Noppera bō

Updated on Nov 13, 2023

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The Noppera-bō (のっぺら坊, Noppera-bō), or faceless ghost, is a Japanese yōkai (legendary creature) that looks like a human but has no face. They are sometimes mistakenly referred to as a mujina, an old Japanese word for a badger or raccoon dog. Although the mujina can assume the form of the other, noppera-bō are usually disguised as humans. Such creatures were thought to sometimes transform themselves into noppera-bō in order to frighten humans. Lafcadio Hearn used the animals' name as the title of his story about faceless monsters, probably resulting in the misused terminology.

Noppera-bō are known primarily for frightening humans, but are usually otherwise harmless. They appear at first as ordinary human beings, sometimes impersonating someone familiar to the victim, before causing their features to disappear, leaving a blank, smooth sheet of skin where their face should be.

Noppera-bō in legends

Often, a noppera-bō would not actually exist, but was the disguise of a mujina, a fox kitsune, or a tanuki. In Showa 4 (1767), in the kaidan collection Shinsetsu Hyakumonogatari, there were stories that told of how in Nijugawara in Kyoto (near the Nijo-ohashi bridge in the Nakagyō-ku, Kyoto), a monster called noppera-bō appeared and those that were attacked by it would have several thick hairs attached to their clothing, indicating that it was the disguise of some kind of animal. However, sometimes their real identity is not known, and in the Kanbun 3 (1663) kaidan collection Sorori Monogatari, it was written that in the Oike-cho of the capital (now Nakagyō-ku, Kyoto), there appeared a noppera-bō with a height of about 7 shaku (about 2.1 meters), but nothing was written about what its true identity was. They are also said to appear in folktales in the Osaka Prefecture and Kotonami, Nakatado District, Kagawa Prefecture among other places.

The Noppera-bō and the Koi Pond

This tale recounts a lazy fisherman who decided to fish in the imperial koi ponds near the Heian-kyō palace. Despite being warned by his wife about the pond being sacred and near a graveyard, the fisherman went anyway. On his way to the pond, he is warned by another fisherman not to go there, but he again ignores the warning. Once at the spot, he is met by a beautiful young woman who pleads with him not to fish in the pond. He ignores her and, to his horror, she wipes off her face. Rushing home to hide, he is confronted by what seems to be his wife, who chastises him for his wickedness before wiping off her facial features as well.

The Mujina of the Akasaka Road

The most famous story recollection of the Noppera-bō comes from Lafcadio Hearn's book Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things titled Mujina. The story of a man who travelled along the Akasaka road to Edo, he came across a young woman in a remote location near Kunizaka hill, crying and forlorn. After attempting to console the young woman and offer assistance, she turned to face him, startling him with the blank countenance of a faceless ghost. Frightened, the man proceeded down the road for some time, until he came across a soba vendor. Stopping to relax, the man told the vendor of his tale, only to recoil in horror as the soba vendor stroked his face, becoming a noppera-bō himself. It turns out that all of these noppera-bō were really just mujina in disguise.

There are other tales about noppera-bō, from a young woman rescued from bandits by a samurai on horseback whose face disappears; to stories of nobles heading out for a tryst with another, only to discover the courtesan is being impersonated by a noppera-bō.

Noppera-bō in popular culture

The Studio Ghibli film Pom Poko features a modern retelling of The Mujina of the Akasaka Road. In one scene, a police officer comes upon a beautiful young woman (who is actually a shapeshifting tanuki) crying on the side of the road. He attempts to console the young woman, but when she turns to him, she has a completely featureless face. The terrified officer runs to a police box to tell his fellow police officer what happened, but the officer, like the soba vendor, strokes his face and becomes a noppera-bo himself. The man then runs to a convenience store (the modern-day equivalent to the soba stand), and tries to tell the people in the store what happened, but everyone in the store then becomes a noppera-bo.

In the Axis Powers Hetalia movie Paint It, White!, the invading, faceless aliens are occasionally referred to as "Noppera". At the beginning of the movie, Japan explains what a noppera-bo is. In the opening scene, there is a reference to the tales of noppera-bo when a woman flees the Noppera and tries to get help from a police officer, only to find that the officer has just been transformed into a Noppera himself.

In the game Adventure Quest Worlds, some monsters in Hachiko Tower are noppera-bo such as the Samurai Nopperabo and Ninja Nopperabo, who are fighting in the Yokai Revolution. They kidnapped the real Samurai and Ninjas and are offering them to their leader a Dai Tengu. They are soon destroyed.

The anime Mononoke is about a medicine seller that searches and kills monsters found in the Japanese folklore. One arc features an Noppera-bo that resembles his appearance a lot. It was never stated who of the main characters in that arc imagined him and so made him seem real.

The nurses in Silent Hill 2 have some loose resemblance to the Noppera-bō.

The popular computer game Slender depicts the infamous Slender Man, who bears slight resemblance to the Noppera-bō.

The house artist for the Lovers Knot Rope Company goes by the name of Noppera-bo to hide their true identity.

Kiyomi Haunterly from "Monster High" is a Noppera-bo.

In The movie Yokai Monsters: One Hundred Monsters, noppera-bo appear.

In the movie The Great Yokai War a female noppera-bo appears.

In Yo-kai Watch 2, Noppera-bo appears as a Classic Yo-kai, though this Noppera-bo looks like a small child. The English dub names this Yo-kai "Faysoff".

Recent reports

Although most tales of noppera-bō predate the 20th century, there are exceptions, both in Japan itself as well as locations where Japanese have emigrated, most notably the U.S. state of Hawaii. Among the most recent reports:

On May 19, 1959, Honolulu Advertiser reporter Bob Krauss reported a sighting of a mujina at the Waialae Drive-In Theatre in Kahala. Krauss reported that the witness watched a woman combing her hair in the women's restroom, and when the witness came close enough, the mujina turned, revealing her featureless face. The witness was reported to have been admitted to the hospital for a nervous breakdown. Noted Hawaiian historian, folklorist and author Glen Grant, in a 1981 radio interview dismissed the story as rumor, only to be called by someone claiming to be the witness, who gave more details on the event, including the previously unreported detail that the mujina in question had red hair.

Grant has also reported on a number of other mujina sightings in Hawaii, from Ewa Beach to Hilo.

References

Noppera-bō Wikipedia

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