Yokai of Chūbu

The beast that rides the lightning down — in some tellings tearing apart the tree it lands in.

A short, thick snake shaped like a wooden mallet. Japanese towns have offered reward money for one since 1989.

A man with two faces, four arms and four legs, who drew a bow with every hand at once.

A stone at the edge of the village, given offerings at New Year, standing where the road stops being yours.

Fingers on a coin, a sheet of yes and no, and a fox, a dog, and a tanuki written over a foreign game.

A train ride, told live on a forum in 2004, ends at a station that is not on any timetable.

A one-legged old woman in the snow. You can follow her prints, and there is only ever one line.

A floating ball of fire with a human face in it, lured closer by slapping a straw sandal three times.

Stones fall from the sky with no thrower ever seen, blamed on a tengu.

A child walks past the edge of the village and does not come back, and the search party knows which word to use for it.

An old woman who runs alongside speeding cars on all fours, a paper reading 'Turbo' taped to her back.

A red-robed monk who turns up in three unrelated stories — a stolen temple bell, a court omen, and a lantern on the shore.

The spirit of a banana plant that takes a woman's shape at night and speaks to whoever answers.

Sparks that cling to a traveler's straw cape on rainy nights—and multiply if you try to brush them off.

A hairy hag from a 1776 picture, later linked to a mountain woman who spins hemp at superhuman speed.

A masked woman who asks 'Am I pretty?'—then removes the mask to reveal a mouth slit ear to ear.

A monstrous head that plummets from treetops to snatch anyone passing beneath at night.

Footsteps with no body that follow a person walking a dark road at night. Step to the side, let it go first, and it leaves.

A little general armored in cast-off cups and plates who marshals the household crockery.

A Japanese merfolk—part human, part fish—whose flesh grants immortality to whoever eats it.

A river otter that shapeshifts and plays tricks, a smaller cousin of the kappa.

A giant spider that takes the form of a seductive woman to ensnare men.

Whirlwind weasels that slash a traveler's legs with sickle-like claws, leaving painless wounds.

A serpent-bodied woman by the water who lures victims to their doom.

A pale, beautiful woman of the snowstorm who freezes travelers to death.