Rokurokubi: The Long Neck of Karma

Hello One and All!

At night the rokurokubi's head roams around, licking and causing mischief wherever it goes. These beings, from the rich folklore of Japan, aren't monsters though - they are in fact humans who committed an immoral act or who had to bear the burden of a sin. What looks like a long neck is in actual fact a string connecting the body and the soul. One tale details how the rokurokubi connects with the principle of karma.



Rokurokubi: The Long Neck of Karma

Once, long ago, there was a monk Kaishin from the Totomi Province, who eloped with Oyotsu, a daughter of a samurai. The lovers walked towards Kanto but their progress was slow; Oyotsu was sick and unfit, as well as a profligate, and so she burned through their purse. They started to ascend the mountains between the border of Suruga and Kai provinces, when Kaishin, in the spur of the moment, pushed his lover down the ravine. Screams rang out but he blocked his ears and ran away.

Monk Saigye by Ogata Gekkō.


Kaishin reached Edo, changed his name to Fujioka Uzen, and tried to forget about his former life and the act he had committed. While he travelled to Osaka he passed the ravine where he had pushed and left Oyotsu to die twenty years ago. All the memories he had tried to suppress came rushing back and he was unable to walk any further, so he went to an inn nearby to spend the night.

The moment he entered the establishment he was struck by the beauty and charm of the daughter of the innkeeper. As he lay in his bed he couldn't sop thinking about her. His ruminations were interrupted when his door rattle open and shut, and he felt a body push up against his own. It was the young woman. He stared deep into her eyes, but the features that were so beguiling, stretched into that of Oyotsu and her head floated into the air by a thin strand.
"Look at you!" she said. You pushed me down the ravine, leaving me to die all alone. It matters not - tonight you'll join me."
The woman grabbed him by his collar and pulled him up. Just as he started to suffocate, the innkeeper rushed in and broke them apart.

Rokurokubi from the Gazu Hyakki Yakō, 1781.


The shock had loosened the former monk's lips and he told the innkeeper all about what he had done, not far from where they sat. After the tale, the innkeeper adjusted the hem of his clothes and held up a hand, imploring Fujioka Uzen to listen to his tale as well.
"Twenty years ago, I was a woodcutter in these mountains, when a woman tumbled down a ravine. She was in bad shape but I took her to my small house, to nurse her back to health, when her kimono caught on my door and ripped. So much money spilled out on the floor. The clatter caused her eyes to flutter open, but the gold had driven me mad, and I strangled her. The money helped me to establish this inn."
"That very year," he continued, "my wife gave birth to a girl: the rokurokubi. She was my punishment for the evil I had committed."

Fujioka Uzen returned to the priesthood after that fateful night, lived an ascetic life and erected a grave, in honour of Oyotsu.

Thank you for reading!

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