are yōkai

Yōkai

are a class of supernatural monsters in Japanese folklore. The word yōkai is made up of the kanji for "otherworldly" and "weird". Yōkai range eclectically from the malevolent to the mischievous, or occasionally bring good fortune to those who encounter them...

 found in Japanese folklore

Japanese folklore

The folklore of Japan is heavily influenced by both Shinto and Buddhism, the two primary religions in the country. It often involves humorous or bizarre characters and situations and also includes an assortment of supernatural beings, such as bodhisattva, kami , yōkai , yūrei ,...

. They look like normal human beings

Human

Humans are the only living species in the Homo genus...

 by day, but at night they gain the ability to stretch their necks to great lengths. They can also change their faces to those of terrifying oni to better scare mortals.

In their daytime human forms, rokurokubi often live undetected and may even take mortal spouses. Many rokurokubi become so accustomed to such a life that they take great pains to keep their demonic forms secret. They are trickster

Trickster

In mythology, and in the study of folklore and religion, a trickster is a god, goddess, spirit, man, woman, or anthropomorphic animal who plays tricks or otherwise disobeys normal rules and conventional behavior. It is suggested by Hansen that the term "Trickster" was probably first used in this...

s by nature, however, and the urge to frighten and spy

Voyeurism

In clinical psychology, voyeurism is the sexual interest in or practice of spying on people engaged in intimate behaviors, such as undressing, sexual activity, or other activity usually considered to be of a private nature....

 on human beings is hard to resist. Some rokurokubi thus resort to revealing themselves only to drunkards

Alcoholism

Alcoholism is a broad term for problems with alcohol, and is generally used to mean compulsive and uncontrolled consumption of alcoholic beverages, usually to the detriment of the drinker's health, personal relationships, and social standing...

, fool

Foolishness

Foolishness is the lack of wisdom. In this sense it differs from stupidity, which is the lack of intelligence. An act of foolishness is sometimes referred to as a folly....

s, the sleeping, or the blind

Blindness

Blindness is the condition of lacking visual perception due to physiological or neurological factors.Various scales have been developed to describe the extent of vision loss and define blindness...

 in order to satisfy these urges. Other rokurokubi have no such compunctions and go about frightening mortals with abandon. A few, it is said, are not even aware of their true nature and consider themselves normal humans. This last group stretch their necks out while asleep in an involuntary action

Automatic behavior

Automatic behavior, from the Greek automatos or self-acting, is the spontaneous production of often purposeless verbal or motor behavior without conscious self-control or self-censorship...

; upon waking up in the morning, they find they have weird dreams regarding seeing their surroundings in unnatural angles.

According to some tales, rokurokubi were once normal human beings but were transformed by karma

Karma

Karma in Indian religions is the concept of "action" or "deed", understood as that which causes the entire cycle of cause and effect originating in ancient India and treated in Hindu, Jain, Buddhist and Sikh philosophies....

 for breaking various precepts of Buddhism

Buddhism

Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...

. Often, these rokurokubi are truly sinister in nature, eating people or drinking their blood

Blood

Blood is a specialized bodily fluid in animals that delivers necessary substances such as nutrients and oxygen to the cells and transports metabolic waste products away from those same cells....

 rather than merely frightening them. These demonic

Demon

call - 1347 531 7769 for more infoIn Ancient Near Eastern religions as well as in the Abrahamic traditions, including ancient and medieval Christian demonology, a demon is considered an "unclean spirit" which may cause demonic possession, to be addressed with an act of exorcism...

 rokurokubi often have a favored prey, such as others who have broken Buddhist doctrine or human men.

Tanuki

Tanuki

is the common Japanese name for the Japanese raccoon dog . They have been part of Japanese folklore since ancient times...

 often imitated rokurokubi when playing practical joke

Practical joke

A practical joke is a mischievous trick played on someone, typically causing the victim to experience embarrassment, indignity, or discomfort. Practical jokes differ from confidence tricks in that the victim finds out, or is let in on the joke, rather than being fooled into handing over money or...

s on people.

Rokurokubi in Anime and Manga

• Chuda Chiaki in Legend of the Five Rings
  Legend of the Five Rings
  Legend of the Five Rings is a fictional setting created by the John Wick and published by Alderac Entertainment Group in 1995. The setting primarily involves the fictional country of Rokugan, though some additional areas and cultures have been discussed. Rokugan is based roughly on feudal Japan...
  
  is a rokurokubi.

• In the manga/anime Yu Yu Hakusho the right hand of Raizen whom is sent to retrieve Yusuke Urameshi, Hokushin is shown to be able to stretch his neck and body to great lengths.

• Miki Hosokawa in the manga/anime Hell Teacher Nūbē
  Hell Teacher Nube
  is a horror-comedy manga created by the collaborative efforts of writer and artist Takeshi Okano in Shueisha's manga anthology book Weekly Shōnen Jump. The series ran for 276 chapters from Issue 38, 1993 through Issue 24, 1999...
  
  is a rokurokubi.

• Rokurokubi are in the film Pom Poko
  Pom Poko
  is a 1994 Japanese animated film, the eighth written and directed by Isao Takahata and animated by Studio Ghibli.Consistent with Japanese folklore, the tanuki are portrayed as a highly sociable, mischievous species, able to use "illusion science" to transform into almost anything, but too...
  
  , during the "Operation Specter" scene.

• Inuyasha, in the series of Inuyasha
  InuYasha
  , also known as , is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Rumiko Takahashi. It premiered in Weekly Shōnen Sunday on November 13, 1996 and concluded on June 18, 2008...
  
  fights with a "Spider Head" , probably inspired by the rokurokubi.

External references

• The Obakemono Project: Rokurokubi