China there is a so-called hitoban ( ⁇ ) or headless barbarians. The head can come off and the ears flap like wings and these ghosts often eat insects. There is also a rakuto ( ⁇ ) whose head can also come off and float, but the ears do not flap.

Cause: illness or karma

In the early stories nukekubi told that his head was not completely detached from the body, but because of a certain disease, his soul detached from the body when sleeping and was seen to those around as the head floated. Although most stories tell of nukekubi as a woman, there are also stories of men in Shousai Hikki ( ⁇ ). This man said that this disease is common in his hometown, Shimosa Province (Chiba Prefecture in modern times).

Later stories depict nukekubi or rokurokubi with ring-shaped wounds around their necks. There are also several villages on Mount Yoshino where all residents always wear scarves.

In the later Edo period there are also some stories that state that rokurokubi is actually a disease, take the example of a brothel in Yoshiwara where a woman's neck is elongated (although not too long) when she sleeps. This story says that the heart of the woman became shaky.

Many stories also state that a person can become a nukekubi or rokurokubi due to karma (charity and charity). In many Southeast Asian stories, head floats with connected organs are believed to have originated from those who practiced black magic and this magic alone transformed them, cursing them into creepy cannibal creatures. Recent stories have referred to this as a curse involving drugs made with black magic, such as special oils applied around the neck or spit from the creature itself.

In the Edo period there was a story about a hotel keeper who killed a woman to steal her money. And when she opened her hotel, her daughter was born a rokurokubi. Her daughter later married a monk who had escaped from the temple, but she was later uprooted by illness. The monk then killed his wife when they ran out of money. When the same monk went to a hotel and slept with a woman he had met there, the woman's neck then elongated and her face changed to the face of his wife whom he had killed. That face also conveyed all of his anger. Feeling remorseful, the monk returned and told the father of his wife, The hotel keeper also told the monk his past. The monk then returned the temple and built a grave for his wife.